> The Winds of Change: Fog of War
>  by AgentSnail
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Beginnings
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Beginnings


Jason opened his eyes again, sighing when the same, wooden interior of the chariot came into view.  Dash leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulder.  If he couldn't feel her annoyance, fear and anxiety, he definitely wouldn't be able to read it from her face.  The chariot shook slightly in a spot of turbulence, jostling the two of them around.  Jason sighed.  Every time things got simple, something had to ruin his peace.  Dash's peace.  

He could care less what he had to go through, he knew he wasn't going to change, at least not violently, he hoped.  He put an arm around Dash, pulling her closer to him.  She had made it through the battle in Canterlot, she hadn't even seemed to blink, like she was just blocking it all out.  He wasn't sure what she was thinking inside that head of hers, what exactly she felt when she'd killed those griffins.  He just hoped she wouldn't start to lose it.  

That was probably just an unfounded fear, but without the usual distractions to keep his mind occupied, his thoughts tended to wander, mostly into places much darker than he wanted to imagine.  He'd thought over what Dash said about the World War II movie, what if something like that did happen to them?  Obviously not to such a large degree, but what happened when--if one of them fell in battle?  Sure, they knew the drill, and sure, they could fend for themselves, but as the gang back in Ponyville demonstrated, he just couldn't be prepared for everything.

And with all of this adding to all the stress he already had, things were looking rather grim.  At least they hadn't been forced to leave right away, he couldn't have pulled himself away without a goodbye.


_________________________________________________________________


"We need Team Green Bean."  Celestia said.

"Fuck..."  Jason replied, putting a hoof to his forehead.  

"No, no, no..."  Dash whispered from behind him as she tried to take in the news. 

"I'm sorry to do this, but there are dire consequences, and we need to bring the team back together."

"Do we have time?"  Dash choked out.  "T-to say goodbye to the ponies here?"

"Of course, but a chariot comes by around lunch time, we really are on a tight schedule."  

Jason took a deep breath, attempting to keep his voice from wavering.  "What, exactly, are we being called back for?"

"Ah, yes.  May I use your map?"  Jason nodded and stepped to the side, allowing her passage into Dash's home.  She looked around in confusion before Jason pointed to the correct door and led her over.  They walked inside and stared over the map while Celestia manipulated pieces around a city just inside the Griffin territory, near Canterlot.  "Here is our main army, currently surrounding this city here, which has some one hundred to two hundred griffin troops.  However, they have issued us a notice, regarding hostages that they apparently took during the siege of Canterlot.  Nopony knew for sure that any ponies had been taken, because until recently Canterlot was a big rubble pile, as I'm sure you know."  She sighed, tapping her hoof on the side of the map regretfully.

"So what do you want us to do?"  Jason asked.

"A message came to the troops yesterday evening that the griffins in the city were going start killing the hostages if they weren't allowed to escape within forty eight hours.  Shining Armor has told me that there are only a few dozen hostages at the highest, and from what we could see of the town from the surrounding land, there's only one place they could keep all those ponies.  City hall.  Shining has adamantly stated that morals aside, risking letting the griffins go without assurance on getting the prisoners alive would be a stupid move."

"And I agree with him."

"That's why I came here, he said that unless we sent ponies inside stealthily, there would be no hope of freeing the hostages in the first place.  The idea is that we send in Team Green Bean, and if you manage to get the hostages out, then good.  If you don't, nothing lost."

"And what if we die?"

"That's why I'm bringing you there, so that you can work out a plan with Shining and the rest of your team.  If it becomes a suicide mission, I'm not forcing it."

"Fine."  Jason mumbled.

"Alright, I'm glad to have you come along of your own will."  She turned to leave, ducking under the low doorway.  About halfway to the door she stopped and turned around.  "Remember though, the chariot comes around lunchtime, probably twelve thirty.  Don't be late."  With that, Celestia ducked through the front door, closing it behind her and taking off.

"J-jason?"  Dash asked.

"What?"  

"How are we going to tell everypony?  We finally got set up here, and now we're being taken away again."  She trotted out to the living room, flopping down on the couch.

"I guess we should just make the most of the time we have.  It's only seven, and as much as I didn't wish we had to, we're going to have to leave eventually."  he sat down next to her on the couch, running a hoof through her disheveled mane.  

"But what about Scoots?  We're her parents, what are we supposed to tell her?"

"The truth.  I mean, she's not going to like it, but-- hey!"  He knocked a hoof against his forehead, having suddenly come up with an idea.  Dash sat up a little so that she could look over at him.

"We can't be here, and she can't be there, but what about that thing that Celestia has on the map?  That moves messages, so all we have to do is get another one of those.  I know it won't be like we're still here, but it's better than nothing, and it sure beats not knowing how we're doing."  He finished.  Dash allowed a small smile to form on her lips.  

"That sounds nice, actually."  She pulled herself up, hugging him tightly.  "How do you figure this stuff out?"

"Well I just started thinking about how to solve the problem, and that works, kinda."

"Just keep coming up with ideas like that and we'll be back home in no time."  She leaned over and kissed him heatedly, finally starting to feel better.  Finally she allowed herself to break away, they didn't have all the time in the world after all.  She got up off the couch and quickly stretched, giggling when she noticed Jason's interest.  "You left me pretty sore last night, Jason."

"I didn't do well enough then."  He chuckled and got up with her, making his way into the kitchen.  Dash walked in a second later, and grabbed a couple plates.  She scraped some of the fish out of the pan, sliding it onto her plate and augmenting her meal with a couple of apples. 

Jason chuckled.  "I thought you said you thought the fish was weird."

"Yeah, but I'm not going to be able to eat it for a while, so I might as well remember what it tastes like.  After all, I'm not usually a carnivore."

"Yeah, but it's so much better."

"I don't think I'm missing that much, frankly."  She took a small bite of the fish, chewing it slowly.  

"How can you say that?"

"Cuz I'm eating it, and it's not that great."  She finished the rest in a few seconds and belched, getting up from the table.  "Let's go, we're wasting time here."  She galloped to the door, closely followed by Jason.


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Jason sighed and leaned back against the chariot wall.   The carriage jostled again and Dash slumped onto his lap.  Evidently she had fallen asleep, although how she had managed to fall asleep against a wall was commendable.  He ran a hoof through her mane, smiling to himself as she shifted in her sleep.  He continued trailing his hoof through her fur, trying to figure out what Canterlot would look like.  A lot of ponies had enlisted, but Canterlot was a big city, they'd probably have at least a couple thousand ponies there still, hopefully more.  So at least it wouldn't be a ghost town.

He wondered if he'd see Sky or Star there, it'd been a while, that was for sure.  Unless of course, one of them enlisted.  That seemed doubtful, however, especially since they weren't on the roster when he'd checked.  He'd have to pay them a visit, wherever their home was now.  That brought up another question, how rebuilt was the city?  Considering the amount of rubble and cinders that had been there previously, along with the number of bodies that needed to be buried, the number of funerals...

He tried to distract himself, and looked down at Dash once more.  It'd been quite the day so far, no wonder she was exhausted.  His distraction plan seemed to work as his thoughts drifted elsewhere.  


________________________________________________________________________


"Applejack, open up!"  Dash banged on the door wildly, while Jason just sighed behind her.  The farm mare opened the door a few moments later, looking rather panicky.  

"What, what, who died?"  They lapsed into a brief silence.

"Nopony, but we need to talk to Scoots!"  Dash yelled, a little too loudly considering how close Applejack was to her.

"What is it, Sugarcube?"

A sudden wave of repressed emotion finally made itself known.  "We-we're being taken back to the war, we have to see her off.  We have to see everypony off, actually."  She looked downward, not able to continue.  A tear hit the ground.  Applejack seemed to understand, and disappeared into the house.  Scoots came trotting out with her a few moments later, immediately losing her happy complexion at the sight of Dash and Jason's expressions.

"What happened?"  She asked.  Dash stared at her, trying to come up with a response, before moving forward and wrapping the filly up in a hug.

"We're being sent back, Scoots."  Jason started, a few tears running down his face.  "Back to the war.  I'm sorry."

Scoots stared over Dash's shoulder at him before breaking down into sobs herself, shoving her face into the side of Dash's neck.  She eventually freed herself from the hug to move over to Jason, jumping and fluttering into his arms as he reared up to catch her.

"Jason, y-you aren't leaving forever, are you?"

"No Scoots, we won't be gone too long.  We'll be back before you know it."  He tried unsuccessfully to stem the tears still flowing from his eyes.

"Why do you have to leave?"  She accented the last word with another sob.  Jason looked up to see that the other crusaders were watching from the doorway, looking downtrodden.  

"We have to go help save some ponies.  But it's not all bad, Scoots."

"How is it not?  You guys are leaving, I'll be just as alone as before!"  Jason gently let go of the filly, pulling the pad of paper out of his saddlebag.  He took a deep breath to try to control his emotions, although it seemed to be a lost cause at this point.  

"Look at this.  It's enchanted so that messages from here go to another pad of paper in Canterlot.  If we can just get another, you can write anything, ask anything, and we'll be able to respond.  It won't be like we're still here, but you'll know how we're doing and we can stay in contact with you."  Scoots smiled lightly, choking out a residual sob.

"Do you have to leave now?"

"No, that's the other thing.  We have until somewhere around twelve thirty, and we can do whatever until then.  I'm therefore letting you skip school."  Her small smile grew a little.  "But this is a one time thing Scoots, if I hear that you're skipping school, I'm going to come home angry, and I doubt you want that."  She giggled a little.

"I won't, don't worry."  

"Okay, good."  He turned to Dash, who was still looking a little foggy.  "You know some pony we could get to check up on her?"

"I don't need a babysitter!"

"That's probably why I said 'check up' and not 'watch'."

"Well, Fluttershy comes to mind."  Dash said.

"I guess that's as good a plan as any."

"Applejack,"  Dash started.  "Can you get everypony together later?  I want to make sure I don't forget to say goodbye to anypony."

"Don't worry about it, Sugarcube."  She wiped one of her eyes and ushered the other crusaders back inside, closing the door shortly after with a wave and a tip of her hat.  


___________________________________________________________________


A hoof touched Jason's chin, jolting him out of his thoughts.  Rather violently, in fact.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!  Oh hi, Dash."

"Just making sure you weren't replaced with a statue."  She lowered her hoof, folding it against her body.  Damn, she looked cute like that.  She yawned and looked around, sighing when she realized that they were still in the chariot.  "How much further could Canterlot be?"

"It's been a half hour, if they were at Canterlot right now they'd probably set a new air speed record."  She glared at him.  "With a chariot."

"Nice save."  She sighed, trying to find a more comfortable position on the wooden bench, to no avail.  "Would it kill them to pad these seats?  I mean, I'm thankful for you being a pillow, Jason, but seriously."

"Glad you think of me so highly."

"Hey, you're a damn good pillow.  And you're always so warm."

"That kinda makes me wonder if I have a higher body temperature than normal ponies."

"Well it's nice, whatever it is."  She paused, stroking a hoof across his chest.  "How soundproof do you think this chariot is?"

"Dash, there're knives and weapons all over the place, and this thing is prone to turbulence."  She giggled.

"Yeah, but it's fun to see your face when you have to decline to sex."

"Oh, you're evil."

"Why, thank you Jason."  She stuck out her tongue, before turning and licking his stomach.  He cringed.

"Stop that, it tickles!"  She continued moving her tongue around.

"Storp thirss?"  She asked back.

"AAAGH, no, haha."  He finally moved her head, gently taking her off of his lap.  "No more pillow privileges for you."

"Come on, we don't have to be rash..."  She leaned back against him, reaching a hoof over to caress his neck.  

"You really have no shame, do you Dash?"

"Nope.  If you're not going to be interesting I'm going back to sleep."

"I'm not sure how I'm supposed to be all that interesting in this situation."

"Well either way, I'm still too tired to keep teasing you like this."

"Oh noooooooo..."  He threw his arms up in mock distress, before he wrapped an arm around her, rubbing her shoulder with his hoof.  A few minutes later her light snoring could be heard, and he was left to his thoughts again.  


__________________________________________________________


Jason landed in front of Fluttershy's cottage, lightly sighing to himself before tapping the side of a hoof on the door.  Dash had taken Scoots into town to grab something from Sugarcube corner and try to cheer her up.  He felt guilty about all of this, sure, it wasn't technically his fault, but that didn't mean he felt good leaving Scoots alone here.  She didn't deserve the hand she was dealt, and he didn't want to reverse her fortune.  

The door opened to Fluttershy, who looked confused for a few seconds before she appeared to recognize him and took a step back.  

"Jason?"

"Yeah, now listen, I don't have much time.  I'm leaving with Dash for the warfront, we've been called back."  She seemed to grow a little less fearful, and stepped forward with a sad expression.

"Y-you're leaving?"

"Yeah, around twelve today.  But the reason I came here was to ask a favor, and I know you don't really have that much of a reason to help me out, but just listen."  She timidly put a hoof up to his mouth, silencing him.

"I'd be happy to so something for you, Jason, at least as long as it's not ridiculous.  At least, if that's okay..."  She pulled her hoof away.

"Can you watch Scoots while we're gone then?  I didn't know any other pegasi, and, well, you seemed like a good pony for the job.  I'm not talking full time here, just once a day or something, make sure she's not skipping school or anything like that."

"I'd be happy to watch her, it'd be no trouble at all."  Jason let out a sigh or relief.

"Thanks so much Fluttershy, I'm glad to have a pony like you around."  He drew her into a hug, which was probably a stupid idea in the first place.  Much to his surprise, though, she hugged him back, giggling a little after her initial fear passed.

"I'll take good care of her."

"Okay, thanks.  It means a lot."  

"It's really no trouble."  She let go of him, ending the hug.  "Are you planning on doing anything before you go?"

"Not anything in specific, I'm going to go meet Dash at Sugarcube corner, and I asked Applejack to see if she could get us together so we could say goodbye."  He sighed and hung his head.  "I wouldn't be so annoyed right now if things weren't getting so much better before today."  He paused.  "Well I'll just get out of your hair then, thanks again for doing this."  She nodded and he took off, quickly banking over towards town as the spire of Sugarcube corner came into view.  He landed in the small square out front, quickly trotting inside.  

Scoots and Dash were at a booth near the front of the room, in the middle of sharing a giant sundae.  Emphasis on giant.  He started walking over to the table, only to get stopped by a pink blur just before he arrived.  Pinkie stopped on a dime in front of him, looking rather sad.  Not mane deflated sad, but sad nonetheless.

"Dash said you were leaving, why?"

"She didn't explain?"

"She did, but I wanted to hear it from both of you."  

"Then yes, we're leaving.  Celestia needs us to try to save some captured ponies, if it's at all possible."  She sighed, smiling slightly when she looked back up at him.  

"Then why don't we have the biggest, bestest party ever as a going away gift?!?!  It'll be great, all your friends'll be here, and we can see have fun up till the end!  Might as well make the most of it, huh?!  Huh?!?!"

Jason chuckled at her antics, feeling his worries lift slightly.  She was pretty good at cheering ponies up alright.  "Sure, Pinkie, on two conditions."

"Aww, that's no fun..."

"They're small.  Just don't invite every one, and don't bring out any alcohol."

"Oh, that's easy!  I thought you weren't going to want me to put beef fat in the cakes."

"What?" Dash asked.

"Nothing!"  Pinkie bounced away into the kitchen.

Jason turned to Dash.  "That was a joke?"

"Let's say it was.  It was definitely random enough to be Pinkie, and she did giggle afterwards."

"She giggles after everything."

"Pinkie!"  The party mare came bouncing back out, looking at Dash with an over-exaggerated confused face. 

"What is is Dashie?"  Jason chucked when he saw Dash flinch at the pet name.

"That was a joke about the beef fat, right?"

"Well, Duh!  I only put fish oil in the pastries!  Everypony knows that!"

"Ugh, Pinkie."

"Oh Dashie, you're so gullible!"  She hopped back into the kitchen, accompanied by a loud groan from Dash and a series of giggles from Scoots.  

"I didn't expect her to be the troll around here."  Jason said.

"Wha.. She's a troll now?  What does that even mean?"

"Uh, nevermind.  It's not important.  What is important is that I got Fluttershy to agree to checking up on Scoots."

"That's good."  She took another bite of the sundae.  "I just wish we had a better means of communication then a pad of paper."

"It's better than nothing."

"Well, yeah, when you look at it that way..."  Jason eyed the sundae again, before finally shifting into Dash and grabbing a spoon, moving a big scoop of ice cream into his mouth.  Ohhhhhh  yeaaaah.  It had been waaaaay too long. 

"Jason, you got a brain freeze?"  Dash asked.  He jumped and shook himself out of his thoughts.

"No, I just haven't had ice cream in a long time."  Dash gave a thoughtful hum in response, turning back to watch the sundae continually get demolished and transferred into the bottomless pit that was Scoots' stomach.  A few minutes later the giant pile of ice cream had been reduced to just a couple spoonfuls at the bottom.  Scoots looked over at their slightly dumbfounded expressions.

"What?  She inquired.

"How did you eat that?"  Jason asked, "That sundae was bigger than your head.  And we all have really big heads."

"I was hungry."  She let out a cute little burp.  "And I really like ice cream." 

"You and me both."  He scratched the side of his head, still trying to figure out why she didn't at least look a little bloated.  Actually, he was glad she didn't look like that.  His thoughts turned when Pinkie sprinted past and through the door, carrying something on her back.  A letter fell out of the air she had just occupied, and Jason bent over to pick it up, casting a glance to the door.  Pinkie was long gone.

"Jason, how'd you get an invitation from Pinkie?"

"She dropped it, and now I don't know what to do with it."  He looked down at the letter, scrunching his face up in confusion when he read his own name.  "Why would she give me an invitation?"  He opened up the letter just as Pinkie galloped back inside, tossing two more invitations on the table before running back into the kitchen.  Sugarcube corner suddenly became eerily quiet.  

Jason finally tore his envelope open, finding that it was, in fact, an invitation.  But it was at Twilight's library, which was a strange choice of venue.  It would be funny if Twilight was just finding out about this.  How could she not have?  But then again, she could've gotten word from the princess this morning, so she would at least have time to plan, maybe.  Ugh, whatever.  

"You guys ready to go?  I want to stop by the blacksmith before we go to the party, so that should give Pinkie some time, not that she really needs it." 

"Well sure, I got nothing better to do in that short of an amount of time."  Dash said.

"Are we going to get more knives?!"  Scoots asked, more yelling than asking, actually.

Jason sighed.  "Keep it down Scoots!" He paused.  "Yes, they should look a lot like Dash's."

"Wow, those looked awesome!"

"Wait, you were using those to get me out?"

"Yeah, sorry I kinda ruined the surprise there."

"Well you didn't know I had them made, so it was still kind of a surprise.  Were they any good?"

"Yeah, they were amazing, it was like an extension of my hoof, they're pretty light, whatever they're made out of."

"Glad you liked them."  He got up and started for the door, waiting for Dash and Scoots to follow him.  "And somehow I missed seeing them this whole time, so I've still got a surprise in store for myself about how they look.  You didn't lose the knives or anything, right Dash?"

"No, they're in that wooden box, that's why you didn't see them."

"Ah."  He pushed open the door and held it for the two of them before walking out himself.  They trotted across the street, just inside to see Pinkie dash out of Sugarcube Corner again, pushing or pulling what looked like a ridiculous amount of stuff.  She went around a corner and disappeared, drawing more than a few stares.  Most of Ponyville was apparently indifferent to Pinkie's normal behavior, and quickly got back to whatever they were doing prior.

Jason shook his head and entered the blacksmith shop after Dash and Scoots, walking over to the counter.  One of those little bell things had been set out, and he tapped his hoof on the top of it, creating a rather loud ding.  The blacksmith trotted out a few moments later, his face covered in soot, and smiled.

"Here for those knives, eh?"

"Yeah, Dash said her's were pretty awesome, I'm pretty excited."

"Glad to hear it went over well.  You look pretty good, considering..."  He chuckled and reached under the counter, pulling up a wooden box and laying it in front of himself before turning the box around towards Jason.  Jason carefully reached over and undid the simple clasp, raising the lid and going slack jawed. 

When Dash had said awesome, he didn't think she'd meant this awesome.  He carefully pulled out one of the blades, and examined it closely from the handle to the characters on the blade.  He took a step back and slid the knife into his hoof before taking a few swings with the blade.  He smiled and put the blade back in the box carefully, and lifted it off the counter.

"What do I owe you for this?"

"Your mare-friend already paid, just remember the marketing thing."

"Yeah, Ferris, right?"  The blacksmith nodded.  "Thanks again for all this, I really like the knife!"

"I guess I still have that hundred percent approval rating, nopony's ever turned down something from me, if they could pay for it."  He chuckled.  "Well I'll see you later."  He waved and they left, immediately taking off to leave the weapons at Dash's cloud house.  


__________________________________________________________


The chariot felt like it had collided with something, sending any gear that wasn't held down flying into the air, including an unfortunate Dash and Jason.  They were vaulted a little ways into the air, and Dash woke up from her slumber mid flight.  Jason managed to pull her on top of himself mid air, taking the brunt of the blow to the floor and breaking her fall.  The air left his lungs as his back contacted the floor, and he was stuck gasping while Dash tried to figure out whether or not she was still dreaming.  A couple moments later he felt her hoof on his face, and he looked up to see that she was slightly worried.

"You okay Jason?"

He drew in a breath, trying to kick the feeling of being breathless.  "Yeah, we hit a bump or something."  Dash smiled and leaned down to kiss him.  

"And I take it you tried to get yourself under me?"  She nuzzled his neck.

"That was the idea."

"You're so sweet, Jason."

"Well I couldn't really let you hit the ground when you were still partially asleep."

"Are you sure you weren't just trying to get on my good graces?"

"Maybe a little."  She giggled and got out of her position on his chest, moving back over to the bench.  "We've got to be close by now, I mean I've been asleep for most of it, but still."

"Yeah,"  Jason looked out a window at the surrounding landscape, trying to see in the direction Canterlot was.  "I think I can see the beginnings of the mountain over there, so yeah.  We're definitely close."  He sat down next to her on the bench, sighing and leaning over on her.

"Now you're the tired one?"

"A little.  Wake me up when we get there."  He closed his eyes and dozed off, his breathing becoming deep and slow.  Dash leaned her head onto the top of his, sighing happily.  Things could be worse, everypony in Ponyville was safe, she had Jason, and Luna was working on finding the pony with the soul magic.  Maybe she had misjudged the situation a little.  She started to drift into a trance, fighting hard to stay conscious as the carriage glided along.  


___________________________________________________________________


Dash watched Jason open the door to the library, looking around, apparently expecting a surprise.  Streamers and balloons suddenly exploded out of the corner of the library and he jumped behind a couch, peeking back over the piece of furniture to find the culprit of the noise and projectiles.  There, in the corner, was Pinkie, leaning on her party cannon like nothing had happened.  She was doing a good job pulling off a bored face, apparently looking at her hoof.  

She quickly broke into a smile, zipping over to where he was standing as she gestured and several ponies came out from behind furniture and trotted around to the festivities, most of them laughing.  Dash contained her giggles slightly and walked over to Pinkie and Jason, the latter holding a hoof to his chest.  

"Did I get ya?  Did I?  I thought that one was pretty original, at least compared to what I usually do."

"Yeah, you got me.  God, what if you hadn't loaded that with streamers and stuff?"

"Pfft, I can load that with anything, party stuff comes out no matter what!!  Why do you think it's called a party cannon, silly?"  She turned and bounced away moving towards the buffet table that she had set up.  Dash walked over to him, letting out a few residual giggles.  Twilight walked over, a knowing expression on her face.  

"I heard about what Celestia said.  Today, huh?"

"Yeah."  Dash answered.  "It's just hard to leave, you know?  Especially Scoots here."  She mussed up the filly's mane affectionately, now that Scoots had come over to join them.  

"I wish I could say I know how you feel, but I've never been faced with leaving everypony.  The closest I've ever come was during that whole thing with Discord, but that didn't really last all that long, and technically you were still there."

"I wish we didn't have to go, I really do."  She jumped a little when Twilight leaned forward and hugged her, before joining into the hug herself.

"We're still going to have a means of communication, but that'll only be with Scoots.  You can just ask her how we're doing, that'll work."

"How are you communicating exactly?"

"Celestia gave us a pad of paper for the map that shows the messages you write on one on the other, and vice versa.  So we're going to give her ours and grab the one at Canterlot.  I just couldn't bear to leave her alone after all she's been through."  She tried to put a hoof on the filly before realizing that she had apparently left at some point, and when she turned to look the other way, noticed that Jason had also left.  She deadpanned.  

"Yeah, you have somepony to watch her?"

"Fluttershy, actually."  They walked over to the food, each pouring a glass of punch.  

"So how long do you think you're going to be gone for?"  Applejack had walked up soon enough to hear Twilight's question.

"I don't know, I mean it could be a couple of days if it turns out there's nothing we can do, or it could be a couple weeks."  She paused, sighing.  "Or we might not ever come back.  Jason, always the optimist, thinks that things'll go smoothly no matter what, but I'm sure you know how our plans tend to go."

"You better not end up as another one a' them casualties, Dash."  Applejack said.  "Just, be careful ya hear?"  There was a clang as something fell over.  "Ah gotta go, ah brought the other crusaders here, and they could've done anything by now."  She ran off across the room, meeting up with the crusaders, who appeared to be standing over a metal side table that was bent in several different ways.

Dash chuckled and bid Twilight goodbye before trying to get into the party spirit.  She succeeded, as it turned out, managing to enjoy her last few hours in Ponyville.  She tried to teach Jason how to dance, not that she really knew much about dancing herself, but the results were hilarious.  Before she knew it though, the party was winding to a close, and she was forced to face the facts that her time was almost up.  

She cringed as she looked at the clock, it was nearly twelve, and they'd need a good amount of time to pack everything up.  Evidently some other ponies noticed the time, and came over to share a round of goodbyes.  Twilight went first, giving Dash a gentle hug and having trouble keeping her eyes from leaking.  She finally let go, pushing a book into Dash's chest with a hoof and attempting a smile.  Dash looked down and saw that it was a book on changelings, presumably as a joke.

"I had to replace this a long time ago because Jason never returned the last copy, but I figured you'd think it was funny.  Besides, it was better than any other books, and the new Daring do hasn't come out yet."  She wiped her eye and backed away, allowing another pony to say their goodbye.  Pinkie came next, hopping over to Dash rather more happily than she would have expected.  

"Get back soon so we can have another party Dashie!  I'll make it bigger, no better...Oh what the hay I'll make it both!"  She threw a hug around Dash, breaking away before Dash could even react.  Rarity came over next, brandishing a possibly stylish camouflage helmet, which she set atop Dash's head.

"Don't do anything stupid, Dash." 

She chuckled.  "No promises."  Applejack came over and gave a bone crushing hug, before finally fluttershy gave her uncharacteristically audible goodbye, giving Dash an accompanying hug.  Dash looked over to see that Jason had finished his goodbyes to Lyra, Bon Bon and Octavia in much the same way, and was now wildly writing something on a piece of paper.  He seemed to finish whatever he was doing and thrust the paper into Octavia's hooves before taking another glance at the clock and dropping his head.  He motioned to Scoots as she ran by, apparently wanting to bring her up to the house with them.  

Dash extracted herself from her friends and trotted over sadly, saying her goodbyes to the other three ponies before they left, their friends pursuing them outside to wave.  Dash took off after waving back, quickly flying up to the house ahead of Jason and Scoots.  They'd really gone down to the wire on this one.  She ran upstairs and grabbed a blanket and a saddlebag in her mouth, trailing them behind herself as she ran back down the stair and dumped them into a pile.  She pushed the blanket into the saddlebag, figuring that they might as well be better safe than sorry.  

She ran back upstairs as she heard the door open, returning with the gillie suit and the framed picture of Jason hugging Scoots in the hospital bed.  She packed both into the other pocket as Jason wordlessly started gathering up the explosives and the knife boxes.  He threaded several of the explosives through the belt, leaving a few loops open.  He picked up the AUG and it's magazines, threading two through each of their belts.  He made sure the gun was on safety before setting it back down.

Scoots trotted out of the kitchen with several apples balanced in a precarious pyramid on the top of her head, tipping them into a saddlebag with a light giggle.  Jason trotted into the map room, grabbing the pad of paper.  He quickly turned around to bring the pad to Scoots, before stopping and grabbing a small, framed picture off the wall.  He looked down at the picture of Scoots looking over Dash's head with her fore hooves placed on the top of Dash's mane.  Dash was smiling up at Scoots, who looked rather philosophical.

He smiled to himself before walking over to his saddlebag and sticking the photo inside as Scoots deposited a few more apples.  There was a knock at the door, and Dash went to open it as Jason went and gathered up all of her armor.  She opened the door and sighed, as a couple of royal guards looked on expectantly, a moderately sized covered chariot behind them.

"We'll just be a couple minutes."  One of the guards nodded, tapping his primitive looking watch in warning.  Dash shut the door as the guards turned away, presumably to get reattached to their reigns.  She quickly grabbed her saddlebag and threw it over her back, watching as Jason threw the computer in his and copied her motions.  He levitated the rest of their stuff into the air, quickly moving it through the now open door and through the small door on the side of the carriage chariot thing before taking a deep breath.  

They walked outside behind the stuff, and Scoots ran after them, quickly losing her happy facade.  She jumped onto the back of their necks, trying to hug them both goodbye.  Jason turned and wrapped his hooves around her, tears in his eyes.

"G-goodbye Scoots, we'll be back soon, don't worry."  Dash hugged them both, barely able to keep herself from sobbing uncontrollably.  

"J-just make sure you come back."  She let out a choked sob and let go of them.  "Now go, the sooner you leave, the sooner you get back."  Jason forced a smile and pulled the paper pad out of his saddlebag, handing it over to Scoots.

"If you want to know how we're doing, don't forget that you can just ask."  He said.  She nodded, trying to wipe away her tears.  Jason got up sadly and walked over to the carriage,  walking around inside and making sure they had everything.  Dash gave Scoots another hug, planting a kiss on the filly's forehead.  

"I'm going to miss you Scoots, more than you know."  Scoots didn't respond, but simply hugged Dash tighter.  They hugged for a few more moments before the impatient tapping of one of the guards reached her ears.  She sighed and let go, waiting for Jason to come over and hug Scoots goodbye.  He partially broke down in the middle of the hug, but managed to pull himself together soon enough to keep the guards from getting too impatient.  They got into the carriage, and Jason knocked on the wall towards the front to tell the ponies they were finally ready.  

The two of them waved as the carriage accelerated towards Canterlot, Dash's house and Scoots quickly disappearing into the distance.  


____________________________________________________________


Jason woke up with a start, startling Dash as she was thrust out of her thoughts.  He looked around confusedly, apparently disoriented in the foreign environment.  He got his bearings a few seconds later, and turned around to look out the window.  He craned his neck, trying to look as far forward as possible, before turning back to Dash, a slight smile on his face.

"Canterlot's right over there.  I mean you can't see it, but there's a cliff and I guess I just figured..."  He paused.  "Anyway, let's just get this stuff ready."  He jumped off of the bench, quickly picking up Dash's saddlebag and managing to cram the knife boxes inside before gathering the rest of the stuff together.

"It's really close?"

"I think, but I don't want to be in this deathtrap anymore.  I'd rather just be flying myself, if you know what I mean."

Dash fluttered her wings.  "Yeah, I definitely know where you're coming from."  She walked over and checked the other saddlebag, making sure the computer was still safely held in one of the pockets.  She looked around, noticing that at least one thing was missing.  "You forgot your guitar, Jason."

He facehoofed.  "Well son of a bitch!  I knew there wasn't enough shit in here!  Mother fucker!"  He sighed, kicking an apple across the floor.  

"It's just a guitar...  Hey!  think of it this way, at least Scoots'll have another thing to remind her of you."

"Except all of our instruments are at Octavia's house."  He sighed again. "Let's just get ready, we might as well make an entrance.  Well kinda, I doubt there'll be any ponies there to meet us."  He picked up the slightly bruised apple, turning to stow it away in this saddlebag, before levitating it over his back.  Dash had began to put on her armor, and was halfway through her second foreleg when Jason levitated the rest of it onto her, tying it on with a much better rope than the previous twine they had used.  Jason attached the sling to the gun and threw it over his back, making sure he had tightened it enough to keep it in place.  

"You might as well just go the regular changeling route, Jason.  They like you here."

"I'm sure they don't all like me."

"You helped save their city, I'm pretty sure they do."

"Fine, but you better not be wrong about this.  If you are, I swear..."

"What?"

"I'm not sure what I could threaten you with."

She stuck out her tongue.  "And I always have the ability to keep you from sex."

He rolled his eyes.  "Yeah, because I was totally the one all over you these last couple times."

"You looked like you enjoyed it."

"Well, that's probably becau--" There was a thump as the chariot either hit a wall or touched down, followed by a hideous scraping sound as they slowed, sending them both into a painful heap against the front wall.  A couple seconds later the door opened, and a stallion leaned in, looking around for a moment before seeing them and suppressing a laugh.  Jason muttered something as he got up, lending Dash a hoof.  

They walked over to the door as Jason dropped the disguise.  As he got to the door he tried to block the sun with his hoof, giving his eyes time to adjust to the light.  As Canterlot came into focus, he was a little in awe of how much better the place looked.  Rubble was cleaned up, building frames were going up everywhere around the tents that dotted the landscape.  He stepped out of the gloom of the carriage to a small group of ponies that were gathered.  

One walked up to him, a pony his still adjusting eyes recognized as Star.  She trotted up and smiled before leaning over and hugging him.  

"Welcome to Canterlot, Jason."
	
> "Old" Friends
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


"Old" Friends


Star backed away from the hug, smiling as Sky walked up from behind her, giving Jason a hoof bump, and repeating the process with Dash.  A couple of royal guards, evidently in a hurry, had walked up and were wordlessly gesturing for them to follow.  The small group obliged, and Jason turned to Sky.

"So how are things around here?"  Jason asked.

"Not as bad as they look, I suppose."  He replied.  "How about you, you didn't have all that scarring when you left here..."

"Yeah, I'm not sure how much I can say about this, so don't tell anyone else, but there was a gang in Ponyville that captured and tortured me."  Sky cringed.  "Dash got me out, but I'm worried I gave something away, I'm a little hazy on what happened.  I know for sure that he got blood samples, and that he knows my job position.  Apparently he knows some rare type of magic as well."

"Jeez, you were pretty beat up then?"

"Yeah, Dash got me out before I died though.  They cut off the end of one of my hooves."

"Sounds terrible."

"Believe me, it was.  But I'm out of there now, and I have Dash.  Things could be worse."  Sky gave him an inquisitive look.  

"Is she yours?  You're her colt-friend, I mean?"

"Yeah, not that I'm really trying to hide it anymore.  I guess we were a couple back when I met you and Star.  It's been a long time."

"I know what you mean, it seems like just yesterday that I first saw Star."  He glanced back at the mare, smiling.  They lapsed into silence for a few moments.

"So hows the whole rebuilding process going?"

"Not too bad, we've got a lot of workers, and high morale, I'd be surprised if we aren't finishing up by the end of the month."  They walked by a couple of tents and a fairly busy construction site.  Jason saw some ponies waving and pointing excitedly from parts of the framing, and waved back.

"So mobilization was a few days ago, how'd that go?"

"I could hear Shining yelling from all the way over here, I'm not sure if he was just acting the part of drill sergeant or if things weren't going right, but most of the troops left at around noon, about fifteen minutes late."

"Sounds like they did pretty well."  He paused.  "Now when you say most..."

"Either Celestia or Shining kept a bunch of troops here, just in case.  A few recruits from Ponyville and Cloudsdale came in a couple days ago, or so I've heard, and they'll be moving out later today.  Why are you here exactly?  I mean I heard you were coming, but there hasn't been much in the way of an explanation."  Jason sighed, watching as a pony did a double take towards the small group.  A few other ponies waved, and he returned the gesture.

"We're getting re-deployed, something about a hostage crisis in a town not far from here, actually.  So Team Green Bean's being pulled back together in case there's anything we can do."

"Sounds pretty serious."

"It better be, I got pulled away from my daughter for this."  Sky swiveled his head quickly, trying to find a hint of a lie in Jason's face.  

"How did you..."

"Adoption."  

"Ah.  I was going to say..."  He sighed.  "Yeah, foals.  How old's yours?"

"She's eight.  We adopted her in the middle of the battle actually, Luna made it official."

"Got her out of an orphanage then?"

"Well, actually she was living on the street, and I'm happy I could've saved her from that.  She didn't deserve the hoof she was dealt."

"Poor kid."  They continued to walk in silence, until Sky spoke up again.  "This is as far as I go, so I guess I'll see you later?"  He stopped short, at the castle gates that Potato had given his life to open.  Jason and Dash bid their goodbyes before Jason suddenly took off at a gallop, running parallel to the castle.  Dash sighed and followed him, hoping that he hadn't suddenly gone insane or something.  

He turned around a hedge and stopped, staring up at a white marble statue, evidently new because of how it glistened in the sun.  Jason put a hoof to his forehead and sighed, as Dash finally recognized the pony depicted.  She moved sideways to get the glare off the plaque, reading the short caption.  


Blazing "Potato" Skies


For his ultimate sacrifice in the protection of Equestrian freedom.


You will be dearly missed.


"You know, he's the only pony I can't repay."

Dash tried to speak, before clearing her throat and trying again.  "What do you mean?"

"He saved our lives, and I can't thank him, I can't make it right.  I'll always be in debt to him, and it just makes me feel crumby.  Why did he have to die?  Any of us could've gone, but it had to be him.  He deserved it the least out of all of us."  He was jolted out of his thoughts by a pair of hooves wrapping around his neck.  

"Don't feel guilty, Jason.  Remember him for what he did, not what you could've done to change it.  Trust me, this is how I felt the last two times you were almost killed.  There's nothing you could've done, no way he would've made it out of there."  Jason plinked his eyes, letting a couple of tears run down his face and onto her hoof.  There was a long silence.

"You're right."  He looked at the statue, the young stallion in a heroic position.  "Thanks for everything, Potato."  He put a hoof around Dash's neck, pulling her head over to his and kissing her.  "Thanks for always sticking by me Dash.  We've been through a lot together."  He started walking back towards the castle gate with her, smiling when she put a wing over his back reassuringly.  "So what'd you and Star talk about?"  Jason asked.

"Mare stuff,"  She waved a hoof.  "You know the drill.  She said she was a little jealous that her husband wasn't a changeling like you."  She giggled, trailing a hoof up the side of his neck and bringing it to the back of his head before pulling him forward into a kiss.  "I definitely wouldn't trade it for the world, even without the kinky sex."

"Well when you two are finished..."  They jumped and turned to the voice, finding out that Celestia was the owner.  Dash blushed as they both failed to meet Celestia's eyes.  She let out a rather regal sounding giggle before gesturing for them to follow behind her.  Dash turned and punched Jason in the shoulder.  

"I'm getting really sick of this whole, no blushing stuff."  Jason chuckled, shifting into Alternis so that she could see his reddened face.

"Happy?"

"Yes."  They walked into the throne room, and Jason looked around at the stained glass windows, amazed at how well they had been repaired.

"Dash!"

"What?"

"Look over there!"  He pointed a hoof at one of the windows, which was a stained glass picture of the two of them, standing atop a pile of rather un-gory griffin corpses.  Potato and Tank flanked the them, slightly lower down on the pile.  Dash, Potato and Tank were in their armor, and all four still had their weapons.  

"Wow..."

"Yes, I had it commissioned.  You better slow down on the achievements, Rainbow Dash, I'm running out of windows."  She let out a slight chuckle before walking out a door in the back of the room, gesturing for them to follow.  They passed through a few more doorways before walking into a much larger room, filled with several groups of presumably high ranked guards.  Jason walked over to the map that matched his at home, grabbing the pad of paper off the table.  

"Princess, can we have this?  We left Scootaloo the other pad, and we wanted to keep in touch as much as we could."

"I don't see why not, I don't have any use for it, considering that the only other means of communication was with your map.  We have another pair for Shining in Windforge.  That's the griffin city, by the way."

Jason nodded.  "Well thanks!"  He turned and slid the pad into his saddlebag, looking back up and freezing as a griffin walked into the room.  He leaned over towards the princess and started to whisper urgently.

"Why's he here?!?!"

"Oh, that's the prisoner you took a month or so ago."

"I know that, but why's he here?"

"Oh!"  She chuckled.  "We let him out under heavy guard for the first couple weeks, he said he had information on how the griffin army system worked.  We've basically waned him off of the guards, and just kept him away from anypony important.  With the amount of help he's given us, though, any damage he does now would be insignificant."

"Okay, well I guess I'm glad to know that saving him was a good idea."

"Indeed."  She paused.  "I'm going to be sending him with you."

"What?!?!  Why?!?!"  Dash and Jason said in unison.  A few heads turned and they looked at each other.

"He knows the city, he's lived in Windforge for a few months.  If you're going in there you'll need somepony with knowledge like that."  Jason sighed.  She had a point, at least.  He took another look at the rather small griffin, watching as he shared a laugh with one of the guards.  Could he trust the guy?  He should after all he had done, there had been fighting for a while, and yet no flaws in his truths had been discovered.  Maybe it didn't apply, but he felt partially hypocritical here, he'd been in the same position in Ponyville.

He sighed again and walked over, flanked by a rather suspicious looking Dash.  He tapped the griffin on the shoulder, watching the smile he had on his face quickly disappear.  After Jason got over the urge to laugh at his rapid emotion change, he paused, gathering his words before he spoke.

"So you're coming with us, right?"

"O-oh, you're the changeling?"  He looked down, realizing he hadn't stripped the disguise.  He dropped the cover and looked back up.

"Yeah, you're on the team apparently?"

"As much as I don't want to, your princess told me that she needs my presence out there, so I guess."

He leaned forward, coming face to face with the griffin.  "If you're replacing Potato, you better be all you're chalked up to be."  He sighed, backing down.  "Sorry, it's been a long day.  Where's the rest of the team?"

"Just, uh, follow me."  He walked out of the room and Jason waved to the princess before following, turning down a corridor and into another room with several bunks.  He looked around, immediately recognizing Steve, Archer and Hunter, who were lazing about in bunks.  They saw the trio walk in and immediately jumped up to greet Dash and Jason.  Several hoof bumps later, Dash spoke up.

"So where's Tank?"  She said, looking around in case she had missed him.

"He was in Manehattan, he should be here in a bit."  Archer said, returning to his bunk.  "Did you get anything more specific on what we've been called here to do?"

"Yeah,"  Dash replied, "We have to go save some hostages or something.  At least as long as it's not a suicide mission." 

Steve chuckled.  "I'm sure it can't be harder than the last one."  Dash bit her lip, sighing lightly.  They lapsed into silence as Jason and Dash found a bunk.  Jason sat down on the cot, sighing as he brought out the computer and the pad of paper.  He wrote, 'We got it Scoots.'  before setting the pad aside and powering the computer. 

Archer rolled out of his bunk, pacing around for a few seconds.  "Hey, does anypony want to go get some food?"  Steve and Hunter raised their hooves, and the trio got up to leave.  Steve turned back before he exited.

"Do either of you want anything?"  He asked.  Jason looked over at Dash.

"No."  She said, falling backwards onto the bunk tiredly after dropping the saddlebag to the floor.  Steve shrugged and left, and she could hear hoofsteps disappearing down the hall.  She looked over to see that Jason had opened a couple of windows on the screen, and was currently in the middle of loading a video.

"What are you doing, Jason?"

"Trying to find something to do.  I got this series onto my computer before I ended up here, so we can start watching it if you want.  It's not as bad as the other one, but it can still be gory at times.  I'm sure you can handle it."

"What's it called?"

"The Walking Dead.  It's a zombie thing."

"Okay,"  she waved a hoof dismissively.  "Go ahead.  This better be interesting."  She crossed her hooves.  "Because you know how I am when I'm bored."

"Let's not be rash here."  He said, raising his hooves defensively.  Dash giggled.

"Glad to know that threat has weight."

"You threaten me a lot, you know that?"

She chuckled.  "I do it out of love."

He rolled his eyes.  "Now I feel better."

"Just start the show."

"Fine."  He hit play and the opening scene ran, with several obligatory choking sounds from a zombie, followed a minute or so later by a gunshot to the head.  

"What in god's name are you watching?"  A voice said from above them.  They both looked up to see that Eravel was hanging over the side of the bunk above them, looking rather disgusted.  "What were those two things anyway, humans?"

"Uh.."  Dash said, trying to come up with a response.  

"Those were humans, from a show from my country."

"You have humans there?"

"Well, yea-- What the hell, can you keep a secret?"

"Sure, I like to think I'm pretty trustworthy."  

"I used to be a human from the world where this was filmed.  Then I ended up here, and, well, you know the rest."  He heard a bag drop by the door.  

"What!?!?"  Their heads turned towards the door, where a very fatigued looking Tank was standing.  "You're saying you're some kind of alien?"

Jason facehoofed.  "I was, I guess, now I'm native.  I'm not human anymore."

"So, uh..."  He spluttered.  "Uh, mmm."  He sat down on a bunk for a few moments, trying to gather his thoughts, before getting back up and sitting down in a position he could see the computer from.  His face was unreadable.  Jason sighed and started the video again, feeling the confusion and slight annoyance radiating off of Tank.

An hour or so of the episode played through without interruption, before Jason decided to pause the episode.  After he waited through the inevitable sighs of protest from Dash, he closed the computer and got up, stretching out his legs.  He took a look at his back hoof, which was still a little sore, but at least it was mostly healed.

"So things are all grey and dull there?"  Eravel seemed to be taking this rather in stride, at least.

"Yeah, Jason why is that?  I thought it was just the movie last time but they're both like this."

"I dunno, do you really think I can answer that?  It was a lot weirder transitioning from that to this, I thought I was hallucinating."  

"And why are they all wearing clothes?"  Eravel asked.

"We didn't have much body hair, we got cold.  Or sunburnt.  Or both."  A knock sounded at the door, and Jason looked over at the regal form of Celestia.  

"Jason, can I speak with you for a moment?"  She asked.

"Sure, what about?"  He responded.

"Actually, I wanted to speak privately."  Jason felt a sinking feeling in his gut as he followed Celestia out of the room, and looked back at Dash to see that she looked nervous herself.  He shifted his attention back to the Princess, worryingly feeling some anger lance through the air.  She turned into another room, beckoning for him to follow.  

He walked inside and gasped as his eyes focused on the piles of assorted junk from his world.  This couldn't be good.

"So, Twilight informed me a while ago that things were coming from your country.  But you neglected to tell us that everypony there was actually human, as this junk shows."  She leaned forward, coming within inches of his face.  "Who are you really?"

Jason took a step back.  "I'm just who I said I was, except without the whole human part." 

"And what reason do I have to believe you?"

"What reason did you have to trust me back then?  You still did, and I proved myself."

"Proved?  You've kept this lie going to everypony!"

"Actually, I kinda told Dash on day one, and Lyra and Bon Bon later, and Scoots, and Tank, and Eravel."  Celestia drew away, seemingly less annoyed.  

"Why didn't you just inform my sister or me?"

Jason sighed.  "I would have, but it had taken so long for you to see me as any more than a changeling, I didn't want more things to get thrown into the equation.  I'm sorry."  She took a worryingly long silence in thought. 

"I understand, don't lose sleep over this.  At least we know now."  Jason nodded and glanced at the door, catching sight of a few multi colored hairs.  "You may as well come out, Rainbow Dash."  The princess said with a smile.  Dash lightly stomped a hoof into the ground in annoyance before trotting into the room.

"Don't blame him for not telling you princess, I was the one who didn't want to give anything away."  She was met with a confused expression from Jason.

"I'm sure you were,"  the princess said lightheartedly, "but I am no longer angry at him.  A little irked, maybe, but in no way mad."  She paused.  "You know, I take it?"

"Yes, I have since I met him.  He was up front about a lot of stuff, it's one of the things I like so much about him."

"So I take it that Twilight's last friendship report was about you two?"

"Maybe, what did it say?"

"I don't have it on me, but I believe it said something to the extent of, "Don't judge a book by it's cover, and be sure to trust your friends.  I actually started the whole 'friendship report' thing as a joke, but you know Twilight..."  She chuckled.  "You probably shouldn't tell her that."

"Yeah, no problem."  Jason replied, still a little wary of the princess.

"Okay, well, away with you."  She gestured a hoof towards the door dismssively.  "I'll send somepony by to get you when it's about time to go.  That should be soon, by the way."

"Okay, we'll be ready."  He said, making for the door.  He paused and grabbed a book out of one of the piles before continuing on his way.  Benevolent or not, Celestia wasn't easy to stare down.  He shivered.  That could've gone much worse.  Dash bumped against his side, giving him a reassuring look when he met her gaze.  

"You shouldn't be so tense all the time."

He rolled his eyes.  "Because I have a choice."

"Jason, you have like, one thing to worry about.  No money worries, basically you only have to worry about the team's well doing."

"Yeah, but--"  She pulled his head over and kissed him.

"Stop worrying, for me at least.  I want to see the old, happy go lucky Jason again."

"Okay, I'll try."  She smiled and nuzzled his cheek.  Jason smiled back and walked into the room, immediately rolling onto her bunk with a slight crunch of her armor.  "This armor's starting to grow on me, hopefully it won't start to fall apart too soon."

"It's really no surprise ponies thought you were some sort of changeling hybrid."

"I'd like to be a changeling, just for a while, to see what it's like."

"You just want the transformation part, huh?"  He smirked.

"Well, I think you'd like the idea of me being able to be any mare."

"It wouldn't be the same, I don't want another mare."

"Oh, you..."  She leaned over and nuzzled his cheek.  Tank groaned from across the room, evidently fed up. 

"Get a room!"  He said, rolling over on his bunk.

"Eravel doesn't seem to mind."  Jason shot back.  

"That's probably because he sleeps like a rock.  All griffins do."  That explained why all those griffins in the castle never woke up.  And why he hadn't said anything.

"Can you look at this face and say no?"  Jason turned Dash's head and caught Tank in her puppy-dog eyes, which came close to rivaling the CMC.  

"Yes."

"Dammit."  A knock sounded at the door, and Jason looked over at the culprit, a royal guard.  "Time to go?"  He asked.  The guard nodded.  They weren't really conversationalists.  Tank rolled out of his bunk and started getting his stuff together, and Jason flew up to Eravel's bunk to try to rouse him.  He poked his face a few times before hearing the impatient tapping of the guard.  He shrugged and pushed Eravel off the bunk, watching him contact the ground shortly after.  Eravel flailed around on the ground, trying to figure out what was happening, before he got up and rubbed at his head, looking up at Jason.  He frowned.

"Why did you push me off the bed?"

"We have to go, and you sleep like a rock."  Jason smiled widely.  Eravel just sighed and started getting his stuff together.  Jason jumped down with a chuckle, hissing in pain as his bad hoof contacted the ground.  Dash looked over at him and he waved a hoof at her, signaling to her that it was no big deal.  He threw the saddlebag over his back after sliding the computer and pad of paper inside, after noticing that it now read 'AWESOME!'  He smiled and showed it to Dash before sliding it back in.  

They were led down the hall and into a much larger room with the rest of Team Green Bean and Celestia already inside.  The princess gestured for them to follow her to a small balcony overlooking a square in the castle gardens, nearly overflowing with a couple hundred troops.  Dash and Jason stepped up to the edge, and there was a cheer from below.  Jason smiled.  He could get used to this.

"These are the new recruits from Ponyville and Cloudsdale, they arrived a couple days ago and have been put through training.  They're leaving in a group with you eight."

"There's only seven of us though."  

"Ah, yes.  Shining's got a new member waiting at Windforge."

"I see."  

"Would you like to say something?"  She asked.  Jason looked back over the sea of expectant ponies.

"I dunno, let me come up with something, hold on."  He contorted his face for a few seconds, and Dash giggled.  "Okay."  He trotted back to the edge, tapping a hoof as he waited for the crowd to quiet down.  They did after a few moments, and he began.

"So you've all been recruited, and I'm glad to see that so many ponies want to protect their own country like this.  Hopefully you didn't just come for the pay."  A few ponies laughed.  "You've been through basic training, and hopefully you have an idea what it's like out there.  Well take that, and throw it away.  War is chaos, death, suffering.  None of you will come out completely unscathed."  He paused.  "But that's no reason to give up.  One way or another, you ponies have the power to change the outcome of this conflict.  All you have to do is make sure that it changes for the better.  And never forget, you're not in this alone.  Our biggest strength lies in teamwork.  Lone wolf tactics will only get you killed, and the same goes for cowardice.  So get out there, and make a name for yourself, but more importantly, make a name for your squad, and your country.  Dismissed."  The ponies started stomping their hooves in applause before starting to make their ways to the carriages, wherever those were.

"So when do we leave, exactly?"

"Around now, as it turns out.  We've got all the carriages set up.  Follow me."  Celestia left the room, seven ponies in tow, and quickly exited the castle through a door that led into the gardens.  A few passing ponies saluted and congratulated him, he assumed for the speech, and saluted Dash separately afterwards.  She seemed to be enjoying the attention, hell, he was too.  It was a nice change of pace from the angry glares of the Ponyville citizens.   He shook another pony's hoof, and continued to follow the princess, who was consistently receiving the bows of passing ponies.  

They got to a street near the cliff at the edge of the city, with tons of chariots lined up for takeoff.  Tank, Dash and Eravel were ushered into one with him, while Archer, Hunter and Steve were stuck in another.  Eravel tugged a large bag onboard, pulling out a full set of leather armor that had obviously seen better days.  

"You didn't want better armor?"  Jason asked.

"None of it fit, but I guess I wouldn't have taken it anyways.  I hated it there, but I wanted something to remember my old friend.  This used to be his, before he was taken."  He replied.

"What do you mean, taken?"

"He said some stuff he shouldn't have said, and I guess the king silenced him.  Permanently."  Jason gaped.  

"We had countries like that, I actually grabbed a book on one earlier..."  He reached into his saddlebag, pulling out a copy of 1984.  "I don't know if you're interested, but, well, here."  He handed the book over.  

"Thanks!  I've never had a book before!"

"How bad were things there?"  Eravel didn't answer, instead choosing to look at a slightly loose nail in the floor.  Jason sighed.  It sounded like Stalin's Russia over there.  The Chariot lurched forward, and Jason could see from the window that they had taken off.  He took off the saddlebag, pulling out the pad of paper.  He felt Dash press up against him as he pulled out a pencil and wrote, 'We're leaving for griffin city, Windforge.  Is everything going okay over there?'

He stared at the page for a few minutes before a reply came through.  'I'm fine, I miss you two though.'  Jason smiled and wrote 'Same here, Scoots.'  He continued the conversation for a few more minutes, asking her about School and her friends.  Apparently she had returned to school after they had left, and was writing to him from class.  He hadn't been sure that she was actually in school until she wrote 'Cherilee's watching me, I have to go.'  Dash chuckled beside him, and Jason put the pad of paper away, replacing it with the computer.  

"You guys want to watch some more of this thing?"  They nodded, and Tank shifted to the other bench, no doubt causing havoc with weight distribution.  Jason pressed play, and they continued watching the carnage in the pilot episode.  

Jason looked out the window, distracted by the passing trees.  Maybe Dash was right, maybe he worried too much.  There wasn't anything to be taken lightheartedly, but there definitely wasn't much he had to worry about at the moment, she was right about that.  He sighed.  He'd find out if he was right soon enough.

	

	
> New Faces
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


New Faces


The chariot landed with a heavy thunk and skidded to a halt, tossing around the passengers as they tried to counteract the sudden stop.  Jason slid into the front wall, followed by Dash, Eravel, and Tank, in that order.  The door opened to a rather stony faced and rugged looking soldier, who immediately knew to look to the front.  

"Everypony okay?"  He asked, resting his hooves on the bottom of the doorframe.  Now he just looked bored.  Jason pushed Eravel off of himself and got up, lending a hoof to Dash, who had luckily not been between Tank and the wall.  Tank got up and sighed, running a hoof over the slightly warped boards on the wall before starting to pick up his stuff.  Jason checked that there was nothing new on the pad of paper before throwing his saddlebag and gun over his back and trotting out.  A rather large area had been cleared of trees to act as a makeshift LZ, and Jason watched as chariots continually took off and landed, bringing more troops to the front lines.  Dash tapped him on the shoulder and pointed in the direction that most of the ponies had started to drift.  

Eravel caught up as they started to walk through what could probably be described as a deciduous forest, already in the full colors of fall.  Dash shivered slightly at the nip in the air, away from the climate control of Equestria.  They got to the edge of the flat land, where the ground took a sudden dip, heading downwards on a dirt path.  Dash bumped against Jason, leaning on him slightly as they continued along the path.  

The small group walked into another clearing as the ground flattened once more, and as they got to the other side, which dropped off once again, Jason was graced with a full view of the town, maybe three hundred feet below.  The semi-lush surrounding valley gently sloped down to the village, which was somewhere around the size of Ponyville, maybe slightly larger, and had a small river running through it.  He could see specks walking around, most of them in small groups, probably the griffin soldiers.  He raised his eyes towards the sides of the valley, and could quite clearly see the beginnings of fires in the fading light.  

He sighed and turned away from the town, walking to the left along the side of the mountain, following the paths of most of the other ponies.  They crested a small hill, and a large group of tents came into view, fortified by wooden barricades on the hillside.  Dash trotted ahead, immediately going towards the large tent in the middle of the cluster.

She raised a hoof to knock out of habit, before sighing and putting it back down.  She walked forward and parted the flaps as Jason caught up, and they both entered.  The tent seemed much larger from the inside, housing a few bunks and another map like the one in Canterlot or Dash's house.  Shining Armor looked up from the map, moving a piece before walking over to greet them.  Dash saluted before elbowing Jason in the side to remind him to do the same.  Shining chuckled and gestured for them to join him at the map. 

"So you made it in one piece, I see."  Shining started.

"Barely, that landing could've been muuuuch worse."  Jason replied.

"Yeah, I know what you're talking about."  He paused.  "But on to more pressing topics.  How much did Celestia tell you?"

"There were hostages, we had time constraints, the mission wasn't forced.  That was about it."

"That's really all there is to it, unfortunately.  It's your team, you're the one who has to figure out a plan.  But I did some research, and I have a few possibilities."  He gestured to the map.  We're here, and this is the area where we think the hostages are."  He pointed to a group of miniature tents, then to a large building in the center of town.  

"So basically we have to get in and out as quietly as we can?"  Dash asked.  Shining nodded.

"Only if you think you can do it."  He paused, looking at a pad of paper.  "I'll be right back, I have to go see how the eastern line's doing.  They had to fight through a bunch of defenses to get the city surrounded, and they took a fair number of casualties."  He left the tent without another word, as Eravel and Tank trotted in a few seconds later.  

"Working on a plan there, boss?"  Tank asked.

"Yeah, the only good thing about having them surrounded is that we can come from anywhere.  But after we make our entrance, we're stuck with whatever plan we have."

"Well, you should probably focus on the downriver portion, that's were the city's the worst defended."  Eravel said, pointing a talon at a pair of miniature docks.  "Stuff was starting to fall into disrepair, there'd be lots of cover, and it'd be tough for them to react, considering all the debris in the way."

Jason tapped his hoof to his chin, sliding a piece down the ridge slightly.  "Even if we do that, it'll have to be at night.  We can't go in there being all obvious."  He sighed.  "That also means I can't use this gun to help out,"  He pointed to the AUG strapped to his back.  "It's loud when it shoots bullets if you didn't know."

"So we're stuck with low tech stuff for a while, that shouldn't be too bad, we've done it before."  Dash said, cradling a flash-bang in her hand.  

"Oh!  I did find something useful though.  Well, it was actually useless when I got it, but, whatever."  He pulled a pair of brass knuckles, handing them over to Eravel.  "Put those over your talons.  They just make punching stronger, essentially."  Eravel slid them on, pushing them until they were flush against the flat of his talon.  

"These have four holes though."

"We can cut the last one off.  Humans have four forward facing fingers, so that's why they're like that."

"I'm not going to really need these too much."

"Why?"  He shrugged and pulled a rather small bow out of his bag.  

"I made this a few years ago, before bows were outlawed.  Somehow I managed to keep it a secret, and now I can actually put it to use."

"When did you get that?"

"I went back to the house where you captured me, I had a lot of stuff there."  He pulled out an quiver that was packed with a ridiculous number of arrows.  "And then I spent most of my free time making these arrows.  I had a lot of free time."  Jason grabbed one of the arrows, holding it between his hooves.  

"I know nothing about arrows."  He said, realizing that he couldn't exactly say whether or not it would fly correctly.  "But this makes things simpler, we have a quiet, hopefully accurate ranged weapon.  Are you any good at archery?"

"I'm pretty good, I guess."  

"I probably should've saved the codename Archer for you."  Eravel chuckled.  Jason sighed and went back to the map, hoping he'd be able to come up with a better plan.  After a few minutes of silence, Tank and Eravel walked over to the bunk, leaving only Dash and Jason to try to come up with the logistics.  Jason moved the pieces around in the city, trying to find a route to city hall.  Every way he went, there was always an open area, or a place where the team would be spread too thin.  It was too dangerous.

"AAAGH, this is impossible!  Nothing works!"  

"That's never good to hear."  Shining said from the tent entrance.  "I've got that new member though."  He walked in the rest of the way, followed by a red pegasus mare with a purple mane, who looked around the room a little shyly. 

"What's her name?"

"M-morning Rain."  She said, taking a small step back.  Jason got up and walked over to her, sticking his hoof out to shake hers.  She contemplated the action for a moment before taking his hoof in hers and shaking.  Shining threw a wave back at Jason and left again.  Apparently he hadn't made it all the way over to the eastern line.  

"I don't want to sound rude, but what'd you do to get here?"  Jason asked.

"I got my unit out of a sticky situation a couple days ago, boss."

Jason nodded.  "You're replacing Plasma on beta team.  Glad you can join, we need everyone we can get."  She nodded.

"So what's the plan, sir?"

"You don't need all the formalities."  He said.

"Sorry sir."  Jason sighed.  

"Our first mission's going to be in a while, either tonight or tomorrow night, so make sure you're prepared."  She nodded and went over to Tank, immediately shaking his hoof excitedly.  Well isn't that nice...

"Dash, you wanna go get some fresh air or something?  I need to think, and I'm not getting anywhere here."  She giggled and nodded, bumping her flank with his as they went to leave.  Dash took off as soon as she exited, hovering a little ways up to make sure he was following.  They flew away from the tents and into the forest, dodging around the tops of the branches as Jason ran several scenarios through his head.  Dash barrel-rolled through a gap in the branches in front of him, swooping back around with several sticks in her mane.  

If they entered from the docks, he thought, they would be under cover for a while, but they'd still end up out in the open when they got to the wider streets.  What they needed, then, was a distraction.  A group of ponies who were able to hold their own while Jason led the others towards the hostages.  A group to keep their route of escape open.  Another team.  

Jason slowed down and landed on a sturdy branch, leaning against the trunk to keep his balance.  Staying on a tree limb with hooves wasn't easy.  A thump and shake of the branch notified him of Dash's presence as she joined him.

"Got an idea?"

"How well do you think a second team would work?"

"For a distraction?"

"Exactly.  You're really catching on."  She blushed.

"Well it's a lot better than anything else we've got."  She sat down on the tree branch, letting her back hooves dangle.  Jason sighed and sat next to her, shifting into a pegasus so that he could wrap a wing around her back.  The orange light of the sunset filtered through the treetops, turning more reddish as they continued to sit on the branch.  

"I love you Dash."  Jason said, pulling her in tighter with his wing.  "I just wish we were watching this same sunset from your front yard, and not here.  I know I've said this before, but you really didn't deserve all of this in your life."

"Jason--"

He put a hoof over her mouth.  "Just listen.  I know it was unavoidable, but even if I still ended up here, it could've been better, and I just wish I could change something.  Make it better, you know?"  He paused.  "I'm glad that you wouldn't take it all back, but I can't help but see what your life was like before all of this, and what it's like now.  Do you remember, when I first got here, and we blew up that apple in Cherilee's class?"

Dash nodded, evidently not needing a further response.

"We can't even do stuff like that anymore, everything's serious, life threatening even.  I just wish we could go back to the times where nothing got in the way.  Not just of us, but of Scoots, your friends, our well-being."  He drooped his head, sighing over the weight of his confession.  He could feel a few tears pooling in his eyes, which were quickly brushed away by one of Dash's wingtips.  

"Jason, the only reason I'm not happy right now is because you're beating yourself up over me.  It's not fair, you make me feel just as bad.  When I said I wanted the old Jason back, I meant it.  Just because we're in worse circumstances doesn't mean you can't still be light hearted."  Jason didn't resound, instead blinking another tear out of his eye.  Dash wrapped her hooves around him, pulling him into her embrace.  

After a few moments, Jason spoke up.  "If it'll make things better, I might as well give it a shot."  

"As long as you try harder than when you tried to dance earlier today."

Jason's face reddened, and Dash stifled a giggle at his sudden change in demeanor.  "Hey, I was trying.  I can't ever get totally used to all these legs.  And it didn't help that you were rolling on the ground laughing the whole time."

"Hey, you still learned some stuff."

He shoved her lightly.  "I already knew how to stumble around on my hooves, I learned that on day one.  I also learned how to fall on may face."  His expression grew serious.  "With style."  

Dash giggled, pulling him close into his chest as the sun continued to disappear behind the horizon.  "I'll have to teach you correctly sometime.  To dance I mean, I doubt you need any training to fall on your face."

"You wouldn't know, it takes skill.  I have my own technique and everything."  He tilted his forehead so that it was touching against hers.  "I have techniques for everything..."

"Oh really?  You have a technique for stealing dresses?"

"As a matter of fact..."  He trailed the sentence off.  "No."  Dash giggled and pulled his head towards hers, giving him a brief kiss.  

"Do you think we get our own tent?"  She asked.

"Your guess is as good as mine."  

"Do you know any soundproofing spells?"

"How about this.  I'll ask Shining for a book with that in it, I'm sure someone around here has a book with that in it anyway.  And in return..."

"Woah woah woah.  Why should I cut a deal with you?"  She put on an over-exaggerated expression of confusion.

"Because it serves our mutual interests."  He watched her facade break down into a genuine expression of interest.

"Well, go ahead, plan guy."

"In return, you have to get us our own tent.  So that may involve begging Shining."

"Ugh, begging.  I hate begging."  Jason chuckled, squeezing her shoulder.

"Oh, I know.  But I'm not all that good at magic, so this is more than fair."

"You better be really good in bed."

"I think with the whole 'I can be anyone' thing, it's impossible for me not to be.  But that doesn't mean I have to be another pony..."

"Why do you like being in changeling form?"

"I dunno, sometimes I just want to make sure that you still want me, and that you aren't just in this for the other ponies.  I also kinda want to do well without help.  It's more challenging."  He trailed his wing tip across the base of one of Dash's wings, and with a 'fwump' noise, it extended to full span.  She blushed, trying to pull it back into her body.  "And now I kinda know what you like."  He chuckled as she punched him in the shoulder.  

"Always the smooth-talker, huh Jason?"  

"Well this is me trying to be lighthearted, so yeah.  Just remember, you brought this on yourself."

She giggled.  "And I'm already regretting it."  Jason looked out at the horizon, which had turned a light purple.  

"We should get back, I've got the ideas, and we need as much time as we can get."  Dash nodded and leaned into him for another kiss before easily standing up on the branch, chuckling as Jason wobbled to his feet.

"I wasn't this clumsy before, really."  

"Whatever, Jason." 

"I'd like to see you try to walk around on two legs."

"But I guess we'll never know how well I'd do, will we?"

"Not unless something goes horribly wrong."

"And given us, it will."  They took off.  "So what's life like there?  On days without your job, I mean."

"There were a lot of things to do, if you knew where to look.  There were the obvious things, li--"  He swooped out of the way of a treetop, momentarily leaving Dash's side before swooping back.  "Like amusement parks and stuff, but you could do so many things for so little money though, night clubs, shooting ranges, restaurants serving foods that you can't even imagine...  And that's only stuff in the cities.  You could buy millions of products for rather small amounts of money, like these mock guns, which were called Airsoft.  Then you'd just get some friends together and play a game.  Even with all the population, there were huge open areas, I had a creek in my backyard when I was a kid, and me and my friends would go back there and explore, play games, you name it."

"What about manticores and wolves?"

"We don't have manticores, actually, but most large predators stayed away from civilization.  At least, during the day.  The whole world was like the Everfree in a sense, but that just gave it a sense of adventure, a concept of unpredictability.  It really let your imagination go free.  And that's what I miss most about the place."  They went silent for a few moments, before Dash looked back over.

"What's your last name, Jason?"

He sighed.  "I forgot I never told you.  It's Harding."

"Jason Harding."  She rolled the name around in her mouth.  "I kinda like it, I mean it's weird like the other one, but I got used to that."  Jason chuckled and pointed downwards towards the sea of tents that they were currently gliding over in the dusk light.  

"We should get to work here, see how fast we can get done with everything."  He shifted back into changeling form.

"Deal."  She swooped down and landed, skidding slightly as she came to a stop.  Jason was much more careful, trying to keep his hoof from getting re-injured.  He'd landed on a rock the day after he got out of the hospital, and it had definitely looked strange to the people in the square when some random pegasus started rolling around on the ground and yelling like crazy.  He chuckled at the memory.

They walked back into the large tent, immediately met by the stares of Shining and the rest of Team Green Bean.

"Where were you?"  Shining Armor asked, crossing his hooves.  "We have a plan to get together, and you're going out and flying around, or doing whatever with your mare-friend."

"Shining."  Jason started.  "I know what we're going to do, assuming this works."  He walked over to the map.  "I couldn't figure anything out, because I was looking at it the wrong way.  We don't need stealth so much as a distraction."

"How are you going to got a distraction and keep them from just killing the hostages?"

"Ha!  Ya see, that village is surrounded by trees.  All we have to do is place another team out there to pull attention away.  Just throw rocks around for all I care, then take care of the griffins if they investigate."  He paused.  "You got another set of those paper pads?"

Shining opened a drawer full of notepads and pulled out a couple.  "Yeah, the princesses went way overboard with this, but here."  He handed them over.

"Now, when we get the hostages, being quiet doesn't matter as much.  If we get found out, we can blast our way out while the other team comes towards us.  Here, look."  He took several griffin pieces and placed them inside the city, then placed a couple pony figurines to one side.  "Worst case scenario, they only draw a couple griffins away, or keep them distracted in place.  We're entering down here at the docks and going down this street by the side of the city, the portion that the griffins should get drawn from.  Then we're hanging a right here and sticking to the left side of the river until we get to town hall.  The stuff by the river is mostly alleyways, so that's under cover.  As soon as we break out the hostages, we send the other ponies a message using this pad of paper--"

"And they rush in, sandwiching the griffins between the two teams.  Nice!"  Dash finished.  "What you just did, Jason, is create your first well thought out plan."  He gave her a look.  

"Thanks for boosting my confidence."  

"Always a pleasure."  She replied, giggling.

"Hey, not to rain on your parade, but we don't have another eight ponies just lying around."  Shining said.

"None.  You haven't seen any ponies do anything noteworthy?"  Jason asked, frowning.

He groaned.  "I'll check in with the higher up soldiers tomorrow morning, and we'll get another team together.  Just once, I'd like to be the lazy one."  

"Well then what would we do?"  He gestured between himself and Dash.

"Actual work?"

"Naaaaaaah, that's ridiculous.  Let's be realistic here."  Jason said.  Shining sighed and facehoofed.  

"You two are way more trouble than you're worth."  They lapsed into silence as Shining got back to whatever he was doing prior to their return.  

"Hey, do you have any magic books around here?"  Jason asked.

"We had a bunch arrive yesterday, bookshelf over there."  He pointed over his shoulder, still looking at the map intently.  Jason walked over to the bookshelf, stealing a glance over at Tank and Morning Rain, who really seemed to be hitting it off, chatting over on the cot.  Eravel was on the bunk above them sharpening an arrow against one of his claws, or possibly the opposite.  

Jason pulled a book off the shelf, another guide, which seemed to be written for young adult ponies.  At least he was getting closer to his actual age.  He flipped through the table of contents, opening to the sound proofing spell page.  'Deafens sound by forty decibels!'  He shut the book.  Dash was way louder than forty decibels.  They had decibels here.  Huh.

He pulled another book from the shelf, flipping to an almost identical spell.  Judging by the coefficient of magic, however, it needed much more energy.  But it also blocked a lot more sound.  He shrugged and set the book on the ground in front of himself, ignored  a 'come on...' from Dash directed towards Shining, and focused as best he could.  He put magical energy in, changing it into a different form of magical energy using the formula.  It wasn't a particularly hard system to understand, really.  As Twilight said, it only got hard when you got to magic theory, and had to adjust for variables in your head without a set formula.

He waited a few more seconds before running the energy through the formula as he looked at it on the page.  How it worked, he would never know, but when he looked up a few seconds later he could tell that there was something in between him and the rest of the room.  It was kind of like a thin film of water, ever so slightly distorting the room's normally straight lined tables and chairs.  

Jason yelled, he screamed.  None of them reacted.  He insulted Shining's mother.  Nothing happened.  This was a pretty good spell, as it turned out.  He pumped a little more energy in, watching it expand slightly.  Then he let it lapse, cutting off the energy and watching the film fade into non existence.  

"--on, Shining."  He heard Dash finish.  So it worked both ways then.  Shining hit his hoof on the table.  

"God dammit, fine!  Tent G8.  Now leave me alone!"  Dash smiled and walked over towards Jason.  

"I've got my half of the deal, you got yours?"

"Yup, I'm bringing this book just in case though."  He said.  Dash giggled and made for the door, shivering slightly when they got into the frigid outside air.  She looked around before setting off in what seemed to Jason to be a random direction.  She zig-zagged between the tents, looking down at a scrap of paper in her hoof before changing direction again and skirting around another tent.  She stopped for a moment before walking inside one.  

Jason followed her into the rather large tent, smaller than Shining's of course, but big nonetheless.  There were a couple sets of bunks on each wall, and Dash had already stripped most of the mattresses and moved them onto the floor in the middle of the tent.  Jason grabbed another mattress from the bunk next to himself and tossed it onto the pile.  

"Jason, is this place soundproof yet?"

"No, I need you to tell me when it gets just outside the tent.  It's like a film of water, kinda.  Ready?"

"Sure, go ahead."  She waved a hoof for him to continue.  He nodded and focused some magic through his horn, creating a small soundproof zone a couple seconds later.  He expanded it out until he couldn't see the effect on the walls of the tent, and Dash pulled her head back inside and nodded.  She calmly walked over to him, smirking, before tackling him onto the pile of mattresses and running her hooves along his wings as she kissed him feverishly.  She broke away a couple seconds later, trying to get some words in.

"I love you Jason."  She managed to get out before he smiled and pulled her face back down to his, meeting her lips with his own.


___________________________________________________________


Jason awoke to the chirping of birds and a small ray of light coming from the window on the side of the tent.  He looked over at Dash, who quickly closed her eyes and tried to look like she was still asleep.

"Watching me, eh?"

"Don't act like you don't like the attention."  She giggled.

"I have to say, attention's a lot better when I'm not disguised.  Not like, actually better, but I like it more."  

"Hey, how come you never mention any of my emotions?  You mention how others feel about stuff often enough."

"I don't notice them anymore.  Actually, that's not right, it's more of a subconscious thing, I don't need to process the emotions, it's like an extension of your body language.  And it makes finding things you like,"  He yanked part of her mane and she gasped, her face turning red.  "Easy."  She dug a hoof into his chest, still slightly annoyed.

"I wonder how well you'd get on if you didn't have all this going for you."

"Probably not as well.  But then again, you wouldn't have such high standards."  He poked her chest.  "So, you want to get all this stuff over with and relax the rest of the day, or do it in the reverse order?"

"If Shining's got some new ponies together, I'm kinda excited to see who they are." 

"Yeah, okay.  So, next order of business, we should probably at least put back these mattresses.  Make it a little less obvious."

"Like it isn't already blatant."

"Just get off the pile."  He tossed her into the air with his magic and she let out a yelp before landing to the side and giggling.  

"Aren't you the assertive one today?"

"I didn't sleep well, a haphazard pile of crappy mattresses tends to do that to you."  He floated the mattresses to their respective bunks and turned to leave after he was sure they were in place.  He walked through the exit to the tent, looking around for the sun.  It was probably around nine, so they hadn't slept particularly late.  He turned his attention to searching for the big tent, which turned out to be right next to theirs, and he started to walk over.  Dash caught up soon after, blushing slightly when she saw how close their tent was to Shining's.  

"Rainbow Dash, master of direction."  Jason said, rolling his eyes.

"It was dark!"

"I'm just giving you a hard time..."  He pushed open the flaps to Shining's tent, finding it rather empty.  Shining stood up from behind a table with a scroll in his hoof, having evidently crouched down to grab it.  

"Hey,"  He started, "I got some ponies together.  I didn't really have much time, or as much of a system for showing me who were the good fighters, though.  Pretty much everypony fought in Canterlot, so that was easy."  He walked back out the door, gesturing for them to follow.  They walked through the tent city, now bustling with activity as ponies trotted this way and that.  One ran by with a cart full of spears and pieces of armor.  

"Steel?"  Jason asked as the wagon passed.

"Yeah, really nice stuff, that."  He elbowed Jason.  "So I guess we're catching up on your military fast huh?"

Jason choked back a laugh.  "Do you want the feel-good answer or the right answer?"

"Well it was a little bit of a joke, but sure, give me the real answer."

"No.  If we were supposed to just take out the cities, they would all be smoldering craters in a couple of hours.  With no casualties on my side.  Thus the feel good answer."  He chuckled as Shining gave him a few looks, trying to figure out if he was bluffing.  "We made bombs that pretty much obliterate anything in an eight mile radius.  Of course, we took that and made power plants out of a very slowed down process, so we got more than just bombs out of it."

"Eight miles."

"Yeah.  So these recruits, what did they do to get here?"  Shining shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts.

"A few took down some fortified griffins, the rest just got medals of honor, bravery, that kind of thing.  One of them's a corporal."

"You seriously changed your rank systems?"

"They didn't really make sense for an army.  For the royal guard it was fine, that's a small force, but here we need more of a chain of command."

"So they're well cut out for this?  The new guys I mean?"

"I think so, it's not like they're the ones going into the city or anything.  Although I'm kinda surprised you're bringing that griffin with you."

"He lived here for a while, he should know his way around."

"But do you actually trust him?"

"I don't have any reason to distrust him, he's only helped so far."

"Even so, just watch your back."  Shining made an abrupt turn, walking into a clearing with a earthen stage, pedestal, something like that.  He gestured for Jason and Dash to sit down on one of the benches, which were basically just logs cut in half, and walked onto the raised stage.  

"You've all been called here because there have been hostages taken in the griffin city over there, and your objective is to bring them back safely.  All of you will be moving out to your respective positions at twenty one hundred tonight, to free those ponies before dawn.  We'll be going back to the tent after this meeting to go over the plan and assign positions, but this was an easy place to get you all together."  He turned toward Jason.  "Want to add anything?"  

Dash elbowed him in the side and he sighed, swapping positions with Shining.  He looked over the new group of ponies, a rather rag tag bunch, not particularly menacing looking.  He sighed.  

So this is the best Shining could come up with.  
> "This Is What I Have to Work With?"
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


"This Is What I Have to Work With?"


Jason sighed, looking over the group of ponies.  He definitely had his work cut out for himself.  When Team Green Bean had been put together, the fighting in Canterlot was based in stealth, coordination, skill.  It was exactly what he needed.  He didn't doubt that these were the best ponies he had to work with, but they sure didn't look as promising as Team Green Bean had been in the beginning.  There was a fairly large earth pony in the back, a couple pegasi, another earth pony, a unicorn stallion and a pegasus mare dressed in some sort of military uniform, another unicorn, and three more earth ponies.  At least one of the earth ponies was a mare.  There were ten of them for some reason, he figured that was so he could cut ponies from the team.  Good call Shining.

"So I guess I really only need to talk to the new members.  The rest of you, just go meet at the tent."  Tank and the rest of the team minus Dash got up and left, leaving only the new team, himself, and Dash.  He sighed and began to talk.

"I'm sure you know why you're here, whether you know of the mission or the team we're hoping to recruit you to, it doesn't matter.  If you're totally clueless though, this is recruitment for Team Green Bean."  There was a snicker.  "I'm assuming you don't want me to yell as much as Shining, so don't interrupt.  I'm not in a great mood."  He paused.  "Now, there are hostages in the town, and we're going to try to save them without alerting the griffins that we're there.  This is a stealth mission, and one small screw up could result in the death of ponies."  He let that sink in.

"But," he picked up the speech, "I'd like to think that you all are up to the challenge, and that you'll make a good temporary or permanent part of Team Green Bean.  Before you applause, or whatever shit ponies normally do, think about what you're getting into.  There is no lifeline, besides what's left of your squad.  I don't know how much fighting any of you have done, but war is completely amoral.  Griffins aren't going to let you live if they get the chance to kill you, and you shouldn't give them the same.  If you don't have the patience or the presence of mind for this mission or even the guts, get up and leave now."

A pony in the back shifted, but stayed put.  All the others didn't even so much as move a muscle.  "Alright then.  I want to see you all at Shining's tent in fifteen minutes, no later.  We'll be testing you in some way before you get onto the team.  Canterlot was the test before, but this time I'm coming up with something."  He paused.  "That reminds me, there's ten of you here.  Eight get in, possibly fewer if I don't get enough ponies that pass.  Feel free to do whatever you want until meeting time, but after that we're testing and training.  Dismissed."  The ponies continued to stay rather still.  "I said dismissed."  

Jason walked over to Dash as the ponies started to move and talk to one another, grabbing her hoof and helping her up.  

"You were pretty hard on them."  She said as they started the short walk back.

"I needed to be, I honestly don't think they're all up for the challenge."

"We were, and we don't look it."

"Yeah, but we're pretty brave, and we're also damn good fighters.  Some of these ponies could just be one or the other.  Or neither, I suppose."

"I guess we are putting our lives in their hooves if this plan's to go off the way you planned it."

"Yeah, I really don't want to give anyone power over my life, not unless I really trust them."  He sighed.  "I mea--"  Jason fell over, going stiff for a moment before bringing his hooves up to his head.  Dash looked on in horror as he convulsed on the ground for more than thirty seconds.  Jason stopped his writhing, breathing heavily as he tried to recover.  Dash put his hoof over her neck and pulled him over to a nearby tree, sitting him against its trunk and checking him over for injuries.  

"What the hell was that, Jason?"  She finally asked after finding nothing.  Well, besides the slow healing cut on his forehead.

"I-- I don't know.  I was just going along, and then my brain was just filled with voices, hundreds of voices, and I couldn't handle it, I couldn't tune them out.  I don't know why they're gone now, but I really hope that doesn't happen again."  He closed his eyes, shivering at the rather fresh memory.

"You don't think--"

Jason put a hoof to his forehead.  "What?"

"You don't think that it was the hive mind, do you?"  

"I dunno, sounds like it could be, but why now?"

"I don't know.  You sure you're alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine.  Let's just get going."  He got up from his position against the tree, clearly still shaken judging by the wavering of his legs.  

"I really chose a weird colt-friend."  

"I warned you.  It's only going to get weirder."

"I'm not complaining; it keeps things interesting."  They got back to the tent village and zig zagged back around the tents before they found Shining's and entered.   The ponies inside looked up briefly before returning to whatever they were doing previously, and Shining made his way over.  

"What'd you tell them?"

"Basically that I'd be testing them later today, and that they're going to be here in ten or so minutes so that we can get started."  He cleared his throat, immediately garnering the attention from the rest of Team Green Bean.  "You six are going to be helping with the new members today, I'm sticking you all out in a forest, and putting the recruits through various drills against you six.  I'll be judging how they're doing and decide who I'm going to keep from there.  It'll also get you ready for tonight."

Tank raised his hoof and Jason nodded in acknowledgment.  "How are we going to fight them?  We can't exactly use spears."

"We'll use sticks.  Basically spears without the sharp part."  He paused.  "Me and Dash'll be watching anyway, we'll just impose some sort of penalty for cheating.  That work for everyone?  The whole plan I mean?"  He heard several sounds of acknowledgment.  "And Morning Rain, think of this as a chance to find your place on the team.  You too Eravel, although I guess you've been around a while."  He turned so that he was addressing the entire team.  "Do whatever you want to get ready, just meet back here in a bit."

"Trial by fire, eh?"  Shining asked.

"Yeah, you could say that.  I guess we'll see to what extent when it starts."  He looked around.  "You got a whistle?"


__________________________________________________________________


Jason looked over the recruits, lined up in front of him.  He had passed a clipboard around for them to list their names and had given them numbers for easier differentiation.  That way they could just line up in order and he could read down the list, appearing to know all of their names.  That's how bored he was right now.  Dash landed beside him, pulling his saddlebag off her back and tossing it over.  Jason grabbed it midair, sliding out the pad of paper to check for any messages.  He found it mostly blank, except for a small message in the upper corner, 'I miss you.'

Jason sighed, tossing the pad over to Dash with a pencil in case she wanted to say anything.  He slid the computer out of his saddlebag next, along with Dash's ghillie suit.  He quickly powered the computer and pulled up a spreadsheet, where he typed the numbers and coat colors of each pony for future scoring.  He put an asterisk next to the two ponies that were apparently some sort of higher rank.  He waved Shining over, setting the ghillie suit on the ground.  

"Something wrong?"

"Yeah, why are those two ranked up again?"

"I saw some potential in them.  I had to make some sort of structure here, and I needed some lower command ponies."  He shrugged.  "I can always demote them in they turn out to not be up to the challenge."

"Alrighty then.  What I'm going to do first is, hold on, sorry."  He turned to look over at Dash, who was writing on the pad of paper.  "Dash?"

She responded without looking up.  "Yeah?"

"Can you put this on and go hide in a bush in that clearing over there?"  He pointed through a thin line of trees behind the recruits.  "I want to show them how easy it really is to hide around here, especially since it's in broad daylight."

"Yeah, sure.  I'm just gonna finish this."  She went back to her mad scribbling.

"Go ahead, we have time."  He turned back to Shining.  "Anyway, after that brief thing, I've sent Team Green Bean out there, and the initial plan is to have them set up a base and defend it.  I noticed some old ruins of some sort of stone fortification for that, and then I'm gonna send the rest of the ponies in two teams against them.  I'll be judging their proficiency, and that'll allow me to pick the team members, hopefully.  There'll be at least one more test thing, but I'll make that up when I see how they do with this."

"Yeah, I pretty much only made them run around, do a few co-op exercises, that kind of thing.  Nothing like this.  I didn't have a lot of time to get training in, but considering how sore some of them were the day before mobilization, I'd guess I did a pretty good job.  I had to turn a few ponies away though, there were definitely some pretty dense ones, and I couldn't really see them excelling in the field."

"Good call."  He paused.  "So did you get that whistle?"

"Yeah, Here."  He handed it over, and Jason threw it around his neck.  

"I really don't remember why... Oh yeah, to call ponies out if it isn't obvious.  That reminds me, we have sticks, right?"

Shining nodded and motioned for Jason to follow him.  They got to the closest tent, a little ways away from the rest of the camp, and Shining disappeared inside, returning with a large pile of sticks in his magic.  He trotted back over and set them on the ground.  "This good?  Oh, and I got a flag.  Something to capture."

"Yeah, that's more than enough.  Good idea by the way."  Jason picked them up in his own magic, checking to see that Dash had left before walking over to the rookies, still lined up.  He tossed a stick in front of each of them, watching as they dawned slightly confused expressions.

"Listen up!"  Jason started.  "These are your weapons, as far as I'm concerned.  I'm dividing you up into two teams, and your objective is to capture a small ruin out in the forest.  Your ability to work as a team and your judgement as an individual will be weighed, and ponies will be cut from the team.  I will not tolerate lone wolf tactics, even if you do somehow capture the ruin all by your lonesome."  He paused.  "You're probably wondering why this is such a hard mission.  Well, I've got the rest of Team Green Bean out there, defending the ruins.  If you get hit with one of these sticks, you better call yourself out.  Cheating is just going to make you that much weaker in war, and if I see it it'll make it much harder to get on the team.  Understand so far?"

"SIR YES SIR!"  Shining had done a good job, apparently.  

"What was that?!?!"  He couldn't resist.  He held back a chuckle at the audible inhale.

"SIR YES SIR!!!!"  He chuckled to himself.  

"Alright, you're going to be in two teams, going for the same goal.  Feel free to help each other out, or sabatoge the other team.  Just know that being on the winning team doesn't ensure you a place on Team Green Bean."  Shining tossed two maps over to Jason, who quickly levitated them to separate sides of the line.  He figured he'd just divide it down the middle, get those two higher ranked ponies on one team.  It sounded stupid for fairness, but as far as Shining could tell, they only had potential, maybe some battlefield skill.  They all had that, really.  

"Now,"  He continued,  "This is a map of the area.  Your objective is marked, along with the path you have to take to  get to the area in which I want you to start."  He smacked his fore hooves together, waiting to see if anyone wanted to say anything.  "Okay then,"  He started walking down another path, further into the woods before gesturing for the group to follow.  "I'm guessing that none of you needed to hide much in whatever you were assigned to do."  He stopped in the middle of the clearing, which was carpeted in short grass.  "Find the pony in this clearing."  They shifted uncomfortably.  "Go ahead, look around.  Betcha can't find her."

Shining walked up next to Jason, looking around himself.  He pointed a hoof subtly.  "That her over there?  In that bush?"  He kept his voice down.  

"Yeah, I think so.  You can never be totally sure.  I guess I can, but only because of emotions coming off her, and those are still pretty unnoticeable.  I mean, that could be a bit of her face, or a trick of the light.  They still haven't found her, so she's obviously done a good job."

"Where did you come up with that costume of hers, by the way?  You had it before the attack, if I remember correctly."

"Yeah.  Snipers from my country wear those and hide in bushes and tall grass, general foliage, and then pick people off.  So I just cut up a bunch of Dash's old dresses and made that thing.  You should see about placing an order somewhere, they're pretty useful."

Shining chuckled at the recruits, which were still looking around.  "Clearly."

"You wanna have a little fun?"  Jason asked.  Shining raised an eyebrow.  "Dash!  Come on out!"  They waited for a few seconds before Dash jumped out of a bush and into the ranked mare, who let out a kind of rushed yelp as she put up her arms and fell backwards.  She put a hoof over her heart, taking in a few deep breaths as Dash helped her to her feet.

"You shoulda' see the look on your face!  Priceless!"  By now Jason and Shining had joined into the laughter, and judging by the recruits' expressions, they weren't as amused.  Jason wiped his eyes, taking a few breaths to try to calm himself.  

"Ha, Jason,  I have to...haha...go."  Shining said through his laughs.  He paused a moment, trying to calm down as well.  "I gotta make sure the lines are still in order.  It's been fun though."  He tapped Jason's shoulder with a hoof before turning and leaving, sending a wave back.  Jason and Dash did quick solutes, as did the rest of the recruits.  

"So what did we learn there?"  Jason asked.  A pony raised their hoof.  

"Surprise is important?"

"Sure, but more importantly, the combination with a good hiding place and timing.  And planning."  He paused, clapping his fore hooves together.  "So without further ado, let's get to work here.  The sooner we're done, the sooner you can get to sleep to prepare.  Get out your maps and start off now, and I'll blow the whistle after I check to see if Team Green Bean's ready.  Anything you want to say, Dash?"  She nodded and stepped forward.

"You gotta play this like it's war.  I know he's said that, but I have something to add.  If you get hit with the end of the spear, assign a sharp end now, by the way, play it like you got hit there.  Limp if you get hit in the hoof, don't walk at all if you get hit in the shoulders, hips, thighs or biceps, and basically act incapacitated or dead if you're hit in the chest, throat or head.  Drag injured ponies to safety, throw them over your back, anything to get them out of there.  And you have to bring back that flag or take out everypony else to win."  she paused, trying to think of something else.  "I think that's it."

"Yeah, I can't believe I forgot that.  Now stealth.  You saw what she did.  Remember, be resourceful, be smart, be silent.  And use your resources to their fullest."  He looked around at the ponies.  "Go ahead, start off on your ways, but listen for the whistle.  You have to get to the staging area first, though.  Now go go go!"  He watched as they got into their groups and quickly trotted off into the trees.  As the crunching and thundering sounds disappeared into the forest, Jason turned to Dash.  

"I think this is actually going to work."


______________________________________________________


Dash glided into the center of the ruin, landing on the overgrown cobblestones.  Jason landed behind her, letting out a slight hiss as he hit his hoof too hard on the ground.  Team Green Bean was already gathered around, loaded up with sticks and apparently expecting their arrival.  

"So what's the game plan?"  Tank asked.

"You six have to basically defend this place from capture.  Capture being them taking this flag."  He tossed over the orange flag to Archer, who walked over to the middle of the small courtyard before sinking it into the ground between the stones with a slight grunt.  "So are all of you ready?"  They nodded.  "Make sure you try to get your strategy to work with Eravel and Morning Rain, it'll help later.  We'll be watching."  He took off, catching up with Dash, who had taken off a moment earlier.  

She pointed to a particularly high tree and they glided over, setting up camp on the highest branch that could hold their combined weight.  Jason got out his computer, re-opening the spreadsheet.  

"So we can see almost everything from here, right?"  Jason asked.

"Yeah, I think I can see the two other clearings from here."

"Alright, I'm going to blow this whistle, do you want to go fly and make sure they're starting?  Maybe award a couple of points if they're already organized or anything like that?"

"You're asking the fastest, best flyer in Equestria to fly around.  What do you think?"  She giggled, looking downward at Team Green Bean, all of which had spread out into the surrounding forest.  Someone had written "Come and take it" on the flag.  Jason chuckled.  Oh, the coincidences around here... too bad no one will get that reference. 

He pulled out the whistle and sounded it, breaking the normal silence of the forest.  Dash got up from her seat and stretched in a manner much like a cat, clearly teasing him as she arched her back and rump into the air.  

"You really don't have any subtlety, do you?"  Jason asked.

"I wasn't trying to be subtle.  Admit it, you like it when I'm not subtle."  Jason smirked and turned away.  She took a step over and nipped at his ear, returning his smirk.

"I thought so."  With a rush of air and a flap of her wings, she was already over the ruin, making a quick turn towards one of the groups.  He had barely any time to get back to looking around the clearing before she shot past again, more of a blur than a pony.  Another forty or so seconds later she landed on the branch beside Jason, who jumped a little at the sheer speed she really possessed.  That kind of velocity was probably pushing it for him, and she didn't even look winded.

"Fastest flyer in Equestria is right.  Jeez dash."

"I try."  She paused to preen a couple feathers back into place.  "Team one through five gets two points, the other gets one."

"Not that I doubt you, but why?"

"The low team, I'm calling them that now, had another map etched into the dirt, and they were moving out in what looked like a calculated fashion.  The other team, high team, had a formation as they moved through the forest.  Non specific, but they were in positions where they could watch each other.  That a good enough reason?"  She punched him playfully.

"I guess so."  He put down the new scores before returning to his watch over the clearing.  "I think we need some background music though."

"You have some?"

"Emphasis on background, but it seems kinda fitting."  He opened a window and hit play.



A few minutes later, Dash nudged him in the side urgently and pointed across the clearing to the right, apparently the 'high' team, as she called them, was making it's appearance.  It was a good thing this tree was offset from the tree line, they had a pretty good view of everything.  A bush shifted, followed by a couple more, moving down the clearing.  A bout of loud shuffling came up below them as Archer tackled one of the recruits, pinning him with the stick across his throat.  The pony went mock-limp, and Archer dragged him into a nearby bush before re-hiding himself.  

Jason put an 'X' next to number seven, although he gave him half a point for actually acting dead that quickly.  Honesty was worth something, at least.  Although the fact that he was alone begged the question, what had gone wrong?  An easily visible scuffle occurred across the way as four of the ponies from low team stumbled onto Tank's hiding place.  Tank dove out of the way to avoid a 'spear' thrust, feinting backwards.  Morning Rain jumped out and tackled the pony advancing on Tank, and when Jason looked back to where the other ponies of team low had been, they were already gone.  Dash flew over to ID the body, mouthing the word 'three' she landed back on the branch.

Jason sighed and marked another 'X'.  Maybe they'd learn.  They had better, this wasn't exactly a great showing.  A branch shifted behind them as a pony stabilized himself on a branch, looking around at the foliage below.  The pony made a signal to an unseen pony or group of ponies, and they surrounded a bush, one of the ponies going out into the open to act as bait, or being an idiot.  Jason decided to assume that there was planning involved.  Jason chuckled as the bush, presumably with Hunter inside, continued to remain still.  The two ponies not acting as bait came up from behind bushes and threw their sticks, one of them flying true and going partially into the bush before hitting Hunter.  The stallion stumbled out, and with a 'Dammit' of annoyance, he was 'dead' on the ground.

There was total silence for a few minutes, minus the quiet dragging of Hunter's body.  So they were learning.  He marked a few points for the ponies, awarding an extra one for the pony that had thrown the spear correctly.  So that was everyone from low team so far, and only one appearance from high team.  They had seemed more together in the beginning, he hoped that wasn't just a fluke.  

His hopes were answered as four ponies, the two officers included, came out of the forest on the far side, moving in a small formation.  They did a good job keeping at each other's speed and watching their areas, but he wasn't sure whether to award them points for planning the formation or take them away for not neutralizing ponies in the forest.  He settled with none, figuring he'd wait to see if they had something more involved planned.  

The ponies reached the knocked down side of the ruin, which they used as an entrance.  He was able to award some points from their immediate corner checks and strategic positioning of ponies.  That was definitely a good thing to see.  What was also easy to see as they trekked back into the forest was the orange flag, strapped to the stallion officer's back.  So stealth for him wasn't an option.  Some shuffling underneath him and the sudden movement of a group of ponies let him know that the other group had caught on and was moving to intercept.  Points for knowing the situation and moving to adjust.

As they passed, the further movement of bushes a ways behind the group of ponies notified him that Archer was still in pursuit, staying a safe distance behind.  Jason heard some more sounds of scuffle, turning his head a little too late and missing a small fight that left Tank and another pony 'dead'.  Number five, Dash said as she flew back over.   Jason watched the forest to the left, awaiting the inevitable clash of the teams.  That came soon enough as the trio worked their way quietly around, getting to a slight gap in the trees, too small to be considered a true clearing.  

The ponies from the high team jumped out at the passing low team, still attempting to create a formation with one less pony.  Their strategy seemed to work, knocking out two of low team's ponies to their one, as both teams backed off and regrouped.  

"Let's get on over there then."  He packed away his computer and signaled to the 'dead' ponies behind him that it was fine to get up and make their way over.  

"Yeah, over huh?"  She stretched out her wings, gliding down across the clearing after Jason.  As they made their way over, the groups charged at each other, only to have a few small piles of leaves explode as Eravel and Steve jumped into the fight from behind, along with the Morning Rain and Archer, who had both been trailing the teams the whole time.  

It was over within a couple of seconds.  Evidently the whole 'bursting out of the leaves' thing had caught the ponies a little off guard, hell, he hadn't been expecting it.  They landed next to the group a few seconds later and Jason blew the whistle, to make sure all of the other ponies made their way back.  He waited a few minutes for them to get back before lining them back up and speaking.

"That was good, I'm pleasantly surprised you all did that well after a start like that."  A couple ponies blushed.  "But there was obvious room for improvement.  None of you took the threat of being followed seriously enough, you all figured that you were the one several moves ahead of the others.  I like to keep my strategy simple.  Never underestimate the enemy.  Overestimating is fine, it means you're ready, for sure."  He paused.  "Now, there were some parts I liked, like the formations and the bait trap thing you had going across the clearing.  But here's the thing, you need to be more resourceful.  Getting in the tree is a good example."

"I guess while we're at it,"  he continued,  "you guys need to take out all the threats first, then get to the objective, especially when it involves going out into the open like that.  That flag's not going anywhere.  And don't be so obvious about where you're going, trick the enemy, make him think he's got you pinned.  Don't enter into fights that you don't think you'll win."

"Okay, round two.  Same drill.  Go!"


_________________________________________________________________


The sun was starting to dip in the afternoon sky, as Jason lined up the ponies for hopefully a final time.  He grabbed their sticks and tossed them back into the storage tent nearby, they had since returned to camp after a rather long and interesting round three.  Jason threw a wave to a passing Shining, probably out to see what was taking them so long, before trotting back to the recruits.  He grabbed the computer, pulling up the spreadsheet and sighing.  Three and nine.  He grabbed the clipboard, opening his mouth to speak.

"So before I send two of you away, I'd like to state my gratitude for you going through all of this, even if it turned out to have no gain.  Even if you don't make it onto the team, you still have bragging rights for being selected, and you should be proud that your skills are this well toned.  Now without further ado, the ponies on the team are as follows, in order of score.  Breeze Glider, Light Dasher, Star Grazer, Dusk Sky, Dull Shine, Rain Flurry, Wood Work, and Blueblood."  What the fuck?  He read it again.

"Did you just say Blueblood, Jason?"  Dash asked.  "Cuz it sounded kinda like you did..."

"I did, it's right here on the sheet."  He showed her the clipboard.  "So maybe one of them's joking?"  He turned to the ponies.  "Which one of you is Blueblood?"  He put air quotes around the last word.  

One of the ponies tentatively raised his hoof.  "That would be me."  He said.  Jason walked over to the pony, looking him over more closely.  It wasn't surprising that he hadn't recognized the pony, his white coat had grayed with dust and his blonde hairdo was totally unkempt.  So yeah, no surprise.

"What happened to you?"

"I wanted to actually do something with my life, and your stu- war seemed like a good enough cause."

"But what made you change?  If I remember, you were one of the ponies on the sidelines in Canterlot.  You know what, I'm not going to question it.  Welcome to the team."  He turned back to the group.  "I should have probably said this earlier, but the two that didn't get on, you can be alternates if you want to."  They nodded, still looking a little downtrodden.  

"So you wanna show them the plan then?"  Dash asked.

"Might as well, we're doing this later tonight, and I want them to have time to rest in-between times."  He turned to the group.  "Come on then, we're wasting daylight."  Shining caught up to Jason as he started to trot back to camp, and looked over the recruits again.  

"So those were the ones you chose?"  Shining asked.

"Yeah, it was close, but those two had the fewest points.  The rest of them look pretty promising though."

"So are you splitting them into two teams?"

"Yeah, I just kept the teams of five from before, and luckily one from each team was cut, so I don't have to move ponies around."

"So you're ready for tonight?"

"As ready as I'm going to be, Team Green Bean did a good job teaching Eravel and Morning Rain, so that's always a bonus."

"So you haven't made code names yet?"

"No, I'm going to give them some thought this time, feel free to give me any ideas."

"I'm not really good with names."

"Well neither am I!  One of the ponies is named Steve, and we used to have Potato."

"Just think about it then, I mean they don't need code names."

"But it's way cooler!"  Dash interjected.  Shining grunted his annoyance and entered his tent, hearing a shared laugh from Dash and Jason before they followed him inside.  Jason waited for the rest of the new team to show up and group around the map before he began his presentation.  

"So, you eight are arranged into two sub teams, Charlie and Delta, which is ironic because I wasn't using the military alphabet for our teams.  Oh well.  Same teams as in the drills."  He looked them over, most had seemed to accept his words easily enough.  "Now.  The plan.  I know you ponies aren't exactly totally in the swing of things yet, and you aren't going to need to be.  I've got you eight on the easier half of this plan."  

"What are we doing again?"  One of the mares raised her hoof.  

"Did I not..."  Shining leaned over and whispered in his ear.  "Oh, you just came here for this from a ways away?  Basically, there are hostages in the town hall, right here."  He pointed a hoof.  "We're entering from the docks, skirting the left side of the river against the current, and making our way to town hall."

"But that's way too out in the open!"  A stallion pointed out.  

"You were in Canterlot?"  He asked.  The pony nodded.  Seems like a thing a pony that went through the battle at Canterlot would notice.  "That's where you come in.  You'll be positioned to the east, on the left side of the village.  Do whatever you can to draw the griffins' attention, without giving away the fact that you're ponies, because that may lead them to kill the hostages.  Then we use that distraction to get through this little bit of open ground, into the town hall, and get the ponies."

"Ooh, can I tell the next part?"  Dash asked, receiving a nod and a smirk from Jason.  "Then we're going to give one of you the signal via one of these pads of paper, and you'll rush in from the side of the village.  Not really rush, but you know.  We'll make a hole by sandwiching the griffins in between, and then escape.  Simple, really."

"The only complication, besides keeping the hostages safe, is trying not to kill the griffin civilians.  Two reasons for that.  They could be innocent, and they may be willing to fight on our side if their government is a terrible as Eravel said it was.  At the very least they could provide a safe place to store supplies, buy some extra food, stuff like that."

"So get some rest, and make sure you're back here and nineteen hundred hours.  I want to get you all mobilized before twenty one hundred."  Shining finished.  Jason chuckled, letting a wide grin spread onto his face.  

"Welcome to the team."
> The Chapter in Which the Action Begins
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


The Chapter in Which the Action Begins



BANG!!


(I told you)


"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH"  Jason shot up from the pile of mattresses, turning to look at what was left of his alarm clock.  "What kind of sick mother fucker makes an exploding alarm clock?!?!?!  They don't even have explosives around here!!!"  He quieted down for a moment, hearing Dash's snickering to his side.  "You..."  He prodded her back with a hoof.  

"Hahahaha, that was hilarious!"  Jason deadpanned.  Of course.  "You weren't even all that freaked out, but you looked so angry!"  He shoved her off the pile of mattresses, still annoyed.  Dash wiped her eyes.  "Okay, I'm sorry.  You have to admit, it was a pretty good prank.

Jason's face lightened.  "I suppose I can give you that much.  Just put the thing a little further from me next time."  Dash got up and laid back down next to him, throwing a wing over his form.  

"I set the alarm a few minutes early, so we don't have to actually get up, we can just cuddle."  She smiled, no hint of lust radiating from her form, just a light contentedness.

"Good to know."  He leaned over and kissed her, caressing her cheek with a hoof.  "I'm glad I found you...  I'd probably be dead if you didn't take me in."

"Oh yeah, that night back in the alley.  I still feel bad for beating you up like that."

"Don't, it was way worth it."  He leaned over and nipped at an ear, causing her to giggle.  "At some times more than others."

"I don't know what I'd have done without you..."  She said a few moments later.

"What do you mean?  Pretty little thing like you, I'm surprised you weren't already taken."  She blushed, shifting her gaze.  

"Do you really think I'm all that pretty?"

"Where does this come from?  Why did you choose to ask this now?"

"Because you got stuck with me, I was the only one that trusted you." 

"So I got lucky then.  Seriously, Dash.  Assuming for a moment that other mares were more beautiful, I wouldn't have gotten along with them, and there's a good chance they wouldn't be anywhere near as smart as you.  Is there another reason you're asking this?"  

"I wanted to hear it from you, it makes me feel good to know I'm yours."

"Awww...."  He nuzzled at her cheek.  "You're so out of character." 

She giggled, poking him with a hoof.  "I thought we agreed I was deep."

"Well, we agreed you weren't shallow..."  He chuckled as he received her punch to the shoulder.  The sounds of activity made their way past the tent as a small group went by.

"That's probably some of the team, Jason."  Dash said, tossing the blanket off herself.  "We better get ready."

"Meh, it can wait."

"Aren't you usually the high strung one?"

"Yeah, but this blanket's so warm, and now I have all this space..."  Dash jerked the blankets off him, and he frowned.  "You just couldn't resist, could you?"

"No."

"And usually I admire honesty..."  He sighed and got up, stretching out as best he could; he didn't think he'd ever fully get used to this body, frankly.  Dash pushed over the pile of her armor and looked at him expectantly, and with a slight grimace of concentration he picked up all the pieces and slid them into place, quickly tying them off.  She looked herself over, smirking slightly, before grabbing her saddlebag in the corner and checking that the ghillie suit, extra blanket, food and knife box were inside before slinging it onto her back.  Jason did the same, minus the ghillie suit of course, and levitated the bag onto his back.  

Jason walked over to the AUG, leaning against the wall, and quickly put on the sling, stepping overtop the sling with a forehoof so that it was over one shoulder.  He grabbed the explosives belt, checking that the magazines occupying some of the loops were still full, or at least as full as they could be.  

"Hey Dash," he asked, "You brought some of the extra explosives, right?"

"Yeah, of course, I stuck them in the bottom of the saddlebag.  Some flash-bangs and smoke, I think."  She grabbed Rarity's helmet and tossed it onto her head, pulling a 'leather' strap taught under her chin.

"Okay, good.  We look like a couple of badasses by the way."

She giggled.  "I wish I brought the camera."  Jason turned and pulled the picture of Scoots and Dash out of his saddlebag, smiling to himself.  Dash looked over his shoulder and smiled alongside him.  "So that's the one you brought."

He glanced over at her before returning his gaze to the picture.  "Yeah, there was just something so characteristic about the whole thing.  I just can't put my hoof on it.  Maybe it's your smile, or Scoot's face, I dunno.  It's still my favorite picture."

"Is that because you took it?"  She smirked.

"No, Dash.  I took more than one picture anyway."

"Yeah, but that other one was upside down."

"The cameras are different here!"  He complained, giving her a light shove.  He turned to put the picture back inside, pulling out the pad instead.  He wrote, 'We're on the hostage mission, wish us luck!  We made another Team Green Bean by the way.  Miss you Scoots."  He stuck the pad back inside his saddlebag, not exactly expecting a response this late at night.  It was only seven forty five, actually, but that was apparently late here, especially in a society that was mostly driven by the movement of the sun.  

His reverie was broken by the sound of Dash pushing open the flap to the tent and exiting, looking back to see if he was following.  He shook his head in an attempt to clear his thoughts before following after her, finding her waiting just outside the tent.  They walked for a moment in silence, taking the ten or so strides to get to Shining's tent.  A few members were already inside, most of them from the team of recruits.  Shining immediately took notice and walked over.

"I got some stuff for you guys, take a look."  He trotted over to the other end of the tent, opening a couple of boxes and pulling out some loops of fabric.  "We didn't really have a good way of marking rank or team until a whole bunch of these came about an hour ago.  Let me just find the right... Ah!  Here."  He handed them a couple of fabric loops each, both with a couple of stars on one side, a dull white to the contrasting black.  He dug around in another box, coming up with a loop for both of them, the same black, sporting a green bean pea pod instead.  

"Rarity designed these?"  Jason said with a smirk.

"Key word designed, we had these mass produced in Canterlot since a few days ago.  These green bean ones were the last type to be made."  Jason finished sliding the loops up to his shoulders.  

"A little weird, but I guess it works.  Especially seeing as we don't exactly have any cloths to put these on as patches."

"Yeah...  Anyway, you're ready to leave?"  

"Yup, wait, can I leave some stuff here, just in case?"

"Sure, go ahead."  Jason pulled out the computer and pad of paper, carefully handing them over to Shining.  

"Protect those with your life.  I'm a little serious, those are irreplaceable."  Shining sighed and gently set them in an empty drawer.  "So we're waiting for the rest of the team?"

"Yeah, they should be here-- there they are."  Jason turned in time to see the rest of the original Team Green Bean walk in, along with the last couple of recruits.  The existing members already had their dark grey armor on, shifting uneasily in the usual pre-battle manner.  Some clanking of metal was heard as the recruits started to clumsily got on sets of armor, laid out by Shining a couple hours prior.  

The preparations went slowly, unsurprisingly.  Jason couldn't complain, just because he'd called the operation didn't mean he wanted to actually start fighting.  He gazed over at Dash, who was shifting her hooves nervously as Shining scribbled on a pad of paper beside her.  Jason walked over to one of the bunks and sat down, trying to calm his nerves.  He took a few deep breaths, which succeeded in only slightly bringing down his nervousness.  

After a couple minutes he felt the mattress depress next to him, feeling a wing wrap over his back before he could look over.  Dash put a reassuring hoof on his shoulder, and he smiled lightly, leaning into her touch.  Several minutes later, as the slight clanging of armor being put on died down, Shining got up from the table.  He tapped his hoof on the surface in thought for a few seconds before getting up and quickly making his way over to Jason.

"You ready to go?  It's a little early, but I kinda want to give you as much time as possible, considering they're going to start killing those hostages in the morning."

"Yeah, I guess so.  The sooner we get in the sooner we get out, right?"  

"I hope so.  I'll get the recruits together and we can move out."  Shining walked over to the mostly dressed recruits, ordering them into a line.  He fixed the helmet on one of them before gesturing to Jason.  Jason got up and walked over, clearing his throat.  The tent became silent, save for the quiet clanking of armor, and he opened his mouth to speak.

"I'm sure you know the plan by now, and considering how many times we've gone over positioning, I'm sure you know that too.  But remember that it's not just your lives on the line, but the ponies we're trying to save.  Be patient, and don't enter a fight if it has the potential to draw attention.  You saw how it was in the forest today, act the same as a predator, weed out the sick and the weak, in this case the stupid and the isolated.  Whittle down the forces until there's nothing left."  He sighed.  "This is your first mission, so don't underestimate the griffins, and definitely don't overestimate your skills."  He tossed one of the officers a pad of paper and a pencil.  "Watch for the signal, and then go loud, take out as many griffins as you want.  And remember to act as a team, it's your strongest asset."

"SIR YES SIR!!"  He heard a couple groans from a nearby tent.  

"Try not to wake up all of the ponies in this camp."  He sighed again.  He hated having part of his plan resting on forces he couldn't control.  "Now move out, get into position.  I'll see about getting you code names if this works."  They saluted a final time before trotting outside, grabbing their weapons and small ration bags of food as they went.

Jason turned to the bunks.  "Team Green Bean, you ready?"  A quiet set of nods responded.  He quite liked the solemnity.

"Then let's go kick some ass!"  Dash yelled with a corresponding hoof pump, drawing a few laughs.  Eravel was the first to move, jumping off the top bunk and buffeting the air with his wings to cushion his landing.  He made sure his leather armor was still secure before he grabbed the bow from it's place against the wall, throwing it and the quiver over his back.  There was the sound of bending metal before Tank tossed over the new, three holed brass knuckles to Eravel.  God damn Tank was strong.

The rest of the team was pretty much ready, and each pony grabbed a couple of spears before trotting outside.  Tank pulled a machete from under one of the bunks, tossing it onto his back.  

"Where'd you get the machete, Tank?"  Jason asked.

"Is that what this is?  I just found it, and figured it was pretty cool, so I kept it around.  I cut myself pretty bad trying to figure out how sharp the blade was."  He blushed a little.

"Can I see it a sec?"  Tank shrugged and pulled it off, sheathing it before tossing it over.  Jason pulled the blade partially out before sliding it back inside.  The USMC written on the hilt was information enough.  He tossed it back over.  "That's military, by the way."

"Cool."  He admired the blade for another moment before replacing it on his back and walking outside to join the others.  Jason slid off his saddlebag, grabbing the knife box and carefully opening it.  He slid the knives into the holes in his legs, admiring the fit.  Dash had already tied hers on, apparently.  Jason tossed her one of the packs of rations, putting on one himself.  Dash nodded to him, and they left the tent.

The rest of the team turned to the pair as they exited, waiting for orders, it seemed.  Jason looked up at the night sky, gazing at the star filled night.  He sighed and looked back towards the ground, taking in the still present nervousness.

"Well, let's get going.  We have some hostages to rescue."  With that he set off down the path, the same one he had taken from the chariot when he first got here.  Instead of following the path into the forest, however, he made his way across the slope, hoping to find a less steep area to traverse.  After a couple more minutes, the sides of the valley became much less steep, allowing the flightless members of the group to start down.

Moving along the side of the valley had shifted them a ways south of the village, which wasn't a total loss of time, the docks were to the south as well.  The descent wasn't particularly horrendous, there were few holes hidden under the low grass.  It would've been pretty annoying for one of them to sprain a hoof before they even got into the fight.  The light of the gibbous moon shown over the field, casting an eerie sheen over the otherwise serene environment.  

Trees started to become common once again as the ground started to flatten out.  They were close now; the woods weren't particularly thick around the village.  Sure enough, after a couple minutes along the floor of the forest, the town lights began to flicker through the foliage.  They crossed a small creek, ending up on the crest of a hill overlooking the small village.  Dash brushed up against Jason's side, taking a moment to make sure that her knives were properly secured.

"It's pretty, isn't it?"  Dash asked.

"Yeah, I'm kinda starting to like it around here.  It's more like where I lived."

"This is what it's like?  From the way you described it, I imagined more of a jungle."

"Nah, jungles suck.  I would honestly hate to live in one."

"Why?"

"I'll tell you later, come on."  He started down the hill, keeping low, trying to stay behind the now taller grass.  He could hear a slight rustling behind him as the rest of the team followed, pursuing him as he cut across the field.  He pushed aside a tuft of grass, stopping as the river came into view.  It wasn't wide, maybe fifty to sixty feet across.  He turned upstream, staying a ways away from the river to keep out of sight.   

It wasn't too much longer before they got to the 'docks,' which were a serious stretch on the word.  When Eravel had said that they were in disrepair, he'd really meant it.  One of them was a series of posts stretching ten to twenty feet out, while another was missing most of the posts.  A griffin was walking alongside the river, on a flimsy looking wooden sidewalk.  Jason held up a hoof, and the team stopped.  

"Eravel, let's see how good you are with that bow."  Eravel walked up beside Jason.  "Think you can make that shot?"  He pointed to the griffin. 

Eravel nodded.  "Should be able to."  He pulled the bow off his back, grabbing an arrow from his quiver.  He carefully fit the arrow onto the string before rearing up out of the grass and drawing back the string, letting the arrow fly.  The team watched  in awe as the arrow struck the griffin in the eye, immediately felling him.

"How the fuck did you do that?"  Jason whispered.

"I'm not totally sure, luck?  I didn't really think I was that good."  Eravel responded.

"Then let's just hope that luck doesn't run out."  Dash said, moving forward towards the town.  She got to the side of one of the platforms, presumably suspended in case of flooding in the spring.  With a flap of her wings she got onto the side, landing with a surprisingly soft 'clop' of her hooves.  It wasn't much higher, maybe about her normal shoulder height.  Jason had long since stopped using feet and inches to describe things after he realized that he no longer had any actual frame of reference.  

He helped Archer onto the platform before flying up himself, flinching at the slight buzzing emanating from his back.  They re-grouped a few seconds later, making sure that they hadn't lost anyone before continuing their way down the sidewalk.  It quickly turned into a dirt road as the banks of the river became higher, much to Jason's liking.  Dirt was much quieter than wood.  

He looked around for any more griffins, staying behind a barrel, before moving further down the road.  A pair of griffins came around the corner of what he assumed to be a warehouse, making him jump back in shock at their sudden appearance.  Tank charged at one of them with his spear, stabbing it into the griffin's chest as he pulled the machete from it's sheath on his back and ran it across the griffin's throat.  Dash shouldered the other one before he could untangle his spear from its holster, giving Jason the perfect opportunity to stab his knife into the griffin's neck.  

A yelp was heard a little ways off; another griffin had seen the whole thing.  He turned to run, before an arrow hit him in the back of the head.

"Wow..."  Jason breathed.  Judging by the others' expressions, he figured they were feeling the same way.  "I'm really glad we didn't have to fight you, Eravel.  At least not while you had a bow."

"When you're done, Jason, we still have a bunch of hostages to save."  Dash reminded him.

"Yeah, fine.  Someone throw that body into the river."  Tank trotted over to the griffin that Eravel had shot, throwing his limp body over one shoulder with ease.  He moved it towards the river before tossing the body away, hearing it land with a soft splash moments later, breaking the surface of the lazy river as it floated after the other two bodies.

They took a moment to watch the bodies move downstream before starting their advance again.  The dirt road quickly came to an end as cobblestone streets started to take over.  This was the part that had needed all the extra planning.  They turned onto a small street, quickly taking out a couple of griffins that were walking in the opposite direction.  Another turn and they found themselves on a hugely wide, rather annoyingly well-lit street.  The one he had needed a distraction for.

A couple of griffins walked out of an alley, crossing the street slowly.  Jason looked up to find that a few others were on the rooftops, looking around rather intently.  He pulled out the map, checking that this was, indeed, the street they needed to make their way down.  There were no bridges to cross the village to the southern side, and even less cover if they were to enter on the western side of the village, thus why this was the only plausible route.  Dash tapped him on the shoulder, pointing out another griffin on a roof that he hadn't noticed.  

"You think something went wrong?"  She asked, noticing that few griffins seemed interested in the nearby tree line.  

"Let's give them a while, I'd rather have them take their time than take risks."  He peered over the top of the tipped over barrel he was behind again, noticing that there was relatively little change.  He sighed and sat down against the barrel, leaning up against Dash.  The rest of the team seemed to get the message, and within a few moments were already sitting against walls and up against some of the cover.  

Jason hated waiting.  Actually, he only hated waiting in some scenarios, like the one he was in now.  He was nervous, and the near silence, minus the noise from the river, was giving him too much time to think.  He didn't want to lose any of the team members, and hopefully something hadn't gone wrong with the other squad.  The longer he waited though, the more scenarios of their deaths went through his head.  

His thoughts suddenly shifted to the hostages.  Assuming that this wasn't a wasted mission and there were living hostages inside town hall, what condition would they be in?  The griffins didn't seem to torture ponies, but then again, he hadn't seen any of their prisoners as of yet.  

A loud crack cut through his thoughts, and he quickly turned to look over the barrel.  A tree was in the process of falling over, and with a few more cracks, finally let go and hit the ground with a heavy thump.  Now that was a distraction.  

"Get close to me, quick!"  he whispered as the team members jumped back up.  He threw up the soundproofing spell, making it much larger to accommodate the entire group.  He watched a few griffins trot across the street to find out what had caused the noise before making a break for the alley.  He expanded the soundproof bubble slightly in case the rest of the ponies started to lag behind.  

Dash galloped next to him, repeatedly checking the rooftops to make sure the griffins hadn't yet turned around.  Jason watched as they came up on the alley, not all that far from their previous position in actuality, and dove around the corner.  

A griffin ran over and stabbed at Jason as he rolled out of the way.  He got up and dodged around another spear thrust before knocking the spear out of the griffin's talon and stabbing his knife into the griffin's chest.  He shoved a hoof into the griffin's beak as the griffin screamed in pain, before Tank kicked him in the head and either knocked the griffin out or killed him.  Jason quickly reminded himself to never piss Tank off.  He checked for the rest of the team members, finding that they had all made it this far.  

"Jason.  I think one of them saw us."  Dash said, looking around nervously.

"Are you sure?"  

"Yeah, he got a good look."

"Fuck.  We gotta get going then.  As long as he doesn't get there before us we're fine."  Jason turned and galloped down the alleyway, jumping over a tipped trash can.  He turned a corner, flapping his left wing a few times to decrease his turning radius and keep him from slipping.  The map had said that this alley led out into a small square on the side of city hall, so they had a fair advantage over the griffins in commute time.  

The small group slowed down to check for passing Griffins as they exited the alley, and upon finding none they started to creep around to the front of the building.  Two guards on the steps were taken out in short order by an arrow and a combination of Morning Rain and Archer.  

"Listen, guys,"  Jason said quickly,  "we're going to run in there and take out the griffins as fast as we can.  That could mean the deaths of a hostage or two.  More griffins are going to end up here soon, we need to take the chance that a few might not make it, or we could all die."  The rest of them nodded solemnly before getting into better positions around the door.  Jason shoved the doors open with his magic, Eravel and his bow at the ready.  They stormed in, taking out the griffins as fast as they could.

Jason watched as one of the hostages was pulled up by one of the griffins and dragged backwards with his talons while holding a knife to her throat.  Jason turned away to duck under a spear and deliver a blow of his own, and turned back to see both the mare and the griffin on the ground in a pile of blood, although he wasn't sure if the mare's blood was involved.  He shook off a feeling of dread and broke into a gallop, diving over a pew and into a griffin that had situated himself dangerously close to the hostages.  They rolled for a couple seconds before the griffin tossed Jason off.

He flew through the air for a moment before hitting the top of a pew, painfully cracking the chitin on his back.  He looked up to see that the griffin had already gotten to his feet and was making his way over.  Jason got up, sliding the pew towards the griffin with his magic.  The griffin tried to jump over the bench, but clipped one of its talons on the back, toppling him over.  Jason galloped up and finished the job, stabbing the knife into the griffin's eye.

He turned back around to see Hunter finish off one of the last griffins, and there was a moment of complete silence following the short battle.  

"Alright, we gotta get this door shut!"  Jason said rather loudly.  "They're going to get here soon, and we can't possibly get this many ponies out of here that quickly, especially when they're all bound like this."  Hunter and Archer came over to help him shut the heavy wooden doors, bringing down the hinged brace to keep them shut.  It was then that Jason finally turned to see the full amount of gore they had left in their wake.  The hostages didn't look particularly worse for wear, a few of them were splattered with gore, and a few had fallen onto the ground off the pews, squirming against their bonds.  Dash and Eravel were dragging a griffin body into a corner, while Tank was taking the pulse of one of the fallen ponies.  

"Where's Morning Rain?"  Jason asked, receiving a slight groan in response.  He realized that the pony that Tank had with him was Morning Rain, albeit covered in blood.  "Get those ropes and gags off the rest of these ponies."  He yelled back to Hunter and Archer as he ran towards Tank.  "Where was she hit?"  He asked Tank quickly, sitting down next to Morning Rain.  

"The chest, I think, I can't really tell with all this blood."  Jason could see a few tears in Tank's eyes.  So he was right that they had seemed attached to one another.

"Get out of the way.  Just lay her there."  Tank obliged, carefully setting her head back on the ground.  Jason flared up his horn, the familiar magic coursing through his system.  He felt his way through her as he did with the rest of the ponies, getting to parts and repairing them as he went.  He'd gone a long way since his initial attempts on Dash, and figured out what exactly he was doing. 

He got to the stab wound and started to heal it.  He could see the grimace of pain disappear from the mare's face as he meshed together the last of the deep cut.  She looked up at him and smiled before her head went limp to the side.

"What just happened!?!?"  Tank yelled, picking Morining Rain's head back up with a hoof and cradling it.

"She's asleep.  She lost a lot of blood."  He laid a hoof on Tank's shoulder.  "She should be fine.  Now come on, we gotta prepare for the worst here."  Tank didn't respond for a few seconds, before he slid his ration pack under her head and got up.  

"So what are we going to--" He was interrupted by banging on the door.

"Open up!"  A griffin yelled from outside.  Another several pounds were heard.

"Shit..."
> "The Moment of Truth..."
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


"The Moment of Truth..."


"Fuck..."  

There was another bout of banging on the door.  Jason looked around quickly, trying to come up with some sort of plan.  "Okay, get those hostages free, quickly!"  He knelt down and cut a hostage free in front of himself, tossing the ropes away as he moved onto the next one.  It didn't take them long to get the rest of the ponies free, the banging on the door only intensifying in the meantime.  Dash and tank shoved a couple of the pews against the doors in an effort to help keep them in place.  There was a brief silence, followed by a louder bang as the doors budged slightly inward.  

"See if any of these ponies are able to fight!  Get them weapons!"  Jason yelled over the banging.  Archer shoved a few pews together a ways back from the door as a makeshift barricade.  "Eravel, get behind here with me, we need to be in a position to take them out when they get in.  Eravel tossed a spear over to one of the ponies, who admired it briefly before pulling it into a ready position.  Jason pulled the AUG off his back, resting it on the barricade.  Dash joined him behind the barricade, replaced at the door by Hunter.  

"New ponies, get onto the sides of the door, wait until they get inside!"  She yelled, directing them around with a hoof.  There weren't really that many able bodied ponies with fighting experience from Canterlot, maybe ten or so.  But it was better than nothing.

"Dash, send word for the other team to start making their way over."  She pulled the pad from where it was tied onto his back, scribbling a few words onto it.  "Here's the plan, you guys.  Make sure all the ponies that can't fight are in one of the back rooms.  They're going to get in, and I'm going to fire this out there.  As soon as I run out of ammo, You'll throw a flash-bang, Dash, and the rest of you'll wait until that goes off outside before creating a semicircle of spears.  Hold the line, and keep fighting if one of you falls.  If we break through the lines, make sure the other ponies are ready to go.  That a plan?"

"SIR YES SIR!"  He smiled, switching off the safety and pulling the charging handle.  This wouldn't be the worst way to go out.  Good thing he had no plans of dying.  

There was a rather long moment of silence, which seemed to draw on forever.  Then there was the noise of talons and paws pounding on the ground from outside as griffins ran at the door, continuing their effort to break it down.  There was a crack as the door flew open, sending the pews sliding across the floor.  "Take a look at this, mother fuckers!"  Jason yelled.  He depressed the trigger of the AUG with his magic, feeling the recoil into his shoulder before his brain registered the sound.


BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG



Tink tink tink tink tink


The front griffins fell, and Jason waited to see if any more were going to follow them through.  There seemed to be a moment of confusion as they regrouped, trying to figure out what kind of strange weapon had mowed down their comrades.  They seemed to think it was some sort of fluke, and another wave came through the door in short order.


BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG


The tinkling of the shells was obscured as he continued to fire, no longer worrying about missing.  He cut down most of the wave, firing in bursts to keep the recoil of the weapon down.  Another few griffins rushed in as he head a 'chink' sound come from the gun.  He cursed, it had jammed.  Just his luck.  "Now!"  He yelled.  


BANG!!!!


Dash's flash-bang went off, luckily, blinding a few of the griffins as they stumbled the rest of the way inside.  The ponies rushed in from the sides, stemming the flow of the griffins from the door.  He cursed again, pulling the charging handle back in an attempt to get the jammed shell out of the chamber.  He shook the gun and the cartridge popped out, clinking on the ground.  

"Why didn't they retreat, I thought that would've scared them off!"  Jason yelled to Eravel.

"We had a quote that was thrown around in the military, 'In the griffin army, it takes more courage to retreat than advance.'  It's not far from the truth!"  He yelled back.

Jason shook his gun once more to make sure that nothing else was inside before he looked back up and decided that continued use of the gun would be impossible.  He threw the gun over his back, running over to the lines.  

A pony fell in front of him, and he dragged the stallion over to the back of the room, preforming some quick healing magic to the spear wound in his fore leg.  After he had stemmed the blood he turned back to the lines, ducking under the spear of a griffin as he lunged, before Jason plunged his knife into the griffin's chest.  He kicked the griffin back, and the griffin stumbled backwards for a moment before getting hit in the neck with an arrow.  

Jason moved forward to stab a griffin that was in the process of thrusting his spear at one of the ponies before ducking under the spear of another griffin.  They had to be running out of troops on hand by now, this was just ridiculous.  Especially if the piled up bodies just inside the door had anything to say about it.  Tank shouldered a griffin, sending him flying into a few other griffins and knocking them all down.  Archer took care of the group in short order, and there was a brief break in the action as the griffins either waited for more troops or regrouped with the ones they still had.  He heard what might have been some clanging outside, the other team must've responded.

"We need to get out of here now, before they come back!  Get the hostages into a group, we're going to keep them inside a protective circle."  Dash nodded and ran into the back room, returning a few moments later with the group of ponies, many of them limping.  Tank pulled Morning Rain onto his back, making his way to the door.  Dash joined him, along with the rest of Team Green Bean, forming a line across the door.  

As Jason looked over the square, his jaw dropped slightly at the sheer number of griffins lined up against them.  They were in a huge semicircle around the church, the clanging of weapons apparently emanating from a location further off.  Jason pulled the gun off his back, taking a step forward.  

"I guess this is the moment of truth..."  He said, still looking over the line of griffins, at least fifty to seventy five strong.  He ejected the magazine from the AUG, grabbing one from the explosives belt and replacing it with a solid thunk as it slid into position.  Tank pushed a pew out from inside setting it up at the top of the stairs before joining the line a couple more stairs down.

"Stay close together,"  Dash started, "We aren't going to win if we're spread out."  She looked about as nervous as the other ponies, but there was no way they could take out all these griffins from their position inside; there was nowhere to retreat if they were overrun.  The awkward staring match continued for a few more moments before the griffins made the first move.

"CHARGE!!"  One of them bellowed, and they took off towards city hall.  Jason propped his gun on the barricade, firing a mag into the crowd at top speed.  By the time he had gone dry, the griffins were too close to give him a chance to re-load  and fire further ammunition.  Jason pulled out the mag, shoving it into an explosives belt loop as he shoved a new mag in, simultaneously throwing the weapon onto his back.  The ponies had formed a protective half circle a little below the top of the stairs, like the pocket around a quarterback.  

Jason galloped up to the line, replacing a pony that was killed just as he arrived.  Jason pushed the corpse backwards with his magic, knocking a thrust spear out of the way as he dodged.  Dash, who had apparently ended up next to him on the line, lunged over to the griffin, slitting his throat.  Jason shoved the griffin, pushing him backwards into one of his allies.  The pair rolled down the stairs, accumulating several more griffins as they reached the bottom.  

Jason picked up the discarded spear, rearing up to throw it into the crowd.  As he was pulling his hoof back to throw, a spear glanced off his side, leaving a rather deep gash in his chitin.  Jason winced and threw the spear, sinking it into the leg of one of the griffins further down the stairs.  

The line took a few steps back, backtracking up a few of the steps towards the town hall.  Dash tripped over the crest of one of the stairs as she backed up, falling flat on her back.  Jason's eyes went wide as a griffin reared up before her, pulling his arm back to plunge in the spear.  In a split second, partially retarded decision, he dove forward, knocking the spear out of the way as it came down towards Dash.  He rolled down a couple of steps after hitting the ground, looking back briefly to see that Dash had gotten up, unharmed.  

A griffin blocked his view, then two, then three.  So now he was stuck in the middle of the group of griffins.  Great.  He stabbed one in the leg that got close, swiveling his head rapidly to try to keep an eye on all of his threats.  One lunged, and Jason ducked under the griffin, vaulting him off his back.  He jumped up into the air, trying to return to the line before a spear hit him in the side, sending him flying out of control through the air.

He hit the street, at the bottom of the steps, painfully bending a wing before he grabbed the spear and yanking it out.  It hadn't gone deep at all, thankfully, only about half of the tip had ended up stabbing inside him.  He got up, hearing his name yelled, presumably by Dash.  He didn't have enough time to respond as several griffins advanced on him, more than he was comfortable fighting alone.  As he was still trying to figure out a plan, a fisted talon hit him in the same side as the spear had, the characteristic crack sound letting him know that his armor'd been broken, again.  God dammit.

He jumped up from the ground, putting a hoof to his back to pull down the gun.  All he felt was the familiar, smooth chitin, and he froze for a moment, until he noticed that it lay discarded on the ground a ways away.  It must've fallen off in the middle of the fighting, or when he'd try to fly back to the rest of the ponies.  He sighed, squaring up his fighting stance as the griffins from before re-surrounded him.  

Before any of them could prepare he took off towards one of the griffins, buzzing his wings for extra speed, and smashed into the griffin's chest with his fore hooves.  He heard a couple small cracks from the hooves, probably just bending slightly under the pressure rather than cracking outright.  The griffin hit the ground, sliding along on his back.  Jason drew the blade across his throat before the griffin could react, turning back just in time to fade away from a thrown spear.  It glanced off the inside of one of his legs, leaving another gash.

Jason grabbed the spear and threw it towards the griffins, hitting one in the back foot.  He sucked at throwing these things.  The three remaining uninjured griffins advanced on him simultaneously, not looking unlike a cat in their stalking movements.  One dove for Jason, and he jumped to the side, too slowly as it turned out.  The griffin managed to get a talon around Jason's back leg, pulling it out from underneath him and causing him to fall over.  He pulled his hoof free in enough time to see another griffin dive at him, talons bared menacingly.  

He put his hooves out in front of his chest and turned his head away as the griffin landed on top of him heavily.  He heard a roar of anger, followed by several scratches to his body and head before the griffin passed out from its wounds, caused by landing on Jason's outward pointing knives.  He pushed the rather heavy body to the side, trying to catch his breath after it had been knocked from his chest.  He pulled one of the knives out of his hoof and threw it at the final griffin, sticking it in his chest.  The griffin lumbered a few more steps, taking a weak swing at him with the spear before falling over in a bout of ragged breaths.  

Jason got up and retrieved his knife, no longer its usual black.  But then again, he wasn't his usual black, with all this blood around.  He turned around to receive a heavy blow to the face.  He skidded backwards, putting a hoof to his muzzle to find that it was already bleeding.  The griffin that had issued the blow was a rather burly griffin, muscular but still only a little above average in size.  Judging by the vest, he was an officer.  The griffin trotted over before Jason could get to his feet and shouldered him over, rearing up to bring the stick back down.  Jason rolled out of the way, getting up to find out that it was, indeed, just a stick.  

"Ooh, you're a slippery one.  No matter."  He trotted over, flinging the stick at Jason from all angles.  Jason tried to block it with his fore hooves, but the combination of tricky balance and the lack of elbows that bent the same way as in the fighting he actually knew led to more than a few blows to the face and chest.  Jason jumped back as the griffin thrust the stick towards him, buzzing his wings to get further away.  He couldn't fight this guy, not alone.  The gun.  He looked around, seeing it in it's same position, and took off for it.  

The griffin took a few steps to intercept Jason before pouncing, putting up his stick to block Jason's counter-strikes.  The griffin pinned him, pressing down on the stick as it lay across Jason's hooves, just above his throat.  Jason strained back against the griffin's weight, trying to push the griffin and his weapon away.  The griffin only chuckled, starting to push down in addition to the pressure from his weight.  

The stick started to move downward, depressing into Jason's throat with more and more pressure.  The armor cracked, and he started to find it hard to breathe.  He took a deep breath before his wind pipe was completely constricted, and he strained harder against the pole, managing to push it back an inch or so and take another breath.  His arms were beginning to weaken, he couldn't do this forever.  

The griffin seemed to pick up on his dilemma, and pushed the rod down harder, completely cutting off Jason's air supply.  Jason turned his head, finding the gun only a few feet away.  He stuck out his foreleg weakly, wiggling it around to grasp the gun.  He remembered too late that he had magic, and started to inch the gun over, trying not to notify the griffin.  Jason heard another chuckle as the gun slid away, disappearing into one of the dark spots that had appeared in his vision.  

He looked back up at the griffin, who was smiling downward at Jason as he leaned on the rod.  Then the griffin looked up and cursed, jumping backwards as a blade attached to a blue and black hoof slid over Jason's body.  Jason took in a deep breath as the stick left his neck, huffing and puffing as he rolled over to get to his feet.  He heard a soft clang as Dash hit the side of her knife against the griffin's stick.  Jason chanced a look over towards the town hall, finding that the stairs were still in the middle of a battle.  Jason trotted over to his gun as fast as his oxygen-deprived body could move him, and he picked it up, pointing it towards the griffin.  

"Hey!  Don't move or I'll blow your fucking head off."  Jason yelled over, still pointing the gun.  The griffin turned and chuckled.  

"That's the thing that killed some of my soldiers, huh?"  He asked.

"Yeah, and it'll do the same to you."

"Like that thing could actually hurt a fly.  All that was just smoke and mirrors."  He said.  Jason smiled, aiming the gun at the griffin's rear leg.


BANG


The griffin let out a yelp, falling backwards as he held onto his leg.  "That's not possible, how could you just cause pain like that?" 

"It's funny how little you know."  He turned to Dash.  "So, should we take a prisoner or is he not worth it?" 

Dash shrugged, kicking the griffin over when he tried to get up.  "Your call, but there are probably going to be more griffins here pretty soon, so make it fast."  Jason nodded and leveled the gun to the griffin's head, watching him struggle as he tried to get up.  Jason struggled for a moment before shifting the gun and hitting the griffin with the but instead, knocking him unconscious.  

"We're taking him back.  If that proves useless we can kill him there."  He turned in time to see a couple of griffins come running out of a nearby alley, slight expressions of surprise coming over their faces.  There were only two, he figured that at this point it was a waste of bullets.  He slung the gun over his shoulder, making sure it was secure before he threw himself at one of the griffins while Dash took out the other.  

Jason turned back to the crowd of griffins on the stairs, noticing immediately that their numbers were much smaller then they had been.  He trotted over, still trying to fully regain his breath.  A griffin turned and stabbed at him, only to get cut down by Tank's machete as the lines started to crumble.  Over the span of only a couple seconds, the rest of the griffins were either killed or injured as the team finally finished off the last of the attack force.  

Jason pulled his knife out of a griffin, quickly trotting around the bodies and up the stairs, getting to the ponies that had managed to hold the line together.  At least five or six were dead or had lost too much blood to be healed; he could heal the injuries, but as far as he knew he couldn't replace blood.

He walked over to Tank, who had collapsed on the ground, holding his leg.  Jason quickly healed up the wound, not deep, but threateningly close to his knee.  There were a few more clangs before the night went silent, and the other team showed up in the square.  Only two ponies came in at first, the two officers.  Jason smiled to himself, apparently Shining was right about those two.  A few more came onto the square within a minute, making the numbers up to seven.  

The officers made their way over, their jaws more than slightly agape at the sheer number of corpses lying around.  Archer was in the middle of tying up the griffin, and Tank had just returned with Morning Rain on his back, most of the hostages behind him.  

"Grab one of the dead ponies, we might as well bring them back for burial.  I don't want to take the chance that they get stuck here."  He walked over and scooped up one of the hostages that had been killed in the fray, shifting his gun on his back to put less pressure on top of it.  Dash pulled another corpse onto her back.  "Anyone injured, to the extent that they can't walk?"  Eravel raised his talon, signaling Jason over towards another pony, who he recognized to be Steve.  The pony was holding his fore hoof gingerly, trying not to irritate the deep gash on the front side.  

Jason sighed and ran some magic through his horn, finally feeling the fatigue as the battle seemed to end.  Apparently he'd been running on sheer adrenaline.  Steve's wound healed in front of him, turning into a wide scar.  One of the other things Jason'd learned about healing was to leave scars alone; they were a lot of work for very little gain.

"First time neither of us have been hurt in a conflict, eh Jason?"  Dash asked before yawning.

"Yeah, I guess.  There was that first day in Canterlot, but that was pretty light."  He turned to address the rest of the remaining ponies, the other team included.  Ten killed so far, four of them ponies that had volunteered to fight.  Eleven if that pony on the other Team Green Bean was actually dead.  "As far as I'm concerned, this is still a hostile city.  There're probably at least a fair number of griffins around here that weren't involved in this.  But our mission is still the same, we've got to get these ponies out of here.  We can send in the army afterwards.  Now let's get going."  There was the shuffling of hooves as the soldiers chose to salute instead of yelling 'sir yes sir' like they usually did.  Jason let out a slight sigh of relief, looking slightly miffed as one of the officers sprinted inside yelling some pony's name.

"Any other able bodied ponies, go inside and grab a fallen pony, we're getting their bodies out of here."  Dash said, turning to one of the officers, the mare.  "What's the situation with casualties on your team?"  

"We lost one, and Dull Shine kinda seemed to lose it."  She pointed down the stairs at a pony, who was huddled on the ground, muttering to himself.  "Couldn't handle it, I guess."

"Looks like we're going to be using those two alternates after all."  Jason said.  He waved the officer through the door, and she gave a solute before walking past.  He turned to Dash.  "Remind me to get Celestia to start making dog tags."

"What?"

"Oh, they're like forms of identification, you wear them around your neck, and I think they have your name and unit, possibly more."

Dash looked around at a couple of the ponies slung over the backs of Team Green Bean.  "That's probably a good call.  I really don't want to have an unmarked grave."

"Yeah, me neither."  The last couple of ponies filtered out the door, and Jason turned to address them.  "We're going to leave, so I want a protective circle around these ponies at all times as we leave.  Eravel, what's the fastest way out?"

"Down that street over there, it leads straight back towards camp."  He pointed a talon. 

"Okay, anyone with a free back grab Dusk?  Dull?  I think it was Dull."  Jason asked.  A couple of ponies nodded in conformation, before leading the hostages outside.  Jason couldn't help but notice in what good shape the ponies were.  He had to give the griffins some respect, they had at least seemed to be serious about the deal.

They grouped up in the middle of the square, starting to move down the street.  Jason couldn't help but notice the calm that had washed over the area as soon as they had taken out the last of that group of griffins.  They continued to inch down the roadway, forced to keep the pace of the slowest pony.  Tank had distributed a fair number of spears to the hostages, as a sort of fail-safe.  Jason looked around the roofs of the surrounding buildings, checking for activity.  

He jumped as he caught sight of a griffin wingtip, but as soon as he blinked it was gone.  He could've sworn...  Going back to his scanning, he didn't notice anything else of interest.  Then he noticed a griffin on the roof, and another, and another.

"AMBUSH!!!"  They started to pick up the pace, moving down the street slightly quickly as the ponies inside the protective circle sped up, fighting through any injuries.  More than a few griffins flew off the roofs surrounding the rather large group, floating over.  Jason gestured for one of the uninjured ponies to come over, before carefully transferring the pony he'd been carrying to the stallion.  He grabbed the gun off his back, aiming it upwards at the griffins.


BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG


Several griffins fell out of the sky, contacting the pavement just behind the group with heavy thumps.  The other griffins seemed to get the idea, quickly landing and surrounding the group.  There weren't that many, although Jason couldn't be too sure.  


BANG BANG BANG


He shot at two of the griffins in front of him before the got too close before throwing the gun back over his back, spreading out his hooves in a fighting stance.  He charged a griffin, who put up his spear to protect himself.  Jason swung a knife into the stick, sinking it in before he made contact and split the spear in half.  He landed on the griffin, pinning him and slitting his throat before flipping back around to block another spear.  Steve shouldered the offending griffin, sending him past Jason as he flew through the air.  

The griffin hit his head on a loose cobblestone and went limp as another griffin dove in, swinging his spear more like a club.  Jason put his hoof up, blocking the spear at the expense of another crack.  He pushed back against the spear briefly before an arrow flew right over Jason's shoulder and hit the griffin's neck.  He ran a hoof from his shoulder to his ear, trying to find any hint of injury.  God damn that arrow had been close.  

Steve tapped his side, jumping backwards from a spear thrust immediately afterwards.  He pointed back to the group, which had moved a ways away.  Steve blocked another spear thrust at him before he gored a griffin, and turned to regroup.  Jason followed him back, finding that most of the griffins had been dealt with.  Archer was limping along with a deep cut on his hind leg, still holding his position next to Hunter, who had two cut up fore legs.  

Jason couldn't heal them right now, at least not with these griffins all over the place like this.  He felt grass under his hooves as they exited the street onto a meadow.  As soon as they got to the nearby tree line they wouldn't be pursued, he hoped.  He slashed at another griffin, cutting off a talon.  He continued to back up, no longer trying to kill, just buy time.  A spear throw stuck in the dirt next to his hooves, and he chanced a look backwards towards the forest.  They were close.  

He jumped backwards, bumping into a pony.  He turned to see who it was, finding that Dash had ended up at his side.  They made a good team, he thought as he slashed at another griffin.  The moonlight was suddenly blocked as the foliage of the forest got in the way, sending the battle into an eerie darkness.  There was a brief interlude in the fighting as the ponies' and griffins' eyes adjusted to the new darkness before the battle continued to rage.  

Jason jumped as he heard a battle cry, and sighed.  More griffins.  But much to his surprise, and to Dash's judging by her gasp, a hundred or so ponies raced out of the woods from behind their little group, surrounding and decimating the griffins in mere moments.  Jason's jaw dropped.  

"What the fuck..."  He said, and from Dash's expression, he could tell she felt the same.  A pony walked up, sliding his helmet off.  Shining Armor smiled.

"You think I'd let you attempt another hair brained scheme without some sort of backup plan?"  He chuckled.  "Plus, taking the town's a lot easier without civilians all over the place, like they are in the daytime."

"So are you coming back to camp with us?"

"Yeah."  He gestured a for a couple of guards to come over.  "With a few extra escorts."  

"So could you see all of that from camp?"  Jason gestured back towards the town.

"Most of it,"  Dash walked up and Shining smiled.  "From what I can see here there weren't too many losses."

"Yeah, one from the other team and several hostages."

"I guess you have to break a couple eggs to make an omelet.  Judging by these numbers though, I'd say you succeeded."  Shining turned to the small army, who was in a semi circle around the pair.  He stomped a hoof onto the ground.

"Somepony mark today's date, because this is the day we take this city down!!!!"  There was a huge cheer as the ponies turned and charged away, disappearing into the gloom of the forest.

	
> "The Presence of Alcohol"
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


"The Presence of Alcohol"


It was a long walk back to the camp, and the pony corpse draped over Jason's back definitely didn't help.  Neither did the slow moving ponies either, for that matter.  He smiled to himself, remembering the warm presence leaning against his side.  Dash.  He was more than a little grateful that she had made it through the battle unharmed, although she had yelled at him for diving over her to block the spear and ending up in the pile of griffins.  'If you're going to die, the last thing I want is for you to die saving me, I'd never get over the guilt.'  She had said, punching him in the shoulder.

Apparently, all that she had seen was him fly into the crowd, her view quickly closed over by griffins.  Then she saw him get hit by the spear in midair, and took off after him as soon as she could.  He leaned into her a little more, slightly annoyed that her armor was still between the two of them.  He let out a sigh of relief as they crested the hill and the camp came into view.  Jason turned back to take a look at the town.  There were clear specks of ponies below, their armor reflecting the light from the torches.  It was quite a surreal sight, watching the groups of ponies clash with the remaining griffins below.  

"So what now?"  Jason asked Shining, who was walking a ways ahead.  

"I guess that's your choice.  You could go back, or you could choose to see this thing through to the end."  Jason turned his head to look at Dash as they started to move between the first set of tents.  She shrugged, sighing as the emotions coming off her turned sour.  Shining stopped, turning back to the escort and hostages.  

"All members of Team Green Bean, you're free to go, get to the infirmary if you need to.  It's tent F1.  Make sure the hostages get there as well.  Whoever's holding the griffin tie him to one of the beds."  He turned away from the resulting solute.  "I still want to talk to you two though.  And you, Eravel"  He walked into his tent, holding the flap open as Jason, Dash and Eravel entered.

"We've got to figure out what to do with this city down there.  I made sure that we're wrapping up as few civilians as possible in the killing, but there's still the risk that griffin military members will still be there undercover, and they could rise up later."

Jason shrugged.  "Use some counter-insurgancy tactics."

"I knew that, but we don't exactly have a lot of experience in the topic."

"Eravel, how much did people seem to dislike the government?"

"I dunno, they couldn't really say without the risk of being killed.  I definitely didn't like it, my friend didn't either."

"Okay,"  Jason continued, "Assuming the people don't like the government, and by extension the army, all you have to do is make the griffins feel safe, let them know that your society is better and that they can safely point out any threats.  It worked wonders in a couple of wars.  An ongoing one too, or at least it's probably still ongoing.  They couldn't have possibly finished the war in a month and a half."

"So you're saying that all it takes is a little protection?"

"Well our soldiers have to look nice and preferable to the griffin army, but yeah.  It was a lot harder in the war that's going on now though, because the insurgents tended to just go into a populated area and blow themselves up or lay bombs all over the place, so they're harder to root out in time.  Others had guns and were well known terrorists, so the civilians would just point them out, and it was much easier."

"Your world was like that?"  Shining asked, his jaw slightly ajar.

"Well, not really.  If I were to explain it it would sound really violent, but it's not like we were all evil.  Most of us were good peop-- ponies.  It was pretty much fringe groups that stir up most stuff; communists, nazis.  They just grew because they had appealing party platforms."

"Parties?"  Eravel asked.

Jason facehoofed.  "Right, you don't really have politics.  You elect people to office in democratic countries based on what they say they're going to do, although people don't usually check for the validity of politicians' claims.  In other parts of the world, though, people often take over and become dictators.  Like Stalin.  He had a party platform that was favorable to the huge poor population, and it was mostly the same with Hitler, who led the Nazis.  Propaganda and the lack of information, along with fulfilled promises of food pretty much allowed them to keep power."

"And what happened to them?"

"There was World War Two, and my country helped destroy Hitler's Germany, and then kept a Cold War going with Russia until it fell apart.  You have my computer right?"  Shining nodded, pulling open a drawer and passing over the device.  Jason powered the computer, surfing through his pictures before turning around the computer.  They looked confused, trying to figure out what the picture was. 

"What is it, a weird cloud?"

"This is a test of an atom bomb.  That cloud is over forty thousand feet tall."  There was a gasp.  "We only ever dropped two in war, it's really more of a threat.  Anyway, let's get off of this stupid tangent, I'm getting sick of making us look bad.  We did so much good, I'm really just showing you the worst parts."  He paused.  "Just as an example, we're so advanced in medicine that we can give someone a replacement heart or preform brain surgery.  Without magic."  Another gasp.

"You can do all that?"  Shining asked, checking his face for signs of lying.

"Yeah, it's just science.  We got a guy on the moon forty years ago, and we have thousands of satellites in orbit.  We can see so far into deep space that it's like going back in time to when the universe was still newly born."

"What do you mean, back in time?"  Dash asked.  

"Light doesn't just come to your eyes, it has to travel there.  And in the huge scheme of things, it travels really slowly.  I'm not saying anymore right now, I'm tired.  And I could go on for years about how many things we've discovered or created.  But seriously, I'm going to fall over."

"Yeah, me too.  That shit's hard work."  Dash agreed.  Jason bid Shining a goodbye before he left the tent with Dash.  She looked over worriedly as soon as they got outside.  "What're we going to do about the war, are we going to stay?"  She asked.

"How about this, Dash.  We'll find out how far we are from the capitol and how long it'll take to move out, and then we'll decide.  I'd rather stay here if we're just going to get called back before it's over.  I really don't think it's going to last that long anyway.  We're just one army of several, and the others are pretty much just marching forward, there's no griffin resistance to the east yet."

"You sure it'll be fast?"

"Well I'd be stupid to say that for sure, everyone always makes that mistake, but it couldn't be long."

"I guess you haven't really been wrong yet..."

"Yeah, only all the time."  He chuckled.  "But I'd like to be right now more than ever.  I really miss Scoots though."

"No kidding."  She pushed through the entrance to the tent.  "I wish I could see that cute little orange menace."

"I hope she's having fun without us, and hopefully not destroying the town."

"Yeah."  She looked at him expectantly, and he stripped off her armor.  She sighed gratefully and walked over to the mattresses, literally falling down onto one of them.  "It's not hard to guess that we aren't doing anything tonight?"

"You mean like sex?"

"Well I was going to be subtle, but okay."  Jason chuckled, sliding his saddlebag off his back.  

"We'd probably just fall asleep in the middle."  He yawned.

"Ha, yeah.  I was kinda joking anyway.  Throw me an apple."  He reached his hoof into the saddlebag, tossing her the least blemished one before walking over to join her.  He slumped down, much less gracefully than Dash had.  

"Still clumsy, eh?"  She asked, smirking.  He rolled his eyes.

"At least I know what I'm doing where it counts."  He brushed a hoof over her shoulder, grabbing a blanket with his magic and pulling it over them.  He shivered for a moment before he got up and grabbed the extra blanket out of his saddlebag.  As he was carrying it back to the bed he shifted into his regular Alternis pony form, laying down next to Dash as he wrapped the second blanket around the two of them.  She kept the presence of mind long enough to bury her muzzle in his shoulder and throw her forehooves around his torso before passing out the rest of the way.  

Jason sighed, stroking a hoof through her mane as he put his arm around her head.  He moved his head, resting it hers.  He took in a deep breath, taking in the smell of sweat, with her normal airy freshness underneath.  But try as he might, he couldn't get to sleep.  Maybe it was Scoots, or just general homesickness, although he wasn't sure why that'd strike now.  Or maybe he was just scared.  Scared of dying, scared that Dash might get some irreparable injury and he'd have to say to her that he couldn't do anything, that her injuries were healable but she was still going to die from blood loss.

And he didn't think he'd be able to get through it.  When his family had died, sure, he'd gotten over that.  It still haunted him sometimes.  But he could only blame himself so much for that, he couldn't have blocked a bullet or healed them up.  Fuck, he couldn't have taken one of the gunmen hand to hand.  But this was different, it was his job to look out for her, and he didn't want her to be the victim when he fucked up.

He looked down, watching a tear hit her mane and slide off.  He couldn't lose her, not after all this.  She was the only pony, well only female more importantly, that he'd ever loved, that he'd ever wanted to spend the rest of his life with.  She was his entire world, no matter how much he teased her and joked around.  And just the thought of her head, eyes lifeless and foggy as he cradled it in his hooves was too much to bear.  Another tear fell, hitting her inside the ear.  She jumped and woke up with a start, turning her head to look up at Jason.  

"What's wrong?"  She asked, immediately going from tired and annoyed to concerned.  

"I-- I got into thinking about what would happen if I couldn't save you, if your injuries were too much to heal.  And I couldn't bear the thought.  You're irreplaceable, and you mean the world to me.  I wouldn't know what to do if you died, I'd probably go insane.  I guess I haven't really needed to care about anyone for a while, and I guess that just makes you seem that much more important."  Dash furrowed her brow, trying to think of something to say.  She eventually just hugged him tighter.

"I'm sorry."  He pushed her back so that he could look her in the eye.

"It's not your fault, really.  A lot of it's from the healing, honestly.  I mean, if there's something I could do, it's much easier to blame myself, and that's what I'd probably do.  It's a blessing in disguise, I have to choose who to heal and how much, it's like I'm trying to play god.  I don't like it.  But like I said before, you're irreplaceable, and that's what makes it hardest."

"Jason, calm down.  I'm not going anywhere."  She leaned over and kissed him, effectively derailing his train of thought.  "And I hate seeing you like this.  If you're worried about this all the time, it's probably going to make the chances higher that it'll happen.  When you're not as worried you tend to know what's going on and make better decisions."

"How do you do it?"  He breathed.

"What?"

"How do you get past all the worrying that I'm going to die?"

"I just look at it differently.  I think of the things I can do rather than the ones I can't.  The best case scenario, as it is."  she poked him in the chest playfully, trying to get him back to his usual self.  "You should try it sometime."

Jason let out a dry chuckle, looking her in the eye.  "I will."  He leaned forward again to kiss her before pulling her into his embrace.  "I love you Dash."

"I love you too, Jason."  She smiled, resting her head on his upper foreleg as she usually did before ruffling his feathers playfully.  Jason shuddered, poking her in the side in response.  She let out a yelp, evidently she was fairly ticklish.  He'd have to remember that.  

Dash settled back down, giggling lightly, before pulling him tighter against her and sighing.  

"I like listening to your heart beat."  She muttered.  "It's slower than most ponies, and it's calming."  She adjusted a hind leg, knocking it into one of his.  "You really are the perfect pillow."

"I'm sure you have a lot of experience."  

"I do, thank you very much."  She giggled again, before he breathing gradually became deeper and he figured she'd fallen asleep.  He smiled into the darkness, amazed at how quickly she could always turn his mood around.  It wasn't long before sleep claimed him as well.


___________________________________________________________


Jason awoke, recalling the events of his dream.  It had been one of the most peaceful dreams he'd had in a while, that was for sure.  He'd been flying alongside Dash, just flying.  He distinctly remembered that the sky was full of clouds, and never seemed to end.  They had been diving for a fairly long time, and he couldn't even remember seeing the ground, let alone getting closer.  And at some point he had split off from Dash, more fell behind than anything, as it turned out.  Shortly after the color spectrum filled the sky as Dash preformed her trademark Sonic Rainboom, and he watched in awe as the wave spread out.  And that's when he'd woken up.

Dash stirred next to him, her breath becoming more shallow as she rolled over to look at him.  She leaned in for a kiss before Jason could get a word in, giggling when she saw his expression.

"Good to know I still make you flustered like that."  She said, running a hoof along his side as she assumed a ponderous face.  "You know, you never showed me anything fast from your world, and your computer's right over there..."

"I like how you use the same tone of voice when you want me to do things as when you're trying to allude to sex."

Dash chuckled.  "I still get you to do things, so I guess it works."  

Jason returned her chuckle, turning his head so that he could see the computer as he levitated it out of the saddlebag and over to them.  He laid it on top of the covers and opened the lid, watching as his background popped up and the computer returned from sleep mode.  

"So I have a few things, most of which are pictures."  She nodded as he pulled up a photo album.  "This is the coolest plane in the history of planes.  The B2 bomber."

  

"And this is tied with that plane.  F22 Raptor, which is a fighter plane." 



"How do those things fly?"  She asked, leaning closer to the screen.  "Their wings don't even move!"

"They go really fast.  The second one I mean, the first one's more focused on silence then speed.  Anyway, it would be cool to pilot something like that, going at speeds that fast."

"You said mach eight?"

"Something like that."  He clicked a few times, putting an arm behind her head and around her opposite shoulder.  "And this is a video of a rocket taking off, although I can't remember which mission this was."  He played the video, turning down the volume after the computer started to vibrate from the bass note the engines produced.  Dash's 'yeah right' look turned to a look of surprise as the rocket left its starting blocks and accelerated into the upper atmosphere.

"So where's it going?"  She asked, looking over at him expectantly.

"I dunno, it could be going out to repair the Hubble space telescope, or something else.  I'm not sure when the last time was that they put men on the moon."  He clicked a few more times.  "Here's a picture, by the way."



"Wow..."  She paused.  "Why do you have all this stuff on your computer?"

"I thought they were cool things.  Each one used to be my desktop background at one point."  He smiled.  "But here's something actually relating to speed."  He started another video, featuring cars as they went around corners.  

"What are these things?"

"Those are F1 race cars.  I had these races saved to watch because I missed them, but, well, I guess I never got to see who won.  Probably Sebastian Vettel though.  Anyway, those cars are ridiculously expensive, and all those jutty bits are either air intake or wings pushing the car onto the road.  I think I told you about this before, actually."

"Yeah, but seeing it like this is awesome!"

"Glad you think so."  They watched the race in relative silence, Dash letting out small squeals of glee whenever the camera shifted to inside one of the cars.  Jason looked at the clock on the computer, which was fairly correct ignoring the month and year, the day of the week, and day of the month.  He chuckled to himself.  The time read ten forty five, so he figured that Scoots would be in school right now.  Probably not a the best time to see if she was alright.  

He pulled out the pad just in case she had written anything, but it came out blank.  He floated out an apple, handing it over to Dash, who grabbed it and immediately took a bite without looking away from the computer screen.  Jason took a brief glance at the screen before laying his head across her chest and closing his eyes.  

"I know I'm usually the pillow, but you're pretty comfy yourself."  He smiled and dozed off, drifting in and out of consciousness as time drew on.  When he woke up a few times later he got up off of Dash's chest and stretched, figuring that he had slept long enough.  Dash had dozed off at some point during or after the race, and had her mouth wide open.  The computer had gone into sleep mode again, the black screen displaying his slightly distorted reflection.  

Jason pushed Dash's mouth closed, chuckling when she didn't wake up.  He started up the computer again, sifting through an array of sound effects he had bought a long time ago.  He couldn't remember exactly what it was that had possessed him to do so, but 'trash can lid closing' looked pretty good.  

CLANG!!!

Annoyingly for him, Dash only opened her eyes, not giving him a reaction anything like the alarm clock from yesterday.  He sighed and closed the computer, setting it aside. 

Dash smirked.  "I've been awake for a while."  She said before he could ask why she hadn't at least jumped.  "That was a great race though.  Say, how did you know Vettel was going to win?"

"He wins everything now.  Some say it's the Red Bull car, but I think he's probably just a good driver."

"I just think you've seen the race."

"If I had, it wouldn't still be on my computer."  

"Touche."

"So you wanna get up and do something?  I think it's like lunchtime, so we could go over to the mess hall, or tent or whatever."

"Yeah, I guess.  I didn't know we had a mess hall."

"We must..."  They went silent for a few moments.

"So we're staying?  In the war I mean?"  Dash asked, rolling over to look him in the eye.

"Hold on."  He grabbed the pad of paper and looked it over, letting out a light sigh of relief as he read Scoots' message.

How did the attack go?  Did you save the ponies?  Are you okay?

He chuckled and pulled out a pencil, scribbling down his response.

We're fine, the griffin city is presumably taken.  We may be out here a while longer to finish the war, so that we don't end up back there just to come back.  But don't worry, we should be through the worst of it.  I love you Scoots, and I miss you, and Dash is here feeling the same.  Don't get too lonely, we'll be back before you know it.

He set down the pad, wishing yet again that there was a better means of communication with the filly.

"You wanna go see what happened to that griffin or something?"  Jason asked.

"I want to go get some food first."  Dash replied.

"Well that's not surprising."

"I can't tell if you're being sarcastic."

"I kinda was in my head, but then I realized that it's lunchtime and all you've had was an apple.  By the way, we pretty much only seem to eat apples."

"They're easy food sources, and like you said, we don't really eat that many different things."  Dash replied.

"Yeah."  He looked over at her.  "You know, it's funny how you can look pretty in every situation."

She giggled.  "I think you're just biased.  Not that I'm complaining.  You're quite the handsome changeling yourself."

"Why thank you."  He tipped his imaginary hat to her, before they both lost their straight faces and broke down into laughter.  Jason put a hoof around her head and pulled her into a kiss.  She giggled at his sudden boldness before melting into the kiss herself.  Her exposed wing extended with a soft whoosh of air.  

"Mmm, you're good at that."

"What, kissing?"

"Making me want you."  She said with a smirk.  Jason raised an eyebrow.

"I see,"  He looked at his imaginary watch, returning her smirk.  "I do believe we have time."  He pulled her over on top of himself, locking his lips with hers in another kiss.  He pulled away a few seconds later, putting a hoof to her mouth before she could protest.  "I gotta get that soundproofing spell up."  He channeled some energy through his horn, listening to make sure that the silence from the spell had taken effect.  

"Done?"  She asked.

"Done."  He replied.  She smiled and leaned down, mashing her lips into his once again.  


_________________________________________________________________


Jason woke up with a start, worried for some reason that they had slept through the rest of the day.  He sighed.  one fifteen, not too bad.  In the afternoon, he hoped.  He got up, trying not to disturb Dash, and made his way to the tent exit.  He opened the flap, letting out another sigh when light flooded inside.  He walked back over to the 'bed' and gently shoved Dash's shoulder with a hoof, making her roll over to the side.  She snorted as she woke back up, blushing when she realized that Jason had heard the noise.  

"You're cute when you're embarrassed."  He said, pulling her up with a hoof.  "Apparently I'm better then lunch, eh?"

"I'm not going to lie, yeah.  Way better."  She paused.  "I'm still hungry though."  

Jason chuckled.  "How about we leave before we end up all over each other again.  Not that it wasn't fun and all."

Her stomach rumbled.  "Probably a good call."  She walked over to the tent exit, pushing her way through the flap.  "I have no idea where I'm going."

"Yeah, we could ask Shining.  I'm kinda curious about how the battle ended, actually I know who won, but hopefully we didn't lose a lot of troops."  He broke into a trot, eager to at least taste something again.  Funny how that worked.   He burst into Shining's tent, noticing the stallion at a table with a mug of cider.  

"Hey, thought I'd never see you two again."  Shining said.  "We won, by the way.  The troops got back about twenty minutes ago, after I got some replacements down there."

"So how many did we lose?"

"Twenty.  Fourteen more injured.  We've had worse.  Or course, you seemed to take out the vast majority of them with your..."  He gestured with his hoof that he wanted Jason to finish the sentence.

"Gun.  More specifically AUG."

"Yeah, you two are fine though?  I heard you got pretty beat up by that griffin we have in the infirmary right now."

Jason blushed and rubbed the back of his head.  Maybe he should've dropped this disguise by now.  Ah well, he liked having fur.  And feathered wings.  "Yeah, he was a pretty good fighter.  It made me kinda nervous that the troops we've fought so far aren't the worst we're going to have to deal with."

"Funny, that idea struck me as well."  Dash said, stroking her chin.  "They can't all be that easy, you know?"

"Yeah, I wish they were, but I kinda doubt that they are."  Jason paused, pointing to the mug of cider.  "Celebrating?"

"Yeah," Shining started, "One of the soldiers brought it to me from the mess hall, apparently we got a shipment of cider today, and they're going to drink it.  Maybe I'll join them in a while."

"Where's this mess hall exactly?"  Jason asked.

"To the east."  He pointed a hoof.  "We're moving out tomorrow, so be ready.  The lines across the valley have encountered the griffins a couple times, so we need to move before they get dug in or end up with a bunch of troops all over the place."

"Alright, but like morning tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I want to be gone before nine.  I set it all up with Celestia, we'll be loading stuff into chariots and marching as far as we can on day one before finding a hill or defendable position to set up a new camp.  We're keeping some of the tents here to act as a relay station for supplies and to watch over the city below.  Hopefully we can phase out the tents and just use the town to store supplies."

"That would definitely be easier."  He turned to leave, figuring a party wouldn't be the worst thing to do with his time.  Dash bumped into him, and he redirected his attention.

"Don't get all drunk this time, okay?"

"I'm not going to enter a drinking contest, don't worry.  I may be a heavyweight in terms of drinking here, but it's not like I particularly enjoy cider.  Of course--"  He bumped his front hoof into something hard, and he let out a yelp of pain, looking for the source of his injury.  

"What is that thing?"  Dash asked, pointing behind him.  Ooh, maybe it's something technologically advan--- no.  

"That's a hubcap, and maybe some rusty screws.  It's junk."  They started to walk again.

"What does it do?"

"It goes on the side of car wheels, I think it just makes them look better, but I'm not an expert.  And some of my knowledge is starting to fade."

"Really, you're forgetting things?"

"Well, little things, but it's a little annoying to keep forgetting stuff like that.  I don't really miss being back there that much, but I definitely don't want to forget it."

"Did you have a lot of money?"

"What?"

She poked him.  "Well, did ya?"

"I had a fair amount, yes."

"How'd you do it?"

"I got really lucky.  Most of it came from me selling my parent's house.  I couldn't stand living there anymore, so I sold it  five years ago.  And then houses dropped in value and there was an economic recession.  So I stayed in an apartment for a while, then I bought a cheap house that was about the same for half the price.  Like I said, luck."

"How much could you possibly get out of that?"  

"Half a million dollars, after I bought the new house.  About half of that's just sitting in a bank account generating interest, and I invested like a quarter in the stock market, and considering how cheap stocks were, that was a good idea.  I was pulling in some profits before I got sent here."

"And you got yanked from that?"

"Well, it's not a big deal, the money'll still be there if I ever get sent back or something."

"But you had so much!"

"And nothing to buy, Dash, it didn't matter."  He paused.  "Plus, I was lonely.  For the record though, money kinda can buy happiness.  I definitely wasn't bored."

"So why did you stick your money in socks?"

"Stocks."  He corrected.  "They're like representations of a company that are defined on the worth of the company, and they go up and down based on how the company does.  The idea is that you buy little parts of the company, and get money if the company goes up."

"Okay, if I'm not going to understand it at all, just say so."

Jason checkled.  "I'll try to censor my normal conversation."

"You better, I'm just feeling stupid when I don't know these things."

"I know how you feel.  You should have seen me when I was disguised in Scoots' school, I had no idea what any history was."

Dash giggled.  "That's a funny image, you not knowing what to say."  He snorted.

"Yeah, well we're here, so..."

"Don't get drunk."  She said, poking him in the side in warning.

"And I will not get drunk."  He replied, poking her in return.  "I like how little self control you think I have."

"Only in the presence of alcohol."  She giggled, leaning over and giving him a kiss.  "You may want to drop the disguise though, especially if you want anypony to recognize you."

"Ah, yeah."  Green flames washed over his form, taking his disguise with them.  "Okay I'm ready."

"I don't think I'll ever really get used to that.  You changing, I mean."

"I guess that's good, stuff won't get boring."  He lifted her chin with a hoof, leaning over to kiss her again.  "And you get annoying when you're bored."  She punched him in the shoulder, and he chuckled.  Dash smirked and walked into the tent, the voices from outside growing in volume.  It was a rather mellow looking party, but of course it had only been started forty or so minutes ago.  Jason let a smile grow on his face as he looked over the crowd of celebrating soldiers.  

One of them noticed their presence and saluted before he hoofed Jason a mug, grabbing another and sliding it down the table to Dash.  He tapped his buddy on the shoulder, and word spread of their presence until everyone was at attention in the tent, saluting the pair.

"Aren't we the popular ones."  Jason said, looking over the crowd in awe.  "At ease, guys.  You're here to party after all."  The crowd cheered as ponies went back to their party, another round of drinks quickly doled out.  Jason took a sip from his mug, and started to walk through the crowd of ponies to find someone he knew.  He spotted the two officers, sticking together as they always seemed to.  He shifted his gaze to Tank and Eravel at a table in the corner, chatting with each other.  He walked over and Tank finished a thought before looking over.

"You look well rested."  Tank said.  

"You really don't"  Jason replied, taking another sip of his cider.  "Everything okay with Morning Rain?"

Tank shrugged.  "Yeah, she's awake.  She made me come here, so that I'd actually get out.  Thanks for saving her, Jason."

"It's my job, don't worry about it.  I'm glad she made it."

"So did we win?"  Eravel asked, eyeing the cider suspiciously.  

Jason nodded as he took another sip.  "Twenty killed, after the other ponies intervened."  He paused.  "You know, I never really express my gratitude towards you guys for staying on the team, but seriously, thanks."

"Didn't one of the other ponies go insane?"  Dash asked.  

"No, it's not really insanity.  We called it shell shock for a while, but it's post-traumatic stress.  We'll have to get those alternates onto the team."

"Oh, Shining already got that together, he told me this morning."  Tank replied.  "You need to get code-names for those other guys by the way."

"Oh yeah.  Eravel, you're Hawkeye now.  Congratulations."  Jason said.

"Hooray?"  The griffin replied hesitantly.

"Yeah."  A pony tapped Jason on the shoulder and he turned around to see the pair of officers again.  Judging by the blush on the mare's face, she was at least partially drunk.  

"H-hey, we won down there, right?"  He asked, a little awkwardly.  He looked kinda awkward.  Star, something?  Gazer?  Or was it Grazer?

"Yeah, twenty dead ponies as a result."  Jason replied.

"So how exactly did you and your team take out all those griffins?"  

"Teamwork and planning.  And futuristic weapons."  He shrugged.  "I didn't really bring it with me, but it fires metal weights at high speeds.  It was causing all the boom noises."  He turned back to the table.  "You still got that machete, Tank?"  

"Yeah, I really like this thing.  You said it was military?"  He pulled the machete and it's sheath off his back, tossing it to Jason.  

"This is the closest thing I have to futuristic, but I guess that's only because they make millions of these every year for the marines."  He paused.  "Those are guys in the navy, which is the oceanic army.  We don't have a navy here, do we?"  Tank shrugged.  "I'll have the gun, that's what it's called, with me tomorrow when we move out, I'll show it to you if you still care."  The mare whispered something into the male officer's ear and stumbled away.  

"Yeah, I'd love to see it!"  He saluted briefly before looking around and taking off in a random direction.  

"Hey Jason,"  Dash started, pointing to an open part of the floor where some of the soldiers were dancing.  Weird how this military wasn't all men, Jason thought.  "Wanna dance?"

"Alright, on one condition."  

"And what would that be?"

He smirked.  "You follow my lead."

	
> The Delivery
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


The Delivery


Dash stumbled as she was walking, bumping into Jason as he trotted beside her.  She turned and blushed, adding to the alcohol induced heat that was already in her cheeks.

"Sorry, *Belch*  I guess I shoulda' stopped with that lassst one."

"You silly little lightweight."  He shifted into his Alternis form before throwing a wing over and pulling her into his side.  "And you told me not to get drunk."  

"Hey."  She paused.  "Listen you...hot...stallion, I'm not drunk."

"Oh?  So what's Eravel's codename again?"

"It... uh, isn't important."  She stumbled again, and Jason stuck an arm under her to make sure she didn't fall.  She blushed harder.  "I don't need your help, Jason."

"Yes you do."

"Nuh uh."

"Just humor me."  He said.  She snorted in annoyance, looking at the ground.  

"You know, I had a dream last night about flying..."  She paused, taking a breath.  "Which isn't anything new for me, but you were there, and we were flying together, and I did a Sonic Rainboom.  Best...Best dream ever."

Jason's smile turned to a frown.  "Let's just get you to bed for a while."  Dash nodded her agreement.  He'd already kinda planned on getting her back to the tent, and they were already most of the way there.  But that dream...  Maybe it didn't mean anything, but those were the same, exact events.  Why?  It could be coincidental, or there could be some magic affecting it here.  Nah, that seemed a little too obscure, even for magic.

Then what?  His slightly alcohol muddled brain tried to come up with a reason.  Dash doesn't have magic, so it couldn't be her.  He was the only other one involved, unless there was an outside force.  So it must've been him.  What had he done differently last night?  There was the soundproofing spell, but he'd used that before.  What then?

He sighed and pushed through the flaps of the tent, moving over to the mattresses before laying her out.  He sighed again, laying down next to her.  It's not like he had much to do anyway, besides question the griffin, but that could wait.  Shining had said that he was still unconscious.  He could see if the officer was awake in an hour or so.  Dash laid her head and a foreleg across his chest, passing out nearly immediately as soon as she found a semi comfortable position.  

Jason started to stroke a hoof through her mane, repeating the motion as he started to think again.  If their dreams were going to be connected and it had something to do with him, what had happened just before he got to sleep?  He hadn't had a dream at all just before the attack, so when was the last time he hadn't had an interconnected dream?  The night before, he'd been sliding around on a really un-slippery looking floor.  And Dash wasn't there.

So assuming she wasn't involved, something happened after that.  Fighting, fighting, more fighting, training...  Fuck, it had to be that thing with what he assumed was the hive mind.  But why the dreams?  The hive mind was only supposed to be between changelings...

He'd just have to find out if it was coincidence and their dreams had just been similar.  In hindsight, Dash hadn't said anything specific.  He sighed, reaching over to set the alarm clock before closing his eyes.  Well this would be interesting...


_____________________________________________________________


Jason woke up with a start, his chest heaving as he tried to recover from the vivid dream.  It wasn't as peaceful as the last, he'd been fighting in a battle, and had woken up when he got stabbed.  He shuddered.  Whoever said that vivid dreams were great was a fucking idiot.  He looked over at the alarm clock, and turned it off before it could ring.  So he'd slept about an hour then.  He poked Dash's face, pushing her cheek into a rather humorous position.  She stirred more quickly than he would have expected, given how stoned she had been an hour earlier, and looked up at him with wavering eyes.  

"Block the light Jason."  He chuckled and moved between her and the exit.  Then he remembered what was going on, and his smile turned to a frown.  

"Dash, did you have a dream when you were sleeping?"

"Why?"

"Because the dream I had last night was exactly the same as the one you had, and I couldn't figure out if it was a coincidence or if it meant something."

"Well unless you got stabbed..."

Jason put his hooves to his forehead.  "Fuck..."

"That actually happened?"

"Yeah, and now that I know there's a pattern, I can't figure out what's causing it."  

"Why is this such a big deal?  Sharing dreams sounds pretty cool to me."  She sounded a little drunk still, much more in shape than he would have expected after only an hour.  But she hadn't really had much alcohol, in terms of content.

"But what if this is a premonition of something terrible?  What if it has something to do with the hive mind?"

"Jason, calm down, we'll figure it out.  We can send a letter to Celestia, maybe she'll know."

"But what if she thinks this makes me a threat?"

Dash was silent for a moment.  "Jason, why would there be any kind of hive mind link between us, I'm not a changeling."

"You see why I'm worried?!?!"

"Yeah."  She stroked her chin with her hoof.  "If you aren't in the main hive mind, is it possible you still have a hive mind that's just not connected?  Like a separate one?"

"Sure, but why you?"

"We don't even know how the real hive mind works, this could be normal."

"UUGH!!  Why is this so hard to figure out?!"

"Let's just go find something to do, a thought you might not have had could come to you."

"Fine.  The griffin?"

"Yeah, any word from Scoots?"  Jason shrugged, grabbing the pad of paper.  He held it up, not finding any new messages.  The clock read two thirty, she should be out of school right now.  

Scoots, you okay?  I'm worried that I haven't heard from you in a while.

He stared at the paper, watching as a response formed.  

Ha, I knew this thing went through to you.  The fuck?  Guess you won't be able to talk to your daughter anymore...  Dash gasped from behind Jason's shoulder.  Diamond Tiara, he assumed.  The little bitch.

So this is revenge?  He wrote back.  A little pathetic, if you ask me.  

You're bluffing.

Am I?  You're the one accumulating revenge points.  And I'm not good at controlling my temper.  He paused.  I'd love to talk, but I have to go torture a griffin.  Jason stared at the pad for a moment, before turning and throwing it on the ground. 

"SHIT!!  That little bitch!!"  He yelled, before sobering slightly.  "And it's all my fault."

"No it's not."  Dash replied, looking over the messages.  "It's better off things turned out the way they did, Scoots wouldn't have had a home without you.  And she isn't in any danger from Tiara anyway.  I taught her some fighting stuff, just in case."

"Wow."  He let out a sigh.  "I'm much less nervous all of a sudden.  Good call on teaching her to fight."

"Well she doesn't know much, mostly defensive stuff.  Like jabbing and dodging.  That's pretty much all we do that doesn't involve knives."

"Thanks for thinking ahead."  He leaned over and kissed her.  "You eliminate so much stress from my life..."

"That's actually pretty debatable."  She smirked, stumbling slightly as she walked over and poked him.

"How drunk are you right now?"

"Um, not very.  I need some water though, my tongue feels like a rug."

"It's dry?"

"Something...like that.  And I'm still pretty tired."  She swayed a little more, putting a hoof to her forehead.  "I'll wake up soon enough."

"Okay good, cuz we need to go do stuff."  She nodded and walked out of the tent, grabbing a pair of sunglasses he hadn't known she'd packed.  She left him to grab his saddlebag and shove the computer and pad of paper inside before throwing it over his back.  He walked out to meet her, handing over an apple for her to eat, and they started the short trek over to Shining's tent.  

Shining was unsurprisingly inside once again, he'd briefly been at the party before leaving.  He didn't really seem like the party type.   But Jason really wasn't either, to that end.  Jason looked around, noticing that two other ponies were also inside the tent, and after a few moments of staring he remembered them as the two alternate ponies.  

"So which reason are you here for?  Permission to question the griffin or bringing these ponies onto the team?"  Shining asked.

"Both, I guess.  But there's not really much to say to you two."  He turned to the stallions, a pegasus and unicorn.  "You can choose which of the sub teams you're on, but try to bring something new to whichever one.  And get to know the members of, well, all of us.  I'm glad to see you're still willing to be on the team."  He walked over and shook the hoof of both of the ponies.  "Most of the team's still at the mess hall, I would go meet them now if I were you.  But don't piss of Hunter if he's drunk.  He's a little weird around alcohol."  The ponies saluted and left without another word.

"So about that griffin..."  Dash started.  

"Yeah, go ahead."  Shining started.  "And Jason, I got a bunch more of the stuff that comes from your country over here."  He stepped behind his desk, floating over a rather large box of junk and setting it at Jason's feet.  "I wasn't really that interested to go through it, but hopefully you'll find some useful stuff."  He paused.  "And apparently some stuff is here for you two from Ponyville, but that's not time intensive."  Jason nodded, pulling the box over to one of the bunks before taking out the first item.

"Well this is household cleaner..."  He pulled out another item, looking it over.  "Maybe a wheel from a swivel chair?"  He started sorting the items into useful and useless piles.  "SAT book, Xbox games, combat knife..."  He shifted his hoof around, flinching as he pulled it back out.  "Thumbtacks..."

"What are these ex-box things?"  Dash asked, holding up a copy of Call of Duty 2.  

"They're like the video games on a computer, but it's a game console instead.  It's only for gaming, pretty much."

"This is a game?  It looks a lot like one of those movies."

"They're both stored on disks, or information donuts, and a case shaped like that is just a good way to store them."  He tipped the box over, spilling it's contents.  "I was wondering if there was anything past all these sharp things..."  He pulled out a few more items.  "Another knife, a multi-blade this time, a gun holster, some rope, a box with..."  He opened the box, trying to keep a straight face.  "Nothing in it."  He slid it into his saddlebag, subtly checking if Dash had noticed.  "And... a lightbulb, and ooh!  Some shotgun shells."  He ran his hoof through the pile again, checking for things he may have missed.

"That's it?"

"Yeah."

"So why'd you put that box away?"  She asked, crossing her arms.  Shit.

"If I told you it'd ruin the surprise."

"It better be damn good.  I think you're just trying to keep me from seeing cool things..."  She raised the flap on his saddlebag before he swatted her hoof away.  

"Hey.  Surprise."  He couldn't exactly have her butting into this...  That made it sound like he had some sort of dastardly plan going on, though, and it was the opposite of that.  

"What could possibly in that box that you can't tell me?"

"Ingredients for the surprise.  Which you will receive later, at a good time."  Cryptic, good.

"Sometimes, Jason, sometimes you really annoy me."

"You'll be anything but annoyed later..."  He paused.  "Now come on, we have stuff to do."  He waved to Shining and turned to leave, pushing through the flaps of the tent.  

"Come on, just a hint."  Dash said from behind him.  He rolled his eyes.

"One hint.  I can't put it together myself."  Jason said with a smirk.

"What kind of a hint was that?"

"One that's far too vague to allow you to come up with what I'm doing."  Dash bumped into his side, giving him a sultry look.

"Maybe if I provide a service in return?"  Jason stopped to stroke his chin, acting like he was considering the offer.  

"No, it's more of a big deal than that."

"You're turning down that?"  She paused, looking over her face.  "The surprise is that good?"

"Well it will be, if you like it.  And I think you will."

"Fine, I won't push for it anymore...As long as you tell me around when I'll be receiving it."

"But that's like another hint..."  She glared at him.  "Fine, it should hopefully be soon, like in a couple weeks.  But that depends on how the war's going and how fast shipping is.  By the way, what do you think arrived from Ponyville?"

"Maybe more junk from your world, if somepony decided to send it out here, or something."

"Yeah, okay.  Shining said this was the place he had moved the griffin to, right?"  He gestured to a tent, one that seemed a little more sturdy than the others.  He walked inside, finding a few guardsponies and ten or so metal cages.  The griffin was inside one of them, tied to a chair.  He looked up and sneered at the duo before looking back down.  His foot had a bloody bandage around it, and the guy looked pretty tired.  Dash ushered the guards out, and Jason put up the soundproofing spell.  Man, this spell was coming in handy.  

"So listen, griffin."  He paused.  "God dammit, that didn't rhyme in my head.  Anyway, we need information, and evidently we've come to get it from you."  The griffin didn't respond.  "And I'm assuming that you aren't going to just tell us."

"How did you turn a griffin against the empire?"  He asked after some more silence.

"He hated living there, and he gave us a shitload of information, so we let him stick around."

"Another traitor to the motherland..."  The griffin shook his head.  Jason furrowed his brow, deciding to question the more important of the words.

"Another?"  The griffin's eyes widened at the realization that he'd let something slip before returning to usual.  There were another few moments of silence.  

"So how's the foot?"  Dash asked, pointing with a hoof.  

"You know," the griffin started, "that noise weapon of yours shattered my foot, your field doctor said I'd probably never walk again.  Not without a giant limp.  So using your language, fuck you."  

"Well then, how about we organize a deal."  Jason began.

"What kind of deal?"  The griffin asked, raising a furry eyebrow.  

"You tell us the information, and in return I get you nicer quarters, and fix your foot."  The griffin went wide eyed before throwing his head back in laughter.  

"Oh, heal my foot, that's a good one, boy!  The doctors couldn't, what makes you think you can?"  Jason sighed and focused some energy through his horn, healing a cut on the griffin's face.  The officer put a claw to his cheek, trying to find the cut.  "How did you do that?"  He asked.

Jason shrugged.  "Magic."  The griffin turned away, mumbling a few things to himself.

"You're saying I won't be crippled?  Completely healed?"  He asked.  Jason nodded.  "Get someone to write things down.  I'm not spending my life as a invalid."  Dash pulled in a guard from outside, thrusting a pad of paper and a pencil into his hands.  

"Take notes."  She said, pointing to the griffin.  The guard had an expression that implied he was doubtful they had gotten the griffin to talk.  

"So here's how this deal will work."  Jason started.  "You'll give the information, I'll relay it to Shining to make sure it passes the test of at least being possible.  Then I'll come back here and fix your foot."

"But if it turns out you're wrong, I'll personally shoot it again."  Dash said.  

"Nice bad cop role."  He whispered.  She nodded, shooting him a grin.

"You're not off the hook, just remember, Jason could be anypony, anywhere.  And I know neither of us would hesitate to kill you."  The griffin nodded solemnly, and they left the tent as he started to talk and the guard wrote down notes.  

"Good threats."  Jason complimented.  "Maybe you should be the one threatening Tiara."

She giggled.  "Yeah.  You still got that paper?"  

"Yup, hold on..."  He reached around and opened the saddlebag, grabbing the paper and tossing it to her with a pencil.

"Jason."  

"What?"

"What is this here?"  She pointed to a couple of red splotches on the paper.

"Is that blood?!?!"  He moved closer, touching it with a hoof even though he figured it was only the color that had come through.

"That's what I thought it was."  He heard her gulp audibly, and she started to walk again, looking down at the paper every so often.  

"You wanna go over to the LZ, grab whatever's been delivered?"  Dash simply shrugged.  Jason walked over, shifting into Alternis and wrapping a wing around her.  "It'll be okay, Dash."  He cooed, turning her head to force her to look at him.  "She's not an innocent little filly, she's way out of Tiara's league."

"But what if Scoots is hurt, what if it's not a fair fight?"

"Do you think that Scoots would seriously get into a situation like that?  She'd bring her friends, or at least ambush Tiara.  She did a couple things on the map that I just re-used.  I think it's her cutie mark, to be honest.  I've just got to figure out some way for her to accidentally get a plan approved by Celestia or something."

"Do you think she knows?"  Dash asked.  Jason gave her a look.

"No, this is Scoots we're talking about here.  She's going to take forever to get her cutie mark, so I'm just going to give her a little push, and by that I mean make sure the plan she 'accidentally' sends isn't used in case there's a mistake."  They crested the hill, and walked over to a small group of ponies that were unloading boxes and bins.  The piles were labeled with signs based on their owners, but try as he might, Jason couldn't find one labeled with his or Dash's name.

"You're rainbow Dash?"  One of the pegasi asked.  

"Yeah, Shining said we had a delivery."  

The pony pointed to an unhitched chariot.  "Right there, miss."  She nodded and led the way, fiddling with the chariot door before she pulled it open.  

"Wow, Jason, look!"  She pointed inside, waiting for him to join her at the door.  "Octavia sent us out instruments!"  She jumped inside, tilting the chariot slightly as a clatter of drums and symbols came from inside.  

"You alright Dash?"  He heard a belated clang.

"Yeah, it's just dark."  Came her response.

"And you call me the clumsy one."  He chuckled, walking inside and lighting up his horn.  Dash had literally knocked over everything, and was buried somewhere in the wreckage.  Jason sighed and started floating the instruments away, leaving them in a pile outside.  He found Dash after a few had been removed, face redder than he had ever seen before.  

"In my defense, I'm still buzzed."

"Whatever, I drank the same amount as you."  He floated the last of the drums out of the door, setting them back up.  He walked over and grabbed a box pulling a note off the side of it and handing it to Dash as he carefully moved it outside. 

"I found some human stuff, it says.  And then Octavia signed her name.  When'd she find out?" 

"Lyra let it slip in front of her at the going away party."

"She's not very good with secrets, is she?"

"I think she's just overly excited that humans exist."  Dash stroked her chin for a moment.

"You're probably right.  You wanna get this stuff back then?"

"Might as well.  How'd she get all this stuff to the chariot?"

"I don't really know.  Oh wait, she probably just asked Applejack to get another chariot over to her farm.  She's been sending a lot of apples out here lately."

"Yeah, I'll bet she's really pulling in the profits right now."  He took a deep breath and levitated the box and all of the instruments off the ground.  "Let's just get these back before my brain explodes."

"Why do you have so much trouble with levitating that many things?"

"I dunno, I guess I'm just not good at it.  Rarity definitely is, and I think Twilight probably is too.  All I can do is lift really heavy stuff."

"Is that really a bad thing?"  Jason didn't answer, he just sped up his trot in an attempt to get back to the tent faster.  After a couple minutes he got there and quickly shoved the instruments through the flaps, setting them in a pile in the corner.  He visibly relaxed before setting down the box, tipping it over to go through it.  

"Find anything yet?"  Dash asked, looking over his shoulder.  

"Just some magazines and a few pairs of scissors.  And an extension cord."  He sifted through the pile, throwing several more magazines into the junk pile.  He pulled out a computer mouse, setting it in the keep pile.  "Yes!"  He reached in and pulled out a vaguely L-shaped object, and turned it over in his hooves.  He pressed a button and a metal thing slid out, carrying... Wait were those bullets?

"Is that another gun?!?!"  Dash asked.  Jason turned and nodded, smiling widely. 

"Here, I've got something to do with this."  He grabbed a belt, something he'd found a while ago and figured he'd find a use for, and pulled the holster out of his saddlebag.  He walked behind Dash, and immediately went about attaching the holster to her upper hind leg.

"Enjoying yourself back there?"  Dash asked, the hint of a smirk on her face.  She raised her tail flirtatiously.  

"Be serious for a second, then you can flirt with me."  She suppressed a laugh, putting on a more serious expression.  Jason put the safety on the pistol before putting it into the holster.  He went back to the box, returning with two more clips, which he attached to the designated places on the holster.  He took a step back to observe his work, smiling when it was up to par.  

"So is that an AUG too?"

"No, that was the specific gun.  This one's a colt 1911, a pistol.  I'll have to get some sort of system rigged up so that you can pull the trigger, but try pulling it out.  Dash reached back and grabbed the gun in a fluid motion, pointing it in front of her.

"Bend your elbow."  He said.  "And generally you hold those things with two hands, or hooves in this case, so see if you can rear up and do that.  Aim at the bunk over there, but don't try to shoot."  Dash followed his directions, shoving off the ground with her free hoof and taking aim before tottering and coming back down.

"Was that good?"

"Probably, you'll do better without alcohol, but there'll be kick when you shoot it.  Smaller than this gun, but it'll be there nonetheless."

"So how does this gun compare to yours?"

"Well, that's semi-automatic, so one trigger pull equals one bullet.  Eight bullets in the clip, I think, but there may be more."  He walked over, pointing out parts of the gun with his hoof.  "Magazine release, safety.  Oh yeah, you have to pull the top back to chamber the first bullet."  He pulled it back partway to show her what he was talking about.  "Don't chamber one now though, I don't want to think it's empty and then be wrong."

"Yeah, okay.  This is so cool!"  She made an adorable 'squee' sound, putting the gun back in the holster.  "You wanna go see what happened to the griffin?"

"Might as well.  Actually, Shining probably knows by now."  He walked outside, admiring the setting sun for a moment before Dash caught up and they set off.  Shining was in the process of entering the tent with a pad of paper at the time, presumably having picked it up from the guard.  He turned to see them and ushered them inside.

"So," he started, "This seems like it's in order, I was looking it over for a while, and I haven't found anything that doesn't fit with what the griffins could do.  This definitely sheds some light on troop movements though."

"Near us?"

"Yeah, they're massing in the hills a little ways from here, he said.  I checked, and that's the opportune place for an ambush, or defense, or whatever."

"So I gotta go heal him then?"

"It would appear so.  That's another gun there Dash?"  He asked.

"Yeah, Jason just found it from the stuff in the delivery."

"Hey, Jason, I call dibs on one of the next ones you find."  Shining said as Jason turned to leave.

"Yeah, you look like a revolver kinda guy.  I'll keep you posted."  He sent a wave back and left, taking off and flying across the camp.  It'd been a while since he'd flown, come to think of it.  Dash had already gone past him, dipping to do quick circle around a tent before joining him again.  

Jason laughed slightly at her antics before landing in front of the jail tent and walking inside.  The griffin looked up, trying and failing to contain his eagerness at being healed.  Jason walked over, staring at the griffin for a few moments before opening his mouth to speak.

"Why do you care so much about being crippled, why did that sway your fancy so much?"

The griffin shrugged.  "You might think I just didn't like it there, and that this is a rather blatant disguise for that.  But really, living in a militaristic society where the weak and terminally ill just disappear, it gets to be one of your deepest fears that you'll end up like I am now.  And even if you are going to stick me in jail indefinitely, I just don't want to be that limited.  And I don't want pity for my injuries, nor do I want a reminder of the day I was bested by a pony."  

"Well, okay then.  I'm not a pony by the way, I'm a changeling.  Just keep your foot still, and it should be healed in a minute or so."  He waited until the griffin had stopped moving before resentfully channeling some power through his horn.  He'd never felt his way through a bullet wound before, but it was completely different from a stab wound.  Luckily the bullet had gone through, leaving only shattered bones and torn flesh to fix.  

It took a bit more energy than it usually did, but after a few moments, the foot looked the same as he assumed it had, minus the large scar in the middle.

"I hate to say this, but thanks."  The griffin said.

"Yeah, whatever.  Nice of you to come around."  Jason said sarcastically, turning to leave.  "I'll see about getting you your 'cozy' cell."  Jason pushed through the flaps, making a bee line towards the tent.  He wasn't sure why, but he was damn tired.  A bump in the side let him know that Dash had caught up.  He took off with her, flying low over a few tents before arriving back at theirs once again.  

Jason followed Dash inside, immediately collapsing on the mattress.  He took his saddlebag off, pulling out the pad of paper to see what had happened.  He took a deep sigh as he saw the message reading prominently at the top of the page.

I got it back, and I'm totally fine.  I got a little help from a new friend.  New friend?

Who's that?  He asked, figuring that he wouldn't get a response soon anyway.  He tossed the pad to Dash and floated the saddlebag away.  Dash let out an audible sigh, setting the pad down and joining Jason on the bed.  Jason hardly had the energy to say goodnight before sleep took him.  
> Packing Up
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Packing Up


Jason felt a tap on his forehead, and swatted at it with a hoof before trying to go back to sleep.  He felt another tap a moment later, and he repeated the motion.  Another tap.  Whatever was at the other end of this, he was going to kill...

Dash.  "Why were you trying to wake me up?!"  He asked, rubbing an eye.

"Well, we need to get our stuff out of here so we can move the tent later."  She said.  "I let you sleep in pretty long, you seemed pretty tired last night."

"Yeah, I'm not totally sure why."  He wrapped a hoof around her neck, pulling her head down into a kiss.  "I'm fine now though."

"Any dreams?"  She asked.  "I didn't really take you all that seriously yesterday, I'm sorry about that by the way."

"It's no big deal, you were still kinda drunk.  But no, I didn't have a dream."

"Yeah, neither did I.  So I guess this solves nothing."  She shifted a hoof through the box of human stuff from yesterday, pulling out a shoe.  "Did you ever finish going through this?"

"No."  She offered a hoof in help and he took it, pulling himself up off the mattresses.  "I kinda stopped looking after I found the gun and started acting all excited."  He pulled the box closer and moved the contents around.  

"What's this?"  Dash asked, pulling out a brightly colored bag. 

Jason looked up and gasped.  "Wow, I forgot how much I missed these things!"  He grabbed the bag and opened it, pulling out an orange chip.  

"What are those?"  Dash asked, reaching into the bag and grabbing one for herself.  She put one into her mouth and started to chew it up, her eyes lighting up.  "These taste great!"

"I never said they were food... I mean they are, but I still never said it."  He shifted into her form, shoveling a few chips into his mouth.  "They're called Doritos."  He said in her voice.

"Is this kind of stuff expensive?"  She said, spewing a couple of chip fragments across the room.

He snickered.  "Of course not, it costs a couple dollars for the bag."  Dash nodded and stuck her hoof in again, grabbing another hoofful of chips.  Jason pulled out a few more before hoofing her the bag and returning to the box.  

"Are there any more bags of these?"

"Uuh, not that I can see..."  He shifted his hoof around.  "But here's a mug with a demotivational picture on it."  He handed it to Dash, who read the small subtitle below the picture. 

"Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups,"  she read.  "Are they flying?"

"No, skydiving.  It's basically falling, except you have a parachute to use before you get to the ground."

"People do that for fun?  What if something goes wrong?"

He shrugged.  "Stuff usually doesn't.  But in other news, here's a butter knife, coaster, and shoe to match that other one."  He went silent, staring into the box, before breaking out into celebration and flinging a bag around.  "Yes, finally!"  he did a victory dance, leaving Dash completely out of the loop on what was happening.

"What did you find?!"  She yelled over his celebration, waving a hoof to get his attention.

"Beef jerky!"  He stopped his dance to open the package, shoveling some of the meat into his mouth.  "It doesn't taste as good as I remember, but that's probably because it's your taste buds.  Here, try some."  He thrust a piece into her hoof, watching her as she took it and stared.

"Beef?"  Jason nodded, waiting for her to take a bite.  She shrugged, she'd already had fish anyway, this wasn't that different.  She ripped off a piece, slowly chewing it in her mouth.  "Well, I have to say, this is pretty good.  All meat tastes like this?"

"No, that's peppered and had a rub on it.  But it's still essentially the same."

"It's pretty spicy."

"Yeah.  Let's not show this to anybody."  He paused.  "You know, vegetarians and all.  Except Eravel, I suppose."

"No problem."  She took another bite.  "You were really holding out on me here."

"Oh yeah, with my vast access to meat.  That's about the best you're going to get, most everything else that comes through will probably be spoiled by the time someone finds it."

"So this is all we have for now?"

"Yup.  My little carnivore." 

"It's good!"  She replied through a full mouth.

"Just don't eat too much, digestion probably won't go well.  And I kinda share a bed with you."

"Fine."  She shut the bag, awkwardly trying to close it back up with her hooves. 

"So we have to leave soon?"  

"Well, not that soon."  She walked over to him with half lidded eyes.  "And...ugh, you're still me, change back."

"What, you don't like yourself?"  He teased, moving forward and making a kissy face.  "You know you want to..." 

"Jason!  This was supposed to be the part where I flirt and make you uncomfortable, not whatever this is!"

"I think you like it."  He pushed her onto the pile of mattresses, pinning her arms before she could get back up.  "I think you like the idea of me having my way with...myself."  She giggled, although she didn't stop trying to struggle free.

"I don't like mares!"

"But I'm not a mare, technically."  

"Aaah, I don't know what to feel!"  Jason leaned down and nuzzled her neck, planting a few kisses before simply falling over in a heap of giggles.

"Okay, I'm done.  This is getting too weird for me."  He said through his laughs.  

"Thanks for completely creeping me out."

"Oh, you liked it."  Her face turned a slight tinge of pink.  He transformed into his regular Alternis form, and laid down behind her, assuming the position of the big spoon.  "So we have time, apparently?"

"Yeah, but I'm not so sure if I'm in the mood to do anything anymore."

"Oh, okay.  Well I'll just go be you in that corner over there for a few minutes...."  He heard her audibly facehoof.  

"You're literally the only guy around here that can just shrug off me saying 'no sex'."

"Yeah, but you always come around."  He leaned over and kissed her, stroking a hoof across his wing.  "But how about this.  I don't want a time limit, so we'll just wait until the new camp tonight.  Unless someone can't handle it."  He poked her in the back.

"Yeah, right, I'll be fine!  You'll be the first to crack anyway."

"I'm not making a bet over this, for the record."

"You're just worried I'd win."

"I'm worried that when one of us breaks down, there'd be casualties."  He felt her body vibrate as she chuckled, and he wrapped a hoof more tightly around her chest.  "You know, something about this place that I'll never completely get over is that I can touch your chest without it being at all sexual."

"What the hell does that mean?"

"You know how in The Walking Dead all the women had bulges on their chests?"

"Yeah, it's kinda weird if you ask me."

"Well they were breasts, they're there all bulgy that all the time on humans.  And if I were to go up to a girl and start squeezing her boobs, she'd probably yell rape.  What I'm trying to get around to is, after all this I still hesitate to put my arms around you there, you know, ignoring the fact that I already got past the interspecies thing without much trouble."

"Yeah, why did you get over that so fast, come to think of it?"

"Well, you're clearly on par with humans in intelligence, and you have a personality that matches mine, and it's not like I'm human anymore."  He paused.  "I guess another reason is that most of society is still the same, I still have the same role as a stallion as I would have as a human, kinda.  Males tend to do the fighting and harder labor, a fair amount of business, so I don't have to change otherwise.  There are a lot of mares around, though.  Why is that?"

"Ponyville supplies a lot of the royal guards.  It's kind of a tradition."

"Ah.  I guess to finish, you don't really look like a horse, so I don't ever really see you as one.  This might sound petty, but think about dating an intelligent species that looked like a snake or a fish.  It'd be weird, right?"

She stroked her chin.  "Yeah, I guess I see what you mean."

"And you're pretty anyways, and that went through my head the first time I saw you.  It didn't take me very long to figure out I had feelings for you, and I'm so glad I didn't question them."  He hugged her tighter against his form, taking in her scent as he placed his head around her shoulder.  

"You went through all that?"

"Well there really wasn't much, I just thought you looked beautiful, and then I found out that you were smart, athletic, funny...  I couldn't possibly hope to find another mare that's better than you in even one of those respects, let alone two."

"What about Twilight?"  She asked, stroking a hoof across the bed nonchalantly in front of her.  

"In respect to intelligence?"  She nodded.  "Do you think she has the same smarts as you when it comes to fighting, to planning even?  If you'd read as many books as her, and had a horn I suppose, you'd easily rival her book smarts."  He paused.  "We had something called street smarts, in cities, mostly.  It was the idea that you were smart when it came to interactions with people, and keeping your cool in tight situations.  There were some other parts, but they don't really apply."

"So I have those?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot what I was saying there.  Yeah, you have those.  And just plain old regular intelligence."

"Thanks Jason."  He rubbed her shoulder with a hoof reassuringly, and they became silent for a while.  "How come you never say 'anypony' or anything like that?"

He sighed.  "Well the first couple times I screwed up, but after I didn't really need to disguise myself, I kinda didn't want to lose my old dialect, I liked having something to remind me of my old life, or at least my humanity."

"You always mention your 'humanity,' why do you care so much?"

"It's just a thing we humans have, it's our culture, our morals, basically.  I know I'll never really lose it, but I feel like it's just something I have to maintain.  Like as soon as it starts to slip, I won't be me anymore."  He paused, letting out a sigh.  "Why don't we go get stuff together and get through this day."  He yawned.  "I'm tired already."  He pulled himself off the mattresses, offering her a hoof.

"This is probably light fighting today, right?"

"I doubt it, we aren't really material for this kind of thing.  We'll probably just stay behind with the rest of the team.  Maybe go in somewhere if they need help.  But from what Shining said, they're massing further away than the camp he wants to set up."

"It's forest between there and here?"

"Well we're crossing the valley with the village, and then it's pretty flat for a while until it gets hilly again.  And that's where we're setting up."

"Yeah, okay."  She walked over to the tent entrance, looking outside for a long moment before opening the flap so that Jason could see that a chariot was just outside, hopefully stuck there for their purposes.  Jason walked over to the flaps, walking up beside Dash to take a look.  Considering the sign on the side that said 'Dash and Jason', he figured it was theirs.  

He pushed open the door, looking around at the same time to see ponies in the process of taking down several of the tents and stacking up bunk pieces or supplies.  He looked back towards the chariot, finding the inside unsurprisingly empty.  

"Guess we better get started."  Dash said, looking back inside at all the stuff they had to move and sighing.  "Good thing I have you to do all the work!"  She said happily, trotting back inside and diving onto the mattresses.  "Ah, laziness.  I've missed you."  Jason sighed and lifted up the mattress underneath her, causing her to let out a yelp as she struggled to get to her feet.  He floated another mattress overtop her before she could, sandwiching her between the pads.  

And then he ran out of ideas, not sure how exactly this was going to cause her to help him, not that he would have probably asked for her help anyway.  He decided on flipping the Dash sandwich upside down and letting it drop.  He caught it before it hit the ground, laying it down lightly.  

"Why?"  Was all he could hear her say from inside the cocoon.  

"If I really had no idea, would you still be angry?"

"Why don't you let me go and find out?"

"I dunno, Dash, what are you going to give me?"

"My undying love?"  Came the muffled response.

"Sounds a little too good to be true..."

"Just let me go, it smells funny in here!"

"Fine..."  He let the mattress out of his magical grip, and was tackled by Dash a couple seconds later as she straddled his body.  "I knew you weren't to be trusted."  He chuckled, squirming around under her.  

"So is there going to be another negotiation here?"

"I dunno, I kinda like you being on top of me."

"Here we go again..."  She groaned.  

"You like it when I flirt like this."  She giggled and leaned down to kiss him on the nose, before getting out of her straddling position and helping him up.  He nuzzled her cheek before wrapping a fair number of the instruments in his aura and sending them into the chariot.  More of a buggy, he realized.  Chariot wasn't really the right word.

"We need to play some of those songs you wrote out."  Dash said, tapping a cymbal that Jason hadn't yet moved.  

"Yeah, but I'm going to have to weed out the ones that we need a bass line for."  The cymbal started to glow a soft green before lifting off and moving outside.  The mattresses glowed the same color shortly after and moved into a pile as Jason pulled the simple structures of the cots apart.  

"So why did you put me in between those mattresses if you were just going to do all the work anyway?"

"I don't know, looking for a reason to screw with you?"  He paused.  "The 'with' isn't optional in this scenario."

She smirked.  "Unless I want it to be?"  

"Took the words right out of my mouth."  He grabbed the box and the rest of its contents, floating them outside with Dash's armor and their weapons to the buggy.  He tossed her saddlebag over to her, throwing his own over his back.  

"Won't we need the armor?"

"I dunno what the plan was, really.  I want to find out what it was before we put everything on."  She nodded, swishing her tail as she made her way over to meet him at the door.  

"You know what time it is?"

"I thought you did."

"Well kinda, I mean I knew it couldn't possibly be that late."  Jason looked up at the sky as he exited the tent, furrowing his brow when he realized the sun was at it's highest.  

"Dash, it's at least noon."

"We're still on time though."  She said, giggling as he sighed in annoyance.  

"Fine.  We'll go see what Shining wants us to do."  Jason broke into a trot, a slight pang of nervousness echoing around in his gut as the idea that he had overslept shot through his head.  He pushed into Shining's tent a few moments later, earning a confused expression from the general.

"What are you doing out and about?  You don't really have to do anything, I figured you'd still be in the tent, you know, entertaining yourselves."  Jason frowned as Dash poked him in the side, laughing to herself.  

"Didn't we have to leave earlier today or something?"  Jason asked.

"No, you didn't, none of Team Green Bean had to.  I mean, you're good fighters, but risking any of you in a situation like this would be pointless."

"So what are they doing, exactly?"  Dash asked.

"Well, I just have lines securing the next several miles between here and there, and sent them with some pads to report on any updates.  They were sent out, what, four hours ago, so they should be getting pretty close by now.  Unless it's further than we thought."

"Yeah, okay."

"So be ready for transport with the rest of the team by two or three.  I guess now that you're up, you may as well help load up supplies and what not.  It doesn't matter either way to me, you've earned your keep whether you help out or not."

"You wanna do that Dash?"

"Sure, may as well.  I told you we had time."  She turned to leave, pushing through the tent flaps with Jason in tow.  

"Oh yeah, that would have been great if someone noticed the silent tent and decided to take it down."

"I wouldn't have been embarrassed." 

"Don't even lie, Dash.  You would've been mortified."  He elbowed her in the side, earning a slight giggle in response.  They trotted back to the tent, loading up any odds and ends.  

"So, manual labor..."  She started.

"I bet I can move more stuff than you, no magic or wings involved."  

"Okay, rules.  Make up a mare, about my size and build.  A pegasus."  He transformed into the desired pony, a light red mare with a sky blue mane the same color as Dash's coat.  

"There."  He said, striking a pose.

"Did you ever get over turning into mares?"

"Kinda, I mean there're obvious reasons why I don't like it, and it's hard to be you without getting aroused or just staring at you, me, whatever.  It's always strange."  She laughed rather loudly, throwing her head back.

"I would imagine."  She said, wiping a tear from her eye.  

"Okay, we'll have to use a system that goes by loads.  Time limit is after we've run out of stuff to move."  She stretched out her hoof to shake on the deal.  Jason took it, smirking through his guise.  "Readysetgo!"


___________________________________________________________


Jason ran up to one of the chariots, buggies, whatever, and started offloading the items as quickly as possible.  As far as he could tell, Dash was still neck and neck with him, which was unsurprising considering how equal they were.  They'd been running back and forth for at least a couple hours now, and even though ponies could run a lot farther than humans, his legs still burned with the torture he'd put them through so far.  

He'd managed to keep count with the loads, even after all this time, counting out fifty seven just as he threw in the last item.  He turned and sprinted back, ignoring the cramp in his side that he'd had for about a half hour.  It was really a test of will and pain tolerance at this point, and no matter how hard he tried to get ahead, Dash would always end up right up with him.  At least twenty ponies had taken up bets on the sidelines, and were watching intently as they continued to cart loads back and forth.  

At least most of the ponies had stayed to help, and weren't over there with the rest of them gambling.  He would've been annoyed if that had been the case.  Of course, none of the ponies knew it was him, so they wouldn't really have a reason to be making themselves look like hard workers.  But then again, they had been up since earlier this morning.

He threw off the thoughts as he draped a few parts of a bed frame over his back, following it up with a mattress.  He took off again, matching Dash's speed as they neared one of the buggies.  Jason skidded to a stop in front, throwing his stuff off and into a rather orderly pile.  He heard Dash do the same, and took off with her as they neared the end of their loads.  

Jason saw the last of the goods that needed to be packed, and made a beeline for them.  Dash noticed his change of direction, and turned to grab some of the pile as well.  The gambling ponies, many of them probably drunk, were going insane as they picked up the last group of bunks and mattresses, and a small tent pole for Jason.  The pair shared a quick competitive glance before bolting towards their drop off point.  Then it was just a straight dash to the finish line.

They offloaded their stuff with a few heavy clunks, no longer caring about the order so much as their exhaustion.  Jason pushed off the buggy, gaining an inch or so on Dash, who simply grunted and made the distance up.  He could almost hear the strain on their muscles as they put in a final sprint, ignoring the protests from his lungs.  The flags representing the finish line passed and he slowed down before decelerating into a slow walk.  

"Who.....won?"  She asked, trying to punch his shoulder but not making the distance.  

"I......don't......know." They panted in relative silence, minus the bickering from the gambling ponies over who had won.  Jason wiped her brow with a hoof, and she nodded her head in thanks.  

"My legs......feel like......they're going to fall off."  She said.  Jason attempted to laugh, before his breath caught.  

"I know...the feeling."  He always felt strange when it wasn't his voice coming out of his mouth, although he had kept his speech relatively low.  Not ridiculously so, he didn't sound like some sort of man-lady.  It was a kind of voice that resembled Dash's, without the characteristic scratchiness.  

Jason turned in time to see a couple of stallions break out into a fight.  "Guess I'll have to...go fix that."  He limped over, stamping a hoof in irritation towards the brawling stallions.  They looked up for a moment at the irritated mare before resuming their drunken battle.  Jason sighed, digging a small rut in the ground before looking back up.  

His phantom horn started to glow as the two stallions were ripped apart from one another and sent into the air.  He kept them hovering there as an afterthought, hearing several of the other ponies gasp.  It seemed that a larger crowd had accumulated, probably due to all the noise from the betting and bickering.  Jason looked around, finding most of the members of Team Green Bean, including the two officers and Blueblood, who were looking on slack jawed at the pegasus that was levitating two stallions.  

Jason shifted out of the disguise, returning to his normal changeling form.  He looked over the now totally silent partially drunk ponies, who were totally speechless.  One in the back either passed out or fell over.

"Listen!"  He started, pacing slightly to the side in front of the group.  "I don't care what you do around here too much, I'm not like Shining.  I'm fine with you drinking and gambling, so much as it isn't right before a battle."  He paused, building a slight tension.  "But I will never, NEVER tolerate fighting between any of you!!  Have I made myself perfectly clear?!?!"

"SIR YES SIR!!"

"That's what I thought.  Next ponies to get caught fighting, I'll see to it that you only get half rations for a week.  Does everyone understand, or do I need to try harder to get this shit into your brains?!?!"

"SIR YES SIR!!"

"Good, make sure everything's packed, because we're leaving for the new camp later today.  Dismissed."  He stuck the stallions back on the ground and waved off the solutes, turning back to Dash.

"You're so hot when you take control."  She said, running a hoof down his arm.  

He rolled his eyes.  "Yeah, uh huh."

"Why did you get so angry about that though?  I've never seen you like that before, besides that time you went off on me after I beat you up."

"I can't stand infighting like this.  I just feel like the griffins are out there, waiting for us to fall apart, and this is exactly what they want.  Like it's just pointless, you know?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"I mean, we could have injured two soldiers there, which would have meant infirmary time for guys that had injured each other.  And over something so pointless, too."  He sighed.  "I guess if they had a reason, I wouldn't be so mad.  Like if a soldier slept with another soldier's wife.  I could understand a fight there."

"Hey, you two!"  A voice said.  The duo turned to see Shining walking over.  

"What?"  Jason responded.

"You all packed?"  Shining asked.

"Yeah, why?  We're leaving?"

"Well, the rest of the Team's packed and ready, so yeah.  You're still fine with being in a buggy with Eravel and Tank?"

"Yeah, it's no big deal.  We just have to make sure Tank won't squish any of us when we stop."

"Ha!  Okay.  Check for whatever and then jump into one of the troop carriers lined up over there.  I'm sending you first in case something happens.  It was eerily quiet today, almost no sign of griffin activity."

"So that group of tents is staying here then?"

"Yeah, at least until we can be more sure that the village is friendly.  We've weeded out a griffin already."  Jason nodded.  "I heard about your little competition today."

"Am I supposed to be scared?"  Jason asked.

"No, you got a ridiculous amount of stuff loaded, and given that yelling there at the end, kept things together, so I'd say you did a good job."

"Because I'm really trying for your praise."  Jason laughed.

"I'm still technically your superior, you know."

"Yeah..."  He paused.  "So when are you coming into the new camp?"

"Let's see, probably tomorrow.  I have to make sure any counter-insurgency is completely set up down there,"  He gestured to the village, "And then I have to make sure that there's enough leadership here.  So until then, I'll see you later."  He stuck out a hoof, which Jason promptly shook.

"See you soon, then."  Dash leaned over to shake his hoof, before they went their separate ways.  Jason checked for the computer in his saddlebag, realizing he hadn't sent anything to Scoots yet today.  He facehoofed, and pulled it out.  There was only a word on the top line, which read, Rumble.  What the fuck?

"Dash, what does this mean?"  He asked, tossing her the pad and continuing his awkward limping towards the buggy.  

"I dunno, you asked her who her friend was or something, so that must be him.  It kinda rings a bell, I think it's one of the school kids."

"I'm not sure how I feel about Scoots being around colts like this."

"Why?"

"Well, what if she does something stupid, and we aren't there to help her?"

"Yeah, that's just another motive to get back sooner I guess."

"Why aren't you more stressed about this?"

"Because with what she's been through, the chances she'll actually let someone into her life on a large scale are tiny.  The only reason it was so easy for me us is because she already looked up to me, and we trusted her with your secret."

"I've never been so glad that you're right."

"Thanks."  She said sarcastically.  She got up to one of the buggies and jumped inside, watching Jason struggle to get in behind her.  "Sore?"  She asked.

He smirked.  "A little."  He walked over to a bench, setting his saddlebag aside, and sat down next to Dash, leaning against her form.  He shifted into Alternis, putting a wing around her back and enjoying the heat radiating off her.  The floor tilted as Tank entered a few minutes later, followed by Eravel.  Jason could hear slight jingling from outside as the pegasi responsible for pulling them got into the reigns.  The buggy turned, before briefly accelerating along the ground before taking to the air.  After the initial turbulence subsided, Jason looked across the isle.

"So how's Morning Rain?"  He asked Tank.

"She's fine, they're running a couple tests before sending her out.  She should come in a few hours after we do."

"Good to know."  He reached into his saddlebag, pulling out the computer.  "You wanna watch some more Walking Dead?"  There was a quick shuffling of hooves as the others crowded around the screen.  "I'll take that as a yes."


________________________________________________________


After about an hour, give or take a few minutes, they had landed, slightly less hard than the last time.  He looked around as he exited, finding a rather simple hilltop, with the beginnings of a tent city rising from the tall grass.  The hill dropped around fifty feet on all sides before delving back into forest, as far as he could see, giving them a fairly well defensible position.  Jason looked up at the sun, now setting, and started to walk over to the tents.  A stallion with a clipboard walked up to the small group, checking them off a list before looking back up. 

"Glad to see you made it, boss."  He said to Jason as he saluted.  "We've got a tent set up for you, right over there.  G3, I believe."  Jason turned to leave, feeling Dash bump into his side as he did so.

"Is that your universal sign for wanting attention?"  He teased.  She just smirked and stuck out her tongue.  

"You'd like it if I was that easy to read, wouldn't you?"

"Because you're totally not."  

"You know, if you don't want me to bump into your side on a regular basis and make you feel wanted, that's fine by me."

"Let's not be ridiculous here, we don't need another nervous wreck like that one guy."

"Good to know you're stuck with me."

"Stuck... Way to make it sound bad Dash."  He pushed into the tent, finding it in much the same layout as the previous one.  Dash started to grab a mattress off the bed, before Jason stopped her with a hoof.  "We're idiots."

"Okay?"

"Stay there for a sec."  He trotted outside, a flap of his wings letting her know he'd taken off.  There were a few more flaps moments later, before he came through the door pulling a cloud behind himself.  It got wedged in the door, and he pulled on it until it came the rest of the way through and he fell backwards.  

"Ow.  I got us a bed though."

"Yeah."  She ground her hooves together mischievously.  "This is way better than a pile of mattresses."  

"And I know just how to break it in."
> Hill 400
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Hill 400


Jason let out a groan as he woke, his leg twitching in pain.  That race?  Stupid idea.  Dash yawned next to him, and he moved a hoof just as painfully to rest a hoof on her foreleg.  

"So nice job 'breaking in the bed' last night"  He started,  "The whole, be really suggestive and then roll in and pass out thing was great."

"Yeah, like there would've been anything worth doing after that race.  You probably fell asleep right after me anyway."  Jason blushed and looked away.  "I thought so."  She started to pull herself over to him on the bed before sighing at the protest from her arms. 

"Sucks, huh?"  Jason asked.  "We better be ripped after this."

"What?"  

"Like, so muscular you rip your clothes.  I'm going to assume that's where the expression came from."

"Why would you want to rip clothes?"

"The idea, probably impossible, is that you flex, and then a tight shirt rips along the back or the chest or whatever.  It's a sign of strength more than anything else."

She laid her head back against the cloud, less urgency in the conversation.  "So were people strong where you were?"

"No, yes?  I don't know.  I'm comparing two species, and it's not as easy as you'd think.  Excuse me as I think out loud."  He paused.  "So you're kinda like a pack animal, at least in build.  So you should be able to pull, push and carry large amounts of stuff relative to weight.  I guess, we really only had leverage that came with being tall.  So some things would be easier, like kicking or throwing a ball, punching, anything involving a lever arm."

"What about speed?"

"I definitely didn't expect you to ask about that..."  He said sarcastically.

"Well what's the answer?"

"We're pretty slow.  Thus the cars.  But we can be pretty agile, way more so than an earth pony."

"I doubt that, how could something that tall be agile?"

"We had shoes that could get lots of traction and could throw our weight around pretty well.  We were also pretty flexible, and given how much falling over was involved with walking on two legs, we got a pretty good idea of how to fall.  I think I told you about parkour, where people jump all over the place?"

"Yeah, the dangerous thing."

"Well most people could do it if they put their mind to it."  He paused.  "And they weren't fat.  Or Lazy."

"Guess I'm not doing it then, even if I could."  She chuckled.

"Ha!  I was such a lazy kid though, man.  So back in high school, there was this thing called senioritis, and the idea is that it's the last year of high school kinda makes people not...care as much anymore.  So that was me in sophomore year, two years prior.  I pretty much just did my homework the day it was due."

"Scoots gets hardly any homework, that couldn't possibly be that hard."

"We took seven classes, and most of them gave homework."

"Ah."  She went silent, her rose eyes focusing on his.  She struggled over and managed to get her hooves around him.  "This is terrible."  She mumbled into his fur.  "Everything hurts."

Jason smiled lightly, focusing some energy into her form, trying to heal up her sore muscles.  She let out a sigh as she could feel her muscles loosen up, and moved her eyes to see his phantom horn ablaze.  

"You didn't have to do anything."  She said, her leg twitching as the muscles were repaired.  "This feels strange, like you were just relaxing everything at the same time."

"That's one thing to call it."  He chuckled, pulling her a little closer.  He let the energy run out and watched her stretch, before feeling the fatigue that always came with healing.  

"It's not too late, do you want to just relax here?  I'm not going to get up either way, so feel free to choose."

"Do you really think I wouldn't stay here after you healed me?"  She asked.

"I'm just saying I wouldn't be mad if you wanted to leave."  He replied.

"Oh, okay."  He flinched as she squeezed his ribs, aggravating the muscles under the pressure.  

"Careful there, Dash.  I wasn't as sore as you when I woke up, but it's not like I can heal myself."  She blushed and loosened her grip.

"Sorry, you're just such a huggable guy."

"Uh, thanks?"  He paused.  "Actually, a lot of people said that before, and I don't know what part of a tall, slightly skinny guy was particularly huggable."

"You must've really had it going on, Mr. Hugs."  She teased.

"Yeah, with work all the time and all."  He rolled his eyes.  "Did I ever tell you how boring that was?"

She smirked.  "You may have touched on the subject."  

"I came up with so many things to occupy my time that weren't even funny in other circumstances.  But of course, after running calculations and entering in numbers for hours on end, you tend to get a little hysterical."  He paused.  "So I tossed pencils into the ceiling, almost got caught one time when my boss heard laughing.  I dropped my mouse and 'accidentally' kicked it around for like, an hour on end.  One time I even talked to the weird guy that hangs around the water cooler."

She deadpanned.  "You did that all day?"  

"No, only after I got most of the day's work finished.  But those pencils, I thought I was going to die laughing this one time when I stuck a pencil into the eraser of another pencil that was stuck on the ceiling."  He chuckled at the memory.  "Ah, man.  Best day of work ever."  Dash didn't credit his story with a response, simply replacing her head in it's normal comfortable position.

"So do you know what time it is?"  She finally asked.  Jason floated the alarm clock over, sighing pleasantly.  

"Yeah, it's six thirty, we can just go back to sleep."  Dash hummed thoughtfully, shifting her positioning slightly and poking Jason's thigh, causing him to jerk backwards at the unexpected pain.

"Jeez, how sore are you?"  Dash asked after she checked that he was alright.  

"It's not that bad anymore, maybe if I'm lucky it'll be gone when I wake up, or at least lessened."  He paused, recalling another memory.  "The most sore I've ever been, in my legs at least, was when I went to these two summer camps, and they had capture the flag games every day.  And so I played them, and by the end of the second week, I wasn't doing too well."  He let out a hiss as he tried to shift his weight.  "But you know I never give up!"  He said in a valiant voice, earning a chuckle from Dash.  "And three weeks later I was still playing the game, kind of.  Rolling around still counts."

"So is capture the flag more interesting with humans?  Cuz all it is here is ponies not being able to change direction fast enough.  Especially when magic and flying aren't allowed."

"Yeah, like I said, humans are pretty much only good at agility stuff.  But of course, we're all pretty good at that so it comes down to acceleration and distractions.  Now go to sleep, I hurt."  He heard a giggle as he laid his head down, feeling the soft hair of Dash's mane under his chin.  He smiled as his eyes fell shut, remembering the days after he'd met the mare belonging to the trademark rainbow mane.  Things were simple back then, no war, no soul magic.  

That struck a nerve, even after all this was over, he'd still have to deal with that moron, assuming Luna couldn't find him in time.  They wouldn't even be stuck here that long, so such an easy solution seemed doubtful.  Oh well, at least there hadn't been any side effects of the dreams yet, so he could rest easier with the possibility of a repeat occurrence.  He was starting to pick up Dash's point of view on the subject: if it wasn't harming either of them, why worry?  He figured it was rare, if not unheard of for dreams to be shared, even if they weren't in control of them, so he may as well enjoy the experience.

With pleasant thoughts floating around in his head, he quickly dozed off.


_______________________________________________________


For as long as Jason could remember, he had never really woken up normally.  There was always some sort of thing making him jolt awake, or something prodding him.  So following statistical evidence, this time was no exception.  He partially woke up before he kinda recognized the feeling of falling, although he couldn't figure out why.  

He got his answer a fraction of a second later as his back hit the ground with a heavy thud.  His eyes shot open, and he fought the feeling of airlessness as he tried to regain the wind that had been knocked out of his lungs.  He made a few strangled sounds, trying to push himself up with an arm.  He finally got his lungs working again, and took a few excessively deep breaths.  

He slowly got to his hooves, feeling the remnants of soreness, still painful but bearable.  Dash was passed out, an arm outstretched towards the area he had previously occupied.  Funny, he thought he was closer to the middle of the cloud than that.  He sighed and stepped onto the bed, trying to resume his previous position without disturbing her.  As he draped her foreleg back over his side he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Achoo!"  He immediately facehoofed, partially because Dash's eyes were already open in confusion, and partially because he hadn't been able to prepare for the sneeze, and his face had been directed towards hers.  She looked around tiredly for a few more seconds before moving a hoof to her face.

"Why's my face kinda wet?"  She looked at her hoof for a moment before throwing an accusatory glare towards Jason.  "Your doing, I assume?"

"I definitely didn't sneeze on your face if that's what you're asking."  She wiped a hoof across her face again, her expression turning from blame to simple annoyance, and she punched him in the shoulder.  

"I don't know what comes up out of your throat, that's disgusting!"  She rolled over and grabbed a rag, sweeping it all over her face as soon as she rolled back over.  

"It's not like I had much warning."

"Yeah, whatever.  Let's just hope you aren't getting sick."  Jason sighed and grabbed his computer from the saddlebag at the side of the room, sticking an arm around Dash as he pulled it up.  He opened a program, and started typing away, to the best of his ability with hooves.  There was something he didn't particularly like about using magic when he could just use his own two hooves, like it was just a way to boast.

"What are you doing, Jason?"  Dash looked up from a book she was reading.  Wait...

"I'll answer your question if you tell me why you're reading, Mrs. Not an egghead."  Dash blushed, showing him the cover of The Things They Carried.

"I found it a while ago, and I've just kinda started reading it.  I only kinda understand it from what you told me about Vietnam."  

"Yeah, I never really liked that one, at least not most of it."  He paused.  "Did you get to the Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong one yet?"

"No..."  She flipped backwards to the table of contents.  "It's a couple further."

"You know, this is the first thing we've both read?  The only literary work we're jointly familiar with?"

"And your point is?"

"I dunno, just drawing a connection.  And to answer I started writing a program, just basic stuff at the moment, but I'm hoping I can do something interesting with it later."

"I'm not even going to ask what any of that stuff on the screen means."

"Yeah, I don't really know that much, so I'm going to kinda have to teach myself the rest.  I think there's help here, I just hope it's not online."  Some clattering was heard, and Jason looked over to see that Dash had somehow put down the book and started going through the rest of the box of human stuff.

"Hey, what's this book about?"  She asked, holding a rather square shaped paperback.  "Football?"

"You remember that really complicated game I was talking about?  Because now I don't have to explain the entire thing to you anymore if we have this!"  He gestured for Dash to come over, and he flattened out the covers on the bed to provide a flat place to set the book.  

"So this might take a while?"

"You have paper?"  She nodded, handing him a few crumpled sheets and a pencil from her saddlebag.  "Not too long."


_________________________________________________________


"So on an option they get the ball to the left guard then the other running back?"

"No, just the two running backs, all the guards do is pull back from the line and go in front to block."

"But what about this one, why are all the lineman moving backwards in this one?  What's the point of that?"

"It's a screen, they move back so the quarterback can just throw over the line and give his guy a better chance to run."

"But can't they\ defensive guys just stay on the line of scrimmage?"  

"Ah, the idea is to lure them back, because the defensive linemen want to sack the quarterback.  Sometimes it's too obvious and it doesn't work."

"So why exactly did people decide to make the game this complicated?"

"It's really not, you just need some skill to know what's going on, and what your part is in the whole thing."  He sighed.  "That was about the only part of football I was actually good at."

"You played?"

"Pfft, in high school.  I was just a cornerback, but I always read the play and got to the ball carrier, sometimes before the lineman.  But that was where it ended, with all the pads weighing you down in summer heat, it's not easy to do anything physical.  And I wasn't good tackler."

"I can imagine, with all the stuff you humans already wear."

"Yeah, so now all we need to do is find a football, which I'm sure someone picked up by now.  I mean, there were millions, maybe billions of them, statistically they should be common.  I guess we could use a regular ball too, but it just wouldn't really work.  I'll call the troops together and see if they have one."

"You want to play it with them?"

"Well sure, I guess.  It's not like we're going to have a lot to do after this place gets fortified."

"Fortified?"

"Yeah, we're on a hill, and we could be attacked, so I figured we'd just get some defenses up."

"What, trenches?"  She asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, that and some other stuff.  It's going to be like Hill 400, a position that Americans took and then defended from several German counter-attacks during World War Two.  Those worked, we may as well get something up that emulates them."

"Why do you know so many things?"

"Truthfully?  I just played some video games that were set during World War Two, and then did a little research."  He paused and sighed before stretching out and moving to get up.  "Come on, I need to loosen up these muscles."

"Is it bad?"  Dash asked.

"Nah, just kinda sore is all.  The usual."  He turned and pushed through the flaps of the tent, turning back to address her.  "You coming?"

"Yeah, I'm just going to write Scoots, see if she wants to give me any word on something or other."

"Okay, I'm gonna get a work force together."  He looked up, it was probably around ten judging by the sun.  "They should be out and about."  Dash nodded as he let the flap closed, and he turned to move into the center of the camp.  There were several flattened tents lying around, along with fairly large piles of planks.  He wouldn't need those anyway, at least not many of them.  He peered into a buggy as he passed by, seeing a multitude of tools inside, from axes to shovels, and even hoes.  

He passed between a few close together tents, emerging into a clearing that he judged was probably the area with the most commotion.  He carefully stepped up onto a pile of planks, not wanting to fall over in front of everyone here, and opened his mouth to speak.

"ATEN-SHUN!"  He yelled, startling the ponies going about their business.  Most of them turned just looked confused.  Jason facehoofed and dropped his Alternis disguise.  Most of the ponies just gasped and gave solutes, but a few were too startled to react quickly.  He was beginning to think they'd never get over this stuff.  He waited for the clattering of hooves to stop before continuing.  "I'm sure all of you know that we're perched on top of this hill, and that probably makes you feel safe.  It should not, in any way.  We're going to build defenses today, to tilt any fighting further in our favor.  That means that I expect all uninjured ponies to lend a hoof."

"Sir, what are we building exactly, sir!?"  One of the ponies asked.

"I'm glad you asked.  We're going to start with a trench built into the side of the hill, then we'll be cutting down some trees to use for defensive huts, spikes, stuff like that.  So feel free to eat, drink, whatever, but I want to see all of you in front of the buggy over there in ten minutes."  He jumped off the pile, buzzing his wings slightly to lessen the impact.  That stupid hind hoof still had yet to get anywhere close to its prior toughness.  He sighed, bringing a hoof to his forehead.  At least that crack was most of the way gone.  

He walked back to Dash's tent, finding her in the process of scarfing down a couple apples and reforming the bed to be less...cloud shaped.  She looked up and smiled, leaning over to kiss him.  He put a hoof around the back of her head and pulled her in harder, roughening the kiss for a moment before letting go.  

"You're such a fun kisser."  Dash said.  "I never really know what you're going to do.  I like the unpredictability."  She walked over and put a wing around him.  "So why are you back so soon?"

"I told everyone to meet at the buggy with shovels and stuff in eight or so minutes, so I came back to get you."

"What, I have to work?"  She pouted, sticking out her lower lip.  

"I can't just play favorites all the time, Dash.  Plus, I moved all the stuff."

"When does the rest of our stuff come in, by the way?  All we brought were the saddlebags and that box, and we had a lot of good stuff in that delivery."  

He shrugged.  "It's probably around here somewhere, although I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't get shipped right away, considering the fact that moving troops out here is probably more important."

"Yeah, but I want to play the drums again..."  Jason chuckled.

"I think you can wait a few hours, Dash."

"But I'm really impatient!" 

"Funny, I never noticed."  She laughed and wrapped him in a hug.  

"I love you, ya big goof."  

"As do I, madame."  He took one of her hooves off of his shoulder in a dignified way and dropped it in a disgusted manner.  "Ugh, I don't know where that's been.  You could've been *gasp* walking!"  He swooned, missing the bed and hitting the ground slightly harder than he had wanted to.  

"It appears to me that you are now the dirty one."  Dash said, observing a hoof.

"I--"  God dammit, he'd knocked the air out of himself again.  "I do believe that we are both indeed dirty at this point,"  He started to get up, but felt something move out of place in his knee, sending out a lance of pain.  "And I think that the only logical--man this hurts."  Dash's expression changed from haughty to concerned, and she immediately started to help him to his feet.  "No, stop!"  She let go, and he started to pull himself over towards the bed with a forearm, clutching one of his knees with his free hoof.

"What's wrong?"  She asked, struggling against her impulse to help.

"Well I figured the whole change of species thing got rid of this, but I guess I was wrong.  I would be doing random things and then my knee would decide to dislocate itself.  Like one time I got up off a bench."  He paused, giving his arm a rest.  "On second thought, can you drag me on my back?" 

"Sure, just tell me if something goes wrong."  He nodded as she threaded her forelegs under his armpits and started to pull.  "So does it hurt to put back in?"

He gritted his teeth.  "No, it only hurts when it's out, like now."  He felt the side of the bed on his back, and braced his hind leg as Dash hauled him up.

"So what do you do, exactly."  He moved himself to the edge of the bed, hanging his leg over. 

"What works the best is to just slowly extend it while I'm hanging it, like this. And then once I get far enough,"  He cringed.  "It just pops back in."  Dash watched as his knee did a sudden jerk and straitened out, bones and ligaments returning to their normal positions.  He got up and tested it, trotting around in the small space.

"So you're good, just like that?"

"Yeah, it's always strange to go from hurting that much to nothing.  It's not bad, just weird."

"Well at least I know nothing's ever going to get boring between the two of us.  Isn't that right, Mr. Harding."  She batted her eyelashes.

"Ugh, I don't even really like that name."  He complained.  "Plus, this only happens like twice a year.  I'll never understand why."

"I guess we should get going, huh?  You're a minute late for your own meeting."

"Ah, whatever, I can just pull rank.  It's not without its benefits."

"What rank are we, I think you might be slightly higher, but I mean, I dunno."

"Well assuming Shining's using the same system as we did, we're both two star generals.  And I think he's a five star general, which is the highest possible rank.  There've been maybe...one or two of those in American history ever."

"Which wars?  The world wars?" She asked.

"No, I think it was World War Two and the Civil War, but I'm not sure about that second one."

"What was the civil war about?"

"I'll tell you later, we have to get this project started."  He turned and pushed his way out of the tent, with Dash in her usual position leaning against his side.  "Does the leaning have some sort of significance I'm missing?"

"Well it generally just means we're mare-friend and colt-friend, but it's also really comfortable."  She giggled and stumbled on a rock and Jason stuck out a leg in case she fell.  She didn't, and they walked between the tents and into the clearing.  

"So I guess you're not embarrassed to act like you're attracted to me."

"Like I'd need to hide being a unit with a general, and somepony that happens to be able to be anypony."  She poked him in the chest.  

"You're going to have to tell me why you like the whole shape changing thing."

"Well that's easy.  It's not the changing I like, it's the fact that you love me enough to indulge my crazy ideas in place of you being yourself."   

Jason smiled, figuring he didn't particularly need a response.  Several ponies stared at the quietly talking pair before Jason jumped back on top of the woodpile, leaving Dash behind.

"So, we're going to be starting with a trench around this place a ways above the bottom of the hill.  Make sure that it leaves adequate space for more tents.  We also need another small group to cut down a couple of trees and strip the branches, then chop them up into skinnier pieces.  We'll be building with those.  So grab a shovel or an axe, and get started."  There was a light stomping of hooves before the crowd shifted over towards the buggy and started getting out their tools.  This wasn't going to be a particularly interesting day.


_____________________________________________________


Jason stood up, wiping some dirt from his forehead as he repositioned the shovel.  He stomped it back into the ground and used its leverage to pull out a sizable chunk of the damp ground.  He threw it over his shoulder, adding it to the pile of dirt in front of the trench.  He was working on one of the larger parts of the trench that they would later be covering and using as more of a lookout station.  

He went to put in the shovel again, before bumping it into another shovel.  He looked up the handle, seeing Dash at the other end.  His attention shifted to Tank behind her, who was shoveling away like the dirt was weightless.  Well, maybe that was exaggerating a little, but comparing the progress Tank had compared to his own, the guy must not even be getting tired.  Jason sighed and pushed the shovel back into the ground, displacing another chunk of dirt.

"So this civil war..."  Dash started, leaning on her shovel.

"Yeah, you remember the shape of America?"

She shrugged.  "Kinda, I guess." 

"Well it was only settled in the eastern half and the west coast at the time, and the North and South were at odds, because of their different economies, mostly."  He took a breath, trying to pull a bit of dirt out of one of the holes on his leg absentmindedly.  "And the short version is, things came to a head when President Lincoln was elected because southerners believed he would threaten slavery."

"Wait, slavery?"

Jason sighed, moving a hoof down his face.  "Yeah, a hundred and fifty years ago, there were slaves all over the place, mostly because they were cheap labor.  They were enslaved because the old suppliers that were located in the eastern Mediterranean were taken over by another empire.  Just tell me if you get lost."  She nodded.  "So the war wasn't really over slavery, although it was one reason why issues came to a head.  The South seceded from the union, and the Northerners went to war mostly to put the South in its place, not to end slavery."

"Why wouldn't you want to end slavery?"

"Well, besides the racism, southerners were getting money, and they were feeding their families.  Northern factories were benefitting from southern cotton.  You have less of a reason to question a system that keeps your family fed, don't you think?"

"Yeah, I guess, you don't still have it though, do you?"

"No, it was ended after the war.  Why don't we talk about something more...lighthearted?"

"Okay, so those video games that we found, do you like those?"

"Now there's a conversation starter."  He chuckled.  "Well, you see...


_______________________________________________________________


Jason levitated a thin log over, laying it on top of the frame that sprung up from the bunker they had dug earlier.  He laid a few others next to those before running out of space and tying the logs together.  He stepped back and admired his work, the other ponies around doing the same.  A couple of other ponies went by, planting sharpened sticks into the ground as further deterrent.  

"So we're finally done?"  Dash asked, tapping Jason on the shoulder.

"I guess..."  He looked up at the gently setting sun.  "We should be good if some griffins decide to attack here."  He vaulted off the ground, hovering around the group of coalesced ponies.

"Listen up!  We're going to need a system of ponies on watch to give warning if we're in danger.  I want one of you at each station, so spread the word to your companies.  Rotate around.  So figure it out and get a pony on the shift before twelve and the shift until dawn.  All ponies on watch will be excused from heavy physical labor the following day."  He looked around at the ponies, which were eerily silent.  "That clear?"  

"SIR YES SIR!!!"  The ponies below spread out, moving in random directions as they returned to the camp.  Jason hadn't really looked towards town much during construction, but now that he was in the air he could tell that the number of tents had at least doubled.  Dash swooped down next to him, doing a small flip as she enjoyed the open air.  

"Jason, let's go flying!"  Dash said as she glided past.

"Just go ahead, I've got to go talk to Shining, assuming he's here now."

"Come on, we never fly together anymore."

"I'll fly with you tomorrow morning, I promise."  She hovered in front of him and frowned.

"Seriously?"

"Completely."

"Okay, I can wait till tomorrow."  

Jason smirked.  "Yeah, because you're so good at waiting."  He started descending towards the ground, gliding around a tent.  Dash followed him down, hovering just above.

"I don't need to wait with most stuff, we just procrastinate."

"Or, you know, we don't sleep instead."

"Yeah, but you know being with me's better."

"Oh yeah, tough decision there."  He chuckled and walked inside a larger tent, looking around briefly before he figured it was the right place.  "Shining?"  He called out, hoping the general was already here.  A head popped up from behind the map, his eyes locking on Jason.  

"Yeah?"  

"Why are you behind the map like that?"

"It's not level, I was sticking a book under here."

"Ah."

"Nice job with those trenches by the way."

"Thanks, so what's the plan here?"

"We're close to where the griffin said troop movements were, so I'm hoping we'll be able to get them pushed out of here.  The capitol isn't too far away, so anything we win here will just put us closer to victory."

"Yeah, so we'll probably start scouting and stuff tomorrow?"

"I'd have to get some different units together for something like this, but yeah.  It probably won't be Team Green Bean, I'll probably split up the members and give them their own little groups.  That would probably be more time saving."

"Okay, I guess I'll leave you to it."  He yawned and turned to leave, remembering to turn back and solute before leaving.  He immediately felt something contact his back and run him into the ground.  He was laughing for some reason, although it wasn't particularly funny.  He knew it had to be Dash, and he managed to roll over under her grip.  

"Why?"  He asked, pushing up against her hooves, which were pushing down on top of his.

"Because it's fun to watch you struggle."  

"I may not be as strong as Tank, but that doesn't mean I can't push you off."  He pushed his arms forward, slowly lifting the mare off the ground.  She giggled and pushed back, reversing his progress.  He got a hoof free and pushed her chest back, getting up before she could react. 

"Drat."  She said, putting on a pouting face that was slightly better than the last one.  "Wanna go back to the tent?"  She asked.

"Might as well, I'm pretty tired, honestly.  But I guess no one said army work was easy."  

"Well you act like you're just a private around here."

"I'll sway opinion that way, ponies'll start to like me if I don't just act lazy because of my rank.  And it's better than being bored all day."

"Being bored wasn't that bad, really."  He walked into the tent behind Dash, diving onto the now reshaped bed and shifting into Alternis midair.  He pulled the blanket up, letting Dash inside before putting it back down.  He yawned before putting his hooves around her form and pulling her closer.

"Have I ever told you how warm you are?"  Dash asked, seemingly trying to pull herself as close as she could.

"It may have come up." He yawned again, and put his head down on the bed.  "You're a really nice mare to hug though."  There was a slight change in her emotions telling her she'd blushed, before returning to normal.

"I love you Jason."

"Same here, Dash."  He sighed pleasantly, eyes closing to thoughts of the mare he was holding close to himself.  


______________________________________________________________________


Jason was moving through a Canterlot hallway, moving towards an intersecting corridor at the other end.  He moved carefully, feeling that usual urge to try to grip his knives tighter.  He moved up to one side of the door, watching as Dash moved to the other side.  A griffin walked by, and they moved out behind him.  Jason jumped up from behind and slit his throat, gesturing to Dash to move up.  

That's when he saw a wall of smoke, moving down the corridor behind her.  He pointed, and they watched as it grew nearer.  They had broken into a trot, speeding up as the smoke accelerated.  Pretty soon it overtook the galloping ponies, leaving them coughing and spluttering before Jason brought Dash down to floor level.  He could see a light in the cloud of smoke, growing brighter as he stared through his stinging eyes.  

All too late he realized what it was, and got up at Dash's insistence to run.  The smoke started to clear as they went down the hallway, but the light only grew brighter.  A stained glass window came into view and they sprinted towards the impromptu exit, getting closer as the light reached a fever pitch.  

Fire came out of the clouds, barreling into them as they broke through the window.

Jason's eyes shot open, taking a moment to fully examine the situation. And in one fell swoop, he realized what was wrong.  The tent was aflame.
> "You thought I'd let you have all the fun, huh?"
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


"You thought I'd let you have all the fun, huh?"


Jason stared up at the smoldering ceiling beam for a moment, trying to figure out if he was just in an extension of his dream.  The relative silence that he heard was suddenly replaced by yelling outside.  He slugged Dash's shoulder, not wishing to risk her safety in return for gentility.  She just shifted, recoiling slightly after he'd punched her.

"Dash, wake the fuck up!  The tent's on fire!"  She hardly even stirred.  He started to roll her over to the side of the bed to pull her over his back.


CRACK


Jason looked up in time to see the ceiling beam fall away, straight towards the two of them.  Before he even knew what he was doing, he was on top of Dash, realizing that she had finally opened her eyes.  They went wide as saucers as she figured out what had happened, and watch the beam as it fell, he assumed.

He felt the beam hit him, luckily splintering instead of holding firm, but breaking completely.  It started to burn as he stood back up, levitating it onto the floor beside the bed.  He grabbed Dash with his magic and threw her outside, not wanting to take any chances.  He jumped off the bed and grabbed their saddlebags, not wanting to lose his only connection to Scoots either.  He started to gallop over to the door, in just enough time for the rest of the tent to come down on him. 

That was about when his mind went into overdrive.   He dodged out of the way of a falling beam before the burning fabric came down against him.  He was flattened under the tent, feeling the air become humid as the cloud bed vaporized the rest of the way.  He could feel his chitin burning, pain radiating from the side of his body.  Not like this, he thought, not now.

He flared up his chitin, running through several transformations into himself as he did so.  The burning sensation began to lift as fabric burned away, and he was able to stand up in the wreck.  He picked up his belongings and lifted off, flying to the front of the tent.  He landed and set down the mostly burnt saddlebags, looking around for Dash.  A heavy blow hit him in the cheek, and he stumbled backwards.

"What were you thinking?!?!"  She yelled, tears streaming down her face.  "Why didn't you just leave after me?"

"I had to get the pad of paper, I didn't want to lose communications with Scoots, and there'd be no way to tell her what happened.  Plus, it was on my way out."  He went rigid as he felt a pair of hooves wrap over his shoulders, before sinking into the hug.

"Don't ever do something like that again!  Do you have any idea how scary it is to watch a burning tent fall down when you're inside?"  Her hoof slid across his burnt chitin, sending a jolt of pain through his body.  

"Ah!  Dash, the fact that I got out doesn't mean I didn't get a little cooked.  Now let's just get this stupid battle over with."  He turned to look at the damage, inadvertently giving Dash a full view of his burns, and started galloping off towards the trenches.  A griffin stepped out from behind a tent and Jason drove an elbow into his jaw, jerking his head to the side.  He kicked the same griffin as he fell over, knocking another blow into his head.  

Dash caught up and stared at the griffin for a moment before they started off again.  The first thing Jason noticed was that there really weren't that many griffins around.  So how did they set his tent on fire?  A bottle broke nearby, and Jason shouldered Dash out of the way before retreating himself.  Fire spread out from the broken bottle, simmering out as the fuel expired.  

"What was that?!"  Dash yelled, jumping a little further from the bottle in case it decided to flare up again.

"That was a bottle with high proof alcohol inside, I assume.  I'm not really sure."  He turned in time to watch a griffin hop out from behind one of the tents and lunge.  Jason ducked, watching as Dash's hoof impacted the griffin's face, sending him sprawling to the ground.  Jason pulled up the griffin, pulling a hoof around his neck to try to suffocate him.  Dash fought off another griffin while Jason was working, and after the struggling stopped from the griffin he waited a few more seconds before letting him go.  That was a lot better than trying to kill him with punches.

They broke into a run again, finally making their way to the trenches and joining the rest of the ponies there.  A griffin glided over towards the trench as an arrow planted itself in his chest, probably from Eravel, wherever he was.  The griffin landed with a heavy thump, rolling slightly on the ground.  Jason looked over the side of the trench, coming face to face with a griffin that had impaled himself through the eye on a spike.  

So these traps were useful, that was always good.  He had figured they wouldn't be particularly useful during the day, although griffins weren't known for airborne fighting.  And at night, flying and avoiding other griffins would probably be tough for them, considering their terrible night vision.  A griffin came running down the trench, throwing a spear that whistled past Jason's shoulder and impacted the side of a pony behind him.  Jason hit the griffin upside the jaw, watching him compact the side of the trench and go limp.  He really needed a weapon.

He turned to the pony with the spear in his side and grabbed it, swiftly wrenching it out among the pony's screams.  Quickly flaring up his horn, he fixed up the wound, and left the wigged out soldier behind after he checked that the bleeding had stopped.  He grabbed another discarded spear and tossed it back to Dash, who had apparently been a ways back from the griffin's thrown spear, much to his gratitude.  

The pair moved into one of the ramshackle boxes, finding a few of the injured that had been dragged inside.  They didn't look dangerously injured, so Jason motioned to Dash to continue and exited out the other side.  Things were looking much better on the other side, only a few griffins left in the scrum, as far as he could see.  He ran over to one and shouldered it over, allowing the pony that had been fighting to finish the job.  

An officer fan up, throwing a brief solute.  "Sir, we gotta get some ponies over towards the south side, we're being--"  Jason heard a spear whistling behind him and shifted to the side, getting a full view of the officer with a spear through the officer's eye.  Jason moved forward to grab the body, pulling it backwards to one of the boxes as he heard Dash kill the griffin behind him.

He set the pony down, carefully pulling the spear back out.  There was nothing he could do about the dead, not that he'd want to, though.  He didn't want power without limits; he didn't need that kind of responsibility.  Jason turned and sighed, breaking into a brisk trot as he exited back out.  He cleared his throat.

"HEY!!"  The ponies looked at him, no longer preoccupied with griffins.  "Half of you, come with me, we're moving to re-enforce some other troops to the south!"  Jason pushed through the crowd with Dash in tow accumulating a few ponies as he moved through.  He broke into a gallop, hearing the hooves of the others pounding on the ground behind him.

They passed through another box, and then another, almost passing into a different world as the fighting suddenly intensified.  Jason shoved his spear through a griffin's back, ducking as Dash gored another one over his back.  The ponies that they had accumulated ran past, and the battle visibly turned tide.  Jason's spear was knocked out of his hoof as a griffin smacked it away and started to move forward until a spear hit him through the neck.

"You thought I'd let you have all the fun, huh?"  Jason looked up from the trench and caught a glint of Shining's armor.  

"By all means, have some fun."  Jason replied, catching a spear Shining threw over.  They shared a brief chuckle before a withering glance from Dash cut them off.  She vaulted a charging griffin off her shoulders toward Jason, and he simply raised his spear and ran the griffin through.  

He liked knives better, they got the job done faster, in his opinion.  Sure, this griffin wasn't getting up, but that didn't mean he liked watching them bleed out slowly, as they did with a spear wound like this.  He was jarred out of his thoughts as a griffin came tumbling down into the trench, already dead by the looks of things.  An arrow impacted another as Eravel joined them in the trench, quickly loading his bow up with another arrow. 

Dash ripped out the old arrow and handed it back, disarming and killing another griffin as his spear raked across her side, leaving a long cut.  She recoiled in pain, turning her head to look at the cut.  She waved Jason off, apparently it wasn't worth the risk of healing in her opinion.  Eravel let another arrow fly, a muffled cry the only notification Jason needed that he'd taken someone out.

There were a few far off yells, and the battle seemed to grind to a halt as whatever griffins were present met the same fate as the others.  Apparently they had retreated, something that Jason realized hadn't happened yet in any of the fighting so far.  He pulled a pony back that had jumped out to pursue, making sure no one else had left.  

"Jason, Dash."  Shining started.  "Grab some ponies and report to my tent."  He turned, pulling out a rag to wipe part of his armor clean.  Jason pointed to a few ponies and fluttered out of the trench after Dash.  He healed the cut on her side, and she nodded gratefully, returning to her normal position leaning against him.  The rag tag group quickly reached Shining's tent, and Jason pushed aside the slightly singed fabric.  

"So, does this throw a wrench in your plans, Shining?"

"At this point, I'm not really sure.  We have to find the number of casualties, figure out what that was they were throwing over here, and then rebuild with the ponies we still have before we can even think about large scale troop movements."

"They're called molotov cocktails."  Jason said.

"What?"

"The things they were throwing.  All they are is a glass bottle with some sort of highly flammable substance and a rag out the neck.  So simple, and yet so deadly."  He stroked his chin.  "We'll need to be more diligent to avoid those.  But if you want to put an order to Celestia, she may be able to come up with something we can use."

"Yeah, I thought about that.  It's like what you said though, it's only a matter of time before your edge in war deteriorates."  Shining replied.  There was a brief silence, before Shining spoke back up.  "So, you have any other bright ideas like you did with steel?"

"Steam power, I guess."

"Yeah, we have that for trains."  He grabbed a pitcher of water from under a table, pouring out a few glasses and taking a sip.  

"Well you're going to need oil next, so that needs to be refined.  But I really don't know how."  He sighed.  "I'll try to think of something."

"Yeah, okay.  It's no big deal if you don't, but anything'll help."

"So, rebuild in the meantime?"  

Shining shrugged.  "I guess, your tent was burned, right?"

"Yeah, and my side."  He turned to look, and immediately felt some bile come to his mouth.  Most of the wound was only in the chitin layer, and that would grow back.  But on his shoulder the fabric or logs had burnt through, leaving a small patch of angry blistered flesh.  

"Ick.  It didn't look that bad outside the tent."  Dash said, sticking out her tongue in disgust.  "Doesn't that hurt?"

"Like a bitch, now that I'm not distracted or hyped up on adrenaline or anything."  He sighed, flinching as a light breeze wafted in.  "Let's just go fix this crap so I can sleep."


_______________________________________________________


Dash tapped one of the smoldering wooden supports with her leg, turning away from the wreck of a tent to Jason.

"So, does this mean no victory sex?"  She asked.

Jason let out a laugh, choking on the water he was drinking.  "You really *cough cough* have no *splutter* shame, do you."

"I was kinda serious about that."  She said, smirking.  "It seems like a fitting celebration."

"We 'celebrate' like every other day."  He replied, and she giggled before returning her gaze to the 'tent'.

"So, you're moving these things, I assume?"  She asked, tapping a cinder to see if it was still hot.  

"Sure, see if you can get a hold of Scoots."  Dash sighed, turning and wrapping Jason in a hug.  

"I'm sorry about punching you earlier, I'm just glad you're alright."  She kissed his cheek before breaking off the hug and trotting over to the burnt saddlebags, still basically where they had left them.  

Jason rubbed his cheek, a smile braking out on his face.  "No problem, it was kinda stupid anyway."  The sun was starting to rise above the horizon, shedding a yellow light across the top of the hill.  Dash shivered slightly as the cold finally started to make it's way into her body, after all the fighting they'd done.  Jason walked over and grabbed a blanket out of one of the saddlebags, draping it around her shoulders.  She smiled, her shivering lessening slightly as Jason walked back to the tent.

A few ponies walked by carrying a couple dozen spears, headed towards the southern trenches, he assumed.  He couldn't help but feel that that attack wasn't anything big, like they weren't actually trying to take the camp.  More than that it seemed that they were just testing the water, figuring out if their camp could hold up under pressure.  And at this point, most people would say that the defenses had been proven, but there weren't that many griffins here, they just showed up at the same time.  Fifty tops.  And from what the captured griffin had said, there were probably a lot more than that.

"This couldn't possibly take that long, right?"  Dash asked, looking up from the pad of paper and pulling the blanket tighter around herself.  "That kinda sounds rude, but I can still help if you want me to."

"When I get the frame up, I'll need you to tie it together and help me drape over the fabric anyway."

"Okay, whatever you want."  He heard scratching from behind as Dash returned to her work.  Jason sighed and levitated the cinders away, finding a couple small shreds of blanket that had somehow survived.  He walked over to one of the woodpiles, counting his lucky stars that a few pegasi had grabbed some clouds to put out any fires before it spread.  The ground wasn't muddy tough, just a little damp.  Maybe they had some old weather team ponies that knew what they were doing?  

He noticed a pile of supplies labeled 'tent', and after he made the amazingly risky assumption that it was for building a tent, he levitated over the pile and started separating the logs and planks from the fabric and rope.  The logs all had notches at the end that he assumed were for easier tying, and the old holes that held the corner pieces were still there, so at least he wouldn't have to start from scratch. 

After a few false starts of putting the pieces in the wrong places, he finally got a tent shape up, and gestured to Dash that he was ready.  She grabbed the rope in her mouth and took off, pulling each length out as she needed to tie the specific intersections.  Dash gave a nod after tying on the last rope, and Jason let go of the logs with his magic.  He waited a few seconds at the tent creaked, getting used to its weight, before stopping its movement.  

Jason grabbed the cloth and started to unfold it, floating the opposite corner over to Dash who dropped to the ground and fastened the corner before moving on to another one.  They got the process done in a few seconds and landed out front to admire their work.  

"You wanna go get that buggy that has all our stuff inside, cuz I don't want to get attacked and not have those knives.  Well, I guess we had them the whole time in the saddlebags, so that was stupid."

"They would've taken too long to get on anyway.  And yeah, let's go."  They trotted off, looking around at the rest of the camp as they passed through.  They were getting further from the griffin attack point, and fewer tents were burnt down.  

"Agh..."  Jason looked around, his concentration suddenly shifting.

"Did you hear that?"  He asked Dash.

"Yeah, where'd it come from?"

"I dunno."  She went silent, taking off and hovering a ways above the ground.  "Over there!"  She yelled, swooping down behind a tent nearby.  Jason galloped after, coming around the corner more quickly than he should have in the moist ground.  He looked around for the source of the noise, and once he found it immediately wished he hadn't.

A pony had dragged himself a ways away from a tent that was now in cinders, most of his coat either black or gone entirely.  If he were left here, there was no way he'd survive.  The pony looked up from the ground, the angry skin on his arm giving a twitch as he stared, begging for Jason to do something.  He didn't hesitate, with his shoulder hurting the way it did, he couldn't even begin to imagine a pony that had dragged himself through dirt with wounds like that.  

He'd never healed burns before, within reason.  Dash had burnt herself a couple times when he was trying to teach her how to cook some simple dishes, and that'd been easy enough.  But this was different, he didn't know what to focus on, everything looked damaged to the same degree, and he knew it wasn't.  He went out on a limb and went for the body and neck before moving on to the head and face.  

The hooves were harder, especially the one Jason assumed the pony had dragged himself out with.  Burnt to a crisp was an understatement, two of them were even broken.  Although he could do a lot more than anyone else, some stuff was just burnt away.  He could regenerate tissue, but only to a degree.  He couldn't make limbs grow back, at least not without risking a serious loss of energy or death.  

Jason made a quick effort to ease the scarring of the pony's face before he let the energy run out, and looked down at his patient, who let his head collapse back to the ground as he breathed a sigh of relief.  He felt a wave of fatigue wash over him, the likes of which he hadn't experienced since he'd healed Dash on day one.  Maybe even worse.  The ground moved over to the side and rammed into his head, and he quickly lost consciousness.  


_______________________________________________________________


Jason opened his eyes what felt like seconds later, becoming disoriented for a moment as he looked around inside a tent that looked shockingly like theirs back near Windforge.  All the stuff was there, armor, instruments...

"I see you finally woke up."  Dash said.  He slowly rolled over on the cloud bed and was met by her lips as she kissed him.

"What."  He said, realizing he forgot to word it like a question.  Dash seemed to get what he meant.

"I took the pony to the infirmary and brought you back to our tent.  So I grabbed the buggy and unloaded all of our stuff while you were sleeping, and then I got some shuteye of my own.  You were out for a while, by the way."  She sighed.  "I know you wanted to save that pony, but you didn't have to go to such an extent.  You look really tired right now."

"Yeah, I definitely feel pretty tired."  He held a hoof to his head, feeling a slight crack where he'd fallen over.  "How's my shoulder?"

"It looks better, but I think it's going to take a while longer than the rest of your normal injuries to heal, burn and all."

"Yeah."  He caught some movement out of the corner of his eye, and turned to see Shining Armor walk in.  In the back of his mind, Jason realized it was a good thing Dash was on the other side of the blanket from him, or this could get kinda strange.

"I see he's awake...sorta."  Shining said, pulling a chair through the door behind himself.  

For some reason, Jason found that hilarious, and his chuckle quickly turned into a laugh, which slowly rose in volume until he was just a silent quivering mass on the bed.  "Jason, what's so funny?!"  Dash asked, shaking his shoulders around.  

"The chair, hahahaha  *snore*."\

"Sorry about him, he only gets like this when he's really tired."

"No problem, from what you said he fixed about that pony, he's got a right to be wiped out like that."

"So you're here with casualty numbers, I assume?"

"Yup, just like I normally am.  Fifteen deaths and twenty three injured, a few in bad condition.  Most sustained beore the fighting really began or from burns.  I guess there just isn't enough of Jason to go around.  They seem stable though, so chances are they'll survive, as long as their wounds don't get infected."

"And how many griffins were there?"

"We only found forty four corpses.  So either there were a lot of injured that were dragged away or there weren't many griffins to begin with.  We need a better alarm system, or at the very least more guards on duty.  We're receiving twenty reinforcements tomorrow, so we'll have to get ready for those as well.  I sent out a couple of scouting parties earlier today interspersed with members of Team Green Bean, but they didn't find anypony.  Of course, they were only sent out a little ways."

"So they disappeared without a trace."  Dash confirmed.  Shining nodded.

"Oh god, they're doing that shit?"  Jason asked from the bed, his eyes drooping heavily.

"What, guerrilla tactics?"  Shining asked.

"Yeah, it just makes things harder, but mostly it makes them longer.  Can you *yawn* get some teams together with two members of the team to each, and then I'll figure out a plan.  Try to get team members that work well together, like those two officers."  He yawned again, and his leg twitched.  "I've never been this tired before.  What time is it?"

"Eleven thirty or so."  Dash replied.

"Can you wake me up at three?"  She nodded, watching him appear to pass out before turning back to Shining.  "So you were saying?"

"Well that's about it, really, I mean there isn't that much to say, besides be glad it wasn't worse."

"Yeah, Jason said something about watch towers a while ago, but I really don't know how logical of a thing that would be to build."

"I could look into it, we had a screw up with building supplies and got a whole lot extra.  We're using some of them to reenforce the trenches, but it was a really big screw up."

"That would explain it."

"Yeah.  Well, I'll leave you to it.  If he's up to it later today I was thinking about moving up some of the scouting, doing some brief stuff before it gets dark."

"With him like this, I guess we'll have to see."  He nodded and left, coming back a few moments later for his chair.  Dash shifted herself on the bed, resting her back comfortably against the bulge in the blanket that Jason made.  She immediately felt the heat radiating from his form.  She knew that she sounded trite whenever she mentioned it at this point, but his warmth was overwhelmingly nice, like some sort of blanket heated to just the right temperature.  And it always seemed to make her tired, at least when she wasn't trying to act all raunchy.  

Jason shifted, muttering some indistinguishable words.  She snuggled up closer, before making the decision to abandon her position and move under the covers.  It took her a few minutes to actually start to move out of her comfortable position, but she was glad she had after she wrapped her legs around his chest, enjoying the feeling of his smooth chitin on her chest.  

She accidentally tapped her head into his burnt shoulder and flinched at his subconscious shifting before placing her head above his on the pillow.  She sighed, pulling him tighter against herself.  This was love, she assumed, the tightness she had in her chest whenever they were like this, or even near each other.  She couldn't quite classify it, but it was a feeling that only seemed to make her hunger for more.  

This must be how Jason feels, she mused.  Except probably ten times better.  And she only felt better knowing it was her providing him with that love.  Her thoughts started to become more scattered and frazzled as she quickly lost conscious, succumbing to her own fatigue.  

	
	
> Scouting
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Scouting


"Jason, it's three, wake up!"  There was absolutely no shift from the body she had her hooves wrapped around, even though she'd been yelling from only a few inches away.  She let herself relax for a few more moments against his form, almost as against the idea of leaving the bed as she was sure he was with waking up.  She leaned forward and started to nip at his ear, letting out a giggle when it twitched.  She pulled lightly, before moving over to his face and nuzzling all over his face.

And he was still out cold.  Jason always was a little oblivious.  Oh well, more time for her to try to wake him up like this, it's not like it wasn't fun for her anyway.  She pulled her hoof out from under the covers, skimming it across his nose and licking at his fin like mane.  He shuddered and swept a hoof across his muzzle, and Dash waited until he settled back down before resuming her treatment.  Last time she'd done this he'd complained about how ticklish it was, and she'd only brushed it back then.  He still seemed to be dreaming as his legs started to shift around like he was trying to gallop away from something in slow motion. 

His blue eyes shot open just as Dash stopped tickling him and he ceased his movement, moving a hoof above the bedspread to try to get a semblance of what was going on.  Dash went back to his 'mane' and tickled it with a hoof.  

"It was you!"  She giggled from behind him.

"Well which was a better way to wake up, exploding alarm clock or that?"

"I dunno, the dream was pretty screwed up towards the end there.  You left it in the middle, by the way, just flew off."  He paused.  "And then I just got attacked by..."  He stopped, and she was sure he would have blushed.  

"What?"  She poked him in the chest.  "Are you really afraid to tell me?"

"A little, all these mares were tickling me, and that was strange because I'm really not ticklish anywhere, you know, besides this."  He pointed to the back of his head.  "None of the mares were you, though, and I was kinda enjoying it.  It makes me feel bad."

"It was just a dream, it doesn't mean anything."

"I guess it's your call, you'd be the one to get mad."

She giggled.  "Well yeah, if your dream turns out to be a premonition, I'll be pretty annoyed."  

"I'll try to avoid large groups of dangerous tickling females."

"You'd do that just for me?"  She fluttered her eyelashes, giving him a pouty face.

He chuckled.  "Just for you."  There was a pause, and Jason yawned.

"You're feeling better, I take it?" 

"I'm not as dead as before, no.  But it's not hard to be less dead than that, I guess.  You were here while I was asleep?"

"Yeah, you're really warm, I like it.  It makes it hard to leave."

He rubbed his hooves together.  "Yes, it's all part of my elaborate plan to keep you in bed with me." 

"I guess it's working."  Jason chuckled, and they lapsed into silence.

"So did Shining say how many we lost?"

Dash sighed, running a hoof along Jason's side absentmindedly.  "Fifteen dead, twenty three injured.  Forty four dead griffins."

"Wow, I expected something bad, but still, wow."

"Most of the injured are in for burns."

"That's what I figured, I guess.  Should be interesting to see how this effects things.  You know, from an isolated point of view."

"What're we going to do about those things?"

"Be more careful, take measures to solve the problem.  An early warning system would be nice, I should be able to get that rigged up fairly easily.  As long as we have enough string."

"What, tripwires?"

"I guess so, that could work pretty well.  I mean, I'm operating with backdated technology, it's hard to think in terms of stuff I can do here."  He sighed.  "So did you talk to Scoots last night?"

"A little, she still misses us, which doesn't surprise me.  And she told us that they've got a whole bunch of cutie marks to try for tomorrow.  Let's hope that doesn't mean Ponyville'll be wiped off the face of the map."

Jason chuckled.  "I think you're slightly overestimating the damage three fillies could cause."  

"Only by a smidgeon."  

"Now I'm worried for a whole other reason, thanks so much, Dash."

"No problem."

"So you wanna get up, I figure Shining's going to have something for us to do anyway."  He pulled himself forward and rolled out of bed, making sure not to hit his shoulder again.  Dash sighed behind him and he let out a chuckle, starting to walk over to the door, pleasantly humming a tune to himself as he picked up the saddlebag.  Dash watched as he walked back over to the side of the bed, offering her a hoof.  She took it and he pulled her gently up into a sitting position.

"So Jason, about this scouting and guerrilla stuff, how long do you think it'll take?"

"Well, the problem is, I don't really know how--"  There was a thud as he hit the ground, his hooves already over his head.

Why do you resist?  Came an echoing message through his head.  He tried to formulate a response, but couldn't think past the mindless chatter.

"Get the fuck out of my head!"  He yelled out, not sure if the message would move through the hive mind.  At least, through all this, he knew that's what it was.

But where does this free will arise?  Why are you different?  Jason felt a hoof on his shoulder, and opened his eyes to make sure that he wasn't somehow being attacked.  He was met with Dash's rose eyes, and one of the most reassuring smiles he'd ever seen.  

Jason's hind leg twitched and hit the cloud bed, leaving a slight deformation as he resumed his slightly constrained writhing.  He started to focus on the source of the noise in his head, pushing it away to the back of his mind, closing off the link as best he could.

You can't keep me out forever...  There was a sudden silence in his head as the link was interrupted and he suddenly regained the ability to think.

Jason pulled himself up from the floor, and shook his head, trying to clear it of all the chaos the whole ordeal had caused.  Dash was saying something, but it sounded like she was speaking through a wall.  He listened to her for a few more moments before his ears decided they were going to work again.

"Alright?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess.  I mean, it depends on what you consider alright."  

"Did you at least figure something out?"  She asked, pushing him onto the bed to rest.  

"Yeah, I heard the regular chatter like last time, but there was a voice that I could hear above the rest, it was asking me  stuff, like why I resist and what makes me different."  He sighed, his head feeling a little better.  "It was probably Chrysalis, all things considered."

"Well great, another thing to add to the list."

"I'm sorry."

"No, I'm not mad at you, just the world or fate or whatever that's making all this shit happen.  It's not fair, we deserve a break."

"It'll be one hell of a break after this."  He mused.  

"Is this one of those 'you and me in my bedroom for the weekend' things?"

"Maybe..."  He chuckled.  "I know we're always together, but it's just--  I'd rather be with you in Ponyville or somewhere that I don't have to worry about your well being."  There was a brief silence.

"So you're sure you're okay?"

"I think so, my head's still a little fuzzy, but that seems to be going away."

"Let's not talk about this to anyone, alright?"  Dash asked.

"You don't have to tell me.  I don't need to give anyone a reason to distrust me at this point, especially given how many times I said I wasn't part of the hive mind."  Dash nodded, throwing a saddlebag over her back.  "Where'd you get the new saddlebags?"

"Shining had a few laying around.  Your computer got a little singed, it still works though."

"Good, it's not like I'm going to get another one with all my stuff on it."

"Yeah, we still have to get through episode three of that zombie thing."

"Sure, we can do it tonight if you want, or something."  Dash grabbed an apple out of her saddlebag and took a bite.

"I cahnt sahy I'm nort hinterested."

"Mihelm ber der."  He replied.  Dash giggled, swallowing the apple chucks.  

"Let's just go."  She walked past and brushed through the door, before returning back inside.  "Almost forgot, I found this earlier."  She pulled a tiny axe with some beads hanging off the end.

"Wow..."  Jason said, taking it into his hooves.  "It's a tomahawk It can be used for either hacking at someone or throwing."  He put it into the saddlebag before walking outide with Dash and looking around for Shining's tent before setting off.  Jason broke into a trot to catch up, wincing as part of his chitin dug into the angry burnt skin on his shoulder.  

"Hey."  Shining said, waving as he met them in front of the tent.  "One of those few times I'm not in there working, huh?"

"That's an understatement."  Jason replied, smirking.

"Don't push it."  

"Sorry."  He heard Shining chuckle as he led them inside, and sat down behind a slightly burnt desk.  

"So,"  The general started,  "Rainbow Dash probably filled you in on most of this, so I'm just going to cut to the chase.  We're getting some patrols out there before dark, just to look for signs of, well, anything.  So you're up to some walking around and stuff, right?"  He looked at Jason.

"I'm a little tired, but hey, we all are."

"Okay, good.  I sent out an order for something, I think you'll like this."  He walked over to a large wooden box and levitated the lid away, tipping it over to show the contents off to Jason.

"You sent out an order for more ghillie suits?"  He said, laughing.

"Yeah, Rarity didn't make these, of all ponies it was Fancy Pants.  From what the princess said, he's more than happy to tear up some clothes to make some of these."

"I thought he did jewelry."  Dash said.

"He does a lot of stuff, actually."  Shining replied, picking up one of the suits.  "You can use these, I take it?"

"Well, I guess sizing isn't a problem, considering I can just kinda get smaller.  Being a little smaller than Big Mac doesn't exactly yield itself to well fitting clothing."

"You have such terrible problems, Jason."  Dash said, poking him in the side.

"Well, he actually made a couple that were pretty big.  Here."  He tossed one over, and Jason caught it against his chest.  "That one's about Tank's size, I think."

"Yeah."  He caught another one.  "This one's a little better."

"Good, whenever you're ready, just grab six ponies and send them here to get suited up.  Then you can head out.  If you're not back by dark, about six, I'm going to assume you've encountered trouble.  But if I'm going to send anypony for you, I'm going to need to know where you're planning on going."  He gestured to the map, and Jason walked over.  

"I was thinking we go kinda east, this way."  He dragged a hoof across the map.  "I want to scout out these hills over here, and hopefully make sure they aren't all over our flank.  If you want to send out another group to the west, it seems less likely that they'll actually find anything, but better safe then sorry, right?"

"Yeah, wait, just take this."  He handed over a pad of paper.  "Just send me something if you need help."

"Sure thing."  He slid the pad into his saddlebag.  "That's about it, right?"

"As far as I can tell."

"Oh yeah, get some tripwires strung up out there, we need an early warning.  I was thinking, stretch some string through the areas in front of each of the boxes and keep them taut enough that when someone trips one it pulls a flint against some metal and starts a little contained fire.  Even if it doesn't light, the thing'll still be pulled."

"I guess that works, I was kinda thinking about spotlights and stuff, but we don't have enough unicorns that can pull a trick that advanced.  I'm referring to the distance, not the skill it takes to create a small light."

"So see if you can get that to work before dark."  Jason said.

"Of course, I'm not letting any more ponies get burnt to a crisp around here."  He replied.  Jason nodded and saluted, grabbing the new ghillie suit and moving to leave.  He pushed through the flaps, hissing as they brushed on his shoulder.

"We need to get some bandages on this before you hurt yourself worse."  Dash said.  

"Fine."  

"Jeez, usually you go through this whole macho 'it's just a flesh wound' thing."

"Yeah, but I'm kinda getting sick of the whole, everything hurts thing."  He paused, looking around.  "Where's the infirmary anyway?"

Dash giggled, pointing to a tent with a red plus on the side.  "I think it may be that one."  She said, laughing when he facehoofed.  They walked inside onto the wooden floor, the ragged breathing from more than a few ponies inside meeting their eardrums.  A nurse came up and smiled.

"What can I do for you?"  She said, tilting her head slightly to the side.  She was a rather cute looking white mare with a pink mane tied back into a bun.  Jason let out a sigh of relief at the realization that she wasn't like the nurses they had in Canterlot.  

"I just need to get something for my shoulder here."  He turned so she could see the burn.  "Just some bandages or something."

"You've got to be kidding, let me at least get some burn cream on the wound." 

"It's really okay, I--"

"No, it's the least I can do."

"Seriously, it--"  He deadpanned, she'd already gone into another sectioned off part of the tent.  She trotted back in a few seconds later with some bandages and a small glass container in her mouth.  She sat down in front of Jason despite his protest and Dash's giggling, and quickly dabbed a hoof into the cream, extending it towards his shoulder.  "Wait we don't know what will happen if you-- Ohh, that's nice..."

The nurse giggled, globing some more of the goo onto her hoof and spreading it around his shoulder.  "I wouldn't risk internal medication, and this medicine is virtually impossible to be allergic to, there's only two main ingredients, and one of them's water."

"So it'll heal me up faster."

"That's what I don't know, there's a little magic in the stuff that helps healing, like we have in casts or slings, but I'm not sure if it'll actually help you out or just dissipate.  Either way, it's still a painkiller on the spot."

"I'm so glad you made me do this Dash."  Jason said, sighing gratefully as the nurse spread another glob and picked the bandages back up from a nearby table.  

"I knew it'd do you some good."

"Yeah, but I never expected anything like this."  Jason flinched as the nurse pulled the bandage across his wound.  "Why's it hot?"  He asked, looking at his shoulder to check that no damage had been done.

"I steamed it to get rid of diseases.  No sense getting you infected, huh?"

"But didn't you bring it over here in your mouth?"  He asked.

"I set it on that grate over the water right there."  She pointed over to the table again, which Jason now noticed had a fair amount of medical stuff on the surface.  

"Ah."  She stopped wrapping, sticking a few pins through the bandages to hold them in place.  

"Alright, all done."

"I didn't get your name, what is it?"

"Nurse Redheart."  She shook his hoof.  "It's a pleasure to finally meet you, general."

"Jason's fine, really."  He replied.  "So how'd you end up all the way out here?"

She shrugged.  "I guess I wanted to deal with more than a deep cut every couple weeks in Ponyville, maybe play a part in saving a couple of pony's lives."

"I guess slow business in Ponyville isn't really a bad thing..."  Dash said.

"Well it doesn't pay the bills,"  She sighed.  "I like to think I didn't come here partially for the money, but I'd be lying."  She hung her head.  "It's a little morbid, relying on hurt ponies for my salary."

"But you're still helping them."  Dash retorted.  "I'm sure a lot of these guys wouldn't have made it without you.  You're definitely earning the money."  Redheart smiled slightly.  Dash was kinda surprised she hadn't recognized her earlier.

"Thanks, it's nice to hear some praise from somepony other than the patients I'm supplying with medicine."

"Don't their compliments and thanks mean more though?  They wouldn't even be giving it to you if they had died."  The mare's smile grew.

"You know what, you're right.  I earned this, and I do a good job.  Why should I care that I took it for the money?"  she paused, turning to Jason.  "Need anything else?"

"No, I think I'm good."

"Okay, a couple of these guys should be waking up in a couple minutes here, and I'll have to attend to them."

"Okay, I'll leave you to it."  He turned and departed, taking a look at the pony he'd saved early this morning, who looked  like he was doing pretty well, minus a few small burns and the large missing patches of hair.  He sighed and walked through the exit, turning toward the southern trenches as Dash came out of the tent behind him and pushed up against his side.  

"You know,"  she started, "There's this think that pegasi do in place of leaning, where they thread their primaries together between the pair."

"And you want to do that, I assume?"

"Well why not, I mean if you can be any pony, why not take some advantage?"

"You've already done that, trust me."  He stepped away and shifted into Alternis, before sticking out a wing towards her.  She giggled and did the same, carefully meshing his wing with hers.  She stumbled and brushed the leading edge of his wing, and he had to fight to keep the other wing from extending as well.

"Sorry, I don't really want to give you a wingboner or anything."  She paused, giggling.  "At least, not in public."  

Jason chuckled along with her.  "So, enjoying yourself?"

"Yeah, it's nice.  I've never really tried it before.  I'm not sure if I like this or leaning more."

"Oh god, important questions."

"It's a tough decision!  It's either, lean against you and feel warm, or get this kinda nice feeling from my wing.  It's not like I can do both."

"Yeah, well I need to change back, so that ponies will actually recognize me here."  She pouted but relented, and he felt her feathers slide away from his.  He dropped the disguise and felt her return against his side, putting a wing over his back.  "What is it with you and warmth?"  He asked.

"I dunno, maybe everypony would be like this in my situation."

"You wanna put that to the test?"

"No, I'd get jealous."

"Yeah, you were kinda looking like that in the infirmary."  He felt a punch contact his foreleg.  "No need to be harsh."

"You better never cheat on me, I'll die of jealousy before I get the chance to kill you."

"Yeah, the only way I'd find a mare that's better than you is if she... uh...hmm.  This was supposed to be easy."

"Are you being sarcastic?"

"No, I really can't think of anything.  Well, besides that when you punch me it kinda hurts."

"That means something, considering you're covered in armor."

"Yeah, I guess.  Hold on."  He walked up on top of one of the boxes and cleared his throat.  "Listen, I need six of you to come out on a scouting mission with me.  There may be combat, so make sure you're prepared.  Go ahead and decide which of you is coming."  Chatter started up as Jason turned back to Dash.

"Just so long as you don't crack it, that hurts like hell."

"I can imagine." 

"It's weird, I have to say.  Not the cracking, just how it feels.  Most of the time punches are just a heavy pressure unless it decides to give."

"Yeah."  

"You're a mare of many words, Dash."

"What am I supposed to say?  I don't know what it's like."

"Touché."  He turned back to the soldiers, who had become much more quiet.  "You've got your six?"

"SIR YES SIR!"

"The six of you, whichever ones you are, report to Shining Armor's tent to get fitted for camouflage, then report out front."  Six ponies jumped out of the trench, two pegasi, three unicorns and one earth pony, as far as he could tell.  

"So we've got to get ready as well, I assume?"  Dash asked.

"Yeah, you wanna see how fast we can do it this time?"

"You're on."


___________________________________________________________________


A pony finally came out of Shining's tent, jumping slightly as his eyes focused on Dash and Jason, Ghillie suits covering most of their bodies.  Jason has skipped bringing his AUG; it was just too conspicuous to be useful.  Besides their usual armor and knives, Jason and Dash had left everything else behind, minus the pad of paper Jason had tied to one side.  He had stuck the tomahawk through a loop on his back that apparently came with these new things.

"So how close are the others?"  Jason asked the pony, looking at the sun anxiously.  At most, they had two hours.

"U-uh, good I think."  The young stallion took a step back, clutching his spear more tightly.  Jason rolled his eyes, and briefly wondered if they had any outward change in appearance.

"What's your history here?  Military wise?"

"I-I was in the a-attack where we finally go the griffins out of the city, and I fought here last night."  Another couple ponies walked out and saluted, making the first pony realize his mistake and whack his foreleg into his head in his rush.

"Listen,"  Jason started as the rest of the ponies exited.  "You don't need to be afraid of me.  At least not as much as you are.  It'll be a little bit harder to actually work as a team that way.  So don't pull shit like this on me anymore, I'm not the enemy.  Got it?"

"SIR YES SIR!"  The group yelled, much louder than he had been expecting.

"Well then, let's get going!"  He turned and trotted off, checking behind himself to make sure that the other ponies had been following.  He quickly got to one of the trenches and vaulted over, giving a slight buzz of his wings before he remembered that they were inside his ghillie suit.  His eyes locked with Eravel's as he went over the trench, and the griffin gave a slight nod as he whittled away a little more of an arrow shaft.

They quickly descended from the hill into the trees and slowed down, not wanting to scare griffins off before they even made contact.  They continued their slow movement for another half hour, staying behind low foliage as they tried to find any hints.  Jason put up a hoof to stop, and quietly pulled out a map.  They were still on track, which was good, but they weren't far enough south to have any chance at finding something, not at this rate.  

"Dash."  He whispered, summoning the mare.  "I'm going to turn a little bit south here, make it easier to find something."

"Not too far though, or any reinforcements won't find where we are."

"That's what I figured."  He folded up the map and put it away before setting off on his new course.  They arrived at the hills Jason had wanted to explore a few minutes later, and started to look around.  Jason pushed through a couple bushes into a clearing, feeling his heart leap as he noticed a smoldering fire.  He waited for the rest of the team, trying to figure out which direction they had gone in.

They walked off, not finding anything new as they crested another small hill.  Jason looked up and froze, moving behind a nearby bush and signaling to the others to do the same.  He could swear he heard some voices, which quickly turned into yells as they got closer.  He had noticed a griffin up in a tree, probably up there to keep watch, although he appeared to be asleep.  

But who was that moving closer, it sounded like two strikingly similar voices, although he couldn't distinguish any of the words.  A pony came into view, a greenish pony with a white mane that looked somewhat similar to Lyra.  He could still hear the voices, and suddenly realized that the mare was arguing with itself.

The griffin in the tree was jolted out of her slumber, and quickly caught sight of the pony plodding along below it.  Jason darted out of the bush, shouldering the griffin out of the way as she dove in for the kill.  Dash slit the griffin's throat, covering its mouth to muffle any noises.  The pony just continued to walk.  

"Hey,"  Jason asked, "Who are you?  Why are you way out here?"  The pony turned, going rigid as her eyes went across Jason's face.

"No!"  She yelled, taking a step back as her face did a nervous twitch.  "No, you aren't taking me back!"  She turned and started to fly as Dash lunged after her, catching hold of her tail.  "Just let me go!"  

"Why are you out here?"  Jason asked.

"I fought to be different, I just want to lead my own life."  She went stiff for a moment, dropping back to the ground before she curled up into a ball.  "Just let me go."

"Who are you anyways?"  Jason asked, rather disturbed by the whole situation.  The mare went rigid again and got up, pulling her tail free with a flick of her flank.  Her eyes flashed red as she started to calmly circle around Jason.

"Ah, it's nice do be back in control of one of my own."  The pony's face twitched again.  "Shh, I'll be gone in a minute.  I just want to look over the world's most interesting changeling.
> Public Opinion
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Public Opinion


"So, Jason, I take it?  That's what you call yourself?"  The pony asked, pacing in front of Dash and Jason.  A couple of the ponies that were still hidden in the bushes went to make a move, but Dash waved them back.  

"Yeah, what of it?"  He asked.

"Oh, nothing.  Changelings don't usually have names, it's more of a privilege than a right."  She paused, examining a hoof.  "And so far, you're only the second one to come up with your own.  After this one here."  She gestured to herself.  "But you're the only functioning one, she was never able to make a clean break with the hive mind.  So why are you able to think for  yourself?"

"Why would I tell you anything?"  Jason asked, spitting the last few words at the mare.

"I could just increase my influence over you, even if it only incapacitates any thinking capacities you possess."  Jason's hoof went to his head, as the brief overload that seemed to come and go when the hive mind came into play.  "So you see, I can just keep the pressure on until you break.  I'm not really sure how long that'll be, but it's an interesting concept, hmm?"

"F-fuck you."  He felt, heard, experienced another jolt to his head, and one of his legs buckled.  He felt an arm wrap around his chest before he hit the ground.  Dash pulled him into a sitting position before dragging him against a tree, stroking a hoof through his mane before turning towards Chrysalis.

"You bitch!"  She lunged, only to be stopped as the earth mare's forehead lit up with a ghostly green aura and she was levitated out of the way.

"Nuh uh uhh, can't have you damaging this one." 

"Dash, she's right.  We need to find out what makes her different, so that we can--"  His body seized up for a brief moment before returning to normal.

"So I see you've got yourself a mare-friend, judging by all the love coming from her.  Funny how she knows, and yet..."  Chrysalis paced a few strides to the side.  "And you're a healer changeling.  It's been many a year since I've seen one of those.  And you're a big one too."

"So what?"  Jason asked, jerking in Dash's hooves as he reacted to more hive mind infringement.  

"I was getting there.  All I want to know is why you're different.  You know, to keep more of this from happening."

"Maybe because I wasn't born a changeling."

"That would explain it, I suppose, although I've never heard of any magic that could change species, silly changeling."

"Well I don't know what to tell you."

"Alright, I'm nothing if not a little willing to hear a good story.  Why would you turn yourself into a changeling?"

"I didn't, I just became one a couple months ago."

"You're definitely ignorant enough to be only a few months old."

"That's not what I said, I--urgh."  He held a hoof to his head.  

"It's not like that explains your resilience to the hive mind, whether you're a run of the mill changeling or not."

"I know how to think for myself, I don't have to learn it like she did."  He gestured to the possessed mare.  "Why do you need to know?"

"It's always good to be prepared.  And I wanted to see who I was up against here, and it looks like I don't have that much to worry about.  From what I can see, you don't even know that much about being a changeling."

"Well what the hell am I missing?"

"Now now, if I told you that it would only make things harder."  Her face jerked upward slightly before returning to normal.  "Next time we meet, it'll be me, not some sort of defective changeling.  So I'll let you be, for now.  At least until you cause trouble towards me.  I've got plans, as it is, whether you play a part doesn't matter either way.  After all, it's not like I'm ever truly gone.  You better censor your thoughts."  She smiled widely, and the mare collapsed as Chrysalis left, part of the changeling's disguise on a hind leg disappearing.  

"I guess we bett-"  He held his head again, feeling the obnoxious flow of voices wash over him.  

Call it a parting gift.

Fuck you.  He thought back, but she was already gone.  His mind refocused on the world, and he clutched one of Dash's hooves closer to himself.  "Why wouldn't she try to do anything?" 

Dash shrugged.  "She said you weren't part of her plan.  Unless you fall into place."  Her face took on a blank look as she stared off in thought.  

"We better bring her back, we could find something out from another changeling or something."  He cringed, his headache giving a couple of pulses of pain before starting to fade away.  He grabbed Dash's hoof and pulled himself up before walking over to the changeling, who was a rather small mare as it turned out, and slinging her over his shoulder.  A couple of the ponies had come out of the bushes by now, and were staring at the trio incredulously.  

"Come on guys,"  Jason started, "Stop staring.  Let's just go.  Shining's expecting us back soon anyway."  They began their trek back, not trying to be as stealthy as they had been.  There was really no need.  As long as they got back before this changeling, whoever she was, woke up, then everything should be fine.  Well, within reason, of course.  These ponies had heard everything, they knew that he was still connected to the hive mind, and at some point Shining was going to find out.

"Dash."  He whispered to the mare, quiet enough to keep the others from hearing.  "What are we going to do now that ponies know?"  She was silent for a while, only adding to Jason's nervousness with her uncharacteristic behavior.

"I'm not sure."  She paused.  "I mean, we usually just fight our way out of stuff, but it's not like we can do that this time.  And we can't exactly go in there and tell him either."

"Funny how things just continue to steadily get worse."  He looked up, his mood lightening as the hill that the camp was perched on came into view.

"They're not that bad, we're both high ranking officers.  And even better than that, we have a cloud bed just up the hill there."  She smirked, her attention strained slightly as one of the ponies from the group ran ahead, quickly beginning to scale the side of the hill.  

"I guess someone's exited to get back."  Jason said, breaking into a trot, not too fast, considering the mare on his back.

"Yeah, I would be too if that was my first mission."

"What, he's one of the reinforcements?" 

"I think so."  She paused.  "It's almost winter, and all this armor's still hot."  

Jason chuckled.  "Troops from back home wore more stuff than you in one hundred degree deserts, I think you can tough it out."

"But they didn't have fur!"  She complained.

"Oh yeah.  It's probably about equal then."

"Oh blah blah."  The hill started to flatten, and the tents came into view.  They hopped over the trench a few moments later, careful not to impale themselves on one of the spikes.  

"We should probably go check in with Shining, just to tell him that we found basically nothing.  And explain the changeling, come to think of it."  They walked through the tents, eventually coming upon the larger one and entering as another pony quickly exited.  

"Hey Shining."

"Hi."  He said coldly.  

"Yeah, so there weren't really any griffins out there, so they must be further to the south."  He moved over to the map, pointing at part of it with a hoof.  "Around here."

"I see."  He said, sounding just as annoyed as before.

"What's wrong?"  Jason asked, not removing his hoof from the map.

"Oh, you wanna know what's wrong, Jason?  A pony just came in here and told me about your little chat with Chrysalis, and said that you're apparently connected to the hive mind you fuck!!  You said numerous times you weren't, so what?  You just lied to all of us?!?!"

"No, I--"

"I mean, you'd think that after all this, maybe I'd be able to trust you!!"

"Shining, the--"

"And I did trust you, probably with my own life!  But what, this is all for your own selfish gain?!?!"

"God dammit Shining, LISTEN TO ME!!!"  Jason yelled, causing a couple of glasses on his desk to ring in the silence that followed.  "I only had connections to the hive mind since a couple days ago, and I still don't know why.  Apparently Chrysalis found a way to connect it to me or something.  I didn't tell you because I knew you'd react just like this!  It's not like you can do anything about it anyway, and it only causes me pain when it connects.  So stick to your problems, and let me figure out mine!"  Another silence entailed, the only noise a pony from a few tents away.

"Shaddup!  I'm tryin' ta sleep!"  In the middle of the day, apparently.  Wait, it was almost dusk, never mind.

"Dash, what's your take on this?"  Shining asked, some of his normal stoicism returning.

"Just like he said, something comes through, he looks like he's either having a seizure or a terrible headache, and then it goes away or he pushes it back out of his head."

"So why did you bring back that partially transformed changeling?"

Jason stepped forward, gently dumping the mare into a seat.  "She's different, she broke away from the hive mind, at least partially.  I think she's the same changeling that saved Lyra in Canterlot, although I guess I'm just drawing a connection there.  Chrysalis said I was only the second free changeling."

Shining grabbed a length of rope from under his desk, walking over and tying the changeling to the chair carefully.  "So your idea is, find out what's different here, and then use it against Chrysalis?"

"I guess, but she just kinda let us have her, so she must be pretty sure that we can't get any usable info."

"That's another thing, how did you talk with her anyway?"

"She kinda possessed this mare here, and then spoke through her."

"Kinda like that pony that tortured you?"

Jason hung his head, watching as Dash lifted the changeling's chin to get a better look at her.  "You heard about that?"   He asked.

"Yeah, me and the rest of the generals."

"Great, I'm sure that helped my public opinion."

"It kinda did when you came out alive..."

"Really?"  He paused, shaking his head and trying to get back on track.  "It's not like that pony though, there wasn't anything physical, it was just an illusion.  But that does bring up and interesting point."

"Yeah.  Sorry about doubting you, I shouldn't have jumped to a conclusion based on only one other pony's words."

"It doesn't matter, I'd be pretty freaked out if those charges came to the table."

"But seriously..."

"I'm used to it by now, it's no big deal as long as I don't lose my team, or get separated from Dash."

"Jason, I think she's waking up!"  Dash yelled, hurriedly pouring a glass of water to hand to the mare later.  The changeling shifted and opened her eyes, looking around between Dash and Jason for a few moments.

"A-am I back in the hive?"  She asked after a few minutes of complete silence.

"No, we're in a pony war camp inside the Griffin Empire."  Jason replied, not breaking eye contact.

"But, why haven't you killed me then?"  She asked, still shifting her gaze around nervously before her eye twitched.

"Because we aren't going to, unless you prove yourself to be a threat."  Shining stepped past the chair and into view, and the mare jumped.  

"What's your name?"  He asked, wiping a bit of dirt off her face with a rag.  

"Um, my hive name or the name I came up with?"  That threw Shining for a loop, and he gave Jason a look.

"They don't have names."  He whispered.

"Both then, I guess."  Shining replied, looking over at the clock nervously.

"I was drone 37-U, until I renamed myself Evening Glory."

"Has a nice ring to it."  Dash said, saying it under her breath again.

The mare perked up, her emotion changing rather quickly.  "You think so?  I always thought it sounded tacky, but what would I know about pony n-n-names?"

"You okay?"  Dash asked. 

"Y-y-yeah, t-this j-jus-st h-happens sometimes.  See, it's gone now."

"How did you break free from the hive mind?"  Jason inquired, waving a hoof in front of the changeling's face when she didn't respond.

"Wow, you're one of them."  She said, letting her mouth hang open.

"One of what?"

"You're one of those better changelings, I read about them in a book in Canterlot while I was there.  I liked that city, I mean it was the only city I've been to but I liked it anyway.  And you're getting love from that one."  She tried to point to Dash but only jerked the chair slightly.  "Does she know?  How did you do it?  Did you come up with a spell to put her under your control?  I got a lot of love from a pony once, she called herself Lyre or Liar or something.  That's a weird name, I didn't want something like that for my name."  Jason stuck a hoof into her mouth.  Yeah, he could see the insanity here.

"I got to know her, she gave me a chance."

"Wow, really?  So do you love her as well?"

"What?  Yeah."  He facehoofed, this was going nowhere fast.  "Anyway--"

"Do you have sex?!  Love from sex is the best."  Her mouth started to water, before her facial expression fell, and she started crying.  "I miss Lyre!  She trusted me, and I wasn't hungry when I was with her!"  She tried to raise her hooves to her face, the arms of the chair giving slight creaks but not budging.  

Jason was having trouble keeping track of the constant emotional changes and tangents, he had been hoping she would be easier to talk to, but things could definitely be worse, at least.  He walked over and patted the changeling on the shoulder, following Dash's motions.  The changeling looked up at Dash, her saddened expression joined with confusion.

"Why are you giving me any love, you don't know me.  I could be a murderer for all you know."

"Yeah, but all I see is a sad little mare who didn't deserve her lot."  

"Hey Dash, I'll be right back."  Jason said, waiting for her to nod before turning and galloping outside.  He nearly ran into a small group of soldiers, a couple of them in officer garb, although he didn't care enough to look who they were before he dodged out of the way and sprinted into his tent.  He went through the small pile of salvageables in the box of stuff from earth, before pulling out something he thought would be totally useless before: lithium tablets.  Maybe they wouldn't work, but they couldn't possibly do that much harm.

He ran back out of the tent, clutching the pill bottle in his teeth as he galloped back.  The same group of ponies had gathered around the mouth of Shining's tent, one of them sneaking a look inside.  He couldn't blame them after all the yelling and screaming that had gone on.

"Hey, shoo, get outta here.  And if you saw anything, don't breathe a word of it to anyone else, you hear me?"  There was a murmur of approval, and they quickly made their way away from the tent.  Jason walked inside, jiggling the bottle to let them know he'd returned.

"What're those?"  Dash asked, catching the bottle when he tossed it over.  "Lithium?"

"It's a pill we gave to crazies, it helped fix chemical imbalances in their brains."

"It says take three."  

"Give her one."

"But it says--"

"We don't know what'll happen, just one for now."  Dash sighed and put a couple pills back, before handing the mare, whose fore hooves had been untied, a glass of water and the pill.

"This does what?"  She asked.

"Helps you think clearer."

"Wow, like glass?"  Jason sighed.

"Sure."  She greedily tossed the pill into her mouth and chewed it up, before washing it down with the water.  It was a good thing she didn't have any taste buds.  She seemed to cool off immediately, although he doubted it was from the medicine.  "So we were talking about math."  He heard Dash sigh.  

"Oh yeah, what type?"

"Algebra.  Back in the hive, I would always draw equations from a book that I brought back from a raid, and then solve them.  It was quite the fun thing to do for hour upon hour."  

"So you're self taught?"  Jason asked.

"I guess you could say that, but I only got three quarters of the way through before Chrysalis took it away."

Jason took a sip of water.  "Oh yeah?  Which part did you get to?"

"I got into Tri-gon-oh-me-tri."

"Trigonometry."

"Oh, that's how you pronounce it?"  She sighed and slumped backwards, smiling as if looking back on better times.  Her mood changed again, and she sat bolt upright, twisting her body sideways.  "I hate chairs!"  She yelled, punching at the wooden arm.  It cracked and splintered, before coming off altogether.  She froze, before turning back to the trio.

"I'm sorry!"  She yelled.  "Please don't kill me, I didn't mean to break your chair!"  Jason took another sip of water.

"You're not in trouble."  He said, causing her to sigh gratefully.  

"Good, because I never got your name.  Or yours, or yours."  She pointed between the three of them.

"I'm Jason, this is Rainbow Dash, and that's Shining Armor."

"Wow, Rainbow Dash, I wish I had come up with that name."  She said.  Jason yawned widely, causing Dash to yawn as well.

"Is she staying the night here, Shining?"

"I guess, I can just tie her to the bed or watch over her all night or something.  We'll see if your pills work."

"Okay, I'm going to go sleep.  You coming, Dash?"

"Sure.  She got up and plodded over to the exit, while Jason tried to get the pad of paper Shining had given him earlier back.  But given the fact that it was inside his ghillie suit and tied to his side, it wasn't easy.  He tripped and fell over, one of his knives stabbing slightly into the ground.  Shining walked over and extracted the paper with a laugh, sliding it back into a drawer. Dash sighed and helped Jason up, immediately taking the opportunity to make fun of him for his usual clumsiness.  

"Nice job falling over when you have four hooves to stand on."

"Actually, I only had three."

She giggled, walking through the flap as he held it open for her.  "Whatever.  Do you think you'll ever get coordinated?"

"No.  Not at the rate I'm going anyway."

"Don't try to, I like you when you're all clumsy.  It makes dancing fun.  And all those times where you're trying to be romantic and trip."

"There's gotta be some sort of conspiracy there, I don't trip that much."

She giggled again.  "But it's so adorable, I like to think you're tripping over your own hooves to get to me."

"Or all the things you leave on the floor, either way."

"Just don't change, I like you this way."

"Awww.  You like it when I trip near all the sharp objects we leave laying around."

"You don't need to over think everything, you know."  She entered the tent, and jumped onto the bed.  "That was some good acting there, Shining actually thought we were tired!"

"I am tired."

"Oh, suck it up."  She struck a seductive pose.  "It's not even dark out."

Jason smirked at her.  "I suppose I can stay up a while later, but you're going to have to make it worth my while."

"I dunno, I'm not sure if I'm pretty enough..."  She said sarcastically.

"Well aren't you the confident one."  He replied, before getting up and joining her on the bed, pressing his lips to hers.  They kissed for a few moments before Dash pushed him back slightly, breaking the kiss.

"That mare in there said she liked 'sex love,' is it the best kind?"  She asked, looking into his eyes.

"Not to me,"  He replied.  "It's like food, you like some things better than others.  It's the best when you aren't worried or anything and we're just wherever, with each other.  Like that time where we were sitting and fishing, or that time the day after we adopted Scoots, when she was on my chest.  It may not have been as strong, but that's the best for me."

"You always know the right thing to say."  She leaned forward to kiss him, before he stopped her with a hoof.  

"It's the truth."

"I know, silly."  She brushed her muzzle against his.  "Now come on, don't you know it's rude to keep a mare waiting?"
	
	
> Drugs
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Drugs


"Shut up!"  

Jason groaned, rolling over on the bed.  "No, you're just a failure!"  Came another yell in the same voice.  His mind chugged along, trying to figure out why he was being woken up by whoever this evil pony was.  Dash was still as a rock, easily sleeping through the screaming.  Jason sighed, running a hoof across her cheek before carefully extracting himself from her hooves.  

She always was the selectively awake one, the act of moving her in any way tended to immediately rouse her, and clearly noise didn't.  He chuckled, realizing that this was the first time he had managed to leave the bed without waking her.  He replaced the blanket over her chest, briefly overcome by how adorable she looked, a slight pout on her face as she seemed to subconsciously realize the lack of Jason's presence.  Or all the yelling.  It was still cute either way.

He grabbed his saddlebag, tossing it over his back as he walked out of the tent, heading for Shining's.  "I didn't do anything wrong!"  Came another yell, he assumed from Evening Glory.  So she probably needed the full dosage, assuming this wasn't a side effect.  He walked in, seeing Tank and Eravel as he looked around, along with a sleeping Shining on one of the upper bunks.  

"How does he sleep through this?"  He asked the pair.  "And why are you here?"

"Shining got us in the middle of the night,"  Tank replied, yawning, "and made us watch over this basket case."  He looked over at the struggling mare.  "Where did you even find a changeling?"

"You're taking this well.  We were scouting, and I think she's the changeling that broke free from the hive mind.  So we're keeping her around to try to find out what's different, and if we can break the hive mind, that's one less thing we have to deal with."

"So she's what all this is resting on?"  Tank glanced over at the mare.

"Stop looking at me!"  She yelled, her victimized expression turning angry.  "You like it, whore!"  

"Yeah."  Jason replied, realizing how bad things looked.  "But I have pills that should work."  He paused.  "Stay here for a minute, tell me if she says anything important.  And don't tell anyone about this, I don't know how they'll react."  Eravel nodded, moving a little closer to Evening to get a better look.

Jason turned and left, a little sickened by the self arguing.  It just creeped him out.  He made his way down the road, which was really just a wide cut that went the length of the camp.  He walked back into the tent, keeping quiet even though he knew Dash probably wouldn't wake up.  He grabbed a couple of the human odds and ends, mostly useless to Dash or him, and packed them into a box.  He grabbed a pencil and wrote across the lid:  'To Scoots, Love, Jason' before walking back outside and continuing down the road.  He quickly got to the edge of the flat top of the hill, where there were a few pegasi unloading and loading goods.  

"Are any of you going to Ponyville?"  He asked, most of the ponies shaking their heads before returning to work.  

"I am."  One said from beside Jason.  He turned and took in the sight of a rather burly looking stallion, covered in various hues of grey.  

"Can you take some stuff there for me?  I'll make it worth your while..."  He tossed over a small bag of bits, watching it land at the pegasus's hooves.  

"Or I can just do it for free..."

"Ah, okay then."  He floated the bits back over, placing them back in his saddlebag and taking out a few small wooden boxes.  "I want you to deliver these to Ferris, which is the blacksmith in Ponyille.  Tell him there's a note in one of the boxes on what to do."  Jason opened one of them, watching a few things glimmer back, before closing it back up and handing the boxes over.  

"Sure thing."

"And set up a return trip, because he'll be sending something back in a while."

"Okay, I can do that.  It's a nice break from the usual schedule."  He opened the box.  "Whoa, what're you going to do with all of this jewelry?"

"It doesn't matter, just get it to the right place, okay?"  The pony saluted, and carefully stacked the boxes in with the rest of the stuff.  Jason grabbed the cardboard box for Scoots and handed it over to the pony.  "Here's another package, but this needs to be delivered to my daughter.  It's this big cloud house in the sky, just leave it in the front yard on this pallet so it doesn't fall through.  That work?"

"Yeah, of course.  I have a pretty large amount of time between getting there and leaving again.  And I really don't want to spend a lot of time with my mother-in-law."  He chuckled to himself as he took the package and stowed it away.

Jason shared the stallion's chuckle and turned around, slowly making his way back to camp.  He finally looked up towards the sun, it was probably nine or so, judging.  He figured he'd probably go wake Dash up, then get back to this whole changeling debacle.  

He leaned over and picked up a rubber spider off the ground, immediately trying to decide whether to use it on Dash or Shining.  He couldn't do it to both of them, that'd just be repetitive.  So it was a choice between Dash yelling, or the possibility of Shining screaming like a little girl.  Not a very tough choice, he mused.  

He walked into his tent, finding Dash already awake.  Well, barely.  Her face was squished against the pillow as her slitted eyes gazed up at him.  He thought that maybe she was still asleep for a moment, before she finally summoned up the strength to move.

"Why did you leave?"  She asked, partially scrunching her face into a pouting expression before she appeared to decide that it wasn't worth the energy.  Jason sighed and got into bed with her.  She perked up immediately, lazily draping an arm over his form and pulling herself closer.

"Five more minutes, then we have to figure out what to do with that changeling."  Dash sighed and nodded, understanding the gravity of the situation enough to keep from arguing.

"Was she the one yelling?"

"Yeah, she was arguing with herself."

"You bastard!"  Came another yell, followed by some angry sounding growls and mutters.  

"I know, I heard."

"And yet you never woke up."  He chuckled at her blush.  "But it's seriously getting creepy.  You have soft fur by the way, I don't really say that enough."

"Aren't you random today."

"Only when I need to be."  He brushed his muzzle against hers before drawing back and giving her a kiss.  He broke it off after a moment and rolled over, grabbing the pad of paper from his discarded saddlebag.  He rolled back over with it, placing it between the two of them and trying to decide what to write.  He finally decided on something, and put the pencil to the paper with his magic.

Well, we made it through another battle.  Hope you're fine over there.  I really miss you Scoots.  Jason wiped his eyes, a little bit of moisture starting to collect as he thought about the filly.  He passed the pencil and paper over to Dash, and she wrote a couple of words on the paper before handing it back.

"You were pretty good at drawing, why don't you draw something for her?"

"What am I supposed to put on here?"

"I dunno, something she's never seen before."

"I got something better, hold up your hoof."  She obliged, and he grabbed the pencil, and started to draw on the bottom of her hoof, covering it with graphite.

She started laughing, and her hoof twitched around.  "Aah, Jason!  You have no idea how much that tickles."

"Just stop moving so I can finish."

"It's not as--haha--easy as it--mf--looks."  He finished with the final edge, carefully going over some of his previous progress to make sure that the print would come out alright.  She sighed when he took the pencil away, leaning back to inspect his work.  "So we're giving her our hoof prints?"

"It's as much as we can give her.  But it looks tangible, and it gives her something to remember us by.  So press your hoof there and do me."

She moved her hoof to the paper, planting her hoof and moving it ever so slightly to make sure the pencil lead had rubbed off.  She took away her hoof a moment later, smiling at the near perfect mark that had been left.  She admired the mark for a moment more before grabbing the pencil and moving it to Jason's outstretched hoof.  He immediately pulled back from her touch with a rather unmanly giggle, before taking a straight face again and resolutely returning his hoof to its previous position.

"Not so easy, is it?"  She asked with a giggle.  He chuckled, continuing to hold his hoof up as she got back to work.  He liked to think that he held up better, although towards the end she seemed to be trying to get him to laugh more than to attempting get his hoof covered.  Eventually she gave him the go ahead, and he slapped it into the paper, repeating Dash's movements to get the lead to scrape off.  

"Looks pretty good, I suppose."  He said after taking his hoof away.  Now we just have to wait for her to stick a hoof print there.  I'm kinda excited, I just want to have something of her, you know, besides this photo."  He reached into his saddlebag and pulled it out, ironing out the creases with a hoof.  "It's amazing that I can miss her this much."

"Yeah.  I know we couldn't have brought her along, but it would've been easier.  Although I guess she sounds like she's getting on alright over there.  And much as you hate the idea of her being around colts."  She shifted in the bed, reaching out a hoof to poke him in the gut.  He flinched and poked her back, before relaxing again.

"Either way, your five minutes are up."

"I think your watch is a little fast."

"Oh, you're right.  Now your five minutes are up."  He shoved her backwards, not really succeeding in doing anything particularly noteworthy.  "In my head you went a little further."

"I guess I should be happy that you never succeed at things like this."

"In all fairness it's pretty half-hearted."

"Oh, you say that now."  

"I could've used this rubber spider on you woman!"  He grabbed the offending object, dangling it in front of her face and narrowing his eyes.  "I don't mess around."

"How could you threaten your mare-friend like that?"  She asked, putting a hoof across her forehead in a swooning motion.

"Because we have an interesting relationship."

"Remember when I asked if it'd ever be normal?"

"Yeah."

"That was a stupid idea.  But I'm glad you didn't turn out as one of those gentlecolts that Rarity wants from Canterlot.  Ugh."  She shuddered, before rolling over and jumping up out of bed.  

"Only a little over the time limit."

"Oh, screw you."

"When?"

"Um, uh.  Hmm.  I wasn't expecting you to really have a comeback there."  She paused.  "If that really counts as a comeback."

He rolled out of bed with a chuckle.  "Let's assume it does."

"Jason, where's that green thing with all the buttons?"

"The calculator?"

"Yeah, that thing."

"I got a little box together of stuff that was fairly useful to us and sent it to Scoots."

"Like, through one of the pegasi?!"

"Yeah, he was pretty nice about it, why did you think I was going to need a bribe?"

"I guess."

"I did too, but he wouldn't take it."

"Sounds suspicious."

Jason grabbed his saddlebag off the ground, tossing it over his haunches.  "When did you become such a cynic?"  He asked.

"I'm just following in your footsteps."  She took an over exaggerated bow.

He chuckled.  "Oh yeah, because me keeping information to myself totally hasn't helped us before."

She walked over and lightly punched his shoulder.  "You don't have to act like it was an insult."

"I dunno, I guess I have to be cynical."  Dash sighed, letting out a laugh under her breath.  

"Aren't there ponies waiting on you?"

"They can't yell at me, I'm their superior."

"I know, but still."

"Yeah, okay Dash.  Grab your saddlebag."  Jason walked over to the bed and grabbed the pad of paper, quickly returning to his place by the door as he slid it into his saddlebag.  Dash walked over and they left, quickly following the occasional yells to Shining's tent.  Jason heard some hushed speaking, and looked to his side to see that a few ponies, the two officers included, were whispering amongst themselves, occasionally looking over at the source of the yelling.  He really needed to stop that before the changeling let something slip.  

He sighed and looked away from the ponies, who he realized were the same ones that had been hovering around the tent yesterday.  So that was always good, chances are they wouldn't react well to a changeling in the overall general's tent.  But then again, this whole war effort was kinda strange anyway.  Would it really be that strange to see another changeling around?

He pushed into the tent, finding that Eravel had swapped places with Shining on the bed.  So no rubber spider, he realized with a little disappointment.  The general looked tired, and he sipped away at what Jason assumed was a caffeinated beverage.  

"How's she holding up?"  Jason asked.

"Not too well, I'd say."

"No, no, no!"  Evening yelled.  "Oh, but I already have!"  She continued, her voice turning maniacal.

"I'm going to see if I can get her to take more of these pills, they're normally pretty fast acting, but I guess the 'one pill' idea was being a little too careful."  Jason grabbed the pill bottle and shook out a few, before moving over to the mare.  She struggled against her restraints for a moment, trying to get away from what appeared to be a fixed point on the wall.  He waved a hoof in front of her face, getting no reaction.  He sighed and put his fore hooves on the bed, before moving them over to her shoulders.

"Snap out of it!"  He yelled, and by some miraculous chance her attention shifted.  "Take these."  He handed her the pills, which she quickly chewed up.  Shining floated over a glass of water, which Jason handed to the mare.  Jason took a few steps back, waiting for her to say the first word.

"Who are you?  Wait, let me guess!  You're...... 37-T?"

"No, I'm Jason.  We met yesterday..."

"Oh, the guy with the chopped up fabric clothing.  What was that supposed to be?"

"Camouflage.  Now listen..."

"Why didn't you just become extra hairy with green fur?"

"Because I had to carry stuff."

"Oooooh, stuff..."  Jason looked over at Dash, and she shrugged in response.

"Can you tell us anything about the hive?"  He asked, although it was probably a lost cause.

The mare's face went from happy to disgusted.  "I never liked it there, nope nope nope!  It's better out here, where there're plants and green things.  The desert was boring."

"How did you leave the hive mind?"  Dash asked from behind Jason, picking up a couple of apples from Shining's desk and biting into the first one.

"I dunno, I'd always ask other drones if they wanted to go with me, but they were always reciting protocol, blah blah blah.  That's when I came up with my name!  For some reason though, I figured something out about the hive and then I didn't want to tell anyone, so I kept my name and stuff a secret."  She sighed, her expression becoming solemn.  "But I remember I was on my way to Canterlot, and my mind just started to buzz, and pretty soon I couldn't tell my own thoughts apart from all of the drones."  Evening went silent.

"And is that when Chrysalis found out?"

"Yeah."  Wow, Jason thought.  Mental note: medicine works fast on changelings.  "She started talking to me, and I knew that she was trying to keep me from being different.  But I slipped, I said something I c-c-c-couldn't h-have pos-sibly k-known from the hive m-mind a-alone.  And-- SHUT UP!!  And she w-was grilling me as the shiel-ld blew, up until I found that pony, Lyre.  Wait, it was Lyra.  Anyway, I was arguing with her in front of Lyra before Chrysalis went silent for a while and I saved her.  Then I was blown away like the rest."  She took a deep breath, the bindings creaking slightly.

"So you've been thinking for yourself since as long as you can remember?"

"Yeah, and I w-wasn't smart for a while either, the simplest things were stumping me.  Not that I'm much of a genius now though."  She paused, taking a few quick breaths.  "After I tell you this, you aren't going to kill me, are you?"  She looked over, her eyes flickering between green pony irises and the blue changeling compound eye for a few seconds.  "Cuz your buddy over there's really been sending me a lot of love."

"She sure is filling, huh."  He smirked over at Dash, feeling the flow of love from her waver slightly.  "It's weird finally talking to another changeling."

"I know, right?  You're the first one besides Chrysalis that's actually kept a conversation going.  It's so cool!  And you're not even part of the hive, so I can ask you lots of things!"

"Wait, how did you know he wasn't part of the hive?"  Dash asked.  "He never said that."

"Well I dunno, I didn't see him there, and I pretty much remember everyone there."  She rolled her eyes and scoffed, as if Dash had said something completely ignorant.

"How many changelings were in the hive then?"  Dash rebutted, crossing her arms with a hint of annoyance.

"Before the attack, there were thirty one thousand four hundred and eighty three changelings in the hive, not including recent hatchings, of course."

"And you remember all of them."

"Well yeah, they all look really different.  I mean, their leg holes aren't even in the same place!"  She started laughing, cutting herself off when she realized Dash didn't understand the joke.  "Sorry, I just haven't been able to think this clearly since a few months ago, and there's no way this'll last forever."  She paused.  "Could you untie me, at least a little bit?"  

Jason looked back towards the other ponies, and Shining gave a small nod before sucking down some more tea and refilling the cup from a nearby kettle.  Dash walked over and helped Jason get a few of the knots undone, and helped the mare to her feet.  She looked down at her still exposed foreleg and giggled before covering it back up.  "Oh, sloppy me..."  she said, tapping the hoof against the ground a few times as if to check that the disguise wouldn't fall off.  

The mare stretched, her last position managing to get Shining to choke on his tea as he briefly checked up on the situation.  Jason chuckled at the still spluttering stallion, while keeping a wary eye on the changeling.  Dash misinterpreted his watching and punched him in the side.

"You're supposed to at least be subtle!" 

"I'm just making sure she doesn't try anything, I already told you that you never need to get jealous."

"But you make it so easy..."

"Why do you care?"  The changeling asked.  "It's not like you're *gasp* she's your mare friend?"

"Yeah, I thought we went over this."

"So what you're saying is, you got her to love you, without any magical aid?"

Jason took a sip of water.  "Mhm..."

"Wow, I could never do that, I get too distracted.  Don't you ever want to go bang some other ponies?"  There were some more choking noises from Shining.

Dash could swear that his chitin took on a slight reddish tinge.  "No, I'm not in a relationship just for sex, that's not how it works."

"But she knows.  You don't have to pretend to be another pony."

"That doesn't matter, I wouldn't just leave her for another pony.  I wouldn't even think about it.  I'm not here for sex."

"I don't think I follow."

"I wouldn't expect you to.  Now listen, we're going to walk around for a while, so you can stretch your legs, okay?  We'll see how long it takes for the medicine to start to run out, and then set up a schedule.  It should last a while, whether it's a day or a week, I'm not so sure."

"As long as I can think, I'm fine with anything."  She formed some wings and started towards the door.  Jason and Dash ran after her, not wanting to let the changeling out of sight.

"We'll be back in a while, Shining."  He nodded, giving a slight cough as Jason left.

"This is great!"  The mare yelled, turning a few heads.  She quieted down.  "No facial ticks, no voices..."  She scampered forwards, zig zagging around in her joy.  

"Glad to see she's enjoying it."  Jason said.  "But what were we going to do with her after all this?"

"Like when?"

"Well, we can't keep her here forever, and I'm not going to leave her to fend for herself."

"Just send her to Ponyville, she at least knows Lyra."

"Yeah, but I can't figure out to what degree."  Jason replied, scratching his chin.

"Well it can't possibly be that much, they were only with each other for a few hours, there's probably a good amount of romanticism involved here."

"Look at you, Dash, using the big words."

"Would you rather I use 'glorified'?"

"Either way, I guess.  Doesn't matter to me."  The changeling suddenly stopped in front of them.  Maybe two pills was better, he was beginning to think the insanity balance had tipped to the other side.

"I want food!  Is there any food around here?  I haven't eaten for almost two weeks."

"But you don't need food."  Dash said.

She shrugged.  "I like the taste."

"Good thing we're close, then."  Dash replied with a slight eye roll, leading them down the street and into another large tent.  It was probably shorter than Shining's, but it extended much further back.  Dash sat down on one of the long tables, waiting for Jason to join her as the changeling fluttered around the tent and discovered its secrets.

"I swear, she rivals Pinkie Pie for energy."  Dash said.

"I think I gave her a little to many pills.  I think two's the limit."  The disguised pegasus landed on one of the benches and quickly sat down as a pony came out with a few dishes balanced on a tray on his back.  He quickly doled them out to the ponies, bland army food, as Jason had expected.  Apparently it was lunch food, there was a biscuit with what he assumed was vegetarian gravy, and chile with huge amounts of beans.  

Jason shifted into Dash, receiving a look from the changeling as he dug in, impressed that the chile tasted like, well, chile.  He looked over at the changeling, who was eating her food rather politely, as much as Jason had expected that she'd just scarf it down.  She hadn't changed though...

"You taste this, right?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I?"

"Because I have to mimic a real pony to taste things."

"Why not just mimic her taste buds?"

"Cuz I don't know how."  Her jaw dropped.

"How can you not know partial transformations?"

"I dunno, I wasn't part of the hive, remember?"

"Yeah, okay.  I'll teach you some time.  It doesn't work in changeling form either way, just so you know."

"I figured that much."

"There's probably a lot you don't know."

"Chrysalis said that to me as well."

"You talked with Chrysalis?!?!"

"Well, kinda, she possessed you and spoke to me that way."

"Oh, that explains the mental break."

"Yeah, I guess."  Jason scraped the last of his biscuit along the bottom of the bowl, absorbing the last of the chile.  He kinda missed getting full normally, whenever he did anything that needed power or energy, Dash's love took a while to fill him back up.  

"Well I'll tell you what.  I'll teach you about changeling stuff if you teach me about pony stuff in return, math, science, I don't really care that much."

Jason smiled.  "Sure."  He reached across the table and shook her hoof.

"Tomorrow?"  She asked.

"Sure, so long as we don't get called into battle."  He gestured between himself and Dash.

"Cool!"  She got up and ran outside, leaving Jason and Dash to catch up.


_________________________________________________________________


Jason carried Evening Glory into Shining's tent, carefully laying her onto the bed and pulling the blanket over her form before loosely tying the ropes around her.  How she'd managed to find stuff for them to do for the rest of the day was beyond him, but it had at least been fun, a nice interlude to their normally busy lives.

"The scouting parties got back a little while ago."  Shining started, "One of them hit some pretty heavy resistance down south, apparently in a few hills.  Around here.  He pointed to a map.

"So when do we move out?"  Dash asked, tracing the distance between the camp and the hills with a hoof.

"I was thinking tomorrow or the next day, if there's any huge number of griffins, we're going to need a lot of troops and a good strategy.  So we'll see."  Dash nodded, continuing to look over the map.  "How's she doing?"  Shining asked a few seconds later, pointing over at Evening.

Jason shrugged.  "Alright, I guess.  She was pretty hyper until she just kinda fell asleep in the grass a ways from here.  She seems pretty normal though, as much as you could consider a changeling normal."

"There was a lot of talk about sex and relationships.  Pretty one sided talk, as it turned out."  Dash added.  "It was strange, to say the least."

"I would suppose so."  

"Is it alright if we go get some shuteye?"  Jason asked.  "It's dusk, so I just kinda figured..."

"Yeah, go ahead.  Keep your strength up.  You're going to need it."  Jason and Dash both saluted, before turning to leave, hearing a slight murmur from the bed. 

They navigated to their tent rather quickly, almost oozing into the bed out of exhaustion.  Jason shifted into Alternis before climbing in; it had become more of a random thing on whether he was in pony or changeling form, and it usually just came down to Dash's comfort.  She didn't look as comfortable resting her head on some of his chitin, for good reason.  And he could care less about how well he slept.  Not that it seemed to matter much either way, but still.

Dash rolled over and wrapped her hooves around his chest, resting the ends of them on his wings as she usually did.  Wings, man, just a little change in the placement of her hooves could mean something completely different.  It's not like he knew anything about what certain things meant, but he figured that what she was doing right now was more of a closeness thing.  Anytime Dash put her hooves in the middle of his wings just made him feel content, whether that was because it was her specifically or just some weird response engineered into his anatomy.  He'd have to ask.

He felt her pull herself closer, and he leaned down to kiss her on the top of the head, hearing a slight coo in response.   He smiled, before his muscles started to relax and his drowsiness caught up with him the rest of the way.  His eyelids drooped, and he seemed to fall asleep in a heartbeat.
> Plans and Pancakes
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Plans and Pancakes


Jason stirred, a slight bolt of pain lancing through his head before dissipating.  He groaned and sat up, for a couple brief seconds mistaking the tent for the walls of Dash's house.  Then his little fantasy came crashing down and he was forced to remember all the stuff they still had to do before he could even think about going home.  He still had to get through these stupid woods, which were starting to remind him of the Ardenne woods more than anything.  Then they had to capture the capitol and hope the griffins sent out peace feelers at that point.  But if they didn't, that just meant more time spent on the front capturing other cities.  

He sighed, looking over at Dash and tracing a hoof across the scar on her face and through a line of moisture.  Loyal.  The word bounced through his head, sinking in a few moments later.  She really was the element of loyalty, he doubted anyone else would've gone through all this without even a thought of leaving.  Or at least, the decision to wane off fighting and enjoy their rank.

But she always stayed by his side, through all her injuries, through all of his, and she never lost her resolve or her energy.  It was amazing, really.  And god knows she'd kept him from thinking about cutting back or returning completely.  It's not like he didn't know he needed to stay here, but it was hard to, especially considering the irregular stream of nightmares.
This last one had taken place in the woods, presumably a few weeks later judging by the snow.  

He had woken up in a fox hole next to Dash, gripping his rifle tightly under the tattered blanket.  How he knew it was her, though, he wasn't entirely sure.  For one thing her hair wasn't rainbow colored, which threw him a little.  Long brown hair cascaded past the back of her helmet.

Dash hadn't seemed to mind the dream, although it looked as if she found it strange, especially considering her prolonged examination of one hand.  But who was he to say?  They only seemed to have partial control over things, anyway.

There was some squeaking and rumbling coming from across the clearing.  It got louder and louder, building to a crescendo of suspense before a tree was flattened and a tank came rolling across, flanked by several soldiers.  They looked like regular humans, something he wasn't completely expecting.  He laid his rifle on the top of the hole, looking down the sight as he zeroed in on one of the soldiers, and pulled the trigger.

The gun didn't make any noise, but kicked back into his shoulder a little more than he had expected it to.  He lined up the shot again and fired, watching the man fall as several bullets contacted the fresh snow in front of the foxhole.  Jason fired several more shots, wondering in the back of his head when he'd have to reload.

TING!

The empty clip ejected out of the top of the gun, and he reached into his vest to pull out another one, shoving it none too gently into the magazine receiver and swiftly pulling back the charging handle and lining the gun up for another shot.

"Retreat!"  Said another soldier from one of the foxholes.  Jason fired the rest of his clip, waiting for Dash to climb out before following her.  They ran backwards for a while, bullets ripping through the foliage around them.  Some mortar shells started to fall as Jason dove for cover, a rag-tag trench, and quickly found himself at the bottom.  He raised his hand to wipe some sweat off his forehead, and realized that it had come up from his gut red with blood.  He stared at his hand for a moment, letting the gravity of the situation sink in.  

"I'm hit!"  He yelled.  "Medic!"  Dash gave him a quick look from her position and took off her helmet to wipe her forehead.  Her hair started to change color as it ended in her bangs, with overtones of colors that were offset by the native brown.  She knelt, peering over the edge of the trench before sending a couple more bullets downrange.  Jason could hear a Browning machine gun start to fire, sending even more lead towards the enemy as another soldier landed in the trench, a red cross stuck on his arm.  The medic pushed Jason onto his back and ripped open his shirt, hurriedly looking for the wound.

"Heh, at least take me to dinner first."  He said, cringing when the medic found the wound and pushed down.  It was somewhere towards the side of his gut, hopefully not a wound that would take him off the front, although he wasn't sure why he cared either way.  He felt the medic pull a bandage around his midsection, jerking it tight with a heavy pull.  Jason felt a pinprick on his shoulder before the pain started to evaporate, receding to a slight ache.  He checked the injury.  Still there.  Must've been morphine.  

A flare flew into the suddenly nighttime sky, lighting up the area as bullets started to fly out of the bushes.  He heard a few thuds as something fell into the trench, and he looked around for a moment before his eyes focused on a stick grenade, laying menacingly between the three of them.  Jason jumped forward and threw himself over the thing, swearing for a second or so before it went off.  He was thrown a few feet above the rim of the foxhole, flailing his  

He landed back in the trench, specifically thinking against looking down at his chest as his vision began to darken.  The morphine appeared to be doing its job, he could feel what was missing, but it was detached, like he was the surgeon.  His head was jerked to the side as Dash turned it to look into her eyes, a glint of moisture giving away the fact that she was probably crying.  

Jason fumbled a hand around his neck, pulling off his dog tags and handing them to her.  It was the only thing he could think to do as she finally disappeared into the black spot that was taking up his field of view.  

That's when he had woken up, not really shaken by the dream itself but depressed by what it held.  He had somehow gotten over how real everything felt in those things, like the snow that had gotten into one of his boots and stung as it melted, or one of the branches that had scratched his face.  Jason looked over at Dash, who looked like she was starting to stir.  She opened an eye, her face lighting up as she threw her hooves around his form and started bawling into his shoulder.

"I thought you died!"  She sobbed.  "I don-- that was terrible."

"I know."  He could feel his eyes start to fog up.  "I'm sorry."

"Why would you be sorry?"  She asked, choking back a sob.

"Because I provide the setting for these things.  It could've been a happy little green field, but no, it's World War Two."

She wiped a hoof across her eyes, and it came away more than a little damp.  "Listen, Jason.  It's not a big problem.  I can deal with it as long as it doesn't last.  Plus, it's not all bad, I got to see something that I wouldn't have seen here."

"Y-you're recovering quickly."

"Well it's not hard to when you're not actually dead."  She sighed.  "And I have a lot of questions."

"That figures."  

"But before I ask any of them, do you think we can just cuddle or something?  So that I know you aren't just going to poof away?"

"You don't need to ask."  He hugged her tighter, and she sighed gratefully.  It was more than a few minutes before she stirred again, craning her head to give him a kiss.  

"I love you, Jason."

"I love you too."  It was a few more minutes before she finally spoke up again.  "So I was a human there?"

"Yeah."

"So how was I not stumbling all over the place?"

"I think that's from me, if I'm subconsciously in control of the dream, I'm probably in control of giving you the ability to move fairly easily.  I dunno, we at least know that I'm controlling the dreamscape now."

"Why did you throw yourself on that thing?"

"I didn't want it to kill all of us."  He felt her arms squeeze around his chest.

"You need to have better dreams."

He chuckled.  "I'll work on it."

Another brief silence.  "So that was war for you?"

"Well, without air support or heavy armor.  That war was about seventy years ago, war's gotten more complicated since then."

"So like, worse then having your chest blown open?"  She asked, her eyes tearing up at the memory.  

"I dunno, being set on fire's pretty bad.  Some things are illegal in war, even.  So you can't use chemical weapons, weponize diseases...  I think napalm's illegal too."  He scratched his chin in thought.

"What about those mushroom cloud things?"

"Atomic weapons?  No, those are legal.  No one uses them though, they pretty much kill everything, and then nuclear radiation blows all over the place.  There were two countries developing long range war-heads, and without anything to stop them, they'd probably go ahead and use them.  So you'd think we'd go bomb the shit out of labs capable of creating a weapon specifically designed to kill Americans, or at least people in the free world.  But no, we tried to negotiate with the insane leaders.  Hopefully everything isn't blown up by now."

"So yeah, sorry to break of your rant here, but I was a pretty regular looking human?"

"I guess, there aren't really many women in the military, though."

"So those were fingers, those little brittle looking things?"

"Yup.  I'm guessing that was as vivid for you as it was for me?"

"I think so, I thought it was real."  She scratched her head.  "It felt natural though, standing like that, moving my fingers.  Are humans usually that heavy?"

"No, soldiers just carry lots of stuff."  He paused.  "How long till the Running of the Leaves, by the way?"

"A couple weeks at least.  Winter's pretty much delayed as much as possible.  Like for harvest and stuff."

"Yeah, okay."  He rolled out of bed and stretched, scratching his leg through the short fur.  

"You wanted to compete?"

"A little."  She nodded.  

"We'll see about that."  Dash said, and they both became silent.  "Hey, Evening said that you could make your fur longer, right?"

"Yeah, I can do that."  Some flames washed over his body, leaving what appeared to be a pile of hair.  "I think I overdid  it."  Came his muffled voice.  Another wave of fire left a rather fluffy looking Alternis.  "How's this?"  He asked with a smirk.

Dash got up and trotted over, running her hooves through his fur.  "Wow, this is great!  How did we not think of this before?"

"Because we thought about important things?"

"Pfft, this is important.  We need to cuddle like this, you'd make an even better pillow."

"Tonight."  He corrected.  "Not now."

"Aww, what can we possibly have to do?"  She paused.  "Don't answer that."

"Better question, what do you want to do first?  I could ask the changeling things, or--I guess we should probably just get to Shining first, then we can do this other stuff."  He nudged her side.  "Fun stuff."

"Ooh, I like fun!"  

"Oh yeah?  I still have that rubber spider, and this time, I'm going to use it."

"Why didn't you scare Eravel?"

"I thought about it, do griffins have the diet of birds or lions or a mixture or what?"

"I dunno.  I think I've seen him eat fish before."

"Yeah, okay.  The other reason was that I thought maybe he'd be like 'wow, I've never seen a rubber spider before!'  I guess that's more sad then funny though."

"You should ask Shining about the status of that city."

"Windforge?"

"Yeah.  So let's get going then, the sooner we finish this the sooner we get back, and all that."  Dash replied, slinging her saddlebag over her haunches.  

"Usually I say that..."  Jason pouted, crouching and trying to make himself look vulnerable.  

"With all the extra fur, that almost works."  She giggled.  "Too bad I specifically made that disguise ridiculously masculine."

"Yeah, you're right, whenever a guy tries to pout he looks like he's having some sort of muscle problem."  He shifted into a much smaller mare, probably one he had made up on the spot.  He reformed his pouting expression.  "But now..."

"I think it only works on stallions, Jason."

"I'll just keep trying."  He rolled over onto his back and looked up at her.  "Whatever I'm begging for, give it to me..."

"You're so weird."

"Please..."

"Jason, you can stop."

"But I almost kinda put work into this..."

"Hey, not to ruin the moment we weren't having here, but how much energy does it take to do that?"

"I dunno, not that much.  It was pretty tiring when I first got here, but that could've been due to inexperience rather than a lack of energy.  It's still weird though, I thought I'd be used to it by now, but at least it's fast enough to skip all the movement of bones and stuff.  Twilight pulled this spell on me when she thought I was a threat, and it was one of the most painful things I've ever been through.  Worse than being stabbed, that's for sure."

"It slowed down the transformation, I take it?"

"God, it was agonizing.  Bones sliding all over."  He shivered.  "Ick."

"Doesn't sound like Evening's going all crazy today, that's pretty good I guess."  Dash said.

"Yeah, unless she's just going crazy in a different way."  Jason replied, walking over to the corner of the tent and picking up his guitar.  "We need to play something.  I don't care if we have an audience, but I want to get something together."

"I know how you feel, I've been itching to do something with the drums, but it's not like we ever have time."

"God damn, the one thing we never have."

"It's kinda funny, really.  But hey, we'll look back on this and wonder why we cared so much."

"Ugh, maybe you're right."  He turned and walked out of the tent without another word, chuckling at the hurried hoofsteps behind him as Dash caught up.  "Can't stay away, huh?"  She leaned into his side, sighing as she caressed his fur.

"You're extra soft, why wouldn't I?"

"It's funny, I should be the one sticking to you, considering my survival basically rests on you."

"Oh yeah, I forgot.  You better hope I don't go mad with power."

"You have a lot of power now and you've hardly even used it, so I kinda doubt you'd let having partial control over my life go to your head."

"Well the thing is, and this sounds really corny, it's like I can feel the fact that you aren't here for the sustenance.  I can tell that you're pulling love when you're not disguised, but it's not just pulled in immediately, but more when you actually feel love for me.  Maybe I'm just making something out of nothing here, but it's always nice to know."

"Has it always been that way?"

"It must've, I guess I don't have any specific memories.  Wait, you know what?  I think you're right.  I don't really remember that happening back in Canterlot, or before, really."

"Great, more unexplained stuff."  He sighed and pushed into Shining's tent, quickly taking in his surroundings.  A smile broke on his face as he noticed that Shining was still asleep in bed, next to a peaceful looking Evening.  He peered over at Dash, who seemed to have been thinking the same things, and they advanced on Shining's bed with the spider in hoof.  Jason got up to the bedside, dangling the spider above his face and signaling for Dash to wake him up. 

She poked at a shoulder while Jason brushed the spider along his muzzle and attached it to the upper bunk and backed away.  Shining scratched at his snout with a hoof before his eyes slowly opened and focused on the spider hanging in front of his face.  He didn't move, simply watching the thing hang above him.  Jason jiggled the thing with his magic and Shining jumped, before he disconnected the spider from the ceiling and stuck it on Shining's nose.

That's when he finally lost it.  He smacked at the spider as Jason levitated it around on his chest, then one of his legs.  Shining let out a yelp as he rolled out of bed, before managing to squish the spider against the floor with a hoof.  He seemed to immediately recognize that it was rubber, and turned to look at Jason and Dash, who were barely containing their laughter.  

Jason was the first to break down the rest of the way, tears of laughter readily flowing out of his eyes as he tried to compose himself.  Dash didn't look much better, and only managed to contain her laughter through sheer force of will.  Jason got up off the ground a few moments later, meeting Shining's withering gaze.

"Oh man, I needed that."  Jason said, wiping a residual tear from his eye.

"Yeah, I'm so glad."  Shining responded.

"Hey, I'll make it up to you, okay?"

"Oh really?"  He tapped a hoof to his chin in thought.  

Dash elbowed Jason in the side.  "Why would you offer that?"

"I dunno, I'm being a good sport."

"I can appreciate a good prank.  You'll be on my list of ponies to get back, but you know.  But for disrespecting your superior, hmm..."  He gave the statement time to sink in, although it didn't seem to have that much of an effect.  "Go grab me some food, I'm starving.  Then I'll call us even.  Well sorta, I still owe you a prank."

"Sure, I'll get your silly food, but you have to come up with some sort of plan while I'm gone.  I don't want to rush stuff around here, but I want to be in the capitol before the running of the leaves.  And I know we can do that.  I'm not sure about the rest of the army, but this is a kickass group of ponies here.  Oh, and see if Eravel can get some training for ponies in archery.  Maybe it doesn't really work with hooves, but it's worth a try.  

"Ha, okay.  Whatever you gave to the changeling's sure working, but I guess I'm surprised we're all such heavy sleepers around here.  It's definitely not a good thing."

"Yeah.  You want anything in specific?"

"Eggs, hash browns, it's all pretty much the same."  

Jason chuckled and reached into his saddlebag, pulling out the bag of Doritos, which he had kept closed with a couple of paper clips.  He opened the bag and passed Shining a few.  "Here, fried stuff from my country."  Shining took the chips and eyed them strangely, biting off the corner of one as a test.

"These are actually pretty good!"  Shining said, taking another bite.  Jason noticed that Dash was eyeing him imperatively and he passed her the bag.  

"Never underestimate the power of fried food."

"Oh, that reminds me,"  The general started.  "We found another thing, but I honestly have no idea what it is."  He gestured for them to follow him around the desk.  

"Is it another gun?"

"No, definitely not."  He reached under his desk and grunted as he dragged the object out and set it upright.  "It's like a black glass window, but nothing comes out the other side."

"A television."  Jason said, walking over to the screen.  "It's not on, so it's not going to do anything."  He directed some magic towards it and pressed the power button, watching at the screen quickly lit up with blue light and displayed a message that read: 'no signal'.  

Shining gasped.  "That whole thing lights up?" 

"Yeah, it doesn't do much unless there's something plugged in, but you know."

Shining stared for a few more seconds before he finally tore himself away and returned to his desk.  "Tank found this thing, and brought it in yesterday."  He handed over an Xbox controller.  

"Okay, this thing controls another thing that controls the TV."

"So where does it plug in?"  Shining asked, looking at the controller in Jason's hooves.  

"It's wireless, it just sends signals over to the 'mother' computer, which we don't have, as it turns out."

"Like, through the air?"  

"Yeah."

"Is it dangerous?  Are we going to get cancer or something?"

"No, it's comprised of low energy waves.  The sun does hundreds of times more damage.  So, you want those eggs or what?"

"Yeah, go ahead, bring me food."  Jason heard Dash chuckle.  "We need to figure out how this stuff's getting teleported, though."

"Just as soon as I figure out all this other stuff."  

"So why are you so fluffy today?"

"Dash wanted to see if I could.  And it turns out I was able to."  He chuckled and turned to leave, feeling Dash bump against his side as he exited.  

"So what happened to those boxes?"

Jason sighed.  "The surprise ones?"

"Yeah, where'd they go?"

"I sent them to Ponyville."

"Oh, like to a mare or something?!  I saw the jewelry in those"  She shoved into Jason, sending him stumbling away.

"No, to the blacksmith!"

"Why would you do that?"

"I can't tell you, but I'm sure you can figure it out.  You have to know I'm not cheating on you, right?"

"I guess, it's not like you're ever away from me.  But why then?"

"He'll be sending something back, you'll find out in a few days.  Maybe even tomorrow, depending on how fast transport is.  But then again, I don't want to show it to you until after all this stuff is over.  I guess I was just preparing ahead of time."

"Ahead of time for what?"

"You would be disappointed if I ruined it, possibly for the rest of your life."  Dash went silent, looking at the ground in thought.

"Fine, you don't need to show me.  And I'm sorry for doubting you, even a little."

"I would've probably done the same thing, whether I can feel your love or not.  I know we're more trusting of each other than a normal couple, probably, but there are levels of conspicuousness where it still instills doubt.  Try not to think on what I'm talking about too much, I want stuff to be a surprise."

"Yeah, okay.  I'm not that dense.  I've caught on to what you're talking about."

"Well damn."  He sighed.  "Forget everything."

"No problem."  She giggled.  "It doesn't need to be a surprise."  Maybe she wasn't on the same page, he thought, maybe she just thinks it's regular jewelry.  Good.  Or maybe not, maybe she didn't want anything binding like that.  Now wasn't that harrowing...

"I'm glad.  Wish I had a hamburger right now though."

"What is it with you and meat?"

"I miss it.  I didn't act like a carnivore or anything, but it's one of the things I miss."

"Well don't we still have the beef jerky?"

"No, it got burnt in the fire."

"So that's why it smelled so good..."

Jason chuckled.  "Yeah.  You ate most of it already though, I don't think you're really a herbivore by nature."

"If I wasn't you'd only love me that much more."

"I don't think that's possible.  I love you too much as it is."

"Yeah, you should really cut back, you're going to get fat."

"If it were possible, I'm sure I'd be way past that point."  He held open the flap of the mess hall for Dash, and she preformed a fairly good imitation of Rarity before entering.  They walked over to one of the benches, much less deserted than the last time they had been there.  But that was mostly because of their unusually early hour of waking.  Early meaning eight, in this case.  

A pony delivered a few plates to some ponies sitting next to Dash and Jason, before turning his attention to the pair and briefly saluting.  "We got eggs and hash browns, as usual, also a few pancakes for a change.  That's more of a side, we don't have that many."  He paused.  "I haven't really seen you around here much."  He pointed to Dash.  "And I haven't seen your friend at all, he new?"  Jason chuckled and dropped the disguise, slightly glad that the waiter didn't jump.  He waved off a salute.  

"We'll take the--well, the only choice."  The pony nodded and chuckled, quickly retreating into the kitchen.

"I haven't had pancakes in a while."  Dash said.  "I wonder who sent the batter out, I kinda doubt it was Pinkie, she's too small of an operation for this kind of stuff."

"He didn't say it was a lot, though."  Jason said, sliding a salt shaker back and forth between his hooves.  

"Why do you use so little magic?"  She asked when the salt shaker flew off the table and landed in a puff of dust.  

"I'm not used to having it, all I had before was a pair of hands."  The waiter came back and set down a pair of plates before walking away again.  

"How can you not be used to this by now?"

"Hey, I got walking and running down, even flying.  Have some patience, eventually I'll remember that I have magic."

"That one time you hardly remembered you had wings."

"And all your laughing while I was hanging off that branch helped a lot, Dash."

"But it was so funny, your wings were fluttering nervously and everything."

"Why, why do I stay around you all the time?"

"Because you love me."  She poked him on the nose and nuzzled his shoulder.  "And you think I'm cute."

"Oh yeah, that's the reason."

She punched him in the shoulder.  "Glad you think I'm so deep."

"Meh, I try."

"You are really pretty though."  He said, taking a bite of egg that he realized after the fact would be tasteless.  She blushed.

"Sorry to ruin all this, but I'm going to turn into you to eat, alright?"

"Yeah, it's still you anyway."  He smiled and shifted, blowing some of her mane out from in front of an eye.  He took another bite.

"I never really liked eggs..."

"Then why'd you change?"

"I thought maybe it'd change, and it kinda did.  Not that much though.  Basically I'm looking forward to the pancakes.  "

"Yeah, I haven't had anything sugary since...  Ponyville, I guess."  

"I know what you mean, it's still weird to not eat though."  They ate in silence for a time, thinking their own separate thoughts as they  quickly polished off their plates.  Jason waved down the same pony that had gotten their food, and he trotted over.

"Get I get an extra plate?  Shining made me get him some food."

"Oh sure, just a sec."  He trotted off into the kitchen, returning a few seconds later with a couple of containers.

"I can't really let you take the plate, so I just grabbed some containers and stuck it in there.  Hopefully that'll work."

"Yeah, it should be fine."  Jason levitated the containers off the pony's back and onto the table, before getting up with Dash and moving towards the door.

"He's probably not going to be happy that we ate first."  Dash said as they left.

"He just said he wanted food, not when he wanted it."  

"Oh, loopholes."  She smirked.  "I'll race you!"  She took off, moving in a blur towards Shining's tent.


________________________________________________________


"Dash trotted into Shining's tent, a victorious look on her face.  Shining moved a piece on his map before looking up and throwing a wave.  A second Dash walked in with pretty much the opposite expression on her face.  "Thanks for all the warning there, Dash."  She giggled, subtly gesturing to Shining and Jason's form.

"I dunno, Dash."  She replied.  "It was pretty close."

"Dash, you were at least two seconds ahed."

"AAAAAAHHHHHH not this again!"  Came another voice.  Jason turned and looked at one of the bunks, where Evening was tangled up in a couple blankets, struggling.  "Oh wait, you're Jason."  She pointed to him, and he dropped the disguise, figuring that it was probably too late anyway.  

"So, Jason."  Shining started.  "I got some stuff together here."  He gestured for the changeling to make his way over, which he did.  "I figured we'd need to surround them out there, but we don't actually know where they are, specifically.  So what I did was create several teams similar to the one you hd two days ago, and we're going to move them out and kinda pincer off the back of the force.  That's your job.  Then the rest of the ponies are going to come in from the front."

"There's a lot of guesswork involved here."  Jason said, setting the food on the table directly adjacent to the map and making sure that Shining noticed its presence.

"Well, we don't know much.  But this is a lot better than waiting for another attack."

"Yeah, that's definitely true.  When are we doing this?"

"I thought maybe tonight, if we're able to get teams together by then.  I think we can, and this way there'd be one less day for them to attack again."

"Hopefully this'd allow us to better catch them off guard."  Jason said, scratching his chin, before he looked over at Evening to see that she was chatting pleasantly with Dash.  "Alright."

"Alright what?"  He asked. 

"Alright, I'll do it."
	
> Discoveries
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Discoveries


"So let's see, how much do you already know?"  Evening Glory asked Jason from across the table in Shining's tent.

"Well let's see, I can transform into made up ponies, real ponies... I can only get things like tastebuds from the real ones though."  Jason responded.

"Okay, go on."  She gestured for him to continue.

"Um, I guess I can heal ponies, stick to walls or whatever, and I think that's it."

"What about magic?"

"Changeling magic?"

"No, of course not, earth pony magic." 

He heard Dash giggle to his side.  "You don't have to be mean about it."  He said, putting a hoof to his forehead.  "It's not like I get a lot of rest."

"Why's that?"

"Oh yeah!  Connections with the hive mind."  Shining choked on whatever he was drinking.  "Are you just going to do that after everything we say?"

"You never told me you had connections with Chrysalis!"  

"He doesn't."  Evening said, shrugging her shoulders.  "He's got his own thing going on here, she's the one making the connection."

"I thought I told you that, Shining."  Jason said, turning around to face the general, who's chin was humorously wet.  

"Well you didn't!"  He paused.  "Anything else I need to know?"

"I think that's about it.  Sometimes Dash and I share dreams."  He drummed his hooves on the table.  "I still don't know why."

"I do,"  Evening started.  "at least I have a theory.  But it's not going to make sense to you by itself, so here's the whole story."  She took a deep breath.  "Changeling's didn't ever record history in books, as far as anyone knows.  That could attest to how long Chrysalis and the hive mind has been around, or it could just mean we really weren't writers."  She chuckled.  "But as the legend goes, changelings weren't always in a hive mind, in fact there was no hive mind, in the beginning.  So things went normally for a time, as normal as things with shape shifters can get."

"And then the hive mind came around."  Shining finished as he pulled over a chair.  

"Well, yes and no.  This is where the story starts to have a lot of different versions.  Most commonly, it said that changelings possess an ability of mental, communication, shall we say?  It ties back to the fact that we can feel other pony's emotions, and it just goes a little further with changelings.  But the thing was, it wasn't something that anyone did a lot, nor was it the big hive mind system."

"So that's when it came around."  Dash said, stroking her chin in thought.

"Yeah, or something to that extent.  The main idea was that no one could actually hold power over another changeling, they couldn't really o-overp-power them in the limited h-hive mind that existed."  She paused.  "I'm g-gunna need s-s-some more of t-that stuff p-pretty s-soon."  

"Hold on a sec, let me just grab--"  Jason reached over and grabbed the bottle of Lithium pills off a nearby table, taking out a few tablets.  "I'm going to see if we can just kinda slowly take you off this stuff, assuming that your condition was caused by the hive mind and not a more permanent condition."  She nodded and took the pills, chewing them up and immediately gulping down some water.  

"Thanks, my thoughts were starting to get a little weird, if you know what I mean.  And you do, right?  Right!?"  She banged a hoof on the table, shaking her head in annoyance.  

"Starting to get to you?"  Dash asked, taking a sip of her own water.

"Why can't I just have a stable mental state?  Shut up!!"  She bumped her head with a hoof, matting some of her disguise's mane.  "And it wears off so fast, too."  She put her head into her hooves, staring down at the table for almost a full five minutes as the others looked on, wondering if they should do anything.

"You okay?"  Jason asked after some more time had passed.

"I'm getting there."  She sighed.  "Might as well just finish the stupid story.  Um...  So..."

"Chrysalis."  Dash filled in.

"Yeah, Chrysalis popped up, I'm not sure how or when, but she apparently experimented the primitive hive mind, and how it worked.  It could have been months, maybe years before she figured out how to control it, but in the long run, I guess it makes no difference.  She was stronger, able to control other changelings.  That's probably why she's still alive.  Chrysalis started with only a couple changelings that willingly offered to try her great new discovery.  And it worked, she ended up with complete control over them.  Went mad shortly after too.  Couldn't take the other voices in her head, I guess."  She sighed.

"But at some point,"  Evening continued, "She got over her insanity, started to think again.  That's about when she took everything over.  Took her a matter of hours, too.  It started with the changelings at the asylum, then the block, then the city.  There was only one changeling city as far as I know, it was like a base of operations for the tedious gathering of love."

"Yeah, how did you get all that love?"  Shining asked.  "I mean, a whole city, that's got to be a lot of demand."

"It was a fair amount smaller than your Canterlot, as far as I know."  Shining nodded.  "Simple.  They sent out scouts, they found ponies who hadn't seen relatives in a while, and dropped in for a visit.  Sometimes they used spells and read up on recently deceased ponies and pretended to be friendly ghosts.  Stuff like that.  Replacing relatives was only really a last ditch fallback, although sometimes changelings struck up deals with the terminally ill and took their place."  She giggled.  "Marvelous recoveries, I've heard."  

"How long did that exist as a society?"  Shining asked, clearly more engrossed in the conversation than he had expected to be.

"A while, I'm not sure how long.  No records, at least no surviving ones.  But to get back to this, Chrysalis took over, and that was that.  She moved out, made the hive, and started the changeling society you know today.  Sucks, really."

"So she's queen, does she actually...you know...mass produce you guys?"  Shining asked.

"Well, not really mass produce, she had a lot of children, but so did other specified changelings.  It's not like they were in eggs or anything, I hate that ponies get that idea in their head.  Changelings give birth the same way as ponies.  We're not that different."

"How different are we, exactly?"  Jason asked, taking a glimpse at Dash that he foolishly thought was subtle.

"Ha!  For foals?  That's precious!"  She broke out into laughter before she saw Jason's look, which he was glad to see Dash matched.  Evening wiped a hoof across her eye, wiping away a tear.  "I honestly have no idea, I can't really assume either way.  I wish I could, but I've never really seen a changeling pony relationship like this before, sorry."

"It's fine, I figured you wouldn't know much."  Dash said, surprising Jason by answering in his place.

"Other than that though, we're both mammals, I think.  Minus the milk part, that's really just love.  So I guess we still qualify.  And obviously we have the same build, pretty much identical organs, minus the digestive tract, of course.  We pretty much throw up the stuff that doesn't get used.  Used is relative, it's too slow of a process to keep us alive.  It's still helpful though."

"It's a good thing Twilight's not here, we'd be buried in notes."  Dash said, eliciting a chuckle from the rest of the room, minus Evening.

"A pony you know, I assume?"

"Yeah.  My sister."  Shining replied.  

"Mmm, relatives.  I wish I had those."  

"But there's always the mother in law..."  Jason said, prompting Dash to stare at him.  "Or the father in law, sorry."  She failed at containing a giggle, and got up from the table to refill her glass with water.  

"What was it you said about Jason having his 'own thing going on'?"  Shining asked, taking a quick sip out of his glass.

"All changelings have their own little piece of hive mind, that's all.  It's proportional to power, so his is larger.  I'm still not sure why Chrysalis isn't trying to keep us attached to her though, she doesn't really seem as powerful as the legend goes.  Maybe she's starting to lose her power and get old."

"But why the dreams with Dash?"  Jason asked.

"I don't know, it must affect ponies.  I've never really heard of that happening, but I suppose you aren't a normal changeling like little old me."

"There's always so much guesswork around here, I just wish there was a little certainty with some of this stuff.  You know, we could say, with absolute certainty, how the sun produces energy or how that big TV over there works."

"The sun?"  Dash asked, dawning a quizzical expression, assuming she was calling his bluff.  "How?"

"It converts hydrogen into helium, through a process called fusion.  It gives off tons of energy, and that's what warms the earth."

"So at some point it'll just run out of hydrogen and fizzle out?"  Shining asked.

"No, then it'll run out of hydrogen and start converting helium into oxygen and carbon, and then the star'll expand and probably envelop the earth, and the moon, and if ponies are still alive when that happens billions of years from now, then they'll be killed.  Not like they wouldn't be dead earlier, but still."

"Thanks for the depressing thoughts, Jason."  Dash said, deadpanning.

"Do you know how long a billion years is?"

She sighed, bringing a hoof to her forehead.  "Fine, you win.  You still didn't have to bring it up."

"So..."  Evening started,  "you want me to show you some of those partial transformations?"  She got up from her chair and retreated into a more open part of the tent.

"Sure, I guess."  Jason got up as well, walking over to where she was, facing her from a few feet away.  

"So, change into something, a disguise you're familiar with."  Jason sighed and shifted into Alternis, looking back at her for further instruction.  "Okay, so remember what it's like here, and now turn into the form that you want to partially copy."  He shifted again, Dash's form appearing from behind the green flames.  "Now all you have to do is keep a version of her tongue in your mind, like you do with the external disguise.  Just make it a version of yourself, and keep that as you transform.  It's like you're keeping it through the transformation."

"Is it weird that this all makes perfect sense?"

"No, not really, you're kinda used to it by now at least."

"I guess we'll see how well this goes."  He took a breath, not completely sure why he was nervous, before he concentrated on the tongue and transformed into Alternis.  Dash tossed him an apple and he took a bite.  Apparently he had gotten part of it right.

"How'd it go?"  Evening asked.

"I got it half right.  Some of the taste's there."  He transformed back into Dash, waiting a few more seconds before turning back and taking another bite of the apple.  "Nope."

Shining turned to Dash, away from the rapidly transforming changeling.  "What's this like for you?"

"With him as a colt-friend?"

"I guess."

"Not as weird as you think.  You get used to it."

"How?  He's a different species?"

"Well, he's not always, that's the thing.  Changelings really aren't that different, and he acts like a pony.  I mean, what do you expect to be different?"

"For one, he feeds on you."

She watched another transformation.  "I couldn't care less, it doesn't hurt me.  And it's nice that way, I know I'm important to him as more than a source of food, and I provide something that nopony else does.  I mean, you can't really say that about a normal pony."

"I guess I'd have to go try out the whole changeling relationship thing.  But of course, I never will."

"Happily married?"

"Yeah, wish this stupid shit didn't come up though."

"Leaning some new words?"

"I learned them way back in Canterlot.  The recruits loved it.  And by that I mean they hated me as a drill instructor.  But it was fun."

"They're fun, huh."

"Yeah..."

"So how's Cadence?"  She asked.

"Fine.  Angry at this whole thing, according to all the yelling before I left."  

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay, she knew I'd have these kinds of responsibilities.  I guess it doesn't make it that much better, though.  I miss her."

"Yeah, I wish we could get something more than these stupid papers."  Dash sighed, grabbing an apple and taking a bite as she watched Jason celebrate his apparently operational tongue.  She choked a little on the apple as she realized how ridiculous that sounded, even in her head.

"I guess I thought they'd do more,"  said Shining.  "But, you know, it's just never enough."

"Yeah."  

"You two may want to get some rest, it's starting to get late, and I have to get all these teams together."

"It's only four, or something."

"Yeah, but in a little while it'll be dark, and I don't want a bunch of tired soldiers."

"Fair enough."  She turned to look at Jason.  "Jason, we should probably go."  

"Gotta sleep, huh?"  

"Well, not right away, but yeah."

He bid goodbye to Evening and turned back to Dash.  "Meh, sleep.  One time I was awake for three and a half days in college.  And I wasn't high or anything."

"High?  I thought you said you were tall."

"I'm going to assume you have a different term here, it means 'under the influence' of drugs."

"Ah, got it." 

"Get back here at ten."  Shining said.  "That's when we're getting everything together."

Dash nodded and pushed through the exit of the tent.  "Hey, didn't you promise me flying a while ago?"  She asked Jason.

He scratched his head.  "I think so, I may be a few days overdue on that."  She smiled and pointed off into the distance. 

"See that tall tree out there?"

"Yeah?"  He smirked, already figuring he knew where this was going.

"Race ya."  A puff of dust flew backwards as her powerful wings pushed back the air and jettisoning her into the air.  Jason took off after her, still in his slightly improved Alternis form.  He liked this disguise, partially for how it looked, partially for the extra speed he had in flight.  He knew as he caught up to her that she was just toying with him, but she always made him think in the back of his head that maybe, just maybe, he was catching up to her before she darted away.  He redoubled his efforts, changing direction as she pointed to another tree further away.  

Jason pulled up beside her, and she pointed up to a lone cloud in the sky before making one of her trademark hairpin turns, buffeting him with air as he attempted to bank after her.

"You've got to show me how to do that!"  He yelled up, his voice probably lost in the wind.  Dash turned back and smirked, making him wonder if she had actually heard his words or if she was simply gloating.  She disappeared over the cloud shortly before he crested to fly over.   Jason felt arms wrap around his chest as Dash plowed into him, sending the pair spiraling through the air.

"Dash, what are you doing?"  They started to fall as the last of their upward velocity was erased, but held tight.  "Dash?"

"Just listen to me for a sec."  She looked up, which was really down, given their orientation.  "We have time."

"You're insane."  He started to struggle away.

"No wait, just trust me here."  He stopped, looking her in the eye.  "We're going to shove off as we get close, break into opposite glides, then pull up and flip over backwards, past each other."

"Where'd you come up with this?"

"Made it up just now."  

"But--"  He felt her lining up her hooves with his.

"Ready...Set...Go!"  Jason pushed away from her, quickly flattening out and pulling up.  He felt a slight amount of dizziness as he pulled the angle sharper, and the world turned upside down as Dash streaked past above him, barely brushing a hoof past one of his playfully as she heard her yell 'Another!'

He smiled and started to flip back over, his brain turning right side up again as he flew close to the trees.  He looked up in time to see Dash streaking towards him, and he took the initiative to bank sideways and cut past her, so close that he could swear he felt her feathers brush against his.  The rush of adrenaline only made him feel more alive, he could see why Dash loved to fly like this.  He pulled up, pulling in his wings and slowly turning in the air as he slowed.  He extended a fore hoof downwards as Dash flew by, and she tapped his hoof with her own.

He started to fall, and quickly pulled out of the dive to follow behind Dash.  She pulled a quick circle to allow him to catch up, and he was met by a wide smile.  

"Why didn't we do this earlier?!"  She yelled over the wind as they flew side by side.

Jason smirked.  "Because maybe there's a war going on."

"Always gotta do this, huh?"  She chuckled.  "Come on, I got another idea."

"I'm definitely not scared by that."  He said with a suspicious tone, darting his eyes around.

"Good, because this one's more extreme."

"Great."


_________________________________________________________________


Jason watched Dash pull another quick loop in the air and pull into a barrel roll.  He took a deep, ragged breath, attempting to regain his breath after the sixteenth, maybe seventeenth trick Dash had come up with spur of the moment.  At least he was only tired, after ten or so he had stopped feigning worry and genuinely start to become scared that something would go wrong.  But she had adjusted for his fatigue, flying more careful patterns in what appeared to be faster, more complicated tricks.

But he wasn't hurt, he mused, so she must know what she's doing.  Hell, of course she does, best young flyer has to mean something, after all.  Dash streaked towards the ground, disappearing under the tree line for a moment before re-emerging a hundred or so feet further away.  

She pulled a couple more tricks before turning and flying towards him, gliding around the tree he was in to scrub off some speed before landing next to him.  He wobbled a bit on the branch as she landed, sticking a hoof towards the trunk to stabilize himself.  

"So, on a scale from one to ten, how awesome was that?"  She asked, taking a few quick breaths as she tried to recover.

He smirked.  "What?"

"The flying, Jason."

"Well, I can't really compare it to anything, but obviously it's a lot better than I could do."

"Hooray?  What would be good in Amurrica?"

Jason let out a snort of laughter.  "America.  That's just what you say when someone mentions something that's kinda like a trademark.  Like guns, bacon, burgers, apple pie, burgers wrapped in bacon...Sometimes it's more derogatory, though."

"Okay, I'm sorry, you don't need to give me a backstory on everything!"

"But why wouldn't you want to learn useless facts?"

She scratched her chin.  "You bring up a good point..."  

"Anyway, we have air shows, but planes are a lot harder to control than wings, and people die from g-forces.  So it's more like what I do, swooping motions and stuff."

"So, boring?"

"No, they're a lot louder.  And bigger.  Oh!  And they fly in formations."

"But the Wonderbolts do that..."

"The Wonderbolts can't carry missiles."

"I guess you have me there."  He chuckled and leaned against her, feeling a wing wrap over his back as they watched the sun set.  Dash liked these moments, it almost made her forget the constant pressure of the situation, the idea that they may not come back from any mission.  But she had gotten over those fears quickly, as the duo improved, there didn't really seem to be much that could stop them from coming out on top.

She didn't want to feel smug, that wasn't it at all.  But this wasn't a changing threat, at least not to a large degree.  Sure, the terrain changed, some of the weapons changed.  In the end, however, it still came down to a simple griffin-pony war.  And, she liked to think, she was on the winning team.

"We should get back, Jason."

He was silent for a moment before answering.  "I know.  First thing after we get back and sleep, we're playing some songs.  I don't care if we don't have an audience, I'm going to give you some music and we're going to destroy it.  In the sense of doing really well, I mean."

"Yeah, we have that expression."

"How am I supposed to know?  It's not like I read the dictionary."

"I'm not sure how that would help you with expressions."  She giggled and took off.  

He took off after her.  "You'd be surprised what we have as words.  Slang just gets accepted after a while.  Some of these may be the same, but we have 'dude', 'bro', 'yo'... 'swag', I think, that kind of thing.  Naturally I never really use any of them, but you know."

"Swag?"

"I have no idea what it means, I kept hearing different things."

"People have the weirdest stuff."

"You're just jealous."  He landed in front of their tent, walking inside and shedding his saddlebag in a fluid motion as he almost seemed to fall into bed.  

"Tired?"

"No, but I don't want to be tired later."  He mumbled through the pillow.

"Fair enough."  Dash said, tossing her saddlebag into the corner.  "Wait a sec, Scoots probably got back!"  She galloped over to the corner and picked the saddlebag up, grabbing the pad of paper and diving onto the bed.  "She did!  She did she did she did!"  Dash hugged the paper to her chest for a moment before holding it out in front of herself for Jason to see.

"That's her hoof print?"  Jason asked.  "It's so small..."  He sat up and looked over her shoulder, watching as she put her own hoof down next to Scoots' print, comparing the size.  Jason spread a wing and reached behind himself, pulling out a picture a few seconds later.

"You keep that in your wing?!  What if it falls out?!"

"It's really wedged in there.  Besides, it could've burned in the saddlebag last time, and this way I can't forget it."

"That's-- actually kinda smart."

"Thanks, Dash."  Jason said sarcastically.  "But you know what we're stupid for not thinking about?"  He pushed the blankets off himself and stood up, holding the picture in front of himself.  Green flames washed over his body, leaving orange fur in it's wake.  "How about that?"  He said in Scoots' voice.  "I know it's not her, but it's her voice, her form.  It's pretty close."  

Dash leaned towards Jason, wrapping the filly he'd become in a hug.  "Thanks, Jason.  I love you."

He squirmed a little in her arms, not particularly enjoying the tightness.  "Dash...I know you're happy...but could you just--"  

She slackened her hold.  "Oh yeah, sorry.  I'm just--well, you look like her, and--I dunno."

"Yeah, it's fine, just so long as you don't strangle me."

"I might come a little close."  She gave him another squeeze before finally letting him go.  "There, see?  No harm done."

"Yeah, only my ribs."

"Oh, you had to expect that, after having the audacity to turn into our daughter this long after we left."  Jason looked up at her, now dwarfing her height.  If only he knew how it was possible to get this much smaller and yet weigh the same as Scoots.  It was funny how every time he started to come up with a theory of how things worked, it always got torn apart by something or other.  

"Can I change back then?"

"I guess, you can do this anytime, right?"

"Well, I guess."  She seemed to perk up a little, and gave Jason's form another quick hug, releasing him before he dropped the disguise and reverted back into Alternis.  

"You ever thought about doing this for ponies?"

"Hmm?"

"Well, you could just become their relatives, they'd be thankful."

He sighed.  "They'd think I just wanted their love.  The cynicism's never going to go away, not completely."

"But--"

"No, I have to draw the line somewhere."  He crossed his arms.  "It's not that I don't want to, but at the same time, I just--it won't work.  I'll end up as an object of interest more than a general."

"Fine, I don't think you're right, but I guess I have to trust you, huh?"

"Well, you are my mare-friend."  He said, lying back down on the bed and pulling the blankets over himself and Dash.  

"It's a good thing I benefit."  She pulled herself closer, giving him what was supposed to be a brief kiss.  It turned more hungry as the seconds dragged on, before Dash finally built up the resolve to pull herself away.  "It's really ironic that I'm the one saying this, but you know, attack and all."

"And there's all those things that would go wrong if you weren't in the mood for 'victory sex'."  He rolled his eyes.  

"Hey, it's something to look forward to."

"Well yeah, but--"

"What, you don't want any?"

"No, that's not what I--"

"That's what I thought."  She shot him an accusatory look that turned into a smirk.  "I think you're the only guy that complains about a mare with a high sex drive."

"Oh, trust me, when we're in Ponyville, I couldn't care less.  But sometimes I'm too worried for any of this to be fun.  To it's full degree, anyway."

She poked him in the chest.  "Look at you, always so serious."

"I try."  He replied, returning her poke.  He leaned over and met her lips for a brief time.  "Now sleep, we only have three hours before this--"  He floated over an alarm clock and set it for nine forty five.  "Thing goes off."

"Fine, we'll get our rest.  I'm not letting you get it later."  She leaned over and nipped at his ear, nuzzling against his cheek.

"Good night, Dash."

"Night, Jason."  

"I guess I never replied, I love you too."

She smiled.  "Good to know."  He chuckled and let out a sigh of relative contentedness before his muscles started to relax and he dozed off.  It always amused her how quickly he seemed to fall asleep.  Or, conversely, how well he hid his fatigue.  But he never seemed that tired, and that made her wonder why he always acted like he was.  Maybe those transformations took a lot more out of him than he thought.  Even if it was a big part of the whole changeling thing, healing seemed slightly disproportionate to transformations in terms of energy.

Evening hadn't even preformed one shift, now that she though about it, besides some tune ups to the aquamarine pegasus.  So maybe he just couldn't read his exhaustion, she figured it was similar to how unicorns felt after they had cast too many spells, but he didn't know that feeling, she supposed.  He'd probably just been ignoring the signals and getting fixed up in his sleep.  From what Twilight had said, things like that were fairly dangerous if the pony went too far.

But he didn't seem to be overdoing it, just nearing the borders.  Like running a race, it probably just took him a while to regain his strength.  Oh well, this was all just guesswork.  Not like she knew if changeling transformation magic was even similar to unicorn magic.  She started to nod off as the bland thoughts continued to swirl in her head and Jason's calming heat started to work it's way into her body.  Pillow or not, this was always the best part of laying with him, she mused.  Her thoughts flickered briefly to the nightmare she'd had with Jason from the previous night, before her mind shut off and she fell asleep.


> Another Brick in the Wall
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Another Brick in the Wall


Dash rolled restlessly in bed before opening her eyes and looking around, staring at the ceiling for an answer about why she had awoken.  None came more clearly than the cold penetrating her body from the side, where Jason usually was.  The covers had been pulled back and he had clearly left after she had fallen asleep.  A wave of nervousness washed over her as the concept of Jason somehow cheating on her renewed itself in her mind.  

She got up a little shakily after looking around the room and making sure that he wasn't pulling some sort of trick, and made her way towards the door.  She figured that maybe she wouldn't be able to find him, but it's not like she would have been able to sleep with him out wherever he was right now.  Dash stumbled slightly as she walked down the street, tears coming to her eyes as she imagined the worst.  

It was kind of amazing that she hadn't thought of this in any great detail before, or how easy it was to imagine him in a foreign bedroom with some random mare, that mare, doing things that pained her to imagine.  A tear fell from her eye, hitting the ground with a loud plop.

"Dash?"  She heard from behind her.  She turned around quickly, picking Jason's blue eyes out of the dark, where he appeared to be sitting against a wood pile.  "What're you doing out here?"  He asked.

She tried to respond, but the combination of relief and confusion that flooded her system kept her from being able to wrap her head around the words she was trying to say.  After a few seconds she gave up, simply running over and hugging him hard, crying into his shoulder.

"Dash, what the hell!"  He yelled, "What happened while I was gone?!"

"M-my imagination!"  She sobbed back, wrapping her arms tighter around his form.  

"Huh?"

"I got it into my head that you left because you were with another mare, and I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..."

He ran a hoof down her back, giving it a few gentle pats.  "Dash, believe me when I say that I would never cheat on you.  I don't know why you're always so scared, but you have nothing to worry about."  He put a hoof behind her head and pulled her over for a kiss.  "Nothing, you hear me?"

"Yeah."  She choked back a sob.  "I'm sorry, I guess I never told you."  She let her grip slacken so that she could sit against the pile next to him, leaning on his shoulder.  "Back in Cloudsdale, before I left for Ponyville, I was with another stallion, and it was definitely short enough to be considered a one night stand."  She took in a ragged breath.  "He cheated on me after a day, one fucking day!  You wanna know something that makes you feel worse than that?  Cuz there isn't anything!"  She broke down again, wrapping her arms around him and wetting his shoulder.  He reciprocated her hug, stroking the back of her mane.

"Why didn't you just tell me?"  He asked as her sobs started to wane.  

"B-because every time I thought to, I just saw you with that same mare, and I couldn't shake the suspicion that you'd end up the same as he did.  And I still can't shake it."  She let out a new string of sobs, no longer even appearing to try to contain herself.

"Dash, I can't bear to see you like this.  Lighten up a little."

"B-but, aren't you mad?"

His pained expression twisted into one of confusion.  "Why would I be mad?  I'm sorry you had to go through that, and maybe I would've liked it if you'd gotten it off your chest earlier, but I'm not mad."

"Why?  I just admitted to not ever being able to fully trust you, why wouldn't you be?"

"Because it's understandable."  He held her tighter.  "And either way, I still love you."  He felt her breathing slow slightly, and sighed, glad that she at least showed some progress towards returning to normal.  

"I don't deserve you, Jason."

"You're saying that to me?  You got over all that enough to trust me this long, and considering the fact that you left your home for me now and before Canterlot, I'd assume you can be trusting when it counts."  She smiled, leaning forward to kiss him before nuzzling at his neck and wetting it down.  They sat in silence for a while, staring off into the darkness as Dash's ragged breaths slowly became normal.

"So Jason,"  Dash said after a while,  "Why are you out here?"

"Couldn't sleep,"  He sighed,  "didn't particularly want to, either.  So I came out here and just looked up, stared at the stars for a while.  This may be blasphemy to say, but there's no way Luna controls all those stars, it's gotta be the moon at most."

"Why, they're so tiny, it couldn't be that hard."

"The gaps in your knowledge are amazing sometimes, but I guess it makes sense.  See that star there?"  He pointed to a particularly bright one.  "Chances are, that's many times bigger than the sun, and it's also trillions of miles away.  It's so far away that light takes years to get to us from there, and you're viewing the star as it looked anywhere from ten to a thousand years ago, depending on how far away it is."

"But, if that one's like that, then are they all..."

"Yeah, makes you feel pretty insignificant, huh.  But here's the kicker.  I'm going to go by my planet's positioning, and I'm going to assume that yours is kinda the same."  She nodded.  "We're in a galaxy called the Milky Way, which has somewhere between two hundred to three hundred billion stars inside it.  Now, a galaxy looks kinda like a--okay, if you took a bunch of noodles and speared them in the same place, and then spun them around, you know how they'd go out in different directions?"

"Yeah, or like the petals of a flower?"

"Oh, that's a better example.  They don't fly straight out, and kinda curve back, like they're being blown on by an invisible wind."

"Okay, I think I can see that."

"Good.  There's billions of galaxies in the universe, which still appears to be expanding since its birth thirteen or so billion years ago."

"T-there're billions of these?"

"Yeah, you see that band across the sky?"  He gestured his hoof, streaking it across.  "That's the galaxy, you're looking at the side of a disk, in a way."

"But why don't the stars just float away?"

"Aha!  Another great question!  You know how Celestia moves the sun?"

"Yeah..."

"Well, assume for a moment that she doesn't, okay?"

"Okay..."

"So what keeps the earth pulled towards the sun, hmm?"

"Without Celestia?"  He nodded, grinning in the dim light.  "Is this a trick question?"

"No, you stick to the earth, right?  Why's that?"

"I dunno, gravity?"

"And, why does the earth have gravity?"

"Cuz it's big?"

"Yeah, I'm just going to cut the twenty questions here and just get out with it, the same thing happens between the earth and the sun, and keeps it rotating around.  The same stuff happens everywhere else in the universe."  He sighed.  "But knowing all that, it really makes you wonder a couple of things."

"What're those?"

"Well, it makes me wonder if any of this matters, really.  If it'll actually mean anything off this speck of a planet."

"Is the other less depressing?"

"I guess, the other's about if there's more intelligent life out there.  Obviously humans exist, but two planets is hardly common."

"Why do you care so much about what's out there?"

"I dunno, probably something about human nature.  We always want to know more, only a few theories have survived the tests or experimentation and research.  But outside our solar system is where things happen that we may never be able to research adequately or explain.  The theory for the start of the universe is just as unproven as the others, although recently the Big Bang Theory has gained some credibility."

"What's--"

"There was a quantum fluctuation that suddenly appeared and expanded to encompass all matter and energy in the universe."

"It's funny how much you know."

"God, I don't know anything compared to the scientists that discovered this stuff."  Jason paused.  "Are you feeling better, though?"  He asked, rubbing a hoof over her shoulder reassuringly.

"Yeah, a little."  She nuzzled at his chin.  "Sorry about all this."  

"It's no problem, I'd rather be out here with you than by myself.  Even if you do decide to have an emotional breakdown."

She halfheartedly punched him.  "You don't have to make me sound like such a basket case."

"I know, I'm just teasing you."

"You wanna go back and get ready?  I mean, it's probably pretty close to ten at this point, and as comfortable as it is to lean against this wood pile, my back's starting to hurt."

"To bad you don't have somepony to lay on like me..."

"I've spoiled you."  He said, shaking her around a little.  She giggled, leaning further into him and wrapping a hoof around his chest.  Jason moved to get up, but was kept in place by Dash's refusal to move.  "Come on, Dash, it's a war, we can't just sit around."

"But whenever we're ready early all the others still need to get armor and stuff on."

"We don't have to go over right away..."

"Fine, you have a deal."  She let her grip slide, carefully making her way to her hooves.  "But you've gotta get that gun working for me."

"And I kinda need to see how this burn's doing."  He moved a hoof over the bandages, not sure whether he chouls be surprised that it felt mostly healed or not.  Dash offered a hoof and Jason took it, pulling himself to his feet and setting off back towards the tents.

"At least all that chitin that burnt off your side came back pretty fast."

"I guess.  I didn't know how long that would take.  I was a little worried that maybe it would stay all cratery, but I suppose not."

"Yeah, I'd rather have you be all smooth.  It's a lot more interesting than fur sometimes."  She paused.  "And the holes in your hooves are way cooler than normal hooves."

"Like that one time where you decided to play with them, that was kinda interesting."

"You looked like you enjoyed it."  He chuckled, turning away in a manner that made her think that he would've blushed.

He turned back, still smiling.  "You try coping with a new body, see how you like it."

"I already did, remember?  The dream?"

"Oh yeah, you tripped a lot in that didn't you?"  She giggled.

"Maybe I just have natural grace."

"Or maybe, in the air or on hooves you're better, but there's no way you'd get used to walking upright quickly."

"I guess we'll never know..."  She waved her hooves around and made ghost noises.  "When're you going to let me play that game again?"

"What kind of a transition was that?"

She sighed.  "I dunno, you know what I mean anyway."

"I know, but you're so easy to annoy."  He leaned over and bumped against her shoulder, taking up a Canterlot accent.  "If you must indulge in such petty crafts, kindly leave me out of it."

She giggled.  "Fine by me!"

"There is something I should show you, though, if you know what you're doing."

"I like to think I do."  She leaned against him, widening her strides in a halfhearted attempt to match his.  "Are you going to tell me there's a secret or something."

"No, but if you want to start over there's a modpack I have installed."

"A what?"

"It adds like a million things to the game.  Like factory stuff, it's pretty cool."

"More things?  Why didn't you tell me about this earlier?!"

He chuckled.  "Because I knew you'd do this.  And it's a lot of stuff."

"So it's still the same game though, right?"  She asked as they entered their tent.  Jason nodded and turned off the alarm clock, which was only a few minutes away from ringing anyways.

"It's called Tekkit now, but all the base stuff is the same, albeit a little backdated."  He grabbed his computer out of the saddlebag and opened it up, sitting on the side of the bed as Dash plopped herself beside him.  He opened a different window and filled some blanks with black circles before the emblem of a pixelated apple appeared.  But it looked different, and all of the little people drawn below didn't help.

"Why's it different already?"  She complained.

"It has a texture pack that's different from the old one.  The last one used Quandary, this runs Sphax."

"Why didn't you just re-use the old one?"

"The second has more pixels."  He transferred the computer over to her lap.  "There's a world I built on there, you can look around and see what I'm talking about."  Jason held the computer upright as she shifted around before getting up off the bed.  He started to lay out their stuff, Dash's armor, the Ghillie suits, belts of explosives...  He picked up his gun, looking it over for a moment before leaning it carefully against a corner of the tent.  Dash's saddlebag caught his eye, and he grabbed the knife box out from the inside, carefully taking out the knife that fit around her left hoof.  

He went back to the corner and picked up her pistol, looking it over as he ran several scenarios through his head.  Eventually he broke out of his thoughts and started to sift through the small pile of human junk that Jason had decided to keep, just in case he needed any of it.  Eventually he found some fairly thick wire, and began to try to attach it to the hilt of her knife.  He stopped wrapping the ware around and gave it a pull, deciding that it was pretty well attached.  He bent over the other end, trying to create something capable of pulling back a trigger like a finger would.  

"Dash, come here for a sec."  Silence.  "Dash!"  There was a clattering of hooves as she jumped, pausing the game and placing the computer on the bed before trotting over, blushing like mad.  

"What?"  She eyed the knife he was holding in a hoof.

"Try this on."  He handed it over, grabbing a length of string and tying it to her leg as she held it in place.  

"What's this thing you added?"

"Ah, watch."  He picked up the gun and passed it over, putting it into her right hoof.  "The idea is, you can take that little extra part and use it to pull the trigger, like I showed you before.  the only problem is that you'll have to take the recoil all in your right arm, but I'm sure you can handle it."  He checked that the safety was on.  "Now kinda thread that in there and pull back."

She shrugged and did as instructed, rearing up and putting Jason's invented trigger finger through the gap before pulling back with her left arm.  "How hard are these things to pull?"

"A lot easier than what you just did, that's for sure."  An alarm went off in the distance.  "I think that's our cue to get ready here."  He said, gesturing to the armor he'd already laid out.  She slunk off to the computer briefly, presumably to save her game, and was met by the plates of armor as Jason floated them over.  Dash giggled as he slid them into place, tickling her playfully.  She glared over at him, unable to keep a smirk from creeping onto her face.

"Now you choose to be a goof?"

"It's not a choice, it's a way of life."  

"Just toss me my ghillie suit."  He chuckled and complied, watching her slowly slide it on, managing to keep up the same sultry look as she went through the motions.

Jason facehoofed.  "We're never going to get out of here."


______________________________________________________________


Jason walked into Shining's tent tiredly, slightly glad that most of the rest of the team seemed ready.  But that didn't mean much, seeing as each set of two had six other ponies.  

"God, I thought you weren't going to show up."  Shining said as the duo caught his eye.  

"Yeah, it's been a rough night."

"Crappy dream?"

"No, not that bad."  He nudged Dash reassuringly, turning his head to look at the rest of Team Green Bean.  

"You can go brief them if you want, I know you usually try to give some sort of speech."  

"It's not like my life revolves around this, you act like I live for these little speeches."  Jason sighed and started to walk over before stopping mid step and turning around.  "Where's Evening Glory?"  He asked.

"Yeah, she's okay, right?"  Dash queried.

"She's fine, Tank volunteered his tent, although Morning rain didn't seem too happy about it.  But anyway, that's where she is, I sent her with the pills, in case she needs to take some."

"Okay, sounds good.  So Morning Rain and Tank, are they, you know, a unit?"  Dash asked, her usual smirk slightly diminished.

"Uh, I dunno, I wasn't really paying attention to that kind of stuff."  He sighed and touched a hoof against a framed photograph that Jason hadn't seen before.  Jason leaned to get a better look, making out the picture of Cadence from behind the slight glare.  

"Didn't you say something about her wanting to visit?"  Jason asked.

"Yeah, but she seemed to finally get a little sense into her system and wait, at least until there wasn't a chance that we'd get hit with flaming bottles.  I'm not sure whether to be glad or pissed."

"Well, there is a way you could kinda get close to her, feel like she's there..."  Dash started.  Jason sighed, putting a hoof to his forehead in annoyance.  But when he looked back up, the annoyed face he had expected from Shining was replaced by one of general nervousness and anticipation.

"Are you implying that he could turn into my wife?"  Shining asked, shaking his head slightly.  There was a slight silence after Dash nodded.  "I'm not sure how to feel about that, it just seems like it'd be weird.  But at the same time, you'd be her in form, and--I dunno.  Maybe when you get back we'll talk."  The general let out a long sigh.

"Just don't give anyone ideas, I don't want to do this all day."

"Yeah, okay.  I'm going to make sure the rest of the ponies are in teams and ready to go.  If this is the last time I see you before you move out, good luck."

"Thanks."  Jason replied, starting to make his way over to the team, adjusting the rifle on his back.  As he faced the small, now quiet group, he couldn't help but notice the stares coming from the two officers and Blueblood.  Great, they'd been in the group that he'd shooed away.  So then they probably knew about Evening Glory.  And that complicated things further, so that was always good.  He dragged a hoof down his face in annoyance before re-addressing the now confused team.

"I'm going to start out simple, does everyone know the drill?"

"SIR YES SIR!!?

"Good, I'll keep the team divisions fairly simple.  New team green bean, you and your teams are going from east to west, and we're going to go west to east and meet in the middle.  Make sure that when you're moving to enclose the griffins that you don't allow any nearby troops to fight you from the southern side.  In terms of individual team leaders, that's up to you to decide, but try to pick team members that compliment each other's abilities."

"How will we know when to move in on the griffins once we've got them surrounded?"  A mare asked.

"Simple."  He walked over to Shining's desk and pulled open a few drawers, checking for the set of communication papers labeled 'network.'  He found the group and pulled them out, walking over to the ponies and handing one out to each set of two ponies.  "I'll be telling you when.  Shining will send me a message when he's ready.  But make sure that you don't focus only on the griffins we surround, assuming everything goes to plan.  There're bound to be some behind you, and you'll need to adjust accordingly."  He paused, a smile breaking across his lips.  "But hey, you're part of Team Green Bean, right?"

A couple chuckles floated around as Dash walked up to say a few words.  "I'm just going to say that this is dangerous.  Possibly more so than the last mission at Windforge.  At least for the new team."  A couple more chuckles.  "But we're putting a lot of stress on the idea that both teams can pull their weight and push through with a side of the pincer.  Fight hard, and fight smart."

"I got a couple things before you're dismissed here, although they aren't as important as the rest of that.  First, I came up with a couple code names, but I guess it's up to your team leader,"  He gestured to the male officer that was still looking at him suspiciously.  "To apply them.  Anyway, here they are.  Snow, Price, Volt, Masterkey, Panther, Intel, Bob and Kumquat."  He paused, letting a few snickers pass.  "I was also thinking that we need a slogan.  And I'm not creative enough for that sort of thing, so until I get a rush of inspiration I'm going to steal one from my military.  'Mess with the best, die like the rest'."  There were some murmurs of approval.

"What part of the military was that?"  Dash asked. 

"The marines."  He paused, turning back to the troops.  "So, let's go!  Get with your teams and let's move out!"


____________________________________________________________________


Jason slinked through the woods, looking back every couple strides to check that the rest of his team was still there.  Dash nudged him with a hoof, pointing through the trees at another team led by Tank and Eravel that was moving slightly ahead.  Jason gestured for the team to pick up the pace, and they sped up, bringing themselves closer to their eventual turning place where they'd start the pincer movement.  

He crested a hill, sending a signal to Tank's team as he looked over, and the signal continued.  They were where they needed to be, now he just had to send one message, a few words, and suddenly sixty three ponies were at risk, some of them his friends.  He liked power to an extent, but the exact moment where he signaled an attack was always the worst feeling, his bottled up nervousness and fear mixing with the guilt that he always felt when he knew that some of the ponies wouldn't come back.  

But he gestured for a pony to bring over a raincoat, something Jason had specifically given to the teams for keeping lights from being seen by the enemy.  He lit his horn under the raincoat, filling it with a brilliant light until he managed to dim it down to a more manageable level.  He checked the map first, unfolding it quietly and tracking their progress with a hoof.  They appeared to be in the right position, so at least he didn't have to worry about moving again before he could call the attack.  

So then all he had to do was send a message, and everything would fall into action.  But he choked, he sent a different one instead.  Is every team ready?

Seven responses quickly came through, and he suddenly ran out of ways to stall.  He sighed and put the pencil to paper, taking a deep breath before he started to write.  Give 'em hell.

He crouched there, frozen for a moment, before he suddenly got up the energy to start moving again.  His horn dimmed and he threw off the raincoat, tossing it back to the pony that had it before and sending a signal to move out.  

They didn't meet much opposition for a while, which was disheartening.  Shining had sent out a few scouts and sent a message into the network that implied that the griffins appeared to be in the same position.  But what if something had gone wrong?  What if the real group of griffins was just waiting for his team to come stumbling by?  No, that didn't make sense.  The griffins were a brute force army, it was in their nature.  They could have changed their strategy, but Jason doubted that it was really that different than what he had seen before.  

Jason was jarred from his thoughts as he saw some shapes coming out of the haze further into the forest.  He moved to the side of their apparent path, gesturing for the others to follow as the shapes materialized into fairly clear griffins.  They walked past, in the middle of an argument about mustaches.  Jason threw a meaningful glance at Dash, waiting a moment before giving a signal to charge.  

He rushed up behind the furthest back griffin, ramming a knife through his neck with a mighty show of strength as the rest of the ponies jumped into action.  Dash killed another griffin only moments later as Jason blocked a blow with a hoof, feeling it give painfully under the blow as he imbedded the knife on his other hoof into the griffin, who stumbled backwards and clutched at his chest as a spear ran him through from behind.  

All in all, the little skirmish was over in a matter of seconds, no casualties, although they all had their fair share of cuts and bruises.  Jason checked over the ponies briefly, looking for cuts that he would need to heal.  He patted Dash on the shoulder, leaning over next to her ear.

"I love you."  He whispered.  "My little badass mare-friend."

She giggled as he turned around, swiping a hoof through the air and signaling for the team to follow him.  They continued through the woods, one of the troops tripping over a corpse as they went to leave.  Another few unbelievably silent minutes passed, with just a couple griffins in between.  They were easily ambushed and taken out without much risk, but the silence was still unnerving, and Jason could see that Dash felt the same way.  

Another shift of bushes ahead of them, and the team quickly found cover, waiting for the other group to make the first move.  Oddly enough, they didn't seem to make themselves obvious; there was a strange air of silence that descended over the area.  It went on for some number of minutes, before a telltale sound of a breaking branch and a twitch of movement gave Jason enough to go on.  Dash seemed to have picked out a different target, and they both lunged out of the bushes as the enemies lunged out of theirs.  

A spear went for his face, and he ducked underneath before shouldering the figure and holding a knife to the--officer pony?  He looked over at Dash, who was sneering at the mare officer.  She realized the same thing as Jason had, letting her drop against the floor.

"Sorry about that."  Jason said as he helped the pony up.  "But hey, no one's hurt, right?"

"Yeah, sure."  The pony said, retreating a safe distance away.

Jason sighed, turning away.  "We need to get everyone together, Dash."

"Yeah."  She signaled to a few ponies through the dark, and they slowly accumulated the group.

"Okay, half of the regular troops, spread out and watch the area to the south.  If you let a big group of griffins through we're going to be in big trouble."  They saluted, and his worry that they'd re-form their normal 'sir yes sir' was suddenly allayed.  

The rest of you, we're going to try to put as much distance between here and those griffins, there's no need for stealth as long as we don't attract griffins to this position from the south."  The groups spread out into the distance, and Jason grabbed another raincoat from a passing pony.  He crouched and threw it over his head, lighting up his horn as he placed down the paper, waiting for a go ahead from Shining.  

Seconds passed, then minutes, and Jason was starting to worry that something had gone wrong.  Why would there be a delay on Shining's end?  He thought about it for a moment before facehoofing and sighing.  He was too tired, apparently.  We're in position.  He wrote, staring at the paper with increased vigor.

All troops advance!  Jason couldn't say he knew the importance of an explanation point on something like that, but--  This was ridiculous, he needed to concentrate.  He tossed the raincoat over and threw a few gestures before charging off into the forest.  He moved downhill, bottoming out as he heard the stomping of over a hundred hooves backing him up.  Mist started to float around his ankles, adding an eerie atmosphere to the forest, more so than it already possessed.  Dash pulled up alongside him, keeping a safe distance so that she didn't risk stabbing him with one of her knives.

"Think of it this way,"  she said with a smile,  "It's just one step closer to home."

"Yeah,"  he replied, "Or just another brick in the wall."
> Luck
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Luck


(Needed some music, so here's some background stuff.)


A griffin's spear hit the ground next to Jason with a slight twang, and he dove behind a bush as he searched for the enemy.  Another spear grazed his neck, ripping through the ghillie suit and cutting off a piece of his mane-fin thing.  He bit down on a hoof as he tried to keep himself from screaming out in pain, the waxy appendage apparently much more sensitive than he had thought.  

A leaf floated past his head and Jason looked up, catching a glimpse of the griffin up in a tree, quietly preparing another spear.  Jason took a few steps back before sprinting at the tree, running up the side as his hooves stuck fast.  The griffin jumped in surprise and started moving through the branches as he threw a spear that bounced off one of the tree limbs harmlessly.  He didn't have a chance to defend himself as he took a step back and slipped, hitting the ground below with a heavy thump.  Dash was already below, and checked the griffin's pulse, shaking her head up at him.  It seemed a little repetitive to check his pulse when his neck was bent as far as it was, but thoroughness was never a crime, he supposed.

He dropped down, trying to flutter his wings as quietly as possible, and annoying himself with the buzz that was still created.  He sighed as he landed, staring at Dash's raised hoof for a moment before striking his own against hers, creating a rather loud clack that echoed around.  Not that it mattered, it wasn't one of those things that sounded like activity anyway, more like a dead branch breaking.  Maybe something to be investigated, at most.  He shared a brief glance with Dash before taking off again.

Jason quietly galloped around a bush, his hooves struggling for purchase on the slippery leaves and loose dirt.  Not needing stealth anymore was one thing, but jumping in without at least a slight surprise would only be a wasted opportunity.  He slowed his pace, becoming more alert to the surrounding environment.  As he moved forward ever more carefully, he couldn't shake the thought that there weren't any griffins to be surrounded. 

But as soon as that thought exited his head he caught sight of a griffin and charged over, knocking his spear sideways as Dash dove in for the kill.  Jason caught the body as it fell, grunting slightly under the weight as he quietly set it on the ground.  A few ponies ran past, and Jason dragged the body behind a tree before jumping back up to follow them.

He could see light flickering through the trees, lighting up the leaves in an eerie light as his night vision messed with the partial coloration.  He turned his head to check that he was still being followed, and caught a glimpse of Dash elegantly jumping over a log.  Well, as elegantly as you can jump over a log in the dark while carrying twenty or so pounds of armor and supplies.

He chuckled as he checked the rest of the squad, that pony with the slight limp, the two that looked identical and constantly stuck together...  Finding the other three wasn't quite as easy because they had spread out to the side, but eventually he took note that they had made it this far.  Something to go on, at least.

Jason slowed as he neared the lights, waving an arm wildly to get the others' attention.  He wondered though, why would they make their position this obvious?  It just didn't add up.  He peeked through the bush, finding a small group of griffins huddled around a fire, warming their talons as a few others moved supplies around and fiddled with bottles.  But this wasn't an army, this was hardly above a couple dozen.  

He stretched out his hoof, making three obvious taps on his chest.  The same number of ponies came over, and Jason turned to whisper to them.

"We're going to run in there and take out these guys, but there's no way that those are the entirety of the griffin forces, there's just no way.  So spread the word, we'll go on my signal."  The ponies saluted and moved away, quietly informing the rest of the small force.  

"So where do you think the rest of them are?"  Dash asked, her head sprouting out of a bush to ask the question.  

"I wish I knew, but this is all we have to go on.  Stay sharp, there's a large possibility that this is a trap."  He paused.  "Follow me."  She extracted herself from the bush, stopping to liberate a caught branch before following him to the edge of the camp.  There were at least a few tents, along with the griffins that were out and about.  

Jason creeped out behind one of the tents, looking around and attempting to figure out if there was actually a trap involved.  He quietly cut through the back of the tent, before moving inside and quickly stabbing a griffin that had woken up.   There was only one other griffin inside, only to be awoken when Dash slit his throat.  

Something gasped, and they both turned to see a griffin in the door.  He turned to yell just as Jason's tomahawk planted itself in his temple.  He ran over to grab the body before it fell, pulling it inside.

"I didn't think that would work."  Jason breathed, checking the griffin over for Molotovs, although he came up empty.  He gripped the tomahawk and pulled, wrenching it out of the griffin's head and splattering himself with blood.

"I guess you better hope you have a talent for that thing and that it wasn't just a fluke."

"Yeah."  He let out a long breath.  "You ready to start this shitstorm?"

She smirked.  "As ready as I'll ever be."

"Wouldn't want it any other way."  He shared her smirk for a moment before they both turned and ran through the tent exit.

It was an interesting first couple seconds, while the griffins around the fire stared for a couple seconds before realizing the danger in the moving bush ponies.  Several ponies ran into the clearing as the griffins pulled closer to the fire, forming a protective circle as they began to brandish their spears.  A couple of them were cut down as they tried to drop the supplies they were moving and pull up a spear to defend themselves.  

Jason plowed into the circle, taking out one of the griffins that hadn't pulled up a spear and knocking him into another griffin directly across the circle.  Tank stabbed one of the enemies before tossing him aside and moving onto his next target.  Morning Rain jumped in behind him, hitting a griffin in the jaw with a hoof before a spear from elsewhere stuck in his back.  

Jason watched as a mare was hit through the eye just in front of him, and he reached over his back and threw the tomahawk again.  It missed and hit another griffin, toppling him as several ponies hacked at his injured body.  A griffin hit Jason on the side, knocking him over and tearing a wide swath of his ghillie suit with a talon, scratching the chitin beneath.  He got his hooves under the griffin and kicked him off, sending him flying into the fire and watching as the flames started to burn away at his feathers.  Another pony put him out of his misery before too long, and Jason let out a sigh.

After all this, he still felt a little sorry for the guys, always thrown into these situations without so much as a concern for their health.  No wonder Eravel had left.

Speaking of the griffin, an arrow whizzed past and embedded itself in another griffin, bringing the small battle to a close.  It quickly became quiet as the victorious ponies stood around, looking around at the sticky red dirt and multitude of corpses.  Jason sighed and started to drag one of the griffins away into the brush, moving past another pony that had long since bled out.  

It was funny how he could bring a pony back from mortal injuries, and yet no matter how small the injury, he couldn't bring them back from the grave.  Blood and grey matter, the only things he couldn't replace.  Actually, that wasn't entirely true, he could fix a brain as far as he knew, but actually getting anything back or waking the pony up, if they were still alive, was another story completely.

At least he'd never have to make a decision like that, death had a nice sense of finality, something none of them could really cheat.  It was that one thing that people had tried to beat for centuries, with the small gain of re-starting a heart after someone was proclaimed dead.  But they weren't really dead at that point, were they?  Someone was really still alive until all brain activity stopped, so in reality they had come no closer.  

For some reason, that made a pressure lift, that he knew he'd never be responsible for that kind of thing.  He knew he thought it before, but it always seemed at the forefront of his mind immediately after these fights.

"Thinking about the meaning of life again, Jason?"  Dash asked as she dragged a body by.  

"A little, but I guess it's hard not to in this situation."  He reached into his suit and pulled out the picture of Scoots and Dash.  "Makes me think of home too, really.  Just this and then the capitol, hopefully."  The officers went by, examining him a little more subtly than usual.

"Any reason those guys seem to have the hots for you Jason?"  Dash asked, raising an eyebrow playfully.

"They saw Evening Glory I think, you know, when she was partially in changeling form."

Dash put a hoof to her forehead, sighing.  "Oh, great.  I'm guessing you didn't say anything to them?"

"What was I supposed to say?  We have the changeling to get information on hive mind communications that I happen to share with the changeling queen that attacked your city?"

"Shhh!"  She looked around for the officers, who didn't seem to be watching.  "Do you want them to hear that?  It would just give them more ammunition.  Or help their conspiracy theory, as it is."

"Fine, I'll figure out a way to get them off our backs."  He forced a smile.  "Now, let's get this over with."  He started to trot back, delving back into his thoughts.  Pain lanced up his leg as he took another step, and he toppled over before he could figure out what was going on.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!"  He yelled, holding his leg and screaming into the dirt.  Still not healed after all this time, dammit.  "What the fuck did I step on?!?!"  

"This piece of glass, I think."  Dash said, before she gasped.  Never a good sign.  "Some of it's stuck in your hoof, hold on a sec."  She ran off, leaving him on the ground by himself as he tried to recover.  A pony came back with Dash, a rather small plus on her shoulder.  

"He got glass stuck in his hoof,"  Dash explained,  "It's still pretty tender from when it got cut off."

The pony gave Dash a weird look.  "When you say, cut off, do you mean chipped?"

"No, long story, just get it out, okay?"  The mare sighed and lit up her horn, sliding the shard out of place without too much additional pain.  She looked the wound over and slid a bandage over the hoof, wrapping it into place with some medical tape.  She ruffled around in her saddlebag before pulling out a makeshift shoe, widening it to the correct size and sliding it over, tightening it quickly afterwards.  

Jason sighed and lowered his hoof, placing it gently on the ground as he tested the shoe thing.  "It would've been nice to know about these earlier."  He started to move back to camp before the mare stopped him.

"How did you hurt your hoof?"  She asked.  "I may need to know for later."

"It was a while ago, I'm sure it's fine..." 

She didn't break her stare.  "I don't think you understand that this is important."

He sighed.  "Fine, this guy cut it off with a bone saw, you happy now?"

The mare looked amused, until she turned to Dash and noticed her serious expression.  "Wait, that's really what happened?"

"Yeah, I mean they tortured me more than that, but--"

"That rumor was true?!  How long ago was this?!?!"  She screamed, flailing one of her hooves around and clearly getting pretty worked up.

"I dunno, two and a half weeks... is that bad?"

"If it got cut off, you shouldn't have been walking until now at the earliest, and you've been running around for weeks!  Do you have some sort of death wish?!?!"

"Well I'm getting there..."  He replied, suddenly less amused at the situation.  "I couldn't just lay around and wait for it to heal, for obvious reasons.  And I heal quickly anyway."

"Just-- try to stay off of that thing for a few days, okay?"

"Yeah, I'll see how it goes."  He heard a sigh behind himself as he turned around and started back towards the campfire, the shoe making a slight piff noise.  Dash trotted past to a pony that was handing out a few MREs as they regrouped and rested, and grabbed herself something that was probably vegetable related.  Tank carried a box over, setting it at Jason's feet.

"What's this?"  He asked.

Tank opened it up, revealing a few more things that had come through.  "Hopefully something useful.  The ponies've been finding things like this all night."

Jason sighed and started leafing through the box.  There wasn't much of use, that was for sure.  His eyes widened as he pulled out a pair of thermal goggles and set them aside.  One of the cooler things that had come through, in his mind.  He moved the rest of the junk around, a doorknob, a burnt out light bulb...

"This is pretty much trash, Tank.  I got this thing here and that's about it."

"And that would be..."  Morning Rain asked as she walked up to the group.

"Uuh, thermal goggles."  Jason said, turning them over and looking for the on switch.  "They interpret in infrared light, I think.  That or ultraviolet.  No, I think it was infrared.  Anyway, it lets you see heat signatures of things, animals, other ponies, planes, all those things."

"What are planes?"  Morning Rain asked. 

"Flying machines, basically.  They have these super hot jets, and that's why thermal picks up on them."

"Pfft, yeah right,"  Dash said as she walked back over.  "There's no way this lets you see heat."

"Oh yeah?"  Jason replied, finally finding the on switch.  "Try it."

She smirked and put it over her head, and looking around as her jaw dropped.  "Wow, this thing really works!  These things are showing up everywhere!" 

Silent alarms went off in Jason's head.  "Hold on, give me that."  She handed over the goggles and he slid them on, his own jaw dropping, not out of awe but out of terror.  "They're in the trees, hidden in the forest.  That's why there weren't many of them, there's a trap right out there."

"How many?"  Dash asked, her breathing suddenly faster.  

"I don't know, probably a lot."  He froze and stared.  "And I think they know we're onto them."

There were a few seconds of silence before the group broke out into a flurry of activity.  "Attention!!"  Jason yelled, watching as ponies hurriedly lined up in front of him.  "There are griffins in the trees, we're on full alert as--"  A spear impacted the ground next to Jason's foot, the twanging sound ringing in the air as they dove for cover.  The boxes that Tank had stacked earlier became a makeshift cover as ponies retreated into the far side of the camp.  

A few were caught out in the open part of the camp, illuminated by the firelight.  Jason watched as one of them was impaled several times as he peeked around a box, crying out before one hit him in the neck and he went limp.  A wave of fear washed over him as he caught sight of Archer making his way across the camp, zig zagging around the spears that had already landed.  

One hit him in the side and he stumbled for a moment before resuming his forward movement.  He looked over his shoulder, a grimace clear on his face as he tried to keep movement to a minimum.  Then another spear flew under his neck and Jason let out a sigh, before Archer stumbled and fell a ways away from the boxes, a gash on his throat bleeding profusely.  

"Archer!"  Dash yelled, beginning to run out before Jason grabbed her arm and pulled her backwards.  

"I'll tow him back, okay Dash?"  She didn't respond for a moment.  "OKAY?!?!"

"Just go then, don't die!"  She gave him a little shove, enough to give him the idea but not actually push him into danger.  He sprinted towards Archer, keeping his eyes up as he dodged a few spears, his straight path towards the fallen pony turning into a more elaborate pattern as spears continued to land.  The process continued for a few more seconds, as Archer was hit with another spear.

"Jason!  Your magic!"  Her words immediately processed and he charged up his horn, teleporting next to Archer and grabbing onto his body as a spear glanced off his back, leaving yet another blemish before he was able to teleport to the area behind the boxes.  

He laid Archer down and started healing his neck, repairing the artery that had been cut open.  Jason applied some heavy pressure to his neck, gesturing silently to Dash and Tank to get ready to pull out the spears.  They prepared and he nodded as soon as he was finished, flinching at the sound of tearing flesh.  

He moved downward on the body, quickly healing up the injuries and watching as they covered over with flesh.  Only then did he see how pointless it all was.  Archer was nearly passed out on his back, a light smile on his face after the pain had passed.  Jason slapped the pony heavily, trying to get him to wake back up.

"Archer, this isn't the time!  Wake up!"  He put his hooves on the pony's shoulders, jiggling him around as his eyes became slits.  "Don't fucking go out like this, you're fine, come on!"  Jason checked his pulse, feeling it deteriorate quickly.  He put a hoof on Archer's chest and started CPR, checking his pulse a few seconds later to find that it had flatlined.  He kept trying, not willing to believe that this was the time his healing finally let him down.  "Just--you're stronger than this Archer!"  He felt tears come to his eyes as Dash pulled him away, before he broke down more than he would've cared to admit.

"Jason, calm down!"

"How am I supposed to do that, Archer's dead!  Why him?  He was the one guy that always went into a situation with some sort of enthusiasm, that one of us that never wavered in his devotion to this war!"  He hugged Dash tightly, wetting her shoulder as he let out his pent up frustration.  She patted at his back, watching Tank carefully put Archer's body over one shoulder, his face damp as well.

There was a long silence between the three, even after the spears had ceased to fall.  It was finally broken as Jason grabbed Archer from Tank.  "It's my fault he's dead, you shouldn't have to carry him around."

"Sir--"

"Fuck the formalities!"

"It's not your fault, you did all you could!"

"I could've used my magic sooner, and he would've made it."  He reached a hoof up to stroke at the hoof that was hanging over his shoulder.  "I said I could do it and I couldn't.  Someone else could've done it."

"But nopony would!  You're probably one of the few ponies that would have even attempted it, let alone come that close to success."  He gestured and they ran from the boxes, delving back into the woods to regroup.  

"Spread out, come on!"  He yelled, and several ponies shuffled away.  Morning Rain ran over and hugged Tank, hanging on his neck happily before she noticed Archer.

"I-is that--"  Her eyes started to fog up.  "No..."

"Yeah.  Maybe two minutes ago."  Jason said, 

"He blames himself, for some stupid reason."  Tank said, shoving Jason slightly.

She wiped her eyes.  "Well why?  The guy looks healed.  That mean's you did all you could!"

"That's what I said!"  Tank interjected, giving Jason a shove and making him stumble to the side.  "Now get him somewhere, we've got to make it through this at least."

"Fine."  Jason put on the goggles and peered across the camp, jumping at the multitude of lit up targets moving across the woods.  He looked around for the surrounding troops, who were still spread out behind the camp.  "Spread out around the camp, they're coming right up the middle for us, and we need to get them surrounded!"  There was a loud rustling as more than a few ponies moved into position around the area and he caught sight of a few griffins at the edge of the firelight.  

Great, he'd left his tomahawk embedded into one of the griffins.  He could see it sticking up from one of the corpses they hadn't moved, glinting off the flickering light.  One of the griffins took out the miniature axe, grinding a talon across the surface before attaching it to his back.  A few more griffins appeared, and judging by how they moved they must've thought that the ponies they'd been throwing spears at a moment ago had retreated, and that they were safe.

And yet, through the forest he could still hear the noise of battle approaching, his first concrete evidence that things were actually going well for the rest of the army.  They had taken ground, at the very least, although they could be in the same situation as he had been moments ago, with spears raining down all over the place.

"Dash, pull out your gun."  Jason said, keeping his eyes on the fairly large group of griffins, some of which were taking inventory of the items they still had.  He heard a click as she turned off the safety and pulled the pistol out of the holster on her hind leg.  He reached back and pulled the AUG off his back, crouching behind a log and resting the gun along the top as Dash moved in next to him.  

"So what's the strategy here?"  She asked, nervously handling the firearm.

"We're just going to take out the group and move up, probably use the night vision to take out any remaining griffins in the trees."

"Okay, so heads and chest, right?"

"Yeah, bullets'll go through these tents and stuff too, so..."

"Good, you wanna call it?"

"Sure, remember that there's recoil."  He paused and took a deep breath.  "Three, two, one, fire."


BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG


Several griffins fell as they were hit by the bullets, and the others ran in random directions from the gunfire.  One of the enemies ran in front of one of the tents and Jason took a shot at him, leaving a large splatter of blood on the fabric as the griffin collapsed.

In only a couple seconds the griffins had all either fled or been killed, and Jason ventured out to inspect the damage.  He picked up the night vision goggles from where he had left them and sighed, finding that one of the sides had been broken.  He ripped off the second side and grabbed some twine out of the bag slung over his back, wrapping it around the side of the gun.  Jason took the extra wiring to the battery and attached them to the underside of the gun after checking that the connections were still intact.

"Why're you destroying our only way to see them?!"  Dash yelled, only to be shushed by Jason.  Her face reddened and she repeated the question more quietly.  

"I'm not, they stepped on half of it, so I'm just taking the other half and making a sight out of it.  Hold on."  He trotted over to the now overturned box of junk and rifled through it until he pulled out a felt tip pen.  He walked over to Dash and picked up his gun, drawing a careful smiley face in the middle of the lens with thin lines.  

"Why did you make it a happy face, Jason?"  She asked, the question sounded like more of a statement.

"Just being creative, I suppose."  He set the gun down and kicked it lightly, sighing as recent memories resurfaced.  "Let's just get out of this stupid forest."  Jason picked the gun back up and released the magazine, replacing it with a full one.  He aimed the gun at a log and fiddled with the thermal sight for a few minutes, trying to get the crosshair to line up.

After he decided that the aiming system was sufficient he aimed it upwards, glad to see that there weren't many griffins left in the trees.  Sounds of sliding metal greeted him as Dash finally reloaded, struggling for a moment to get the extra magazines free.  More ponies were out and about by this time, dragging some griffin bodies out of the forest, checking the downed ones for signs of life...  Jason shook his head, trying to leave his thoughts behind, and aimed again.


BANG!!


There was a muffled thunk in the forest as one of the griffins fell, followed by a gasp from the surrounding ponies.  Jason grinned, enjoying their awe as he aimed again and shot, knocking another one down.  Those were the only ones he knew he could hit, though, the others were through too many tree branches.

Some ponies scrambled to the side of the camp as some loud shuffling started to emanate from the forest, followed by a rather long lead up to the eventual unveiling of the culprit as a pony stumbled out.  His face lit up as he pulled a thorn from  his cheek, and he galloped into the camp.

"You're not out of place, are you?"  Jason asked the pony.

"No sir, right flank of General Shining Armor's fifth army."

"I didn't need that many specifics, but okay."  He turned to the rest of the troops, grabbing his tomahawk off of one of the griffins' backs as he noticed it.  "If he's here,"  He gestured to the pony, "then this fight is almost over!  We've got them in a noose, and it's only a matter of time before they suffocate.  Proverbially, of course."  He paused, looking the ponies over.  "Now let's go!"  He tossed the gun over his back and charged into the forest with Dash, the immediate low thunder from behind becoming one of his favorite sounds to hear.

It almost seemed to be a victory parade for a while, as what was left of the griffins, in trees or otherwise, was taken out no problem.  One there, another here...  But pretty soon the fighting left the trees and returned to the ground, as the griffin forces from Shining's side were pushed into what was finally a circle only a couple hundred feet across.  

Jason cut down one of the griffins as another pony sent him stumbling over, already off balance.  They were really coming down to the nitty gritty, Jason thought as he watched a griffin brake a pony's neck, getting an arrow to his own a fraction of a second later.  Dash got under the dying griffin, hurling him onto a pair of griffins in front of Jason.  He made quick work, kicking one to the ground as he ran his knife through the eye of the downed one, before jumping on top of the other as he tried to crawl away, lifting up the griffin's head and slitting his neck.  

The lines moved forward a few feet, then some more, and finally it appeared to be an all out retreat, which seemed ridiculous.  It's not like they had anywhere to run, right?

But as the ponies followed, it was clear there was something they were missing, something that became blatantly clear as Jason slowed to a stop on a hill overlooking a cave.  As the griffins streamed inside and disappeared, he put his head in his hooves for a moment before looking up and yelling in annoyance.  Dash gave him a pat on the back, twisting his head around with a hoof so that she could kiss him. 

"We'll get through this, we always do."  He smiled and pulled her closer.

"Just so long as our luck doesn't run out."
> Spelunking
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Spelunking


Jason sat atop the small hill, looking down on the cave in annoyance.  "Nobody go inside!!"  He yelled.  "Wait until I give the go ahead!!"  A few of the ponies from his group raced past down the hill, converging with the rest of the ponies just outside the entrance, which was stuck into the side of a hill.

Jason put his hooves to his forehead, moving them in circles as a halfhearted attempt to allay some of his stress.  Dash pulled one of his hooves away, drawing his attention before she leaned over to kiss him.  

"We're still alive, right?"  She asked, putting an arm behind his back and moving it around comfortingly.  "Things could've gone worse."

"I'm sure things could always go worse."  He replied, caressing her cheek lovingly.  "But I guess as long as you're still here the outcomes will always be bearable."

"Oh, how sweet."  She giggled and gave him a peck on the end of the muzzle before resting her cheek against his as she wrapped her arms more tightly against him.

A silence drew on, before Jason eventually broke the white noise of crinkling foliage and cracking branches.  "Hey, I guess this sounds a little weird, but how warm do ponies run?"  She stared at him.  "What's your body temperature?  You're always saying how I'm such a joy to cuddle with at night and all that."

"Oh, it's somewhere around a hundred degrees.  Pegasi tend to be a little colder, like ninety nine.  What about humans?"

"Ninety eight point six degrees.  Mine was like ninety six, and I'll never really know why.  It kinda seems like too large of a gap."

"Ick, you would've been all cold and corpse-like."

"I guess now I know where your loyalties lie, Dash.  I suppose I better never get cold with you around to feel it."

"You'd probably have to get really cold for that to--"

"Sir?"  A pony said nearby.  Jason groaned and extracted himself from Dash's hug to turn his attention to the pony, noticing that Dash's face had become considerably darker, enough to be visible in the low light.  

"Yeah, what?"  He asked, a little annoyed that the pony had interrupted.

The soldier took a moment to regain his composure before he answered.  "What's the plan for the rest of the griffins, sir?"

"I dunno, it's a cave.  We'll send what's left of Team Green Bean in there,"  he sighed, "And we'll see how it goes."

"That's it?"  The pony asked, shoving a hoof into his mouth immediately after his comment slipped.  

"Why, you have a better idea?  Because the way I see it, if we don't know what we're walking into it'd probably be a good idea to send in the best troops we have, don't you think?  It's not easy to take one of us out, let alone all of us.  And with more ponies all we'd do is ensure a larger number of casualties."

"Yeah, sorry sir."  

"Okay, good.  Go spread that to the other members, make sure they gather out in front of the cave in a group away from the other ponies."  The pony nodded and started to leave.  

"Wait a second."  Dash said, causing the pony to stop almost immediately, freezing in the same position as he turned his head to look back over.  "Are you new here?"  She inquired.

"N-no, I've been here s-since the beginning, left from Canterlot on m-mobilization day."

"Okay, so what rumors are passing around about us?  Or Jason, for that matter?"

"Um, well..."  He paused.  "Do you want to hear the plausible ones or the ones that are completely crazy?"

"Just-- all of them, I guess."

"They think that you got all the scars from torture, but I told them that--"

"That's true, actually."  Jason said, staring at the ground.  "Well, not all of the scars, but most of them for sure."

The pony looked a little slack-jawed before he continued to speak.  "And some of them kinda think that you're just using her."  He pointed to Dash and shut his eyes tightly, covering his face with his free hoof and expecting that he would attack the pony out of rage.  

Jason sighed.  "I knew this would happen."  He muttered.

"Well what does it matter, anyway?!"  Dash said, raising her voice in annoyance.  "Their opinions don't mean anything to me, I know that they're not true!"

"But this isn't a question of how we feel, Dash.  We need good public opinion to hold power around here, it's not like I can rule by fear or slap ponies with gloves, all I've got is whatever they decide to like about my personality and the awe they draw from me fighting!  But if they all think I'm just another changeling then why would they follow my orders?"

"Why wouldn't they?  If Shining trusts you then there'd be no reason to distrust one of his subordinates."

"Some ponies just don't like him, he was the drill sergeant for a while, and that's never going to win you any points, no matter who you are.  As far as I can tell Blueblood hates Shining, considering how they go at it sometimes."

"Well what do you really expect from Blueblood?"

"I dunno, he's a soldier, I guess I expected some big change."

"Why would you do that?  You had to expect that he wouldn't turn out all that well."

"Well you forget that I never met the guy, at least not before like, a week ago."

"So can I go now?"  The pony asked.  "Sir."  He quickly added.

"What other things do they think?"  Jason asked, ignoring the pony's clear nervousness and desire to leave the situation.

"They made up all these legends of where you came from, and ignoring the weird ones, some of them thought you came from the hive and broke free, with or without a battle, but a few others said that there was no way you were changeling hive material.  They said that you acted too much like a pony, and given the fact that you were only around one mare,"  he gestured to Dash again, "clearly didn't seem to care about getting love as much as a changeling would."

That explained why Evening Glory was flirting with every pony she passed that day.  She'd said she was 'getting a lay for the land,' but she just seemed blatantly obvious to Jason.  Most of the ponies didn't seem to mind though, and she had pointed out a few soldiers as the trio did various things that she said gave too much love to be 'just some stallion.'

He chuckled, the most he could do was notice fairly large emotional changes and generalities about the flow of love.  And yet, as far as he could remember things were appearing to become more focused the longer he was here, and he found himself more sensitive to other ponies' feelings.  Of course, that seemed to go a little bit in hand with the amount of love between him and another pony.  He had a hard time deciphering the technicalities of a random pony's emotions more than he did Dash.  Her's had become second nature within a month, and they had just become another outflow of information that he listened in on, just like he heard her voice.

The thing about emotions was that they had what almost seemed like a smell, although a feeling could be more accurate.  It's not like he felt her emotions as she did, he knew they didn't belong to him.  It's not like she could hide her feelings from him either, and he was always the first to know when she was sad or depressed.  That was all well and good, he could easily go over and ask her what was wrong or comfort her, but times when he couldn't were the worst, it was like watching someone commit a crime and not being able to call the police.

He sighed, pulling his hoof tighter around her shoulders.  "Anything else?"  He asked, watching as the pony took on a thoughtful look.

"There were some ponies with toted up stories of you two ripping griffins apart and things like that, but those rumors get attached to a lot of ponies anyway.  But I guess they made a few references to having some futuristic weapons and technology, being responsible for the use of steel..."

"Would you believe me if I told you that that rumor was also true?"  Dash asked, while Jason rubbed the back of his head nervously.

"Where'd you get the--  You know what?  I don't need to know, as long as you're at least telling the truth about all this."

"I am."  Dash replied.  The pony nodded and turned to leave.

"Oh, they said that you don't sleep, that true?"

"No, that's a false one.  I'd like to sleep more, but this mare here..."  He elbowed her in the side and she blushed, apparently at the slightly weirded out face the pony was making.  "Remember to get Team Green Bean together,"  He reminded.

"Sir yes sir!"  The pony replied, saluting Jason before he trotted away.

Jason waited until the pony was out of earshot before turning back to Dash.  "So, we should probably get this whole thing rolling, as much as I don't want to fight in a cave, we should get in there before they get too dug in."

"I'm not really sure how dug in you can get when it comes to a cave.  Not in ten minutes, at least."

"Yeah, well I don't really want to take the chance that the griffins suddenly become really strategic."

"Not like there's much risk in that..."  Dash replied, slowly getting up and stretching out.  She started making her way down the hill, tapping at the armor hidden under the ghillie suit and checking that it had stayed in place.  Jason followed behind her, quickly picking out the small group of ponies that was forming below.  He let out a sigh of relief as another few ponies joined the group, completing his half of the team.  

As cold as it was, he'd much rather have had the other half of the team lose a member, mostly because he didn't actually know any of those ponies the way he knew his own team members, and it only got harder to see one of them get struck down the longer they were together.  

Jason stiffened up as his mind overloaded under another stupid hive mind attack, leaving him on his face on the ground.  He pulled himself up, coming eye to eye with Dash, who had apparently noticed and come over to try to help.

"What was that?"  She whispered, looking back at the group, who seemed more concerned than amused.  

"Fucking Chrysalis and her stupid hivemind."  He replied, dusting himself off and somehow managing to catch his hoof on his horn.  He grunted and let a few swear words slip as the pointy bone poked at the unarmored tissue inside one of the hoof-holes, leaving a bead of blood as he pulled his hoof away.  Jason sighed and walked over to the ponies, waving off any expressions of concern they had for him.  

One thing was for sure, he jokingly thought as he looked over the group, he liked being taller than most of the ponies around here.  Tank was one of the few stallions that matched him in height, although he couldn't even come close in strength.  But hey, towering over some of the mares could be fun sometimes.  Towering being a relative word, they were all still pretty miniature, as far as he could tell.  Not like it mattered when they were all scaled though, he supposed.

"So, everyone's here, right?"  There were a few confused murmurs before one of them finally spoke up, Hunter as far as he could tell from the voice.

"We're missing Archer!"  He yelled out, making one of the nearby ponies from the newer team flinch.

"He's not coming."  Jason said, looking downwards.  

"You don't mean..."  He replied, his sentence cutting off in a ragged breath.

"Killed in action."  Dash completed, sighing as she remembered Archer's bloodied body, completely healed, and yet...  She heard stomping and looked back up to see that Hunter had moved a fair distance away to the rock cliff, and was punching at the wall, screaming out profanities that were neither from Jason or any part of Equestrial language she'd ever heard before.  

Hunter cooled down after a while and walked back cooly, his face streaked with tears.  Jason'd known the two to be friends, and he hated to watch the spectacle, especially with the availability of emotions he couldn't really ignore.

"Hey Dash,"  Jason started in an attempt to lighten the mood just a little.  "Team members are never killed, they're just missing in action."  He saw a few of the members perk up a little at the pirated phrase, and decided to push his speech.  "When we started this team, it was composed of only the best ponies with the express mission to destroy the last of the griffin resistance in Canterlot.  But it's long since grown.  You all stayed on the team because you wanted to make a difference here, use your skill in fighting for the good of Equestria.  So why are we mourning the loss of a soldier who fought and died for a cause he believed in?  I'm not saying you shouldn't be sorry, but he came in here a soldier, fully expecting to be put through mission after rigorous mission."  He paused, looking over the group.

"But like the rest of us, he got through each one and made himself one of the best.  His death may have been unfair, it may have come too early, but we can remember him as the great soldier he became, our friend, our ally."  He took a ragged breath.  "I know that we know each other's real names by now, but to me, he'll always be Archer, just like Potato will always be Potato and Plasma will always be Plasma.  I guess what I'm trying to say is, mourn the loss, but don't forget the stallion that Archer was.  And just like the others, he'll always be irreplaceable."

There was a respectful tapping of hooves as he finished his speech, and he couldn't help but feel that same sense of loss he had felt the moment Archer's pulse had stopped.  Not watered down, hardly less vivid then when he had first gone through the experience.

"Now if everyone's ready, let's get this stupid cave clear so we can go relax.  Alright?"

"Sir yes sir!"  Came the uncharacteristically quiet reply.  Not that he could really blame them, though.  

"Good, someone get a couple torches and we can get started."  A pony ran off, and Jason moved the group over to the mouth of the cave.  The moon had moved overhead, it's third-quarter light illuminating the clearing.  But even with his night vision, it was still hard to see into the cave effectively.  That was probably because of the light differential that he had before entering, but it still kinda wigged him out.  

Jason pulled his AUG off his back and up to his face, looking through the scope and into the cave.  A couple bats flew through, illuminated by the thermal vision.  But no griffins, at least as far as he could see.  That wasn't exactly good, Jason didn't want to go in there and get lost.  

"Someone get something we can make a trail out of!"  He said, pulling the scope back to his eye and peering through again.  The pony that he sent to get torches came back with several unlit torches and a few spools of thread.

"I brought string to make a trail,"  the pony said,  "I figured we'd need it."

"Well speak of the devil,"  Jason replied,  "I just asked for some."  He grabbed one of the spools and pulled some of the string off to look it over.  It was almost like nylon, but that couldn't be true, they didn't have petroleum here, let alone the technology to make by-products of the stuff.

"So we're good to go?"  Dash asked, shifting nervously on her hooves.

"Yeah, just let me tie this to something."  He walked over to a tree that had somehow managed to grow out of the side of the cliff, and tied the string around its trunk.  Jason gave it a pull before handing the spool off to some other pony.  "Okay, if there's nothing else that needs doing, let's light these things and get going."

"Oh, I knew I forgot something, I'll be right back with a lit one."

"It's okay, I'll just light them."  He received a few stares, and he quickly pulled back a sleeve of his ghillie suit, trying to judge how close he could come to the fabric without the risk of fire.  He decided on just the end of his hoof, and held it up to the end of the torch before lighting it on fire.  There was a slight gasp as he took the torch in his magic and lit the other ones.

"So, we'll just go in there and take them out?"

"I guess so, it's not like we can bomb them or anything."

She giggled.  "It's not like you could in any circumstance."

"Oh, how wrong you are.  We had bombs that would go into the ground and explode when they found an underground opening.  We called them bunker busters."

"Do you have something for every situation?"

"I dunno, probably.  Always need to be prepared!"  He chuckled and started into the cave, the clicking and clacking of hooves on stone reverberating down the passage as the team followed.  It appeared to be a long cave, descending slowly into the gloom.  It was a depressing passage, frankly, and he was starting to get the same feeling he did in the Canterlot sewers.  He didn't really feel afraid though, so why did he always end up shivering?

"Getting cold, Jason?"  Dash asked, her face flickering in the light.  

"How'd you figure that out so quickly?"

"Well you're walking kinda stiffly, for one thing."  She replied, moving herself over and leaning against his form.  "And you're not trying to crack bad jokes."

"Do you want me to say a bunch of bad jokes?"  He asked, looking over at her and chuckling.  

She shrugged.  "Fine by me."

"Well great, now I have to think of something that you have here, and that doesn't make me look like a serial killer."

"You have kinda killed upwards of fifty griffins."  She reminded him, sending a light nudge into his side. 

"Okay, fine.  Dead baby jokes then?"

She broke out in laughter.  "Hit me with whatever."

"Okay, how many dead babies does it take to paint a house?"

"I dunno..."

"Depends how hard you throw them!"  He replied, drawing a look from one of the other ponies as they broke down in laughter.  

"Wait wait, I got one."  She let out another giggle.  "What did the special-ed get on his IQ test?" 

"What?"

"Drool!"  They burst into laughter again, struggling to keep moving as they held their sides.

"Sir, shouldn't we keep quiet?"  One of the ponies asked, looking around nervously.  Jason was pleased to see that Tank and Eravel were laughing as well.  

"It doesn't matter either way, the griffins are trapped if this cave doesn't go anywhere, and if it does then the've already escaped.  They know we're coming either way."

"But what about surprising them?"  He asked.  

"We can just put out the torches and come at them out of the dark, simple as that."  The pony looked like he was about to say something before he decided against it.  

The cave made a sudden turn and stopped its decline, flattening as the cave widened slightly.  Jason passed by a glowing torch and a dead griffin who had presumably died from injuries he had sustained before.  He looked the body over, pulling free a spear and a few MREs.

"Anyone want an extra spear?  Or food?"  The group started to move immediately as he muttered the last word, and the small items of sustenance were gone almost immediately.  Jason stared at his hoof, trying to figure out how the ponies had moved that quickly.

One of the torches hissed and went out, and Tank shook it around in his hoof out of annoyance.  He blew on the embers a few times before moving the end into the fire of another torch to re-light it.  The party started to move again, continuing down the cave.  Jason shivered, squinting into the distance, trying to see something.

"Everyone shut up!"  He said, and all conversation ceased.  "There's torchlight up there, and I'm going to take a wild guess and assume that the griffins are giving that off.  So stay quiet and leave the torches behind."  The ponies set the torches on the ground, checking themselves over and making sure that their weapons were ready.  Jason stepped on a nearby torch to smother it, pulling his hoof away before the heat could cause any real damage.

He pulled the AUG down and looked through the 'scope,' looking around at a few heat signatures.  Most of them were from the torches, although he saw a griffin move through his field of view, if only briefly.  He slung the gun back over himself before starting forward, keeping himself close to the ground in a crouched position.  The light started to brighten as he stuck to the walls, keeping outside the flickering warmth that the torches provided.  

That's when the griffins finally came into view, and he was able to start to read their numbers.  There wasn't a large group present, but then again, not that many griffins had escaped to the cave.  A line of griffins were leaning against one wall, some dead and others dying.  It was a long line, luckily.

The remaining troops were in a group, most of the conversation between one of the griffins and the rest as he ordered them around.  So then he was in command here, that made things easier.  He pulled the gun from his back and aimed for the griffin's head, slowly depressing the trigger with his magic. 


BANG!!
 


BANG!!



BANG!!


The sound echoed around while the griffins panicked, staring at their suddenly downed leader as Jason slung the gun and charged, running into the light and jumping onto a griffin's back while he was still distracted.  He stabbed a blade through the back of the griffin's neck, jumping off as he went limp, a spear hit him straight in the shoulder and dug in, stopping before it had gotten through his chitin.

Jason brought a hoof through the stick of the spear, pivoting on a hoof to buck the offending griffin backwards.  The soldier stumbled backwards as Jason yelped in pain, the shoe on his hoof not doing much to allay the pressure on the flat of his hoof.  An arrow hit the griffin before Jason could recover, and he changed his target to another griffin, sprinting towards him and plowing into his side with a shoulder.  

The griffin sprawled out and was hit through the eye by a well timed spear thrust from one of the officers.  Something about her looked a little off, like she was too much into the fight.  Jason didn't have anything against violence or fighting, but there just seemed to be something in her eyes, an animalistic spark that didn't sit quite right with what he'd seen of her usual demeanor.

He ducked under a bottle as it flew towards him, breaking on the floor a ways back and bursting into flames.  One of hunter's hooves caught fire and he dove to the ground, smothering the flames under his body.  Another bottle went straight for the grounded pony, and Jason's first reaction was to catch the bottle with his magic, surprising even himself	with the unusual reaction.  Usually his first instinct would be to grab it with his hooves or something, but he couldn't say that this wasn't a welcome change.  

He hurled the bottle back, watching as it broke under a few griffins.  Flames lapped over their legs and fur, turning one into a fireball before he could escape.  He collapsed a few moments later as the fire fizzled to a low burn, presumably passed out from the pain.  The remaining five or so griffins looked around at the ponies, backing into a corner before one yelled out to them.

"We surrender, okay?"  He asked, nervously looking around between the team members.  "We can't take you anyway, there's no point."

"Fine."  Jason said, not eager to fight another five griffins.  "Drop your weapons."  There was a series of clangs as their spears dropped.  "Now kick them over."  Jason said, watching as the things slid across the floor and past him.

"How many more of you are in this cave?"  Dash asked, taking a step towards the prisoners.

"Not that many."  The griffin that had spoken before replied, "A few, maybe."  Jason sighed, wondering if the griffins would really be a threat.  

"Come with us then, we'll post a few guards outside and wait them out.  The problem may just solve itself after a few days."  He grabbed the string from the pony that was carrying it, biting it in half to get a new length.  Jason walked over and tied the griffin's together, neck to neck, figuring that that would keep them more weirdly, should they try to escape.  

They checked over the bodies for intelligence and supplies before making their way back, taking the torches the griffins had been using to light the way.  The cold was really starting to get to him now, Jason thought as he tried to get himself to stop shivering.  Dash hugged around his neck, although her heat hardly transferred, leaving him as cold as before.

"We really need to get you out of here, Jason."  She said, putting a hoof to his cheek.

"I'll just--"  He grabbed a torch from one of the other ponies, putting it close to himself.  "G-grab one o-of the-ese."  He said through his teeth, gritted in an attempt to keep them from clacking together.  "It's funny, you're supposed to be the one that doesn't like places like this."

"Yeah, but I don't freeze inside them!"  

"We'll just speed up then."  He broke into a trot, trying to get the blood flowing.  "Let's hurry up, fellas!"  He yelled back to the group, watching as they broke into a trot to follow him, the prisoners getting dragged along a little faster then they seemed to like.  But they were prisoners, big deal.

They quickly made their way to the exit, returning into the moonlit night.  Jason looked up at the moon, taking in its much different looking surface for the millionth time.  He could never wrap his head around the changes in the appearance of the universe, it was always a weird thing to look up at the moon and know that it wasn't the same one he had seen for most of his life.  Or the stars, for that matter, any way you looked at it, it was off-putting to have no idea where his old home was, somewhere out there in the jumble of stars.

"Jason, I see you made it back in one piece."  Jason shifted his gaze to Shining, who had apparently left his cozy little tent to see the cave.  

"Yeah, another mission success."  The general smiled and offered a hoof, which Jason promptly bumped his own against.  

"That's what I like to hear."
> "Propaganda?"
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


"Propaganda?"


"So, that thing's clear of griffins?"  Shining asked, gesturing to the cave with a hoof.

"No, there're a few left in there, but I guess we can just wait for them to come back out, or die in there as it may be.  They'll run out of food at some point.  Or water if there isn'a spring."

"A lot left, or just a couple?"

"Not very many, the group we took out had most of the unaccounted for griffins."  

"I'll probably send a group in.  I don't like loose ends, you know what I mean?"

Jason nodded, hearing an affirmative mumble from Dash as she struggled to remain awake.  He moved closer to make sure she didn't fall over, while Shining looked around at the rest of the troops, some tired, others celebrating their victory.  "We're free to go back, right?"  Jason asked after a few moments

"You're free, yeah.  Bring the rest of the team back with you, there's always the chance that we missed some of the griffins, and I don't really want to take any chances."

Jason nodded again and turned around, looking for the rest of the members.  He called Morning Rain and Tank over, followed by the group of two officers and Blueblood.  He was glad to see that everyone else was standing in a group by the cave because that meant less work for him, and no matter how hard he fought, he was lazy at heart.  H broke into a trot and  quickly joined the crowd.

"Shining gave us the go ahead to return to camp, so everyone that wants to leave, we're going in a group."  Everyone joined Jason except Hunter.  "You coning?"  Jason asked the soldier.

"No, I'm going to retrieve Archer's body when they take a sweep, say some words maybe."

"Don't let it get to you too much, okay?"  Jason asked, watching Hunter nod disjointedly a few moments later.  

"The rest of you, camp's that way."  He pointed with a hoof and started walking, still supporting Dash in her fatigue.  "When did you get so tired?"  He inquired, chuckling slightly.  "You're usually the one that shuns sleep."

Dash giggled.  "I'm trying to be original."  She paused.  "Did you get anything from Scoots?"

"I dunno, I didn't check tonight, or last night now I guess.  We can look when we get back, I left all that stuff in the tent."

"Probably smart."  She closed her eyes and leaned more heavily.  "How much further?"

"I have no idea, Dash, at least a ways."

"Do you think..."  Her face reddened, and there was a pause.  "Do you think you could carry me?"

"So that you can sleep?"

"Yeah."

"At least you're truthful about it."  He pushed her away from his side and looked at her for a moment before carefully levitating her over onto his back.  She let out a giggle as he moved her through the air, letting her legs dangle.  She immediately wrapped her hooves around his neck as she landed, shifting slightly and moving his gun to the side of his body.  Jason reached a hoof up to stroke one of hers, smiling as she giggled again, more lightly this time as she started to doze off.

Dash wasn't really heavy in any sense of the word, although it wasn't a whole lot easier to walk up hills, he thought with some annoyance.  But he couldn't say it wasn't nice in some way, carrying her along as she slept.  It made him feel important, not in the usual way of go there, kill this, but that was just business as usual.  This was more about the fact that she trusted him to watch over her as she slept.  Big mistake.  She'd played one too many unanswered pranks on him, and it was about time he got back at her.  

"Hey Eravel, how are you liking the fight so far?"  Jason asked.

The griffin made his way over, limping slightly on a cut leg.  Jason healed it up as Eravel walked over, leaving a slight scar by the time he pulled up next to him.  "It's interesting, I guess.  I wish I could eat something more than fish though, it just get's boring, you know?  Well you probably don't, but..."  

Jason looked around, making sure that the rest of the group was still a fair ways behind.  "I do know what you mean, I used to eat meat all the time before I came here."

"Like beef and chicken?"

"And other meats you may not have heard of."

"Like what?  We're carnivores for a reason."

"Turkey, and probably other things I don't eat that much.  Squid, for one."

"So humans are carnivores?"

"No, we eat vegetables and stuff too, although I ate a whole lot of meat personally."  

"Yeah, we didn't really get a lot of food anyway, it was all rationed, and it was nowhere near enough.  The only way you could keep from wasting away was to steal food from the army or some sort of government owned thing, they were always well supplied."

"Is it anything like that book?"

"1984?  Not that much, I mean they couldn't figure out if you were a traitor that easily, you had more than freedom of thought in that respect.  Although they do have the Big Brother youth or whatever, these little groups of kids where they're basically brainwashed into thinking what the government wants them to think.  They caught my friend by peeking through the keyhole in his door and listening in."

"Was it always like that?"

"No, I mean I was only around for some of this, but supposedly the Griffin Empire used to be free, and just steadily drifted to where it is now.  There were all these reformers in the beginning, weaning it off of a absolute monarchy.  Then it became a republic for a span of years, but they kept reforming, reforming, reforming.  'Oh, lets have government own more things' they said, 'Let's make everyone equal in wealth and power'.  Then there was this revolt where they killed all the rich guys, and it quickly turned into what it is now."

"Yeah, that's pretty much communism.  Never worked, never will.  And yet, I used to talk to people that said it was great, that it was just ruined by Stalin or Mao.  Or Pul Pot, for that matter.  They have some of the highest death tolls of anyone ever, just from killing their own people.  And yet, men and women still think it works."

"At least you have enough free speech to say that."

"Yeah, but you'd think if people made a stand on something they'd at least know what they were talking about.  We have elections for president, and I don't care which side people vote for that much, so long as they know each party platform, and aren't voting for a candidate just because.  That's what everyone does though, it really becomes a competition of who can promise more stuff."

"Sounds pretty bad."

"It's not really all that bad, I'm just venting.  They don't have absolute power, the rest of the government puts checks on the president."  He paused.  "So your home pretty much became a military state?"

"Well not right away, it just got like that maybe a year ago.  The king just started acting differently, restrictions became even tougher and further reaching, and yeah, there was a sudden military build up.  Then there was some sort of attack on Canterlot and we were sent to take the city.  I guess I'll never know what changed, not until I kill the bastard."

"Did you live in the capitol?"

"For a while, I was born there."

"Is it big, lots of buildings?"

"Canterlot sized, maybe.  Probably the same amount of population, maybe a little more.  It was built like a maze, when the Griffin Empire was just a series of city-states, warring with each other constantly.  So the city has a series of walls, but only the outermost one was kept up, the others have just fallen into disrepair."

"So apparently this is going to end on a tough note then."  Dash shifted on his back and he flailed an arm backwards to keep her from falling off.  

"Don't you have a daughter or something?"  Eravel asked after some time had passed.

"Yeah, its been a while since I last saw her."

"So how does that work, when she's a pony, and you're... not?"

"She's adopted.  We're not married or engaged anyway,"  He looked back over his shoulder, pretty sure that Dash was completely passed out, judging by the way she hadn't so much as stirred when he had pushed her back onto himself.  "Not yet, that is.  Heh."

"Heh, got her in your sights?"

"You could say that."  They exited the forest as camp came into view, and Jason breathed a sigh of relief.  "Finally back, I never thought I'd miss the place."  He sped up slightly and ascended the hill, jumping over the trench as he came to it.  Jumping definitely wasn't as easy with Dash on his back, and he almost didn't make it to the other side, hitting his back hoof painfully on the side of the trench. 

Dash almost slid off again but he caught her in his magic, re-placing her in her position straddling his spine.  He chuckled and yawned, moving through the rather deserted camp.  A pony threw him a salute, and he saluted back, watching as the pony dawned a confused expression.  Jason chuckled again and found their tent, waved goodbye to Eravel, and entered.  He walked up beside the bed and gently dropped off Dash before entering himself and pulling the covers over the pair.  He wrapped his hooves around her midsection, pushing his cheek into the back of her mane and smiling.  Part of a thought floated through his head before he fell asleep.


_______________________________________________________________________


Jason awoke late the next morning, with Dash still dozing in his arms.  He cracked his eyes open and looked around, finding that most things were still in order, as it seemed.  They had fallen asleep armor and all, and one of the flash-bangs was digging uncomfortably into his side.  He carefully got up out of bed and started taking things off, first the gun, then the belt of explosives, and finally the ghillie suit and rations.  

He briefly entertained the idea of drawing something on Dash's face, but decided against it.  It was more of a Ponyville thing anyway, not something he should really do here.  He couldn't say he wasn't tempted though.  Jason walked over and tapped at her shoulder and watching her stir slightly.  He suddenly had a better idea, and leaned down to kiss her.  Dash's eyes shot open, and she panicked for a second before she realized that it was Jason.  She put a hoof around his head and brought him down harder, kissing at him with ferocity.  

Eventually he broke off the kiss and took a few deep breaths, showing the telltale gestures that meant he would've been blushing.  

"You really are good at that."  He said eventually.  "I never was a very good kisser, personally."

"I don't know what you're talking about, you're fine."

"I'm just lucky nothing went horribly wrong."  He replied, chuckling.  

"Kiss me again."  She said, blushing.  "I'll prove that you're good enough."  He didn't move for a moment and she took the initiative, pulling him onto the bed next to her and rolling herself on top.  She stuck a hoof behind his head and moved his lips into her own.  

"Not skipping victory sex this time?"  He asked after they broke the kiss, a smirk on his face.

Dash giggled.  "We're just doing it on time."  

"You should probably take off the knives and stuff though."

"Yeah, damn these mood ruiners."


_____________________________________________________________________


Jason's eyes snapped open, the result of a brief dream where he was falling and about to hit the ground.  Dash had presumably been there, but he couldn't be totally sure.  He hadn't seen much of her, besides one part in the beginning where they'd been sitting on the edge of a hill.

Dash was already up, sorting a few of their things into more organized piles.  She giggled when she noticed that he had woken up.  "Welcome back to the world of the living, Jason.  You were like a rock over there."

"I was tired!"  She giggled again.  "What're you doing over there anyway?"  He asked.

"Just looking through our stuff, trying to find something to do.  I played some of that game for a while, then I started doing this."

"Ran out of battery?"

"It was close, and I didn't know what happened when it ran out."

"It just turns off, and you lose a lot of what you were working on, that's all."  He pulled himself out of bed, stretching out and yawning.  "We should go talk to Shining."  He paused.  "And I want to ask Evening Glory a question."

"Okay, let's go get this over with.  Big question, huh?"  She asked as they left the tent.

"Yeah, you wanna go get breakfast first?"

"No, I already ate some stuff while you were asleep.  So anyway..."

"Oh, yeah.  I started wondering about how long ponies live, and as far as I know it's about the same as humans, like seventy to eighty years or so."  She nodded, gesturing for him to continue.  "And, well, I don't know how long changelings live, assuming I follow the same rules as they do."

"Oh, god, what if you don't even have much of a lifespan, what then?"

"I'm sure I do, especially given the fact that I heal up this quickly.  I guess I just feel like I won't wear out that fast, assuming that I'm not fighting this stupid war for years on end."

"With the capitol up next, I kinda doubt that it'll take that much longer."

"I would be angry for the jinx, but I'm pretty sure that you're right about that."  He pushed into Shining's tent, focusing his eyes on the tired general. 

"Hey Jason."  He said, yawning widely.  

"Have you been up all night?"  Jason asked, furrowing his brow.

"Yeah, I was making a list of peace terms I wanted when this thing was over, but I got stuck.  And then I couldn't sleep.  So here I am."

"Did the thing in the cave last night at least go well?"

"Yeah, we got the last of them.  Celestia's sending some ponies here to permanently fortify the hill, I told her that we should keep it as a base even after all this is over, and she agreed.  So we're replacing those bunkers and trenches with re-enforced concrete.  Steel bars inside or something?"

"Yeah, makes it nice and strong."  

Shining yawned again.  "I figured.  Take a look at this, see if there's anything you want to add."  He passed over the paper of terms, which had a few numbers labeled.  Jason read it over and looked up.

"All it says on here it to disenfranchise the military and get rid of any high government officials."

"I got stuck."  

"Okay, well say that they're all Equestrian subjects, and that they enjoy the same rights and follow the same laws.  Here's where it's going to get costly though.  Make sure they have food and get farms going so that goods don't need to be shipped.  We are taking this place over, right?"

"Well, that was in the assumption that we did, yeah.  I'm not sure if we're going to in the long run though."

"We've fought all the way out here, we might as well.  Or you could install a democratic government and attempt to give them a new take on being a country, one that would therefore be an ally of ours.  But democracies rarely work where there isn't a history of them."

"So basically we want to take them over?"

"I dunno, this is tough.  We have more population, right?"

"Yeah, the Griffin Empire is a lot more spread out though."  Eravel walked in and pulled a few parts of arrows out from under one of the cots, starting to sharpen one up.

"Well the thing is, if we pull in all those civilians it'll be a real pull on the economy, and we could accumulate some debt.  There could also be a fair degree of conflict between ponies and griffins."

"So let me get this straight,"  Dash started, "If we take them over, we could accumulate debt and there could be conflict, but if we don't and try to reform the government it could end up the same way?"

"Yeah, although the increased production of supplies to new citizens could allay the general economic downturn that usually occurs after wars because of the sudden drop in demand."  He tapped his chin, going silent for a few minutes as he thought.

"Okay."  He finally spoke up.  "Here's what we're going to do.  Eravel, listen in and critique this."  The griffin got up and walked over to the group.

"This is what's happening to what's left of the Griffin Empire?"

"Yeah.  So what I was thinking is, we keep the territory, and make sure that the griffin army's totally gone or really weak.  I'm assuming some parts of their army will continue to fight, even after we take the capitol.  Secondly, if we can get the griffin civilians on our side and can get some of them to fight the war with us, that'll make them think better of us.  On a slight tangent here, our soldiers carry chocolate, which they would give to some of the peo-- ponies they freed.  Helped how they were looked upon."

"But how can we get them on our side?"

"Propaganda?"  Eravel asked.  "All we have to do is make sure that they know we're friendly, that we're going to liberate them when we invade."

"But that's just text, that's not going to make them fight for us."  They all went silent again, trying to think up a way around their predicament.

"What if..."  Dash started,  "What if we sent in griffins to tell them about how it was, now that they've been freed?"

"Who would want to do that?"  Jason asked.

"Actually, we're getting some re-enforcements from Windforge, griffins of all things."  Shining pointed out, tapping on a clipboard that was on his desk.

Jason frowned "They really wanted to fight?"  

"Fight, help in some way, I dunno.  Whatever those ponies are doing in that village, it's really working."

"How many?"

"Fifteen to twenty.  They're wearing distinctive armor, so we should be able to figure out which ones they are in battle."

"And we know they're friendly?"

"Counter insurgency suggests that they are, the villagers kinda went insane when the first food and supplies arrived.  They weeded out nine spies and loyalists, and took them out.  Out of that came a number of volunteers, some of which are coming here today."

"Okay, so assuming some of them want to do this, we'll just escort them there and make sure that they get in safely, and spread the word.  Simple enough, right?"  Jason asked.

"Sounds good, we'll modify this stuff later on."  Shining replied.  "Anything else you wanted to say about the peace terms?"

He shrugged.  "Punish the leaders, not the griffins?  I've already voiced most of my concern.  This acquisition will either be profitable for both of us or harmful in the long run.  As far as I can tell, it looks like it'll be the first.  Maybe a small pocket of resistance here or there."

"Sounds about right."  Eravel said, nodding his head in agreement.

Jason sighed and tapped Dash on the shoulder before moving over to the bunk that Evening Glory had been watching them from the whole time.  "I had a question, Evening."  He started.  "How long do changelings live?"

She sighed and sat up.  "Gotta start with a hard one, eh?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"Well, I'm not really sure, sorry."  She continued before he could interrupt.  "I've never seen a changeling die before, but not because we're immortal.  When changelings got older and stopped contributing to their full potential, they just kinda disappeared.  I'm assuming that Chrysalis took them away and killed them, so that they weren't taking up space."

"So how old were they when she did that?"

"Maybe forty five or fifty?  I don't really know, the other changelings weren't all that talkative."

Dash breathed a sigh of relief.  "We were worried you were going to say something like twenty five."

"Oh, ha!  No, we probably live about pony lifespan, I mean we can't really be dying early in a disguise, now can we?"

"How does that work though?"  Jason asked.  "I mean, if we can become any pony, then why can't we just stay in that disguise forever and live longer?"

"Because that only protects you from surface related illnesses, like skin cancer or sores or something.  Internally, you're still the same as before.  But what interests me is how much longer we live with ample amounts of love, or how much longer she'll live when you can just heal her up."

Jason and Dash shared a look.  "I'm not sure if I want to live that long."  

"But what if last time he healed you, he really fixed everything up to pristine condition?  What if your lifespan's already twenty something years longer?"

"Um,"  She scratched her head, trying to wrap her head around the thought.  "That can't be true to a full extent though, it can't put it back to perfect condition, so maybe it only works as a percentage of the years.  I don't even know how to think about this."

"Yeah, it can't really work like that, right?"  He shook his head.  "I'm going to go do something else, I can't think about this anymore."  Jason turned to leave, with Dash in tow.

"Oh, Jason!"  Shining called out.  "Some sort of delivery arrived for you."  A smile spread across Jason's face before he could stop it, and he started to gallop through the camp towards the LZ.  

"What could have possibly arrived?"  Dash asked as she caught up.

"Important stuff!"  He yelled back, quickening his pace.  He shortly arrived and searched for the familiar pegasus stallion.  He found the guy without too much trouble, and walked over to him.  "So, apparently there's a delivery for me?"  Jason asked.

"Yeah, I got a few boxes here."  He pulled out a couple of large wooden ones, along with a piece of paper.  "These are from Ferris, and this one's, uh, bull-ets?  And this second one's just called explosives."

"That's it?"  Jason asked, a little downtrodden.  

"No, there's a third one, but it's 'for your eyes only'."  

"From Ferris?"  Dash asked, a little suspicious.

"Yeah, Dash, it's not from some mare."  Jason replied jokingly.  The stallion chuckled and jumped into the buggy, returning a moment later with a somewhat small black box.  

The stallion noticed that Dash was trying to get a glimpse of what was inside the box and stopped her.  "Don't ruin this for yourself, you'll get that thing soon enough."  Dash sat down on one of the boxes and pouted, hearing a slight gasp come from Jason as he opened up the box, while shielding it from her.  He put it in his saddlebag and levitated up the two boxes before starting to make his way back.

"You're not going to tell me, I assume?"  Dash asked.

"You'll love it, don't worry."

"Then why not give it to me now?!"

"Because it's not a good time."

"We're in a war, when is a good time?"

"Dash, just let me have this."  

"Fine."  They became silent

Jason chuckled after a while, breaking the silence.  "Hey, you still like pranks, right?" 

"Yeah, why?"

"Because those ponies just left their tent, and the one right next to it's empty."

"You want to move all their stuff over?"

"I want to see if they freak out."  Dash giggle and bounded over to the tent, looking inside.

"There's a lot of stuff to move, it could be tough to do quickly."

"Don't underestimate me yet, Dash."  He walked inside the tent and levitated all the stuff from one side of the room, keeping them in the same position relative to each other as he moved them outside.  Then he slid the floating items into the other tent and slid them onto the bed in the same positions.  "There, one side done."  He moved the other side with equal speed before making a quick run-through and making sure that he hadn't missed anything.

"Get to a safe distance?"  Dash asked, suppressing a giggle with her hoof.

"Behind that woodpile sound good to you?"  He asked, taking off before she could react.  They landed behind the cover and waited.  

"They're back."  Dash said a few minutes later as the group walked out of the mess hall.  One of them was laughing like mad, while another one made a fairly good impersonation of Shining Armor.  Jason couldn't help but laugh himself, the pony's theater mask cutie mark a good representation of his skill.  

They all walked into their tent, and suddenly the area became eerily quiet.  One of them stuck his head out and looked around, before returning back inside.  The group came out a couple minutes later, their faces of total confusion becoming more and more hilarious by the second as Jason and Dash tried to contain their laughter.  

One of the ponies started asking around, seeing if anyone had seen a pony steal all of their things.  A few of the ponies that had been witnesses started laughing, worrying Jason that they would give away the prank.  The pony didn't seem particularly bright though, and laughed along with the other ponies.  Then one of the ponies found that the stuff had been transferred and started going ballistic.

"Who did this!  I swear, when I get my hooves on them I'll--"

"Calm down Irontoe!  You got like this when someone wore a bow tie, you can't get like this about everything!"

"How dare you!  I came from a very prestigious family, and this is how we dealt with things, by yelling?"

"Where's our stuff!  I don't see any of it!"  The pony that'd been asking around said as he peeked into the wrong tent.  

The loud pony started to yell even louder, seemingly trying to set a new record for blowing out eardrums.  "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"


BANG!!!
  

Jason thought for a moment that the pony had made himself explode, but realized after the fact that a mushroom cloud was rising behind the line of tents.  And for some reason he started to laugh harder.

"What could they have possibly done this time?!?!"
> Sound Bagels and Donut Seeds
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Sound Bagels and Donut Seeds


"Someone get me some alcohol, I can't just stare at whatever happened without something to drink!"  Jason yelled to one of the ponies in the mess hall as he passed, being acquainted with some mugs of cider a few seconds later.  He passed one over to Dash and walked between two of the tents, reaching a slightly flaming crater and several gathered ponies.

"Everyone that wasn't involved, clear out!"  He yelled, watching as the mass exodus of ponies began, quickly clearing the area of most of its population.  A small group remained, constituted of a few nervous looking, slightly black faced ponies.  Jason chuckled again, taking a sip of the cider when he figured he had stopped.  

"So inform me how you managed to make a big mushroom cloud when there aren't any explosives around here?"  A pony elbowed another, who debated with himself for a moment before stepping forward.

"W-well, you see, we found these big canisters in the forest when we were coming back last night, and, well, we wanted to see what they were."  He shifted uneasily again, kicking a flat plastic sheet that looked like the side of a--

"You found gasoline?  And how, pray tell, did you set it on fire like that?"  

"Cobalt said that--"

"Don't tell him my name!"  Cobalt objected, punching the first pony in the side.  

"It was your idea!"

"Nopony stopped me!"

"We didn't know that it was going to explode!"

"Someone please, just tell me what happened!"  Jason broke in, silencing the two ponies.  A nudging match erupted between the two before Cobalt came forward.

"We tried a bunch of stuff with it, but we couldn't figure out what happened, so--"

"He was like, 'hey, everypony, let's just throw it on the fire and get rid of it, whatever it is'." 

"And you listened?"  Dash asked, muffling a laugh of her own.

"Yeah,"  Cobalt replied,  "They all did."

"So then it exploded, and clearly you all got singed, and here we are."  Jason filled in, letting out a few residual laughs.  "Just report all the weird things you have to Shining Armor in the future, okay?"  There were several mumbles from the ponies.   "That could've been bad, you could've thrown munitions or something on there, and at least one of you would be short a head.  Or a leg.  Hopefully you get the picture."  The ponies shared a look.  

"We get it, I think."  Cobalt replied, glancing at the smoldering crater again.  

"Good, I don't know what it is with the intelligence around here today."  He turned around with another chuckle and started to walk away, hearing some hurried conversation from the ponies behind him.

"So, what did you say gasoline did again?"  Dash asked as she firmly leaned into his side, making him stumble slightly.

"Usually it wasn't used for explosions, I can tell you that much."  He chuckled.  "Cars, boats, generators, things like that.  You make it from crude oil, which I'm sure you have somewhere underground.  So next thing after steel's going to be the steam engine, but I guess maybe your trains have that or something?"

"I have no idea how those things work, but they're apparently making a new model that's based more on speed and pulling poser, I think that uses steam.  And steel."  She poked his chest.  "Aren't you the little history maker?"

"A little.  I can't stop until Celestia runs out of windows.  Mark my words, I'll get you in every one if it's the last thing I do."

"Of course, you'll be in those with me..."

"Just an added bonus, as far as I'm con-oof!"  He tripped and face planted, spilling the cider and breaking the mug, groaning as he rolled onto his back.  "Why the hell can't I watch where I'm going?"

"Dunno, what is this you tripped over?"

"Uh, let me look... wait..."  He paused, tilting the cardboard box upright and opening the lid.

"Jason, isn't this one of your box controllers?"  Dash asked, picking up another Xbox controller a little ways away.

"Yeah, we need to get this back to the tent!  Bring that, by the way."  He picked up the box in his magic and started galloping back, taking special care to make sure that the box didn't leave his grip.

"What is it?"  Dash asked as she caught up, the controller tucked under a wing.

"It's a thing, I'm not telling you anything until I start it up."

"So it's a machine?"

"Yeeeeeaaaaaaaah..."

"Jason, we just passed our tent, what are you doing?"

"We'll need the TV."  He dashed into Shining's tent, taking a quick glance at the sleeping general before he raced past his desk and levitated the TV into the air.

"What are you doing?"  Evening Glory asked, getting up off her bunk and trotting over.  

"Uhh, things."  Jason replied, taking a step back, the things floating back with him.

"You should tell me."  She took a step forward, smiling widely.

"I'll tell no one!!!"  He yelled, galloping out of the tent before she could say anything else.  The TV caught a little on the tent, pulling the fabric slightly over to one side and making the tent look lopsided.  Jason looked back and saw the two mares, who apparently weren't going to let him get away.  Well, of course Dash wasn't, but he had expected less from Evening Glory.  

"Jason, what could possibly be so special about that thing?"  Dash yelled, sprinting after him as he ran.  Several ponies turned and stared at the group as they ran past, before they disappeared into Jason's tent.  

"If I told you, it would ruin the surprise!"  He set the TV down inside and opened the box as Dash entered, before he pulled out a black box and set it on its side.  Jason pulled out a wire that was frayed at one end, and connected the large end to the box somehow, the other five or six ends to the back of the TV.

"Now, are you two prepared to see what I did with most of my free time?"

"Sure, go ahead."  Dash waved a hoof dismissively as Jason chuckled, powering the devices.  Their eyes widened as the TV started to play sound and the Xbox logo appeared.  "This is that thing?"  Dash asked, moving closer to the screen.

"Yup, and thanks to the fact that games already came through, we can do stuff with it.  Get one of the sound bagels."

"The what?"

"The shiny disks.  I call them sound bagels.  Just like grass is earth fur."

"Where did you come up with that?"

"The same place I decided cheerios were donut seeds."  Dash giggled and grabbed one of the cases, looking it over.  

"This one says that it has World War II in it..."  She pulled out another case.  "But this one says that it's modern warfare.  Where's the title in that, it's just a category."

"Just pass me the first one, we'll start simple."

"Okay, here."  Evening was poking at the screen, following a moving icon with her hoof.

"Ponies have this sort of stuff?"  She asked.

"No, but humans did."  He sighed.  "Don't tell anyone about what I'm going to tell you, okay?"

"Pfft, I'm a changeling, I can keep secrets."

"Okay, well I used to be a human from another world, and this technology keeps coming through."

"I've heard stranger."

"What is it with some of you just accepting this?"

"Dunno, it kinda makes sense, you're a little weird."  Dash butted in, stifling a laugh.

"Yeah, thanks."  He put the disk in the corresponding tray and slid it in.  "So this is one of the first video games I played, and it's pretty primitive compared to what they have now.  But that doesn't mean it isn't fun in its own way.  They had a cool cinematic in the beginning, if you want to watch it."

"Might as well."  Dash replied, watching dots swirl around a letter 'I'.



Jason turned around to look at Dash and Evening's shocked expressions.  He started to chuckle.  

"Jason, why are you laughing?"  Dash asked, staring at the screen as if expecting something else to happen.

"Just your expressions.  You haven't seen anything yet, trust me."

"But, that looked so real..."

"It's not even close, trust me.  But at least I can kinda show you more what the whole thing looked like."  He selected a mission and started a loading bar.  

"What's this?"  Evening asked, watching the bar intently.

"This is a battle called D-Day, it was the biggest amphibious landing of all time, and took place during World War II, which was a big conflict we had seventy years ago.  This is at Omaha beach, I think, and they had to scale these cliffs to take out some artillery guns.  So here we go."  He pressed the start button, before pressing it again shortly after.

"Why'd you stop?"  Dash asked, looking between him and the screen.

"Well, I don't have enough appendages to work this anymore."

"Can't you just use magic?"

"I could, but--I dunno, it's just not the same."  He paused.  "Hold on a sec."  He shifted into Alternis and looked at the controller again before he stretched out his wings in front of him.  "Pegasi have pretty good control over their wing tips, right Dash?"

"Yeah, but they only curl and stuff, you can't move those little stick ball things."

"I'm going to move these little triggers on the back here, I should be able to do that, right?"

She pushed on one, testing it's give.  "Yeah, I think so, I definitely could."

"Alright, here we go for real."  He set the controller down again, one hoof to each joystick, and pressed the start button again.  Almost an hour of loud huddled mare later, he finally learned how to ignore them at least partially, and finished the rest of the mission.

"Okay, I'm ready to answer questions now, so fire away."

"How did you come back to life?"  They both asked at the same time.

"It's a game, that kind of thing happens.  I'm not controlling a real person or anything, if that's what you think."

They both seemed to relax a little.  "Are all video games like that?"  Dash asked after some silence.

"No, there are tons of other things, but first person shooters like that are the most common."  He got up and walked over to the box of stuff he'd kept, rifling through the games.  "This one's pretty cool.  Also violent, but cool.  You shot people Dash, why're you so shocked?"

"Well, I kinda thought they were real or something.  And that'd be like a pony war, I don't want to shoot at other ponies!"

"Yeah, but I'm sure you would if they were in the position of the griffins, it's the same thing here, kind of."  He paused.  "You wanna play some music?  I really want to, it's like that guitar's calling to me or something."

"But didn't you want to wait until we had Octavia back?"

"No, screw that.  Get behind those drums, I'll pick out some of the pieces I already wrote out that don't have much of a bass line, we can play those.

"I practiced most of those in Ponyville, so as long as you don't pick anything new I'm fine with it."  Dash replied.

Jason glanced over at Eveing, who was looking like the odd one out.  "Feel free to play the game, Evening.  The controls are under options, you just use the 'A' button and right joystick to get there."

"Those things are called joysticks?  That's hilarious!"  Dash cried, breaking into a fit of giggles and knocking over a drum.  

"Oh, grow up."  He paused for a second, thinking about song choice. "We're pretty limited, you still okay with that?"

"I'm fine with anything, really."  

"Okay."  He walked over to his discarded saddlebag and pulled out a crumpled mass of papers.  He managed to extract a few without too much trouble, handing them over.  

"Interesting choice..."  Dash said with a smirk.

"We haven't even payed these, you don't know how they sound anyway."

"Okay, which one first?"

"The one that's one top, I guess, we can just work our way through."

"Ready?"  She asked as he plugged in the amp and tossed the guitar over his shoulder.

"Go ahead."  She started a beat, testing out the drums for a moment before a series of bass drum beats counted them off.



"I'll never get tired of playing music."  Jason said as the final chords rang out.  

"I know, it's pretty great, huh?"  Dash responded.

"What kind of music is that, anyway?"  Evening asked.  

"That was probably more heavy rock, but I do have some heavier stuff in here, so I guess just tell me what you think?"

"Sure, that first one was good.  A little loud, but interesting to say the least.  You have more though?"

"Yeah, the next one's a little edgy, but good nonetheless."

"Ready?"  Dash asked, waiting for him to nod before she started the next beat.



"Yeah, you were right."  Dash said.

"What?"  Jason asked.

"It was kinda weird."

"Oh, just shush and play the next one."

"Fine."  She replied, starting the next beat.



"That was heavy stuff?"  Evening asked.

"Kinda, there's way heavier stuff, but that's more metal than rock at that point."

"It's pretty fun to play though."  Dash said, twirling a drumstick that was balanced on her hoof.

"I need some water."  Jason spoke up after a few moments, rubbing at his throat.  "Attempting to sing really takes it out of you."

"You aren't that bad."

"Thanks for that, it really means a lot."  He said sarcastically.

She giggled in response, giving him a joking salute.  "It's what I do."

"You okay if we go, Evening?"  He asked.

"Yeah, sure."  The changeling said, clearly absorbed in the game.  "Oh come on!"  She yelled as her guy died.

"Well, I've created a plague already.  Took fifteen minutes to addict my first pony."

"Are you saying that jokingly or is she actually addicted?"  Dash asked, looking back at Evening.

"It was a joke, don't worry."

"Okay good."  She pushed her way out of the tent, returning back inside a moment later.  "There's a crowd out there.  Just kinda staring awkwardly."

"I guess I expected something, but there's no way it's that--"  He stuck his head out and frowned.  "You're right.  At least they won't recognize me like this."

"Hooray for you."

"I think we should just walk away like nothing happened.  We need riot control stuff."

"They're just kinda staring, I don't think we're going to get charged."

"Yeah, but I can imagine, right?"

"Don't get carried away."  She said as she exited, stopping just outside and waiting for Jason to catch up.  He dropped the disguise and caught up, staring back at the half circle of ponies.  

"No please, hold your applause."  Jason said to the group, waiting a while for a response that didn't seem to come, besides most of the ponies moving to leave.  Eventually he got fed up and walked towards the side, cutting through a point that was absent of ponies.  

"It's fucking weird, who just stares?"  He asked, turning to Dash

"Maybe they didn't like the music?"

"It was still pretty weird."

"I never said it wasn't."  She replied, sighing as she walked into Shining's tent.  He was back at his desk, balancing a pencil over the top of his hoof.

"A little bored, Shining?"  Jason asked.

"Not that bored.  There was some music a few minutes ago."

"Yeah, ponies didn't seem to like that too much."  Jason asked.

"Why, you saw who played?"  Shining replied.

"It was us, actually."  Dash spoke up, blushing slightly.

"Funny, I never took either of you for the musical type.  By the way, where's Evening Glory?  She wasn't here when I woke up, and I figured that you knew."

"Yeah, she's back at our tent."

"And that's why I didn't freak out."

"Why are you so at ease with her?"  Jason asked, furrowing his brow.

"She's not really that threatening or anything.  One of the things we learned in army training was to figure out whether ponies were generally going to try anything.  I guess she just seems strange and kinda happy.  Not really much of a murderer.  Maybe I'm wrong, but I doubt it."

"Good to know you're safe about everything."  Jason said with a smirk.

"Well shit, Hunter's more dangerous than she is."

"How is Hunter, did he report back?"

"He brought back Archer's body, we're going to go through the usual rigamarole of preservation before we send him back to his family.  Hunter said something about the fact that he didn't want to have the kid buried here, and I'm sure his family'd feel the same way."

"You bury them out here?"  Jason asked.  "How hard could it be to ship them back?"

"It's a choice, some ponies just want to end up here.  I don't question it, I just find a clearing nearby and get some proper graves going.  Then I make a map of everypony buried there and mark it with a pin on the map.  So there's one at Windforge, and there's one a little ways away here."

"Hopefully there aren't a lot of new graves, right?"

"You're referring to the battle we just had, I assume?"  He asked, grabbing a clipboard and flipping a few pages.  "Forty seven dead, forty one injured.  One missing."  He looked up with a hint of a smile.  "Isn't that right?"

"Yeah.  Just MIA."  Jason replied quietly.

"And for completeness here, we're still counting griffin casualties, but they've mounted to around a hundred twenty five dead already, and obviously five prisoners."

"Pretty good battle then, I suppose."  Dash said, tapping a hoof on Shining's desk.

"Yeah, one step closer, right?"

"Dammit, did we play that song?"  Jason asked.  "There's another one I wanted to play."

"I'm sure we'll have time soon enough."  Dash replied.

Shining yawned.  "Is that about it, I kinda wanted to get back to sleep.  I don't know what I did last night, but I'm really tired."

"Yeah, okay, see you later then I guess."  Jason said, turning around and moving towards the door.  

"Sure thing, we need to get better plans together."

"Oh, when are we moving camp?"

"Maybe tomorrow, I'm not really sure.  We'll have to see."  Shining replied.

"Well then--"  Dash put a hoof around Jason's neck and dragged him out before he could keep talking.

"Dash, geez, I only had like forty more questions."  He smirked.  

"Hey Jason, when were those griffin re-enforcements coming?"  She asked.

"Today, I thought, why?"

"I think they're here."
> "That was illegal in so many ways!”
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


"That was illegal in so many ways!”



A/N: I typed this all in a word document, so there may be a few issues with copying and pasting, like removed italics and things of the like.


“Dash, why do you look so nervous?”  Jason asked, watching Dash shift uneasily on her hooves.

“I just don’t like the guys, all this time fighting them, it just seems weird to have them on our side all of a sudden, even if it’s helpful and all.”

“But what about Eravel?”

She shifted again, letting out a sigh.  “That’s only one griffin, this is an entire unit!  Eravel was kinda a prisoner for a while too, it took a while for anypony to trust him, even before he got pulled into service.  It’s not that I don’t trust him, I really do, it’s just that I don’t have much of a reason to trust these griffins.”

“I guess I see what you mean.  But it’s not like they’re all that dangerous in the first place.  I mean, griffins are pretty dangerous when they’re ordered around correctly, mostly because they always seem like they can take a lot more punishment than the average pony.  And that could be a great asset for us, I mean if we combine griffin brute strength with our tactics and planning, we’d be unstoppable.”

“Shh, Jason they’re getting out.”

“Why do I need to be quiet, we aren’t mourning the dead.”

“I want to see what they do.”  She said, squaring her stance slightly. 

“You’re overreacting.”

“Don’t say that yet.”  She watched intently as griffins started to disembark, wearing Canterlot Guard style armor, Jason could only assume for recognition purposes.  It probably wouldn’t be good to walk around a corner in camp and freak out at the sight of a griffin; he didn’t need casualties without even a battle involved.  Dash continued to watch the griffins as they grouped up, corralled by a couple of ponies who seemed rather indifferent to the scenario.

Then, naturally, ponies gathered around to ogle at the new soldiers, who were still huddled into a small group as an officer checked off some names.  The camp was unusually silent, as several whispers traveled around the pony lines.  A few of the ponies got worked up, as Jason had halfheartedly expected, and one of them started throwing a few stones.

“Why’re we letting the enemy into our camp?”  A few murmurs of agreement filtered around.  

“We should just kick ‘em out now, maybe ruff ‘em up a bit!”  Another pony yelled, and one side of the crowd moved forward.

“Guess this is where I intervene.”  Jason said with a deadpan expression, moving towards the griffins in the center of the circle with Dash trailing behind.  They stared at the pair with a mixture of fear and awe, as far as he could tell.  Maybe the troops at Windforge had said some good things about him.  He was starting to like these rumors, they had some serious power around here.

“Now listen up!”  He yelled to the crowd, which immediately became silent.  “Your fight is with the griffin army and government, they’re the ones in control around here!  These ones are volunteers from the city we liberated a while ago.  Do you really want to knock out what amounts to another advantage just because you can only see in black and white?”

Some hushed conversation echoed around in the crowd, which was really starting to annoy Jason at this point.  He couldn’t know if they were reacting in the affirmative or not, and that was kind of a problem.  Humans were easy, they either looked bored or interested, clapped or booed.  Simple.  But ponies just whispered, something that was starting to become one of the most annoying parts of his job.  

Not that he didn’t like his job, it was good in most senses of the word.  Sure, he hated to see anypo--anyone die, and sure, he wasn’t particularly fond of the high intensity fighting that interspersed life here, but it could be way worse, and Dash could be stuck at home, had there been an all male requirement in the army.  Not that he couldn’t pull some strings.

That made him think, not about the fact that he was somehow managing think all this in just a couple of seconds, but that he actually had a fair amount of power.  As far as he could tell, Shining was his only superior in the army, and then there were the princesses.  And that was it.  Kind of a weird thought though, fourth or fifth in command depending on the status of Cadence.  Probably fifth, actually.  But still, he’d been here two?  Three months?  Probably closer to three, but still, he’d been in this same position a couple of weeks ago.

He finally jarred himself from his thoughts and spoke up again.  “I’m not sure which part of having the griffins around any of you hate, but I’m going to assume that it’s more based in the fact that they’re personifications of the enemy, rather than racism.  In any case, they’ll be as intermixed in camp as any of you, and I want to see you give them some respect.”

“How many of you know the make up of Team Green Bean?”  Dash asked.  “Come on, raise your hooves.”  A fair amount of the crowd stuck their hooves into the air, although it was nowhere near a majority.  

“So then,” she continued, “it’ll be new information to know that the griffin you may have seen around here is on the team, and that he’s proven himself indispensible.  Probably saved a good deal of your lives through his contributions, too.”

“And how could scum like him possibly be of any help?!”  

“Tough crowd.”  Jason murmured.

“Well, let’s see.  He helped coordinate a successful strategy for us to take Windforge, he’s already rivaling some of the team member’s kill counts, and I’m sure one of his arrows has saved at least a few of you.”

“Or think of it in another way, how easy are griffins to fight hoof to hoof?”  Jason asked.  “I’m sure some of you have been disarmed, at least for a bit, how strong are griffins?”

“Pretty strong, I’d say!”  Tank yelled, stepping out of the crowd and making his way to the center, slowly dragging a resentful looking Eravel behind himself.

“So then, how many of you would rather have that on our side?  For the good of Equestria, right?”  There was a cheer, and Jason resisted the urge to celebrate.  “Treat these guys the same as you would another pony, because they’ll be enjoying the same rights you have.”

“And therefore, you get the same punishments for violence against them.”  Dash added.  “You’re all in the same boat, I suggest you try to make the best of it.  Especially since there’s a good chance we’ll be mixing some of the units.”

There was a fair amount of uproar at the concept, turning the crowd into a flurry of activity.  A rock bounced off Dash’s forehead, and she put a hoof to the already bloody wound.

“Who the fuck threw that?!”  Jason yelled.  “I suggest you come out here now, before I decide to start getting violent!”  No activity, as the crowd once again went silent.  “Well, who’s the bitch of this army?  If you have any ounce of courage you should be able to come out here and take it like a stallion.”

Eventually a pony came out of the crowd, sneering at Jason as he walked up.  “You came here, and all you do is ruin everything.”  The pony said.

“What’s your name?”  Jason said, his expression neutral.

“I’m not telling you.”  He spat.

Jason took a step forward and punched the pony across the nose.  “I asked, what was your name?  And that’s sir to you.”

“Stonehoof, sir.”  The pony replied, cradling his bloody muzzle with a hoof.  

“Well then let me just say I respect your courage for coming up here.”  Jason wound up his arm and hit the pony across the face as hard as he could, watching him fall over and crumple, apparently unconscious.  “But that’s about all I respect about you.”  Jason turned to Dash, putting a hoof under her chin and pushing her head up to get a better look at the wound the rock had caused.  It was a fairly deep gash, bleeding fairly profusely.

“I’m fine, just save your energy.”  Dash said, looking at her bloody hoof.  “Not that bad, see?”

“Just hold still, okay?”  He asked, not waiting for a response as her wound started to heal.  It closed over as Jason took a deep breath and stopped the flow of magic, attempting to take the sudden fatigue in stride.  He turned to the officer that had taken role, getting his attention with a brief wave.  

“Make sure he’s kicked out of the army, subtract forty bits from his pay for causing this shit.”  The pony nodded and saluted, scribbling on a new page as he flipped through the pad on his clipboard.  

“Now, does anyone else have a huge problem with this?”  He paused.  “You know what, everyone in favor, move over there,”  he gestured to the right, “and all others go to the left.  I’m fine with either opinion, so as long as you have a valid reason and don’t act like this fucker, feel free to go to the left.”

“You should probably start moving.”  Dash said after a prolonged silence, gesturing for the ponies to start doing something.  Movement started slowly, quickly speeding up as more ponies joined in.  A minute or so later, Jason was happy to see that the groups were nowhere near equal.

“Okay, so right is positive, you all know that?”  To his surprise, a couple ponies moved over from the left side, blushing heavily as the left side group stared them down.  

“So, I’d say it’s approved, huh?”  Tank asked, still standing slightly protectively in front of Eravel.  

“I’d say so.  These things will only come into effect when we move to the next camp, although the camp itself won’t be split into a griffin side or a pony side.  And I expect that there won’t be segregation in the mess hall either.  How the hell are we supposed to fight a war if we’re only fighting amongst ourselves, hmm?  I know a lot of you want to get home, so let’s just pull together and win this war, maybe make some new friends in the process.”

A cheer emanated from the right side group, making Jason smile as he turned away.  These kinds of things were taxing, sometimes more than the actual battles themselves.  “You sure you’re okay Dash?”

“Yeah, a little lightheaded, but I should be fine.”  She grunted a bit as some pain came to her head, and covered it with a hoof.

“I thought I healed it.”  Jason said, starting to accompany the griffins to their destination.  

“The wound’s fine, I just have a bit of a headache.  It’s going away though, residual pain I guess.”

“Just tell me if you don’t feel good or anything, brain injuries are the only thing I don’t really know how to heal that well, I don’t want to screw anything up.”

“You’re too hard on yourself, I said that I’ll be fine, and I meant it.  Although maybe a little sleep could be in order, the sun’s starting to set as it is."  She paused before continuing her random monologue.  "And you need to do some flying or something with me tomorrow, I’m bored of this whole, ‘wake up, solve conflict, sleep’ thing.  I’m hungry too, I want some food.”

“I think that rock did some actual damage.”  Jason said, chuckling lightly.  Dash frowned.

“You always get to complain, now it’s my turn.”

“Fine, fine.”  They both became silent.  “Not so easy, is it?”

“How do you complain about everything?”  She asked, adding exaggerated arm waves to boot.

“Years and years of practice and cynicism.”

“You know, I’m pretty cynical that we’ll actually be able to get Evening off the Xbox.”  Dash said, giggling.  “She’s really taken to that thing, you know.  I want to try my hoof at it here eventually.”

“I’m sure she’ll get bored eventually.”

“But you said that you spent tons of time on those games!”

“And we don’t have to tell her that there’re other games…”  He replied, squinting his eyes mischievously.   That’s why we have… what, three controllers so far?”

“So we can all pretend we’re playing, I get it.”

“No, there’re three player games, although acting like we’re playing games is fun too.  That’s what I did, I just sat in a corner and pretended to play games.”

“It’s a good thing I get your sarcasm, otherwise there’d be a lot of ‘really?’ and I’d look like a total moron.”

“And you’re definitely not setting yourself up for an insult there.”  Jason replied with a smile.

“I don’t think you’ve really insulted me yet, I’ll take my chances.”

“We’ll just have to see how long that lasts, I suppose.”  He said, narrowing his eyes.  “Ha!  I’m just kidding.”

“Yeah…  I guess you better have a good reason.”

“Why are we taking these crappy shots at each other?  We’re like implying something based on an implied implication of mine.”

“What are you implying?”  She asked, narrowing her eyes and staring him down.

“Just give it a rest, Dash.  We’ll just make sure these griffins don’t get attacked before they get, wherever, then we can go argue about things.”

“At least we’re not arguing about something real.”

“But, that makes us like some old married couple!”

“Ooooooooooohhhhhhh Nooooooooooooo!!!!!”  She threw up her arms in faked shock.

Jason chuckled and turned to one of the officers.  “Hey guy, where are we going exactly?”

“Just to the far side of camp, there are only a few open tents left, and with the next troop movement approaching, we aren’t making any efforts to build new tents or reposition the ponies that are already in tents.”

“But they aren’t all separated or anything, right?”

“No, there’re still intermixed ponies.”  The officer replied.

“Why do you care so much, Jason?”

“Because if we force them to interact, and assuming they can get over any issues, they’ll be our only connection to the griffin population.  The problem with taking this territory is that we won’t have more than a few economic and political ties, what we need to do is get a big reconstruction with ponies over here, and hopefully get some sort of carry over of the population, so that there isn’t just a line where it’s suddenly an all-griffin country.”

“Equestria won’t really make sense as a name anymore.”  She realized, giggling.

“Like that matters, there’s lots of countries that have ‘republic’ in the name and are actually brutal dictatorships.”

“What kind of government did you have?”

“I thought I told you, but whatever.  A really complicated republic.  Three branches, two houses of congress, a presidential voting system that made sense, but was still kinda weird.  I don’t really want to explain it, it’d probably just result in a political rant that you wouldn’t understand.”

“Yeah, might as well skip that, huh?”  She asked, laughing a little.  Jason chuckled and nodded.  The group stopped and the officer started to read off some Nordic sounding names, assigning the corresponding griffins to various tents.  Given the fact that there weren’t all that many griffins to begin with, the process was quickly finished.  

Dash wobbled a little and Jason sighed.  “I want to get that looked at, Dash.  Even if it’s just residual stuff I want to be sure.”

“I’m fine, I just need some rest.”

“God dammit, you don’t need to be tough all the time!  For once, just admit that maybe this could be too much for you to handle!”  She took a step back, and Jason ran a hoof down his face.  “Sorry, I’m just a little stressed.”

“Yeah, you’re right.  Just—make sure I don’t fall over or something, okay?”  She seemed a little more depressed about the idea than he would have thought necessary.  He shifted into Alternis and wrapped a wing around her back, pulling her into himself.

“It’s not a big deal, Dash, it’s not like I think anything less of you.”

“That’s not why, I just don’t want to feel weak.  It’s not like this is some crippling injury, and I feel like I should be able to just walk it off.  I guess I just hate finding my limits, even if I usually applied the idea to flying instead of getting hit with stones.”  The hint of a smile appeared on her face as her emotions started to lighten.  She turned her head and kissed him, shakily lifting up a hoof to put around his head.  Dash pulled him in tighter, purring into the kiss before she broke it off.  “Okay, I’m ready to get this looked at.”  She said, leaning more heavily into Jason and trying to push him in the right direction.

“I kinda thought it’d be more of a fight with you.”  He said, starting back towards the rest of camp.

“What can I say, I have a soft spot for you.  And this way, you just make it look like we’re acting normal, and that I’m not actually hurt.”

“Oh, you never change.”  Jason said with a chuckle, changing direction to make a more direct route.

“Hey, you never answered me when I asked you about what you do when video games aren’t in the picture.”  She poked at Jason, making him stiffen up as she tickled at his ribs.

“Well, we had these things that were like mock guns, well they were still guns really, but the point is, they weren’t deadly.  So I’d get a bunch of my friends together and we’d go out with these and shoot at each other.  It was a lot of fun, and with the availability of things to buy it was pretty cheap to start the sport.  But of course, since it involved me, we took it further than we probably should have, and we were running around in army uniforms and stuff.”

“Sorry for asking, but doesn’t being aimed at bring up memories?”

“Of what?”

“Well, your parents?”

“No, I’m not one of those guys that wallowed in self pity for years.  I mean, I was sad and all, and for like a week I just kinda sat in my house and did nothing.  But it’s not like I thought about killing myself or some shit like that, I didn’t want to go out a coward that couldn’t handle the grief.  So I made something of myself, I got insurance money from my dad and kept up as much as I could of his stock portfolio—“

“How did you do that when you were that young?”  Dash asked, pausing to scratch at her knee.

“I hired a guy.  Actually, I just kept paying the same guy my dad had, I just paid him for different things.  Anyway, I paid my way through college and got a job as an accountant, not that I saw it as much more than a means to an end, but that’s the simple version.”

“That’s pretty inspiring, really.”

“Ha, can’t say I never accomplished anything.”

“Well you got me, so I guess you’re right.”

Jason chuckled.  “And what about your parents, Dash?”

She was silent for a while, and Jason looked over a few times to make sure she hadn’t passed out.  A tear rolled down her snout, and he wiped it away with a hoof.

“Can- Can I tell you later?”  She asked, looking up at him with teary eyes that tried to tug him into the same state.  

“Whenever, or never, I don’t care.”  He paused, catching another tear in the fur of his hoof.  “Dash, cheer up, I don’t want to see you like this.”  He removed his wing from her back, tickling under her chin with its tip before replacing it over her back.   She smiled lightly, the normal twinkle in her eye starting to return.

“I love you Jason.”  She said after taking a few deep breaths to calm herself.  “And I'm going to tell you, it’s not like anypony else knows anyway.”

“What?!  Why?  I mean what about Twilight or Fluttershy or the rest of your friends?”

“I just never told them, I didn’t want to seem weak for anything, kinda like you with your parents.”

“They- they aren’t dead, right?”

“No, but with my luck they’re probably still alive.”  Jason looked over with a quizzical expression as they entered the medical tent, trying to sift through her emotions to get some hints.  But the only emotions that surfaced were rage and grief, although he couldn’t tell for whom.

Nurse Redheart looked up from her place at one of the patient’s beds, handing him a glass of milk as she got up to meet her new guests.  “What seems to be the problem?”  She asked, taking in the expressions of Dash and Jason.  “Nopony’s dying, right?”

“No, she just needs her head checked out.”  Jason replied, moving Dash over to a chair and sitting her down.  “She got hit by a rock from a pony that’s incapacitated at the moment.”

“Is he dead?”  Redheart asked, her eyes widening in shock.

“No, but the fucker got what was coming to him.”  Dash said from her chair.  “It still wasn’t enough.”

“Okay, well let’s just see here…”  The nurse put a hoof to Dash’s cheek, turning her head to look at the scar that marked where she’d been hit.  “I’m guessing you’re here for dizziness or something of the sort?”  Jason nodded.

“Okay then, I’ll just see if you have a concussion, and we’ll be on our way.”  She ruffled through a few drawers.  “Do you know what you were doing a few minutes ago?”

“Yeah, talking to Jason, escorting the griffins-“

“Sorry, what?”

“Oh yeah, we have griffins in camp now, friendly ones.”  Jason piped up from a chair he had taken in the corner.  “Some ponies weren’t so happy.”

“I don’t know much about griffin anatomy if that’s the case, so you’ll have to find another nurse.”

“I guess I didn’t expect you to.”

“It’s not really a problem for me, the race issues anyway.  A stronger army just means more victory.”

“That’s how I tried to spin it.”  Jason said, causing the nurse to chuckle.  

“Now Rainbow, hold still a moment.”  She lit a match.  “Just look forward for a moment, do not follow the match.”  Redheart held the match in place for a moment before she took it away and waved it out.  “Now follow my hoof with only your eyes.”  She moved the hoof back and forth a few times, scribbling a word or two on her clipboard.  “As far as I can tell, you may have a minor concussion, but given the fact that you were hit by a rock, I’m not sure how it’s not worse.  Jason probably had a hoof in that.”

Jason got out of his chair and heaved a sigh, before almost galloping over to Dash and wrapping her in a hug.  She squeaked adorably at the sudden attack, and struggled to break free for a moment before he let go.  “I was worried it’d be worse.”  He said, retreating back a couple steps.  

Dash giggled.  “I could tell.  How’s that pony Jason healed from before?”  She asked.  

Redheart smiled.  “He’s over there, I kept him here for a while to see what happened.  No offense, but with what Dash said he looked like before, I had to make sure he was actually healed.”

“Glad you have so much faith in my abilities.”  Jason replied sarcastically, pointing a hoof over at Dash.  “She’s still relatively intact, and I’ve healed her like seventeen times.”

“Relatively?”  She asked, smirking.

“I’m only healing the scars when we get out of this war.”

“I kinda like them, they make me look tough.  Makes me feel like a pirate.”

“Aaaaaaanyway,”  Redheart continued, “He’s looking a lot better than when he came in, that’s for sure.  You want to see him?”  

“Might as well.”  Dash said, rising from her chair and standing on slightly shaky hooves.  “Jason, you want to prop me up here?”  She said hurriedly, moving her hooves to a wider stance.

He slid in next to her and put a wing over her back, quickly stabilizing her form.  “You’re sure the unbalanced one today.”  He said.  “You sure you’re good to walk?”

“It’s not that bad, really.  But having a big strong stallion to wrap me up like this is a lot better.”

“Oh, so you’re faking, I see how it is.”

“I wish I was.”

“How long till she recovers?”  Jason asked Redheart.

“I’m not sure what you did, exactly, but a couple days could do it.  I’m sure it’s mostly just the concussion combined with blood loss, assuming she lost any.  She lost a fair amount, judging by what’s still on her face there.”

“It wasn’t that bad, I’ve lost a lot more in battle before.”  Dash replied, rather defensively.

“But it’s the compounded effect that’s the problem, chances are what you have now is an immediate consequence that Jason probably couldn’t have averted.”

“I could’ve healed her earlier though.”

“Either way she would’ve had a concussion, just be thankful that she’s okay.  I get a rather large number of ponies through here that talk about how you saved their lives.  One of them kept saying how he was going to make it up to you, that he’d been one of the ponies that was against you from the start, and that he’d misjudged you.  I think it was one of the few Canterlot nobles that tagged along.

“Blueblood?”  Jason asked, thoroughly surprised.

“No, it wasn’t him.  It was one of the lower elites, as far as I could tell, same code of conduct but with less money.”

“How does the system there even work?”  Dash asked as the group stopped, throwing up a hoof for emphasis.

“Various levels of elites, although a fair number of them are just a glob, the newly rich mostly.  They’re the ones that tend to be fairly regular ponies, I used to know one in medical school.”

“Oh.  So this is the guy, huh?”  Jason asked, looking down at the pony.

“Yeah, he looks pretty good, huh?”  Redheart replied.

“I’ll say, I thought he had black fur before.”

Grey hair had started to surface, growing out over a fair share of the sleeping pony’s visible body.  The scarring was still visible over much of his body, although his face seemed to be mostly untouched, judging by the way Jason had healed it.  He looked rather peaceful, and hopefully he hadn’t been in too much pain from the burns he’d left alone.

“Has he been up at all?”  He asked.

“A few times, he’s been telling me he’s fine these past couple days, walking around aimlessly and stuff.  He’s been talking on and on about his mare friend, and how he wants to get back home to see her.”

“So why’s he not gone?”

“Two reasons, actually.  I wasn’t sure if he was okay, he still gets tired pretty fast.  But also, I didn’t know that he was clear to go home.”

“He broke two legs and burnt to a crisp before dragging himself out of a tent, I’m pretty sure we can let him go back home.”

“I’m sure he’ll be glad to hear that, at least.”  She paused.  “How’s your shoulder, Jason?  You still have the bandages on, and…”

“I just forgot to take them off, hold on.”  He grabbed the end of the bandage in his mouth and pulled, watching it come off it a long swathe.  The discolored cloth fell to the floor, and Jason quickly levitated them into a trashcan.

“You should really replace those more often.”  Redheart said, stroking a hoof gently across the fur on his shoulder.  “How does chitin heal?”

“Like skin, really.  Just more…rigid.  So it’ll grow from the sides and seal up over a few days.  And I guess I shed the outer stuff every once in a while, thus Dash’s armor.”

“That actually explains a lot.”  She ran her hoof further along his arm.

“Watch it Redheart.”  Dash piped up, giving the nurse a playful stare that had very real hostility hidden beneath the surface.  

“She gets jealous.”  Jason explained, watching Dash’s face take on a hint of pink.  

“I can tell.”  Redheart agreed, moving her hoof around and smirking.

“Thanks for the great reputation credit.”  Dash replied.

“I don’t tease you that much.”  He replied, receiving a light punch to the arm.

“You know,”  Readheart began, “I expected you to be the injured one, Jason.  Whenever I’ve seen you around you’re always covered in cracks and what not.”

“I haven’t really been hurt that much.”  He replied, staring off into space for a moment.  “Twice, really.  Three if you count that thing with Twilight.”

“You’ve been here three months, how’s that a good record?”  Dash asked, rather loudly.

“Well it’s about as good as I was in high school.  I was pretty brittle back then.”

“Okay, now I’m interested.  What stupid stuff did you do that I don’t know about?”

“There’s so much, where to begin?”  He stroked his chin, sitting on an empty bed.  “I did parkour for a while until I broke the shit out of a leg, broke the shin in two places, hairline fracture in the femur.”

“Ooh.”  Redheart flinched, surely imagining the injury.

“So I don’t do that anymore, never really picked it up again, I guess.”

“How’d you manage to do that anyway?”  Dash asked, nervously stroking one of her own legs.  

“I jumped off this low roof, and then I rammed my shin into the top of the one I was trying to get to.  So it broke and I bounced off, the rest of the stuff happened when I hit the ground.  It was expensive to fix, so I tried to be more careful with expenses after that.”

Dash giggled.  “Millionaire like you, I’m sure you had a lot to worry about.”

“Well I didn’t have any of the money yet, actually.  Well, not much of it anyway.  I don’t know who set the system up, but I only got a couple thousand dollars from insurance money right away, I couldn’t get the rest of it until I was eighteen or something.”

“So you’re just left like that?”  Redheart asked.  “Without any money or anything?”

“No, I had a house with money inside, but it wasn’t that much, and I didn’t know the safe combination.  It’s not like a teenager is really that expensive, you need electricity, Wi-Fi, and junk food.  That’s pretty much it.”  He grabbed one of the cookies from a nearby table and took a bite.  “Except for girls, they're high maintenance, all these supposed ‘necessities.’  Insurance paid any taxes though.”

“But you didn’t have an income?”

“Well I got welfare from the government, but I had already declared that I wasn’t going to live off of charity or some shit, I still had my pride.  So I donated the money after they started sending me checks, and I never used a cent of it.”

“But it was free!”  Dash complained, poking him in the side.  “And I thought you were lazy.”

“I am lazy, I never said that I actually did anything.  But nothing’s free either, it’s taxpayer money, just like everything else.  I don’t want to pay taxes to give other people my money, I want it to benefit a school or the military, something that’ll have a lasting benefit.  And I definitely didn't want to do the same for them.  Before you yell at me, a lot of people just try to live off the welfare checks.”

“So you never used the checks because you didn’t want to be hypocritical?”

“I was a kid, I didn’t really think about things that hard.  But I’m still proud I didn’t take any help to make my own life the way it was.”

“So how is that lazy?”  Dash asked, throwing up her hooves in annoyance.

“Ah!  Because the only other thing I did was go to school.  The only other thing society would deem important, anyway.”

“Were you just too lazy to cash in the check?”

“That was part of it, but I really did make that decision without laziness as a real motive.”

“I don’t think you can be in the lazy club anymore.”  Dash said, turning her head away in a hoity-toity manner and crossing her arms.

“Like you’re going to go through the work of kicking me out.”

“So,” Redheart began, tracing a circle on the floor with a hoof.  “Dash said you were a millionaire?”  

“I was, technically I still am, but I don’t really have the money.  It’s all back in America and floating in space in the Stock Market.”

“What’s the—“  Her mouth was covered by Dash’s hoof.

“Don’t ask.”  She said, giggling slightly.  “He tried to explain it and I still don’t know how it works.”

“And I don’t even know how a lot of it works.”  Jason said, shrugging.  “Is this guy under a sleep spell or something?”

“No, not anymore.  He’s been sober, so to speak, for two days.”

“So if I poke him like this,”  Jason leaned over and nudged the pony’s body, “he’ll wake up?”

“Yeah, he should.  But you’re poking him wrong.”  Redheart reached over and poked at the pony, giggling as he groaned and moved around.  Their activities quickly dissolved into a rapid series of pokes and nudges against the sleeping pony.  He rolled onto his back and blocked one of Jason’s pokes with a lazy hoof swipe, before he opened his eyes and took in the group.

“H-hey, what’re you doing?”  He asked lazily, looking at Dash for a while.  “You were the one that dragged me here, right?  The mare with the rainbow mane?”

“Yup, but it was really Jason here that did the work.”  She pointed a hoof at him, which was pretty pointless considering she was flattened against his side. 

“But—Changeling, huh?”

“You catch on fast.”  Jason said with a smirk.  “You feeling better, by the way?”

“A lot better than when that tent came down, that’s for sure.  She,”  he pointed accusingly at Redheart, “wouldn’t tell me how things were going, besides that we’d repulsed the attack.  Good job on that by the way.”  He jumped and saluted.  “Sirs.”

“It’s fine, we cleared the area of griffin.  I heard you wanted to get home though, huh?”

“Yeah, I miss my mare friend.  I’m happy to get through the rest of this war first, I’m not a quitter or anything.”

“Well I’m sending you back anyway, you don’t need to stay here after something like that.  If you really want to stay in the army, at least take some time to go back to wherever and relax.  It’s an honor to serve with ponies like you.”  He saluted the shocked pony in the bed and turned, making sure that Dash was still balanced against him before he started towards the door.  

“Thanks for the help, Redheart!”  Dash yelled back as they exited into the now dark camp.  A frigid wind blew past, and Dash shivered slightly under Jason’s protective wing.  

“So I think I know what the holes on my legs are for now, if I didn’t tell you already.”

“Another theory, huh?”

He chuckled.  “Yeah.  So I was thinking about how I nicked the side of one of the holes, and it started bleeding, right?”

“Yeah…”

“Well, it wasn’t a deep cut, but there was a lot of blood in the long run.  My theory is that the reason blood vessels are so close to the surface is so that they can keep my body cool that way.”

“But what if it’s cold out?”  She asked, sticking a hoof under her chin in a scholarly pose.  

“I guess the blood vessels contract?  I mean, it seems to be a working theory, at least so far.”

“Yet another advantage of having a changeling colt friend, you don’t get all sweaty.”

“But I throw up food I ate weeks ago, so there’s your trade off.”

“You don’t really eat though, not that much anyway.”  She paused.  “So you’ve said that food doesn’t really give you any energy, but you still fill up right?  It doesn’t just disappear?”

“You had to ask another question like this, huh?”  He chuckled, formulating words in his head before he spoke.  “So, you know how you feel after a nice meal?  Not overfull but content?”  She nodded.  “Well that’s how I feel with love, although it’s more of a spreading warmth type thing.  With food though, I know it’s there, and it’s not like I don’t know when I’ve eaten enough, it’s just that it’s not the same feeling as you get.  It’s detached, like someone else is telling me to stop eating.  It starts to get uncomfortable later, and I’m sure you can relate to that.”

“Oh yeah, I’ve entered an eating contest before.”  She giggled at the memory.  “I didn’t really come that close, it’s always some giant earth pony or a skinny little pegasus that wins those things.  But it was a pie eating contest, so who cares?”

“God, I want some pie.  Or crepes.”  Some drool escaped his mouth.  “Dammit, I think I screwed something up with this mouth.”  She chuckled, quickly breaking out into all out laughter.  “What’s so funny?”  Jason asked.

Dash raised a hoof, as if to say, ‘one moment please,’ and tried to quell her laughing fit.  She eventually succeeded, only to start laughing again.  “The things you say just sound so random,” she guffawed before continuing,  “I don’t know why it’s so funny all of a sudden.  You’re such an inefficient changeling though, it’d probably help if you didn’t inform me of every screw up!”  

“Like you never mess anything up.”  

“But that’s the thing, everything you mess up is always a sight gag!”

“Well-“ 


Clang!


Jason had the brief thought to prepare for pain as his hoof bumped into something solid, before he remembered one of the advantages of armor plating and smiled.  It still hurt some, considering he was disguised, but he doubted it was what if would have felt like normally.  He turned around and looked at the ground, his eyes making out the rough outline of a box.  

“Guess we might as well grab this, the tent’s just over there.”  He said, picking up the box in his magic.

“We still have to kick Evening Glory out, I doubt she’s left of her own will.”  

“Oh, video games.  It’s too bad I have to get you to bed, we could play something.”

She rolled her eyes. “Like I’d be any good.”  

“I’m sure you would be, I mean-“

“How good were people you knew back home?”  She cut in, raising an eyebrow.

“That really depends on whether you’re talking about girls or guys, because there’s this magical thing that happens where even girls that play video games, of which there aren’t that many, tend to be pretty mediocre.  I didn’t really play video games that much in the scheme of things, I got bored after a while.  But you’d probably be good at them, you caught on to Minecraft pretty quick, and considering the fact that you only have hooves to operate a bunch of keys, I’d say you’d be pretty good.”

“Why the gender difference?”

“It’s weird, huh?  Females just look at gaming like some sort of stupid thing, as a group.  Pretty depressing, if you ask me, but it doesn’t seem like the girly thing to shoot people in a virtual game.  But there’re tons of nonviolent games, also known as boring games, and even those are mostly untouched by the ‘fairer sex’.”  He put joking air quotes around the words.  “Whichever company taps that market first is going to be set forever.”

“Everything’s always got to turn economic with you.”  Dash giggled.

“I’m a capitalist at heart, what can I say?”

“You could express your undying love for me.”  

“Funny, I thought you found it sexy when I talked about economics.”

She snorted in laughter.  “Oh yeah, it really turns me on.”  

“I thought so.”  He paused, before leaning over to her neck and covering it with kisses.  “But since you asked so nicely.”  Jason nibbled at her ear, earning a gasp in response.  She swatted her tail across his rump, and the box hit the ground with a loud clang.  

“You’re a dead giveaway, Jason.”  She said with a smirk, watching his face flush.

“You try controlling magic and flirting at the same time, it’s not easy.”

“Twilight has more concentration than that.”

“But I don’t think she understands flirtation.”

“I’m sure she’s read a book on it.”  They both chuckled at the joke, entering their tent a few seconds later.  Evening was curled up on the bed with a controller cradled between her hooves.  The screen had gone to screensaver; she must’ve fallen asleep a while ago.

“So, what should we do?  She looks so peaceful there…”  Dash said, reaching for the controller.  She touched it and Evening shifted defensively, drawing the controller closer to her chest.

“She’s recovering nicely, a lot less insanity and a lot more general oddities.”  He chuckled.  “She’s becoming more interesting than me.”

“I bet you’re really jealous.”  

“So much.”  He set down the container and ‘oohed.’

“What is it?”  She asked, bending down to read the yellow writing on the side.

“Before you get exited, these are totally useless right now.”

“Way to raise my hopes there Jason.”

“Just hold on a sec before you complain too much.”  He opened the box and pulled out a fifty caliber round, passing it over to her.  Her hoof dropped as she took hold, apparently not expecting the weight.

“Is this a bullet?”  Dash asked.  “One that comes from something like this?”  She pointed over to Jason’s AUG, leaned against one of the tent poles.

“Well, it’s always from a gun, the thing that changes is the type.  You can basically only fire this from a sniper rifle or a mounted machine gun.”

“But why do they need something this big?  I mean, I know that all of this isn’t a bullet, but still!”

“Well for the machine gun, it can go through walls and stuff, blow up cars…it’s anti light armor stuff.  If one of these hits you in the arm, though, the hand even, your entire arm’s just gone.  That’s why they use this in sniping, it makes kill shots easier.”

“Oh god.”  She said, glancing at one of her arms.  “Even if we do get something for this, maybe we shouldn’t use it, that sounds like a terrible way to go.”

“That’s why you go for headshots.  Or body shots for that matter.  If we get something for this, it’s an advantage I’m going to push.  But with how little time we have left in this war, I doubt I’ll find something that fits this caliber.”

Dash put the shell back carefully, as if it were about to explode.  “So are we moving her out?”  She asked, gesturing to Evening.

“No, we shouldn’t have to, let’s just leave her be.  I want you to rest, at least tonight, and her staying here’s a safeguard against you making moves on me.”

“Fine, at least she’ll keep my hooves warm.”  She moved into the bed and pulled the blanket over herself, reaching out an arm to playfully pull Jason in as well.

“I love you Dash.”  He said, nuzzling at her cheek affectionately.  

“I wish there was a way I could respond to that without sounding repetitive or uncaring.  But I love you too.”

“Good night, Dash.”  He said, closing his eyes and pulling her closer.

“You’re not going to force me to tell you?”

“No, I don’t care if you keep things from me, so long as I’m not involved.  You have a right to your secrets.”

“But you deserve to know, we’ve been together for months, and you’ve answered everything I’ve asked.  I know you respect my privacy, but sometimes I don’t really want you to.”

“Okay…”

“So if you still care…”

He pulled her head closer and pushed their muzzled together.  “I’ll always care, you always did when I talked about boring stuff, I may as well repay the favor.  Especially since you’re only telling me.”  

“Jason, thanks for this.”

“What, listening to you?  It’s not a chore, I’d rather talk with you than just about anything else.”

She smiled, laying her head down on his chest.  “Can you do that thing with the hair whe-“  Fwumf!  “Okay then.”  She giggled slightly before sobering.  “I’m just going to start this before I pussy out, so here goes.”  She took a deep breath, and Jason stroked a hoof down her mane.

“I was born in Cloudsdale twenty three years ago as an only child.  I had a fun childhood, as far as I can remember.  My parents were happy, and I was happy, it was as simple as that, at least for a while.  But when I was nine, I got home from school and nopony was home.  I wasn’t too worried for a while, I just got some food and waited.  Eventually my parents got home when I was in bed and started yelling about something.”

She took a ragged breath.  “I figured out later that my dad had lost his job over some argument with his boss, and that he had apparently been jobless for a while.  My parents had kept it from me, I assumed to keep me from worrying.  So I didn’t, they had things under control, or so I thought.  I didn’t know at the time that most careers in Cloudsdale are weather related, and that my dad had the equivalent of a blacklist.”

“A few weeks later I came home from school and dad was already home.  I was happy to see him, and I thought he’d found a new job and had left work early for me.  But then he started to look angry, started yelling at me for things I’d never done.  He pulled me closer to his face to yell, and I could smell the alcohol on his breath.”  

“Any bruises I got from him were always disguised by my fur, and I came to hate it’s color as I aged.  I got my cutie mark and he didn’t care.  Mom left for Canterlot to go got a job because dad wouldn’t, and she sent back the money.  That bastard used most of it, and sometimes I didn’t have enough money to buy food.”

“I waited for mom to come back, and she finally did almost a year later.  But she saw the condition things were in and yelled at Dad for a while, and then left.  He got divorce papers a few weeks later and blamed it on me.  So I finally did what I should have on day one, I left that piece of shit, and I got a job at the weather factory.  Second youngest worker to date, but they seemed to know what had been going on and let me into the work force.”

“That just annoyed me even more though, that they knew and let it go on for that long.  I earned some money and left for Ponyville after Fluttershy, and I haven’t seen either of those ponies since.”  By this point she had a veritable river of tears running down her face and into his fur, and he was starting to feel increasingly useless at his attempts to comfort his mare.

“Why didn’t you just tell me?”

“I just wanted to forget the whole thing, and bringing it up didn’t seem like the best idea.”  Her breath caught and she blinked out a few tears.

They were silent for a while, before Jason was finally able to formulate words.  “You’re such a strong mare, Dash.  I don’t know why you’d think ponies would think less of you.”

“Because I was stupid and I thought things would change!”  She yelled, hugging against him more tightly.  

“You were a kid, younger than I was when I lost my parents.  Kids aren’t prepared for stuff like that.”

She was silent for a while longer.  “Why don’t you care that I keep things from you?”

He thought for a moment before answering.  “Because you deserve to have your secrets, I don’t need to know everything about you to love you, Dash.  Part of being your colt friend is that I don’t pressure you with this kind of thing.  If it’s important to you it’s important to me, but only if it’s something that I don’t have to persuade out of you.”  He paused.  “I know you’re competitive by nature, but you can’t be so hard on yourself, at least not about things like this.”

“I really hope we don’t break up.”  She said after a pause.  “I don’t know who’d talk sense into me sometimes.”  

“Dash, you need to get some rest.”  He said, wiping away a tear.  “This concussion can’t be doing you any favors, that’s for sure.”

A slight smile appeared.  “You promise you’ll still be here in the morning?”  She asked.

“I don’t know where else I’d want to be.”  Jason replied, leaning over and kissing her, tasting a slight amount of salt from her tears.  “Promise me you’ll stop being so hard on yourself, okay?”

“I will, I promise.”

“Good, the worst thing about being a changeling is knowing how you feel.  It’s great when you’re happy, but not like this.”

“I’ll make it up to you, I have some tricks I have yet to use.”  

“Please tell me you’re not only referring to sex.”

“No, I have a tangible surprise for you, I was going to wait until after this war, but I’m impatient.”

“Really?  Tell me more.”

“Oh shush, I’m tired, let me sleep.”  She was never dignified with a response as Jason quickly passed out.  


______________________________________________________________


Jason lunged forward and sank a blade into the zombie’s head, watching him fall and go limp a moment later before he started to create a mess on the white tile floor.  He looked at his attacker with contempt before he drew a foot back to kick the corpse in the head.  His temple dented and the body shifted, before Jason’s interest waned.  

“Jason?”  Dash said, walking into the room through a doorway.  “This is a dream, I’m guessing?”  She continued, looking at her hands and curling the fingers.  

“I think so, it’s probably a good sign that we can figure that out now.”  He paused, moving over towards her.  "You're cute like this Dash."  He said, leaning over and kissing her in a way that felt alien to the both of them.  A zombie stumbled out of the corner of the room before tripping and impaling himself through the eye on a piece of rebar.  

Dash and Jason stared at each other for a few minutes before a scream echoed into the room.  The duo broke into movement and ran from the room in the direction of the screaming, running through a few darkened rooms before they found another, lightened by a series of industrial looking skylights.

A young woman was flailing around on the ground, screaming bloody murder for some reason.  Jason ran over and pulled her up, covering her mouth with a hand, waiting for her to stop screaming before he spoke.  “Listen, I’m going to take my hand away, and then you’re going to tell me, calmly, what’s wrong.  Okay?”  

She nodded and squirmed a little before he released his hold.  The girl took a few deep breaths before she started to speak.  “I wasn’t here before, I was in a tent and I fell asleep, and now I’m here with you people and I don’t know what’s going on.”  She broke down into tears, covering her face awkwardly with her hands.  

“Evening?”  Jason asked, kneeling down in front of her now huddled form.  

“Jason?  Dash?”  She asked back, starting to become less panicked.  “Why are we humans?”

“It’s a dream, nothing to be worried about.  Although the fact that you’re here is a little worrying.”

“Are… Are you saying that I’m not controlling this dream?”

“I think it’s the hive mind thing, yeah.”  Evening took a few more deep breaths as some banging echoed through the warehouse.  

“What’s going on, Jason?”  She asked, backing away from the door.

“I think this dream’s about zombies.”  He pulled Evening back to her feet.  “So grab sharp stuff, firearms, and aim for the head.”  Jason jogged over to a corner, moving some trash around with his hands until he came back up with a screwdriver and a butterknife.

“Find anything yet?”  He asked.

“Yeah, I found this thing,”  Evening started, “but I’m not sure what it-“


BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!!!


“AAAAh, what is this thing?!?!”  She screamed, throwing the M16 to the ground.

Jason ran over and picked it up, aiming it towards the door.  “We can’t be loud, it’ll just attract them.  Now come on, we need to search further.”  He pushed the stalk into his shoulder and slowly moved out of the room, firing a few shots down a hallway to take out a zombie as it shambled towards him.  “What are you waiting for, Evening?  They’ll eat you if you let them.”  She seemed to get the concept, and awkwardly ran after him.  

They darted around another corner, looking through the industrial garbage that was in piles against the walls.  Jason knelt down and picked up a metal rod, passing it back to Dash before shooting a zombie that had snuck up behind them.  “Watch your back, no one ever does that.”  He said, aiming at another zombie and hearing a click ring out. 

Dash pushed by and swung the rod, breaking the zombie’s temple and effectively killing it.  Jason threw the gun aside before he took a few steps forward and picked up an aluminum baseball bat, handing a plank back to Evening.

“You want to get the back here, Dash?”  He asked quietly, watching her nod and take a few steps back.  Jason moved into another room off the hallway, smashing a zombie’s head with a stomp and stepping over to a door that was covered in planks.  He looked through before wrapping his fingers around one and pulling it off.  He kicked through a few more of the rotten boards, creating a hole and exiting.  His head appeared a few seconds later.  “Come on, we don’t have all day.”  He whispered, disappearing again.

The street outside was brightly lit by the midday sun, and Jason shielded his eyes with a hand as they stung in the sudden light change.  Stairs came into view, descending from his position into a wall of zombies.

He suddenly fell forward as a zombie tackled him from behind.  Jason put a palm to the zombie’s forehead before Dash hit it in the back of the head and it went limp.  He pushed off the zombie and turned around, watching as the zombies came closer.  He backed up, looking for the hole that appeared to have disappeared. 

The zombies got closer and closer, and he heard screaming as Evening either got bitten or grabbed.


______________________________________________________________


Jason awoke, breathing heavily as reality came into focus.  Dash and Evening started to regain consciousness soon after the dream had been severed, waking up in much the same way.  He stuck a hoof behind Dash’s head, stroking her mane and attempting to calm her as much as he was himself.  

“Jason, give us an escape plan next time.”  She said after her breathing slowed, and she had regained cognitive thought.  “Since when was the last time one of us hasn’t gotten killed?”

“Two dreams ago, I think.  Not that bad of a record.”

“Kindly leave me out of whatever that was from now on.”  Evening said, stretching her back as she started to get up.  “Even without the walking corpses, I don’t want to end up as a different species or anything like that.”

“Well excuse me, I didn’t think it would still apply to you, it took months for Dash to take to it in the degree you did in a day.”

“Like that’s hard to believe, I used to be in a hive mind.”

“Oh, cry me a river, you didn’t get hurt.  Maybe a little scared, but you’re fine.”

“So you think I’m a wus?  Is that it?”

“What if I do?  Dash didn’t ever complain as much as you are right now.”

“Ladies!”  Dash butted in, chuckling at Jason’s clear annoyance.  “You don’t need to yell at each other over this, it’s too weird to argue about anyway.”

“Jason doesn’t seem to think so.”

“Whatever, look at it this way, you experienced something that nopony ever has before, that should be good for something.”

“Fine.”  She hopped off the bed and made for the exit.  “Tell me if you two decide to do something else with that thing.”  She pointed towards the Xbox.  “It was a lot of fun, thanks for letting me use it.”

“No problem.  You going back to Shining’s tent?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Because I’m sure he’s going to yell at me a whole lot about yesterday.  Figured you’d want to watch.”

“What happened yesterday?”

“I knocked out a pony and kicked him out of the military.”

“Oh.”  Evening paused, before her jolly personality returned.  “Well, see you two later!”  She said before leaving.

Jason waited a few more seconds before speaking again.  “How’s your head, Dash?” 

“Feels fine, no dizziness as far as I can tell.”

“Good, you had me worried there for a while.”

“Oh look at you, worried about me.  I like the attention.”

“You’re so predictable.”  He rolled over and grabbed his saddlebag off the ground, pulling out the pad of paper.

“I guess it’s been a while since we checked that, huh?”  Dash asked, tapping her hoof against Scoots’ hoof print.  

“Yeah, only one message besides the usual ‘love you guys’ in the corner.  It says, ‘I tried to delay her, but I think Twilight’s onto you, Jason.’”

“So she found out?”

“I think she’s about to, judging by how this sounds.  It probably would’ve been more urgent if Twilight was freaking out.  Or something.”

“But still, we never told her, do you think we should have?”

“I dunno, I didn’t want to play a game of ‘thousand questions’ with her, I already had enough questions to answer of Lyra’s.”

“Maybe you are pretty lazy after all.”

“Well with all of Twilight’s supposed intelligence, she sure seems to find some things out slowly.”

“Don’t tell her that.”  

“I won’t, she’d probably- I don’t know what she’d do, actually.”

“Well whatever she does, we’ll at least be back soon to argue about this.”

“Hooray, I can look forward to that.”

“Let’s just get this thing with Shining over with so we can get packed up and move camp.”

“Oh yeah, we’re doing that today.”  Jason pulled himself out of bed and stretched, waiting for her to follow suit.  She did the same, before walking past towards the door.  He lifted up a hoof and spanked her rump, receiving a yelp and a blush in return.  “You ever been teleported before?”  He asked, oh so tactfully changing the subject.

“No, I but I’m willing to try.”  She said, smirking back at him.  Never a good sign.

“Fine then, stand next to me here.”  He said, waiting for her to lean into his side.  “Now try not to move.”  There was a pop and a whoosh of air, before they appeared just outside Shining’s tent.

“That’s what it feels like?”  She asked, looking confused.

“What did you expect?”  He asked as he entered Shining’s tent, which was full of the new griffin recruits.  

“I dunno, something with fewer changes in air pressure.”

“Sorry to disappoint.”

“It was still fun, I guess.”

“Yeah, we didn’t teleport inside any ponies, so that’s good.”

“Wait what?!”  She yelled, causing Jason to chuckle as he walked over to Shining’s desk.  The general looked up and frowned.

“Have fun yesterday?”  He asked.

“The pony?”

“Yeah, that was illegal in so many ways!”  His angry expression turned into a smirk.  “At least, that’s what they told me to say.”

“Huh?”  Jason replied, not expecting the change in pace.

“I would’ve done the same thing, had I been in your position.  May not have stopped if Cadence had been hit either.”

“So… I’m not in trouble?”

“No, and I forwarded the order to kick that pony out.  It set a good example either way, makes our jobs easier.”

“Okay good, I was a little worried there.”  He looked around at the griffins, some chatting with Eravel in a corner, others in smaller groups or by themselves.  A few ponies were intermixed into the group and were chatting along with the griffins, although he had no idea why the group was here.

“You’re probably wondering why they’re all here.”  Shining assumed in a brilliant moment of deduction.

“Yeah.”  Jason replied in a brilliant use of the English language.

“Wait,”  Dash started.  “We’re going ahead with the plan, aren’t we.”

“Well that’s all up to you, I guess, you have to persuade them.”

“Great.  More speeches.”
> Evening Discovers Bottle Rockets
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Evening Discovers Bottle Rockets


"So I'm assuming all these griffins didn't volunteer?"  Jason asked, looking around at the surrounding population.

"No, I just brought them here.  I guess I figured you'd want to pick them out anyway, even with all your angry talk of a speech."  Shining replied, shrugging his shoulders

"You're pretty good at those anyway, Jason."  Dash spoke up, running a reassuring hoof along his side.  

"Yeah I know."  He said, smirking.

"What happened to being humble?"  She asked, punching at his shoulder in annoyance.  

"Just let me work my magic here, stand aside, common citizen."

"How do you two stand each other all this time?"  Shining asked, shaking his head.  "I don't remember the last time you two had a serious conversation."

Jason snorted in laughter.  "Ironically, that's usually pillow talk." 

Dash giggled.  "We're planned years in advance."  

Shining facehoofed.  "Just...talk to them."

"Fine."  He turned to face the side of the tent that had most of the griffins and ponies.  "Attention!!"  He yelled, watching as the griffins lined up in several rows in front of him.  He couldn't say the ponies did that...

"Now, I know you're all new here, and it looks like you're getting along.  And I'm sure you know that the next city on our list is the capitol.  Hopefully that'll be our last stop, but I can't be sure.  But maybe you're wondering how we're going to take the city.  Well, that's where you come in, hopefully.  From what Eravel over there's told me, the griffin government isn't exactly benign."  A chuckle circled around.  "So that got me thinking, if the people are annoyed, we just need to set them off.  But obviously we can't go in there and start telling them how it is, we're not griffins."

"Remember that it's optional operation, Jason."  Shining said, not looking up from his desk, where he had firmly planted himself.  

"I was getting to that.  We can't take all of you, and I'm sure some of you won't want to partake.  But we really need eight, and I hope you'll take this opportunity to make a name for yourself."  He paused to sigh.  "So, any takers?"  A whisper circulated around before several talons raised into the air.  "All of you, step forward."  A group of griffins extracted themselves from the crowd, forming another row as the previous ones closed back up.  Jason looked the row over, noticing with limited surprise that Eravel was included.  

"Eravel, a word?"  Jason asked, watching as the griffin stepped forward.  He grabbed Dash and brought her with him, creating a small group off to the side of the tent.  

"Yeah?"  The griffin asked.

"Well, I'm fine with you going, but you know that there's a good chance that they'll recognize you."  Jason said.

"I'm still going."

"That's fine, I'm just warning you."

"As long as there's some sort of plan involved.  But hey, you haven't let us down yet, right?"

"Yeah, not yet..."  He sighed.  "This is a stressful job sometimes.  But I guess I make up for that by screwing around at inappropriate times, so you know, there's a trade off."

"So the verdict is..."

"I'm going to make sure you're prepared, and after we move, then we'll see how this goes.  You're worth a lot Eravel, not just to the team but strategically.  Losing you could be pretty harmful."

"What, because I know the city?"  He asked.

"Well yeah, and because you're also our only ranged unit, besides the two of us.  I'm not saying that I'm not going through with this, I just want to make sure that it doesn't fail."

"Okay, that sounds fine.  You sounded like you were going to stop the mission there for a second."

"No, I don't back down from obstacles.  I just plan around them."  Jason replied, smirking slightly.

"Is he choosing the griffins?  They've apparently been through basic training, but we all kinda have more than that..."  Dash pointed out.

"I guess the idea is to blend in, spread rumors that way.  The main problem with this plan lies in where you're going to stay with all the others.  I doubt this is going to be a one day thing, although it probably won't take that long.  Listen, just get a team together, and I'll work out a rough plan with Shining until he gets a map of the Capitol made, okay."

"Sounds good.  Eight including myself?"

"Yeah, eight's a good number."  Eravel walked off after a brief salute, immediately gathering the griffins that had volunteered together.  "So shining..."  Jason said, turning to the general.  "How was what I did yesterday illegal in more than one way?"

"Huh?  Oh, assault and misuse of power, technically.  It was more of a statement that was supposed to scare you a little."

"Ah, well thanks for that."

"Yeah, so you want to see where I was going to move camp to?"

"Sure, this is today, right?"

He nodded.  "Some troops are already in the area, I sent them early this morning.  They've reported back positively, and we should be moving closer to sunset."

"So where is this ambiguous position?"  Dash asked, trotting over to stare at the large topographic map that, as usual, covered an entire corner of the tent.  

"It's too small of a thing to show here, really, but it's right about..."  He looked down at his notes, flipping a few pages.  "Here."  His hoof broke off a tiny tree.  "I'm obviously correcting the map."

"So camp's under the giant tree?"  Jason asked, putting a hoof to his chin in a philosophical manner.

He chuckled.  "There's a small clearing, big enough to land things, but hopefully not too big to be seriously noticeable.  At least a fair amount of tents will be under tree cover, but there's only so much I can do."

"Why's that such a big deal?"

"Easier to sneak up on the camp, I guess.  I mean, the griffins aren't really the stealthy type, but they set fire to this place already, who's to say they won't try again?"

"Would it be too much trouble to just put some pegasi in the trees?"  Dash asked, giving a characteristic shrug.  "It's not like this is a jungle, we can still see through the trees."

"How about we worry about defense when we get there, eh?"  Shining replied, folding a piece of paper.  "You guys can go do whatever it is you do until we're ready to go.  Pack up before then, though."

Jason nodded, looking around the room.  "You got any more things of interest for us?"  

"I got a box full of stuff and what appears to be part of a window, which one do you want first?"

"Can we just get both?"  

"Gotta take the fun out of everything..."  Shining muttered before he walked over to the bunks, pulling out the stuff from beneath Evening and shaking her around.  He set the boxes in front of Jason frowning as the contents continued to shake.  "So you get to deal with whatever the fuck is in there..."  

"Ah, thanks."  Jason rolled his eyes and picked up the boxes, walking through the exit and looking up at the sky.  Dash gave her wings a few hard flaps before she took off, spiraling upwards until Jason lost her in the sun.  He heard a giggle from behind himself and twisted around to see that Evening had followed.  Unsure as to whether that should annoy him or not, his thoughts were cut off as she started to talk.

"She's really something.  A great flyer and all this fighty stuff."  She sighed.  "I just wish Changeling transformations matched abilities..."

"Yeah, how does that work anyway?"  He asked, slowing down to let her catch up.  

"Simple, you get some of the benefits, but only to a point.  Like take her, for example."  She pointed towards the sun without looking up.  "If you became her, as I'm sure you do all the time..."

"Hey, I don--"

"I know you do, I'm sure you've done that just to look at yourself in a mirror.  Maybe do other things?"  She leaned forward expectantly.

Jason's face reddened.  He'd never remembered to drop the disguise, he realized.  "I--no, being a mare still creeps me out.  I joke about it, but it's not like I'm ever going to--do anything."

"Oh, look at you, always so awkward around things.  It's all objective, really."

He facehoofed.  "No, it's not.  Not for me, anyway.  I don't think like you, I never have.  I guess I probably never will.  Dash isn't some sort of thing to me, just because she loves me as a changeling doesn't mean it's because of clandestine reasoning.  I know it's all a game to you, a way to push your own survival, and that's fine, you don't deserve to starve.  But let's face it, she won't ever be like that to me, and if I were a pony it'd end up the same way."

"Yeah, I was just saying that you've got to look at changes in an objective manner.  Obviously being a mare isn't going to sway her much, unless..."

"No."

"So then, it doesn't really matter, now does it?  Depending on how you look at it, Changelings really aren't that selfish, when they aren't mindless or controlled by someone else, of course.  I mean, we go replace a family member, friend whatever, and by the general rules,"  she paused, muttering "which don't seem to mean anything anymore,"  she resumed her normal volume, looking Jason in the eye again.  "What do we really do?  We attend to their needs as best we can, and in return, we get something that's wasted on other ponies daily.  They can't feel love, sometimes they don't know it even exists.  So really, is it that bad?"

"I never questioned your motives."  It was Evening's turn to blush.  "I just don't want you to question mine."  Dash landed with a thump in front of them, smiling broadly as she led the other two into the tent.  

"Have fun, Dash?"  Jason asked, figuring he already knew the answer.  

"Well it was so-so for a while, but then this really nice wind picked up, and it combined with the updraft coming off this place, and--It was awesome!"

"Is it still like that?  I'm kinda jealous now."  Jason replied, looking up after he set down the box and 'partial glass pane' as Shining called it.

"No, it was only a little wind, not much.  Sorry Jason."

"It's not your fault.  By the way, Evening followed me here."  Evening waved a hoof nervously.  

"Yeah, that's fine.  I noticed before, you know."

"Yeah, but you have a way of not telling me what plans you have."  He looked up and gave her a slight wink.  

She giggled.  "I do have a way of doing that, huh?"

"You guys are so see through!"  Evening cried out, throwing her hooves into the air.  "What's the point of flirting like that if it's so obvious?"

"We ran out of subtlety."  Jason replied, causing Dash to laugh.  "It only lasts so long."  He paused, calming down for a moment.  "Anyway, I'm sure at least one of you cares what's in the box."

"I wonder which one of us fits that profile."  Dash said sarcastically, poking at Evening.

"Well, I'll save the 'glass' until later..."  He started sifting through the box's contents, pulling out some pieces of trash and slightly disappointing himself.  Then the things started to look better, and he pulled out a riot control mask.  

"Hey Dash, put this on."  He handed over the helmet and she shifted it around a few times before she realized that that visor was supposed to go over her face.  Jason looked over at her and burst into laughter.  "My little riot control!"  He said, watching as Dash's cheeks turned red and she took of the mask, as if expecting it to be embarrassing.  "You look fine, Dash, just funny because I have a crappy sense of humor."

"So, riot control?"

"Yeah, pretty cool huh?"

"Why does it say 'MP'?

Jason shrugged, scratching the back of his mane.  "I don't really know, actually."

"Jason, you're supposed to know this stuff!"

He grunted and went back to his searching, pulling out a few more chunks of garbage.  Unsuccessful venture, as it turned out.  Several more things, all trash, another Xbox headset, that was pretty useless.  A set of walkie talkies, half or a lightbulb...wait.  "There we go!"  He held up the stubby antenna'd devices, tossing one over to Dash after he'd turned it on.  So full batteries to boot, nice!

"The fuck, Jason, I don't know what this does."  She replied.

"How often does Rarity call you obtuse?"  

"Well actually she calls me unladylike.  Like, you know, when I burp in the middle of a dinner with my friends, or like that time I got covered with mud and then walked into her boutique.  She said something stupid after that, like 'I didn't think I had to tell you, Rainbow Dash!'  Urgh.  At least I can make fun of her now that the 'unlikable' Dash got a colt friend."

"She called you that?"  Jason asked, rather surprised that Rarity wouldn't find something like that unladylike.

"Well, not to my face, anyway.  It's not like I cared, I kinda didn't try to start relationships for a while."

"I guess there still isn't a moment quite like the time where you get to say 'I told you so' to Rarity, huh?"

"You don't know the half of it."

"I don't want to ruin your conversation here,"  Evening began, "but can we talk about something where I can generate input?"

"Uh, sure.  I gotta test these."  He turned his own on, getting up and trotting to the door.  "Stay here, I'm going to be just over there."

"But how can--"  Dash started, only to be cut off by Jason leaving the tent.  She deadpanned and poked her head out through the exit in time to see Jason take off and disappear over a tent.  Dash sighed and shook her head, not understanding where this was--

"Hello, does anyone read?"  Came the indisputable voice of Jason, lower than his usual tone of voice and laced with static.  Evening jumped, putting a fair amount of distance between herself and the thing.

"How do I work this?"  Dash asked, looking at the labels of various buttons.  

"Press the call button, Dash."  Came Jason's reply.  So he must've been listening...  She snuck over to the exit of the tent before lunging outside.

"Aha!"  A few ponies turned and stared, including a few pegasi that were bringing a cart over.  She looked around before making a full circle around the tent, even checking in case he had planted himself on top.  Dash looked down and fumbled with the device for a moment before finding the call button and holding it down.  The box made a noise that sounded kind of happy.  What kind of thing was this anyway?

"Dash...I know where you live..."

She held down the talk button again, looked around and moved her muzzle closer.  "Hello?  Jason?"

"Ah, so it works!  Good!"  She moved her hoof away and stared, before she heard a pop and felt a slight gust of air, and Jason appeared in front of their tent.  She couldn't stop herself from jumping, it was always so strange to see a pony just appear like that.  Especially when he didn't have the bright flare that Twilight always boasted.

She couldn't be sure if it was part of changeling magic or not.  It always seemed to work the same, spells could be carried out to the same degree, but applications always differed.  Twilight had mentioned immediately after the wedding that part of a changeling's ambient magic could block tracking spells to a high degree, making them all but impossible to find.  Something she'd used to a great extent in the weeks following.  

Funny, if Twilight'd used one of the spells for her while they were separated, it would've worked, and none of this would've happened.  The limited magical disturbances that the Everfree created would've been a cakewalk.  Or had she known?  That seemed a little far fetched.  How could she possibly have known, especially if her first impulse would've been to freak out?  All the evidence had shown that they were threats, so why had they managed to go unnoticed?

Fuck if she knew, it could've been a bunch of flukes, for all she knew.  Their whole existence seemed to be a whole bunch of luck, in a way.  Neither of them had died, and they at least seemed fairly happy despite the hive mind and the war.  And let's not forget that annoying part of her mind tittered.  And soul magic.  At least that problem had a chance of resolving itself, Luna was apparently working on that, and she knew more than Twilight when it came to old magic.

"Hey Jason?"  She said as she walked inside the tent with him.  "Are you happy?  With all of this, the hive mind?  All of it?"

He thought for a moment.  "With just that, or are you included?"

"Everything."

"I'd say I'm happy.  I'm glad that I have you, and I can feel a fair amount of pride knowing that we got this far, even if it is a war."  He sat down on the bed, facing the two mares.  "You know that game we were playing yesterday?  How long do you think that war lasted?"

"I dunno, couple months?"  Dash asked.  "You went pretty far there, it couldn't have taken that long."

"You're right, but who said that was the beginning of the war?"

"But, how did they have all those guys left?"

"The world's a big place, Dash.  World War II lasted five years, about eleven months."

Dash shook her head.  "How could it take that long?"

"Well, you know how we fight with spears and knives?"

"Yeah."

"Well imagine adding three other means of fighting, by sea, by air, and using armor on land."

"We use armor, Jason."  Evening piped up, crossing her arms and shifting her sitting position.  "We're covered in it, as it turns out."

"I mean tanks.  You thought I just made up the name Tank?"

"Well, tank of water, tank of fish..."  Dash gestured to show that there were further examples.

"Ah."  He grabbed his computer out of his saddlebag, realizing with some amusement that he hadn't used it in a fairly long time.  "So, this is a picture of a modern day tank, which just so happens to be the best tank in the world.  It's American, just because I feel like telling you."  He swiveled the computer around to give them a look.



"So that's the Abrams, this next one is something that the Germans used in World War II, a tank that was far ahead of its time."



"It looks pretty primitive Jason, I dunno..."  Dash said with a smile.  "That big barrel's a gun?"

"Yup.  So that's armor for you.  A little more complicated then what we have, Evening."

"Yeah, you could say that."  She replied.

"What were we talking about before this?"  Dash asked, rubbing at an eye.  They didn't really look that big until she did something like that, Jason mused.  "Going through stuff, right?"

"Yeah."  He chuckled.  "Out of all the stuff I can explain here, I can't explain why our eyes work."

"Why, they look like they would work fine!"  Evening retorted.  "I mean, I can't see them, but--"

"No, not compound eyes, these things Dash has."

"What's wrong with my eyes?!"  She said, a slight hint of worry in her voice.  

"Nothing!  But unless you have fewer light receptors in the back of your eye, you should have brilliant night vision."

"Why?"

"Because your pupils are so huge, it lets a lot of light in."

"Ah, well if you had that theory, how did it take you so long to--"

"I just came up with it, actually."  He scratched the back of his head.  "Magic wasn't that tough, the only unknown I have is how unicorns move their energy.  It's all forces, as far as I can tell, and it seems to draw on energy in the same way doing the motion normally would."

"I don't think science applies to magic, Jason."  Dash said, smirking.

"But it does, that's the thing!  Why should things be any different?  Everything works the same, as far as I can tell.  You just do something with clouds that I cant figure out.  And the whole changeling thing.  But I'm close, at least."

"Why do you try?"  She replied with a laugh.  "I've told you a million times you're never going to find out."

"Just humor me Dash."  He was silent for a few more seconds before he closed the computer's lid and got up, moving over to the remaining junk.  He sifted through, nothing of much interest, as far as he could see.  Half a shoe, that was interesting.  A ping pong paddle, string from a tennis racket.  He pulled out a beer bottle and a bottle rocket, turning around to face them with a smile.

"Explosives?"  Dash asked.  

"Explosives."  He replied.  

"But that doesn't look like it'd do anything!"  Evening sifted through the garbage and pulled out a box of matches, laughing evilly.

"They're just matches, calm down."  Jason said, sliding the stick of the rocket into the beer bottle.  Actual beer would be nice...

"You're so easy to screw with."  Evening said, rolling around on her back.  

"So basically,"  He said, ignoring the other mare.  "You light this fuse and it goes up and explodes.  It's not a big firework so it's kinda lackluster."

"No biggie, it'll be cool to see a nonmagical firework."

"I dunno, yours are always perfect, these need to explode that way."  She nodded, walking over to the box again.  

"So, you gonna tell us what this thing is?"  She asked, pointing down at the curved polycarbonate shield.

"It's called a riot shield.  Looks like it's military, so it probably blocks bullets."

"How can it do that, you can't even see those things!"

"Don't ask me, I--do you smell smoke?"  He turned around and watched as the bottle rocket's fuse disappeared and it sailed through the roof, leaving a smoldering hole behind.  A muffled pop was heard, followed by a screech, and then the day was quiet again.  

"Ha, wow that was awesome!"  Evening yelled in perfect sync with Dash.  

Jason deadpanned.  "You guys are so obvious."  The bottle rocket streaked back through the roof, leaving another hole a few feet away as it bounced off of Evening's head.  The tent went silent for a moment before they all broke out into laughter, making more noise than what should have been necessary.  Jason was the first to calm, and pulled Evening to her hooves.  

"Evening, ha-I gotta fix this before we leave.  Is it okay if I call you back?"

Her face became somber in an instant before turning to a slight smile.  "Sure, sorry about that."

"It's not a big deal, shouldn't take too-hee long to fix."

"Mind if I take this?"  She picked up a walkie talkie.  "You can just contact me this way."

"Yeah, that's fine.  See ya."  Evening laughed and waved, heading out the exit rather quickly.  Jason turned his attention to Dash, who was trying and failing to recover from her laughing fit.  Jason sighed, not unhappily, and picked up a pair of scissors in his magic.  He floated them up to the roof and cut a rather large square hole, taking out the burnt circles.  How a little firework had managed to burn through fabric was beyond him, but at least it hadn't rebounded and blown up inside the tent, that wouldn't have ended well.

Jason sat down and tried to look through the hole, although the sun was shining through and obscuring his view.  He started to grow warm in the light, and laid down to bask in the feeling.  It was a kind of indirect warmth, like a toned down version of laying out in the sun as a human.  And it felt amazing.  He must've just not had time for this prior, or maybe he'd just never thought through the advantages of fur.  He didn't have it most of the time anyway.

"Jason, what're you doing?"  Dash asked, moving over and eclipsing some of the brilliant sunlight.

"Mhrmf."  He mumbled.  He cleared his throat and tried again.  "Lying in the sun.  Why didn't you tell me that this felt so good?"  

"Because you never asked, and we were busy anyway."

"We weren't those days in Ponyville..."  He paused. "You're blocking the sun."

"Fine, would you rather I do this?"  Jason tensed and prepared for the worst, throwing a protective hoof between his legs.  "Wha?  What did you expect, Jason?"

"The worst."  He mumbled, letting his body slacken.  She laid down in front of him, laying her head over his shoulder.  

"Hopefully this isn't the worst case scenario, right?"

"It could be worse."  He chuckled, although it only came out as a shaky breath.  "What you said before about being happy, I am."

"Glad to hear it."  She said, her mane spreading out over his chest and spilling down his back.  It tingled slightly, and his mouth curved into a smile.  What was a nap anyway, he was pretty sure Evening could wait.  She'd been the one to instigate the hole in the roof that felt oh so amazing.  Jason brought up a hoof and put it around Dash's shoulders, drawing her up on himself slightly as he drifted off.


__________________________________________________________


Jason woke up in the same tent, snapped awake by a feeling of cold that tingled down his back.  Funny, he'd remembered that it was fairly warm in the tent when he'd fallen asleep.  He also remembered that Dash was there.  Ah well, she could've woken up before him and--Oh sweet Jesus.

He stared out the front of the tent, before wiping his eyes and trying again.  Yup, he was definitely on a floating rock right now.  Over what appeared to be a rather beautiful spiral galaxy.  It was all rather surreal--well of course it was, it was a fucking dream, what was he supposed to expect?

But the fact that he was having these all the time was starting to worry him.  How could he possibly expect to feel rested when his brain was creating this--thing in his head every day?  It's not like it wasn't realistic either.  Well, he could see the galaxy rotate, that wouldn't happen that quickly, but most other things seemed the same.  

"Jason, where the hell'd you get this?"  Dash asked from behind him.

"AAAAAAHHHHH!!"  He jumped and turned around, raising a hoof before he noticed it was her.  

"Didn't you just recognize my voice?"  She asked, looking a little downtrodden.

He deadpanned.  "I don't think I thought about it that hard."  

"So which one of you is the dreamer?"  Another voice asked, before Luna walked up and over the side of the rock.  "Not only are you asleep in the day, but here you are, in a dream I can only partially control, and I don't even know who's dreaming."  She started to walk closer, examining the surrounding environment and looking closely at Dash.

"Dreams are usually only two dimensional, all content is a series of one sided shapes facing the dreamer.  Outside of the dreamscape the away facing walls are see through.  So inform us-we-me of how it's possible for you to dream in three dimensions."

"Well, um."  He tapped a hoof on the ground, looking back at the tent as Evening emerged.  "What-Jason?"  She said, looking like her brain was going to melt for a second.  "You fell asleep, you were supposed to get me!"

"Well you fell asleep too..."

"Yeah, but I-I thought that was a close proximity thing!  I don't want to be in your weird, messed up--Oh, that's pretty."  She looked down over the side of the boulder and let out a coo of amazement.

"That's another question, how, pray tell, do you know what a galaxy looks like?  Pony telescopes can only see in so much detail, Jorgensen."

"Uh, Jason."  He replied, slightly nervously.

"Yes, forgive me.  So, your explanation, including the part about why she's a changeling?"

"How did you--"  He met Luna's glare and looked away after a few seconds.  "You're familiar with the changeling system of the hive mind?"  He started, figuring being honest was probably best.  He really didn't want to explain the galaxy, and hopefully she wouldn't press it.

"Yes, I am aware of it, a vile system used by Chrysalis if I'm correct."  She looked up absentmindedly and rearranged a few stars in the dreamscape.  

"So...well..."

Evening sighed and spoke up.  "He's a changeling, all changelings possess some degree of a hive mind, he's stronger than the rest, and it's expanding.  It started with just Dash, apparently, but now I'm stuck here, apparently tied to this thing until I break the bond.  It's not hostile, he'll probably never develop the same kind of control Chrysalis has over her minions.  It's just confined to dreams and apparently slight influxes of love, although maybe you don't know what I mean by that."

"And I don't want to take over other ponies either."  Jason affirmed.  Dash trotted over and threw her hooves around his neck, looking up at the princess with wide eyes as Luna lost herself in thought.

"I have come to mine-my decision."  She announced, in a rather royal fashion, even without the old Canterlot tongue.  "I believe thou ponyfeathers you, clearly this isn't a real threat as it is.  But given how little control I still have here, I will be coming by to check up on things.  You may say that you don't want to control other ponies, but at some point it may no longer be your decision."

"Okay, I'll try not to go crazy."  Jason confirmed with a goofy smile, tipping an imaginary hat to the princess.  "How are things on the case with soul magic, if you don't mind me asking?"

She sighed.  "Slow.  There are only so many leads a pony like him leads.  I've investigated most of them, but it's tough to get information when the ponies at the ends don't know anything.  The only one that may have had something killed himself."  She paused, looking over at Evening again, who was bouncing around happily.  "So the changeling?"

"Oh yeah, she's friendly, don't worry."  Dash spoke up.  "Broke away from Chrysalis and actually saved a pony in Canterlot before we found her in the forest.  Her name's Evening Glory by the way, and with all the information she's given us I can honestly say she earned her keep."

"She doesn't appear particularly evil, I'll give you that much."  Luna giggled, watching Evening pounce on a rock that the princess was moving around in her magic.  

"Yeah..."  Jason replied slowly.  "She's pretty weird, but I guess that's to be expected."

"How did she fare under the hive mind?"  Luna asked after a long silence.

"She went partially insane.  I think she's fixed now though."  Jason shivered, finally noticing that he wasn't in the same furry form he'd been in previously.  Weird how he'd reverted to a changeling and Evening hadn't.  

"This dream's starting to become unstable."  Luna commented.  "So until next time, I suppose."  She took off into the air before she presumably left the dream.  The other rocks that were floating around started to crumble and spread as the galaxy below pixelated itself before disappearing.  A few more moments passed before the entire dream became black.


__________________________________________________


Jason woke up with a slight shiver, noticing almost immediately that the sun square had moved off of their bodies, and was now only touching on one of Dash's back hooves.  Jason floated over a pillow and replaced himself, slightly surprised that she hadn't woken up at the same time he had.  He started to gather things up, carefully moving the instruments into the buggy that was parked outside.  

He had to be careful at this point, they were accumulating too much stuff for him to just shove it in and forget.  He stuck the instruments as far to one side as he could, before tying them in place with some rope.  He went back for a second trip, noticing that Dash seemed to be waking up.  Jason walked over and bent down, planting a kiss on her forehead.  She giggled and shifted, batting a hoof at him playfully before she opened her eyes and looked up.

"Packing, are we?"  She yawned, putting a hoof to her mouth and striking a cute pose as she lightly bit down.

"Yeah, which probably means that you'll get out of doing anything."

"Do I need to act cuter?"

"You could...But Evening's going to probably invite herself over in a couple minutes."  He walked out and packed in Dash's armor and their other random...things.  He'd just shoved those in a box and forgot about it.  Eventually he'd need them, and at least they were all in one place.  He returned to the tent and started packing the last of the stuff into saddlebags, the knives, the computer, pretty much everything he was too lazy to move.

"Do you think what Luna said was worrying?"  Dash asked, getting up from the floor and tossing the cloud pillow back towards the bed, where it was absorbed.  "Dammit, I just made that one too."

"Oh yeah, because it was so very hard for you to make that first one.  And no, it wasn't really that worrying, she hasn't run through all her leads from what she was saying."

"Well then I guess--"

"Jason!"  Evening yelled as she walked in.  "Why would you let the princess into your dream?  You know how hard it was to act innocent?"

"Well given the fact that your whole life was pretty much acting...no."

"Why are you always so meeeeeaaaaan??"

"Because it's my hobby.  You probably just came here to play that thing anyway."  He pointed at the Xbox.  "Dash, you're on my team, I challenge you, Evening!"  He yelled melodramatically.

"But that's two against one, how's that fair?"

"I can get other people on there that are computer players."

She paused for a moment, looking at Jason for any sign of lies or blasphemy.  "Fine.  You're on."
	
> Free Time
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Free Time


"So then, is this basically like the last one?"  Dash asked, picking up one of the controllers and staring at it.

"Well it's the same series, but it was made several years later."  He started up the machine and the screen lit up.  "But because I'm curious, I'm just going to look at what this guy has on here..."

"Why does that matter, you just need the disk, right?"  Evening asked, grabbing her own controller and struggling to turn it on.

"You can download stuff, extra content, that's what I'm looking for."

"How'd you turn that thing on?"  Dash asked, watching the dancing lights around the Xbox logo shaped button.

"Just a second, Dash."  He pulled up another menu, whistling at a bar that was half full.  "He's got a lot of stuff on here."  Several minutes later, the menu went away and Jason pulled up another one.  "So, he's got pretty much everything I've ever downloaded as an add on, plus things from games I've never heard of."

"That's good, right?"  Dash asked, succeeding at turning on the controller by herself.  "Why isn't this a solid light like yours?"

"Oh, hold on."  He got up and walked over to the console, clunking his hoof against it a couple times before he growled and his horn lit up.  "Press that little button on the top."  She turned the controller around once or twice before pushing her hoof into what she assumed was the target Jason was talking about.  The lights changed pattern before assigning her a quarter circle.

"In the interest of speed here, let me get things set up."  He opened another menu and made himself an account, labeling it 'Donut' before taking Dash's controller and starting the same process.  "What name do you want, Dash?"

"Can I change it later?"

"Yeah."

"Um, how about 'Beef Jerky'?"

Jason chuckled.  "Sounds good to me."  He grabbed Evening's controller and went through the same process, labeling hers 'mustachio furioso' by request.

"So what did that do exactly?"  Dash asked as he passed Evening's controller back.

"It just made accounts for the three of us, so that'll track achievements, which are pretty self explanatory, and things like that.  And it saves games to your name, Beef Jerky."  She giggled.

"I guess I better not show this to anypony else, they'll have questions."

"Or I guess you could change it."  He closed the tray and the game finally started up, bringing them to a menu where a planet was rotating while piano music played.  "I guess he was a zombie kind of guy."

"Why don't we just play that?"  Dash asked, fiddling with a joystick.

"Because neither of you know how to play, and I want you to at least know the controls first."

"But I do!"  Evening butted in.  "I'd probably beat you anyway."

"Ha, except Nazi Zombies isn't about shooting.  You can't get far if you only shoot, it won't work."

Evening narrowed her eyes.  "You're lying."

"Nope, I can show you later.  Just create a class here."  He set down his controller and watched Dash tentatively enter the menu.

"Where are you going?"

"It's probably going to take you a while, and I--"  He collapsed and held at his head, and Dash dropped the controller to go help him before Evening fell over and started to mimic Jason.  

You're getting stronger, maybe I should be taking you more seriously, hmm?  He tried to push her out of his mind, but she hardly budged.  And look, creating your own hive mind with another changeling, how quaint.  And yet, you have a trick it seems.

What the fuck are you talking about?  He managed to repress her signal a ways, and the pressure let up slightly.  Evening seemed to feel the benefit more, as she slowed her convulsions as far as Jason could tell.

That other thing you've got attached.  I'm going to assume that you've brought a pony into the hive mind, and yet she's as unresponsive as a stick.

Maybe you're just losing your strength...

Oh, so we're going to play this way, huh?  Well we'll just see who gets to throw the last punch, hmm?  You may be useful after all, as it turns out.  It only takes so long to break a mind.  He felt a little lightheaded as Chrysalis left, and struggled to get his eyes to focus.  Eventually Dash's face came into view, and the feeling of her arm behind his back entered his mind.

"How long was that?"  He asked after a brief wave of nausea passed over.

"A couple minutes at least."  She replied, biting her lip as she looked over at Evening.  "She seemed to calm down after a minute or so, and I think she's still conscious."

"Good, I guess."

"What about you, you always look worse!  Why can't there be anything that I can do to help?"

"Because then everything'd be too easy."  He replied softly, putting a hoof around her head and moving it towards him to kiss.  "You're too hard on yourself, it's not that bad."  Evening took a few quick breaths and rose from the floor, wobbling a bit before she turned and walked over.  "Alright, give me hell."  Jason said.  "I know you're going to."

She was silent for a moment.  "Thanks."

Jason's expression immediately twisted into one of confusion.  "Why?  She wouldn't have included you if it weren't for me."

"Yeah, but whenever she contacted me, it was always terrible, like what you just went through."  

Dash gave Jason a stare.  "Not that bad, huh?"

Evening ignored her.  "But now she can only contact me through you, and if you want me to leave this thing I'm fine with it, but whatever you did with her, it was a lot easier this time."

"It's not a big Deal, Evening."  Jason replied.  "Seriously, don't worry about it."

"But, what if she goes after me?"

"Then I'll persevere.  That's what friends do, right?"

"I'm...your friend?  You aren't just being nice to me because you have to?"

"No, I--oof."  The air was pushed out of his lungs as Evening grabbed him, hugging him more tightly than he would have liked.  He gave her a couple breathless pats on the back before she released him and a blush hinted on her face.

"Just--thanks, okay?"

"Yeah, sure.  Why's it such a big deal?"  He asked, taking some deep breaths to try to get his blood circulating as he leaned against the side of the bed.  

"Because I don't need to lie to you or anything, it's refreshing."

"What about Lyra?"  Dash asked, reclining next to Jason.

Evening's ears pined back and her eyes grew misty.  "I still miss her, she's who I really owe this freedom to."

"Do you want to go back now?  I can get you a ride to Ponyville."  Jason spoke up, wiping some sweat off his furry brow.  

"No, I heard what happened to you when those ponies jumped you, I don't want to get in the same scenario.  Plus, I've been a changeling my entire life, you might need some information."

"Yeah, you're probably right."  He picked up his controller again, setting it on the bed above himself. 

"Jason, you said you couldn't become a griffin, right?"  Dash asked.  "Cuz that would make this whole thing a lot easier."

"Evening?"  Jason inquired, watching her think about the open ended question.

"Well I've done my fair share of transformations, at least a couple were of fake ponies.  I'm pretty sure that proportions need to stay somewhat similar, and as far as I know we can't grow things like talons.  Not tangible ones, anyway.  There might be usable illusion spell, but the beak would be hard...  I don't think you can do it, it's way too complicated.  But you do have a fair amount of wiggle room in pony form, as I'm sure you know."

"Thus the reason why I can't make really long legs."  Jason replied.

"Well, partially.  You're bigger than most stallions, and Changelings can't get infinitely big.  Well theoretically we can, but it would be pretty tough.  You know how you're pretty big to start out?"

"Yeah..."

"Well anything bigger takes a lot more energy, to a ridiculous extent.  I mean, if you got enough love you could end up super sized, but that'd take years.  Maybe not with you two, but generally it's too risky.  When we run out of love we don't just die like that.  There's a starving period, but big things can skip that completely.  You'd be dead in an instant."

"Just dead?"  Dash asked, dumbfounded.  "Like, immediately?"

"Yeah, it's weird to think about, huh.  But I guess you are a pony, so go figure."  Evening replied with a smirk.  "It's basically the equivalent of getting your head cut off."

"Ah."  

"Hey, not to interrupt the dandy little conversation here, but I'm going to go outside and throw up, I'll be back in a couple minutes."

"Yeah, nice interruption Jason."  Dash giggled.  "It's not because of the hive mind thing though, right?"

"No, I'm just feeling a little bloated.  Glad you asked?"

"Be sure to bring back a complete report!"  She yelled over to him as he left, quickly returning her eyes to the screen as she cycled through various guns.  He sighed and shook his head, amazed that they could be sucked in so easily.  He walked a ways away from the tent, to the edge of the camp he realized he'd be leaving in...he looked up...a couple hours.  It was two or so, and chances are they'd be leaving closer to four.  

He found a couple trees just inside the trench line, probably the only ones inside the trench line, as it turned out.  Jason trotted over to the back of one of the further trees and waited a moment.  It was funny how he'd done this several times, and yet he never really knew how to initiate it.  He'd just feel more like throwing up until he retched and his body went through the process.  It wasn't a feeling of nausea, though, it was more of an urge.  

Jason retched.  Every single time he expected the taste of bile and the feeling of burning in his throat, and every time it ended up just feeling like he was drinking water in reverse, although in the interest of fairness it was thicker than water.  He retched again and stood back to his full height, before holding back the urge to tense up again.  It didn't really smell either, come to think of it.  

He looked up, catching the gaze of one of the officers as he walked across camp with a couple of his presumed friends.  Star something.  Ah well, it wasn't a big deal if he didn't know their names, he could just as easily call them new things every time.  Jason took a few steps back towards the tent before stopping and backing up a couple steps.  In the hollow of one of the trees he noticed a shiny metal cylinder, and quickly reached his hoof in to pull out the offending object.  

Star something was still looking over in a way that Jason presumed was supposed to be subtle.  He chuckled.  Not that it was easy to tell where his pupils were when he could just as easily make it look like they were somewhere else.  One of the things that was easy to do with compound eyes and advanced transformation magic.  Good thing he didn't have total power, he'd probably just use it to set up a whole bunch of practical jokes.  

Jason looked back down at the cylinder before holding it up to the light.  As far as he could tell it looked like a silencer.  But he'd never seen one in person, so he couldn't really be sure.  Oh well, as long as it fit on one of the guns...

If it did brake something, he'd be screwed until he found another firearm, which could be months.  Another look at the officer.  Still there, pretending to listen to something Blueblood was saying.  Not that Blueblood was terribly interesting anyway, he assumed.  

Now onto more important matters, how to freak out these guys as he walked past?  He let the silencer slip and bent down to pick it up, trying to buy himself time.  What could he really do that was that freaky, though?  The most he could screw with was large partial transformations, but that seemed like something he didn't want rumors about.  What about internal changes though?  He twisted his neck around as a test, and it didn't come seriously close to halfway.  

He teleported away, putting a tent between the other guys.  Okay, so creepy things... Foals in an army camp.  That was a good start, he wanted to be able to stop on a dime and then turn his head all the way around.  Just for shits and giggles.  So that meant longer tendons, something he was pretty sure he could do.  Scoots had a pretty flexible neck, he could just use her.  

He made the shift and looked at a hoof before turning the fur a darker hue of orange and making the mane red and splotchy.  Jason formed several bruise looking patches of fur on his sides, making the rest of his fur ragged in some places, and more close cut in others.  

Oh wait, he had that one spell that he'd never used, the one that made ponies' perception of light get all screwed up so that it looked darker.  This would be fun.  He tried the spell on a passing pony and watched him freak out for a moment before the spell lifted again and the same pony tested his vision.  

So now eyes.  Totally black would probably be the scariest, so that's what he'd have to go with.  He walked over to the side of the tent and peered around before checking his reflection in a puddle.  He put in a scar across his muzzle for good measure, adding a long claw mark along his side.  Actual injuries were out of the question, but he could easily shift hair around and change the coloration of skin.  

They were still there, seeming to have forgotten about him.  So now, how to play this?  Whatever, improvisation had gotten him this far.  Jason walked towards them a few steps before starting to cast the spell, slowly bringing down the brightness.  He teleported over to the area, slowly appearing out of the artificial darkness.  Blueblood noticed him immediately and seemed to be taking it the worst as he started pointing a hoof and making noise, without actual words to compliment the sound effects.

Jason trotted past with a rather pitiful limp, giving them a great view of the fake scar on his side.  He pretended that they weren't there, slowly curving around the group and drifting closer.  He caught another glance out of the corner of his eye and could hardly stop himself from grinning.  Blueblood was still freaking out, and the others were starting to lose their cool as well.  It was a good thing he had become a foal, he probably would've been attacked otherwise.  

Jason turned away from the group as soon as he got within a few feet of them, feeling their emotions turn to relief before he stopped in his tracks, staring forward for a few seconds before twisting his neck all the way around to stare at them again.  Star Grazer, that was his name!  The officer jumped a little as he saw Jason's eyes, before Jason pulled the last trick out of his hat.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"  He screamed at them, watching as they scattered ranks and fled.  Jason let the spell fade before cracking up in laughter and falling onto his back, drawing more than a few stares from ponies that had either seen the display or were just creeped out.  A small group was laughing like mad a ways away, and the laughter slowly spread as word fanned out of what had happened.

Whoever was in that first group back there, they sure were perceptive.  He got a hold of himself and stood back up before making a beeline back to the tent, although he was unable to completely silence the residual giggles as he remembered the look on Blueblood's face, which had far stood out from the other two.  

Jason wandered back through the camp, amazed at how far he had actually walked for that.  A glint reflected off the ground from behind some low grass, and he picked up a digital camera of some sort.  He wasn't really much of an expert on these things.  He was still holding it in a hoof as he hobbled back into the tent.  Some unfamiliar ponies looked up and flinched, retreating further away.

"Whoops, wrong tent."  He said with a chuckle, before turning to leave.  He got his bearings and proceeded to enter the correct tent, at a ninety degree angle from the one he'd just tried.  Jason walked inside, and pressed a few buttons on the camera, succeeding in making it turn on and display the title Sony.  He raised it up to an eye and aimed it at Dash and Evening before snapping a photo.  Evidently the flash made them turn to look at the new device, sporting faces of mortification and amusement, respectively.

"Jason...Is that you?"  Dash asked, squinting her eyes.  "Why the hell did you decide to look like that?"

Jason looked down at his arm before shifting back into his Alternis form.  "Well while I was throwing up those officers from the other team were staring at me and talking."  He picked up a controller and started to edit a class.  "But the thing is, I couldn't just let them theorize their conspiracy without screwing with them at least a little, and what better way to do that but through the use of changeling powers and other magic?"

"Just how complicated are we talking here?"  Dash asked, watching as he scrolled through maps.

"Well I made myself look like that, then I used that spell from a long time ago where I mess with a pony's visual perception and voila!  Something that's even creepier in the middle of the day."

"You waste so much time..."  Dash replied with a giggle, surely imagining the event in her head.  

"Then tell me, how many seconds after you finished did it take for me to walk in?"  

"Five."  Dash mumbled.

"Looked through all the guns, huh?"

"Like five times, some of those look awesome!  But then I started looking at those little graphs, and then it started to take longer..."

"Heh, so what'd you pick?"  Jason asked, noticing that Evening was slumped against the bed looking like she was about to die of boredom.  So she'd probably been kept waiting about two to three minutes.  

"This one here, the Scar."  

"It's all in the FAL, babe."  He nudged her shoulder and she giggled.  

"There's some sort of score in this, right?"  Jason set the rules for a hard point game and reverted to the main screen.  

"Yeah, so Evening, wake up!"  She lazily looked over at him, before suddenly popping back into her usual, semi-hyper state.  

"We're ready?"  She asked excitedly, wiggling a controller in her hoof.

"Well, I have to explain some stuff to you first, but almost.  I'm going to assume the weapons are pretty self explanatory, considering they had descriptions and all, so onto the game.  This isn't a shoot everyone and win kind of game,  you have to control the hard point, which'll be marked.  There're point streaks in this that get you rewards, and you can pick those in this menu here.  Obviously higher point items are harder to get, because the point counter resets after each life.  You get points for controlling the hard point.  Classic map, here goes nothing."  The screen changed to show a picture of a few houses and the prominent lettering:  Nuketown 2025.

"So we're on the same team, right Jason?"  Dash asked.

"Yeah, go SEALs."  He said as another menu popped up.  Then pick your class.  Everything else should be pretty self explanatory seeing as you've both seen these controls before."

The counter reached zero, and their teams (mostly comprised of robots) raced off into the maps.  Jason had to admit, controls like this were definitely not as easy as they were before.  Even so, he immediately started the game with an advantage as a sticky grenade took out a few of the AI.  

Evening's confident smile turned competitive as the hard point changed hands again and again.  She concentrated harder on the screen, slowly aiming her gun around a corner before a little rolling tank rolled out of one of the houses.  Nothing was friendly in this game, she knew that by now.  But the little guy, a cute tank if there ever was one, followed her around the bus and knocked out her character.

"Where'd the tank thing come from?"  She yelled at the screen, feeling a slight amount of anger grow when Jason chuckled.  

"It's one of the scorestreak things, you shouldn't have chosen the highest ones."

"But there were dogs and robot birds!"  

Jason chuckled and hid his character before taking an extended look at Dash's screen.  She'd graduated from her initial strategy of spin and look down, and now at least seemed to have the map memorized.  Her character popped out from behind a truck and sprayed some bullets into a couple of bots.  She cheered as they fell, struggling with the controller for a moment to use the scorestreak she'd earned after the second and third kill.  She pulled out a little drone and threw it directly into Evening's character as she walked around a corner.  

As Dash improved and the game drew on, the score tilted more heavily towards Jason's side, quickly wrapping up as they started to work in a strategy.  Evening sighed and crossed her arms, clearly annoyed that she'd lost.  

"Fine, you win."  She said after a few moments.  "You're better than me."

"What?"  Jason asked, putting a hoof to his ear.

"I said you're better than me!"  She yelled back.  Jason only chuckled.  

"We can play as a team then if you want I mean--Wait, there's another thing we can try."  He got up and opened the tray, replacing it with another disk.

"You said you wanted to try Zombies, and we don't have much time left, but they made a mini game for some reason.  The game faded into a torture room, and the girls both took to immediately studying everything about the picture.  

"The numbers Mason, what do they mean?"

"Who's he talking to?"  Dash asked,  "The guy you're playing as, right?"

"Yeah, there's a campaign in all of these games.  I didn't like much of this game, but the campaign was actually pretty great.  Usually it's just 'go here, shoot this' but with this one dialogue was important, and they had a story twist that I honestly wasn't expecting.  For once I got up from the chair when I was done and thought, 'I'm thoroughly impressed.'  But I could pass on most of the rest of this game."

"So why are we playing it?"

"Well, Beef Jerky, they have some maps of Zombies that I really like.  I don't love this one, but whatever.  It's nothing like the other zombies games.  One stick shoots, the other moves by the way."

"Kill the zombies, right?"  Evening asked.  "Sorry, stupid question."

"Yeah.  This has a fun soundtrack though."



"This is kinda weird."  Dash said, moving her guy through the exit of the first stage.

"I dunno, this kind of game kinda has a nice ring to it."

"How do we win?"  Evening asked.

"Well it never ends, but there's a boss on round forty.  Then it restarts."  He heard Evening chuckle and they took up the challenge.  He found he quite liked the other two on his team, they would always get the guys he missed and generally act responsibly for the good of the team.  Something he found a little surprising of Evening, all things considered.  Maybe it was only when she didn't have anyone to compete with...

Someone knocked, Jason presumed on one of the posts that held up the tent, and Jason paused the game.  He got up and walked over towards the door, stopping briefly to give Dash a kiss and ruffle up her mane.  A stallion was standing outside, looking at the buggy.

"This thing all loaded up?  I can take it?"

"Uh, wait just a second."  Jason trotted back inside and picked up the boxes of flash bangs and bullets, prying the lid up enough to check that there were actual weapons inside.  

"Do we have to stop?"  Dash asked.  "We were kinda far though, I don't really want to..."

"No, I'm just putting everything else in with the buggy.  We can bring this along in the troop transport one, although it might be a little heavy with Evening on there as well..."

"I'm not fat!"

"Heh.  Well we'll have to wrap this up anyway, if we--"  The pony poked his head in.

"Actually, Shining wants everyone to get going now, so..."

"Uh, okay then."  Dash sighed, setting her controller down sadly.

"No, this is a disaster!  An outrage I tell you!"

"Evening, it's just a game!"  Jason yelled back, shaking at her shoulders.

"Just a game?!  JUST A GAME?!?!?  It's like a way of life!!!"

"You've been doing this for like three hours total, I think you can handle it!"

"But-But-"  She stuck a hoof up in protest, making her take on a rather pathetic looking posture.  

"I'm not falling for it."  He turned his head away and crossed his arms, refusing to give in.

"But Jason,"  Dash started,  "She looks so sad..."

"She's a changeling, I'm sure it's not too hard."

"Oh yeah."  She giggled.  "Sorry Evening, I'm with Jason."  She got up and leaned into his side, nuzzling against his cheek.

"I'm just going to leave then, I'll be back in a couple minutes if you three have solved anything by then."  The stallion rolled his eyes and left, escorted out by a giggle and laugh from Dash and Jason.  

"I guess we might as well just load up the TV and stuff, it'll have a lower chance of breaking."

"But-"  Evening protested.

"Breaking."

"But-"

"Forever."

"Fine.  I'll see which buggy I'm supposed to go in.  If you're with that giant guy from Team Green Bean, I'll kindly stay off that thing."

"Fair enough."  Dash chuckled, walking over to one of the boxes that Jason had set back down as Evening waved and left.  "So Ferris made these?"  She asked, prying the lid completely off.

"Dash, that was nailed on!  How are we supposed to put it back?!"

"I dunno, but it's off now.  Say, are these bullets for the Colt?"

"Yeah, he put yours to one side and mine to the other."

"But there're hundreds of bullets in here!  How did he do that?"

"I don't question him, I just buy his things."

"How much did this cost?"

Jason shrugged.  "Dunno, couldn't be that much.  I'll just wait until some news guy actually decides to interview me and then promote Ferris's business.  Product placement..."

"How little you care about money worries me."

"And yet, you don't question the black box."

"Why--"

"I'm inexpensive the rest of the time, why don't I deserve nice things?"  He asked, making the most pathetic face he could muster.

"Because-AAH!  Stop doing this to me!"  Jason trotted over and threw a hoof over her back and around her neck, using his other to turn her face to his.  He leaned forward and kissed her, ignoring the annoyed groan from the stallion as peeked back through the doorway.  Dash giggled at the stallion, letting the kiss continue for a few more seconds before she broke it off.

"Come on there Jason, at least move the stuff first."  She peered back towards the door, checking that the stallion had moved back outside.  "Plus, I still have to give you that surprise.  The gift part, and the better gift part."

"Oh Dash, you shouldn't have."

"I'm sure I could keep it to myself..."

"But I'll graciously accept it."  She giggled as he broke their embrace, watching him shove the lid back onto the open box and float the two of them outside and into the buggy, followed closely by the TV and Xbox and signaled to the stallion that it was ready to go.  Jason floated Dash's saddlebag over onto her back before he opened one side and floated out the corner of a blanket, tickling her with the soft-ish fabric.  She started to giggle but he didn't let up.  Soon her light laughter had turned into all out guffawing on the ground as she tried to push herself away.  

He let his magic drop and Dash started to calm down, her breathing starting to slow back down as she clutched at her sore sides.  Jason walked over and bent down, only to be stopped by a hoof.

"You think you can just come over after that and kiss me?"  He stared.  "I guess I'll let it slip."  She smirked, roughly pulling his head into hers.  She kissed at him hungrily, although she felt a little disappointed when he straightened back up and offered her a hoof.  And now she had to get through a buggy ride without pouncing on him and just--

Dash, you're acting like a mare in heat, calm down, she thought to herself.  Just think of something...not...arousing.  Yeah, like a corpse.  Or her father.  She felt her blood cool as rage started to balance out lust.  

"You okay there Dash?  You've just been holding onto my hoof and haven't gotten up.  I know I'm a great guy to touch and stuff, but this is kinda the wrong place wrong time, don't you think?"

"Yeah, I was just thinking, sorry."  She replied as she pulled herself to her hooves.  

"Oh, about me?"

"Yes."  She mumbled, a slight blush coming to her cheeks.  

"Understandable."  He looked at a hoof in an unaffected manner.  "Everyone's crazy about me as it is."  

"Shut up!"  She yelled back jokingly, throwing a punch at his shoulder.

"Oh, I'm hurt!  Guards, take care of this ruffian!"  Jason looked around and deadpanned.  "I'm a general and yet I don't get a single guard."

"Maybe that's their way of saying that you're not important."  She shot back, sticking out her tongue.

"You better stop or I'll-I'll start using historical references you don't understand!"

"Oh, no!  You wouldn't!"

"I would!  Just like MacArthur wanted to use force against communist China during the Korean War!"

*Gasp*  "How could you!  I thought we'd signed a treaty!" 

"Just like the--  This is just getting too stupid, even for us."  Jason said with a chuckle.  "God damn, even though we argue all the time, at least we don't really fight.  But--"

"Don't be cynical."  

He held up a hoof in defense.  "Fine."  Jason picked up his saddlebag and stuffed in his ghillie suit, floating Dash's holster and Colt over so that she could tie them on.  He slung the AUG over his back and tightened the strap, before he picked up the riot control helmet and put it on followed by the camera, which he carefully placed in his saddlebag.  Jason floated the riot shield off the ground and tied it onto Dash.

"There, now your back is bulletproof."  He said with a chuckle, before checking the contents of his saddlebag and moving outside.  

The camp's appearance had changed completely.  It had gone from a packed city of tents to more of a town, with a few tents here or there.  Jason remembered that Celestia had wanted to keep this position for some reason.  Sure, it was good and all, but Jason wasn't really sure if it was worth keeping.  But judging by some of the ponies in hardhats a ways away discussing blueprints, they had already started to go through with the plan.

"We're stopping by Shining's tent first, right?"  Dash asked, looking around at the suddenly open camp.

"Yeah, I wanted to ask him a couple questions."

"Okay, I'll be right behind you."

"Do you want me to turn into a mare so you can ogle?"  Jason asked with a smirk.

"Huh?  Just--screw you."

"Yeah, I know, tonight.  You don't have to remind me so many times, Dash."

"I'm not giving you the satisfaction of a response."  

Jason chuckled again before he entered Shining's tent, slightly amazed at how much stuff had already been taken away.  It left the tent with an eerie feel, he'd been so used to how full it tended to be, whether that was of ponies or furniture.  "Where's Evening?"  He asked, looking around for the mare.

"She's in the buggy with the other half of your team.  I stuck her in place of Archer."

"Oh."  The room became silent for a few seconds.  "We'll need a replacement, we've already used up all the alternates."

"Yeah, I know...It's hard, seeing these soldiers go...I've sent him back with a gold medal of valor and a couple other decorations.  I know it's not much, but he deserved those things.  Highest honor, that gold medal."

"I'd bet."  Another silence.

"So where are we supposed to go?"  Dash asked.  "To get on the buggy, I mean?"

"You should be in number eighteen.  I'll end up there later on tonight."

"Are we keeping troops here?  At least some?"  Jason asked.

"Yeah, we're keeping seventy five on hand, possibly more if we detect hostility.  Have a safe trip."  

"You too."  Dash replied as she turned around with Jason.  "Hey, didn't you say your wife was coming out here?"

"No, she's coming into the next camp.  Tomorrow, actually.  I've never been so scared or exited in my life.  "Oh wait, I got married, of course I have."

"Scared because she's in danger?"  Jason asked, scratching at a particularly annoying itch that Dash kept exacerbating on purpose with a wingtip.

"Yeah.  And that she'll somehow not like what I'm doing.  All the fighting and death doesn't really mesh with the whole 'princess of love' thing, you know?"

"Never thought about it that much, actually.  She's not Fluttershy though, I doubt she'll care."  He replied with a slight chuckle.

"That's what I hope."  He said, sighing as he returned to work.

"See ya."  Jason said as he left, receiving a polite wave in return.

"Hey Jason?"  Dash asked.

"Yeah?"

"Did you have any friends before all this?"  Jason paused a moment before he broke out into laughter.

"Of course I did!"

"Well then why did you talk so badly of them?"

"Ah, I was referring to work friends.  I still have a ton more that I kept in contact with since college.  I knew a kid since childhood that I went through college with before we finally went to different jobs, his name was Ben Plumber.  I was still in contact with him, and now that you bring it up I really miss the guy."

"Sorry."

"It's not a big deal, it gives me something to remember.  We did a lot of stupid shit."  He paused.  "No drugs or anything like that, I'm not one of those people and neither is he."

"But do you want to go back, just to tie up loose ends?"

"I dunno, it's probably not worth the risk, even if it could happen."

"But assuming it was without risk?"

"There's only really him and a few others, so it'd be somewhat without a purpose.  And I've been gone three-three and a half months, chances are they figure I'm gone, even if they didn't find the body."  

"You think they'd give up that easily?"

"Dash, there's no explanation for what happened, especially not over there.  The good think is that everything has a logical sequence of events behind it, and that makes it so that detectives can work through almost every case nowadays.  But as soon as you add in magic, everything falls apart."

"But-"

"My accountant was pretty funny too, I ended up being friends with that guy.  He'd always call up and be like 'Harding, it's Mankin!'"

"What, last names?"

"Yeah, he never called anyone by their first name.  I wonder how he is."  Jason opened the door to the buggy and climbed in, immediately discarding his saddlebag and weapon and leaning them into a corner.

"How who is?"  Eravel asked, already inside with a bored looking Tank.

"My accountant.  I was talking about some old friends, I didn't really come here of my own free will.  It turned out well, but I guess I would've still been pretty happy back there, although I wouldn't have you..."  He pushed his muzzle into Dash's neck as she sat down, making her giggle at the kisses and nips he was providing.

Jason pulled back after a few moments, sending a joking eye towards Tank.  "What, no 'get a room' speech?"

"I guess I'm not in the mood.  I'm a little too excited about getting to what will hopefully be our last camp to care."

"Heh."  Jason returned to his teasing after shooting a smirk towards Tank.

"But you're starting to get on my nerves..."  He warned.  Jason nipped at Dash's ear a final time and stopped, not missing the dark shade of crimson that was plastered over her face.  There was a jolt and their saddlebags slid across the floor, alluding to the fact that they had taken off and were now moving towards their destination.

"So, where are you guys going after all this?"  Jason asked, looking between Tank and Eravel.

"Probably back to Manehattan like before.  That place is starting to get a little crime ridden, so I've heard."  Jason flinched.  He knew that fact all too well.  

"So I guess I should probably see where Morning Rain's going.  She just moved to Ponyville, actually.  Isn't that where you're from?"  He asked Dash.

"I live there, but I came from Cloudsdale."  She replied.

"Ah.  Thanks for bringing that up, I probably wouldn't have though about it until we were just about gone."  Tank said with a sigh.

"What about you, Eravel?"  Dash inquired, taking on a quizzical expression as the griffin started to look nervous.  

"I don't know."  He said after a while.  "I don't want to live here, and Equestria was dangerous for me, even with armed guards all over the place."

"Ponyville's always an option, you know."  Dash responded after glancing at Jason.  "You outcasts have to stick together, right?  Evening's probably going to end up there as well, just so you know."

"I'll have to see if any of my family is still here first.  Honestly I doubt that they would be, but I might as well check."

"Why would they be gone?"  Tank asked, furrowing his brow.

"Purges or something.  My dad was killed in service years ago, and my mother had some sort of disease when I left.  So even if she survived that, she might be looked at as someone that just takes up space."

Tank patted the griffin across his shoulders.  "Lighten up, things could be way worse, right?"

"Yeah, I'm part of the team that's going to finally liberate this place again.  I couldn't be more proud."

"Maybe we'll get another window in Canterlot."

Tank looked over.  "What?"  

"Oh yeah, we're on a window with Potato.  They put big events in Equestrian history on those..."

"Wow, really?"

"Yeah, that's what I thought!  Awesome huh?"  Dash answered, becoming visibly excited.  Conversation continues for a while before they started to grow tired, staring out the window at the hypnotically moving foliage below.  

"Hey, how're ponies with bad night vision supposed to land this thing?"  Jason asked, slumped in a corner with Dash's head in his lap.  

"I think they marked it somehow."  Dash mumbled.

"But what if we miss the target or something?"

"I dunno, let's just assume that we'll get there in one piece, okay?"

"Fine."  He lifted a hoof to stroke across the back of her hand, only succeeding in bringing himself closer to sleep.  At some point he gave in and the outside world disappeared, replaced by an uneventful limbo of dreamland.  Must've been one of those days where he somehow hadn't ticked off the starting mechanism of whatever allowed them to share dreams.  

The funny thing, his muddled thoughts continued, was that he rather liked the dreams.  They were relaxing in their own way, even with the zombies and fighting.  The fun part was that there was no risk involved.  Just a little bit of simulated pain and the dream ended.  Sure, it wasn't the best thing that could happen overnight, like Dash's offhand comment about wet dreams (something that hopefully wouldn't happen with Evening in the picture), but it didn't shock him like it had before, and he felt a kind of catharsis whenever he could extricate himself from the real life stress of the war and integrate himself back into a fictional circumstance.

At some point during his hibernation the buggy touched down and he ended up on the floor, a rather cute but heavy, still sleeping mare on top of his form.  Jason groggily pushed her to the side and lightly slapped at her cheeks to revive her, before he started looking around for his things.  He grabbed an apple out of his saddlebag and passed it to the now partially awake Dash to eat before re-strapping the rest of her supplies to her back.

"Can't we just sleep here?"  She asked, slowly moving towards the door after Jason.

"No, we have a tent, Dash."  

"I'm postponing your surprise until tomorrow morning."  She stated as they got out of the buggy and breathed in the cool night air.  Shining had been right about this small clearing, the entire thing hardly fit half the tents, ignoring the fact that there was an airstrip in the middle lit up by small fires.  Jason yawned and started looking for an open tent.  They passed by several, all of which were full or partially so.  He was starting to lose hope before he saw a few stallions busily constructing a few tents.  

"Can I reserve this one?"  Jason asked, pointing to a tent that was, at the moment, two poles that would later form half of the corner posts.  

"Sure, we'll be done in ten or so minutes.  Maybe fifteen."

"Alright."  His head drooped a little as drowsiness caught back up with him.  "You fancy a little bit of flying?"  He asked Dash.

"Where would we even go?"  She asked, yawning.

"Just to a place where we can look over at the Capitol."

"You're just lucky I can't think of anything better."  She spread her wings and took off, smiling as he flew after her.  The night sky, as usual, looked amazing with the multitude of stars.  Some of that was due, no doubt, to his night vision, but it was a sky the likes of he'd never seen before.  Besides all the times he'd looked, he supposed.

Eventually he glided under Dash and gave a yank to one of her legs, signaling to descend.  It was a short flight, even at the speed they were going, before they descended back into the trees and landed at the crest of a hill.  Below the lights from the city twinkled, making Jason's jaw drop slightly.  It was so spread out, and the spoked appearance that he could somewhat make out from the street plan was only making things look prettier.

And it was going to be an Equestrian city in a matter of days.  Jason pulled out the camera with a chuckle. 


Snap!


"Why're you taking a picture with that high tech camera thing?"  Dash asked

"Because it'll never look the same again.  Not after we're done with it."

She chuckled and held up a hoof, which he promptly bumped against with his own.  "It'll be extra pretty on fire."

"Agreed."  They shared a laugh and hunkered down against one another, viewing the city like they would a prey animal.

Dash eventually broke the silence again, striking a slightly vain pose as best she could in her prone position and letting out a giggle.  "They've already lost, they just don't know it."  
> Symbolism
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Symbolism


Jason plodded through the forest quietly, Dash pressed into his side harder then ever.  Maybe it was partially out of the fact that she was tired, or as he liked to think, maybe she was scared.  He knew she couldn't see anything, but after all this fighting, he knew by now that Dash could easily stare down a manticore without so much as flinching.  She stumbled and muttered something under her breath, quickly standing up straighter as she tried harder to avoid the scattered obstacles.  

It seemed much further to camp than it had been to fly there, but after Dash had pointed out that flying didn't seem like a good idea, he couldn't possibly hope to argue.  Not that he was going to, it was surprisingly easy to get drowsy flying in a straight line.  And considering they were both as sleepy as they were, he wasn't sure if he'd notice Dash dropping, let alone react quickly enough.  

He stumbled over some sort of cloth and stopped to toss it over his back, That probably wasn't the best idea, but he was tired, and thinking didn't come naturally anymore.

Jason walked through a bush that was silhouetted by light from the camp before walking out into an open, slightly wooded area.  Whoever had come here before they arrived, they'd done a good job of packing down the dirt and removing bushes.  It was a nice camp, Jason decided as he looked around.  Leaning oaks blocked out the crescent moon as they created leafy roofs over the clearing.  Shining was right when he said there was only a small area of land-able clearing, this group of oaks alone blanketed an area about the same size.  

Jason looked around to get his bearings for a moment, wiping at his eye with a hoof.  Dash dropped for a moment before she caught herself, presumably after almost falling asleep.  The pair stumbled down the row of tents that were still being built, before getting to the ones that had just recently been completed.  Jason eyed a sign in front of one that read Reserved to high command before walking inside with a chuckle, amused at the title.  He brought Dash over to the middle of the tent and sat her down.  

"Get off your stuff, okay?  I'll go get a cloud."  He turned to leave before a hoof at his shoulder stopped him.  

"Don't fall asleep, okay?"  Dash asked, looking him in the eye a little dizzily.  

"Sure, I'll be right back."  He yawned and trotted out, hoping that the movement would wake him up.  It didn't do much, and he sighed as he flapped his wings and got airborne.  Air-borne...Air...  His eyes shot back open.  He hadn't even realized he was falling asleep.  Jason was so distracted that he didn't notice a cloud directly in his path until it was too late.

The cloud made a soft 'pomf' noise as he made contact, sinking a ways into the bottom before it spit him back out like elastic.  Jason turned over in the air rather calmly before swooping back up and grabbing the cloud with a hoof.  He didn't like the haze sleepiness put over everything.  It was like some sort of uncomfortable drug, impairing every minute amount of movement or thought.  

Jason realized he was suddenly back at the tent and pulled the cloud inside, watching it almost seem to flow through the opening at the water molecules attempted to stay with their brethren.  Dash had almost started doing something.  She'd fallen asleep sitting up, and had somehow managed to keep from falling over.  

"Dash, wake up!"  He whispered, watching as her eyes fluttered open.  "Just get your stuff off and we can sleep."

"Fine, you win."  She grabbed her saddlebag and released the straps, letting it slide down her back and onto the floor before she clumsily untied the rope keeping the riot shield against her back.  It fell and rocked around before coming to a rest, and she got up to pull the cloud into the back of the tent.  A few moments went by before she decided that getting a blanket was worth the extra time, and fetched one from her saddlebag.  

She climbed onto the bed and collapsed on her stomach, partially pulling the blanket on top of herself.  Jason chuckled weakly and got on as well, moving a hoof to grab a corner of the blanket from her side.  His other fore hoof slipped slightly and he managed to sweep his hoof along the edge of her wing, something that immediately splayed out from the attention.

"Jason, why?"  Dash mumbled, turning her head to look at the wing.  

"I'm sorry."  He laid down next to her, throwing an arm over her back.

"I can't sleep sideways with my wings like this."  She said, poking at the primaries of one of her wings lazily.  Jason stuck a hoof under her chest and grunted, pulling her onto his chest and levitating the blanket over the both of them.  Dash gave a disapproving glance towards the large bulges created by her wings.

"They'll go back to normal, just sleep."  Jason murmured, leaning up to kiss her.  

"Easy for you to say."

"Hey your wings look pretty when they're all spread out like that.  You should do that more often when it's just us."

"I figured you'd at least make fun of me."  She said with a light giggle.  "What have you done with the real Jason?"

"I killed him."  Another giggle.  Her wings were at least starting to return to normal, the blanket conforming more to their usual features.

"Night, Jason.  I love you."

"Love you too, Dash."  He replied, not sure if she heard the response as she dipped into slumber.  Jason barely had time to ponder the idea before he followed suit.  


______________________________________________________


One thing about dreaming:  Jason never woke up into a dream.  He was just there, suddenly in existence.  And following the pattern of war related dreams, not that it wasn't completely without reason, his eyes came into focus looking down the scope of a rifle.  A few shanties were distorted by the heat, sitting on a hill a ways away.

"You going to explain this or should I just lay here?"  Dash asked, holding a spotting scope as she laid on the rocky ground next to him.

"Uh, well this is a sniper rifle, and this could be Afghanistan.  But it's a dream, there's not that much I know for certain."

"Hotel company, you have clearance to fire at any and all personnel in the area, intelligence checks out."  Came a voice from Jason's earpiece.  

"Who was that?"  Dash asked, pulling the earpiece off and looking at it.

"It's like the walkie talkie from before.  Just more advanced."

"Okay, and this telescope serves what purpose exactly?  I can't shoot with it, right?"

"No, you-"  He saw some movement between two of the buildings in the scope.  "Dammit."

"What?"

"Missed a window there.  Anyway, you help me look for guys to shoot, and you should have some sort of table of where to aim based on distance, temperature and wind speed."

"Yeah, but why does that matter?"

"At close range it means nothing, but bullets drop the same way anything else does.  They get blown by wind, all that stuff."

"So basically I tell you where to shoot and how to adjust?"

"Yeah.  We're apparently taking out some terrorists down there from this ridge, but I can't really be sure.  These dreams don't usually come with an instruction manuel."  Dash nodded, and they were silent for the next several minutes.  She suddenly shifted and pointed out a target with her middle finger, causing Jason to chuckle.  

"Down there, in the courtyard, you see him?"

"Yeah, where do I aim?"

"Huh?  Oh, what angle are we at?"

"What?"

"We're looking down, we need an angle!"

"Don't you have something for that?"

"I just have this level and protra- god dammit.  Hold on a sec.  Usually I'm not this stupid."

"We'd be such terrible snipers."

"Hey, wait a few more minutes before you pass judgement."  She got a reading and marked it down, using her fist to grip a pencil.

"Three fingers."

"What?"

"You use the first three, like a little tripod."

"Is this really the time?"

"Well I can't read that, so yeah."  She glared at him and he chuckled.

Dash tried again, slowly writing her number.  "Eight degrees.  Adjust twelve feet up, four to the right, and-- wait, three back down."

"He's still just sitting there, we ready?"

"Go ahead."


BANG!


Dash flinched as the sound contacted her ears, watching an almost comically large shell land in front of her, red hot from the gun.  A white puff of dust appeared next to the lookout, and he bolted for cover.  

"You missed."

"Shit."  Another few minutes passed as they observed the group of buildings.

"Why're we wearing all this stuff if it's so hot?!"  Dash complained, starting to take off the desert camouflage.

"Stop, Dash!  They're going to know where we are if we start taking things off."

"But-"

"And there's bulletproof armor underneath, I don't think you want to be without that."

"But-"  Jason groaned and reached onto her shoulder, disconnecting the tube to her Camelback.  

"There's water in this, just try to be quieter."  She nodded and smiled, giving him an expression that made Jason think she was just trying to screw with him.

"Movement, there's a guy aiming a thing at us."  She said, squinting through the scope as she stared at the enemy.  A low whistle contacted their ears as the man fired his weapon and ran for cover.  


BANG!!


"Got him."  Dash said.  Jason figured out what the terrorist had shot and jumped backwards, pulling Dash back onto the other side of the ridge.  An explosion greeted their ears as a few rocks and pebbles rained down.

"What?"

"It was a rocket.  Propels itself, explodes on contact."  Jason looked her over for a moment, before putting his hands to her chest.  "Breasts."  He said, his face drawn.

"Dammit Jason, get off!"  She yelled back, pushing him away halfheartedly.She heard the crunch of gravel underfoot and swiveled, looking to the side as another person, wrapped up in much the same way as the others, starting to appear around the hill.

She got to her feet and pulled a gun from her chest, aiming it at the unknown.  Jason swatted the gun sideways as she fired, throwing a couple bullets off into the distance.  

"Hands up!"  Jason yelled.  "Get on the ground with your hands on your head!"  The civilian seemed to panic.  

"Wait-"

"Shut up!  On the ground!"   There was another panic before he dove to the ground and landed with a feminine groan.  Jason kept the gun on her head as he walked over, carefully grabbing hold of the cloth blocking her face and pulling it away.

"Evening?"  Dash asked, looking on from a little ways away.

"Yeah, what's the big idea with pointing guns at me?"

Jason shrugged.  "You looked hostile.  Still do, kind of."

"But why aren't we somewhere comfortable?  This sucks!"

"Stop complaining.  Dash isn't even complaining right now."  He leaned forward, putting a hand to one side of his mouth.  "And you know how she likes to complain."

"Thanks, Jason."  Dash replied, rolling her eyes.

"Listen for a sec.  I don't know how these things end, sometimes one of us dies, or whatever, but let's at least do something.  I kinda want to take out those terrorists."

Dash shrugged.  "I'm in, I guess."

"Do I get a gun?"  Evening asked.  "Wait."  She patted herself down and pulled an AK out from under the back of her shirt.  "Yeah, here we go."  She said, gingerly stroking at the gun.

"We suck at being soldiers."  Jason said, deadpan.


____________________________________________________


"Jason, why do I need all this stuff?!"  Dash complained as she climbed over a rock.  

"It's a dream Dash, at least try to enjoy it."

"But Jaaaaason-"  She whined, a smile crossing her face as she noticed the annoyance on his.  They walked over a low ridge and the buildings came into view again, just as boring and unchanging as usual.  He took a look through the sniper scope before returning the weapon to his back and picking up the M4A1 from its sling around his chest.  

He threw back a hand signal and quietly moved forward, staying behind dead bushes and piles of rocks as he zig zagged closer.  As he looked back he chuckled at Evening's attempts to stay hidden.  But hey, terrorists weren't known for their intelligence.  

Eventually Jason got to the buildings and pressed himself against the back of one before slowly moving to one side.  Dash reflected his movements on the other side, peering around to look for enemies.  But the camp seemed empty, minus the gory body that Jason had sniped earlier.

They moved into the center of the camp, before moving towards one of the buildings.  Jason flanked one side of the door, looking back to see the situation with Evening.  A hostile ran a few steps out of one of the doorways, spraying bullets randomly.  Jason hit the dirt, looking up immediately to check that Dash had gotten behind cover as well.  There were a few boxes between them and the guy, so chances are they were safe.  

Jason waited a few more seconds until he heard a click and popped up, watching the tango flop on the ground, a bullet wound through his head.

"Did I- Did I kill him?"  Evening asked, staring at the gun held awkwardly in her hands.  

"Yeah, good job."  Jason replied, returning back to the door.  He pulled a grenade off his chest and pulled the pin, tossing it inside.


________________________________________________________________


Jason's eyes opened slowly, and he immediately felt slightly annoyed at the fact that the dream had ended so anticlimactically.  

"Fuuuuuck."  He groaned, moving a hoof down his face.  

"Mhrm, Jason, what?"

"I didn't sleep well."  He replied, yawning widely and rubbing at an eye.  "I used to be a morning person too, so this is kinda ironic."

"Why would you want to be a morning person?"

"I dunno, I just got annoyed that I missed so much of the day.  Sounds pretty stupid, huh?"

"I guess, I dunno."  A smile spread across her face.  "You want to see your surprise?"

"Go ahead, you've made me excited enough already, whether that's for better or for worse."

"Okay stay here a second!"  She jumped up and clamored over to her saddlebag, folding out her wings to block the area from his eyes.  Jason let his head fall back against the bed.  They'd forgotten to make pillows, he realized with some disdain.  This day wasn't starting out well, as his slight headache reminded him.

"You ready?"  Dash asked.  At least there was something to lighten his mood...

"Sure, wow me."  He said, starting to match her grin.

"Hopefully I don't have to explain it to you, but here goes."  She put a hoof to her chin in thought.  "Actually, close your eyes."  

Jason chuckled, but followed her directions.  A part of his mind made him think that maybe this wasn't the tangible part of Dash's surprise after all, until he felt some slight softness slip over his ears and mane, coming to rest around his neck.  A necklace, then?  He hadn't really been sure what to expect, but he hadn't seen something like this coming, he mused.

"Go ahead, open your eyes."  He did, and immediately looked down at something that almost resembled a tiny wing.  Jason cradled it with a hoof, amazed at how soft it felt to his touch.  It looked so perfect, without a single noticeable blemish that he could see.  That meant a lot more when it came to Dash, she wasn't an artsy pony in any way.  And considering her lack of magic and fingers, well, there was no way he could even come close to making something like this.

"Do you like it?"  Dash asked, biting her lip as she waited for him to say something.

"It's amazing, Dash."  He paused, looking up into her eyes.  "You said you might have to explain it to me, what exactly did you mean?"

"So you don't get it?"  She asked, a little downtrodden.

"Well I get that it's the best gift I've ever received, but if there's more than that, please, enlighten me."  He abruptly leaned forward to meet her lips, putting a hoof to her cheek.  "Cheer up, Dash."

A slight smile broke through her façade of nervousness, and she leaned back in for another kiss.  She paused another moment before continuing.  "A long time ago, feathers used to mean a lot to pegasi, they were like giving away part of yourself even though they fall out and regrow.  But as time went on they became less important and the tradition of feather exchange was less prevalent.  I knew it didn't mean all that much, but it was something I'd wanted to do with you for a long time, even if it was a fruitless gesture."  She leaned against his chest.  "But I did anyway, and I hope it means more to you now.  It's the value I wanted it to have, even if it doesn't appear that way."

"Well I guess you set your sights too low then.  I love it.  I love you."  He drew her into another kiss, which quickly turned heavy as Dash pushed the second part of her 'surprise,' overjoyed with the fact that she had given him something that was one of a kind--and that he actually loved it.

"Hey, Dash, slow down."  He pushed her back a few inches until she was out of range to keep kissing at him. 

"What?"  She asked, a glint of worry in her eye.

"Two things.  One, I never thanked you.  Two, I should really take this off so that it doesn't get crumpled.  It's worth too much for that."  He ran a hoof down her shoulder.  "I'll be happy to wear it all the rest of the time though."  He got off the bed, touching the miniature wing as it hung around his neck.  

"Where are you going?"

"Just bear with me."  He looked around, before moving outside.  A horrendous racket was heard, she couldn't figure out from what, before he came back in with a fabric bag and the fifty cal container.  He opened the bag and dumped in the bullets, before grabbing a chunk of cloud out of the corner of the bed and packing it into the box.

"How come I can pack clouds into things, yet other things go through them?  Our stuff's out there, by the way."

Dash shrugged.  "Must be something with pegasus magic.  It only works like that with small samples anyway."  Jason nodded and took off the wing, smiling at it as he set it onto the cloud, where it almost seemed to hover above the surface.  He closed the box and latched it shut.

"See, safe."

Dash giggled, tapping the box as he carried it over.  "I think you went a little overboard."

"I don't think you grasp how much I like this."  He replied, watching her face light up a little more.

"And I don't think you grasp how much I love you."  She said, grabbing one of his fore hooves and pulling him onto the bed.  Dash giggled as he nipped at an her ear, swatting at his cheek to try to end the tickling sensation.

"Oh you like it."  He chuckled, kissing behind an ear.  

"Why can't we just cut to the chase, Jason?  It's always tease, tease, tease with you."

"A great man once said, uh, something to the extent of,"  He raised an arm, impersonating a philosopher.  "'It's not the destination, but the journey it takes to arrive there.'  Really, the--"  Dash stuck her hoof into his mouth, frowning.

"Jason!  Take a hint!"  

"I'm just screwing with you, come here."  He put his hooves around her back, pulling her into himself.  "I love you too, by the way."  Jason leaned over and lightly kissed her on the muzzle, before the last of Dash's control broke and she pounced.

(Optional... well, you people know the drill by now.  clop. )


__________________________________________________


"Jason.  Jason.  Jason."  Dash said, poking him in the cheek.  He'd been practically comatose for the last--while in the time she'd been up.  Not that she could blame him, she thought with a smirk.  He said he hadn't slept well last night anyway, he had a right to sleep.

But she was so bored...

She rolled on top of him, folding up her legs so that she rested flush with his chest as her legs straddled him on either side.  Dash looked around before she stretched out a hoof and grabbed the fifty cal box, moving it over to the bed next to Jason's shoulder.  

She struggled for a moment to get the latch undone, and scraped the side of her hoof in the process.  Dash stuck the hoof into her mouth, tearing up slightly at the pain as she tried not to make any noise.  Eventually she recovered and carefully pulled out the necklace, looking at it strangely.  

Dash'd expected him to like it, at least partially, but he seemed to genuinely consider this one of the best things he'd ever gotten, judging by what she could at least tell was a positive fluctuation in the small amount of hive mind she could detect.  

So why, then, had he liked it so much?  This wasn't expensive, it was a fair amount of work, but he seemed to like it before she'd told him the significance.  Not that she was going to downplay it, but it seemed strange.  Maybe she could just ask him why.  The feathers grew back, it wasn't as if she was giving him a part of herself that was irreplaceable.  She probably would anyway, but it just wasn't that significant.

Better question, why was she trying to understand everything Jason did?  After three months, she couldn't really predict what he was going to do outside of stressful situations.  Even then, he'd decide to goof off at random and without warning.  Not that she didn't like it, it lightened her mood.  And knowing everything he was going to do before he did it would be a new level of boredom.  But sometimes, it could come in handy.  

Jason shifted under her, trying to roll over until he subconsciously realized he was stuck.  One of his fore hooves brushed against hers, and he wasted no time in wrapping her leg up and pulling it to his chest.  A smile immediately greeted his face as he squished her hoof.  It definitely wasn't uncomfortable, he was nice and warm against her limb.

At least he was showing signs of life at this point, she'd been a little worried earlier.  Although, there wasn't much to be worried about, maybe she was still worried about the little wing, set out in front of her on the bed.  Would he wake up and decide he didn't like it?

Why was she so worried about this?  She should have boatloads of self confidence, she always had before...  But this was different, this was with Jason, it didn't matter if she could beat him or any other pony in a race, she just cared too much about what he thought.  Maybe that was a handicap, she shouldn't have to care as much as she did.  Hell, maybe she cared too much.  Did that even work?  Caring too much?

Jason shifted again, before one of his eyes opened slightly.  He squinted against the bright light in the tent, trying to bring his eyes to focus on the cyan face hovering above his.  

"Hey Dash."  He said, his mouth spreading into a smile.  Jason leaned up and pecked at her cheek, grinning wider as she started to come around.  "Why so glum?"  He asked.

"I dunno, probably just my imagination again."  She replied softly.

"About the gift, huh?"  Jason asked, surprising her with his perceptiveness.  

"Yeah, I don't know why you like it so much."

"Well wasn't that the idea?"  He grabbed the wing and put it back around his neck.

"Yeah, but--"

"Listen Dash, the gift's great and all, but the reason I like it is that it came from you, and that it's something that you said was part of yourself.  It's the symbolism I care about, more than the awesome craftsmanship.  Stop questioning my logic here, just quit while you're ahead."

"Fine."  Dash replied with a giggle, nuzzling at the fur on his forehead.  "How come sometimes you have a horn, and other times you just leave it out?"

"It seems random, I guess.  I don't have a system or anything."

"I love how you always think things through."

"That's too much work, what do you take me for?"

"Good point."  She replied, giggling.

"Well I guess we better get up."  Jason said, putting his hooves around her back as he sat up, holding her to his form.  He tipped her onto her back, leaning down and giving her a quick kiss before extracting himself from the covers.  

"Cadence comes in today, we should probably get out there and see if there's anything shining needs done."  

"Yeah,"  Jason replied, "he's probably freaking out about something around now."  Dash snorted in laughter.  

"I can't see shining acting any differently, to be frank."

Jason grabbed an apple and chucked it over to her, hearing crunching noises a matter of milliseconds later.  She shivered a little, grabbing the blanket and pulling it over her shoulders.  

"Cold?"  Jason asked, walking around in the tent to try to get his blood flowing.

"A little."  She said, shivering again.  Jason walked over to where he had discarded all of his stuff the night before, looking for the cloth he had picked up.  He moved his saddlebag, exposing a black hoodie.

"You want to try something Dash?"  He asked, sniffing at the pullover.  It smelled clean, as far as he could tell.

"As long as I don't get colder."  

He tossed her the sweatshirt, chuckling as she looked it over in confusion.  "Here, I'll get it."  He hopped back onto the bed and sat behind her, holding a hoof around her chest.  

"Put your arms up."  He said, stroking her chest.  "You don't wear anything like this?"

"Pretty much just dresses."  Dash replied, with a slight snicker.  "I would've tried harder, but I like this option more."  Jason laughed, bringing the clothing over her arms and carefully pulling it down.  It got a little stuck of her hooves, before he gave it another tug and it slid into the correct position.

"There, better?"  He asked, tapping the side of her head with a hoof.

"I feel like an eskimo in this."  She said, twisting her neck to look up into his eyes.  "It's pretty cozy."

"So we're good to go then?"

"Yeah."  Jason gave her a squeeze before he got up and started towards the door.  "Wait."  He turned, watching Dash bite her lip.  "You don't think...we could teleport again?"

Jason put a hoof to his chin.  "Well, I don't really know where Shining's tent is..."  He paused, his slight frown turning into a smile.  "That doesn't mean we can't teleport around until we find it though."  Dash jumped up from the bed, galloping over happily.  "You liked it, I take it?"

"Yeah, you kinda miss it once it's gone."  Jason peeked out the tent flap, looking towards the clearing part of camp where he assumed Shining's tent was.  He stretched a hoof back, waiting for Dash to make contact.  She seemed to contemplate the movement for a moment before he felt contact and teleported.

They reappeared a hundred or so feet away, next to a small group of bushes.  He pulled Dash closer jokingly and wrapped his leg around hers, before teleporting again.

They reappeared in the middle of the airstrip, and remained for a second or so before Jason spotted what he hoped was Shining's tent.

Another whoosh as the air equalized, and Jason checked for Dash before looking back up towards the tent.  He walked in a few seconds later, chuckling at the extra-windblown look that he mane had taken on.  

"What?"

"Just your mane, it's all spiky!"

"It's always spik-wow."  She stroked a hoof across her hair, marveling slightly at the prevalent red spike.

"How's mine?  Sexy beast as always?"

She giggled.  "Sure, let's go with that."

"Oh, I got it, more spiky.  Hold on."  He spaced out for a second before his mane grew longer and spikier.  "Better?"

"Definitely."  She replied, sticking a hoof into his mane.  

"Everything good, Shining?"  Jason asked, even though it was blatantly obvious that everything didn't look alright.

"No!  My wife's going to be here soon, and I don't know what she's going to think about this whole thing!  I know that's not a major issue, but I haven't-- I dunno, I'm just--I miss her.  It's not like it's the best time, either."

"Yeah, I get it."  Jason murmored.  "I have the same thing with Scoots."

"Sucks, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, hopefully you have one of those paper things with her, right?"  Dash asked, gesturing to the pile of pads of paper on his desk.

"Yeah, it's right..."  His face seemed to go a little pale, at least from what Jason could tell under his white fur.  "Oh shit, she's landing!"  He galloped outside amidst chuckles from Jason and Dash, soon followed by other murmurs as Evening woke up in her bunk.  

"Evening, you wanna go see the princess?!"  Jason asked, much more loudly than he needed to.

"Leave me alone, I'll be out in a while."  She pulled a pillow over her head and held it there, attempting to block out the sound.

Dash giggled at her reaction and left, not waiting for Jason to catch up.  He trotted after her, pushing through the crowd that was already accumulating and pushing towards the landing strip.  A few ponies protested, most of them recognizing his form, which he dropped as he got closer to the front.  

The rather lackluster buggy, he could assume so that it wasn't an obvious target, landed with a thunk, followed by another thunk as he could only assume that the princess hit the front wall.  Dash exchanged a knowing look and a muffled giggle, before returning her attention to the passenger.  

A slightly dizzy Cadence stepped out, with Shining at her side, as the crowd erupted into cheers.  Jason pointed out a griffin across the way that looked partially confused, until Eravel seemed to inform him of the power Cadence had.  The griffin seemed confused, asking several other questions before he started to clap.  Jason could assume that the questions were related to her power and why there were three princesses in the first place.  

Well, in any case, it should be interesting to see how her visit would complicate things.  With the magnitude of her presence, secrecy and planning would only be harder.  Like Shining had said, it wasn't the best time.  

But when did things ever go smoothly, anyway?
> "Hawkeye out."
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


"Hawkeye out."


Jason looked around, amazed at how quickly the crowd had dissipated.  A fairly large group was still hovering around the princess, but most of the ponies had apparently grown bored or something, given the rather empty landing strip.  It had been ten minutes at least, but still, he'd expected more for some reason.  

Dash broke into a trot, quickly moving over to the princess's group as the last remaining ponies started to break away.  Other ponies seemed to have the same idea, as several other members of Team Green Bean converged, possibly all of them if the rest were blocked from view.  Cadence shooed a few other ponies away before she looked around at the group, taking special pause as her eyes drifted across Dash and Jason.  

Shining turned and threw in a few arm motions before the rest of the team trotted around to the front, making a general box formation.  Actually, that was giving them too much credit.  It was kind of an orderly group, if he squinted and tilted his head.  

"So this is the Team Green Bean Shining has told me so much about."  She looked them over again.  "My, aren't you a diverse bunch."  She paused, looking around at the camp before whispering to Shining.  He whispered back for a moment before addressing the group.

"Just a general heads up for those of you that I don't see all that often, we're working on an insurgent operation with the griffins that came in a few days ago.  Hopefully we'll be able to incite revolt or at least get a few moles into the capitol.  That's all I'm saying about it, this is staying under wraps as far as I'm concerned.  If you have any questions, stop by and I might be able to answer them."

"How high up is the classification?"  The mare officer asked, her face becoming slightly confused.  "I thought we were as high as the rankings went."

"Like I said, I'm keeping it under wraps."  Shining continued.  "It's not that I don't trust any of you, because I do.  But that said, the more ponies that have plans, the further information can spread.  I'm not saying you'll give up information, but there's always the chance that you get overheard or become a target.  It's not like you'll be kept from knowing, as soon as this plan falls into place you'll be the first to know."

Jason heard a few groans and resisted the urge to chuckle.  "Now let's see, Hawkeye, Tank, Dash and Jason, you'll be with me."

"I'm here I'm here!"  Evening yelled as she galloped up, before face-planting into the ground.  Jason facehoofed, glad that he was blocking most of the view directed towards the aquamarine mare.  Cadence's face changed from one of general  amusement to a heavy frown, as she directed a stare towards Jason.

"Why is she a-oof!"  She stared over at Shining, as he sent a quick elbow into her front leg.  He stared into her eyes, apparently conveying enough of a signal for her to remain quiet, although the sound of her teeth grinding didn't help.  Jason ventured a glance at the rest of the team, most of which looked completely confused.  Besides the officers, their little conspiracy theory apparently backing this up perfectly.

Jason sighed, before the group started to break apart and he followed behind Shining.  He wasn't sure why he had this feeling in his gut, he knew his explanations were sound, at the very least.  The walk to the tent seemed longer than usual, and judging by Evening's unhappy expression, she knew what was going on as well.  He'd talked himself out of most of the rest of the situations like this, so at least he had a leg up.

"What's this wing for?"  Cadence asked, lifting up the wing that hung from Jason's neck.

"Dash made it for me, so just be careful."  She smiled slightly and let it slacken, looking instead at Dash's hoodie.

"And that...thing?"

"Uh, it's called a hoodie."  He paused, before adding awkwardly,  "Because of the hood."  

Dash snickered as they entered the tent and Cadence looked around, sporting the same drawn expression as before.  She walked a full circle around the room, either looking because she was curious or checking for any unwanted guests as Tank and Eravel navigated to the bunks, aware of the coming storm.

"So tell me,"  She started, making the group jump, minus Shining who seemed to be regrettably expecting it.  "Why is a monster like this hanging around?"  She gestured to Evening.  "And why is she acting like she's friendly with you two?"  she asked Dash and Jason, before starting to pace.  The whole, love princess 'I recognize mannerisms' thing was offputting to say the least.  He'd hoped to have at least a little time to formulate a response.

"Listen,"  Jason began, looking at her cooly.  "I know you've had a bad experience with changelings before, but you've got to hear me out on this one, it may take a while."  She floated over a chair and sat down, staring back expectantly.  

"Go on..."

"Wait, real quickly, how did you know she was a changeling?"  Dash asked, looking from Evening to the princess.

"I'm not sure how much you know about Alicorn powers, but mine aren't as specific as with Auntie's.  One of them, which I used to think was useless, was the ability to tell the general situation with a pony and whoever they loved, whether it was a crush, love of their life, whatever.  But Changelings are unmeasurable, something that comes in handy when they need to be rooted out."

"So what?  I'm incapable of feeling love?"  Jason shot back, watching as the princess formulated her response.  

"I never said that.  Changelings are different than ponies, and it shows in their love, to say the least."  Her expression brightened, and she reached over to lay a hoof on Jason's shoulder.  "It's not like all that isn't obvious by how you act anyway."  She giggled, before her expression hardened again.  "Now, this one, what's her story?"

Jason sighed, before he floated over some more chairs and sat down in one of them.  "During the Canterlot raid, a changeling saved Lyra, who is a resident of Ponyville, from the rest of the changelings.  Lyra gave her personal account of the story, saying that she seemed to be arguing with herself, until she was blown away by the love wave.  So I didn't think much of her, besides that there was a way to break from the hive mind, at least partially."

"So you're saying that said changeling appeared to be showing signs of cognitive thought?"

"Yeah.  Now skip ahead a few weeks, back to the last camp.  We went scouting, and Evening here was just walking along, arguing at herself like the mare Lyra saw.  She couldn't have known we were there, we were all well hidden."

"Who's we?"  Cadence asked, raising an eyebrow as she started to relax in the chair.  

"Me, Dash and a random group of other ponies.  Anyway, it turns out that Chrysalis was arguing through her, and she started-"  He cut off, wondering if he should tell the whole truth.  Cadence had stronger feelings towards changelings than Twilight, and it showed with the look she was giving Evening.  But if she found out he was lying, that could be worse, even.  "She started attacking me with the hive mind, like I wasn't connected prior.  It was terrible, like a migraine that starts to impair your thoughts, even a little bit of vision.  Chrysalis said a few things, like about some plan she had, how I wasn't a threat, and then let Evening go."  He sighed, biting his lip.

"And then..."  Cadence continued, making a few hoof gestures.  

"Then we brought her back here, put her on medication, and now she's just a little weird."

"Why would you trust her?  She's just like the others, little monsters that just bide their time, waiting to strike and stab you in the back."  Evening's head drooped.  

"Is that all I am to you?  A monster!?"  She yelled, tears already running down her face.  "They appreciate me, why can't you?!  Do you think I wanted to be stuck in the hive mind?!"   She turned and galloped out of the tent, her sobs echoing backwards, quieting as she disappeared into the distance.

"What was that, Cadence!?"  Shining yelled.  "She's not the enemy!"

"But-"

"No!  For once in your life you're wrong!  I know you've had a shitty experience, but Jason's a changeling, and he's done wonders in the time he's been here!  It's Chrysalis, not changelings in general!"

"In answer to your question," Jason replied calmly,  "I trust her because she's helped me through a number of Chrysalis related problems, and she's been nice to have around, if nothing else.  You may think you're good at judging ponies, and maybe you are, but you should probably keep it contained to just that."  He stared for a few more seconds before offered a hoof to Dash as he stood up.  "We're going to go find her.  Just because she's a changeling doesn't mean she's any different than we are, not really."

Dash shot a slightly apologetic look back before they galloped outside and took off, spreading out from each other to look.  There was a fair amount of space between the trees and the ground, so they could easily glide over the tents as they searched.  It didn't take long, luckily, as Dash pointed downwards and yelled some words he couldn't distinguish.  He banked and descended, landing a few seconds after her.  Evening was propped up against a tree, her face wet and her eyes focused on something far off.  

"Evening, you there?"  Jason asked, waving a hoof in front of her face.  She turned her head slightly and focused on the pair, giving a slight hiccup as another tear jostled out of her eye.

"I thought it'd be different."  She said after a long silence.  "That if I just stuck out of sight and got love from friends like you, that nopony would care."

"You can, Evening."  Dash cooed, sitting down next to her against the tree and putting a hoof around her shoulders.  "It'll all work out."

The changeling buried her muzzle in Dash's shoulder, starting to weep again as fresh tears surfaced.  Jason sat down as well, stroking a hoof across her back, trying to calm her back down.  "It won't work out!  I'm not some alter-ego, this is just me, this is the best I can do!"  She buried her head further into Dash's fur, muffling the noise.  

"Evening, listen."  Jason started, waiting for her to calm down slightly.  "Cadence just doesn't like changelings, she got attacked, remember?"

"Yeah, but that was Chrysalis!"  

"She doesn't know that much.  Sure, we can blame her for immediately taking a dislike to you, but I guess I'm saying it's understandable."

"How's that supposed to make me feel better?!" 

"Because you can work to change your image from what it is.  It's not impossible, and I'm sure the princess will come to her senses.  She's probably just a little tired from traveling."

"You're saying that I'd be able to walk around like you?  Even though I can't command an army or fight all that well?"

"I'm sure of it."  He said, moving forward and hugging her.  She wiped at her eyes, smiling up at the pair once they got to their hooves.  

"Thanks."  Evening replied gratefully, taking Jason's hoof and pulling herself up.  "It's not easy, not acting like a changeling."

"I know, it's a lot more work, huh?"

"It's more tiring at least."  She replied, a slight smile spreading across her face.


____________________________________________________________________


"We're back."  Jason announced as he entered the tent, immediately noticing Cadence, who was sitting in the same chair with an unreadable expression.  It made sense, if part of your talent rested on deciphering the expressions of others, developing one that was tough to read would be just as easy.

Cadence sighed and got to her hooves, waiting for Evening to walk through.  The changeling did, and immediately stuck close to the wall, floating a chair further away from the princess before sitting down.  Cadence let out a sigh, not daring to take a step closer.

"Shining has informed me that I acted without sufficient reasoning, and I'd hate to cause harm to any of my subjects, which Shining tells me you are.  So hopefully you can accept my apology."  She shot a look back at her husband, who had his arms crossed at his desk, and he gave a nod of approval.  "It's a little hard getting past the whole changeling thing."

"It's fine."  Evening said quickly, not appearing as if she wanted to be there.  "I, um, accept your apology."

"I don't really want to make another enemy, so listen, how about I be more open minded towards you, and we'll start with a clean slate.  Are you alright with that?"

"Uuuuuuhhhh..."  Evening glanced at Jason, who gave her a nod.  "Sure."  She stuck a hoof out and shook hooves with the princess, and a slight smile spread across the faces of them both.  

"Hey honey?"  Cadence asked, rousing Shining from his thoughts.  "Why didn't you tell me about this earlier?"

"Because you could've done this, but in the castle.  I don't want things to spread about her if they aren't true.  The less that gets out, the better."

"Ah, like this infamous thing you're planning?"  She asked, her face starting to light up.

"Yeah, Eravel, Tank, care to join us?"  Jason asked, gesturing for them to come over.  They gave each other a look and got up, meeting the other five over Shining's desk.  "So how's training and stuff going, Eravel?"  

"Well it's nothing like what we did before, that's for sure.  It's a lot of getting aliases together and knowing as much as possible about things in the Capitol.  But any way you look at it, there'll always be holes in any information we create."

"Yeah, but those can't be too blaring, right?"

"Probably not."

Jason scratched at his chin, looking around at the other ponies.  "Listen, we need to push this mission before they find out we're here, otherwise we'll have to take this place the old fashioned way.  There'll be a lot more casualties, besides the amount of time it'll take to clear the city."

"So you want to go tonight?"  Eravel asked, tapping one of his talons on the ground.

"Yeah, that'd probably be best."  He paused.  "Hold on, let me go get something."  He trotted outside, his normally quiet hoofsteps quickly disappearing into the distance.

"Where's he going?"  Cadence asked, looking out the tent opening after him.  

"How much do you know?"  Dash asked, shifting her gaze to the princess.

"Not much.  Shining insists that he's friendly, and apparently he's helped a great deal, that's about it."

"Okay then.  The short version is, he ended up here fro reason's we don't know as of yet, and stuff comes through from his home country, random stuff, mostly."

"Like what?"

"There's a fair amount of technology that's hundreds of years past ours, at least at the rate we're moving.  It's apparently a pretty daunting place, cities with populations larger than we have in all of Equestria, towers that extend into the clouds..."

"Taller than the Canterlot spires?"  Cadence asked with a smirk, figuring she'd caught Dash in a lie.  

"Probably way taller.  And they don't even use magic to help support them."  Cadence furrowed her brow, shaking her head in disbelief.  

"You're just pulling my leg..."

"Who's pulling legs?"  Jason asked as he walked back in, carrying two saddlebags on his back.  He passed Dash's hers, opening a flap to reveal some food that he had apparently picked up from the cafeteria.  

"Your mare friend, she said that you have skyscrapers and technology of unbelievable proportions."  Cadence said with a laugh, her grin fading slightly when she saw a smile start to spread over Jason's muzzle.  He pulled out the computer and set it on the desk, floating the chairs around in a half circle as the computer's screen lit up.  Cadence gasped, moving her head to more closely examine the screen.  Dash giggled.

"It's pretty obvious that you haven't been around Jason a lot, this kind of thing becomes commonplace pretty fast."  Jason chuckled, pulling up an image of the New York skyline, before pulling up a more zoomed in picture from central park afterwards.  

"Those-how do they not blow over?"  

"Steel and concrete, and a deep foundation."  

"But how-"

"I'm sorry princess, but we're pretty pressed for time.  I can answer your questions later, but I want to at least get the griffins on their way."

"Why's there a statue of a human here?"  She asked, pointing at the Statue of Liberty, silhouetted against the horizon.  He saw Dash stiffen out of the corner of his eye, and calmly reached over to tap Dash on the shoulder.  

"A moment, Princess?"  He asked calmly, as if nothing was wrong.  

"Sure, go ahead."  She replied, moving her muzzle closer to the screen, pointing out various buildings and points of interest for future reference.  Jason trotted outside and turned to face Dash, quickly casting the noise canceling spell around the two of them.  

"Should we tell her?"  Jason asked, his expression growing more nervous.

"I don't know, you made the obvious point of coming out here!"

"You know I don't like to keep these things from ponies, even if it could be bad."

"Yeah, but now?  You'd prove the fact that you've been lying to them all along."

"But then what?  Make it worse later?"

"I don't know, you could just keep it a secret!"  

"Twilight caught on apparently, what's to stop Cadence or Shining from doing the same?"

"What happens if you get sent back?  If you lose your job?!"

"I beat down a pony and Shining hardly cared, why would he relieve me for this?  He'd know that he's sacrificing the lives of ponies by removing me, he wouldn't do that!  I'm just worried that my relations with Shining will take a dive, that stallion's a really good friend."

"Fine, do what you want."  Dash said, drooping her head.  "I'm not going to stand in the way of whatever you think is right.  Just remember, you're screwing with my life too, I'm stuck with you no matter what happens."

Jason smiled, leaning over to give her a kiss.  "Thanks.  I love you, by the way."  

She smiled, stepping forward and wrapping him in a hug.  "I love you too."  Jason smiled back and let the spell drop before trotting back inside.  

"That took a while..."  Shining said suspiciously, apparently having conferred with Cadence in the time they'd been gone.  

"Yeah, Tank, Eravel, you can go if you want.  But you two...well...I need to tell you something."  Shining scowled as Eravel took his leave, murmuring to Tank, who looked like he was going to stay.  Jason sat down on one side of Shining's desk and sighed, gesturing for Cadence and Shining to face him.  He grabbed the computer and put it away, taking a few moments to stare at his saddlebag before turning back.  "I--  I haven't been completely honest with you, Shining.  Either of you, really."

There was a long silence as Jason tried to think of the right words, before Shining interjected.  "You-you're not with Chrysalis, right?"  At least his answer still held value.

"No, I would never counteract this-- any of this.  Why would I work so hard for something just to knock down my own work?"

"It could all just be another trick."  Cadence replied, crossing her arms.  

"Just-- I'll start from the beginning."  He paused again, before the first words popped into his head.  "I was born twenty four years ago in a small-ish town on the west coast of the United States of America.  You know that.  But I wasn't born as a changeling, I was born as a human."  Shining almost looked angered, while Cadence's face suddenly contorted into a face of total confusion.  

"You know, I take it?"  Cadence asked, looking around at the other ponies present.  They all nodded slowly, Dash included.  

"Anyway,"  Jason continued,  "I lived my life there for all those years before I ended up here, as a changeling."  He sighed, partially of relief that he had gotten that out without too much issue.  "I wanted to tell you, I really did, but with that on top of everything else...  I dunno.  Whatever you think about me now, well, it's probably deserved.  Fire me, do whatever you want, I don't care.  Just don't pull Dash or anyone else into this."  He put his head in his hooves, jarring a tear out of his solid blue eye.  

"I'll be back."  Shining said gruffly, getting out of his chair and walking outside.  The tent was silent as his hoofsteps disappeared into the distance.

"So you were a human up until you got here?"  Cadence asked, looking his changeling body over.  

"As far as I'm concerned, I still am.  At least in mind."

She paused, scratching at her chin.  "How's it any different from a pony?"  She asked, chancing a look back to the tent entrance.  "I'm sure everything will work out fine, he gets like this from time to time."

Jason nodded, stuck in his thoughts.  "Humans don't have magic, as I'm sure you know.  Everything we do has to be done by hand or by something we built by hand.  We're pragmatists at the lowest level, and everything needs a new and inventive solution.  You move huge stones with magic, we had to build something to carry those without that asset.  To the top of some of those buildings no less."

Cadence's face lightened a little.  "So we're not all that different, at least."

"No, although I suppose humans can be a little more cynical than you ponies, and that's been an asset if I've ever had one."

"That explains the booby traps all over the place."  Dash said with a groan.

"Oh, heh.  You found those?"

"Yeah, the ones in the house, the ones under our house..."  She paused.  "The rockets you hid on one side!"

"What if we need to move the house?"

"How'd you even make rockets?!" 

"Loosely packed gunpowder."  He put his head back in his hooves.

"Don't beat yourself up."  Cadence reached across the table and gave him a pat on the back.

"You're just happy that I wasn't always a changeling."  Jason mumbled back, watching as she withdrew her hoof.  

"Maybe so, but that's apparently not a bad thing."  She glanced over at Evening, who had been uncharacteristically silent during the whole conversation.  

"As long as you're not stuck to Chrysalis."  Evening muttered, flicking some dirt off an arm.  "Fucking maniac."

"Wait, repeat that."  Cadence said, pointing at Evening.

"Fucking maniac?"

"Yeah, what does that first word mean?  Shining's said it a few times after Canterlot got invaded."

"Ask Jason."  She said, pointing a hoof.

"It's a swear word.  Other bad words include, but are not limited to: shit, cunt, dick, ass, cock, bitch, twat... The list goes on."

"I feel like I've lost whatever's left of my innocence."  Dash stated, running the words over in her head.  

"Religious backgrounded cus words include:  Damn, Hell, and any variation of Jesus."

"Why do you need so many swear words?"  Cadence asked.

"You try calling someone featherbrained, then see if you like calling them a retard or a fucking idiot better."

"Well you're in a good mood, Jason."  Evening mentioned.

"Do you really fucking expect me to be happy in any way shape or form?!  Besides the fact that I'm waiting to see if I still have my job, I could just as easily loose a friend.  And with how few ponies there are that actually want to associate with me, I don't want to loose someone to a non death related reason."

There was a long silence, eventually broken as Shining walked back inside.  He sat down and sighed, pulling his chair closer to the desk.  "You have a minute to tell me everything that isn't a realistic secret to be kept, and then we'll talk."

"Do I start-"

"Now."

"Um, uh, I may have given up information when I was tortured, I think the hive mind's getting stronger..."  Jason looked at Shining's stony expression.  "I-uhh, well my parents died when I was sixteen, I'm technically a millionaire..."

"Stop, Jason.  You don't have to get personal."  He sighed.  "That last part, about your parents, is that true?"

"Yeah."

"Well you seem pretty together."  Shining said, doubt evident in his voice.  

"Me mourning them isn't what they would've wanted anyway.  Not after a while, anyway."

Shining took a long pause, probably considering his options before he laid out a verdict.  "Jason, I'm your superior.  I don't care that you have your own secrets as long as they don't pertain to the military.  But as a friend, I'll be honest, I'm--I dunno, sad?  It was your secret to keep and that's fine, I wouldn't have needed to know, but I guess I was just angry that you didn't trust me enough until now.  So I went out there and thought, and realistically, well, it took me forever to trust you, and I don't deserve to get mad at you if I was constantly on the lookout for any funny business before."

"So, you don't care?"

"Well of course I care, just--we can trust each other, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well then don't worry about what I'll think, I'm always out for the best interests of my troops."  He paused.  "But don't think that makes you exempt, if you can't control the hive mind or something goes wrong with Chrysalis, I'm going to make sure I act for the greater good here."

"I understand, I would do the same."

"Okay good, we're all friends again!"  Cadence smiled, clapping her hooves together.  "Now, what was this you said about a hive mind."

There was a unanimous groan, as Jason started to talk again.


_______________________________________________________________


"Eravel, how're things going?"  He asked the griffin, walking up to his group on the edge of camp.

"I should really ask you the same question, how'd that whole thing go with the princess?"  Eravel asked back, clear concern in his eyes.

"It could've gone worse, I suppose."  Jason replied, shifting into Alternis and pulling a wing over Dash.  "Shining's a little mad, but I still have my job and all."

"Luckily for him, you little workaholic."  

"Hey, I think it's probably good to be a workaholic when it comes to this."  He chuckled, turning back to the griffin as he asked another question.

"Are we still on for tonight?  We can go and all?"

"Yeah, why're you so nervous?"  Dash asked.  "Worried about the undercover part or what?"

"A little, but I'm worried that the other griffins won't go along with us, that they're too ingrained into the system to actually have hope anymore."

"I guess that's what you're there for, huh?"  Jason pointed out, smiling widely.  "I mean, isn't that what you wanted?"

"Well yeah, but I'm more worried about this whole plan's failure."

"Eravel, or Hawkeye, whatever you want to be called, no plan's going to provide for every problem you come across.  The only secret to war is how quickly you adapt.  That, and attacking.  Keeping the enemy on their heels, as it is."

"And that, right there, is why I don't call the shots."

"Oh, that reminds me."  Jason reached into his saddlebag and pulled out an Xbox headset and walkie talkie.  He broke the other little useless plastic tongs off and connected the headset, before sticking it onto Eravel's head.  

"These aren't super long range things, but you should be able to contact me with this."

"How does it work?"  He asked, turning it around in a talon.

"Twist the dial on the top."  Jason pulled out his own, turning it up to full volume.  "Then just press the call button and talk."

"Hello?"  He spoke, taken aback as his voice came out of the other device.  "Wow, that's cool."

"Yeah, it works both ways, so I we can keep up better communications this way."  Jason looked up, judging the time based on the angle of the sun.  "You ready to go?"  He asked, returning his gaze downward.

"Sure, just meet over on that side of camp in like ten?"

"Take your time, I'd rather be ready than not."

"Okay.  It'll still probably be like ten minutes."

"Well, see you then I guess."  Jason turned around with a slight chuckle, putting his wing more tightly around Dash as they walked.  Jason liked this camp, it was turning out to be a really nice place to be, especially in the slightly nippy late fall weather.  The duo walked past a tent as a small group of ponies ran by, before one of them yelled at the rest of the group and pointed at Dash.  

Great, Jason thought, they were probably news ponies judging by the fact that they were all wearing that one stereotypical news guy hat.  What was that hat?  Bowler?  Fedora?

The ponies crowded around, bumping against each other as they tried to get clear pictures and yell out their questions.  He couldn't tell who was yelling out what, their questions just blended into an endless stream directed towards Dash.  "What's this plan under wraps?  Was Jason ever a love interest for you and why are you with this other stallion?  Is it true that you beat down a pony yesterday because you wanted to let off steam?"

"AAAH!  One at a time!"  Jason yelled, transforming back to normal.  The reporters indulged themselves in the most brief gasp he'd ever seen before resuming their questions.  Jason sighed and put a hoof to his forehead, smiling slightly at the musical sound of Dash's giggles.  Eventually, he just pushed some power through his horn and pushed the ponies away.  That did a pretty good job at silencing them.

"Now listen, we're on a really tight schedule right now, if you want any questions answered, I'll point you out."  Several hooves shot up as the group became rowdy again.  "Uuh, you.  With the red mane."  

"What was your reasoning in the military incident yesterday?"

"The pony was out of control, and he showed hostility towards innocent individuals.  That could've been an overreaction on my part, but I don't regret it."

"Wait, can I pick the next one?"  Dash asked, bouncing between her hooves.  "I've never been interviewed like this before, although it is pretty fitting for a pony as awesome as I am."

"And humble too."

"Oh shh.  You, go."

"That conflict took place over griffin integration into the military, correct?"  Dash nodded.  "So how have things been since?"

"Quiet, I guess."  She shrugged.  "There aren't that many griffins."  

"Do you plan to recruit more?"

"It's a volunteer army, they can come if they want to."  The reporter nodded and sank back a little ways.

"What about the capitol, what plans do you have in place?"

"None that are going in the newspapers."  Jason replied.  "It's well within our power to withhold military information, and I'm going to do just that.  What I can tell you is that it should last a few days and will hopefully bring a faster victory with fewer casualties."

"But what of the Griffin empire at war's end, assuming the territory is conquered?"

"I guess we'll have a much larger population."  He said shortly, before starting to walk away with Dash.  The group expectedly followed, throwing any remaining questions at the pair in rapid fire.  

"What's your opinion on the war effort and the soldiers?!"  The question rang out, and Jason stopped and turned.  

"Who was the one with the opinion question?"  Jason asked, watching as a young looking stallion singled himself out.  "My opinion, and this is the last answer I'm going to give right now, because I really am in a hurry, is that this war effort, this group of ponies and griffins, is largely one of the most strong willed and hardy armies I could've ever hoped to help lead."

"And most of Team Green Bean was from this army."  Dash added.

"Yeah, without these ponies willing to lay down their lives like this, well, we wouldn't be anywhere.  You can't be a leader without anyone to lead."  He finished, turning back around.  Most of the group dissipated, save for one pony, who started to walk alongside Dash and Jason.

"I know you don't have that much time, but I like to pull a quote from everypony I interview, so do you have any words of wisdom off the top of your head?"

"Well, uh..."  He scratched his chin for a moment.  "Okay, how about..."  He cut off, formulating words.  "Wars may be fought with weapons, but they are won by men. It is the spirit of men who follow and of the man who leads that gains the victory."  The pony smiled as his pencil scribbled the words down, floating off the pencil when it was done.  

"Thanks for your time, sir."  The pony saluted and trotted off, tossing his notepad into one of the pockets of his saddlebag.

"Where'd you come up with that, Jason?"

"It's a quote from a general named George S. Patton."  She frowned.  "If they want to quote me so badly, they could have used any of the other stuff I said!"

"I guess you have a point there..."  Dash replied, giggling to herself.  

"Swarmed by reporters, I see."  Eravel said, walking up next to the duo with a cloak over his back.

"Why the beggar costume, Eravel?"

"I can disguise my bow this way, and it's an easy alias.  What does a beggar do, anyway?  Get drunk and ask for money, right?"

"I guess it is pretty simple."  Dash replied with a laugh.  "But how're you going to probe you aren't a loon?  I mean, beggar and all, it's pretty easy for the other griffins to say you're just spouting bullshit."

"Ah, Shining gave me this."  He reached under his cloak and pulled out a badge, with a star and a few stripes flowing across the surface.  The bottom read: Equestrian Royal Third Army.  

"Wow, that's pretty cool, how come we don't all get those?"  Dash asked, taking the badge into her hoof.

"Shining said that they're making these, at least for the officers.  We qualify as that, for the record."

"Yeah, I know."  Jason said with a chuckle.  

"Well anyway, he said something about dog tags, but I don't know anything about what that means."

Jason laughed gruffly.  "Heh, he took my idea.  Dog tags have names for recognition."

"Oh, too bad they haven't arrived."

"Well if you're caught, it could be bad for any family members of the other griffins."

"I guess you're right.  I don't want to be a nameless grave though, you better recognize me if I don't make it back."

"Don't worry, we will.  But it's not going to come down to that anyway."

"I hope you're right."


___________________________________________________________


The escort down to the village was quiet, but for good reason.  Any noise now could jeopardize the entire operation, besides the fact that no one had anything to say.  Jason tripped over a branch, smiling as Dash's wing helped to catch him.

"It's hard doing this when you're so much taller than me."  She said with a giggle.

"I'm not sure if I'd want to be as short as you though, it's gotta be weird operating two inches off the ground."  Dash bumped into his side in slight annoyance, hopping over a rock as the caravan slowed.  There was a chain link fence at the edge of the forest, glinting slightly in the dusk light.  Jason walked up and looked at it, before turning to Dash and telling her to get a knife out.

"Why do we need to cut through?"  Eravel asked, just above a whisper.  "That's just going to be obvious!"

"If something goes wrong and one of your wings get's hurt, you'll need this.  Plus, we can just drag that shrub over a foot or so, it's potted and all."

"But how're we going to cut through metal with a knife?"

"Ah, just get the orange portions."  He said, before lighting his hoof on fire.  He drew it down the cheap iron slowly, leaving a red hot trail in his wake, which Dash easily cut through, almost like butter.  It didn't take long to make a sizable hole, and they waited a few minutes for the pointy ends to cool before sending the griffins through.  

Eravel dragged the shrub over and adjusted a few branches, before waving it and moving the headset closer to his beak.  

"Hawkeye out."
> Time Goes On
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Time Goes On


Jason slowly walked back towards camp with Dash, he'd stayed hidden near the fence, listening for any conversation from the headset.  Eravel had said he was going quiet, but Jason didn't want to move before he was sure that the griffins were at least planted.  After nearly fifteen minutes and some quiet complaining from Dash, he finally agreed to start making his way back.

They cut through some bushes, navigating past a small pond that Jason made a mental note of for later.  Swimming, one of the things he really missed about this whole war campaigning stuff.  Ponyville would never match up to this whole experience in interest it held, but at least he wasn't stuck under a small number of activities like he was here.  They started to ascend and briefly caught a view of the capitol, an orange slice of moon hanging peacefully above.  Jason turned and sat down, gesturing for Dash to join him.

"What is it with you, Jason.  We rush everywhere one day, and then it's just sitting around the next."

"Come on, you can't say that's not pretty."  He said, pointing an arm towards the twinkling lights.  "We don't have anything going on, so we might as well enjoy the city lights while they're still there."

"Heh, oh yeah."  She sat down next to him, resting her head on his shoulder.  They retained the position as the sky darkened and stars came into being, twinkling and blinking as the rest of the night sky Jason loved to watch came into view.  

"I love you, Dash."  He said, tilting her muzzle up with a hoof and giving her a brief kiss. 

"Not to intrude or anything,"  Eravel's voice cut in over the walkie talkie, "But I can hear everything."  Red quickly made its way through Jason's fur, turning it a shade of crimson tinged grey.  He pulled out the microphone, frowning as Dash started to laugh.

"Oh my god, the look on your face!  The one time where you're actually this embarrassed and you happen to be in pony form!"  She wiped at an eye, letting out a few residual giggles as she recalled his expression.

"Yeah, make fun of the guy that teases you all the time, good call."  Jason replied, a smirk making its way onto his face.

"I can handle it, don't worry."  Dash winked and returned his previous kiss with a slight purr.  "Now come on, I don't want to stay out here."

"Oh, scared, huh?"  He asked, putting a hoof up and shaking it around with a corresponding 'ooooh'.

"No!  I just- okay maybe a little."

"So, fly back then?"  He asked, spreading his wings.  

"Well we could..."  She walked beside him to look at a wing.  "You gotta take better care of these, Jason!  Some of these feathers are crooked, you can't leave them like that!"

"But-"  He started, before she stuck out her muzzle to rearrange the feathers.  His breath caught slightly; it was a strange sensation to say the least, pleasurable to a degree.  But not in the same way that he would play with Dash's wings either, that just- he couldn't explain it.  This just seemed more a gesture of love rather than lust.  Apparently he had a new way to tease her then.  At least he kept any sign of the mischief from spreading to his face as Dash finished with his second wing.

"You aren't as invincible as you think, Jason.  If you let that get too bad you might have trouble getting off the ground."  She said, moving the hoodie and stretching out her own wings to show off.

"Noted, Dash.  Although it was a lot better when you do it."

"What can I say, I'm an expert."

"I've only been groomed by one other mare, I can't confirm or deny that statement."

"Well I would hope you've only been preened by me."

"Why?"  Jason asked, turning his head towards hers and away from the star he'd been staring at.

"Cuz that's just something you either do yourself, or with close family and, well, mare-friends."

"Ah, another one of those things huh?"

"How simple was romance for you back on Earth?"  Dash asked, flapping her wings and floating upwards a few feet.  Jason took off after her, and they quickly ascended past the tree line.  

"You forget that we had all the technology and a multitude of people.  That probably cancels out what little wing related things there are."

"I guess you aren't familiar with the sheer amount of wing related stuff in existence."

"Maybe you'll have to show me then."  He replied, a suggestive look crossing his face.

"Maybe I will."  She confirmed, matching his expression.


___________________________________________________________________


"Eravel, come in."  Jason said, having grabbed the headset from the side of the bed as light streamed in through the windows.  There was a pause for a few moments, before a voice replied back.

"Yeah, what's going on?"  The griffin asked, his slightly scratchy voice intensified by the ambient static.  Dash sighed gratefully, glad that everything was still going to plan, at least for the time being.

"How're things?"  Jason asked back, tapping his hoof on the antenna of the walkie talkie as he awaited a response.

"Good, I guess.  It was already late when we got into the city, so I didn't really spread the word at all.  I'm in an empty warehouse right now with two of the other guys, and we should be moving out in a couple minutes.  You're up pretty early today, by the way."

"How long ago was sunrise?"  Dash asked, cutting off Jason's response and following it up with a sheepish smile.  

"It's like nine or something, so at least a few hours."

"Well just make sure you keep everything organized, Eravel.  We need a sudden uprising, not a bunch of small ones."

"Will do.  I'm going to turn this off for a while, we're moving."

"Alright, stay safe."  Jason finished before the signal fizzled and died.


______________________________________________________________


"Hey Shining."  Dash said as she entered his tent with a groggy Jason in tow.  "Things going alright?"

"Yeah, I guess.  A griffin came kinda close to camp but we took him out."  The general stared at Jason for a moment.  "What happened to you?"

"Ugh.  I couldn't really sleep last night."  Jason sighed.  "I'm just--worried, I guess.  Usually things are in my han-hooves, and if they go wrong it's my fault because I was there and something went wrong.  But here, I order the thing and it's up to Eravel to adapt.  I'm not saying he's not up to it, but I'd rather be there."

"Best part of my job right there."  Shining said sarcastically, looking over at Cadance.  "She says she's happy that I'm not involved, takes the risk out of things and all."  His wife frowned.  "But hey, I'm good at what I do, right?  No food shortages, no problems with the other armies, I'd say it could be worse."

"You do all that?"  Dash asked.  "I half expected I'd find a pile of doodles laying around at some point here."

"Ah."  Shining pulled open a drawer.  "Not much of a stack, but you know."  He tried to close it, before Jason shoved a hoof into the opening.  

"Oh no, you're not getting off that easy."  Jason floated out a few pieces of paper before Shining could stop him, and immediately broke out into laughter.  "These are great, I can almost tell what they are!"  Jason yelled, flipping through pictures of unidentifiable things.  

"I'm no good at drawing, what did you expect?"

"I dunno, the lack of an attempt?"  He passed the papers to Dash, who transferred a rough half of them to Cadance.  There was another set of uproarious laughter before the two mares calmed themselves, a task that was made harder by the shade of crimson on Shining's muzzle.  

"Honey, what are these supposed to be?"

"That one was of you, actually."  Shining replied with a smirk, drawing a giggle from his wife.

"I'm glad you represented my beauty so well, I think."

"Oh shush, I was bored."  She flipped through a few more.

"You must've been really bored."  Shining struggled for a moment to come up with a response before Jason interjected.  

"Hey, I know I'm usually the goofball around here, but what's the plan in place for actually moving on the city?"

Shining quickly sobered, putting a hoof to his chin in thought.  "I only have vague actions ready, but most of those were in case of mass discovery.  We can easily move on the city overnight, even in a couple hours if need be, but I'm honestly not sure how well we could do that without a huge number of casualties.  So that insurgency plan that you had is pretty important, even if it only results in a lot of dead griffins."

"As cold as that is to hear."  Cadance added.  

"The thing is though, if it does work,"  Dash continued Shining's monologue, "The work on our part will be small or nonexistent.  But like Jason's said before, it really is a long shot."

"How's communication worked so far?"  Shining asked, sitting back down in his chair and stowing the doodles.

"Pretty well, I'm a little worried that the further he gets, the less it'll come through.  But since we're on a hill and he's, well, down there, hopefully there won't be a problem."  Jason said with a sigh, shifting his weight.

"Yeah, we can only hope.  But you seem to work through most things that come up, if Windforge was any clue."

"The thing was though, they were expecting us to let them escape and get the hostages back safely.  We don't have that here, and chances are, they've got their best soldiers defending the Capitol.  I mean, what have they got to lose there?"

"Good point, there's nothing stopping them from going all out."  Jason went a little pale, before he slapped a hoof to his forehead.

"I have to contact Eravel, hold on."  He turned on the walkie talkie and started to speak.  "What's the situation with weapons over there, Eravel?"

"Hold on a sec."  Came a whispered response, followed by some clanging and rumbling.  "Just fine.  Better than fine, actually.  The old weapons factory's still here, abandoned as usual."

"A base of command and we're armed to the teeth."  Came a voice from one of the other griffins, followed by a few quiet cheers.  

"Oh, and the time of the uprising, although this is obviously subject to change, is tomorrow at two, assuming we can pull support that fast."

"Have you pulled any yet?"  Dash asked, biting her lip nervously.

"Some, but only from a part of the slums and the area right around where we are right now.  But even if we just control the semi abandoned part, well, it's a maze around here."

"So at the very least troops would be tied up..."  Jason finished, staring at the ground in thought.  "Okay, I'll check back later, thanks for the update."

"Sure thing, I'll keep this on."  Jason heard a few hushed orders from Eravel as he turned the walkie-talkie back off and returned his attention to the group.

"Tomorrow, that seems a little fast."  Shining said, furrowing his brow.

"Yeah, but it's all we have to run off of."  Dash replied, sighing.  "I'm with you Jason, I'd rather be out there."  They lapsed into silence, before Jason eventually spoke up.

"Where's Evening?"  He asked, gesturing to the open bunk.

"She left, said something about trying to make a few friends or something.  Probably hungry, I assume."  Shining replied, taking a glance at Cadance who had managed to keep a neutral expression.

"Guess we might as well go find her."  Jason mumbled.  "Anything to get my mind off this mission."  He turned and walked outside, slowing his pace to allow Dash to catch up.  He leaned over and gave her a quick kiss, briefly looking at the wing hung around his neck.  

"You really like that thing, huh?"  Dash asked, her smile wavering slightly.

"I already told you I did, Dash.  Besides, even if you did give me something disappointing I wouldn't love you any less."  He was met by a hug, slightly putting him off balance as Dash tried to walk along on two legs.

"I'll never know why I'm so insecure when it comes to you."

"It's probably because I'm so charismatic."

"Oh yeah, that must be it."  She replied, poking at him with a hoof.

"We have to unload our stuff."  Jason said offhandedly as they passed by their tent, the buggy still outside.  A low rumble emanated from inside, followed by a muffled feminine groan.

"I think I know where Evening is."  Jason said, deadpan.  "That mare, my god."

"Hey, it passes the time, right?"

"Yeah, I guess."  He walked around to the front of the buggy, looking in through the entrance at what had become a pile of random junk, with a hoof sticking out towards him.  Jason sighed and grabbed the hoof with his magic, pulling out Evening with another cascade of things as she dangled from what had turned out to be one of her back hooves.  

"I wasn't going through your stuff if that's what you're wondering."  Her forehead lit up as she tried to free herself, to no avail.  "Okay fine I was, now let me down!"  She yelled, a slight blush forming as blood rushed to her head.

"I dunno, should I?"  Jason asked, looking at Dash.

"Nah, I don't think so."

"But-"  She yelped as Jason let go and she hit the ground.  Evening rubbed her head and looked up at Jason, before sighing.  "Sorry, I was just kinda bored."

"Yeah, I know the reeling."

"I think I need a new disguise."  She said after some hesitation.

"How come?"  Jason asked, pulling the changeling to her hooves and walking inside.  

"Cuz I was chatting with these two officers and they just kept staring at me.  They were kinda mad and maybe a little scared, I dunno.  But how can it be that obvious, hardly any ponies know what I look like!"

"Those officers saw you I think, you know, while you were kinda insane..."  He paused.  "Anyway, they've probably blown this completely out of proportion by now."  He went back outside, returning with the TV and Xbox.  "We're probably playing this, right?"  He asked, setting down the equipment.  

"Yeah."  Evening said, starting to get visibly excited.

"So how'd the rest of the love gathering go?"  He asked, connecting the wires.

"Meh, I flirted with this one stallion for a while, but I think he was a colt cuddler or something, because I wasn't getting much in the way of response.  Or maybe he was just dense.  Anyway, this one stallion seemed to take to me before his mare friend came over."

"And then there were the officers, got it."

"You're really good at picking targets, Evening."  Dash pointed out with a giggle.  "Seriously, the bad luck involved there..."

"Oh, shut up!  I've only impersonated a few ponies before, but they've all been real.  That's the thing, I've got to make the relationships, and normally I just start out with them."

"It's weird talking with you, with your point of view and all."  Dash commented, as Jason blew off a wire connection and plugged it back in.

"Well in a way you ponies are kinda like food, so..."

"You're not going to make any friends like that, Evening."

"Well that's the problem, it's hard to change how I think, especially when most of that was engrained by the hive mind."

"Ah."  Jason turned on the TV, bringing sound into the sudden silence.  

"Here Dash."  Jason started, handing her a stack of games.  "Pick one."

"Wow, you found all these?"

"Yeah.  Mostly in that one big stack."  He turned on a controller.  "I never really looked at who's this was, maybe I'll recognize the name or something."

"Well yeah, they're our accounts."

"We made those, but there should be others."  He went down a list, his expression quickly turning from one of boredom to one of confusion.  He went down a few more options and started to break out in laughter.  

"What?"  Dash asked, looking at him strangely.

"I think this is Ben's Xbox!"  

"Who?"

"My friend!"

"So why's that so funny?"  She asked, still confused.

"Because he loved this thing, it's just ironic."  He wiped an eye.  "Oh my god.  Whatever, let's just play this thing, there's nothing we can do to send it back, as far as I know."

"Fine, how about that Nazi Zombie thing?"

"Oh, that should be fun.  May as well start from the beginning though."  He cracked open the Call of Duty: Black Ops case and slid the disk in.  "This should be interesting."


_________________________________________________________________


"Jason."  Eravel said quietly over the headset.

"What?"

"What's the best way to hide a body?"

"Uh, well that depends.  I'm not an expert here, but I guess you could bury it somewhere with already tilled up dirt?"

"Okay, I can do that."  

"You want to tell me why you need to hide a body?"

"Well we had to move through a security checkpoint, and this griffin wouldn't stop asking questions, so we kinda...killed him."

Jason muffled his laughing, although he knew it was nowhere near enough.  Then another thought came to his mind, and he sobered.  "You're still under cover, right?"

"Yeah, it was just one griffin, no big deal."

"You say that like you've been doing this for years."

"Sorry."

"I'm just joking with you, it's no big deal."

"Okay then, we're getting together a fair number of griffins that believe us, although it's nowhere near what we need.  Although Ripper over there says he has connections here."

"That's his name?!"  Dash yelled, "Where have we been?"

"No, that's just his nickname.  Not that we know his real name..."

"Why Ripper?"

"No one really knows."

"Alright..."  Jason paused, not sure what to say.  "Contact me if things get crazy, I guess."

"I know, the usual."  His voice cut out.


________________________________________________________________


"Evening, we should sleep."  Jason said as their game ended, putting his controller to the side.  

"Yeah, okay."

"What?  You're just going to go like that, without some sort of fight?"  Dash asked back, a look of disbelief on her face.

"Well yeah, I'm tired.  I'm not as hungry as before at least, thanks Dash."

"Uuh, you're welcome?"  She sighed.  "It always makes me feel like I'm cheating on Jason when I give you love."

"But it's just from friendsh-"

"I know, but still."

"Sorry, I guess?  Anyway, I'll just get going, I'm a little tired myself."

"Alright, see ya."  Jason said as she left, turning back to Dash with a slight smile.  "It's a good thing we know other people, you might get tired of just me all the time."  He got up and slid off his saddlebag before moving into bed.  

"You're feisty tonight, Jason."  Dash said with a smirk, before moving to climb in next to him.  "Wait crud, I have to take this thing off."  She tugged at the hoodie, unable to slide it over her head.  Jason chuckled and pulled it off with his magic, before floating her into bed.  "Aah, Jason!"  She yelled, before he let her drop, wrapping her in his arms as she hit the bed next to him.

She poked at him a few times before settling down and hugging him back, giggling again as he fell asleep a few minutes later.  It always amazed her how he could just pass out like this.  But it didn't matter too much, they had a big day tomorrow, but whether that was good or bad, well, she couldn't know for sure.
> "Penalty!!!!"
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


"Penalty!!!!"


"Dash, how does this tent not leak?"  Jason asked, not expecting a response.

"You're still awake?  You slept what?  Two, three hours?"

"Well you're awake too..."  He pointed out, opening his mouth widely and yawning in the dim light.

"You rolled away from me and laid like that on your back.  It's getting a little hard to sleep without you here."  She hugged herself slightly.  "You know."

"Yeah, sorry I'm not the best colt friend right now."  He said, continuing his staring contest with the pattering canvas.

"Wait, it's raining?"

"I guess, that or all the rest of the leaves fell off at the same time."  He replied with another yawn, sticking a hoof above his head to touch at the tent.  "And yet it's not wet."

"It's probably enchanted."

"Of course it is."  He went silent for a few minutes.  "I'm going to take a walk, I need to clear my head a little."

"How long of a walk?"  Dash asked.  "I'm not trying to pry, but you know, I have trouble sleeping."  She tapped her fore hooves together nervously, giving him a glance.

"Shouldn't be too long, I'll try not to come back soaked."  He got up and sighed, walking around the bed to give Dash a kiss on her forehead before he took his leave.  As soon as he walked outside he was hit with a blast of frigid rain, plowing into his face with enough force to make him rethink coming out here.  But as he tentatively took a few more steps, it was clear that there wouldn't be a repeat occurrence.

Judging by the amount of water already on the ground, there must've been quite the storm since he'd fallen asleep, a little surprising given how clear the sky had been.  But he had noticed a cloud bank to the west, maybe that had moved in.  His fur was starting to get soaked already, but it wasn't uncomfortable.  Besides the original gust, the only slightly chilly rain was a welcome feeling as it chilled his skin.

These past two days, all he could think about was the mission.  How was it going? was everyone alright?  If it didn't work, how many deaths were directly attributable to him?  And he never had an answer, unless he could talk to Eravel.  And that was still spotty, he never seemed to have everyone there, and Jason knew he wouldn't have an answer for the blame card.

But it really was his fault if this went south.  Sure, sometimes he went a little overboard with heaping on the blame, but this was different.  He'd come up with the idea, he'd sent the griffins to their very possible deaths, and by extension it would be his fault if they died.  

And that's what always got him, partially the guilt and fear that something would go wrong, but also that he was risking Eravel.  A shiver traveled down his back as the thought hit him for nowhere near the first time.  One of his best friends around here, someone that he could've sent to his own death, no matter how willingly he had decided to go.  

Sometimes he liked the power, the ability to tell ponies to go here, do that, and not be questioned.  He liked the fear that they held, to an extent, something that had seemed to turn into more of a respect than a longstanding grudge, something he had initially feared.

Jason's hoof sank into a gopher hole and he tripped, landing on his side in the mud.  Not that it mattered to him, he could just get rid of the fur and burn it off, but it still sent an unpleasant feeling through his skin.  Jason got up and started to turn back, realizing that his attempts to empty his mind had only exacerbated the problem.  

He wasn't alone in this though, right?  He had Dash, Shining, Tank...  But only Shining and Dash would understand the decisions.  And at that point, Shining had been doing this so long Jason doubted he'd understand, if he even thought that way.  And Dash...  Why the fuck hadn't he talked more with her?  He picked up his pace slightly, looking through the haze and the slight fog at a camp that was totally deserted.  It was creepy, really, to see something that was usually so busy take on the appearance of a ghost town.  

Jason bumped into something warm, and turned his head forward again.  He'd bumped into one of the griffins, who was apparently just as preoccupied as he was.  

"Why're you out here?"  Jason asked, more curious then demanding.

"Just restless."  The griffin replied nervously, giving Jason's muddy side a glance.  

"Yeah, same here.  Just wandering, I assume?"

"Kinda, last time I was out like this I got lost."  He paused.  "But I guess it wasn't all rainy like this yesterday."

Jason mumbled back a response, as a couple squished plants caught his eye.  He navigated over with the griffin, levitating, well, some sort of thing off the ground.  He couldn't really tell what it was, considering that it was black and all.  His night vision was only so good.  But there was a football next to it, he could tell that much.  He shrugged and levitated them both, before turning back.  He needed to get back to Dash, she could make this better.

"You good?"  He asked the griffin.  "I'm going to head back."

"Yeah, no problem."  He waved a talon, before going his separate way.  Jason waved back as he walked the last steps to the tent, moving the shit inside and setting it in a relatively unoccupied spot.  He could clean it off in the morning, whatever it was.  Dash noticed him through her sleepy haze, and mumbled something about his appearance.  He chuckled and walked back outside before dropping the disguise and watching the mud and water slide off.  Jason burnt anything else off and walked back inside, quickly curling up next to Dash.  

"Dash, tell me I'm doing the right thing here."

"What, you mean in the Capitol?"

"Yeah, I can't convince myself, all I see is Eravel at risk from my plan.  Which is stupid, I haven't had this problem before."

"He volunteered, you didn't order him to go."  She said, sitting upright in the bed.  "Come here."  She reached over and pulled him into a hug.  "I know this stuff tears at you, but it's only a big deal if you make it a big deal.  It's your job to make these decisions for the best of the army, not for a few guys, right?"

"Yeah."

"So then what's wrong with sacrificing a few to save hundreds?"

"It's just-"

"Think of it this way, if you didn't sacrifice Eravel, you'd risk losing Tank, Hunter, Morning Rain...  Maybe even Evening if things got bad enough."

"Well yeah, but-"

"You're doing the best with what you can, you should be proud that most of these ponies are going to survive.  Gotta break some eggs to make an omelet, right?"

"Curse you, using my own words against me."  He replied with a light chuckle.  They lapsed into silence, before Jason pushed her shoulders back and planted a kiss on her lips, wrapping a hoof around her head and pulling her in tighter.  "I don't know what I'd do without you."  He mumbled after breaking away.  "I love you, Dash."

"Same here, you big goof.  Now come on, we got a lot to do tomorrow, no sense being tired through all of it."

"Heh, usually I'm the one complaining about sleep."  He chuckled as he laid down, his chest against Dash's back and his hooves around her chest.

"We don't lay like this enough."  She muttered.  "I kinda like it this way."

"What?  Spooning?"

"Yeah, if that's what you call it."

"This works better as humans."  He said, resting his head on her shoulder.  "This only works because I'm taller and my legs go past your flanks."

"I still like it though, silly."  She said, opening her mouth in a massive yawn.  "Besides, it's something different, right?"

"I guess I can't argue with you there."  He paused, yawning alongside his mare friend.  "Good night, Dash."

"Night, Jason."


____________________________________________________________________


"The fuck?"  Jason asked out loud, scratching his head.  He was sitting in a patch of grass, looking up a, well, a city.  It was upside down, the buildings stretching out towards the ground.  A few ponies passed by, which wouldn't have been strange if there weren't humans running around down--up--over there.  He let his gaze drop as Dash walked up from behind him, staring at the city much like he had.

"Well this is an interesting dream, Jason."

"Yeah, especially since that's San Francisco down there.  City Center, I think."  Amplified words reached them, of someone giving a speech, presumably.  

"Wow, look at all the people!"  

"Pretty cool, huh?"

"Yeah, it just stretches on all over the place too!  Come on, let's go look around!"

"I don't know much about town around here, this dream's probably pretty limited.  I can't really dream a lot of stuff I haven't seen.  Or maybe I can, but it's just stuff I make up?"

"Oh shush, let's just get up there!"  She took off and rose, waiting briefly for Jason to catch up as he ascended as well.  

"I expected to see Evening around here, but maybe she's not asleep?"  He asked, not really expecting an answer.

"Yeah, may-Aah!"  She flailed her limbs as gravity turned over, pulling her towards the city.  "Hey, that was kinda fun!"

"You're peppy today."  Jason noted before going through the same process.  It honestly didn't feel good for his stomach, which was a weird concept inside a dream.  How much could he really do here?

Dash landed on top of a building, watching a person go by, not noticing them at all.  "Hello human!"  She waved her arm around, trying to get her attention.  "I come in peace!"  

"I guess they aren't really much of conversationalists."  He chuckled.  "Come on, let's get to street level."  He took off over the edge, gliding his way down around a brick building and under a clothesline, dodging an American flag that was flown at half mast for some reason.  Jason landed with a soft clop, sliding slightly on the worn brick.  

"How big is this place?  It just seems to go on forever..."

"I could show you a map, if it comes through.  Oh wait, there's one right here."  He walked over to a BART map, and pointed out the peninsula.  "We're here, above City Center station."  Some slight rumbling went under their feet.  "And that's either Muni or BART right there."

"Where?"  She looked around, before looking at her own hooves.  "Down there?"

"Yeah, subway trains.  Below ground to save space."

"How fast do they go?"  She asked, looking back up.

"Oh, didn't expect that one."  Dash flashed him a winning smile and he sighed.  "I'm not sure what their top speed is, but one time I brought a GPS and we went seventy five at one point."

"That's not too fast, really."

"How fast do your trains go?"

"Like forty."  She muttered, not wanting to let him overhear her statement.

"Oh, I see how it is."  He chuckled and looked up, his laugh cutting off as he stared at one of the humans.  She didn't look away, and much to his distress, made her way over.  Jason took a step back, craning his neck up as she stood over him.  He was only a little over waist level, and chances are, she was five foot something.  God damn, that made him short.

"Jason?"  The human asked, squinting her eyes.

"Huh?"

"It's Evening!"  She yelled, kneeling down and wrapping Jason in a hug.

"Urk, you look different, Evening."

She stood back up and looked at her arms.  "Oh, yeah, I'm wearing different skin this time."

"Those are clothes, Evening.  But your face looks kinda different."

"Ooh, well I fell asleep like a changeling, so..."

"Okay, how come?"  Dash asked, taking a step back to give her neck a rest.  

"Cuz keeping a disguise up like that gets harder the longer you keep it up.  I haven't been in full changeling form for like three weeks."  She smiled down at them.  "First thing I did: stretch my wings and move some things with my magic.  There's no substitute for changeling form, huh Jason?"

"I guess, I haven't really been disguised for more than a few days at a time."

"So what's this place?"  She asked, showing some of her characteristic ADD.  

"This is a city from earth, or part of one anyway.  There should be a few correct blocks and a realistic skyline, but that's about it."  A person bumped into him and kept walking, trampling Jason into the ground.  "I think that part of them not knowing we're here goes hand in hand with random collisions."  He muttered, before standing back up and trying to dust himself off.

"It's kinda weird being here though, even if it is in my imagination.  Lots of memories."  He started walking, before he broke out into a gallop.  

"Jason!  Where are you going?"  He didn't respond, but only turned into an alley and stopped dead.  

"Thought so."  He said dryly, looking at a bloodstain on the wall.  

"What?"  Evening asked, sticking a finger into the blood.  "Eew, it's still wet!"  She yelled, shaking her hand around and attempting to get rid of the blood.

"That's my blood."  Jason broke in quietly, starting to walk down the alley.  "Remember what I said about memories?"  Dash started to say something before deciding against it, giving Evening a gesture that said to keep quiet.  They followed Jason as he walked around a corner, coming into view of a man with a knife stuck through his eye, a pool of blood covering the nearby area, as well as a trail of droplets.

"Is this... one of the guys you killed?"  Dash asked, moving closer to the corpse as her hooves splashed in the blood.

Jason was silent for a long time before answering.  "Yeah.  He tried to mug me, then he got a pretty good stab in my side before I did...that."  He sighed.  

"Well, kill or be killed, right?"  She asked.  "I mean, you really went to town on that guy."  She gestured with a chuckle.

"Yeah, but it'd be nice if for once I could have a nice fucking dream."

"It's just the war, I'm sure these things'll pass."  Dash affirmed, giving him a pat on the shoulder.  "Do you ever want to go back?  Just for a visit?"

"Of course I do, I died and ended up in Equestria, and no one knows that.  I'd want to go see Ben and Mankin if I could, maybe some of my other friends.  But it's hard, knowing that I left them without so much as a goodbye."  A tremor moved through the city as the dream began to deteriorate, and buildings started to crumble.  

"Oh Jason."  Dash said, wrapping her hooves around his neck.  "You're too stressed.  I'll fix it, don't worry."

"I don't know how you can, not with all this stuff that's going on right now."  A building collapsed, sending dust through the alleyway and partially blotting out the sun.

"I can try, right?  I'm at least worth that much."  She leaned over and kissed him as the remaining buildings crumbled, while Evening seemed to be overreacting in the background.  


____________________________________________________________


Jason didn't wake up.  As his dream faded, backlit walls began to pop, showering him with their brightness as he tried to shield his eyes.  Eventually they seemed to adjust and he took away his hoof, the view exactly the same minus the appearance of Luna.

"It's a lot easier to just make a new dream, rather than go into yours."  She said, looking around.  "This wasn't supposed to look like this though, I had selected something a little less...white."

Jason shrugged.  "I don't know how much you were expecting."

"One moment."  She shut her eyes as he horn started to glow.  The walls simply fell outwards, giving Jason a view of a slightly hilly grass field.  Luna looked around, smiling to herself.  "Ah, much better."  She started to walk off the box, gesturing behind herself with a wing for him to follow.  

"So what's the situation?"  Jason asked as he pulled up beside her.  "Do you prefer princess?"

"It does not matter to me, you're welcome to say whatever you want.  Tis not an honor I bestow unto all...beings."

"Oh, well thanks!"  He said a little louder than he had meant to.

Luna chuckled.  "Yes."  Her expression sobered, and she turned away.  "Things are getting a little out of control.  A pony tried to use this on me before I captured him."  A snub-nose revolver popped into existence, slowly spinning around at the Princess's head level.  Jason didn't have to crane his head up that much, at least.  He wasn't princess size, but he was a lot closer than anyone else.

"You found that?!"  Jason asked, hoping she was mistaken.

"Yes, he pulled it out of a drawer and missed twice before it started clicking."

"Well this puts an interesting spin on things.  You at least got some information?"

"Some, I have a new lead at least.  One that actually shows promise."

"Does that keep you in Manehattan?"  Jason asked, running a hoof through the moist grass.

"Yes, as a matter of fact.  Now go, your mare friend is probably worried that you haven't woken up."  She gave him a quick wave before the dream turned white again, and he closed his eyes against the brightness.


____________________________________________________________


"Jason!  What's going on?!"  Dash asked, shaking him by the shoulders.  He opened his eyes and stared up at her for a moment before finally responding.

"Luna checked in."  He said, hugging her down on top of himself.  "And she said she found a gun on one of the guys, but that she has a lead now."  He listened for a moment.  "Hey, it stopped raining."

"Is she okay?!"

"Yeah, she looked fine."  He moved his head upwards and pushed his muzzle against hers.  "Let's just take this whole situation one thing at a time, okay?"

"Yo, Jason?"  Eravel asked over the walkie talkie, "You awake yet?"  Jason chuckled and floated the device over. 

"Yeah, what's goin' on?"

"Well, the good news is, everyone's fine.  The bad news is, I might need some more time.  It's hard to get these people behind me."

"Can't say I didn't expect that."  Jason replied, sighing.  "Just take your time, within reason.  Things'll get tougher if we get found out."

"I know, I'm trying my best."

"I'm not saying you aren't.  Give me a heads up if something happens."

"Sure thing."  The signal cut out, leaving the sound of static in its wake.  

"Jason, what's that black thing over there?"  Dash asked, pointing off the bed.

"Oh yeah, I found that while I was walking around."  He pulled himself out of bed and trotted over lightheartedly, before stopping suddenly.  Jason's staring match continued for a few more seconds before he started dancing around and cheering.  "Coolest.  Thing.  Ever!!"  He yelled, before kneeling down to get a closer look.  He pressed a button and a tiny screen lit up as the backside, covered in lenses and cameras, started to whir and preform diagnostics.

"What is it?"  Dash asked, tossing the covers from her body.  She walked over and tapped at one end.  "A giant gun or something?"

"You could say that."  He replied with a chuckle.  "Assuming this isn't damaged, and I'll clean it out and everything before even attempting to use it, this shoots guided missiles."  She snickered a little, tapping the barrel with a hoof.

"What's it named?"

"Uh, hmm.  I've never seen something like this in person, but..."  He levitated it into the air and turned it over a few times, looking for tags.  "It's US Army, Javelin class.  So yeah.  There's only one missile in here, assuming it came loaded.  Otherwise it's pretty useless."  He tapped it with a hoof as it touched back down.  "Oh well, I'll get to this later."  He hopped back up and started going through a different box of stuff.

"Jason?"

"Yeah?"

"Why're you acting like this?"

"You were right, I'm doing the best with what I can."  He replied, pulling out a book.  "And I was thinking, why not do something with the rest of today?"  He asked, tossing her the book on football.  "After all, we have all the junk to play now."

"Found a ball?"

"You bet I did."

"This better be as fun as you said it was."  She replied with a smirk, closing the book back up.


______________________________________________________________


"ATTENTION!"  He yelled, watching the troops salute in front of him.  "I bet you wondered why I brought you out here today, and one of the reasons is that we've been going through alcohol really quickly.  You're soldiers, not drunkards!"  A few ponies shifted uncomfortably.  "Maybe I should just order a charge?"  There was an uproar from the crowd.  "That's what I thought!"

Dash sighed next to him.  "Just get to the point, Jason."

"But I like yelling at them..."  He said, keeping his voice low.  

"We came out here for sports, not more of this."  She gestured around.  "Funny as it is."

Jason turned back with a grin.  "Anyway, all this lying around all the time isn't good for any of us, not if we're going to be battling in so little time."  There was a quiet groan, although the few griffins that had shown up didn't make a sound.  He liked their discipline.  "Oh shut up, we're doing something new anyway.  Tank come here."  Tank walked over with Morning Rain, looking Jason over momentarily.  

"What do ya need?"  He asked, yawning in the warm noon light.  Jason handed him the book, and Tank looked at the cover.  "Football?"

"Yeah, I just need to figure out kickoffs and stuff."

"I'm pretty good at kicking, I don't think that's a problem."

"We're going for hang time, it needs to arch and go pretty far."

"Well then allow me."  Morning said with a smile.  "This is that ball, right?"

"Yeah, but it-"

"Goes up on it's end?"

"Yeah."  She handed it back to Jason, who knelt down and held the ball on it's end with a hoof.  Morning took a few steps back before sprinting at the ball, sliding out her back hoof as she passed and sending it flying over the crowd of ponies.  

"I guess that works."  Dash said, her face drawn.  "So we gotta get stuff set up, right?"  She asked, looking at Jason.  

"Yeah, you two are team captains I guess, just try to give them a rough idea of what to do.  It's not that complicated of a game.  Oh yeah, and we're using helmets from the armor, no flying or magic, and, well, no lowering the head for obvious reasons.  Any other penalties are in there."

"Just tell us when you're ready to lose."  Tank replied with a smile before turning around.  


_____________________________________________________


"You're using the landing strip for what?!"  Shining asked, throwing his hooves up in the air a moment later for emphasis.  "Why?"

"Because I wanted to do something with the troops, at least some of them anyway.  It's a good distraction from all this."  Jason said, gesturing around himself.  

"I think it's a good idea."  Cadance spoke up.  "As long as this foot-ball isn't going to make them worse off for battle."

"I'm sure it won't, not more than a few small bruises and a little soreness.  It's not like this is the Super Bowl, we don't have to try too hard."  Jason replied.

"Alright fine."  Shining mumbled.  "Just make sure to move for any traffic and all that.  If it's any good, maybe I'll have to join in."  He chuckled at his wife's expression.

"Do you have any paint?  I need to make lines..."  

"Uh, well I have this paint-in-a-can stuff."  He pulled out a box of spray paint and set it on his desk with a thump.

"Why didn't you show this to us?"  Dash asked.  "We clearly don't have this here."

"Hey, I forgot that I had it.  I confiscated it a week ago from these guys that put a giant-"

"Dick, right?"  Jason filled in, giving shining a glance as he burst out laughing.

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"Cuz we invented spray paint!  What do you think happened over there?"

"Heh, I dunno, but-"  His semi-straight face broke as he let himself laugh as well.  "It's funny how we're that much alike, really."

"Because that's a good argument, graffiti penises."  Dash replied, giggling to herself.

"I married such a mature stallion."  Cadance said, deadpan.

"Oh, you knew what you were getting into."  Jason chuckled at their banter and levitated the box off of Shining's desk, quickly bringing it over to the 'field.'

"So how long is this thing?"  Dash asked.  "I'm pretty good with distances, I betcha I could get it to within a foot."

"Oh really?"  He looked around, noticing tents on either end that he could call the bottoms of goal posts.  "A hundred twenty yards long, forty yards wide."  His smirk faded as she took off with a can of white paint, strafing next to him as she made her first line.  A couple seconds later, she went by a ways away and made another, before flying back and landing next to him.  

"You don't even need to check."

"Okay then, Mrs. Ruler, Give me two more lines, ten yards from the sides, and then at five yard increments."  She grinned and saluted, before flying off again and starting on the remaining lines.  Jason just shook his head in disbelief, a slight wave of admiration moving through him as he watched her fly.  That happened to him a lot, really.  There was always something she could do that made his jaw drop.  But that wasn't the best part.  No, the best part was watching her, in her element, flying around without a care in the world.  

Eventually he tore his eyes from her brilliant mane and tail as it sailed through the atmosphere and brought it lower, until he focused on the main group again.  He walked over slowly, figuring that Tank wouldn't be done anyway, and that there'd be some waiting involved.  As it turned out, he was right, and he motioned to Tank that he should notify him when he was done.  Tank nodded, and Jason returned to the tent.  Dash landed beside him about halfway there, showing off several empty cans of paint. 

"There...It's not ten seconds, but close enough."  She said, slightly out of breath.

"Yes, I warship you for your field painting skills." 

"You should, I'm like a god."  She replied, putting a hoof to her chest and striking an important pose.

"Can I be a heretic?"  Jason asked with a smirk before walking inside.  

"I'll have to burn you at the stake."  Jason chuckled, before a thought struck him.

"Wait, how'd you know about that?"

"Well, I read a history book."  She walked over to another box, moving stuff around.  "It's here, I think."

"How did I not notice?"

"Because I never told you.  It's just a history book."  She said with a shrug.

"I know.  Twilight would kill for that though."  Dash stuck her hoof fairly deep into the box, before straining her arm and pulling the book all the way out.  

"Here, tell me if some of these things were right."  She opened the book, flipping through pages until she came across a chart of World War II casualties.  "There's no way the Ruse-ians lost that many guys, right?"

"Geez, are you determined to mispronounce everything?"  She gave him a glare.  "Russians."  He repeated.  "And yeah, they sucked at fighting wars, just threw people at a problem."

"But what about this other box that says six?"

"Ha, you found American citizen casualties?  That's what you get from being across an ocean, I guess."  He sighed, prying up one end of the launcher.  "Help me clean this, even if it doesn't do a lot of damage, this would really be a shock and awe type weapon.  It could really freak them out."

"Oh, sounds like fun."  Jason chuckled, grabbing a rag and looking around for a jam rod.  "You got any-"  Dash handed him a metal rod, nodding her head.  "Where did you..."

"What?  I can't find things too?"

He put up his hooves in defense.  "Geez Dash, I was just asking a question."  

"Yeah, sorry."  She watched him push the rag inside, pulling it back out without much mud.

"Well this makes my job a lot easier if it's already this clean."  He said, taking a closer look at the rag.  "I'm not sticking this in any farther though, in case this thing is loaded."  He got up and turned the screen back on.  "It says loaded, I think it is."

"If I didn't know you, I'm sure I'd feel really unsafe right now."  She chuckled dryly.

"Dash, your boredom is showing."

"Oh god, where?"  She looked herself over hurriedly, before breaking into giggles.  Tank walked in and waved.  

"We're ready whenever."  He said, grinning.

"Good,"  Jason replied.  "Hopefully you're ready to lose."


__________________________________________________________


"Hey Evening."  Jason asked, seeing her looking over the pre-game movement.

"Hey, can I play?"

"Well we already went over rules..."  She seemed to deflate.  "But you could ref if you want."  He continued quickly, grabbing the book from Tank and handing it over.  "You need something bright to throw though, to notify everyone and stuff."

"Okay!"  She planted her rump on the ground and started reading, her expression much more ecstatic than Jason would have expected.


__________________________________________________________


"Hike!"  Jason yelled, watching as the ball sailed towards him and the line broke into action.  The visibility on this helmet wasn't good, but it's not like he wanted to be at some huge advantage.  The fact that he was taller than most everyone else pretty much did that already.  

Tank broke through the the line, blazing past as Jason sidestepped.  He threw the ball downfield awkwardly; it was only so easy when you needed to rear up to throw.  And then he almost immediately met the ground as Tank hit him in the back, barely put off path by an offensive lineman.  Jason chuckled and rolled over, taking Tank's extended hoof.  "Good hit."  He offered, watching Tank nod in agreement.  

They moved down the field a few yards; apparently even though Jason's pass had connected, it hadn't given them enough yardage to actually get a first down.  So now it was third and one, probably somewhere around Tank's twenty.  So easily within field goal range, but he wanted to at least start this thing out with a touchdown, if at all possible.

"Evening, how much time?"

"Play clock or time in the first quarter?  Do I need the chains again?"

"Just the quarter time."  She nodded and looked at her arm, covered in watches.  "Eight forty nine."  Jason nodded as the line formed up again, before moving up right behind the center.  He flicked his back hoof and a cornerback switched sides.

"Hike!"  He grabbed the ball and turned, thrusting it into the hands of Hunter, who immediately took off in a sweep pattern as the guards pulled to block for him.  He tried to stiff arm a griffin before the guy got a hold of one of his legs and pulled, bringing them both down to the dirt.  All that for three yards,  Jason thought as they reformed.

"Uh," he looked at some marker words he'd drawn on his forearm.  "Pistol, wait, Ten Gallon Hat!"  The ponies shifted after a moment, wide receivers spreading as Jason backed up from his place on the line.  "Hike!"  He grabbed the ball and looked around, waiting for someone to get open.  Dash executed her hitch route and he let the ball fly, flinching as an angry defensive lineman slowed to a stop without the tackle.  

There was no easy way for ponies to catch balls, but her strategy of diving and catching it in her chest worked, he supposed.  She hit the ground and popped back up before anyone could get to her, hobbling on three legs towards the end zone.  Jason cringed as a pony dove on her from behind, smacking her into the ground, and luckily, across the line.  He cheered, running down the field towards her as she was swarmed by teammates.  

He jumped into the pile and mashed his hoof into her mane in a noogie, before she managed to get out of the circle, a big smile playing across her face.  She bumped her hoof into Jason's happily, and did a little belated touchdown dance.  

The rest of the half went quickly, as both teams got close enough to score field goals, keeping the game a mere seven points apart.  As the third quarter began and the ball was kicked off after a hurried round of subs, Jason watched it sail through the air, right into the waiting arms of Tank.  

Jason sprinted past a blocker, who was almost immediately occupied with another pony.  He went wide, shouldering another blocker in the second line, and pushing himself hard to speed up again as he collided with Tank.  It was easily comparable to hitting a brick wall.  But somehow the contact, painful as it was, knocked them both over, sprawling the pair on the ground near the thirty as another body dove onto the pile.  There was a slow lineup as any ponies that had been only special teams were replaced, and a new line was formed.  

"Uh, H-hike!"  Morning yelled, grabbing the ball and dropping back.  She bided her time as Jason dropped back with a wide receiver, watching as the ball launched over the line, right into the waiting hooves of a pony that was completely open.  Jason broke his route and charged at the pony, watching as he was flattened by a griffin they had acting as safety.  That had been one hell of a damaging run; forty yards on the throw alone, and now they were all the way down to their own thirty, already inside the red zone.  

"Okay guys, play it safe here, cover your guy."  They lined back up, most panting heavily at the exertion, and the ball was hiked again.  Morning hardly got back a step before a flag hit her in the cheek, followed by several other flags that flew in random directions.  

"Penalty!!!!"  Evening yelled, throwing more flags.

"Where did you find all these?"  Jason asked as one landed on his back.

"Some guy brought bean bags.  Anyway, off sides, offense, uh, five yard penalty.  Repeat first down."  Morning groaned and got back into position, before hiking the ball again.  She passed it to another pony who took off through the line, easily taking the first down before getting tackled again.  

"You look a little worried, Jason."  Tank said from the line.  

"Not about this, you may as well just give up.  I mean seriously, we-"

"Jason!"  Eravel's voice came over, sounding ragged and husky, almost like he'd been running.  

"Uh, official time out!"  He called, before charging over to the sideline.  "What is it?"

"They- I don't know."  He panted a few times.  "There was some sort of thing that happened, and I think it leaked to the public.  I don't know what it is, but there's a riot in town square, and I sure as hell didn't cause it.  We've still got everyone that came along with our cause here, south side of town."

"What does it look like?  How are the rioters doing?"

"I tried to stay away, that area was covered in soldiers, but things didn't look good.  Get down here as fast as you can, this might be the only chance you get."

"Roger that, give me an hour for the bulk to arrive."

"See if you can get here sooner, I don't know if there'll still be resistance in an hour."

"I said bulk, I can get a large group together pretty quickly."  

"Good, I'll see ya."

"Yeah."  Jason turned back to the players, who were all standing where they had been, looking over.  Dash had moved to the sideline, and seemed to have heard everything.  "Everyone, get ready, get armored, and spread the word.  Evening, go tell Shining that we need to attack now.  The rest of you, this is the battle this entire campaign has come to, this is the day we take the Capitol and WIN THIS WAR!!!!"  A huge cheer went up from the soldiers, before they broke off in random directions and sprinted away.  

"I hope you're right about this being the end."

"For once, I feel like things are coming to a close.  Of course, there's nothing wrong with pushing that along, right?"

"Fuck No!"  She yelled, punching her hoof against his as they broke for the tent.

	
> Better Than Bottle Rockets
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Better Than Bottle Rockets


"Well, wow.  That looks different."  Jason said matter of factly, staring down at the griffin city.  Part of it had been set on fire, attesting to the level of chaos that was present.  

"Eravel, Do you know anything about where only soldiers would be located?"  He asked, scanning the buildings for specific signs.

"Uh,"  He heard a clang in the background.  "There should be a number of fairly well disguised watch towers, go for those.  What are you doing, exactly?"  

"If you're not busy, you may want to look towards the center of town."  He looked on the screen, lining it up with one of the towers.  It beeped a few times, letting on to the fact that it was unable to preform a successful lock on.  A message popped up on the screen.  "Larger heat signature required, great."

"Jason, just aim at the other one, that's partially up in flames."

"Oh yeah.  Good call.  What I want to know is what the hell they're burning to get it that hot."

"Probably some sort of refined whale oil, they use it to smelt weapons, so it's got to be pretty high heat.  Now come on, I don't have that much time to spare."  Eravel said quickly.

"Yeah, here goes."  He looked towards the rest of the ponies present, at least those that had gotten ready in time.  "You all might want to watch this, you may only see it once."  Jason chuckled and aimed again, hearing the beeps turn to a faster frequency before he pulled the trigger and watched the missile sail out a ways before it's engine fired.  It gelt like a train had slammed into his shoulder, way worse than the worst case scenario he'd been expecting.  

But at least he could enjoy the 'ooh' that the ponies let out as the missile soared upwards and became quieter, nearly disappearing into a clear blue piece of sky before reappearing a second or so later as it returned to earth.  The target foolishly stood strong, and as soon as the missile hit it converted into a fiery explosion of stone and wood, blowing all over the surrounding town.  

Jason set down the missile launcher, pining his ears back as the sound reached them, a far off but still easily audible rumbling sound that seemed to rattle Jason down to his bones.  At least, it definitely resonated with the chitin in his shoulder, now that it was cracked.  And it definitely wasn't a pleasurable feeling.  

"Wow, that was awesome!"  Evening yelled.  "It was all like pssssssss bang!"  She fell over.  "So cool!"

Shining chuckled at the mare's antics and walked over, laying a hoof on Jason's shoulder.  "Remember what you said, unconditional surrender."

"I'll try."  Jason replied, putting the headset over his head and testing it out.  He gave Shining a brief salute before turning to the rest of the ponies.  "Remember, we have friendlies in this battle, that's why we're attacking this part of the city first.  But that doesn't mean you won't have to use discretion.  Now come on everyone, let's move out!"  There was a cheer as they took off down the rest of the hill.

The army slowly spread out, a tactic Jason had used to hit as much of the city at once as they could, at least while keeping the individual groups relatively safe.  Simply flying ponies in was too much of a gamble, besides the fact that that only worked with just over a third of the army.

Jason looked forward and took off, buzzing over a low fence and landing on the other side.  He bucked backwards, and the fence exploded into a cloud of splinters.  He felt a slight pain in his hoof, but nothing that was anywhere near what he'd felt before.  Sure, he was still wearing the hoof pad, but at least that was definite improvement.  Tank and the rest of the team trotted through and Jason felt a pang of sadness over the fact that they were currently only six strong.  At this point, he wasn't sure if he even wanted to replace Archer, let alone deal with recruiting another pony.

When he jogged himself out of his thoughts, Dash had already kicked down a door and moved inside, and as Jason followed inside he watched a griffin get slammed up against the wall, his talons already above his head.  

"You pony scum, I thought we'd have more time to be rid of you.  No matter."  He smacked his talon against the wall, digging it in and ripping out a sizable chunk of drywall with a string attached.  Jason was the first to turn around, watching as an axe sailed through from another room, before he caught it in his magic.  Tank took one look at the axe before turning and punching the griffin, watching him slump to the floor.

"Do we kill him?"  He asked.  "He's definitely not friendly."

Jason shrugged.  "He's part of the government, I assume.  So tie him up and gag him, and we'll send someone through to get him later.  Get some water in a bowl though, I don't want him to die, just in case."

"Couldn't he just kill himself?"  Morning asked as she pulled a knot tight.  

"Uh..."  Jason pulled the griffin's mouth open, looking behind his molars for any hint of a pill or vial.  He didn't find anything, and quickly looked over the room to make sure that there weren't any sharp objects that the griffin could use to escape or commit suicide with.  He threw out a few large splinters and the piece of drywall outside, and gave the rest of the team a nod.  

"So the rest of the ponies should be through this first group of houses, hopefully."  He pressed talk on the walkie talkie.  "Eravel, how far is it to you?"

"We're moving north, along the eastern side of the city.  We're still getting closer to the center though, so if you're going to meet up we'll probably be around there."

"Alright, stay safe."

"Heh, I'll try."  Jason let his hoof back to the ground, before investigating the source of the axe.  

"Where did that come from?"  He muttered to himself, walking into the other room.  The source was fairly obvious, considering the mouse trap like spring mechanism protruding from the floor.  

"They better not all be like this."  Dash said.  "An axe is one thing, booby traps everywhere is another."

"You forget you're talking to the master of booby traps."  He said, putting a hoof to his chest and attempting to look important.

"So what did Eravel say?"  She asked, ignoring his reply.

"Uh, he's towards the center of the city, which is where we're going, so..."

"Yeah, I was wrong, closer to the side now.  Trying to avoid heavy resistance."  Eravel said, breathing heavily.

"Okay, the side of the city.  Anyway, let's move out."  He walked to the door and reared up to buck it down before deciding against it and simply turning the doorknob.  

"Well that was anticlimactic.  Morning Rain said, drawing a chuckle from the group."

"There could be something friendly on the other side."  He replied shortly, trotting across the cobblestone street.  

"Hey Jason."  Tank started.

"Yeah?"

"That flying grenade thing...can you see the possibility or reverse engineering something like that?"

"Uh, not really I guess.  Maybe an unguided missile.  But that thing guides itself to the target, has a computer way stronger than the only one Celestia has created, and...yeah I think it's out of our league.  I'm not saying we can't move stuff forward around here faster than it would normally, but that seems to be pushing it."

"Why's it so quiet around here?"  Dash asked, watching as Jason kicked in another door.

"Eravel said that between his side of the city and whatever the fuck's going on in the square, most of the troops are already occupied.  So even though my plan didn't actually come through all the way, the same idea's still in place."  He trotted into another room with his gun at the ready, swiveling it around carefully.  

"Clear!"  He yelled.

"Clear!"  Came Hunter's voice from the other room.

"You're right."  Jason said as he walked back in.  "This does seem a little too empty."

"You think they evacuated?"  Dash asked, kicking a ball across the floor.

"No, this all happened within a couple hours, I doubt they could've done anything large scale like that."  He rubbed his chin, looking around.  "We're missing something, they must still be here."  The group spread out, digging through closets, looking in places that just seemed ridiculous.

"Wait, I have an idea."  Jason said.  "Shove all that stuff back and move the rugs."  Tank grinned, catching onto the idea quickly as he pulled a heavy fur rug away from the middle of the foyer.  

"We got something here."  He said, pointing at a square in the wood that clearly outlined a trapdoor.  He bumped a hoof into the edge a few times, unsuccessful at getting a grip.  "Jason, you wanna get this?"

"Yeah."  The floor wrapped in his dark green aura as the floor panel opened, showing off it's cargo of a few freaked out griffins.  Jason stared at them for a moment, watching as the four, two adults and two children, tried to slink away.  "Friendlies, false alarm."

"You sure?  What if it's a bluff?"  Hunter asked, raking the bottom of his hoof along the tip of his spear.  

"I guess we can't know for sure..."  Jason sighed, "But we'll have to use our best judgement.  We're leaving them, as far as I'm concerned they're no threat."  He heard a quiet sigh from the family.  "So listen, we're covering this back up, and someone'll be by to give the all clear.  Hopefully that won't be long, but don't come out of there for at least a couple hours."  One of them nodded and he let the trap door fall slowly back into place.  "Guess we better get a move on, we'd be behind schedule if we had one."  A few chuckles circulated as they exited the building and moved into the next street.  

"Griffins!"  Steve yelled, pointing down the street to a small patrol that was clearly not wearing royal guard-esque armor.  The two groups stared as they spread out along the sides of the street, and Jason couldn't help but feel a sense of foreboding, that the griffins hadn't acted like the rest of their army so far.  

"Fuck this."  Jason said, pulling the AUG from his back and aiming at the first griffin.  


BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG


The shots echoed around between the buildings as two griffins fell.  Jason slung the weapon again and charged forward, sticking one of the griffins in the side of the neck before he could react.  He ducked to the ground as a spear whistled through the air, and swiveled to watch Steve broadside the griffin.  The soldier stumbled sideways, before Dash blurred into his form, nearly decapitating him.  The last griffin stared, mouth agape, before taking a few steps back and bumping against a wall.  

"C-can I-I g-give up?"  He asked, slipping on a tin can and falling flat on the ground.  "I d-don't w-w-want to go out l-like that."

"How can we be sure you won't turn back against us?"  The griffin tried to push himself back further.  

"I-I don't know."  

"Why did the rebellion start?"  Jason asked after a long silence.  

"T-they killed Yodern."  He said, sighing.  "Just stuck him out there and hung him, just like that."

"Who?"

"Uh, he was an old general, a long time ago, back when this country was unrivaled in strength.  H-he ended up as an advisor to the king after the whole takeover, and no mat-ter how b-bad things got, he was always kinda looking out for the common griffin."  He paused, looking at a talon forlornly.  "I- I never cared much for the guy, but it looks like a lot of griffins did.  Listen, I'm part of the inner guard, I was just for show, unlike some of the other guys."  

"What's your name?"  Jason asked.

"Sartos.  Sartos Grensk."  The griffin replied, sitting back up.

"So why do you surrender?"  Jason asked.  "Isn't there almost a code of conduct with you, fight strong, to the last soldier, all that stuff?"

"That only works when you have a cause you want to fight for.  That was all well and g-good, since we were at war with ponies.  But we have orders to kill our own people!  I can't do that, I knew some of those guys."

"Did anyone else refuse to fight?"

"Well technically I didn't refuse, I just made sure I wasn't in the right place.  The ones that refused were probably killed."

"Oh god..."  Morning mumbled, putting a hoof to her mouth.

"You didn't hear about that?"  Dash asked.

"No, I guess not."

"So anyway, you probably know your way around right?"  Jason asked, trying to pull conversation back.

"Yeah, y-you want me to be some sort of g-guide?"  Sartos asked, pulling himself to shaky feet.  "S-sorry about this, you just kinda freaked me out."

"No problem.  Adrenaline, right?"

"I dunno, what's that?"

"It doesn't matter.  But listen, if I, or anyone else for that matter, gets any wind that you're not acting the way you say you are, we will not hesitate to kill you."

"P-point taken."  Jason grabbed a spear and thrust it into the griffin's chest.  

"I better not see this facing towards any of us either.  It's fine if you don't want to kill griffins, but if you have the chance of saving one of these ponies' lives by your actions, you better take that chance."  Sartos nodded and gulped, clutching the spear tightly enough to dig grooves into it with his talons.

Jason gestured to the rest of the group and moved across the street, through a door that was already ajar.  "We need to end up east of city center, what's the best way there?"

"Uh, just keep moving forward here, we'll get to a larger street, then we can just move outward.  The city's like a wheel, with kinda spoke like streets."

"Clear!"  Tank yelled from another room, and they quickly moved out the other side.  Speed wasn't that much of an issue, but the more time he spent looking for Eravel was just more time he had to worry that things would go wrong.  

Another house went by without any problems, and as they exited Jason immediately knew what the Satos had meant when he said a large street.  His jaw started to drop as he looked around at the huge expanse of cobble.  The sides of the road were covered in stalls, complete with some griffins that were either cowering or standing their ground.  Mostly the latter, in fact.  Jason could see out the side of the city one way, and all the way to the fortress of a castle in the center.  This was way bigger than Canterlot.

"Friendlies!"  Dash yelled, tapping a hoof back to her holster, probably to check that she still had her pistol.  The group  formed a somewhat circular formation as they traveled down the street, trying to keep an eye on griffins that had the possibility of ending up hostile.  One was moving a few weapons, and pulled out a spear in specific, balancing it on across his forearm before leaning it against his stall.  It was that kind of thing that put Jason on edge, the same reason that they usually tried to do things while most civilians were asleep.

"How much farther Sartos?"  Jason asked, keeping a wary eye on the blacksmith.

"Go through that alley there!"  He yelled, before they curved off and trotted between a few more stalls, as the shopkeepers and patrons stared silently, at least a few with hatred in their eyes.  But that was to be expected, there was bound to be a large amount of propaganda this close to the king.

The alleyway wasn't too long, although Jason could almost feel the stares of some of the homeless burning into his neck as they silently passed by.  Jason broke into a sprint and left the formation, throwing an elbow under a guard's chin and sending him into a nearby wall.  The griffin didn't move, and Jason waited for the group before he kept moving.  Tank walked by and made a quick swipe of the griffin's neck with his machete.

"Might as well not take chances."  He said, sheathing the blade on his back after Jason nodded back.

"Eravel, where are you?"

"Moving into a warehouse now, black roof."  Eravel replied.  "It's the only one like that around, looks like."

"Yeah, I see it."  Jason threw a wave back to the other ponies before galloping off, a few blocks towards the side of the city.

"I got contact just outside, how far are you?"

"Close."  Dash galloped up alongside him, looking around in case of some sort of ambush.

"It's too quiet, why aren't there more griffins here?"  She asked.

"I don't know."  Jason replied, shaking his head.  "This is the capitol, there should be more troops than what's diverted to the riots, no matter how big they are."

"But wasn't this attack a surprise?"

"Yeah, but there should still be more resistance."  They crossed under an arch in a small wall as the city suddenly became much more run down.  

"Well this was sudden."  Dash noted, slowing her gallop to mimic Jason and looking around.  

"Yeah, I think Eravel's been through here."

"How can you tell?"

"These griffins, they aren't looking at us the same way."  Jason swiveled his head.  "And it looks like most of the males are gone.  Probably part of the riot."  Jason looked back up, before moving a door on rollers aside and revealing the inside of a warehouse.  

"Eravel, how's it going?"  Jason asked, slightly miffed at the griffin's no-show.  

"Crappy, but we're moving there now.  Just a couple seconds."  Jason heard some clanging of weapons and splintering of wood as another door slid open out of sight.  He broke into a gallop, running to a door across the room that led into another part of the warehouse.  

Eravel backed past the door, spear raised, as a griffin pounced on him, pushing him behind the other side of the door.  One of the griffins raised a spear and hurled it down as a yell echoed through the air.

"Noooooooooo!"  Jason yelled, speeding up his pace as a few dozen griffins rushed towards them, coming in a seemingly endless stream from the door.  He slid under a griffin and knocked him over, stabbing another as he popped back up.  He turned and jammed a knife into a griffin's neck, dealing a heavy kick to the face of a griffin behind him.  Jason saw signs of fighting in the other room, but that didn't mean they would last long.

They couldn't get there in time, he couldn't--this was his idea, and look where it'd got him.  No, he wasn't letting it end this way.

Jason's vision darkened as a spear whooshed over his head and his horn flared, small bolts of electricity lancing out as the unassigned magic bubbled out.  Half a second later griffins were flying backwards, hitting the wall in a series of heavy thumps.  His thought processes slowed, and a feeling of calm washed over him as he looked up at the first griffin, watching his head twist violently.  His body twitched a few times before Jason let it drop, moving down the line quickly before something on his cheek started to bring him out of whatever state he was in.

He turned his head, watching as Tank disappeared into the back room where Eravel'd been stabbed, and a new wave of anger washed over him towards these worthless excuses for life for-

His head was turned as his view shifted again towards Dash, who was yelling something at him as tears slid down her face.  Jason's ears turned to pick up her yelling, but he was only picking up the faintest of noises over the ambient ringing.  She put her hooves around his neck and hugged him as the sounds started to return, starting with the thumps of the remaining griffins as they fell to the floor.  He placed his hooves around Dash as his own tears started to surface, and he took no time burying his face in her shoulder.

"I'm sorry-"  He wept into her shoulder.  "So sorry.  I just-  sorry Dash."  He felt a few pats on his back, but they didn't allay the sure fact that she was probably afraid of him after that whole display.  He'd just gone down a line and murdered soldiers that couldn't fight back, how could she look at him the same way?

"It's okay."  She said, a tear slipping onto one of his wings.  "You got angry, it happens."  She took a ragged breath, and Jason's heart sank at what he assumed was about to come.  "But it scared me, Jason.  You were so unresponsive and numb, I've never seen you like that before."

"Y-you're not freaked out by all that?" He asked, not removing his head form her shoulder.

"It's still you, Jason.  It's not like you did that for fun, and the fact that you're like this pretty much goes to prove that."  She replied calmly, stroking a hoof around his lower back.  "Now come on, you're the medic."  She pulled him to his feet and broke into a gallop, entering the other room just in front of him.  Jason stopped as soon as he got in, looking around for Eravel.  He'd fallen in the corner, but all there was was a small pool of blood.

He followed the slight trail back out the front, as the distance between drips widened slightly.  Tank and Sartos were a ways ahead, presumably tracking the same trail.  But as Jason caught up they had already spread out, looking around the nearby streets and buildings.

"Jason."  Tank said as he walked up.  "The trail's gone dead."

"This doesn't look fatal."  Sartos continued.  "But around here, with this place like it is...that doesn't mean much."

"Well then."  Jason replied, wiping his face with a hoof and trying to dry it off.  "An eye for an eye, right?"

"Depends."  Dash started as she walked up.  "Who's eye?"

"For Eravel?  I'd say there's only one."  He paused, his face darkening as worry for Eravel set in.  They didn't have the time or the manpower to search for him across a hostile city.  But it brought in the calmness he'd felt before, the need to avenge his friend that Hunter must've felt for Archer.  

"The king's."  He smirked, watching as the others started to catch on.  "And luckily for us, prime hunting grounds are right over there."
> Hunting Grounds
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Hunting Grounds


Jason dodged a spear, following up the attack with a jab of his own.  The griffin fell, and he spun quickly, throwing his tomahawk into the side of another enemy's head.  Dash ran by and slit the griffin's throat just in case, before she shouldered another, reaching backwards for her gun and bringing it straight to the griffin's head before discharging a round.  A fair amount of gore sprayed onto the ground and she flinched, not wanting to look to hard at the splattered brain matter.  

Jason looked around at the scene, sending out a slight bit of healing energy towards Hunter and fixing up a gash on one of his forelegs.  

"Thanks."  Hunter replied quietly, touching at the new flesh.  "I can't tell you how nice it is that you can do that."  

"Yeah, a lot of ponies seem to like this whole, immediate healing thing."  He replied with a chuckle, before poking at a few cracks on his foreleg.  "It would be nice if I could do that to myself."

"But then where's the challenge?"  Dash asked, punching him in the shoulder playfully.

"Personally, I'd rather have a bit more toughness."

"As it is you're pretty much indestructible."  She replied with a giggle.  "And you pretty much recovered from torture in a few days."

Jason shivered.  "Oh, that was terrible."

"Understatement of the century, I'm sure."  Tank said with a laugh as they started to move again.  At least Jason could take some solace that the team didn't seem too afraid of him after that whole episode.  But why should they?  They were the best and the brightest, they knew him more than anyone else and had the power to back up their opinions.

He often found himself looking at the carnage they caused almost effortlessly, and wondering how complicated things would be if any of these guys were on the other side.  Even without him or Dash, they still formed a unit that continued to work almost as well, and could seemingly adjust to any environment or threat.  

He'd seen the way other ponies had looked at any of the team, with a mixture of fear and awe as some or all of them walked by.  There wasn't really an air of fame, more of a general likeness to a following out of respect rather than due to the fact that they were more highly ranked.

"Jason, stop here."  Dash said, immediately grabbing a water bottle off her back.  "I really need to get something onboard here."

"Pfft, eating."  He took a sip of water, sighing as it started to cool him down.  "Who needs food anyway?"

Dash giggled and pulled out a muffin, waving it in front of his nose.  "I like food, but you know, since you don't want anything..."  She took a bite, overly exaggerating how much she liked the taste.  "And it's such a pity too, since you have my taste buds and everything."  Morning was watching the back and forth with a grin, before nudging Tank and pointing.

Jason reached out with a hoof as Dash pulled the muffin away, holding it behind herself.  "Come on Dash, you can't do that to me..."

"Why not?  It's my muffin."

"Where'd you even get a muffin?"

"Don't you mean..."  She reached into her saddlebag, pulling out another muffin.  "Two muffins?"

"Dash, I haven't even eaten a muffin in months, please?"  He begged, swallowing a mouthful of saliva as his mouth refused to stop salivating.  

"I dunno, I only have..."  She pulled out another.  "Three."

Jason floated the muffin away from her hoof and took a defiant bite.  He sighed and knocked the knives out of his hooves before shifting into Alternis and immediately spitting out the muffin chunk.  "What is that?  Cotton?  Why the fuck did it taste edible?"

"Yeah."  Dash replied, biting a hoof to keep herself from laughing too loudly.  "I made it myself."  

"So are those..."

"No these are real."  She broke one in half and handed him the unbitten side.  "Here, after all that you deserve this."

Jason took a bite and his face lit up, immensely enjoying the sweet flavor.  "Blueberry?"  He asked, taking another bite.

"I think."  He nodded and shoved the rest of the muffin into his mouth, chewing it slowly before he changed back and replaced the knives.  

"God that tasted great."

"You're so deprived."

"It's not easy remembering to eat when you don't get hungry."  He took another gulp of water, washing down the rest of the muffin.  "Now come on, it's getting late, and I don't want to fight this whole thing at nighttime."

"But isn't that usually our deal?  Stealth and nighttime raids?"  Morning asked, putting her water away.  

"Well yeah, but the rest of the army doesn't really do that.  I mean, they had experience with that in Windforge, but that was weeks ago, and pretty unoccupied by the time we left."

"There's that other team though."  Hunter pointed out as they started to move, moving through the nearly deserted streets towards the palace.  

"Yeah, but I honestly don't know what to think of those guys, it's a pretty jumbled team of ponies."

"Blueblood's still on there?"  Tank asked, looking over warily.

"Mhm.  That's one of the things I'll never understand.  He's still kinda well, like he used to be, so..."

"Why's he fighting?"

"I think he told me once, but I don't know what it was anymore.  Oh well, they fight.  Can't question their methods as long as they're successful."

"Isn't that the truth."  Dash mumbled.

"Back in World War Two, the guy that led the bombing campaign in Japan famously said  'It's a good thing I was on the winning side, otherwise I'd be tried for war crimes.'  Or something like that.  But can you imagine?  If we were on the side of the griffins how wanted we'd be at war's end?"  He was met by silence as the other five rolled his comment around in their heads.   

Jason suddenly grabbed Dash by the shoulder and pulled her behind a cart, watching as the others broke for cover as well.  His reasoning wasn't clear until a patrol came around the corner, running quickly as they went to re-enforce the failing griffin lines, if there were still lines at this point.  He let a patrol go by, giving them a few seconds before Jason burst from cover and swung a hoof into the first griffin's face.  

Jason only got a one stab in before the entire patrol was neutralized, in something that would have probably been record time if he kept track.  

"Alright, the castle's right over there, and let's face it, the king may not be here.  But if he is... well, his day's about to get a lot worse."  They shared a laugh and sped up, nearing the steps that led through huge double doors.  It really was a sight, such a large building that rivaled the size of the biggest parts of the Canterlot Castle.  Jason turned around and caught a view of what he assumed was the town square, bustling with activity and the glints of spears.

"It's really starting to sink in."  Dash said.

"What?"  Jason inquired, furrowing his brow in confusion.

"Well after this we could well be headed home.  It's the last hurdle, I hope."

"Yeah you and me both."

"Well I guess it's now or never, huh?"  He asked, pushing against the doors with his magic.  "Or later, as it is."

"What?"

"The doors are jammed, probably barricaded.  So let's see, me, you, Morning and...wow is that it?"  He bowed his head.  "Archer was a pegasus, huh?"  He asked, getting a sad nod from Hunter.

"She better come back in one piece."  Tank said, pointing towards Morning Rain.  

"You forget who you're talking to."  Jason replied.  "Unless I die she'll be fine."

"Yeah, you better not die either."

"Hey Jason, you mind if we go look for another way in?"  Steve asked, gesturing between himself, Sartos and Hunter.  

"Yeah, go ahead.  You're staying here, Tank?"

"As if I'd leave."  He replied, a smirk playing across his face as he stuck a hoof behind Morning's head and pulled her over into a kiss before letting her go again.  "Stay safe honey."

"Only if you promise to kiss me like that more often."  She replied, trying to get full movement back in her wings as a blush somehow managed to show through her red fur.   Morning leaned forward and kissed Tank again before the three took off, headed upwards to a few larger windows.

"You never told any of us that Tank was your colt friend."  Dash teased, poking at Morning as they ascended.

"Well you never asked, I guess.  Not like it wasn't pretty obvious."  She jabbed back, giggling to herself.  "Were you really just playing matchmaker when you put me on this team Jason?"  Morning asked, giggling again.

"Ha.  I wish.  You two make a nice couple though."  He moved a little ways away from the building, priming a couple flash-bangs and throwing them inside.  The window broke easily enough, and as both of the bombs went off successfully the three flew inside and dove, flattening a similar number of griffins as they landed.  There weren't many griffins here, really, and given the fact that most of them were dazed the entire group was taken care of in only a little more than a minute.  

Jason stuck up a hoof, which Dash bumped with her own.  "Easier every time, huh?"  He asked, grinning over at her as he tore the ragged fortifications from the door and pulled it open.  

"Is that some kind of record?"  Tank asked as he walked in, slicing at a survivor with one of his machetes.  

"I don't know, we should probably start keeping track of these things."  Jason replied, kicking a broken husk of a flash-bang across the floor.  

"Well either way, the throne room's right over there."  Tank said, pointing to another set of double doors.  

"How do you know?"  Jason asked, staring at Tank.

"It says throne room over the door right there."

"Ah."  He paused.  "Okay, epic entrance, ready set go!"  He primed another flash-bang and threw it as his magic flung the doors open.  The four shielded themselves from the blast before rushing inside and slowing to a stop.  "What luck."  Jason said, smirking.  "The king's still here."

A large griffin was sitting on the throne, looking rather indifferent to the whole scene.  He shrugged at them, looking bored.  "Yes, in a sense the king's still here."  He paused, as a few emotions flashed across his face.  "And yet in a sense, he's not."  The doors slammed shut behind them as a few spears floated into the air behind the king, slowly spinning menacingly.

"The fuck..."  Jason mumbled, looking between the spears and the king.  "What the hell are you?"

"I'm a griffin, in body and in soul.  At least, he was."  The king smirked as he opened his beak again to continue.  "But then I got here."

"N-Nightmare?"  Dash asked, taking a step back.

"In the flesh.  Oh wait..."  A spear let itself fly as Dash dove out of the way, watching it bounce off the floor and stick with a twang in the wall behind them.  "It's funny how little those elements did, really.  Evict me from Luna, weaken me a little bit.  But hey, here I am.  And you..."  She stared at Dash.  "It's not very nice, pulling someone out of a body like that.  It really hurts."

"We don't need the elements to beat you, whatever you are."  Jason said, taking a step forward.  "I'm sure if you're in enough pieces it'll have the same effect."

"Oh please, three ponies and a changeling?  I'm so scared."  Nightmare paused, before breaking out into laughter.  "You mortals are so funny.  I came over here and started a war at the snap of a talon, and not one griffin questioned me.  And then what?  You ponies bounce back and I end up responsible for the biggest loss of life in Equestrian history.  And I did it without the power of a princess, without even the use of magic, only a few words.  I'll tell you, the stars really lined up for this one."

"You bastard!"  Jason yelled, watching the Nightmare turn its gaze.  "You killed some of my friends, you damn near killed me!"  He flung a bolt of magic, which the Nightmare easily deflected.  He pulled the AUG off his back, holding down the trigger.   


BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG


Jason smirked as the first one hit the Nightmare in the shoulder and put it off balance.  Another to the side, before a shield went up to deflect the rest of the projectiles and the Nightmare screamed in agony.  Jason kept firing before he was thrown backwards, contacting the door with a heavy thump.  His AUG slid across the room and behind a pillar, before spears started to fly.

The four ran for cover, staying behind the pillars as a near endless stream of spears seemed to fly by.  Jason stuck his head out for a moment, catching a view of the Nightmare, fuming in anger as a cloud of black swirled around and blocked his view of the wall.  He pulled his head back in as a spear hit the side of the pillar, chipping off a large chunk of wood.

"Dash, I got an idea, grab your pistol when I say go and stay behind me."  He grabbed the riot shield from her back and stuck his hoof through the strap.

"Ready?"  He asked, jumping as another explosion of splinters flew past.  He motioned to Tank and Morning that he was going to try something before turning back to Dash and watching her nod.  "Go!"  He yelled, coming around the corner and putting the shield up, feeling Dash stay close behind him as a few spears hit the shield and made him slide backwards a foot.  

The Nightmare stopped firing for a moment, taking a closer look at Jason while one of his talons tried to attend to blood oozing down his side.  "Ah, more of your things.  No matter."  Jason caught sight of a spear flying in from the side and turned to deflect it as Dash dove out of the way of another, hiding behind a pillar that was much closer to the throne.  

"What now?"  She asked as another spear whizzed by.

"See what happened to Tank and Morning, I guess."  He replied, risking a glance out from behind the pillar again as Tank barreled into the Nightmare and sent them both rolling across the raised stage that the throne sat upon.  Tank got a hold of his machete, pulling it free and slashing it downward as the Nightmare moved his head out of the way.  

Tank suddenly flew upwards, hitting the ceiling with a pained cry before he started to free fall back downwards.  Morning caught him, losing a fair amount of altitude before she could recover to normal flight.  Then a shower of glass rained down as Hunter sailed through a window behind the throne, punching the Nightmare across the face as soon as the large griffin started to get up.  Hunter landed with a thud, sliding a fair distance away from the throne before he got up and ran at the Nightmare again.  

Hunter shot backwards into Morning Rain as she set down Tank, before Jason stopped the three of them with his magic and took off into the air, dodging around a spear.  Another spear suck into the floor next to the Nightmare, letting out a nice twang as Steve let out a few audible curses from the same window Hunter had come through.  He ducked out of the way as a blast of magic blew up the surrounding stone and wood, returning a few seconds later to chuck another spear.

Dash blurred past Jason, pulling out a regular grenade from her belt and tossing it directly under the Nightmare, whos eyes went wide before he disappeared in a blast of light.  He reappeared in the air and took a swat at Dash, which Jason deflected with his arms as he flew in front of the talon.  One of the claws got stuck in a hoof-hole, and he jerked it around, breaking the claw clean off.  

There wasn't so much as an acknowledgment from the nightmare as it took another swipe before landing, sending Jason back up against the wall.  A spear stuck in the Nightmare's side and he howled in pain, firing another blast at Steve, who dove out of the hole in the wall with Sartos just behind.  The griffin slowed Steve's descent before banking around a pillar and aiming straight for the Nightmare.  He made contact just before a shield through him off, tearing a lengthy gash from the Nightmare's chin to the tip of its ear.

Steve tried to dodge another round of magic but it hit his hoof as he dove, sending him spinning into the wall.  He slid down and hardly moved, his muzzle already covered in blood.  Jason threw his tomahawk as he regained his bearings, watching it deflect towards Tank, who ducked quickly and glared at Jason.  

Dash unholstered her gun and aimed, firing a few bullets towards the Nightmare.  One grazed his chest before another shield partially deflected the others.  She watched as Jason slid under the nightmare, jabbing just as he jumped out of the way and back into the air.  Jason continued his path towards Steve, stopping in front of the pony and running some quick diagnostics before he started to repair his broken nose and chipped hoof.  

He wasn't waking up anytime soon though.  Jason dragged him behind a pillar and took another run at the Nightmare at the same time as Hunter.  The griffin let out a yell before they all flew backwards into the walls, sliding down quickly as he wiped at his wounds.  Hunter sprang up to fight, grabbing a spear as he was thrown across the room like a rag doll.  

"You can't... Beat me."  The Nightmare said slowly, wiping the cut on his face with a talon.  "I'm too powerful for you."  Tank ran out from the side of the room, spear in hand, as the Nightmare turned and grinned, sticking him through with a spear as he ran closer.  Tank let out a gurgle and fell, sliding in behind her.   "See?  It was a good fight for sure, but let's face it.  You're just not good enough."

"Tank!"  Morning yelled, running out before dodging another spear.

Jason wiped his forehead, his hoof coming away slick with blood.  "We don't need strength."  He said with a smirk as he silently started to heal Tank, watching the pony pull out the spear with a grimace.

"Oh?  I'd say its pretty important."

"Not when we have..."  Tank got up and ran up alongside the Nightmare, grinning as she heard his machete leave it's sheath.  "Strategy."  Tank's machete contacted the Nightmare's neck almost silently, and he stood over him as the Nightmare fell to the ground, breathing heavily as a puddle of blood started to cover the floor.

"Heh."  The Nightmare said, shifting slightly on the floor as most of the rest of the team got up to join them.  "There's a reason that this is really funny, a couple actually.  The more important, since you didn't use the elements, is that there's nothing against me switching bodies."  The black cloud that had all but died out flared, growing to double, then triple the size of the body as the group backed up.  

The cloud funneled towards Jason, and he flew backwards across the room, hitting the raised part of the floor with a thump as pain lanced across his body.  He got up quickly as a sort of haze fell over his mind, and his thoughts became slower and harder to complete.  

A chuckle echoed through his head.  Oh, it's good to be me.

	
> Loose Ends
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Loose Ends


Dash sprinted across the room, skidding to a halt in front of Jason as he tried to walk towards her before falling onto his back.  "Jason!  What happened?!"

"It's- It's inside my head."  He lunged forward, putting a hoof around her neck.  "Listen to me, I want you to take my stuff and run."  

"Jason I can't-"

"Listen to me!!"  He yelled, causing her to flinch backwards.  "Sorry, just get my stuff, get Evening, urk-"  The rest of the team crowded into view, with Steve thrown over Tank's back.  "Why are you here?  You need to go, I- I can't."

"We're not leaving you."  Dash said, as the rest of the team nodded their agreement.  

"We can't fight the Nightmare again, now don't respond to any of this with questions, I'm not giving information away to this fuck--er as best as I can.  Get out of here, get back to the place with the cure, and bring Evening.  You and her have the things going on."

"But we can-"

"No, you can try, but if it comes down to it I doubt you'll kill me.  And as it is that doesn't work."  He put his head in his hooves.  "I don't want to hurt any of you."  He started healing them all, trying to give less power to the Nightmare in the long run.

"You don't need to be a martyr, we can fix this!" 

"Yeah, with the things."  He winked, before arching his back in pain.  "You guys better fucking listen, I can't move my hind legs.  I don't know how long it'll take to be...taken over."  He felt a wave of fear wash over him.

"But-"

"GO!!!!!"  He yelled, pushing them backwards with his magic.  "Get the stuff together, that's our only chance against him, and if he goes somewhere else, tough luck!"

"You better fight him to the end, Jason."  Dash said, trying to hold tears back.  "I don't want a husk of a colt friend when this is all over."

"Oh, that's a good idea..."  Jason said, before his expression shifted.  "No!  I didn't say that!"  A leg shakily moved to his head, before it flopped back onto the floor.  Dash took another look before running in and picking up Jason's gun and running outside, tears plastered to her face as she threw back a final glance and left.

Well, aren't you the sappy one.  Oh no, go on without me...

Fuck you.  He thought back, concentrating on keeping hold of his fore legs.  

Let's at least be civil here, come on.  I'm a good conversationalist, and I'm sure we'll have a lot to talk about.  Jason watched memories flash in front of his eyes before he stopped the flow, locking them away from the Nightmare.  There were a couple seconds of silence in his head.  Wow, you used to be human.  I thought I wiped all of those guys out, but I guess I wasn't thorough enough.  Jason lost control of his left fore leg, and reset his focus to the right one.  Just stop trying, you know I'm going to take over your body at some point.

"I'm not letting you do this."  He said out loud, more to test his voice than to send a response.

Well at least you're pretty tough when it comes to this kind of thing, I can give you credit there.  The king broke in thirty four seconds, and I didn't hear a peep from him after that.  Funny, I thought he'd be harder.  Jason lost control of his other leg as the Nightmare continued its conquest, and started to feel his back tighten up before it got to his shoulders.  

Suddenly he jumped upright, yelling out in pain as the Nightmare moved his body's muscles over to his command.  He could still feel himself, bristling with little jolts of pure agony.  The king must've had a lot of fun when they'd chopped him up like that if he could still feel everything that went on.  Jason didn't really have a problem killing hostiles, but if they didn't fight back, he started to find fault with the idea.  

"Oh, it's good to be in control."  The Nightmare said in his voice, channeling magic through his horn.  "And you aren't exactly as powerless as that king, huh?"  The Nightmare forced his head upwards and fired a bolt of green tinged magic through the roof, blowing out a large chunk as the bolt continued into space.  "Wow, I could get used to this."  He said, letting out a low whistle.  "I mean, this kind of power, I would have a shot against one of the princesses."

Jason caught himself from throwing a response back.  If the Nightmare didn't know that the power would run out, well, what he didn't know in this case could be his downfall.  

He started to take off towards the hole in the roof, slowly ascending.  "I've never taken over a changeling before, come to think of it.  Never thought it would be all that--"  Jason's side lit up in pain as the Nightmare cut off and collapsed onto the ground, falling the six or so feet he'd risen.  Jason could hear the hive mind funneling through his thoughts and into the Nightmare's consciousness, wreaking havoc with his unexperienced mind.  He would have smiled, if he could control his face.  He managed to make the corner of his mouth lift up, as he moved the tip of a hoof.

"Chrysalis, I'm not your enemy!"  The Nightmare yelled, before repeating the same thought as it echoed around in Jason's head.  Any control Jason had over his fore hoof disappeared in an instant as the Nightmare's episode ended and he reconsolidated his control.  

Nightmare?  Chrysalis's voice echoed around, as the Nightmare sighed and rubbed at Jason's head.

Yeah, I took over this guy.

Interesting.  There was a pause.  But remember, if you do anything to go against me or give away any information, I know how to kill you and I won't hesitate to go through with it.

Let's not be rash here, you know that I could still kill you before you do anything to stop me.

So you think, Nightmare.  A few seconds passed in silence before Jason was jarred to the side, his hooves pinned as a heavy blow hit him across the face.

"Get the fuck out of him!"  Tank yelled, pulling his hoof back again.

"Or what?"  The Nightmare replied, chuckling.  "You kill your own friend?"

"Tank!  Get away from him!"  Came Morning Rain's voice.  "There's nothing we can do!"  

Tank looked away for half a second as the Nightmare blasted him out of the room, watching him hit one of the slightly ajar throne room doors and throw up a shower of splinters.  Tank shifted slightly as Morning propped him up, cradling his shoulder.  Jason heard himself chuckle as Nightmare took off again, rising onto the roof of the throne room with a few levitated spears and looking around.  It was nearly dark by now, as the last sliver of sun shrank against the horizon.  He heard a yell from down below.

"It's just dislocated, Jason."  Morning yelled up.  

"Ah, a pity.  That one's built to last, huh?"  Nightmare chuckled again, cracking his neck and staring at the town.  

So, kill the Elements?  Jason asked.  That's your plan?

"I'm improvising.  I've had a long time to think about the ways I could kill all of those idiots."

I was under the impression that your pride got in the way last time.

"And seriously?  Looking at them with the power of a princess, you would have seen those six as a threat?  Especially after I destroyed the Elements themselves?"

Well... No.

"Exactly, but this time, I'm just going to smash them against a wall and slit their throats.  Or maybe add in a little more torture, even if they do think it's some sort of trap for me.  And guess what?  One of the Elements is apparently your mare friend.  So I'll definitely be drawing things out that way."

What?

"Don't play dumb, I'm talking about the blue one."

Oh... Yeah I don't really know her that well, she just kinda clings to me.  She's a good fighter though, so I try to ignore the stalking.

"You're a terrible liar."  Nightmare said, looking around at the streets below.  "There's some serious carnage here, I like it."  He hunkered down on the roof, watching enemies clash.  "You know how many griffins you killed to get here?"  He asked off-handedly.

Well if you're just talking about griffins...  maybe two hundred?  But humans, on the other hand...  He brought a few movie scenes to the forefront of his mind, running through a few shots from movies he'd seen a while ago.  

"Yeah, I've seen worse."  Nightmare replied cooly, although Jason could hear the ever so slight waver in his voice.  He started to push his advantage before the Nightmare looked down and reached for the wing, struggling to touch it as Jason fought his movements all the while.  

You can take my body, but if you think I'm going to let you do anything without a fight, you're sorely mistaken.

"Fine, I won't touch your little wing thingy."  Jason felt a smirk spread across his face.  "But if you think you can stop me from killing every last one of those Elements, and then the ponies in the town, you're sorely mistaken.  And if you think I'm waiting here before doing that and giving them a head start, you're just as wrong."  Nightmare took off and started flying, straight in the direction of the distant Ponyville, before he turned around and hovered, looking back at the building.

"Never did care for loose ends."  Nightmare said, before he pulled out one side of the brick foundation and the building collapsed.  Jason screamed in horror, and the nightmare put a hoof to his ear, even though it was a thought.  "There, much better."  He continued with a chuckle.


______________________________________________________________


Dash took off as she exited the fortress, struggling to get into the air with all the weight she'd taken on.  Her tears felt like they were freezing against her fur as the wind rushed by, only to be replaced by new ones.  But as she took off she pulled out the pad of paper and a pencil, writing a message to Scoots in big letters.  

Scoots, get the Elements together, Jason's been taken over by the Nightmare, like what happened to Luna.  I'm not joking, so go as quick as you can.  I'll be there in a couple hours.  She put the paper back under the explosives belt, making sure it was tight to her side before speeding up.  Dash started to feel air start to blast around her as air resistance got heavier, the same feeling she got when she was speeding up for a Sonic Rainboom.  But this wasn't the same, there wasn't any thrill involved.  

Dash banked around the camp, scrubbing off speed and touching down heavily on the landing strip, which still had lines from the football game easily visible.  She galloped to the side, almost diving into Shining's tent as she looked for the general and Evening.  

"Dash, why are you here?"  Shining asked, a shocked look on his face.  "What's wrong?"

"The king...was the nightmare...it got Jason...I need to get the Elements together."

"It what?!"  Cadence yelled, pulling herself off a bunk quickly.  

"It got Jason."  She repeated, a new stream of tears running down her cheeks.  She felt numb, like this was just another dream she was going to leave, returning to a world where Jason's face was just in front of hers.  It wasn't fair, that this happened now, when everything was about to go back to the way it was, nothing ever went right for them.

"What do you need?"  Shining asked, regaining his composure.  "I'll send a message ahead of you, by the way."

"Jason-"  She let out a sob, as Evening awoke with a start, either from the surge of bad emotions or the noise.  "He told me to get his saddlebag and Evening, and get to Ponyville."  She looked under Shining's desk, pulling free the two saddlebags from their hiding place.  "Thanks for keeping these safe.  Come on Evening, we need to go, I'll explain on the wing."

"Give me some of the weight then."  She said, jumping up quickly and grabbing the medicine bottle and one of the saddlebags.  

"Did you hear all that?"

"No, but something's wrong with Jason, right?"

"How'd you-"

"Hive mind.  He's all screwy over there."

"Wait."  Cadence said, taking a step forward.  "I'll come with you."

"It's not necessary, princess, we can-"

"I'm not taking no for an answer.  I can be of some help to you, and I plan to assist any way I can."

"Fine, but only if you can fly fast, we don't have a lot of time to waste."

"Deal."  She said with a smile, kissing Shining and bidding him a brief goodbye. 

"Be careful honey."  The general said, running over and hugging her again before she left.  "I should be back in a few days."

"I know, silly."  Cadence replied, tickling his chin with her magic.  "Love you."

"Love you too."  He said as they left.  

Dash turned back to the tent quickly.  "Send all of our stuff back Shining!"  She yelled, trying desperately to take her mind off of Jason's predicament.

Her attempt was short lived as she walked onto the air strip and broke down, bawling onto the ground as all energy to leave suddenly left her.  She couldn't stay optimistic when there was such a slim chance of success.  Either her friends or Jason, and she knew she couldn't make that decision.  

"Dash, come on, we need to get moving!"  Evening yelled, sliding in next to Dash and propping her up.  

"It's not fair!  We never asked for any of this shit, why did this have to happen?"

"I don't know, but there's no sense crying about a problem we can fix, right?"  Cadence asked, putting a gentle hoof on Dash's shoulder.  

"That's easy for you to say, you aren't going to be put down to the choice of your best friends or the equivalent of your husband!"  Cadence didn't respond, as she shifted her hoof slightly.  "And you know what the worst thing is?!"  She asked, getting louder.  "He was going to propose after all this, and now we're in another life or death situation!  As soon as things start to get manageable, we encounter something harder."

A bolt of greenish fiery magic flew up over the city, lighting up the environment like a small meteor before it passed cloud level and became a small, dull green blob.

"We're out of time."  Dash said, getting to her hooves with a few more sobs.  "Come on, it's now or never."  She took off quickly, ascending into the darkening sky as the other two quickly followed.  There was a flare of fire before Evening turned into a second Dash and tested out her new wings.  

"You get things like these every day?"  Evening asked.  "You know how lucky you are?   These wings are amazing!"

Dash wiped an eye, her tears slowing slightly.  "How come?"

"We're going this fast, and it hardly feels like I'm doing anything with these.  They're just--wow."

"Thanks."  Dash replied, an ever so slight smile pulling up the edges of her mouth.

"I think Jason took your wing design, transferred it over once I showed him how.  Made them a bit bigger, I guess."

Dash almost stopped dead as her flying rhythm got out of sync.  "You mean he could go as fast as me?"

"Well, no.  But he'll go a lot faster then he used to." 

"I guess I'll have something to look forward to."  She murmured, glad that she had something different to think about.  That was something that lifted her mood a surprising amount, she realized as her smile grew a little more.  It was amazing that she hadn't thought of that earlier, but it was so obvious in hindsight.  And it would be so much fun!  Dash looked backwards at the rapidly disappearing city, speeding up her pace slightly as they careened over the trees.  

"When did you learn to fly like this, Cadence?"   Dash asked, surprised that the mare was still keeping up.  

"I was a kid too, you know.  I can't say I loved flying as much as you do, but I got by."  She grinned, pushing their pace a little faster.  "I know this is hard, by the way.  When Chrysalis had me under Canterlot she used to force pictures of Shining into my head, boast that he didn't suspect a thing, especially with the spell she had him under."

"Hey Evening, I thought you said there wasn't any changeling mind control magic."  Dash asked, wiping her eyes again, although she couldn't seem to completely stem the flow of tears.

"There isn't.  It's not changeling specific, it was stuff made by ponies that's been adapted to her needs.  But that kind of thing is tough, takes a lot of magic."

"Ah."  They lapsed into silence as the wind started to pick up, blowing Dash's mane across her face as a few rainbow threads flew off into the wind, carrying themselves away to places unknown.  She could just make out the lights of Hill 400 as they cruised over, the well lit trench making an imperfect border around the top of the hill.  The camp disappeared as quickly as it had come into view, and the monotonous forest canopy came back into view.  Those chariots must've been slower than she thought if they had made an hour's trip in fifteen or so minutes.  

"What was that?"  Cadence asked, looking back at the lights again.

"That was the last base."  Dash replied, feeling a spike of remorse as a few memories passed through her mind.  "We found Evening in the forest near there."

"Why did it have that 'O' shaped thing?"

"Trenches.  Jason decided to dig in, and as it turned out it was fairly useful."  Dash let out an inadvertent sob as new tears came to her eyes and she looked backwards.  

"Do you want to rest?"  Cadence inquired, watching Dash's fore legs shake from exhaustion.  Funny, she'd hardly even noticed over the whole adrenaline fueled adventure that had been this day.

"No, I can rest as much as I want once we free Jason, and kill this motherfucker."

"Huh?"  Cadence asked.

"Jason has a set of swear words, you remember?  He named off like twenty?"

"Oh yeah.  That son of a shit."

Dash let out an abrupt, muffled laugh.  "I'll have him teach a class, okay?  You might want to study up before you start stringing together random ones."

"They go in a certain order?"

"Kinda."

"Well we have time now, you could tell me all the things my husband's apparently been saying."

"Oh, you're on."


____________________________________________________________________




Hey Nightmare, you wanna hear the most annoying sound in the world?

"No, I don-"  Jason let the sound play in his head, swerving his flying path as Nightmare put a hoof to his ear.  It ended much earlier then he remembered, and he tried to scratch his chin.  

I'm sure I have the ten hour version lying around here somewhere...  Jason felt himself get forced deeper into his own mind, as his senses became slightly numb.  It was a weird sensation, feeling everything yet controlling nothing, he mused as he fought his way back to the forefront.  

Keeping any of his actual emotions hidden was getting harder and harder, as his thoughts increasingly turned back to Dash.  She couldn't be taking this well, and he knew for a fact that any fight that broke out would lead to him probably at least injuring one of his friends, maybe even Dash.  That made him a little sick to his stomach, actually.  His only hope of keeping them safe was by sabotaging operations here, but if that didn't work well enough...

"You gone yet?"  Nightmare asked, swiveling his head around as trees whooshed by far below.  He had risen to nearly the cloud level by now, and the frigid air whistled through the holes in his legs as they started to turn numb.  It wasn't really a painful cold, but more like he had simply lost feeling.  A thought hit him that maybe he was losing his senses as well, but he quickly nudged his hooves together and sighed.  A sigh was relative, he almost seemed to imagine himself sighing, and he knew that he wasn't sighing for real.

"Guess not..."  Jason heard, as some fatigue started to weigh down his mind.  Any kind of disturbance with the nightmare was taxing, and even though he could do small things he really paid for it afterwards.  But this was his body, dammit, he had a leg up on this fucker.  And yet, he couldn't seem to be in control for more than a few seconds.

You ever seen porn before?

"Wha-"  Nightmare glided forward a few more feet before he just kinda dropped, catching himself with stiff wings after a few seconds as images flashed in his mind's eye.  "You fucker."

Oh, picking up my vocabulary now, are we?  I think I have more control here than you give me credit for.

"Then stop thinking, it's not going to end well for you."

"I guess we'll just see about that."  Jason said, using his own mouth again.

"Yeah, I guess we will."


_______________________________________________________________


Dash sighed in relief as Ponyville came into view, her tired wings complaining constantly about the long flight as she dove, banking as she swung over the town and searched for her friends.  She flew lower, tapping Evening with a hoof and motioning for her to change back to her usual disguise before they went any closer to the ground, and she quickly looked around more closely.  She circled around the side of the town, straining her eyes in the dim light.

"What do they look like?"  Morning asked, looking back at Cadence and Dash.

"Uh, there's a purple one, a yellow and pink one, an only pink one-"

"Over there, come on!"  She took a hard turn and dove, landing heavily at the end of a street as her stiff legs adjusted to the ground again.  Dash had a worse time, as her already fatigued legs nearly crumpled underneath her from the newfound stress.  She heard the princess land behind her, apparently in a much more dignified manner judging from the lack of a thump.  

She ran through a few bushes, stopping briefly to tighten her knives against her hooves, before moving into another clearing.  Twilight's horn was aglow as a slight fire burned between her five friends, illuminating their faces in an eerie light.  

"I found them, I found them!"  Evening yelled, looking a little happier than Dash would have liked.  The ultimate optimist, she supposed.  Dash trotted towards her friends, until she was hit in the side by Pinkie, who wrapped her in a hug.

"Dashie!  I missed you so much and I waited and waited and now when you finally come home it's like this, and I thought 'that's not fair at all, Dashie's too nice for that.  And so is Jason, and now he's the Nightmare, and what are we gonna do, Dashie?"  Pinkie's mane deflated a little, becoming threateningly close to straight hair.  

"We-"  Her other friends closed the distance and she was hit by four other sets of hooves.  

"Guys, I have knives on my hooves, be careful!"  They all took a quick step back and ceased their overlapping monologues as they led her over to the fire.  She had wanted her trip back to Ponyville to be something special, not like this, with Jason taken over and her looking like this.  

The others noticed as she moved into the light of the fire, dried blood splotches on her coat reflecting bits of light as she moved.  Or maybe they were looking at the scars on her face, which had only grown in number over the last two or three weeks, things that Jason had rightfully decided not to risk healing while they were still deployed.  

"Are you hurt, darling?"  Rarity asked, touching a hoof to Dash's fur and pulling it away when some blood broke off.

"No, this is just griffin blood, I think.  Maybe some of it's my own, I don't know."  Her eyes started to fog up again.  Not now, dammit.  "We just need to-"  Her voice cracked, and they all started to follow her turn of emotions.  "-to get him freed, alright?"

"Just tell us what we need to do."  Twilight said, levitating over a chest which she opened to reveal the elements.  "Celestia sent these earlier, but I don't know if she can get here in time.  I told her not to worry too much, because Princess Luna was already in the area."

"Where's Celestia?"  Dash asked, looking over at Cadence.

"She's in the Griffin Empire, overseeing a project that-"

"Okay, we don't have a lot of time before he gets here, assuming he even does.  Otherwise, some town's in for a lot of destruction.  Jason said something about the Nightmare going for the six of us, like in a show of revenge, or something."

"How do ya know, he could end up doin' anythin'!"

"Jason said that as he had the thing in his system, I think he would know!"

"What if that was the nightmare speaking?"  Rarity asked.  "I'm sorry dear, but that could have been the plan from the beginning."

"No!  I know it was him!"  She sighed, realizing that she didn't want to tell them about the hive mind.  "Just- I know, okay?"

"If you say so..."  Rarity replied, eyeing Dash uneasily.  

"By the way, this is Evening over here.  What's that thing?"  She asked, pointing to a blob of slightly reflective fabric on the ground, before she noticed the purple mane poking out the side.  "Scoots?!"  She yelled, galloping over quickly and pulling the cover back a little.  Dash touched her with a hoof, her stress suddenly lifting for a glorious moment as her hoof made contact, proving to her that Scoots wasn't some kind of cruel hallucination.

"D-Dash?"  She asked, opening her eyes sleepily.  Scoots pushed herself up and threw her arms around Dash, letting tears flow freely as Scoots held onto her neck.  "I missed you so much!"  She yelled through her sobs, as Dash sat down and put a hoof around her back.  

"I'm sorry things couldn't be better, Scoots.  I'm sorry."

"Is Jason going to be okay?"  She asked, her eyes flickering.  

"I don't know."  She hugged the filly tighter, putting a hoof through her mane.  "I love you, kiddo."

"I love you too, Dash."  Scoots replied, giving Dash a squeeze.  

"Take your stuff and go, Scoots."  Dash said.  "Evening, you too.  Make sure she stays safe, alright?"

"Dash, I can help!"  Evening yelled, taking a step forward.

"No, I don't want to chance loosing another friend."  Dash replied, pulling Scootaloo upright and giving her a light shove towards the side of the clearing, where Evening was still loitering.  "Now come on, we don't have a lot of time."

"You owe me when we're done with this Dash."  She said, before floating the kid onto her back and running off, disappearing towards the lights of town.  Dash watched her go, assuming that none of her friends had seen the phantom horn in action, given the way they didn't react.  

"So listen, we need to-"  A huge blast of light flew out of the forest a ways away, and the group took off almost immediately through the foliage.  Dash felt her element nestle itself around her neck as they ran, trampling foliage as they tried to catch up to the noise and carnage.  The ground rumbled and Dash ducked, pulling down Rarity as a building flew through the trees, knocking over several before it broke into too small of pieces to do any more damage.  

With the path mostly clear their pace sped up, and as they broke into another clearing Nightmare landed, smirking at them with an evil grin across his face.  Dash's heart sank, he was already starting to change to the nightmare's fancy, his eyes had turned pitch black and his wings, even from here, were starting to feather slightly.

"So, I think we have a few loose ends to tie up."  Nightmare said as the clearing started to flare with green light as he funneled magic through Jason's horn.  "I guess the only question is, who wants to die first?"  He asked, the small volley of spears rising up behind himself.
	
	
	
> Grief
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Grief


"Dash?"  Twilight started, watching Nightmare with a weary eye.  "I think we underestimated Jason's power."  

"It's not a big deal, just hit him with the--oof!"  She felt her back hit something hard as she was slammed up against a tree and the breath left her lungs.  Twilight threw a spell towards Nightmare, which he rolled midair to dodge, losing his concentration enough to let Dash go.  Dash looked around enough to see that Pinkie and Fluttershy had also been thrown against a tree and a boulder respectively, and she looked away soon enough to dodge a bolt of magic as it lanced through the air.

Jason'd never done anything like this before, why the hell was he so powerful all of a sudden?  The Nightmare only partially accounted for that, he only added the way for the griffin to re-represent his strength, maybe a small amount of added energy, but this?  She peered out from behind the bush, narrowly pulling her head back behind it before a spear whistled by.  As soon as this was over, forcing him to sit in a library and learn magic definitely wouldn't be the worst idea.  

The only ponies left inside the clearing were Cadence and Twilight, who were taking spells and throwing them back at the Nightmare.  The parasite easily deflected the magic, setting trees ablaze and blowing holes through the forest as the magic took its toll.

Dash moved through the bushes, checking that the element was still around her neck.  All they needed was a break in the action, a gap long enough for them to charge up the elements and evict the Nightmare.  But that meant waiting for Jason to run out of power or for him to take his own body back over.  And at this point, both of those seemed like a long shot.  

She pulled Jason's gun off her back, aiming it at the Nightmare through a gap in the branches.  She pressed down on the trigger before pointing the gun at the dirt.  She couldn't shoot the Nightmare, not when Jason was still in there.  Dash squared her hooves and took off, barreling into Jason's body before the Nightmare could react.  They hit the ground in a ball as she went to stab at a leg, something non-lethal at least, but missed as she was thrown into the air.  

A spell flew straight towards her before it was deflected by one of Twilight's, and the battle resumed below.  Rarity extricated herself from the bushes and joined in the process of spell flinging.  Dash could see the angry glint in Applejack's eyes, flitting out of the bushes a ways away.  With Nightmare back in the air, there was nothing she could do, even if she could get a jump on Jason.  And Dash wasn't sure she wanted Applejack to have that chance, not when a shot at the nightmare could mean a crippling wound later on, especially if something broke to a bad enough extent.

Who's side was she on, anyway?  Dash wanted her friends to win, but that meant that Jason would lose, and if he won she would be dead, but at least he would live.  The choice seemed obvious, kill Jason and be rid of the problem, but even if they did take out Jason, the nightmare would just shift bodies.  

So it was the elements or nothing, with no way to use them.  And given the fact that her love had apparently given Jason more power than even he had thought, things weren't looking good in any sense of the word.  


_____________________________________________________________


Jason watched the carnage below as wide eyed as he could when he was trapped inside his own head.  The things Nightmare was doing, he'd never even attempted.  Large scale uses of magic that he'd thought were out of his league, or at least seemed to tire him out enough to make it seem that way.  

He snapped himself out of that thought and returned to trying to take back over his own head.  Or at least, sabotaging Nightmare as much as he could.  

Classical music started to play, and the Nightmare shrugged.  "I don't know what the big deal is about this, I mea-"

It's not like it's 2 Girls 1 Cup or anything, right?  Jason chuckled, his laugh echoing around as Nightmare stuck a hoof to his head in an attempt to block out the images, narrowly avoiding another spell.  

"You're fucked up."  

Don't like that?  How about talking fruit?  He said, trying to cover his fear for Dash and the others with a joking manner, pushing more images through the Nightmare's head.  'Hey apple!'  It said, as the Nightmare growled and shot a ball of fire towards Twilight, as Dash swept her out of the way.  The end of her tail caught on fire slightly, the embers glowing orange as she landed and rolled, smothering the small burning dots.

Jason winced and tried to hide the sudden emotional change, before he halted his wings and Nightmare fell to the ground with an 'oof' and attempting a counter-strike in his head.  But it wasn't as strong as before, as the battle dragged on it got easier and easier to exact his own control on the Nightmare, although easy was still a relative term.  It may have just be the increased mental facilities he was directing towards battle, but the extra wiggle room was useful nonetheless.  

The Nightmare screamed out in rage as he slammed a log into Cadence, throwing her off into the brush as a slight shield of magic deflected her away.  Nightmare knocked Twilight, Dash and Rarity up against a flat rock that marked the edge of the clearing.  A pair of hooves narrowly missed his head as he ducked under Applejack's ferocious buck, before she joined the others on the wall and he dove around a spell from Twilight.

"So it's come down to this, huh?"  He asked, floating a Jason's knives out of Dash's saddlebag.  The knives slowly made their way over to the four until one jerked towards the wall, sticking in the end of Dash's ear as she yelled out and tried to move her hoof.  Jason tried to take control enough to pry the knife back out, but the Nightmare seemed to have been expecting the attempt.  "Somehow, I expected more."  He pushed the other knife against Twilight's throat, watching as the edge drew blood and her horn stopped charging a spell.  "But I guess we can't all get along, right?"

Nightmare jumped backwards as a beam of navy blue magic hit where he was just standing, leaving a heavy scorch mark as the other ponies fell off of the rock, quickly scattering again.  Dash held onto her ear for a moment as blood started to flow more freely.  He'd probably cut off a good quarter inch, Jason thought as guilt started to register in his mind.

"You fuckers and your dues ex machina."  Nightmare growled, ducking behind a tree as the top half blew off and then stepping out again.

"If you'd have finished with them faster we wouldn't have this problem, now would we?"  Luna asked as she landed, folding her wings away.  "You were always the one to gloat."

Nightmare put a hoof to his mouth, and it came away bloody.  "I wouldn't if it wasn't so much god damn fun.  You can't just kill someone, that's without style.  You've got to leave your mark on their brain as well, not just their stupid little body."

Luna turned and watched an angry Cadance stumble out of the forest, covered in leaves and branches.  "Admit it, Nightmare, you've already lost."

"I haven't lost until you kill this vessel, and I don't quite see that happening."  He grinned.  "And besides, without the time to use the elements, how are you going to actually stop me?"

"We don't need to kill you to win, it's easy enough to just knock you out and use the elements then."  Luna replied, the air around her growing dark as her horn collected energy and she squared her footing.  Nightmare hit the dirt as a hevy cloud of magic shot over his back, and as he turned a near perfect circle was cut from the forest behind himself.  

Nightmare let out a low whistle.  "I see you're impressed in there as well."

You could say that...  Jason replied.  He'd be rubbing his eyes right now if he could.  But I'm nowhere near out of fun things to show you, so...  He sifted through a few memories.  More porn, or annoying noises?  I'll just do both.  He overlaid Nyan cat with more porn, balancing the sounds to their most annoying level and throwing in an air raid siren for kicks as the Nightmare shot forth another volley of spells.  

"Get the hell out!"  Came a new voice as Evening jumped into the clearing, taking slow but purposeful steps forward.  Jason started to feel a pressure on his mind as Evening tried to invade through the hive mind link, and he tried pull her in with him.  It only partially worked; he could still hear her yelling out there as she advanced towards the Nightmare, and he figured that if she was all the way in she couldn't do both.  "Yeah, how do you like the hive mind, huh?  Not too fun, is it?"  

Evening was visibly straining, and her muscles tensed for a moment before her disguise blew off, fading away as Twilight and her friends looked on in horror.  But Jason's mind had become just as much of a battleground, as the two of them finally gained the upper hand and started to push the nightmare back, into smaller and smaller parts of Jason's brain.

"Fucking-- do it now!"  He yelled, before he lost control of his mouth once again.  Twilight snapped out of her slightly dazed expression and pulled the others together as the elements started to charge.  It wasn't fast enough, the nightmare still had too much control...

The six ponies started to put off light, brightening until it was almost hard to look.  And as the light grew to an almost sun-like brightness the Nightmare counter attacked and sent Evening reeling from Jason's head.  He watched her silhouette collapse against the light from outside, before the light got even brighter and she disappeared.  The Nightmare flared up his horn and rose into the air, floating up the spears he hadn't yet used and hurling them at breakneck speeds just as a rainbow colored trail impacted his body.  The outside world became whitewashed before disappearing completely into an equally white nothingness, and Jason was left feeling rather alone.  And yet it was a stark contrast to the previous chaos.

Maybe he had passed out, or maybe all the white, the purgatory as it seemed, happened in a few seconds.  But either way, as he finally returned to consciousness the Nightmare appeared to be gone, finally fucking out of his head.  Several groans reached his ears and he pulled himself to his hooves before he could even really see.  Bad idea.  Immediately he fel back down as one of his forelegs bent and cracked.  It was definitely broken, probably from when he had hit the ground.  

His vision returned slowly, blackness proceeding swirls which led to the eventual usefulness of his eyes once again.  Jason didn't like what he saw, as he started to drag himself over towards the others with his uninjured fore-hoof.  It took him about a minute to pass by Evening, who was luckily still breathing and appeared to be making some noise on her side of the hive mind.

Luna was standing over Jason, twirling a hoof in the air as he went past before she ran off again.  

Twilight was already to her feet, shakily however, as she tottered over towards Pinkie, who was crying at the spear poking through her thigh.  "T-Twilight, I just woke up and then-"  She let out another sob.  Twilight saw Jason and jumped backwards, charging up her horn just in case.

"I'm good, Twilight.  Well, my arm's broken, but you know.  It's going to be fine, Pinkie, I'll fix you up."  He got to Pinkie and maneuvered himself around, putting a  back hoof to her thigh before he wrenched out the spear.

"How's that friendly?"  She yelled, her face turning to one of rage as Jason started to heal the wound.  Twilight sighed and dropped her guard, sitting down next to her friend as Applejack ran up, tears already plastered to her face.

"What's wrong?"  Pinkie asked, poking at the scar on her leg.  

"It's--It's--"  She broke down again, running back to where she'd come from with a slight gesture for them to follow.  Straight towards the form of Dash,which hadn't moved from the ground.  Cadance was hunched over, pressing a swath of red to her neck.  Jason's mind stuck on those words.  Hadn't moved...Red swathe

He hardly had time to think before he pulled himself to his hooves and galloped over, tears falling readily because of a combination of pain and assumed grief.  Jason slipped as his leg bent again and fell, sliding against Dash's back as she laid on her side, and he quickly propped her head alright, eyes burning as unbridled tears came to his eyes.  A hole through the side of her neck easily attested to what had happened as Cadence vacated the wound, her hoof covered in blood.  But as Jason healed the wound he knew she was long gone, there was just too big of a puddle of blood.

Jason let out a squeak, a sound that was supposed to be a sob but came out choked as a rock formed in his throat and his vision blurred.  He jiggled her head, trying to get her to revive.  Her eyes focused and she raised a hoof slightly, choking slightly as the corners of her lips turned upwards.  

"I love you, Jason.  Sorry I had to die like this."  She said weakly as her eyes started to get glassy.  "Don't forget me, okay?"  There was a long pause before her lips formed another set of words.  "Tell Scoots I love her, and that goes the same for you, you big goof.  I don't care if I'm being redundant, I-"  A tear rolled down her face.  "I love you so much."

"Come on Dash, you've had worse."  A tear hit her in the eye, and she didn't even flinch.  "Please, just--"  He started to cry openly, tears running down to his chin as he stroked through her mane with his broken hoof.  "You mean too much to me, I can't lose you..."  He buried his head in her mane, soaking it as he continued to weep.  He heard her heart beat, once, twice, three times before the number halted and his chest seemed to contract.  

A feeling of total despair passed over him as he listened harder, listened for anything that meant she was still alive.  But nothing came, a cruel reminder of his healing inadequacies that hurt him in the worst possible way.  Several minutes passed before he even noticed Dash's other friends, gathered around in their own stages of grief, although Luna looked the most composed.  

"I know you're gone Dash, but, but--"  He grabbed his saddlebag off of her back, sliding out the black box that he hadn't considered opening until now.  "I love you, and I want you to have this, it was made for you anyway."  He said, wiping away a few tears as he slid his engagement ring onto a few of her primaries.  "I'm sorry I wasn't strong enough to save you." Rarity started outright bawling as he slipped the ring on, squeezing her arms around Applejack as she looked on at the scene.

"J-jason?"  Applejack started, her voice unsure.  

"Yeah, it's me."  He said, not ceasing the movement of his hoof through her mane as the appendage started to swell.  

"Ya were gonna propose, huh?"  She asked, fresh tears falling out of her eyes.  

Jason tried to respond before he realized he didn't have any words left, as he moved his hoof to touch at the scar that was left on her neck.  "Y-yeah."  He finally got out, hugging the limp mare against his chest as he cried.  "I wanted to wait until we got back, and now she'll never know!"  He yelled, the following sobs muffled in Dash's still warm chest, her soft hairs tickling the cracks in his chitin.  "I-  I don't know what to do anymore, you were the one that kept me alive this long, and then-  and then I can't even repay the favor."  He let out another heaving sob, already feeling the hole starting to form in his soul.

Jason felt hooves wrap around his back as a set of wet eyes contacted his shoulder.  "Is- is she really gone?"  Evening asked, still in her changeling form as tears slid down her face.  "She can't be, Dash survives everything, this isn't right!"  She pushed her muzzle into Jason's shoulder, only serving to make him feel worse.  Maybe he'd overreacted before about things being his fault, but this legitimately was.  He could've tried harder, there was still a chance that he could've altered the spear throw.

"We can bring Dashie back, right Luna?"  Pinkie asked, her mane thoroughly deflated.  "Right?"

Luna sighed, as one of her own tears hit the ground.  "No, magic is well limited on matters like those."  Her breath caught slightly, before she continued.  "As soon as a pony's dead, there's very little we can do, and the power of life and death is well out of my power."

"But- but- you're a princess!"  Pinkie replied, looking at her angrily.  "How can you not have a spell somewhere for something like this?"

"Pinkie!"  Twilight yelled, trying to calm her friend.  

"No!  I just want a real reason!"  She yelled, planting her rump on the ground and crossing her arms as she stared at the princess.  

There was a long silence before Luna eventually spoke up.  "As much power as we have, there are limits, absolutes, constants.  Maybe we could keep her body alive, maybe we could bring Rainbow Dash back to life.  But it wouldn't be her, the mare you know is already gone.  It would just be a husk."

"A fucking vegetable."  Jason spoke up, "The one thing worse than death."  Another long silence dawned, peppered by short sobs and drips of tears.  "Where's- where's Scoots?"

"Do you want her to see?"  Rarity asked through her tears, fruitlessly trying to calm herself.

"Just-  Someone get her, Dash was her mother, she deserves to see it, not hear this through word of mouth."  He said, feeling a sense of numbness flow over his body as he stared down at Dash's motionless face.  His eyes continued to drip as he slid her eyelids shut, and he started taking off her armor.  Jason set it into a neat pile as he uncovered her matted blue fur.  A big chunk of the upper chest plate was missing, whether that was from him or something else he couldn't be sure.  Her holster came next, the riot shield and other saddlebag following closely before her element, which he took special care in setting against the pile.

What hurt the worst, though, was that somewhere after the carnage was over she'd been laying in this pool of blood and spluttering out his name, waiting for the aid he should have provided, but she never received.  He could've prevented this in so many ways, and yet here he was, clutching at her body as it cooled in the midnight hours.  Jason started to weep again, for her, for what he should have done, for all the things he would never be able to do.  That warmth when they cuddled, her tender caress.  Even the feeling of her flowing love, something that he would never feel again.

He wasn't sure how long he sat there, looking down at her as the pain in his arm intensified.  He could feel the bones starting to set, but he couldn't care less if he was crippled by overusing the broken limb.  The fact that she looked like she could wake up at any time only made him feel worse, as her immobile chest sang a silent song of disappointment.  That was another thing, her heartbeat.  And that hurt the worst, something so simple and rhythmic, a pattern that was ingrained into his mind, and yet it was gone in a moment, without so much as a hint that it was leaving.

There was some crashing in the foliage nearby as Evening returned with his daughter, her purple mane as windswept as usual as she skidded over, coming to a halt with tears already in her eyes.  She bumped into Jason with open arms, crying into his chest as she saw Dash's body.

"She's gonna be okay, right Jason?  Jason?"

"No Scoots."  He hugged her tighter and put his head over her shoulder as his tears continued to flow.  "She's gone.  And I killed her."

"What?"  She said, in unison with several of the other ponies around.

"I wasn't strong enough, I could've done something more but I didn't.  And now-  She's gone forever and I'm to blame!"  He yelled, hugging Scoots more tightly as he wept.  "I'm sorry, I'm just so sorry."  

"Jason,"  Twilight started shakily as she walked up and nudged his shoulder, avoiding Evening's hoof like it was poison oak.  "Either way, we need to get you to a hospital, you can't let your hoof stay like that."  

"No, I'm not leaving her."  Jason replied, not looking up at her.

"And I'm not letting you stay here, you'll just make yourself fell worse.  It wasn't your fault, Jason."

"I know better than anypony,"  Luna spoke up, sighing to herself before continuing, "that the Nightmare is nearly impossible to fight, and that there was very little that you could have done."

"But that's just not true!"  He yelled back, tears of frustration sticking in his eyes.  "I had an advantage, I had some power over what I did.  It wasn't just me, Evening was there, and we were winning.  And yet here I am, powerless as usual."  He let out a sob.  "She always was the strong one.  It should've been me."

Twilight snorted, in a way that almost sounded angry.  "Shut up."  Jason stared at her.  "You can't beat yourself up over things like this, when I'm sure you know that any way you went ponies would have died.  Even then, you can't look back on it and hate yourself like you do, you're just going to end up feeling bad for no reason."

"But-"

"I know she meant the world to you, but that's exactly why you can't act this way, you've got to look at the memories, the good times you shared."  She replied, angry tears joining his.

"We were always fighting, there weren't that many." 

"Then I guess they mean more."  He felt himself lift up into the air with Scoots and Dash as the surrounding environment took on a purplish hue.  "Now I'm getting you to the hospital, whether you want to go or not."  Jason sighed, looking down at Dash's face again as they started to move.  At some point between the clearing and the town he passed out, exhaustion and blood loss finally overtaking him as he nestled his head against Dash's neck, feeling Scoots stick to him like glue.


_______________________________________________________________


Jason woke up with a start, breathing heavily as he looked around the small hospital room.  He tried to raise up his arms to his eyes as the reality sunk back in, from the annoying pulsating in his arm to Scoots, firmly planted over his arm under the covers.  He smiled before the whole weight of things came crashing down and tears came to his eyes, vivid memories of the day before sticking in his mind's eye.  

Evening was back in her pony form, curled up at the end of the bed in much the same manner as Scoots, and occasionally let out a snore or twitched her legs, as if she was chasing after some sort of invisible animal.  Jason almost chuckled, but his thoughts weighed out any humor he could derive from Evening.  

But every movement, every shift of the light turned into something Dash related as his mind filled in her almost unending presence with portraits of its own.  It wasn't anything he could see though, it was always just to the side of his vision, just out of reach.  He heard a quiet sob from his side and looked down towards Scoots, who was looking back up at him teary eyed.  

"Are you sure we aren't just having a nightmare?"  She asked quietly, before laying her head flat again.  

"As much as I wish we were,"  His breath caught.  "As far as I can tell this is real."  He pulled her up against his chest and wrapped his hooves around her tiny back, rocking slightly as he tried to make the filly feel just a little bit better.  They sat there for what felt like an hour, as Scoots' crying slowly ceased.  If he didn't have her after all this, well, he really didn't know what he'd be doing right now.  Probably well on the path to insanity, worst case scenario.

A thump sounded against the door, and there was a pause before a hoof knocked.

"Come in!"  Jason yelled, his voice sounding foreign and broken.  He halfheartedly cleared his throat before Lyra walked in, rubbing at her head as Octavia and Bon Bon followed.  

"How're you holding up?"  Bon Bon asked, her eyes slightly red and puffy.

"Not too well."  He said, sighing.  "I just- I don't know what to do anymore.  She meant so much, and now that whole part of me is just gone..."

"I wish I could tell you I knew what you were going through, but I really can't."  She said, sitting down in one of the hospital chairs.  

"So who's your friend, Jason?"  Lyra asked, looking at Morning.  "You haven't already replaced Dash, right?"  She asked, starting to look enraged.

"No, she's just a friend."  He tried to wake her through the hive mind, before he realized he had no idea how to do what she had done last night.  Jason kicked a hoof into her back through the covers, and she jumped awake, flying a foot or so in the air.  

"Jason, go dammit!  Don't do that to me!"  She yelled, and Jason couldn't help but smile slightly.  

"Oh yeah?  Well why don't you just turn around and say hello?"

"I'm still not letting you off the-"  Her mouth froze as her eyes locked on Lyra, before she sprang off the bed and hugged the mare, bringing them both down to the ground.  "Lyra, I missed you so much!"  Evening yelled, hugging the mare tightly.

"Who is she!!"  Lyra yelled, trying to worm herself out of the changeling's grip.

"Oh yeah."  Evening replied, blushing slightly before she got up and dropped the disguise.  "Remember?  I rescued you in Canterlot?"

Lyra stopped her slight retreat, before finally moving forward and returning the hug.  "You found her?"  She asked Jason over Evening's shoulder, receiving a simple nod in response as Scoots giggled.  Jason squeezed the filly against his side slightly, glad that she was.  The two mares hugged for a while as the room became silent.  

"At least there's still something nice to come of today."  Lyra said as she let go, tapping Evening on the shoulder with a hoof.  "So are you planning on staying?"  

"If I can find a place, I guess."

"You can stay with us, Evening."  Jason said.  "I'm sure we have space somewhere."

"Well, I suppose I'm staying."  Evening replied, a smile gracing her lips.

"So Jason,"  Octavia started,  "what have you been doing all this time away from home?"  The others gathered around, before more ponies gathered at the door.  

"Well you're sure the popular one, Jason."  Twilight said as she walked in with her friends, pushing the room to an almost full capacity.  "And it's your call on whether you want the Crusaders in here, considering your hoof and all."  Jason pulled his hoof back and punched the nightstand, receiving only a small jolt of pain in return as the ponies gasped.  So then it was mostly healed already.  Must be the cast.

"Yeah, I'm good.  It's just about healed up, and I won't go into a lot of detail with stabbing or anything."  He said quietly.  At least there were distractions, anything to keep him from thinking solely about Dash.  "So let them in or whatever, I like kids anyway."

"Maybe I should let ya host the next sleepover."  Applejack suggested with a chuckle.

"Hey, let's not go that far."  He said, chuckling as Scoots punched him in the arm.  The laugh aroused conflicting emotions in his head though, should he be doing anything but mourning Dash?  She had died maybe eight hours ago, and he was already laughing.  That seemed disrespectful on every level to someone who meant so much to him.  At the same time, he knew that thoughts like that were just going to depress him.  Another Catch-22, he couldn't win either way.

Only a few seconds later the bed was covered in another three foals that stared and ogled at Jason like he was some sort of alien, which in a way he was.  They poked him all over with their hooves, and Jason craned his head backwards to get away from the prodding as Scoots laughed her head off.  Jason glanced over at her before levitating her friends into the air and setting them down at the end of the bed.  There was a new one he didn't recognize, though.

"You're...Rumble?"  He asked, taking a shot in the dark.

"Y-yeah, I am Jaso- uh, sir!"  The foal replied, his prior confidence seemingly evaporated.

"Just Jason's fine, everyone else calls me that anyway."  Rumble nodded, looking away.  The room went silent before Scoots poked Jason in the arm and he remembered why they were all staring at him, and knocked himself in the head with a hoof.  "Sorry.  I'll just get to the story then."  Jason sighed as a tear slipped out of his eye, sliding down to his chin. 

"We don't have to hear it..."  Fluttershy ventured, looking pretty sad herself.

"No, you're all here anyway..."  He sighed again before beginning.  "We left Ponyville a while ago, rode to Canterlot in a chariot, and ended up meeting some old friends there.  The ponies actually like me there, so it was kinda nice looking at all the civilians pointing and waving excitedly.  Anyway, we talked to Celestia and she showed us a stained glass window that has me and Dash, Tank and Potato during the whole Canterlot battle.  We met up with a griffin named Eravel,"  Jason got choked up again, waving a hoof like he was going to continue but wasn't able to.

Eventually he continued after taking a few deep breaths.  "We left with Tank and Eravel, and arrived in Windforge a while later.  I met Shining again, we drafted another Team Green Bean, and-"

"Why did you need another?"  Lyra asked.  "Aren't you pretty much the best?"

"Yeah, but there're only eight of us, we needed more to-"

"Why?"  She asked again.  Jason put a hoof to his face and chuckled.  

"I'll explain, just give me a minute."  He paused, trying to remember his train of thought.  "We needed to free some hostages that the griffins took from Canterlot.  So at night we went there and stayed stealthy for about half as long as I wanted to, and basically we lost six hostages before we could free them all.  Then we got stuck in the town hall, had to gun down like seventy griffins before the other team met up with us, then we got ambushed as we were leaving.  All told, it was a good day."

"How is that good?"  Twilight asked, putting a hoof up to stress her meaning.  

"Because we killed a lot of griffins and rescued most of the hostages.  That sounds like a victory to me, especially with the fact that some of those griffins enlisted.  But I'll get to that.  Next ca-"

"Sorry Jason,"  Rarity started, "But when you say 'gunned down'..."

"Ah,"  he looked around the room until he saw his stuff, tears threatening to surface as he saw Dash's armor, before he floated the gun over and tried to refocus his attention.  "Sorry about all this."  He floated over one of her shin guards and balanced the piece on his hoof, looking at it with more than a hint of remorse.  

"Where did she get that armor?"  Applejack asked, glancing over at Evening.  "And if'n ya don't mind me askin', why's she here?"

"I'm going to-"  He cleared his throat, trying to keep his voice from wavering.  "answer those in order.  So Rarity, this is a gun, you've seen it work, I just hit griffins with it."  She nodded and cringed.  "And onto you Applejack, chitin kinda breaks off after a while, and it fit her alright, which is a little odd considering the fact that I'm a lot bigger, but it could have shrunk or something.  Anyway, that's the deal with that."

"And her."  Bon Bon reminded.

"Oh yeah.  I- well, it'll be explained when I get to it."  Applejack rolled her eyes.  "I can't give everything away, right?"  He smiled weakly, starting to feel a little sick to his stomach.  He sighed, before resuming the story again.  "We set up camp in this forest clearing with a hill, fortified the shit out of it, and then got attacked maybe a day later.  The griffins had these bottles full of, whale oil I think, and basically they threw it with a flaming fuse and it would go burn stuff when it exploded.  They were called Molotov Cocktails where I came from.  Took a bunch of casualties with that one, although it only seemed to raise morale.  Guess the ponies really wanted the griffins dead."

"Did you kill any there?"  Scoots asked.

"A couple, maybe.  No one was ready, so I didn't have any of my weapons.  But I did knock out a couple with my hooves, that's always good.  Shining was in the fray with us, but I swear, those were some of the worst burns I've ever seen.  I guess I should speed up a little, but this is where Evening comes in.  We were patrolling and we found her, arguing with herself in the forest."

"It wasn't that bad!"  Evening shot back, frowning heavily. 

"It really was pretty bad.  The truth is, in short story mode, that Chrysalis has basically total control over changelings, and that's why she rules like she does.  All changelings have a hive mind, but it's really just an extension of the system we use for figuring out emotions.  So yes, I technically have one, but not with any real control.  That pretty much explained why Dash and I were sharing dreams."  He paused, trying to keep himself collected.  "And now Evening's there too, so it's all one big happy family."  Everyone in the room took a step back.

"So is it like a disease, do we catch it?"  Pinkie asked, sticking to the back wall.

"No, I think it's proximity for a long period of time.  And I can just kick you out, come on, I'm not a plague victim."

"Sorry."  A few of them said.  

"Yeah, Christ.  To cut this shorter, we destroyed a griffin army in the forest where one of my squad members was killed,"  He sighed again, "and then we moved to the capitol after receiving some griffin troops.  We started an operation that I'm not obliged to tell you about until it's declassified, but-"

"Even me?"  Scoots asked.

"Sorry, I don't know if you're a spy or something.  Can't be too careful."  She giggled and he continued.  "I found a missile launcher and we moved into the city after these large scale protests started.  But man, missiles.  I fired this thing, and it's like Pssssssssssssssss  BANG!!!!!"  He yelled, showing them the movement with a hoof.  "Dash said it was...really...awesome."  Jason looked downwards, his head somewhere else.

"How did it follow a path like that?  Did you arch it?"  Twilight asked.

"No, it guided itself."  He replied shortly.  "To finish off this story with a sad ending, we lost Eravel, so he's MIA with a spear wound, fought and killed the king with the Nightmare in control until he took me over, then I killed two other members of my squad when Nightmare pulled down the building.  And now I'm back here, and over half the guys I had under my close command, my entire sub squad even, is gone."  He put his head in his hooves and tried to keep himself from outright sobbing in front of all the ponies present.

"It just hurts so bad!"  Jason yelled, soaking his hooves as he cried.  It hadn't really sunk in until he'd told them the whole story, and he hadn't thought about the losses more than just in terms of Dash.  And it was just too much, he felt empty, devoid of the ponies he'd known most dear.

"You want us to leave?"  Fluttershy asked.  "I- I can't even imagine what you're going through right now, but it can't be good."

"Yeah,"  he replied, wiping his eyes and trying to gain back a portion of his resolve, although as he continued to speak it was clear he wasn't recovering.  "I'd like some time alone with my daughter, and my thoughts, honestly.  It's just- I've lost most of my friends and what could have been my fiancé in sixteen hours, and I just feel tired and empty."  He said, wiping his nose with a hoof.  "Evening, you may as well stay too."  He continued, watching Twilight and her friends nod and leave, while Lyra, Bon Bon and Octavia came around to the side of the bed.  

Lyra spoke up.  "I know you want some time to yourself, and I'll leave in just a second, but I just wanted to offer my condolences, if nothing else."  The other two nodded.  "And by the way, she's in the morgue, and from what the lady said they'll have an open coffin funeral service in a few days.  Just figured you'd want to know."  Jason nodded, a jerky movement that alluded to just how he felt.

Octavia took a step forward.  "Of all the ponies I know, you really deserved this the least, Jason.  Especially with your daughter like this.  I wish there was more I could do."  She took a step forward and hugged Jason, as the other two joined in as well.  

"Thanks for this."  Jason said, wiping his eyes again.  "I'm just- I don't know what to do with my life anymore.  Everything's just gone, all my plans.  I'm glad I have this little devil though,"  he shook Scoots slightly and she smiled.  "And I don't plan to let anything go wrong with her."  He continued, leaning down to kiss the filly on the forehead.  "She's all the family I have left, excluding Evening."

"Well there was only Dash."  Lyra said before Bon Bon shoved a hoof in her mouth.

"Shut up!"

"Those guys that died, Tank and Eravel, even if they are still alive, they were like brothers to me, honestly.  It hurts."

"You're sure you don't want more company?"  Octavia asked, giving him a slight smile.

"No, I just- no.  Sorry."

"It's totally fine, we'll probably be at the griffin if you need us."  She replied, turning to leave after putting a reassuring hoof on his shoulder.  "It get's better, just give it some time.  I know it hurts."

"Yeah, it does."  He replied, watching the door close behind the mares as they left.  

"How long till it gets better?"  Scoots asked.

"I don't know, Scoots."  He lowered is head and nuzzled under her chin, trying to raise her spirits.  "But I know it will, eventually."

"Promise?"  She asked, and he leaned over and kissed her forehead.  

"Promise."  He replied, as the door creaked back open a little.

"I-is it alright if I come in?  I'll just be a minute."

"Uh, sure, pony that I can't see."  Jason said over the bedspread, watching as the door moved a little more and hoofsteps approached the bed before Rumble tried to jump up, immediately losing his grip and hitting the floor with a dull thud.  

"Ow."

Jason heard Scoots chuckle, and he lifted up the foal onto the bed with his magic.  "You're a clumsy little guy, aren't ya?"  He asked, smiling at the little kid.

"I guess, sorry."  He replied, shrinking back a little.

"You don't need to be afraid of me, I don't bite."  Jason replied, wiping at an eye.  

"Well, hopeyoufeelbetterScootsgottagobye!"  He turned to leave before Scoots grabbed his tail with a hoof, pulling him backwards onto his flank.

"Just tell him what you were going to- oh."  She saw what he wanted to say in his eyes, that he didn't want to keep the pair of them a secret.  And she couldn't blame him, not after all this went through.  Jason had said pretty clearly that they were the only two left.

"Tell me what?"  He asked, looking between the two of them.

"We're dating!"  Rumble yelled, closing his eyes and crouching down.  Jason's face went blank for a few seconds.  Well this was unexpected, he thought.  

"Since when?"  Was all he could ask.

"Two days ago, I guess."  Scoots said, blushing heavily.  "Just don't get mad."

"Uh, how old are you again?"  He asked.

"Twelve and a half."  She replied.  

"Is that normal around here?"

"I don't know, probably not!"  

"You're the same age, correct?"  Another nod.  "Well then I'm not mad.  But I'm going to meet him before you do anything further.  You haven't done, anything, right?"

"We kissed a few times."  Rumble ventured, still hunkered down as his face turned red.

"You two are so adorable, being all scared like this."  Jason said with a chuckle.  At least something was good under all this bad news.  "As long as it's just what it is now, I have no problem with it.  But you better not move this along faster than you should, you're only kids.  I'm sure you're tired of hearing this whole kid thing, but I'm serious this time.  Now if I could actually be left alone, I mean I'm happy for you or whatever, but at the same time, I'm just-"

"I get it, I'll see you later Scoots."  He hugged her and waved before trotting back out the door.  Jason's thoughts shifted back to Dash.  While before he had wanted to keep his thoughts off of the mare, now he felt like doing the opposite, like he deserved to feel all the grief that came along with her passing.  

"You really think I'm family?"  Evening asked, her eyes tearing up again.  It was a weird look for the changeling, almost like he half expected her to break out laughing and ask if it was good acting.  Such an out of character thing for her to cry like she was, no doubt feeling emotions she wasn't too familiar with.  

"Yeah, of course.  You've looked out for me, and changelings like us need to stick together."  He replied, sticking a hoof out against hers.  She smiled and curled back up at the end of the bed, trying to hide the ensuing tears, although Jason couldn't pinpoint how she was feeling.

"I wish I could hear her again, just one more time..."  Scoots said quietly, carefully pulling Jason's arm out from around her.  "I need to stretch, my legs hurt."  She said, hopping off the bed and trotting around.  

"I could- I could be her if you want.  For just a moment.  But it isn't her, and it never will be, you have to remember that."

"Fine, just-"  She waved an arm around.  "Please?"

Jason sighed and shifted, looking at the cyan fur that popped up along his now more slender arms.  He grabbed Scoots as she jumped up, hugging her tightly as he started to outright weep, grief cutting through that he could mimic her body all he wanted, and yet her mind would be gone forever.  It hurt worse, the tease that sent him over the edge from acceptance to attempting to bring her back, the one thing that he couldn't do.

"I just wish I could go back, see her before everything that went on, maybe give her a warning."

"Yeah, I wish-"  His gut wrenched as his face snapped through about ten emotions in a second.  

"Jason?"

"Scoots, you're right.  We're leaving the hospital."

"Why?"  She asked, tears still running out of her eyes.

"You know how I said I didn't want to abuse my power and play god?"

"Yeah?"

"Well I'm making an exception."

"But Princess Luna said you can't bring her back to life!"

"And I don't need to.  If she never died, we don't have a problem, now do we?"

"Jason, you feeling alright?"  Scoots asked, touching a hoof to his forehead.

"Perfect, now come on, we have a lot to do."
> A Lead
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


A Lead


Jason hopped off the bed, levitating Scoots onto his back a moment later after he had transformed into a blue pegasus stallion with a grey mane, looking at himself for a moment in the mirror before turning around.  He walked over to the pile of junk and grabbed  the riot shield, strapping it to his side as he put on the riot control helmet and folded the visor over his muzzle.  He set Scoots Down for a moment and shifted through Dash's old armor, trying not to cry as her scent wafted up from the unwashed material.  

"So what's the plan, Jason?"  Scoots asked, her face still a mixture of emotions, although he could feel hope rising above the others.

"Well Dash is dead-"  He choked back a sob, and tried to continue.  "God dammit."  Jason took a deep breath.  "But she wasn't always, right?"

"Yeah..."  Scoots replied, still teary eyed.  

"Well what if she never died, Scoots?  What if we changed the past?"  He asked, stroking a hoof through her mane.

"You can do that?!?!"  She yelled, hugging around a hind leg tightly and wetting the chitin.

"I don't know, that's the problem.  I don't know much magic, I'll have to learn."  He  replied, sighing.  "Apparently I have enough power, so long as I have a source of love."

"Ooh, can I do that?"

"What, supply love?"

"Yeah."

Jason chuckled.  "You already do that, you have this whole time."

"Does that mean I get to be in the hive mind?"  She asked, looking hopeful.

"If we're stuck together for any amount of time then yeah."  Jason smiled.  "Now try this on and see if it fits."  He said, jokingly holding up a thigh plate to her chest, where really didn't conform.  "Damn."  

"Aww, no armor?"

"Sorry Scoots, it doesn't fit."  He tossed back the plate, picking up his and Dash's saddlebag's and tossing them over his back as she did the same with her own.  He turned and crouched, touching a hoof to Scoots' forehead.  

"Evening, get up, we're doing something important!"  The mare hopped up and moved over, jostling any hints of sleep from her body.  

"You want my help?"  She asked, a look of disbelief on her face.  

"Yeah, come on."  He leaned against Evening.  "You ever been teleported?"  He asked Scoots.

"No what's it-"  The environment changed, and suddenly they were outside.  "Wow, that was awesome!"  She looked around for a moment, almost like it was going to revert to the room again.  "So where are we going?"  

"Canterlot archives.  Everything I need should be there."

"But how can we get there, it's so far..."

"Just hop on Scoots, I'm faster than I used to be."  She jumped on his back and he paused, before turning around.  He couldn't leave town yet.  There was something he had to do.  He walked back inside the hospital, moving past the staff without too much trouble, as well as the reporters plastered to the nearby walls.  Down the halls were a few guards, apparently posted to keep whoever he didn't want out.

"Where are we going, Jason?"  Scoots asked, as the reporters' heads snapped to attention and they moved to encompass Jason.  He grabbed Evening and the foal and teleported down a hallway, listening to a nurse scream as ponies appeared in front of her.

"Where's the morgue?"  He asked, running off as she pointed down the hall.  They burst through a pair of floppy doors, whatever those things are called, and Jason's heart felt like it dropped in his chest.  A worker seemed to get the idea that they were related and moved away, giving them some space.  Dash was laid out on a table, looking exactly the same as she had three hours ago.  They must've done something already then, he thought with a sigh as he touched her mane, laying his head on her chest and looking up at her face as several thumps sounded on the door he had reinforced with magic.

"I know you're gone, Dash."  He started, sighing and trying to fight through the tears that threatened to surface again.  "But I'm going to get you back, if not for me than for everyone else you've known.  I'm sorry I wasn't there, and I know I should have been.  I'm here now though, and I'm going to right the past.  I know you can't hear me, but you're irreplaceable, more unique than you'll ever know, and- I just miss you so much already."  He finished, letting his tears flow freely onto the cold, still body of his mare-friend.

Even if all this worked out, he couldn't shake any of his grief, and maybe that was a good thing.  If he wasn't powerful enough, if he couldn't do it, at least he wouldn't be too disappointed.  But he knew Scoots would, he thought as she fluttered onto the table and nuzzled her head against Dash's cheek, crying softly.  He wasn't sure if this idea would only make things worse in the long run, and he hoped it wouldn't only serve to exacerbate their emotions.  Maybe he should have seen it as what it may have been: a pipe dream.

"How long?"  Scoots asked, her voice cracking.

"I don't know, it may not even work.  This is the only way around it Scoots.  But I don't want you to get too excited, if it doesn't work, I don't want you to feel like she's gone all over again."

"I know, but I just can't- I want to do everything we can before we give up."  The filly replied.  "Every time I start to feel better, I remember something, and- I'm just crying all the time, my tears never dry!"

Jason grabbed Scoots and pulled her into a hug, nuzzling into her mane.  "Either way, things will get better, right?  You're still better off than you were before all this, right?"  He asked.

She went silent for a moment, thinking as Evening shifted on her hooves nervously, looking down at Dash's immobile face.  "It is,"  Scoots replied, "I have you, Rumble, Sweetie and Applebloom, that's way better, I guess.  I just wish Dash wasn't such a big piece of all that."

"It's a good thing, Scoots.  She told me to tell you that she loves you and not to forget her, and as far as I can tell, that won't be hard."  He got off the table and turned to let Scoots hop on his back before transforming into a different pony, yellow fur and red maned, and peering out the door.  He thought for a moment before gesturing for Evening to change, as she turned into a foal and he pulled out a ghillie suit to drape over Scoots.

"Now, my name's- Fuck, just call me bro if it comes down to it, both of you."  Jason pushed open the door and stared for a moment at the wall of ponies before they hurriedly brushed past him, and the trio walked calmly down the hallway.  It sickened him to let all those people close to her body, it just seemed wrong.  

"Hey, he still has the cast!"  One of the reporters yelled from down the hall as he was pushed out by one of the medical staff, and Jason teleported the three away, down into the lobby at the nurse's window.  

"Am I paid for, under Jason?"  He yelled in, watching as the nurse rolled her eyes and looked through a little book, tracing the line of names with a pen increasingly slowly.  

"Yes, you appear to be.  But Princess Luna herself seems to want to meet you."  The nurse replied slowly, clearly in no hurry.  Jason turned and jumped as he was surrounded by ponies with writing pads, all competing for his attention.  

"I don't want to say anything!"  He yelled, and the ponies stopped for a moment before resuming their chatter, something that sounded a lot like the hive mind did when it invaded his mind.  

"How were you related to Rainbow Dash?"  One yelled.  "Have you overcome your parasitic roots?"

"What?  Fuck you, she just died!"

"Have you declassified the Capital operations?  Where is the rest of Team Green Bean?"

"Are you still possessed by the Nightmare?"  

Jason had had enough.  His forehead flared and he pushed the reporters backwards, watching a few tip over on chairs as they tried to regain their footing.  "You fuckers, get some respect.  My mare-friend just died not ten hours ago, and you're already all over me."

He kept them constrained as the room fell into silence, and he turned back to the nurse, who went from surprised to neutral again as Jason turned back.  "So do I owe you?"

"No, but the Princess-"

"Tell her I've gone to Canterlot, wherever the archives are.  I've got to get going."

"But-"  She replied, but Jason had already left the doors, freeing the reporters as he went.  He pulled the ghillie suit off of Scoots and shoved it away, looking around before he took off, accelerating as he ascended, with Evening by his side.  Any time he lost now was time he didn't have later, and if this spell had a time limit, then every second was bound to matter.  He could feel the air splitting in front of him as he got to speeds he'd never even imagined before and an ever so slight cone began to form.

Scoots was having a wild time on his back as he continued to accelerate and Evening drafted behind him, riding the low pressure in his wake.  Even through all his grief, flying still held a special place in his heart, the one thing that he could do that reminded him directly of Dash, of the daredevil tricks and loops, of the sonic rainboom he'd never seen outside of a dream, without all the grief.  He reached his top speed just as slight clouds started to gather, forming the ring of condensation signaling that he was close to the sound barrier.  Not that close meant a lot; he was probably still far off.  But it reminded him of her, made him feel like there was something tangible that had worn off from her onto him.  

Canterlot approached faster than he'd been expecting, especially given how long it had taken them to get between here and Ponyville before.  The patience Dash must've had flying that slow was insane, he couldn't imagine going at a leisurely pace like that and not getting bored out of his skull.  

Jason dove and let his wings fan out, parachuting as the air whipped into them with a force he'd never felt before.  He was glad he'd dived first as Evening shot by a few seconds later, trying to slow down herself.  The pair banked around the far side of the city before descending further and landing in the more built up, royal district of Canterlot.  Jason let his disguise drop as he touched down, looking around at the progress the city had gone through since his last visit, buildings that had been reduced to rubble now even larger and more intricate, casting shadows across the squares while the working ponies were illuminated in the afternoon light, moving bricks, flying around the roofs of buildings or towing materials as the steady reconstruction effort continued.

The trio moved slowly, in awe of the buildings to such a degree that Jason didn't notice the grins and pointing hooves of the civilians until Scoots pointed them out, getting to her hooves on his back and looking around worriedly.

"Jason, they're all looking at us!"

Jason chuckled.  "They do that, Scoots.  The people like me here, it's kinda nice."

"Wow, you're like a celebrity!"  

"I don't think they like me that much."  He replied, before several ponies trotted up excitedly.

"Are you him!?"  A mare asked, looking back at her friends expectantly.

"You're going to have to be more specific."  He replied, squinting his eyes slightly in an attempt to block out the glare.

"Oh Celestia, it is him!"  One of them yelled, before he was hugged all over and the mares ran away giggling.  "He's so hot!"  One of them said as they trotted away happily.

"The fuck just happened?"  He asked, checking to make sure he hadn't been pick pocketed.  "And how the hell am I- Whatever."

"I thought you said they didn't like you that much."

He shrugged.  "Yeah, I didn't think they-"  He stopped, staring up at a hunk of marble in the middle of a square.

"Jason you're in a statue!"  Evening said excitedly, trotting over and poking at his hoof, then at Dash's as his mare-friend stood slightly to the side behind him in effigy.  Jason could sort-of feel his jaw lowering as he stared, trying to comprehend why they had thought he was as important as this.

"Jason, Equestria to Jason."  Scoots said, waving a hoof in front of his eyes as his jaw kept lowering.  He jumped slightly and pushed it back up to head level, feeling Scoots lay her head on her arms as she leaned on the top of his head.  She was squishing the fin thing, but it wasn't all that uncomfortable, he supposed.  It was manageable.

"Yeah, I'm here."  He said, moving closer to read the plaque.  


For their invaluable service in a time of crisis, 
Rainbow Dash and Jason.
-Equestria is in your debt
  

Jason let out a low whistle.  "Wow."  Was all he said, staring at the plaque for a few more seconds before he walked away, looking for a building that probably had words on the front of it, maybe.  God damn, the planning.  There was none.

"Hey guy,"  He asked a passing stallion, who stared like he'd seen a ghost.  "Where're the Canterlot Archives?"

"Uh, they're over that way, just down the street.  The corner's still being constricted, but I don't think they lost too much stuff.

"Okay, good.  Thanks."  He shook the stallion's hoof and walked off, too worried that one of the destroyed records was one he cared about to laugh as the stallion stared after him and looked down at his hoof, before looking back up.  Jason was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice the mare in front of himself until she ended up sprawled on the sidewalk, her mane full of leaves as a book straddled her muzzle.

"I'm really sorry about that."  He said, grabbing her hoof and pulling her back upright as she tried to catch the leaves.  "I have a lot on my mind."

"Yeah, me too- Jason!"  

"Star?"  He asked in surprise, before she lunged into him and wrapped her hooves around his neck.  

"Yeah.  Nice to see you again."  She replied, smiling widely.  "You make me feel so small.  So where's Dash?"

"Uh..."  Jason said, looking at the ground as his face took on a pained expression and tears threatened to rise again.  "She's dead, gone."

"Wha- What?"  Star asked, looking at him in disbelief.  "Are you kidding?!"

"No, she died trying to get the Nightmare out of my body.  I'm to blame, honestly, I wasn't strong enough."  

Star stammered out a few syllables before she became silent.  Eventually, she spoke back up.  "So why aren't you in Ponyville?"

"Well, I- I couldn't handle her death, it just tore away at me after most of the rest of my squad ended up MIA."  He stroked a hoof down his face, wiping away some moisture.  "I have a lead, something to go off of that'll bring her back."

"But you can't do that!"  She yelled back, a little too loudly.  "Magic can't alter life like that."

"And how would you know, little earth mare?"  He asked, the ever so slight hint of a smirk playing across his face.

"Just because I'm not a unicorn doesn't mean I can't know how magic works."  She replied. "You're not getting anything by going down this road, besides a lot of disappointment."

"I'm not bringing back a dead body, I'm just going back in time to keep her from dying."

"But- but what if you change something important and part of the rest of the future doesn't happen?"

"I'm hardly going back, and she's the element of loyalty, I doubt those are easy to come by.  She's too important to lose, not just to me, but to everyone.  I would be lying if it wasn't mostly self interest though."

Star stared downward for a few moments, pulling another sprout from her hair as she thought.  "You want some help?"  She asked.  "It's the least I can do."

"It's fin- wait, if you know anything about magic that'd be a lot better than me, so sure.  But if you're busy, I know you have the foals and all, then just don't worry about it."

"Okay, I'll see if Sky can watch them.  Wait, you don't think you could like, write me a note, do you?"

"A note?"  He asked, shifting around nervously.  He was wasting time...

"Yeah, I'm employed, I can't just help you and blow it off."  She held out a piece of paper and a pencil.  "And probably some proof that it's you."

"Ugh, hold on."  He stuck the paper on the ground and scribbled some message, utmost importance, blah blah blah.  He pulled out the little badge thingy that he'd received a while ago from Shining and stuck it under the paper, pushing the design through as he scribbled over the top.  "That good?"

"Yeah, I'll be back in a while."

"Okay, I guess I'll get started then."  Jason replied, feeling Scoots return to the top of his head as he ascended the stairs to the Archives.  The guards slid their spears across the door in an 'X' and Jason sighed, rolling his eyes.

"I'll need to see some form of security clearance."  The guard said.  "All archives are under heavy watch at the moment."

Jason grabbed his ID and handed it over, snickering as the guard's eyes widened and he elbowed his buddy.  "Sorry for the delay."  He said, pushing open the door with a rear hoof.  "He's got as high of clearance as Shining Armor!"  The guard whispered as they walked inside.  

"Jason, what's he talking about?"  Scoots asked, whispering as well.

"I'm a pretty high rank."  He replied shortly with a slight smirk, letting out a low whistle as the ceiling opened up and the vaulted ceiling reached towards the sky, brushing past a second floor on it's way to the peak.  

"Can I help you?"  A mare asked, tapping Jason's shoulder.  

"Yeah, I have a couple questions actually.  Where can I find moderate to advanced magic and the Starswirl wing?"

"Well moderate and advanced is down on the right wing ground floor, Starswirl's wing is on the upper floor at the same end."

"Thanks."  Jason replied, nodding to her before walking over to the wing and staring at the vast walls of tomes.  

"Jason, this place has a lot of books."  Evening said, looking around.

"Yeah, I guess we'll just have to work fast."  He grabbed a book on magic and set it on a reading table with a thump, opening the book to it's table of contents and sliding his hoof down the page until he found something useful.

"Hey Jason, what are you looking for?"  Evening asked as Scoots jumped off his back.  

"Just- I need a book that helps me improve.  Control, quality, all that stuff.  Any progression I can make, I'll do.  I don't think I need anything super basic, Twilight said that one of the spells I tried was pretty advanced and it worked alright."

"I think I have something then.  It's on precision and control, specifically."  Evening said, floating the book over as Scoots returned with a smaller one on her back.  

"Hey, I see you're already started."  Star said, hauling a few small books out of her saddlebag, along with another plant, which she put back in an annoyed manner.  "I don't have much of a library at home, but we have some magic books from my grandmother.  

"So how are the kids?"  Jason asked, flipping a page in Evening's book as he floated it past.  

"They're good, a little older than I wish they were.  Time really flies, you know?"

"I wish it did, time just seems to crawl by for me.  It's been less than four months and it feels like it's been a year."

"I guess that makes sense, you've been through a lot."

"Yeah.  So how old are they?"  

"Oh, twelve and fifteen.  How's it going with your little angel?"  She asked, pointing to Scoots as the filly peeked up from a book.

"I don't really know, we didn't have much time to catch up."  He sighed, shaking his head.  "It shouldn't be like this.  So how were things, Scoots?"

Scoots shrugged.  "We didn't get our cutie marks.  But we pulled a nice prank on Cherilee."

"Oh?"  Jason grinned.  "What did you-"

"Jason!"  Evening yelled, pulling a large book off the shelf.  "This one has a spell to slow down time, and it has all the prerequisites too!  We can just track it backwards until we get to your level."  She gasped.  "Wait, it's in a series!  And only twenty four volumes!"

"Oh god."  Jason said, pressing a hoof to his forehead.  "We're really going to need a miracle."
	
> Research
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Research


"Who are you looking for?"  The Nurse asked, flitting her eyes up at Twilight and Lyra.

"Jason."  The nurse stared.  "You know, tall, black, holes in his legs..."

"Oh yes, let me check my book of released patients."

"Released?  He broke his leg two nights ago!" 

"Well he made quite a scene leaving yesterday, despite my attempts.  Scared quite a large number of reporters in the process, too."

"Do you know what happened to him?"  Lyra asked, stepping up to the window as a small box floated next to her head.  

"He made me leave a note, but I suppose I gave that to Princess Luna yesterday.  I'm not sure."  

"How can you not remember anything!?"  The aquamarine mare asked, angrily tapping her hoof on the glass.

"It was something specific, Canterlot, I think.  But that's all I know."  The nurse shrugged.  Lyra groaned and walked towards the door, before a hoof on her shoulder forced her to stop.

"Where are you going to go, Lyra?"  Twilight asked.  "It's not like you'll find him there, Canterlot isn't a small city."

"I know, but he's all alone out there, after this happened, it can't be good for him."

"There's no way he's alone, otherwise we would've seen Scootaloo.  And plus, he wouldn't have left her behind.  He's still pretty loving, for a changeling."  She paused, wiping an eye.  "And that begs the question, why would he leave Dash?"

"I think he deserves to grieve in whatever way he wants, Twilight.  Most of his friends just died."

"I know, but it just doesn't-"  She stopped at another look from Lyra, wiping at her eye as it dampened again.  They were silent for a while, before they both started walking.

"I wonder if he took Evening?  That's what she calls herself, right?"  Lyra asked/

"I'm not sure."  Twilight responded, pushing the door open.  "I don't think having another changeling around could possibly be good for things.  Besides, it's not like he's been completely honest with us anyway."

"What do you mean?"  Lyra asked, figuring she already knew what Twilight was getting at.

"He's-"  She looked around before turning back and lowering her voice.  "I think he wasn't always a pony.  The stuff that came through, it's- I think he's human."

Lyra burst out laughing, throwing her head backwards and drawing a few looks.  "You sound like me, Twilight.  I think you should do a little more research."

"But his stuff, there was like one mention of ponies and it was in text, with a little picture just had some more words on it, in fancy writing, kind of."

"And that proves it?"

"Well what other explanation is there?"  She asked, her breathing more audible than usual.  Lyra stared at the lavender mare for a moment before speaking up.

"Can you prove it?"  She asked, and Twilight started to respond before stopping.  "You can't make these hypothesis without making sure they're proven.  You know what would happen if that wasn't true and you said it anyway?  He's different enough as it is."

Twilight held up a hoof to rebut, before putting it back down.  "You're right.  I'm not going to push it."

"Good.  I'm going to try to find him, maybe figure out why he's in Canterlot like this."

"Whatever you want."  Twilight replied, sighing.  "It just won't sink in."  She said.

"What?"

"That Dash is gone.  I just keep expecting her to fly by or something, land next to me and say something.  It was the same these last few weeks while Jason was gone with her two, I just keep thinking that she's away."

"Yeah, I know the feeling."


_________________________________________________________________


"Jason, you've been in here for an hour, how're things coming?"  Star asked, walking into the empty side room that was mostly rebuilt.  

"Depends how you look at it."  He pointed at a scorch mark against the stone.  "Getting the power's no problem, hell, applying it isn't a big deal either, I understand how it works.  But there's all this timing and precision involved, and I just- that's the hard part."

"I wouldn't complain, you've done more in a day than most ponies can do in a month."

"Yeah, why is that?"  He asked, scratching his head.

"I guess you're talented."

"I don't think that's it though, most of these things just felt natural, gave me a sense of deja vu."  He turned and moved into the other room, tapping a sleeping Scoots on the shoulder gently, as she shifted in her slumber.

"Maybe it's the nightmare?"  Evening asked, apparently listening in on the conversation.

"How's that, it's gone."  Jason replied, checking his head just in case.

"That's not what I mean, he used spells like those.  Mostly, anyway.  Chrysalis did some stuff with me while she had me under her influence, and I just kinda caught on to the magic.  It's like the answers just store themselves away for later."

"Well that's...convenient."  Jason replied, sighing as his eyes drooped.  He hadn't slept since the day Dash'd died, and honestly, he was scared about what would happen when he fell asleep.  At the very least he'd wait until Scoots woke up, he didn't want to suck her into a nightmare.

"Well, you sure have been busy these last twenty four hours."  Luna said as she walked in.  "Thanks a lot for making me find you like this."  The Princess said with a slight laugh.

"Yeah, sorry."

"It's not your fault, that stupid nurse smudged the writing, I could hardly make it out.  Put that on top of all the other stuff I have going checking back here..."

"Ah, thus the twenty four hours."  Jason filled in, leafing through a tome.

"Yes, I put in a slip to have her reviewed.  I would have just fired that mare on the spot, but apparently I can't do things like that anymore.  What is it you call a situation like that?"

"Bullshit?"

"Yes, bullshit indeed."  She giggled.  "I like that word.  I shall deem it the royal bullshit."

Jason let out a guffaw.  "Don't do that, Princess.  If someone finds out what that means, you'll be a laughingstock."

"Alright, I will heed your judgement.  By the way..."  She reached into a rather royal looking saddlebag, before she tossed a sack to the ground, a few bits spilling out.  "Your pay."

"All that?"  He asked, his jaw threatening to hit the ground.

"No, the rest is in the bank.  That's only like three hundred bits right there, you're due for a lot more than that."  Jason couldn't formulate a response.  Luna giggled again.  "Bullshit."  

"How old are you?"  Jason asked with a smirk.  Luna's expression straightened, and she gave him a regal smile.

"My apologies, it's been a while since somepony's had the courage to be so...formal.  It's quite refreshing."

"Well it was either that or screw up big time.  I wasn't good at being formal."  

"Speaking of age, I see you've got an entire fort over there."  She said, lifting a hoof to point at a castle made entirely of books.

"You can thank Scoots for that one, actually the little filly built the whole thing in an hour, fell asleep right after.  Made it out of all the books we went through, too."

"Yes, I'm worried about that, what are you planning?  This is related to Rainbow Dash, correct?"

Jason nodded.  "I'm trying to go back in time to fix things.  They'll be better that way."

"I see."  She narrowed her eyes.  "Technically what you're doing is illegal, did you know that?"

"If I did it wouldn't have stopped me."  He replied as his expression hardened.  

"Well listen, I can't allow this operation to continue.  That said, I never saw this operation.  Understood?"  Jason and the other two nodded.  "If you get caught, your rank will only get you so far, Jason.  But I'll see what I can do to help."  She paused, tapping the tip of her hoof on the marble as she thought.

"Why are you going out of your way like this?"  Evening asked.  "This seems pretty risky, even if you are in power forever."  

Luna sighed.  "I used this spell before, many years ago.  Starswirl wasn't the one to create it, I was.  He just rediscovered it half a millennium after I destroyed the scroll."

"What'd you do with it?"  Star asked.  "Same thing as us?"

"To much the same extent, I tried to bring my mother back to life after she was killed by some of the other immortals that used to rule this planet.  It only worked for a week, because I didn't think to keep the paradox running.  Everything reverted after the time limit ran out, and it was like she never lived those extra seven days.  But I still remember the whole thing, such is the virtue of storing one's memories."

"Huh?"

"I was worried that I wouldn't have them after I changed the past so I enchanted a book.  I'm sure there are easier ways now, but that's what I had to work with.  I was only a young mare, at that point.  I didn't really think about what I had done until I screwed it up."  A tear made it out of her eye and down to the tip of her muzzle.  "Just- don't make the same mistakes as me."  She said, turning to leave.

"Luna, hold on a sec."  Jason said, taking a step towards her.  "Thanks, for all of this, for everything."  

"It's my pleasure."  She said, throwing an arm around Jason and catching him off guard.  Too...Many...Hugs.  Luna's mane blew into his face and he coughed, quickly developing a fit as little stars poked at his nose and he sneezed.  "Sorry."  she said, letting go.  "I forgot that sometimes ponies don't have good responses to my mane.  Or tail."  She turned around again, and walked towards the door.  "Send for me if you get down to the wire."  

"I'll be sure to."  He replied, flashing her a smile.  Whether it was time or the idea that this plan just might work, he was starting to feel better.  Every thought of Dash didn't result in uncontrollable grief and tears, although the emptiness was still there, pulling at his conscience and threatening to bring him back to the wreck he'd been as he'd held her in her hooves, as the last words left her mouth.

He wiped his eyes, slightly glad that he was crying like this.  It just proved that she meant something, that she had been there.  This whole episode with Nightmare, short as it was, he wished he'd known her side of the story.  If they didn't finish in time, if this spell didn't work, well, the next plan of action would be a return to how normal life was supposed to go.  Had she been human, had this all been on earth, he wouldn't have even had this option.  But the sense of closure that brought was nowhere near superior to the chance, the sliver of hope, that he could bring her back.

"Evening, look for a memory transfer spell."  He said, turning around and standing up straight.  

"Why?"

"Because, I'm going to try to keep my memories from now, give them to my past self."

"But why would you want to do that, especially with all the grief?"

"I don't want to forget how I felt, the mental decisions I made.  I don't want to look at her and feel anything less than I would now, think that it was just another happy ending.  Because god dammit it wasn't!  And I'll be dammed if I let myself sink to a level where I'm deleting my own memories just to feel better."  Scoots stirred, stretching out a hoof and yawning.

"Will I remember anything?"  Scoots asked, carefully getting to her feet on the small pile of books. 

"I don't know, Scoots.  I'll have to see if I can find a way to move them."

"Same here, Jason."  Evening said, tracing a pattern on the marble with one of her hooves.  "You could probably use the hive mind for me, I know how to get the memories to you if you can push them back out."

"We'll work on it, okay?  But seriously, if I can just get one that works on both of you, that'd be great."  Jason mumbled, starting to succumb to his exhaustion again.  

"You need some sleep, Jason."  Star said,  "We can keep working, we'll wake you up if we find anything."

"No, I can just rest when this is over."  He shook his head, trying to wake himself up.  "I'm fine."

"Wait, Jason."  Scoots reached into her saddlebag and pulled out a bag of coffee beans.  "Catch."

"Oh, you've been eating these the last few days?"

"Well I was, until I started seeing things.  It messes with your mind, man."  She said, scrunching up her face.  "But seriously, dad, take a rest."

"That's the first time you've called me that."  He said, trotting over and pulling her into a hug.  "I love you, Scoots."

"Yeah, same here.  Now come on, tell us some story."

Jason sat back and sighed, leaning against a table.  "What kind of story?  War stuff?"

"Did you ever fight in one?"  Star asked.  "Before you came here, I mean?"

"No.  My friend Ben went on a rotation though, he was supposed to get back two months ago.  God dammit, why did it take me so long to remember that?"  He looked at the ground, sighing.  "How could I be this busy?  Forgetting shit from back there already... But seriously, that's a big thing!  I think I'm legitimately not all here...  I must've had that thought at some point and just forgotten to mention it, right?"  He sighed.  "I bought a car too by the way, that was supposed to get delivered at some point."

"What's a car?"  Star asked.

"Self propelled vehicle."  Jason replied, his response almost robotic at this point.  

"You have one of those?!"  Scoots asked, getting visibly excited.  

"Actually...I had two."  He said, smirking.  "A cutting edge thing that I ordered and a beat up twenty five year old truck."  

"Isn't that older than you, Jason?"  Evening asked.

"Only a little, shut up!"  He chuckled.  "Not that being younger than a car's a bad thing..."

"Wait, you're in your twenties?"  Star inquired.

"Yeah, how old did you think I was?"

"I dunno, older."

"Well I am pretty mature..."  Scoots guffawed, which didn't exactly help his case. 

"So when you say rotation..."  Star began, gesturing with a hoof for him to finish the statement.

"Okay, I lived in a country called The United States of America.  We have the strongest army in the world, at least a million guys strong.  The thing is, there are these guys that will commit suicide as part of an extremist portion of a religion.  Now, there's a country called Afghanistan, and thousands of members of Taliban and Al Qaeda, which are only slightly less extreme, stick bases there to plan attacks on the western world.  We take them out now, and we don't have to worry about them later.  Battle them on our terms."

"Yeah, alright, that makes sense."  Star said.

"So Ben said he wanted to make a difference, give back to the country, and he left a little over a year ago.  The nice thing about technology is that you can communicate that far by video, so we did that a fair amount.  Warfare's a lot different than it is around here, with air power able to hit anything in the area within a few minutes.  That and the fact that all weapons are ranged."

"Why would he go there?"  Evening asked.  "Seems kinda pointless."

"Tell that to his fourteen confirmed kills, as of last time we talked."  Jason said, letting himself slide down the side of the table slightly.

"What's it like, killing somepony?"

"I guess I've only killed griffins, but it's not hard after the first few.  You just get numb to it.  That said, you shouldn't assume you'll react as well as we did."  He replied, shuddering slightly.  "Sometimes it still scares me."

"I wish you never had to fight, Jason."  Scoots said, walking over to lean on his side.

"It's not that bad, Scoots."  He replied, sticking an arm around her shoulder and squeezing slightly.  "Just you watch, we'll get though this."

"We better, general."  Scoots replied, giggling slightly.


_____________________________________________________________________


"Arrival time will be delayed while we remove the dead cow from the track."  The speaker said, crackling slightly as Lyra groaned into her hooves.  This was like the fourth animal they had to move, and they were already hours behind schedule.  Not that trains ever ran on schedule to begin with, but this was starting to get ridiculous.

"In the mean time, feel free to get food from the dining car."

She wasn't going to do that either, all they ever had was hay this, hay that.  That's all she'd been having for the last week, and it was getting boring.  Sometimes she thought about just eating the grass off the ground, but given the bad rep and the fact that she co-owned a business, that probably wasn't a good idea.  But there just weren't that many foods, unless you wanted to spend a lot of bits on something fancy.  Maybe that was partially related to the fact that Ponyville was a small town, but really.

Jason was a human though, he had eaten meat before, probably.  Her head filled with thoughts of meat, but she couldn't figure out what it would look like.  She'd seen a carnivore eat another animal before, and she didn't want to again, but she kinda doubted that Jason ripped stuff from animals like that.  

Well this did a good job of stumping her.

"Our apologies, the cow was not dead."  A few more crackles.  "But she appears to be incredibly hard to move."

Lyra sighed again, grinding a hoof into her forehead.  This was going to be a long trip.


_____________________________________________________


Jason awoke with a start, hopping to his hooves as he cursed under his breath.  How many hours had he wasted sleeping like that?

"I see you're awake."  Evening said.  "Not like you were really out that long, it was only a few hours.  But man, you looked practically dead."

"Yeah, I feel a lot better.  I really hope that wasn't time we're going to need later."

"Meh, it's not going to come to that."  She pushed a book down the table towards him.  "Now this on the other hand, I'd like to see you do."

"Which one, the fire thing or the one that slows down time?"

"Both, if you can.  They're prerequisites for the one that stops time, and then it's just a straight shot to the Starswirl wing."

"But why the fire one?"

"It's not like other magic, it's- weird.  You're doing stuff without a direct link to your horn.  But apparently that's a necessary thing to have, whether it's this spell or another."

"Well aren't you the scholar?"

"I try."  Evening replied with a smirk, sticking out her tongue.  "Now come on, I want to see you do this."

"You act like I'll get it first try.  Since those first spells things have just become harder to pinpoint."  He said, walking into the side room and knocking aside a piece of rebar with a small kick.  "Plus, this is still a long ways off."  Jason set the book on the ground and stared downward, trying to memorize the formulas and directional management of the two spells before he looked back up and aimed at the wall, where a piece of paper was taped.  

"Whenever you're ready."  Evening said impatiently.

"I know, hold on."  Jason replied, funneling energy through his horn as a point in the middle of the paper began to smoke.  

"JAAAAASSSSON NOOOOOOOO!"  Came a voice down the hallway, before he was tackled sideways.  He tried to break the spell but it had already gone beyond his control.  He tried to scrub off some energy, but the moment he lost concentration had done its damage.  Jason looked at the smudge of aquamarine in the corner of his eye before a deafening explosion sounded and a crack slithered its way through the roof.

"Lyra, what are you-"  


CRACK!


Jason looked back up in horror as the crack faltered and split apart, and the ceiling started to crumble downward.  He hardly had time to think before the other spell went through his head and he funneled magic and the rocks slowed their descent.  

Evening screamed, her voice getting lower as time continued to slow down.  Jason grabbed Lyra and threw her over his shoulder, sending a rock into the wall as he dove into Evening and pushed her out of the way of another projectile.  It was only a few more seconds to the door, before he exited, galloping out with the two mares across his back.  

Scoots was in the process of getting up, trotting over to Star as things started to hit the ground in the back room, sending bass vibrations through Jason's bones as he set down the two mares and tried to cancel the spell.  He tried again, and then started to panic when it didn't wear off.  He wasn't screwed if he couldn't figure it out, but it meant waiting until he ran out of power to keep it working.  And that, by extension, meant he would have less power to use later.  

Scoots was staring as he shifted around, no doubt looking like a blur.  He gabbed a piece of paper as he started to feel the fatigue, scrawling a message and sticking it to her forehead as he went looking through the books.  His light perception was all funny, colors were off and light beams coming through from the upper windows almost seemed more defined.  It wouldn't be bad to have a spell like this all the time, if it wasn't so tiring like this.  

He took a deep breath, starting to get tired and out of breath, almost like he was sprinting around the whole time.  A falling paper from a pony upstairs started to speed up as it floated by, appearing to return to normal speed as the dull, low voices of the others sped back up as they looked over.

"Jason, what the..."  Scoots said, looking down at the note and back to him.

"Yeah, this is promising."  He said after a heavy breath, smirking down at a hoof.  "Maybe this wasn't so much of a pipe dream after all."

	
> Memories
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Memories


"Okay, so if this works, I'm ready?"  Jason asked Evening, who looked over a rather long list.

"You should be, I hope."  She chewed her lip.  "It's been two days to get only this much further."  

"Yeah, and that mare that wouldn't stop asking questions definitely wasn't helpful."  He sighed.  "This is really starting to wear on me, I'm not sure whether it's the constant magic or the time constraints."  Tears welled in his eyes.  "But then I think about it, and I just want her back so bad.  I tell myself it'll be okay this way, that if I fail I'll have known it was unachievable anyway.  But the thing is, I know that's not true, I'm too close, and I know that it's possible.  I'm more scared of not being able to do this and facing that I've lost her forever than I was when she died."  

"Well like I said, only two more spells."

"And the memory thing for Scoots."

"I told you, that'll be easy.  Chrysalis used stuff like that on me, I'm sure I could teach you in a few minutes."

"But I don't have a connection with Scoots!"

"Not yet, but it didn't look like you tried all that hard."  Evening replied, frowning.  "What, you don't want her in?"

"That's not it, I just don't want her to see a nightmare.  It's not like one of her's, you can feel everything."

"What was it you said?  Gotta break some eggs to make an omelet?"

"Yeah, but what if I get rid of some of her memories?"

She shrugged.  "You don't take them, you just kinda make copies."  She took a step forward and pulled his head down, touching her horn to his.  Memories raced through his head, things he'd seen, but from a different perspective.  The ceiling, the blurs.  It all felt so surreal.

"Now try giving me something."  She said, shaking his head around to try to get his attention.  

"Do I have to use my horn like this?  Does it only work that way?"

"Well that's the most efficient."  She replied.  "You won't have a lot of time when you're back there, we'll have to plan everything, paths, obstacles we saw.  Because there's a time range for the spell, and if it's on the short end, well, we're going to have to work fast."

"God damn, more speed."  He pushed his horn back against hers and tried a few techniques, but he wasn't sure where to really direct the memories.

"What do I do here?" 

"Just- you know how you push stuff to the back of your mind when you're trying to forget about it?"

"It's the opposite, but you push it along with the magic, kind of."  Jason sighed and tried again, pushing through a memory of his childhood to the best of his ability.

"It's a little scattered, but we can work on it."  She replied, smiling.

"Why do I feel like when I put my horn against yours that I'm cheating on Dash?"

"Well it's probably sensual for unicorns."  She replied with a shrug.  "I can't prove it, but that's what I've learned under the hive mind."

"Well thanks a lot for telling me."  He replied with a hint of a smirk.  "You trying to make moves on me?"  Jason said jokingly, although it only really made him feel bad.

"No, but listen, you need some rest.  I know I'm supposed to be the irresponsible free spirit, but seriously.  Changelings aren't supposed to get bags under their eyes like that, and you could use some extra love."

"Using it all up, huh?"

"Yeah.  Now come on, I'll try to get some work done while you're out.  I just got up a couple hours ago anyway."

"Fin, you win."  Jason replied, walking slowly back over to Fort Book, which had grown under Scoots' industrious eye.  He walked through the arched door into the small courtyard, laughing as he got hit by an eraser.  He went along with her little game, falling over and sticking a hoof to his chest.  

"Oh, I've been hit!"  He yelled, watching as the filly came out of hiding and peeked out from the top of her keep, which she had somehow given a partially working front door.  She jumped off a portion of the wall and landed next to him, looking down at Jason tiredly, yet at the same time triumphantly.  

"So how's progress?"

"A little slow when I'm missing my moral support."  He replied, pulling the filly against him and tickling at her stomach as she giggled and tried to escape his grasp.  

"Jason, stop, that tickles!"

"I had no idea!"  He replied with a hint of sarcasm, letting her go after a few more moments.  

"So why are you inside Fort Book?"  She asked.  "Shouldn't you be working?"

"Evening gave me some homework.  If you want your memories, I'm going to have to get you in the hive mind, and this is the only way I know how."  He said, curling up against some slanted books as she trotted back over.  He'd had trouble sleeping without Dash already, but these conditions sure weren't helping.

"So is that sleep then?"  She asked, at Jason pushed a hoof into his forehead as a slight twinge of pain lanced through his brain.

"Yeah, but I'm worried that there'll be some sort of nightmare, and I'm sorry if that happens to you."  He said, smiling slightly as she sprawled out on top of him, letting her eyes close.  

"I've had nightmares before, this can't be that bad."

"Well the thing is, it feels real.  It's like a really vivid dream, sort of."  

She giggled.  "You don't have to worry so much."

"Yeah, well that's my job.  I'm supposed to be worried about you."

"Oh shush, dad."  She said, putting a hoof against his cheek before she found his mouth.  Jason chuckled and let his head lay backwards against a book, feeling Scoots shift again before going silent, as her breathing became steady.  He wasn't far behind her, as the abyss of sleep overtook him.


______________________________________________________


Jason couldn't get a hold on where the dream started, it was just a stream of disjointed frames flying by as kinks worked themselves out and a link was slowly formed.  Whatever made the connection was much stronger than before.  Where he'd previously felt nothing during his time with Dash, he could specifically feel tendrils of consciousness extending outward, taking root and slowly but surely mingling his consciousness with hers.  

He felt a sense of relief as the dream started to flicker into his reality, and he caught slight glimpses of the filly he'd probably been forming a bond with over these past few days.  But while nothing had happened, he'd been all alone in there while Evening wasn't asleep, to such an extent that his own nightmares were starting to sound like they had grains of truth to them.  

Normally when something came up Dash would be there to help him dissuade his own mind, but as time went on he had more and more trouble facing the things alone.  And he'd only been asleep twice since then.

"J--son?"  Came a voice, disjointed as it passed through half an octave and skipped.

"I'm here."  He replied, watching as the dream seemed to pick up its frame rate and the filly came into focus, looking around the cobblestone streets as several buildings burned.  So it was the capitol then.  He looked down to watch her say something, although no words came out.  He could feel his ears twitch almost like there was sound to hear, and Scoots quickly repeated herself.

"So where a-- we?"  She asked, the skip attesting to the mostly unformed connection.  The first one with Dash had been only pictures, there hadn't even been sound involved.

"Well first of all, welcome to my mind.  And this-"  Jason said, gesturing around the city.  "Is the griffin capitol."  A building exploded as Jason's missile came down, sending out a mushroom cloud of fire and smoke that briefly took the shape of Dash's face.

"Ow!"  Scoots yelped, pulling her hooves away from her side.  "How come I can pinch myself?!"

"It's not like a regular dream, Scoots.  You can get hurt, and all we have is what we've already got on us.  Sometimes that's a lot, and other times, well..."  He looked down, finding himself bare.  "We get nothing."

"So this is where you fought?"  She asked, looking up at one of the taller buildings.  "How did you clear all this?"

"We didn't.  Troops are still there, as far as I know, and they're doing the job, I hope.  I guess I'm not sure if they surrendered or not, but the death of their king should at least be a big morale drop."

"You got to kill the king?"  Scoots inquired, trotting along as they walked past a few griffins civilians fighting one of their own soldiers.  

"Yeah..."  He walked into a building, the same one that Eravel had been stabbed in.  Ghosts appeared as the events played out, and Eravel's face contorted in pain.  The griffin grabbed at the spear before his face turned blank and he looked over at Jason.  

"Bang up job, boss.  Some leader you turned out to be."  His body got up and stabbed at the griffins, making a break for the door as he faded away into wisps of dust.  

"That was Eravel?"  

"Yeah."  At least this dream isn't Dash related.  He said, wiping an eye.  "It's still not good though."

"You have things like this all the time?" 

"Well kinda.  A bunch weren't all that peppy."  Jason replied as the environment shifted, sliding away into blurs before it seemed to choose a new location and focus back in.  He was just inside the throne room, watching as he got taken over by the Nightmare.  Tank ran in and threw a punch that looked like it could kill, and Scoots yelped as Jason's head cracked to the side.

"Get the fuck out!"  He yelled, before the dream sped up and then slowed back down as Tank flew back slowly into the door, as it splintered and Morning came to his aid.  Jason heard a chuckle as Nightmare rose through the roof, and the building was mostly silent as the pair went slightly out of focus and Morning yelled up about Tank's shoulder, before working on getting it back into place.  

They looked around as the building shook and came back into focus, and Morning rotated Tank's arm and pushed it back, cringing as he yelled out.  "We need to get out of here!"  She yelled, pulling the stallion to his feet as a pillar came down and the floor cracked in half, part of the foundation completely removed.  

"You did this!  It was your fault!"  Tank said before a rock landed between the two of them, cutting off Jason's view as tears started to pool.  As much as he knew that he would've been hard pressed to change anything, it still hurt to hear their voices blaming him.  And part of him knew they had a point.

"Jason, come on, don't cry!"  Scoots said, hugging at his leg as he teleported them outside.  

"I- I just- I wish I didn't have to choose Dash over them.  I mean, I would no matter what, but it hurts to feel like I've abandoned them."

"You don't know they're dead though, it could be a waste!"  

"Yeah, but it also might not be."  He replied, hugging the filly as the dream started to flicker.  "See you in a minute, Scoots."  He said, watching her disappear.  


___________________________________________________________


"Jason, come on, I got a bunch done!"  Evening yelled, poking at Jason's side.  "You don't always have to sleep like a corpse!"  

"Yeah, well it's the best I got.  It's not like I don't have enough trouble without a bed or Dash next to me."  He sighed, walking through the arched book-door after her.  "That's really something I miss, besides everything else.  It becomes the small things after a while."

"I know what you mean, sometimes I just don't feel comfortable without Sky."  Star said, shuddering.  "I told him to come by when he could, I wonder what's keeping him?"

"Could be the foals."  Lyra answered with a giggle.  "You've only got two, you should see what happens when Jason's daughter get's together with her friends."

"Yeah..."  Jason said, throwing a glance towards Scoots, who shrugged with a yawn as she walked back out of Fort Book.  "She's really taken out all the stops while I was gone.  Flash-Bang in town square, some sort of prank on Cherilee...  A colt friend..."  Her face turned red as the other mares looked over.  

"You seem pretty cool with that, Jason."  Star pointed out, not taking her eyes off the filly.  "Sky would have a hay day with that, he has a plan and everything."

"Well I just kinda want to get to know the kid.  If he turns out to be a total scumbag, then I can kill him.  But if he isn't, I don't have any problem with it so long as they don't do anything past their age."  He stared again.

"So Jason,"  Evening started,  "This stuff."

"Yeah, go ahead."  

"Okay, so the way I see it, you're going to go back there, save the girl, and then what?"

"I dunno, I propose?"

"Well yeah, but remember how Luna said the spell doesn't last?"

Jason thought for a moment.  "Yeah, so I'll have to go back again?"

Evening nodded.  "It should follow the same rules, but the second time, you want the past to stay the same.  So you'll have to recreate what you do pretty closely.  That should create the loop you need."

"How do you know this?"

"I just reasoned my way through it.  What I'm not sure about is where you'll take over after this spell."

"Oh, cuz this future won't exist?"

"Yeah, so I want to get finished with time in case you have to cast the spell again within the same time period."

"God damn, this is getting complicated."  He said, shaking his head.  "I'm guessing what you were working on had to do with me recreating the past?"

"Yeah."  She handed over a pad of paper, with writing covering its surface in neat lines.  

"You gave me lines?"  Jason asked, "I have to learn these?"

"Or just read them.  As long as it stays the same."  She took the pad away and pointed over to a book.  "Now this is the last thing you have to do, stop time.  It says it's relative, it's really just a more extreme version of the other spell.  Nothing can apparently stop time completely."

"Well if it's the same, it shouldn't be too hard to learn, right?"

"I hope not."

"Come on Jason, you can do it!"  Lyra yelled over, preoccupied with her own book.  Probably concerned humans or something.  

"Hey Lyra, I have something you might like."

"Like a gift?!"  She asked, getting visibly excited before rapidly deflating.  "But I didn't get you anything."

"Really?  I don't care."  He walked over to Dash's saddlebag and rifled through for the first time since...a while, and pulled out his hoof as he felt the cold cover of a book.  He lugged out the history textbook, although to be honest he'd been expecting one of the other books she'd kept, and floated it over.  "That's a textbook of AP level US history, and it looks like it's pretty recent.  But the thing is, it's biased, and you'll have to take everything with a grain of salt."

"Sure thing!"  She yelled, before flopping down on her chest and flipping to the first page.  "Wow, a map of the world!"

"So Evening, let's get this rolling."  He said, looking over the spell again.  More energy, less time under the magical effect.  "Here goes nothing."  Jason continued, flaring energy as he attempted something harder than everything he'd tried before.  But Evening was right when she said that rest would be good, and he opened his eyes to see them all frozen in place, as light seemed to stretch and slow down.  

Jason looked around at the motionless ponies and chuckled, enjoying Evening's expression, halfway through blinking with her mouth open.  He grabbed an eraser from the table and slipped it into her mouth, before he took Lyra's book and put it over Scoots back, letting the two sides of the cover hand over her orange furred sides.  

Jason ran the counter spell, watching things speed up as he let out a deep breath and Evening's speaking turned to mumbles.  Scoots looked at the book as Lyra pretty much had a heart attack, screaming and yelling before they both connected the dots.

"Alright you four.  Only one thing left to do."


________________________________________________________________


"Jason, hold on, one more time."  

"Fine."  He stuck his hoof to her forehead and funneled back through the memory for the millionth time, watching as her face lit up.  

"Nice, you've still got it.  So, you know where you're going and what you're saying?"

"Completely.  I've looked at those things a million times."

"Good."

"Get my memories!"  Scoots yelled, hopping around.  Jason chuckled and bumped a hoof into her forehead, slowly grabbing the ones from the last few days.  

"Listen, before I go...  Thanks for all this, sticking with me, whether you had a choice or not."  He said, shifting around the riot shield on his back as the other ponies smiled.

"Hey Star!  They told me you were up here!"  Sky yelled as he walked in, ogling the large hourglass.  "So I brought you a care package, figured you might need it."

"That I might need it?  You were the one taking care of foals for three- four- some number of days."  Star replied, smirking.  

"Yeah, but you've been in a library, how fun could that possibly be?"

"Shush!"  Evening yelled.  "We're about to attempt something important!"

"Oh, you got this far with that time spell?"  Sky asked, taking a few steps back.  "Well, fire away!"  

"I don't really want to think about fire."  Jason said, concentrating as he squared his feet and slid the straps of the shield onto an arm.  "But here goes nothing..."

The light from his horn intensified as a bolt of lightning flared and arced across the floor, as the others backed up another step and the pressure in his horn intensified.  Another string of lightning swirled, followed by a third as the pace picked up, and the room took on a bluish tinge.  Time slowed down to a crawl before all movement stopped, a bolt glowing as it hung midair.  

Then the ponies started to reverse direction, moving backwards in slow motion before the lightning swirled into a bluish wall and his world went black.
> Repairing the Past
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Repairing the Past


Jason's ears rang, his eyes struggling to close as the black turned into millions of colors, spreading out into the far reaches of space before coming back together, reforming into the dark.  He felt that same pressure in his forehead before the world went white, forming as the lightning cleared from his view.  

His horn flared as time slowed, and his hooves started to move through the movements he'd practiced so many times.  The light from the elements was nearly blinding, burning into his eyes as he caught sight of where Dash should be, her silhouette obvious, and jumped into the air.  Jason held the shield up, seeing the spear come in slow motion out of the light, making contact with the polycarbonate.  

It scratched as the spear sheared off to the side, striking a gash in his side as it moved by.  The thing about moving objects in slow time was that they still had all their momentum, and all the force they normally possessed was just applied more slowly.  

Jason hit the ground a moment later as time sped back up, catching Dash in his arms as the elements powered down and she dropped, passing out.  He hardly held back a sob as he set her down, before looking around as the light disappeared for Evening.  Maybe five seconds gone so far.  

He galloped over as she showed signs of life, pulling her upright and knocking his horn against hers.  Her mouth opened and closed a few times as he transferred the memories, watching as her eyes came back into focus and her face lit up.

"Get Scoots."  He said.  "No questions, just get her."

"You better explain this."  She said before galloping off into the brush.  Jason turned again and watched as he-that was weird to think about, started to heal Pinkie as the last of the six started to wake back up.  Dash was to her feet, already over to past Jason as new memories of their following hug moved into his head.  He had to go faster, or he might just disappear because he no longer existed.  He locked eyes with himself and trotted over, looking over at the pained look on his own face from his broken foreleg.  

"Are you- me?"  He asked, and Jason nodded, tossing a pad of paper onto the ground.  

"That should explain everything.  But since I know it really won't..."  He shifted forward and grabbed his own head, pushing his horn against his own.  These pronouns were getting annoying.

"What did you do?!"  Dash asked, looking more than a little concerned as past Jason took a few steps away and threw up.  Evening trampled her way back into the clearing, practically throwing Scoots over.  He caught the filly and touched the corresponding hoof to her forehead as she saw the other Jason, her face stuck in surprise as he transferred back her memories.  He was hit to the side as Dash bucked him away, catching Scoots as he let go.

"Get the fuck away from my daughter!  You aren't him!"

"I'm transferring back their memories!  You died!!  Why do you think I came back?!  I loved you, I couldn't just- I had to try everything."

"You did WHAT?!"  Twilight yelled, giving him a death glare.  "Do you have any idea what could have happened?!"

"Yeah, I brought my mare friend back to life and kept all the elements together!  Fuck off, you weren't any help!"  He felt the spell start to end, and ran back over to himself, hugging with Dash after he'd finished throwing up.  Jason shoved his muzzle close to past Jason's ear and started to whisper.  "You better fucking propose to her."  He said, stepping back a few feet as lightning started to fly and streak through the air and the other ponies started to disappear.

A deafening bang sounded as he disappeared, the ball like shape of blue light going with him as some residual bolts arced across the ground.


________________________________________________________


Jason stared at the smoldering ground slack jawed, as if his future self would come back and tell him it was all a joke.  But the memories running through his head, he knew they were genuine.  And that scared him he couldn't believe that Dash had died, and yet- he could see her bleeding out on the ground, in almost perfect clarity.  

"Jason, Scoots, say something!"  Dash yelled, watching as tears streamed down their faces and they silently looked back on the memories.  

"He-"  Jason cleared his throat.  "He gave me everything.  You- you died.  It was terrible."  His leg bent and he fell, sobbing into the ground.  "Why would I do that to myself?!"

"Because we asked for it."  Evening said, walking up sadly.  "When we were trying to get the spell working.  We all wanted this."

"But why?"  The pad of paper landed just in front of him as Evening dropped it.  In big, prominent letters it said 'For my eyes only.'  "I didn't read anything, don't worry."

Jason sat up, only to get knocked back over as Dash wrapped him in a hug.  "I missed you so much!  This whole stupid nightmare thing..."  She sobbed into his shoulder, finally allowing herself to break down and sob.  Jason wet her neck as they hugged, stroking her back with his good hoof before he noticed the pressure on his broken one.

"I'll tell you everything, just get off my arm!"  He yelled, grimacing in pain as she pulled him back upright and Scoots hugged at the two of them, sobbing herself.

"I want-"  He groaned and straightened the bone.  "I need to ask you something.  Before anything else happens, before  we get into everything or something gets in the way."  Jason stuck his good hoof into her saddlebag, pulling out the back box as it retreated.  "I know it's not romantic and this moment isn't without its flaws, but-"  He pushed her back a step, kneeling awkwardly as he opened the box and her face lit up.  "Will you marry me?"  A slight squeak escaped her mouth as she stared, taking an agonizingly long moment to reply.  

"Of course!"  She cried, hugging around him and wetting his shoulder as his heart soared, making him forget about the pain in his hoof for a glorious moment.  Dash let go after a few minutes and leaned back, kissing him deeply before she carefully took the box out of his hoof and looked at the ring.  Her heart skipped a beat as she stared, twisting it around slightly.

"How did you even do this?"  She asked, handing it back with wet eyes as Pinkie tackled her.

"Dashie's getting married!"  Pinkie yelled, hugging at her friend.  "I can help with the wedding!  And as soon as Jason's better, wended to have a party!"  Jason felt Scoots hit his side and he hugged the filly back, smiling as his eyes met those of the others.  They seemed to approve, which was just icing on the cake at this point.  But he honestly wouldn't have cared it they didn't.  Maybe the only ones he cared about were Luna or Cadance, and they seemed to approve just as much.

"So how did you make it look like that?"  She asked, pointing at the large, flat gem inset into the golden band of the ring.

"I'm guessing you're asking how your cutie mark shows on a big gem like that?"  He asked, watching her splay out her wing invitingly while she nodded.  Jason slid the ring onto a few of her primaries, gem up, and kissed her again.  "It's just bending the light towards other gems.  You can thank Ferris for getting it how I wanted.  Because it shouldn't really be possible."

"Or I could thank you for making me such a happy mare."

"I'm just glad that everything worked out.  Judging by what future me said and all these fucking memories, it didn't the first time."  He sighed.  "But I kinda want to fix this arm, if that's okay..."

"Oh yeah!  Sorry..."  She helped him up and put his injured hoof over her back, smiling wider than he'd ever seen as Scoots fluttered onto her back.  

"I love you."  Jason whispered into her ear, nipping at it as he pulled his head away and levitated the pad of paper along.  "I think I took you for granted, at least a little."  He started, a tear landed on her neck.  "Maybe I'll never be the guy you deserve, but I really- you mean so much to me."

"I'm not dead, you don't need to act like this."  She replied, shaking her wing slightly and checking for the weight the ring held.  "I already knew that anyway."  She continued with a grin, caressing his cheek lightly with a hoof.  

"Yeah, but-"  A hoof covered his mouth, as the rest of Dash's friends finally converged, talking excitedly and sharing hugs with the mare, telling her how much she was missed.  It made Jason slightly annoyed, the fact that despite their attempts, they clearly weren't over him being like this.  And judging the stares at Evening, they weren't going to accept that either.  

But at the moment that didn't matter.  He was finally home, with Scoots with Dash, with- more memories went through his head.  So Scoots had a colt friend then.  Jason looked over at the happy filly, figuring that he wouldn't screw up the moment- wait, if future Jason'd given Scoots her old memories, then that meant that she kew that he'd been told, which meant that only Rumble didn't know which was ironic since he'd said it in the first place.  

"How did you get so lucky with your attempt at a time spell, Twilight?"

"What do you mean?"  She asked, giving him a slight look that betrayed her otherwise happy expression.  

"Well you created a loop that didn't create a different future, it just kept going around and around."

"Luck, I guess?  I'm not sure how pliable the past is before it changes."

"Yeah, alright.  Cuz this says I have to go back and do what I just did again so that Dash stays alive.  Otherwise I'm back to square one."

"Oh, I wrote that!"  Evening yelled, back in her pony form.  Jason transformed as well, dawning the disguise of an orange earth pony with a red mane.  

"Do you just do those at random?"  Rarity asked, looking at him with disgust.

"Yeah, why?"

"Those colors look simply horrid together!"  Jason sighed, hearing Dash laugh before he changed his fur to a light blue.

"You happy now?"  He asked, smirking.

"Darling, you should know by now that I'm never happy."  She said, walking over and throwing a punch across his face.


__________________________________________________


"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"  Jason yelled, sitting up in bed and throwing a hoof to his cheek, which was un-cracked, and his arm still painfully broken under a new cast.  He felt a quick wave of deja vu.  

"What happened?!?!"  Dash yelled, as Scoots and Evening jolted awake.  Or out of a snooze, they hadn't been in that dream.

"Just- when did I fall asleep there?"

"Like halfway back.  You transformed and then just kinda passed out.  I was pretty worried."  She said, leaning over and kissing him.  He kissed back for a moment before she broke away, her eyes sparkling.  "But we're back together, and I can't tell you how happy I am that we're getting married.  It feels weird, like I can't be sure whether I'm dreaming or not."

"We better not be, that would mean I lived in that other reality."  He shivered.  "You- oh my god I wish you hadn't died."

"How bad was it?"  She asked.  Must be strange asking about her own death, he mused offhandedly.

"You got clipped, right as the elements fired or whatever.  I got to you a minute or so later, I think, and Cadance already had this blood soaked rag on your neck.  I-"  He choked.  "I knew you were dying.  Your neck healed and everything, but you only got out a few sentences before you stopped breathing."

"Jason, it's okay, I'm here now."

"Yeah, but these memories are so strong, it's like I'm seeing them for the first time."  He buried his head in her shoulder and sobbed.  Scoots looked like she was on the verge too, camped out on Dash's chest.  She hugged a hoof around his back, resting her chin atop his head.

"Is this a bad time?"  Luna asked as she walked in, stopping a few steps inside.

"No, not at all, princess!  Well, maybe a little."  Dash said with a sigh.  "But go on, he's just, well, did you hear what happened?"

"Yes, I'm sure he knows that I've done something much like it."

"Wait, how did you know that you said that?"  Jason asked, as Luna responded with a giggle.

"I'm not as straightforward as you think, Jason.  You'd be surprised the ways I have for working around spells like this.  Starswirl may have rediscovered my time spell, but he's only scratching the surface."

"How did you do that?"  Jason asked, wiping his eyes.  "How did you even get past moving your memories?"

"A backup plan."  She smirked.  "You'd be surprised just what you can do with Soul Magic, Jason."

"Yeah, I guess so."  He replied, trying to figure out how that was possible, before his blood chilled with a sudden realization.  "Does that guy know?"  

"You assume I taught him all I know.  He's gotten stronger over the years, but I doubt he'd have reason to move into things like that."

"If you say so."  Dash breathed, looking slightly annoyed that there were still things in their way.

"Do not forget to go back again,"  Luna warned.  "The magic only keeps things this way for so long, and then it's back to the way things should have been."

"I know, I don't forget."  Jason replied, smiling.

"Well then I'll just leave you, I'm sure you don't want us-"  The princess sighed, shaking her head.  "ME, being depressing like this.  After all, I can't think of a better couple.  If it means anything, you have my blessing."

"Thanks."  Jason said.  "It definitely does, coming from you."

Luna nodded and turned to leave, stopping herself before she arrived at the doorway.  "I almost forgot, you've got a hefty bank account now, full of your pay from the last month.  A little extra for the five days that never happened."  She put up a hoof as they went to thank her.  "No words of thanks, you earned your money.  Good luck on the days ahead."  Luna left, and her hoofsteps slowly disappeared down the hall as they were left in silence.  

"So what was it like?  The Nightmare, I mean?"

"I dunno, it was like having a real voice in my head.  Not much else to it, besides that I kinda pissed him off all the time."

"Only you, Jason.  Only you could piss off a millenniums old thing like that."  She paused.  "So, do you know what happened to the others?"

"While I was leaving, the Nightmare kinda-  He destroyed the throne room.  While Tank and Morning Rain were still inside."  

"What?"  She asked, her face turning angry.  "That thing couldn't just effect us, huh?"  She swore under her breath.  "Did you see them die?"

"No, but that was a huge building."  

"I'm not assuming anything until I see the bodies."  She said, kissing his muzzle.  "It's not your fault."

They hugged closer together, listening as several more hoofsteps came down the hall and Pinkie jumped through the open window and sat down on the floor.  "I beat you!"  She yelled as the others walked in, flailing her hooves around.  Jason waited a moment until all of the exact same ponies as last time piled in.

"Yes the crusaders can come."  He said, watching Twilight lower her hoof, confused.  "And while they get in here, yes, I apparently gave you the full story, and yes, I can tell it again."  Jason was attacked by the foals again, noticing that at some point he'd lost his disguise.  If things were still this similar, the past must be fairly pliable.  

"So, um, I guess we left..."


______________________________________________________


"...and that's when I got back here."  Jason finished, letting out a sigh after the long monologue.  "So, questions then?"

The room was silent for a few seconds, as Applejack raised a hoof to say something and then lowered it again.  "That happened to y'all over only the last couple weeks?"  

"Yup."  Jason said, watching Dash nod as well.

"Did you have to kill them?"  Fluttershy asked.  Jason fought to keep his eyes from rolling, although surprisingly Dash answered instead.  

"Fluttershy, look at it this way."  She paused, thinking her response through.  "I'm assuming your question is more to the extent of, why did we pursue them into their own territory, as opposed to just defending our own land?"  The yellow mare nodded.  "Okay then, what would happen later when they decide to attack again?  Well, hopefully we'd fare better, but there would still be a large margin of civilian casualties."  Dash's friends had begun to look at her strangely.  "And the thing is, it's much easier to organize the attack of a nation than the defense of our own, with such a large border."

"So it's still self defense?"

"Yeah."  She shrugged.  "Pretty much.  You have a thing like that, right Jason?"

He scratched his head.  "Yeah, we had wars like that.  It's smart, you keep the war off your soil, minimize the costs.  Obviously it's harder because the attacker isn't familiar with the land, but with satellite technology that doesn't matter too much."

"When you say satellite, Jason, what do you mean exactly?"  Twilight asked, a notepad out.

"I figured I'd already mentioned this, but they're things that revolve around the planet.  They track weather, planes, run through cell phone calls, provide military intel..."

"And how do they put the things up there?"

"Rockets.  I'm not really sure how those work in space though, I think as they burn they put off oxygen to keep them burning... something like that."  He paused.  "So anyway, other questions?"

"So what's the ring for?"  Lyra asked.  "Did you propose, Jason?"  

"Yeah, I did.  I don't know how much you know about anything, but apparently Dash died and I went back to change the past.  You were there, which reminds me, I have something for you later."

"Oh, a gift!"  She squealed, before looking considerably less happy.  "But I didn't get you anything."

Jason burst into laughter.  "You said that the first time!"

"He's not crazy, right?"  She whispered audibly over to Twilight, who shook her head.  

"Not unless we all are."  The lavender mare responded.  "That's not something I've ruled out though."

A doctor pushed his way inside, looking around at the ponies.  "Hey, listen.  Visiting hours are over, so all of you that aren't family, I'm gonna have to ask you to leave within a couple minutes."  He left again, making Jason suddenly realize that he must've spent a lot more time on the story to run out of time like this.  Several goodbyes rained down as the room started to clear, and Jason reached out to grab at Rumble, who looked back like he'd been caught in the act of murder.

"Hey guy, I know about you and my daughter."  He paused, watching the foal's face for a moment.  "And it's fine with me."

"Wait, but-"  Dash started, before he looked over at her.

"Scoots told me everything, it's fine, Dash."  Jason turned back to the foal.  "But I want to meet you, however that shakes out.  And you better not harm my little girl."  He whispered, leaning in closer, before he sat back up and smiled.  "Now off with you."  Jason continued with a chuckle, ruffling Rumble's mane.

"Jason, why'd you do that?"  Scoots asked as one of the most confused foals he'd ever seen trotted away.

"Well, if he really likes you, he'll get over his fear.  And if he doesn't, well..."  Jason felt a punch on his arm, to which he responded with a chuckle.  "I'm way more lenient than Sky, I don't want to see you complaining."

"Fine."  The filly said, crossing her arms.

"So how's the arm?"  A doctor asked, walking inside.

"I'm good to go?  Is that what you said?"  Jason asked, smirking as he made to look like he was getting up.

"It's been twelve hours, how could you be healed from a broken leg?"

"Well it feels healed.  I mean, you want me to punch something?"

"No!  Just, can't you at least stay the night?"

"But I want to go to my actual house."  Jason said, attempting to look pouty.  Evening's look and snicker said that he was probably not doing too well.

"Fine."  He said.  "This is really stupid of me, but you two helped save my son, if you know it's healed enough to walk I can let you go.  But nothing serious until tomorrow, alright?" 

Jason nodded.  "But when did we save your son?"  

"He was a hostage, I believe.  I appreciate it more than you know."

"Yeah, I'm glad the guy that gets to fix me when I'm passed out is at least friendly."  The doctor chuckled.  "And saving your son was no problem, I'm just glad I could do something good like that.  Killing things kinda starts to get old after a while."

"I'm a doctor, it doesn't exactly hold the same weight.  Trying to keep ponies alive is a lot different, you know?"

"Yeah, I know what you mean."  He watched the doctor wave and leave, before turning to Dash.  "Come on Dash, I want to sleep in our actual bed.  And yes, we'll get something together for you, Evening."

"Is it weird that besides Scoots and my friends, I missed that bed the most?"  Dash asked.

"No, you did a good job building that."

"Heh, compliments.  I like them."  She said, smirking as Jason chuckled.  

"You know how much I missed you?"

"Probably as much as I missed you."  She replied, kissing him before nuzzling at his head.  "Now let's go, I haven't slept yet today."  Jason didn't respond with more than a chuckle, carefully untangling her arms from around his chest and moving Scoots away.  He hopped up and transformed, testing out his leg and walking around a little.  

"It's nice to be back in control of my body again."  He said, jumping carefully.

"So, how much did you learn, all those days in the library?"

"How about I show you first thing tomorrow, hmm?"  He asked, nuzzling at her chin before he teleported them all outside and into the streets, quickly jumping in fear and transforming into the same, light blue stallion with a red mane, thankfully with wings at this point.  

"God Jason, why are you so scared that something's going to happen?"  Dash asked, looking around at the ponies that seemed not to have noticed.  

"I dunno, being so forthright nearly got me killed before, and I still don't feel safe around medical knives."  He shuddered.  "Just- let's get home, I miss the place."  Jason nuzzled at her neck.  "And lying next to you."  He took off without another word, vaulting into the sky as Dash followed, looking at the ring on her feathers like it almost wasn't real.  

It only took them a couple minutes to get to the right height and land, but there seemed to be a mutual need to get back to the house, whether it was to calm their nerves or just provide the solace of familiarity.  Either way, Jason found himself almost thinking that the house would be a mirage as he touched down, carefully pushing open the door, not sure if there would be a disaster inside.  There wasn't, and he let out a sigh of relief.  

Jason felt feathers mesh with his as Dash walked up next to him and threaded her wing through his, smiling broadly.  "I know the fact that I'm your fiancé means today's supposed to be all special, but do you think we could just kinda move that to tomorrow?"  She asked, the bags under her eyes almost seeming to expand.  "Including all the alone time?"  She continued, offering a tired attempt at a sultry look.

"I don't want to ruin the moment, but if you could just show me a place to sleep..."  Evening said, as Jason pointed to the couch.  

"We can get something better for you later, but that's all we have today."

"That's fine, it's a cloud!  How could it possibly be uncomfortable?"  She jumped onto the couch and appeared to immediately pass out, a rather happy look splayed across her face as Dash walked into the kitchen, taking a few bites from an apple as she handed one to Scoots.  

"So, sleep?"  Dash asked, walking to the stairs without waiting for a response.

"Yeah, of course."  Jason said, following after her as Scoots walked slightly in front of him, disappearing into her room as Jason walked past.  "Night Scoots."  He said, getting a mumble in response from the exhausted filly.

"Dash, how're you feeling with all this?  Future stuff and all?"  He asked as she dropped off her saddlebag and he did the same, spreading out the wrinkled blanket that was still on the bed with his magic as she crawled under.  He joined her, putting his hooves around her midsection in a way that he just- missed.  She smiled, letting her head lay on his lower arm, ruffling the fur slightly.  

"I love you Jason."  She said, rolling over and taking off the ring, setting it on the bedside table.  He had luckily had the foresight to enchant the thing.   "More than you know."  

"I'm glad."  He replied, welcoming her back with open arms.  "I wouldn't have proposed if I didn't feel the same."

"Hey guys?"  Scoots asked, her figure only slightly illuminated in the covered sunlight that was coming through the windows.  

"Yeah?"  Jason asked, propping himself up slightly.

"Can I- Sleep with you guys?"

"Worried you'll get nightmares?"  She nodded.  

"I don't see a problem with that."  Dash said, grinning as the filly bounced onto the bed, ending up in a trough in the covers where she sprawled out cutely, closing her eyes as she hugged around what appeared to be a stuffed animal.  

"Is that new, Scoots?"  Jason asked, prodding gently at the fluffy thing.

"No, I've had it a long time.  Found it again in the treehouse when we camped out there."  She giggled slightly.  "I bought it way back when, it's a plushie of Soarin', cuz I couldn't find any of you, Mom."

"Jason, she just said-"  

"I know."  Jason responded quickly, feeling a surge of love rush through his chest for the filly.

"Night, guys."  Scoots said, shifting slightly.  Jason hardly had time to think before he passed out, finally back in Dash's arms.

Finally back home.	
> Closure?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Closure?


Jason mumbled slightly, awakening from his dreamless slumber and slowly looking around.  He felt rested, without hardly any worry like there had been.  Sure, he had stuff to worry about, but he was finally home, he had proposed to his mare friend, and his daughter was still fine.  It definitely wasn't a bad day.

Tank, Eravel and Morning Rain were still out there though, and that worried him a little bit.  Well, a lot, really.  Dammit, he'd been so calm a minute ago.  Okay, he had no proof any of them were dead.  For all he knew, they could be alive, and he'd told them to get to town as soon as they could.  That could be any time after he left, which made him feel guilty because they could've arrived without much of a hint on where to go.  Four strange ponies and Sartos show up, assuming he was still tagging along... He doubted they'd get any real information.

That was ridiculous.  They had seals from Celestia herself, they could get practically anything they wanted, intelligence or otherwise.  So that meant they'd either never showed up, or by the time they had, tracking him down had taken too long.  Lyra had said all she knew was that he'd been in Canterlot, although she hadn't specified how specifically she'd found the library.  So they could have shown up any time after Lyra left, assuming they had at all.

"Whatcha thinking about?"  Dash asked, looking at his stony expression with a grin before she yawned.

"Tank and the others."  He responded, refusing to let himself think about them in anything more than a diffused sense, trying not to let his emotions bubble up again.  God knows he'd had enough of that for his lifetime already.  

"You know it wasn't your fault, right?"  No response.  "Jason?"

"Yeah, I know.  But I still think I could've done more."  He sighed.  "I was also trying to figure out how many days it'd take for them to get back, assuming they actually got out of that building.  I know that Steve and Hunter should be fine, and it's weird knowing that we could've lost so many of us.  That for a while, we did."  He finished, stroking her cheek gently.  

She giggled.  "It's so weird, thinking that I died."  

"Yeah, well that's probably the reason Scoots and Evening got their memories like I did.  Keeps me from thinking I'm crazy."

"Cuz you'd be the only one, huh?"

"Yeah."  He replied, wrapping his arm more tightly around her back and brushing his muzzle against hers.  "Hopefully you're not having second thoughts."

"Just one."  She said, smiling.  "You said that it wouldn't be romantic, but the day my colt friend changes the past to keep me alive is as romantic as it gets, in my book."

"I like your book."  Jason replied, leaning towards her as their lips touched.  Jason shot a glance towards Scoots, who was still asleep like a rock, before he closed his eyes again and sank into the kiss, pushing his forehead against hers as he broke it off.  

"I love you."  She said.  "I know it's been hard, getting here.  But I'm glad I'm yours.  It's worth it that way."  She snickered.  "And I'll bet Rarity should be pretty jealous when she sees what Ferris did.  First he redesigns the bombs, now this?"

"He's running through his rounds, I guess."  Jason replied, stretching our his arms into the air behind her.  "I want to go do something in town, maybe get some breakfast or something?"

"Why, do you have a list of things you want to do?"  Dash asked with a smirk, brushing part of his red mane to the side.  

"Not really, actually.  I mean, I miss this place, but there's not a lot to do sometimes."

"Just you wait, some force of nature'll come by sooner or later..."  She replied, tickling at his chest with a hoof.  "You know us, things never go smoothly."

"Or we're lucky for getting through it all."

"Yeah, but-  Hey, does this count as being AWOL?"  

"I dunno."  Jason shrugged, scratching his neck.  "We kinda call the shots, if they need us back, we can go."

"You're sure you'd want to?"

"I- no, but- okay, I'm not saying I feel a sense of duty towards this silly little country, but that war's got a lot of my work in it, and if we're called back, I'm finishing it off."

"And if something else pops up?"  Dash asked, playing with his mane.

"Depends.  I'd assume they could send other ponies to handle it.  We could also just go form a separate team, call our own shots.  Like a business, kind of."

"As much as I don't want to go back, that does sound pretty cool.  But hey, I like controlling things."  She froze for a moment, before she jumped out of bed and galloping over to the window, looking around worriedly.  A few more seconds passed before she let out a sigh and returned to the bedside, smiling as Scoots yawned.

"Worried that the weather team'd screw something up again?"  He asked.

"Actually that they wouldn't remember we have winter starting in like a week after The Running of the Leaves.  But things look manageable.  Not perfect though."  She looked at Scoots, rolling a question around in her head for a moment.  "Was there any rain while I was gone?"

"Um... Just a drizzle one day."  Scoots replied, getting to her hooves and stretching.  

"Alright, good."  Dash muttered, grinding her fore hooves together as she sat back down on the bed.  "We like to keep a dry spell before all the rain, makes it easier to gather the clouds when there's more left up there."  She explained.  "Sorry to do this to you, Jason, but can we stop by and see how things are going?"

Jason chuckled and got up, tossing Scoots into the air with his magic as she squealed, hitting the fluff of the bed a moment later as he slowed her descent.  "Where are we going afterward?"  She asked once her breath returned.  

"Breakfast...somewhere."  He snorted in laughter.  "I know nothing and I've been here for weeks."

"Oh, cool!"  She paused only to refill her lungs.  "So when are you getting married?"  

Jason looked over at Dash, and she stared back before he answered.  "I dunno Scoots, there's a lot of planning involved.  And I'm no help if it's different from before, and to at least a small extent it is, besides the fact that we're ponies."

"Well let's see, friends and stuff come, then a guy reads part of a book and you kiss me.  Sounds pretty simple."

"Unless someone accuses me of being an impostor and I'm forced to run crying from the altar."

"Oh yeah.  I'll pay you twenty bits to do that."

"Somehow I think we shouldn't be taking bets on our own marriage."  

"You wanna bet?"  She asked, smirking as she grabbed her ring and handed it over while spreading her wing out.  "By the way, would you mind?"

"No, you aren't allowed to wear the ring I gave you!"  He said angrily before slipping it on.  "How does that feel by the way?  Ferris said in his response that he had experience, but you know..."

"It fits fine."  She replied with a laugh.  "I'll have to get used to the weight, but it's not like it'll come off in the air of anything."  Dash leaned over and nuzzled him.  "It's really pretty, I love it."

"I'm glad you do."  He put a hoof around her head briefly, hugging her closer before he let go and made for the door.  "Are we bringing Morning?"  Jason asked, gesturing down the stairs.

"Might as well.  I don't know how well things would go if we just let her run around town."

"Yeah, the whole flirting thing might not work so well when Ponyville's slanted towards the female side of the population."

"I guess you stallions are just too easy, huh?"  She asked as they descended, poking him in the side as Scoots hopped onto his back.

"Or given the fact that she has no shame, can try unlimited times, and that most stallions are going to be attracted to a pretty mare.  Which makes me think that I've made a lot of ponies jealous."

She snickered.  "Makes me wonder how many are jealous of me, having a guy like you."

"Probably not that- hmm, well a few mares said that in Canterlot."

"Yeah right."

"Thanks.  But seriously, I thought that was kinda strange too."  He leaned over and pushed at Evening, watching her stir.  "Come on, Evening.  We're getting some breakfast."

The mare yawned and stretched, nearly falling off the couch in the process.  "So how're you feeling?"  She asked eventually.

"About what?"

"Being engaged.  To the same pony forever."  

"God, you're helpful."  Jason responded, facehoofing.  

"Well I'm just saying, I'd rather keep my options open, you know what I mean?"

"Polygamy's illegal Evening."  Dash said, deadpan.

"Who said I had to marry any of them?"

"Ugh, listen, we have a kid here.  Can't you at least act a little less... like getting love's the only reason you're here?"  Dash asked, taking a glance at Scoots.

"What's polygamy, Dash?"  The foal asked, slipping on Jason's back before she regained her footing.  

"It's when a pony has more than one wife Scoots.  Or husband, I guess."  He responded. 

"So what's wrong with that?"

"Well..."  Jason started, taking a glance at Dash.  "It's illegal for one thing, and it's a sign of low morals.  I mean, I would never do that even if I didn't love Dash, because it turns mares into more of a commodity and a bragging piece.  Dehumanizes them, or deponynizes or whatever.  Clearly you can't really love a wife if you're willing to take another.  And interestingly enough, the most backwards cultures are the only ones still using that system, in my world at least."

"Yeah, I feel pretty secure."  Dash said, smiling lightly as Jason nudged her.

"Not like you seem to as soon as somepony hits on me."

"You should be happy that I get jealous easily, it just means I care more."

"Well in any case, let's get going at some point today."  He said, pushing her slightly towards the door.  


_______________________________________________________


"Identification please."  A mare said in the weather team headquarters as Dash tried to pass to her office.  She growled a little, trotting over and shoving her ID again the glass as the mare jumped backwards, her chair flipping over.

"I guess that's one way."  Jason pointed out, chuckling as the mare pulled herself back up, looking rather confused.  Scoots was pulling on his mane as she laughed, all the tugging making him feel like she was about to fall off.  She didn't though, and quickly made her way back to the top of his head, resting her fore hooves there as she looked overtop his head.

"Yeah well fuck you lady."  Dash continued, before trotting down the hallway.

"I'd like to know what happens to ponies as soon as they get behind a glass pane."

"Must be a boring cutie mark."  She replied, giggling to herself.

"You really like it up there, eh Scoots?"  Jason asked, trying to carefully look upwards.

"Well yeah, I get this high and I don't have to fly either.  You're like the tallest pony in town."

"Why thank you, I've worked hard to be called something of that honor.  Although I'm not really that tall right now, disguise and all."  He heard Scoots giggle as Dash pushed open the door at the end of the hall, letting out an audible sigh as he approached.  "She actually working this time around?"

"Yeah."  Cloud Kicker answered, staring at Jason as he peered into the doorway.  "Dash really got all over my flank for like a week last time, I'm not letting that turn into a month this time around.  So who're you supposed to be anyway, I haven't seen you around."

"I'm Ponyville's resident changeling."   Jason replied, shrugging.  "Have been for a while now."

"Yeah, well it's not easy to know that."  The lieutenant snapped, before her face softened.  "So if you can become anypony, do you two ever..."

"This isn't about us!"  Dash practically screamed, before she cooled off a little.  "Sorry, I'm a little tired.  Anyway, how're things going pre- winter?"

"Same as usual, not that much to note.  Lost a bunch of ponies to your war effort or whatever, Thunderlane, some others."

"Guess we're good to go then, right?"  Jason asked, not waiting for a response as he walked back outside.  "God damn, guess we have the head bitch in there."  He mumbled, remembering Scoots' presence only after she laughed.  "Evening, you ready to go?"  Jason asked as he entered the waiting room again, facehoofing as he noticed what she was doing.  Apparently those stupid little bird things that dipped their beaks in and out of water still existed, and Evening was bobbing her head in tune, watching the bird as it drank just inside the window.  The mare seemed pretty creeped out, but he doubted she would actually say anything.

"Just as soon as... this thing stops."

"It doesn't stop."

"No way, it has to stop eventually."

"It does something with the water."  He said, watching Dash exit the office and walk towards him.

"But-"

"I see she found the thing."  Dash said, giggling.  "I knew she'd do this."

"Stop looking at me like I'm insane, it should stop!"

"I don't know what to tell you, Evening."  She replied, before moving to leave and checking to make sure that the changeling followed.  "But man, this is a big change to all that fighting.  I mean, it's just- I can't pinpoint why I feel weird.  Kinda like we should really have had some sort of fight in there.  I keep looking all over the place for enemies, I guess getting used to how things were before's going to be a little harder than I thought."

"Yeah.  Not that there weren't enemies in town last time anyway..."

"I meant in the first couple days."  She replied, hopping over a cobblestone that stuck up slightly.

"Yeah, when things were only slightly crazy."

"Do ponies usually stare like this?"  Evening asked, looking around nervously.

"Yeah, like all the time."  Dash responded with a sigh, watching the crowd clear out in front of the four.  "It'd be nice if I was just slightly noteworthy like I was before.  I'm not saying I regret anything, but everypony just acts afraid..."

"I'm sorry Dash."  Jason mumbled, drooping his head.  "I'm sure it's mostly that they know I'm here."

"Yeah, but I'd rather you be here."  She replied.  "And that these stupid ponies would just accept you, after all this."

"They don't have proof that I've done anything, I'm just the same changeling that caused all that trouble a couple months ago."

"I'm sure they don't all see it that way, Jason."  Scoots piped up.

"Yeah, or they see me as a guy that killed a ridiculous number of griffins."  He sighed.  "It doesn't matter that much, all we need is a way to keep me disguised where they won't notice and we're good."

"But I don't want to have to do that!"  Dash yelled back.  "We shouldn't have to do any of this shit, you help keep most of these ponies safe, and if they can't see that, then they're a bunch of goddamned idiots!"  

Jason peered around, looking at the ponies as they stared back.  "It's not untrue."  He said, before he teleported them away, into the same square that held Sugarcube Corner.  "You fine with going here?"  Jason asked, gesturing to the shop.

"Yeah sure, whatever."  

"What do they make?"  Evening asked, looking around at the front of the shop.

"Sugar in various forms."  Jason replied sarcastically.  "I'm probably the only guy without a serous sweet tooth, although Dash's taste buds help."

"Why're we waiting out here, there's sugar right over there!"  Evening exclaimed, before she sprinted inside, only to back out a few moments later.  Jason brushed past her, finding the source of her fear the other elements gathered around a table inside.  He swore a little under his breath, he figured he'd be able to avoid Twilight for longer.  But leaving now would just look weird.  Dammit, Pinkie was waving him over.  

"Hey Jason!"  She yelled, sliding a cupcake across the table towards him as he sat down, floating Scoots over to an adjacent chair.  Dash sat down on his other side and Evening took the last spot, looking like she was about to scream.  "So how's stuff going?"  

"Like shit."  Jason replied, smiling.  "But I'm sure you know how it is."  

"How come?"  Pinkie asked, looking mortified as he assumed she came up with a way to try to cheer him up.

"Well, the populace either hates or is afraid of me, three of my friends are still MIA, and I'm starting to realize that because of what I am, things will never end up the way I want for either Dash or Scoots, no matter how optimistic I want to be."  He said cooly, pointing to Scoots and Dash.  "You know, the usual."  The ponies across the table stared, and Fluttershy tried to say something that only came out as a squeak, and she moved backwards in her chair before trying again.  

"If it means anything, I don't think you're evil."

"Well neither do I, but I put my fucking life on the line for these morons, and-"  He sighed, anger washing over him as he felt Dash's hoof on his back.  "It's not fair."  He choked out, ashamed to let any emotions shine through in front of the others.  Another silence ensued, finally ended as Twilight spoke up.

"Listen Jason, I know I've been kind of a jerk, and I'm sorry for making things harder.  You deserve a little of your own secrecy, at least."

"I'll talk to you later, alright?  Just don't push me."  He replied, shrugging as Dash gave him a glance.  "And hopefully you can look at Evening in a good light, she fought the hive mind for years and kinda saved my life back there.  Probably a few of yours as well."  

"She's basically just another pony."  Dash said with a shrug.  "I mean, she obviously knows a lot more about flirting and sex, but that's pretty much you in the nutshell, Rarity."  

"Why I-"

"I'm just kidding, quiet down.  Well, partially kidding..."  A cupcake wrapper hit her in the face as she burst out into laughter, more about the loss of most of her previous stress than of the hilarity.  The others joined in, and before long the entire table was in an uproar of guffaws, which eventually died out.

"Oh man, I needed that."  Jason sighed, wiping an eye and catching a few more cupcakes and tarts as Pinkie slid them across the table.  He distributed them around to Dash and Scoots before resting his head on a hoof tiredly.  

"So about that party..."  Pinkie said, a smile growing on her face.  "And the wedding..."

Jason scratched his head.  "Well assuming the war's over, then I still have peace terms to work out, and I'd like to find out what happened to my team, especially if they're alive."

"Want some closure, huh?"  Applejack asked, tapping her hooves against the table and sending another glance at Evening.  

"A little.  They're not like Dash was, I knew for a fact that she was dead, but them... I'm not so sure."

"I guess we can hope for the best, hmm?"

"I suppose."  The table went silent for what must've been at least a minute, as only the sound of eating sounded.  

"So are you doing anything around town, or are you out of a job, Jason?"

"I still have a job, basically placing troops wherever.  I'll have a lot to do with these new borders, though."

"What new borders?"  Twilight asked.  "How much are we taking?"

"All of it."  Jason replied.  "It'll make us stronger anyway.  Which reminds me, there might be a fair number of griffins coming in, as refugees or otherwise.  Hopefully that doesn't piss any of you off, but it's not like it'll help my reputation."  He rolled his eyes.  "Not that anything apparently will."

"Cheer up Jason, I'm sure they'll come around sooner or later."  Fluttershy said, giving him a light smile.

"I hope so."  Dash mumbled.  "You ready to go?  I kinda want to sleep again."

"I know how you feel."  Jason replied, standing up.

"Oh wait, can I go meet the crusaders?!"  Scoots hollered, jumping out of her seat with a bit of frosting stuck to her cheek.  Jason rubbed it off and smiled, thinking about what to do with Evening.  

"Sure, but Evening, you wanna go with them?"

"Like this?"  She asked, gesturing to herself.  

"No, like as a foal I guess.  Don't do anything stupid, alright?"

"Yeah sure!"  She yelled, becoming a ball of green fire before a smaller version of herself popped out, and Fluttershy gasped slightly.  "I've never played with foals before!"  

"It probably won't be a thing, I just need to figure out where I can fit you in around here."

"It's no big deal, I'm sure I can find something to do.  Trying to get your cutie marks, right?"

"Yeah!"  Scoots replied, hopping between her hooves excitedly.

"Oh, you can't tell them what they are, Evening.  They're supposed to figure it out for themselves."

"I know, these silly traditions, right?"  Rarity asked with a laugh.

"Yeah."  

"So how did you know what you were good at if there's no cutie mark?"

"Uh..."  Jason said, scratching at his chin.  "Well I'm good at a lot of things, really.  But I guess it's school, you just take the stuff you like, sports, classes, whatever.  And that gives you a pretty good idea of what you want to do, I guess.  I like it better that way, it seems like you ponies kinda focus around one general skill, there's no real jack of all trades scenario.  But whether that's a result of the cutie mark system in the first place or that the mark magically makes you good at something.  It wouldn't seem hard for Discord or someone to just screw with them if that were the case, like give Twilight Dash's mark or something."

"Uh."  Applejack said, staring along with the others.  

"God, everything I say turns into a stare fest, huh?"  He asked. 

"Ya just kinda question everything, it's hard to wrap mah head around the idea that ya don't have a system like this."  The orange mare replied with a shrug.

"Apparently I'm also the only one to try to scientifically explain magic as well."

"It's just the transfer of energy to a specific spot."

"Yeah, but in order to move energy through air without moving or heating the air, well, there's no way to do that.  It could be some sort of low intensity wave like radio, but then you'd have to explain why we could specify to release large amounts of waves with a body that broadcasts in infrared.  You got an answer for that one?"

"Well when you say radio waves, what exactly do you mean?"  She asked.

Jason looked over at Scoots as she shifted around, impatient to get going.  "I'l tell you later, alright?"  She nodded, taking a bite of a tart as her eyes lost focus in thought.  

"Last question, I promise."  Rarity said quickly.  

Jason chuckled, taking a glance at Dash.  "Go ahead."

"How did you learn all this?"

Jason didn't respond immediately, thinking up his response.  "Well I guess that was all high school level stuff.  Scoots has how many years of school?"

"Eight."  Twilight said, tapping her hoof against the flat of the other.

"Okay, so I had eighteen or so years of school before I got a college level job."  Twilight stopped her mental counting and stared.

"Eighteen?!  Why?"

"Well, for things like that, mostly.  I learned that in eight grade, or somewhere around there.  And then calculus in eleventh, which was the math I showed you before, and so on."

"Oh, well alright then.  You must know a lot more then, right?"

"I guess, but honestly the one thing we had to help us advance that you don't, well, any guesses?"

There were a few shrugs.  "Well we're the same intelligence, right?"  Twilight asked.  "Similar...strength?"

"Yup."

"I have no idea then."

"Wait, I think I know."  Dash said, smirking.

"Go ahead..."

"War."  Jason nodded, looking around the table again.

"And the reason for that's competition and the need to advance beyond one's enemies, right?"  Jason nodded again.  "But anyway, I gotta get Scoots somewhere, so I'll see you later I guess."  Dash said, throwing a wave across the table and watching as it was returned by her friends.  It made her feel a little better, at least.  

She got up and followed her daughter outside, watching the two foals frolic around.  Her smile quickly became drawn, and she stopped Evening with a hoof.  "Evening, how old are you?"  She asked.  With her being a foal at the moment, the question kinda seemed to beg itself.

"Uh, well let's see, I think next month's my s- hmm."  She paused for a moment.  "Sorry, it's hard to remember things when I was under the hive mind.  But I think I'm about to turn seventeen."

"Ha, very funny Evening."  Jason said with a chuckle, putting a wing over Dash's back as he caught up.  

"Well maybe it's eighteen?  Could be sixteen."

"You're a grown mare, how is that seventeen?!" 

"Oh, ha.  I see what your problem is."  She giggled.  "Maturity for ponies is around sixteen or seventeen, technically.  I say technically because that's when they'd theoretically be able to bear foals, but that rarely happens anyway.  Changelings are kinda faster than that.  Around ten to twelve we're grown, and from then on it's just stupid servitude.  Not that it wasn't before..."

"Well this is strange."  Dash noted.  "I feel old now."

"Shush, you're twenty two."  Jason said, nudging her side as he watched Luna walk by.  He scrunched up his face in confusion and pointed.

"I thought she left."  

"Yeah, me too."  Jason replied.  "Hey Luna!"  The princess looked over and caught sight of the group before she walked over.  "How come you're still here?"  

"I was going to leave yesterday, but mine sister wanted to meet us before I left.  I figured you'd still be in the hospital, but I can see that you're hardier than that."

"Yeah, I guess you could say that.  Or stupid."

Luna giggled.  "Either way, I suppose."  She started walking again, leading them towards the edge of town.  "You wouldn't happen to know where Twilight Sparkle is, would you?  She wasn't in her designated tree building."

"Oh, I'll get her!"  Scoots yelled, taking off with Evening in pursuit.

"That's the changeling again, correct?"

"Yup.  I'm not sure how to put her in somewhere around here.  No one knows she's a changeling, and I might as well keep it that way."

"Ah, you're getting the same reaction from the populace as I did?"

"Maybe to a worse extent."  Dash mumbled.

"Well you're welcome to stop by the castle anytime after I'm through with this soul magic episode.  I'd like to have someone to talk to besides min- my advisors and Tia.  It gets a little monotonous."

"Yeah, I can imagine."  Jason replied, as they got to the top of a small hill just outside of town.  Scoots ran up a few minutes later, taking a few deep breaths.

"HA, I beat you Evening!  Take that!"  The other foal ran up.

"You just... won because you're used to these stub legs."  Jason heard Twilight suppress a laugh as she trotted up, dipping her head to the princess."

"For the millionth time Twilight Sparkle, that's not necessary."

"Sorry Princess."  Luna groaned loudly, eliciting a laugh from Jason and Dash.  

"Either way, Celestia's here."  Jason said, pointing at a few dots in the sky.  "Hopefully we'll get a bit of closure."
> The Bill
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


The Bill


The princess landed in her little chariot thing, quickly waving the guards away as she dismounted.  "I see you are all still in one piece."  Celestia started, embracing her sister.

"Well, close enough anyway."  Dash responded, smiling slightly.  "You two can go have fun by the way."  She said, gesturing to the two foals and causing them to run off.

"Yes, I heard about the Nightmare incident.  Is there still a, residue, shall we say?"  

"No, I'm pretty sure he's gone."  Jason said, furrowing his brow.  

"Ah yes, well it seems that larger exposure leaves more of an imprint.  Although that may have been the time difference, eh sister?"

"Either way, I was more irritable those first few months."

"It's weird though, if you'd been gone for a thousand years in my-"  He caught Twilight's stare, and stammered for a second before sighing.  "Fine."  He breathed, looking off to one side.  

"Jason, you don't-"  Dash started, before Jason cut her off.

"It's only them, I don't care anymore.  It's not worth it."

"Whatever you say..."

"Yeah."  He paused.  "Took you long enough, by the way, Twilight."  He said, watching her face tinge red.  Jason chuckled for a moment, shifting on his hooves slowly as he tried to think of words.

"Uh,"  He began.  Yeah, great start.  "You know how I'm a changeling and all?"  The other three nodded, not that Celestia didn't already know.  "Well I wasn't born one, and I'm really not sure why I'm one now.  But I used to be human, from another planet named earth.  Everything else I've said was true though, just without ponies."

Luna seemed to nod, almost as if she assumed knew already.  All this was starting to creep him out, that she knew everything like this.  

"So yeah, I guess that's it."  Jason said, feeling Dash's wing wrap gently over his back, the feathers tickling against his temporary fur.  

"I knew it!  Yes, I was right!"  Twilight yelled in celebration, dancing around as Celestia looked on in amusement.  She calmed down a moment later, and looked over quickly as her face sobered.  "Why didn't you tell us?"  She asked.

"Because things were complicated enough already.  I should be able to keep some secrets of my own if I want, I've earned that much.  You're also not the only one to know, there's Dash and most of the rest of my friends.  And Scoots."  

"Personally, I'm less worried this way."

"Yeah, well I'm still keeping it secret.  That means you can't go tell anyone, alright?"

"You aren't going to tell my friends?"

"Well, no.  Not unless I need to."

"But why?"

"Because I want to keep my cards close to my chest."  He said, looking over at Celestia.  "I'm assuming you came with news from the war?"

"As a matter of fact, yes.  But not what I'm sure you want to hear."  Dash let out a long sigh.  "What I've gotten from Shining Armor was that the city's still fairly contested to one side, the west, if that means anything."

"Damn, I was worried we wouldn't just push that whole thing over."  He said, scratching his chin.  "So no news on Tank or the others?"

"Not that I've heard.  They could still be in there, for all I know.  But even with the city contested like it is, those are only the hardcore army fighters, and we have received peace feelers from a number of the exiled griffin government."

"Where'd they get off to?"

"They apparently ran at the last minute, it didn't take much to round them up.  They said something about meteors coming down on the town as they were leaving."

Jason grinned, sitting down in an attempt to better allow Dash to manipulate her wing.  "Guided missiles, if you're wondering."

"Before you ask what it is, Jason found this long cylinder with all these lenses on the side and aimed it at a fire, and then this rocket that was like this big,"  She held her hooves apart, stretching them in what was probably not that exaggerated of a measurement.  "Came out and shot straight up at like, supersonic speeds or something!  And the coolest part was, it turned back down and went right at the building, and there was this giant explosion, and everypony gasped and it was the most awesome thing I've ever seen."

"How does it guide itself?"  Twilight asked after a moment, surprisingly devoid of notepaper.  

"I'm not sure."  He paused, smirking.  "I guess you could say, I'm not a rocket scientist."

"Yeah, you could say that."  The lavender mare replied, looking confused.  

"Oh shush, the reference is lost on you."

"I guess this would be a good time to ask how you know what a celestial disk looks like."  Luna said, more stating her objective than answering a question.  "So..."

"What's a celestial disk?"  Jason asked, finding Dash's face as confused as he was.

"You know, just-"  She paused, shifting around.  "You don't suppose we could go find some chairs, do you Tia?"

The princess giggled slightly, holding a hoof over her mouth.  "It wouldn't be too much trouble, no."  She replied, before the environment changed to an outside part of one of the fancier restaurants in Ponyville.  And since everything was pretty much plant matter, that meant a lot.  Well, it probably did anyway.

"I realize that I hate being teleported by someone else."  Jason said, shuddering.  "It doesn't feel right."  He turned and stared back at a waiter that looked struck dumb, staring at the group of important ponies that had appeared out of nowhere.  Jason shrugged and dropped the disguise; maybe being around the princesses would give him a little respect.  Anything was worth a try at this point.

"We won't be long."  Celestia said, pulling out a rather small chair and cramming herself into the tiny piece of furniture.  

"So the celestial disk?"  Luna asked, watching a different waiter with amusement as he nervously placed a small basket of bread on the table and bow his head as he retreated.  Jason shrugged.  "Oh yes, they're full of stars, which are like suns..."

"Oh..."  Dash said, drawing out the syllable.

"We call those galaxies, Luna."  Jason said.  "You'd be surprised how much we know about space and why things work the way they do."

"If you find anything on advanced astronomy, I'd love to see it."

"And I will give it to you."  He replied, chuckling.  

"Rainbow Dash,"  Celestia started, "That is a ring on your right wing, correct?"

"Oh yeah, I don't usually say stuff like this, but isn't it beautiful?"

"As a matter of fact, it is."  She smiled, gesturing towards Jason.  "I'm assuming he's the one?"

Dash looked at Jason's rather smug smile, putting a hoof around his neck as she ground the other into the top of his head.  "Yeah, as of yesterday!"  She exclaimed, letting go of his noggin and giving her wing room to extend.

"How does it-" Twilight started, furrowing her brow.  "How's it do that with the cutie mark?"

"Refraction."  Jason said, touching the ring with a hoof.  "I'm not exactly sure how Ferris did it, actually.  We should really stop by, talk to him a little."

"I feel bad, keeping you away from each other like this when you're just now engaged."  Celestia sighed, grabbing a pad of paper that she'd set on the table.  "So I'll wrap this up quickly.  In terms of actual evidence on your friends, Shining hasn't obviously turned up the bodies, or come to any that were unrecognizable.  He's missing a few buggies, but whether that's just coincidence or proof that they got out, I'm not sure."

"At least there's no proof either way."  Dash said sadly, propping up her forehead with a hoof.  "I wish they were here."

"Yeah, me too.  I never thought I'd be able to miss those guys so much, I was pretty sure I was numb to it by now.  Guess not."

"Just how bad was it over there?"

"It's not like we aren't supplied or anything, but you remember what Dash looked like when she came back here, right?"

"Yeah, she was covered in blood and cuts."

"Well that's pretty much every battle, assuming one of us doesn't get stabbed or otherwise injured.  And if it isn't obvious by all the fucking scars, we get cut up a lot."

"Did you ever want to leave?"

"Of course!"  Dash burst out.  "But it's not like I'm loyal or anything, and ponies actually like us there.  I can deal with the fighting."  She got up, nodding her head at the princesses.  "Is that all you need us for?"

"Not quite.  I'd like to personally thank you for your service and bravery."  Celestia said, extending a hoof for Dash to shake, before she shook Jason's hoof.  "We're going to hold awards ceremonies as soon as the bulk of our soldiers get back and we're sure that resistance has been pacified.  You two are going to be quite the decorated ponies, seeing as you haven't received anything for Canterlot as of yet."  She smiled.  "But at the very least, I have your-"  She looked at the pad of paper again.  "Purple hearts here.  Shining figure you wouldn't want those to be given publicly."

"Yeah, I'm not sure how much I want to be recognized for injuries."

"Well either way,"  She handed then two small ribbons, peppered with three or so each.  

"I didn't get hurt this much."  Jason noted, pointing at the medals.  

"Funny, like the stabbing, torture, and Nightmare don't count."  Luna piped up, leaning back in her chair smugly until it made a menacing crack.

Jason shrugged.  "Fine, whatever you say."

"Oh, one last thing."  Celestia started, turning around as she walked towards the gate that led out of the small outside area.  "Shining sent your stuff, it'll be here at some point in the near future."  She finished, exiting the restaurant as Luna got up as well, bidding them quick goodbye before she caught up with her sister.

"Oh good, I was getting a little bored."  Dash said, nuzzling at Jason.  "By the way, I don't think we ever celebrated like we should have."  She continued, as her voice took on a sultry tone and Twilight blushed.

"I'm right here, Dash!"  The studious mare yelled.

"So?  I don't care if you hear me flirt.  What do you really think we do when we're alone, knit?"  Dash asked, a smirk forming on her face.

"I don't need to have it spelled out!"

"You want it spelled, you say?  Well let's see, that'd be S, E-"  

"I don't want to know!" 

"Okay, well sometimes, when I'm feeling adventurous, he-"  She broke into giggles as the mare turned to leave, watching Jason join in as well.  "Don't worry Twilight, I won't turn into Rarity."

"You better not, I don't want every conversation turning into 'So Twilight, have you dated any stallions recently?'"

"Well you could try to screw with her, at least once."  Jason said.  "That's what I'd do."

"Yeah, but you'd do that with everyone if you got the chance."  Dash said with a laugh.  "Why do you even do that?"

"Because there are two types of people on the internet.  Idiots, and people that either don't care, or screw with the idiots.  I'm not saying any of the civilians are idiots, but it's the same idea even if people don't put themselves into the crappy situations."

"That's the thing that connects everything?"  Twilight asked.

"Yeah, it's pretty crazy that we can do things like that huh?"  He paused, before nudging at Dash.  "Now come on, let's go."

The mare giggled and took off, looking behind herself as Jason took off to follow.  "Evening told me you have my wings now."  She said over the wind, grinning widely.

"Yeah, I mean they're bigger, but I can fly a lot faster now, it's pretty cool.  I was getting a cone around me and everything.  Obviously I don't have them now..."

"Did you actually break the sound barrier?"

"No, I was probably a ways off.  But still, that's pretty fast."

She squealed with joy.  "I can't wait to go flying with you, there're so many more things we can do now!"

"Sounds like a good time."  He said, landing next to her on the edge of the front yard.  They only got a few steps inside before Jason turned and kissed Dash, putting a hoof around her neck and drawing her closer.  "When was the last time I told you I loved you?"

"Not recently enough."  She replied, drawing him back in.  "You're not romantic enough."

"Oh, not romantic enough?"  He asked, raising an eyebrow jokingly before he realized he could raise one eyebrow at a time.  He'd never been able to do that before.  "That's probably because you're always like 'Jason, faster!', 'Jason, what are you waiting for?!'"

She rolled her eyes.  "We have time, I can be patient."

"I'll believe it when I see it."  He said with a smirk, before she met his lips again.

"I guess you won't have to wait long."

Look!  Another clop scene!


__________________________________________________________________


Jason opened his eyes to Dash's face, peacefully sleeping over his arm.  He gently kissed her forehead and hugged her a little tighter, being careful not to wake her up so soon.  It was a good five minutes before she showed signs of life, stirring in his grasp as she opened her eyes as well.

"Have I ever told you how much I love waking up with you like this?"

She leaned her forehead into his, feeling the warm bone of his horn over the top of her head.  "No, it must've slipped your mind."  

"I guess I can't let that happen again, huh?"

"Yeah, what do you think this is, anyway?"  She asked, giggling slightly.  "It's not that bad here though, even with the populace.  I don't have to worry about you or Scoots, and that makes everything so much easier."

"It would be nice if I didn't feel the need to watch my back all the time though, I'm not sure if that's just from the army or if I'm stuck in old habits.  I just want it to go away, but it's all I see when I close my eyes anymore."

She put an arm around his neck, looking concerned.  "Jeez, Jason.  You should've told me earlier."

"It's only been two days, and every dream before I went back was a nightmare about you."

"How long do you have to fix that?"

"Another five days.  I'll get it done sooner than that though, obviously.  It's not like I want to lose you...again."

"Yeah, nopony would want to lose this."  She said, gesturing to herself.  "But I guess I wouldn't mind another fifty years with you."

"I guess you might be right.  I'm pretty indifferent though."  He replied, chuckling back.  "I think I liked it more when you were excited."

"But that takes energy, and that's hard."

"At least I know that you've done stuff before, because I'd been pretty inclined to think you were basically a rock with wings when I met you."

He felt a punch contact his shoulder.  "With a brain, at least?"

"A smart rock."  He smirked.  "Way better than that one Rarity carried around, George or whatever."

"Funny, I forgot the name of that thing too..."  They went silent for a while, as Dash closed her eyes and Jason looked around slowly.  

"How long do foals usually stay with their parents?"  He asked.

"I dunno, you're talking about Scoots?"

"Yeah, as much as I didn't really want to be changing diapers and stuff, she's already so old, I don't want her to leave."

"We've got at least five years until she's legally allowed to get her own place, it's not that bad."

"We've already missed so much though, and it's only been a month and a half."

"It was a good month, all in all."  She said.  "I think they're alive, by the way.  Tank and Eravel and the others.  You know how many griffins it would take to even knock down one member?"

"I know, but Tank was already hurt, and even if they survived a falling building, they'd only end up more hurt.  Our only hope is that they got to that buggy quickly and still think I'm under Nightmare's control.  That way they'd rush out here, and hopefully...  Well, that's all I have in terms of optimism."

"At least act happier until we know what became of them, okay?  We're back in Ponyville, we should at least make the most of it."

"Always you with the best case scenario, hmm?"  He asked with a smirk, poking her with a hoof.  "I'm not sure what I'd be without you."

"Probably a depressed mess."  She replied with a giggle.  "Although I guess I wouldn't stay grounded."  Jason snickered and pulled her closer for a moment, breathing hot air down her back before he moved to get up, stretching himself out off the side of the bed.

"We should go say hi to Ferris."  He said.  "Probably Lyra and Bon Bon as well, maybe see about Octavia.  Our stuff might get here today, although it's probably pretty late.

"And we never got lunch."  Dash pointed out.

"Yeah.  I miss getting hungry."  He paused.  "For food, I mean.  It sucks when I'm running out of love."

"Like that ever happens with me around."

"After I came back to save you, I remember feeling unbelievably hungry after I cast that last spell, even with Scoots and my other friends around."

"Well you had to learn a lot of spells.  I still feel a little guilty, making you go through all that."

"Oh shush, you do way more for me anyway."  He touched the wing around his neck.  "Like this."  Jason paused.  "Now come on, let's get something done."

"I guess I'll just skip the lazy talk with you then."  Dash replied with a smile, getting up and following him outside.  "We'll have to pick up Scoots later though."  Her stomach grumbled angrily.  "And buy some food for here, I think that's why we went for breakfast anyway."

"Heh, yeah."  He trotted out of the room after her, feeling the clouds under his hooves as he descended the stairs.  "I wish there were easier ways to express love as an equine thing."

"Like how?"

"Well we had hands free all the time, we didn't need them to walk."  Jason said as they took off, gliding over the town.  "So doing things was easier.  I'm still not confident in my control of magic to do any more than lift you, even though that sounds like it should be the hardest thing."

"What did you do?"

"Well we held hands, and I'm pretty sure if I caressed you with a hand it'd feel better.  Fingers are dextral little things."

"Maybe we'll have to find a spell that turns you back for a while."

"They don't have anything like that, humans are hardly even known around here."  She giggled and landed, her hooves making a rather loud clop on the paving stones.  "Magic can do a lot of weird things."

"Besides going back in time, they all pretty much follow the laws of physics."  He paused, pushing open the blacksmith door.  "Maybe teleportation, but I'm not sure."  Jason took a breath.  "Ferris!  You in here?!"

"Wha?  Jason!  How's it going?"  The blacksmith asked, walking out of the back room with a thick coat of soot.  "I read a whole bunch of articles about you in the newspaper while you were gone, there were a few nice shots of my handiwork in there!"

"Those were really good knives by the way, way better than what we used to have."

"And she seemed to have liked the ring."  The old stallion replied, pointing at Dash, who blushed slightly in turn.  "I figured as much."

"It is really nice."  Dash replied softly.

"I actually came here to pay you as well; I don't like having debts for much longer than I have to."

"Oh yeah, I have that, hold on."  He reached under the counter and pulled out a page, passing it over to Jason.  He pulled it out of Dash's view before she could see it, as his jaw dropped at the numbers.

"What?"  He asked, to no one in particular.
> Conversations and Comrades
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Conversations and Comrades


"Having trouble with the number?"  Ferris asked.

"Having trouble counting this many zeros."  Jason replied.

"Okay, well this is your actual bill."  Ferris replied, chuckling as he handed Jason a new piece of paper.  

"God dammit Ferris."  Jason said angrily, grasping the new page.  "Ah, I can pay this.  I figured it'd be higher, a hundred fifty bits isn't that much.  Considering."

"A hundred fifty!"  Dash exclaimed, looking flabbergasted.

"Well he made all the bullets by hoof, and the bombs, and the ring."

"Yeah, okay.  I guess I can see that."

"I figured with all the defense contracts I got, just for blades alone, it's a little discount I'm giving you.  I'd be happy to give you a commission if you'd let me market those explosives."

"I can get you a contract, but nothing goes without my say so.  Or hers."  He finished, pointing to Dash.  "I don't want any of this leaking to criminals.  I'm fine with guns going around so long as there's free access, I can't stop bad guys from getting those forever.  But I just want to keep everyone on equal ground."

"Besides the griffins?"  Ferris asked back, his old face wrinkling as he grinned.  

"Yeah, but we've pulled in all that territory now, for better or for worse."

"So we'll have immigrants?"  He asked, his grin growing.

"Why's that make you so happy?"  Dash asked.

"They've got a new body shape, it should be easy enough to make a new market of weapons, even as my biggest sales die out with the war."

"Do you have kids?"  Dash asked.

"I did, they've moved out a long time ago.  Wife died ten years back, unfortunately."  He sighed.  "But I guess that's the way things go, right?"

"Yeah, exactly."  Jason replied, looking guilty.  Ferris reached over and tapped the paper, making him jump.  

"So just get this to me whenever, and see about that contract.  It's a pleasure doing business with you."

Jason chuckled.  "It's always good to meet a die hard capitalist like you, immediately seeing a new market in the new population."

"Bigotry's expensive."  He replied with a shrug, and they all shared a laugh.  "So when's the wedding, if you have it set up?"

"Wish I could say we did."  Dash said with a slight blush.  "Pinkie said she'd do it, and so long as it isn't all pink and stuff I'm fine with that.  But I dunno, I'm stuck between wanting to plan all that and just laying around."

"I know the feeling."  The blacksmith replied, accenting the end of his sentence with a cough and a puff of soot.  "So should I wear my one and only tux?"

"Are you trying to invite yourself?  What is this?"  Dash asked, laughing as she poked his neck.  "But yeah, you'd definitely be invited."

"I can't tell you how nice it's been, knowing you."  Jason said.  "You've made everything go a lot smoother, that's for damn sure."

"I'm just glad to help.  Back when I was an older colt, I had a problem a lot like yours.  My wife wasn't a changeling, but the races didn't always get along, and it hasn't been that long since they have.  A Pegasus with an earth pony like her...  Well you can imagine I didn't want to let any of my family know.  And the same with hers.  It wasn't some romantic run away crap though, just a secret that stayed through almost a year before I took a job as an apprentice to a blacksmith, and as soon as I got my own smith I paid her way out here."

"Huh, I didn't know things were like that around here."

"I'm sure you had your race problems."

"Well yeah, but those were more grounded, I guess.  I mean, you've always had your benevolent leaders, that should've ruled something like that out, but we really didn't."  He paused.  "Anyway, I'll get that to you today or tomorrow, alright?"

"Or later, I don't need the money all that much."

"Well I still don't feel good owing money."  He said, turning to leave.  Dash bid another goodbye before exiting and nudging Jason in the side impatiently.  

"Food."  She said, pointing down the street towards the market.  "I want food."

"Dash hungry!  Me fix problem!"  Jason laughed back, making her blush.  "Come on."  He broke into a trot, walking down the street and into the market square.  "I'm not sure what you want, so..."  He tossed her a few bits.  "I'll just sit over...there."

"You want something?"

"If you can find some red meat, sure."  He replied.  "I can't tell you how much I miss that."

"Shrimp sound alright?"

"I guess.  Nothing's greasy, that's the other problem."  Jason finished, walking over to a bench and letting himself fall backwards onto the wooden surface.  He looked around at the crowd, watching Dash's prismatic mane bob around from stall to stall.

"Hey Jason!"  Octavia exclaimed, sliding onto the bench next to him.  "How come you're not...disguised?"

"I dunno, I'm kinda sick of it.  I know I should, but- I feel like I shouldn't have to, I guess."  He sighed.  "So how have things been for you?"

"Well, I performed in Canterlot after they rebuilt the concert hall, for the grand reopening.  You have a lot of statues there, it was pretty cool.  Apparently they think you're pretty darn important over there."

"Yeah, it's nice.  It seems like as soon as ponies actually fight in the same army, opinions change in my favor.  I'm not sure what exactly they don't like, whether it's the brutality or just the changeling thing.  It's probably a little of both."

"You're pretty big, and covered in scars too."  The gray mare pointed out.  "So's Dash, actually.  How much did you get cut up?"

"Enough."  Jason replied, shrugging.  "I'm not sure how many griffins I've killed personally, but it's probably over two hundred, at least.  I'm not trying to brag, I didn't like doing it.  But on the same card, I didn't hesitate to make things bloody."

There was a long pause.  "How much did it change you?"  She asked, barely above a whisper.

"I'd like to say it didn't, but I still see it when I close my eyes.  And the habits might never go away, I've checked my back about a million times, and I'm always on edge, at least a little."

"Your friends are still gone, that could be why."

"It could be some of it.  But the stress on those missions, the burst of adrenaline from something as small as a breaking twig, it starts to get to you.  I'm not surprised one of the members of the other team went crazy.  But it's not like they had to deal with half the stuff we went through.  Well, most of us..."  He sighed.  "I'm sorry, you probably don't want to hear any of this."

"That's not it, I'd rather you had somepony to share all that with.  I know you have Dash, and she probably understands this a lot better than you do, but it's not like I don't know how you feel, at least a little.  Canterlot wasn't always such a safe city."

Jason looked up and smiled.  "Thanks."

"I'm back!"  Dash yelled, dropping a bag of food from her back.  "Hey Octavia."  She looked over at Jason.  "I already ate some stuff, so whatever you want to do now is fine.  I mean, we need to get this food back eventually, and you should probably eat the shrimp..."

"You want to come back to my house?"  Octavia asked.  "We could play something."

"I wish, but we left our instruments in- near the capitol."  Dash replied, squishing herself against Jason's other side.  

"It's no matter, I'd like to catch up, and it's not like I really know that much about either of you as it is."

"Ha, ya..."  Jason mused.  "Secrecy..."  Dash elbowed him in the side.  "I'm sorry, but everything's classified."  He got elbowed again.  "You have sharp elbows..."  He complained, rubbing his arm slightly.

"Yeah, well if you're going to eat this, I suggest you do it now."  She said, placing a bag on his lap.  "It's not like these things are totally fresh to begin with, this far from the coast."

"Are you sure they're safe?"

"Meh, you have a stomach of steel anyway.  If it's bad you can just throw it up."

"Is this a conversation you have regularly?"  Octavia asked, looking slightly disgusted as she stood up.  "You coming?"

"Sure."  Dash replied, pulling Jason to his hooves.  "You're heavy."

"So're you."  She frowned, and he chuckled.  "I never said you were fat, but running around like that for all this time's made you quite the muscle bound mare.  I like that."

"As long as I don't get too muscular, I guess."

"Why wouldn't you want to?"  Jason asked as they started to walk.  "It's not like it isn't just highlighting the beauty you already have."  She blushed.  "And you're nowhere near body builder proportions, I don't even think ponies can get that way.  But man, you should see some of the pictures of humans that got like that."  He let out a whistle.  "But anyway, I don't want a trophy wife, if I did I wouldn't have picked you.  If I even had a choice."

"Aww."  Dash said.

"God, that was supposed to be flirtatious?"  Octavia asked.  "Maybe you have been around that war too long."

"Shush, you're ruining the moment."  Dash whispered angrily, before she leaned over and pushed her muzzle against Jason's.  "By this point he's pretty much teased or flirted with me in every way possible."

He shrugged, vocalizing a chuckle.  "I try to be original."

"Hey Octavia!  Hey Jason!"  Lyra took a deep breath, that he could hear even though she was a ways away.  "Hey Dash!"

"Real smooth Lyra."  BonBon muttered, trotting over with the mint colored mare as she stuck out her tongue in response.  

"So what're you three doing?"  Lyra asked, none of her energy lost.

"I was going to invite them over, maybe chat for a while."  Octavia responded.  "You're free to tag along, if you want."

"Do you hear that, Bon Bon?  We get to go inside her house!"

"I had her test candy this morning."  Bon Bon explained.  "And this afternoon."  The other three nodded understandingly, before Octavia giggled and started trotting off again.

"You know, Evening acts a lot like you, Lyra."  Jason said.  

"That's kinda cool if she got it from me."  She responded, bouncing into the air before she resumed her normal trot.

It wasn't a long trip to Octavia's house, and as soon as they walked inside she herded them over to a circular table and said something about getting food before she left the room.

"Is this going to become another of my famous monologues?"  Jason asked, as his table mates shrugged.  "Too bad, I'm becoming fond of those."  He chuckled as Dash nudged into him, joining his laugh with a giggle of her own.  

"I think you just like to hear yourself talk."

"Now that's not it at all..."  He said, rifling through the bag and pulling out his seafood.  One quick taste bud change later, he started almost shoveling them into his mouth, for some reason not expecting a taste.  But there it was, slightly salty and chewy, with that sweet taste in the background.  "But god damn, I love these things."  

"You eat meat?"  Bon Bon asked.

"Yeah, where've you been?  Humans are omnivores, so beef, chicken, it's all in there somewhere."  He sighed.  "Oh man, it's so delicious.  And my favorite meat was pony meat."  He said, staring across the table as the mare stiffened.  "I kid of course.  Horses are more useful for moving people and as pack animals, although they don't have any degree of intelligence.  I feel like I've said this a lot."

"You have."  Dash confirmed, looking a little bored.  Or maybe tired, although her emotions said she was probably a little of both.

"So, ask away, I guess."

There was a fairly long silence.  "So what do you do for a job now?"  Bon Bon asked as Octavia walked back in, distributing glasses of water around.  

"We command troops on a broad scale, and we'll probably be taking part in peace talks in a couple days.  I guess we're on call if the military needs us, and I guess I can easily say that we're the best there is."

"Ooh, you're modest."  Lyra jibed.

"He's being serious, we really are."

"Probably somewhere around fifth in the chain of command of the nation as well.  So if Celestia, Shining, Luna, Cadence, and possibly Twilight go, we're right up there.  I'm not so sure about Twilight, I feel like she'd freak out over something small."

"That's pretty cool though!"  Lyra exclaimed.  "It's like you're royalty or something."

"Oh please, I'd rather get voted in."

"Huh?"  

"Oh yeah, you don't really elect any pony, do you?"  She still looked confused.  "Everybody casts a vote in my country, or at least everyone willing to go do that.  And through a system of semi-proportional electoral votes, people choose the president.  He could easily become a tyrant, so that's why the founders made the constitution, to protect rights of speech, to guns, and so on, along with the other two branches of government, which divide up the rest of the federal power.  Everything else goes to the fifty states."

"Well how's he supposed to do anything with all those checks?"  Lyra asked.  "He's not powerful that way!"

"I wouldn't say that."  Jason said with a chuckle.  "Equestria could technically be occupied legally, that's only a movement of troops.  But if you did something to tip us off, well, this place could be a smoking crater in a few hours.  Or we could fly robots over and only take out Celestia."

"Why would you want to do that?"  Octavia asked.

"I wouldn't, I'm just saying.  A robot is an inorganic thing that is able to think for itself to a degree, although soldiers behind televisions tell it to fire and stuff."

"How does that even work?"  Lyra asked.

Jason shrugged.  "It's all classified, I can't know for sure."  He ate another shrimp.

"Hey, how do you eat meat as a human?"  The aquamarine mare continued, gesturing to his food.

"I guess I chew it?"

"No, I mean... do you just rip it off the bone?"

"Oh, no, not at all.  Ranches raise cattle, then they get slaughtered and chopped up, after they're dead for the record, and then you just go to a supermarket and buy some stuff.  Pretty much everything gets used in the long run, and that's kinda cool.  The thing about giant businesses is that byproducts start to bring in pretty large amounts of money, and competition forces those same businesses to research making things from the whole cow, or chicken, or whatever."

"But how do you-"

"Oh yeah, forks and knives.  And we cook it, by the way."

"Ah."

"He gave me some beef jerky, and I have to say, it was pretty good."  Dash said, taking a sip of water as the other ponies stared.

"Why?"  Bon Bon asked.

"The cow was already dead, and Jason always talks about how he wants meat, so..."  There was a knock at the door, and Octavia got up.

"Just a moment!"  She yelled, looking like she was trying to figure out who would come before she opened the door.  Jason floated over Octavia's bass guitar from its place against the wall and set it on the table, tightening the amplifier wires as they bridged the distance.  

"Man, I want to play something."  Jason mumbled.  "So unbelievably badly."

"Yeah, me too."  Dash replied with a sigh, brushing a hoof across one of his ears.  "But hey, it'll be here soon, right?"

"Jason, Dash, somepony's here for you."  Octavia said, stepping back from the door.  Jason looked over and froze, his slight grin disappearing as he caught sight of the two guards at the door.

"Is there a problem?"  He asked, his mouth dry.  "I'm not going back this soon."

The pony seemed nervous, his armor clinking as he tried to reply.  "I-it's not that, but Flut-"  He looked at his buddy, whispering a few words.  "Fluttershy told us you'd be here."

"Okay..."  Dash urged, looking fairly white faced.

"So we left your stuff out in the town square."  

The other stallion stepped forward.  "Shining Armor said to tell you that he'd found a griffin named Sartos and a pony codenamed Hunter.  Everypony else is still MIA, but they had contact until four in the morning the day the king was killed."

Jason and Dash both let out competing sighs, as she bumped her hoof against his.  "Told you."  She said.

"Where are they now?"  Jason asked, trying to get the slight lump out of his throat as it formed.  

"In the army camp, as far as I know."

"Well then you're good to go."  Jason replied, watching the ponies retreat out the door.  There was a short silence, as Jason strummed at the bass.  "So, you wanna go play something Octavia?"

"Aren't you just going to come back here?"

"That implies that we'll need to wait longer."

"But, there're all the ponies there."

"So what?  You scared?"

"No!  I just-"  She sighed.  "Which ones?"

"You still got the songs I wrote out?"  He asked, watching her nod and disappear into another room.

"So more heavy metal?"  Dash queried, tapping her hooves on the table to a rhythm only she could hear.

"Actually, I had something different in mind.  It's not like I have to play that stuff all the time."

"Oh yeah, thanks again for playing that thing for us, you two."  Bon Bon said, smiling broadly.  "It made things a lot easier."

"It's not a big deal."  Dash replied,  "Seriously though, it wasn't."

"Whatever you say...  It still means a lot though." 

Octavia walked back in, thrusting a stack of papers into Jason's hooves as he picked up the amplifier in his magic.  "So... which ones?"

"Um..."  He walked over to the door, still shifting the pages around in front of his face.  "You want to get moving?  I can tell you when we get there."

"Can we come?"  Lyra asked, and Jason deadpanned.

"Of course you can."  He trotted out the door, pulling a sheet from the pile as he made the amp catch up, along with the bass and microphone.  It was funny, he'd never been this excited about anything besides getting home for a while, and he could swear he already felt the strings under his hoof.  He touched at the wing, still hanging around his neck as Dash caught up, nuzzling her head under his chin.

"Are you as excited as I am?"  She asked.  "I'm not sure why, but I really can't wait to do this."

"Yeah, same here."

"Well if it was anywhere near as awesome as before, I don't think you have anything to worry about!"  Lyra exclaimed, still clearly on her sugar high.  

"How much candy did you test?"  Octavia asked.

"Not... that much."  She said, suddenly looking guilty.

Jason chuckled, speeding up his pace.  "Whatever you say."

It wasn't a long trot to the square, where surely enough, the buggy had been set down, and still had several guards standing around, devoid of spears.  Jason waved to one of them, and he stepped aside to reveal the entrance.  Dash hopped inside, looking around for a few moments as Jason pulled out another two songs and handed them to Octavia.  

"That's our set, you practiced those, right?"

"Yeah, of course.  It was a little lonely without you or your fiancé around."  The gray mare replied, as Dash stuck out a hoof to signal that she wanted his help.  He looked inside and levitated out the amplifier and his guitar, pulling out the drums shortly after and setting them up.

"So, which songs?"  Dash asked, grabbing the papers from Octavia.  "Oh, thought you were going to play these eventually.

"Yeah."  He replied with a huge grin, plugging in his guitar.  "I really like the solos of the second two, not that the rest of the songs aren't bad themselves.  Now get on those drums, let's play some music."

"Oh, I'm way ahead of you."  She said, playing out a quick beat to test the drums, as Jason strummed his guitar, tuning one of the strings, as a short silence ensued.  Jason held down a few strings with his magic, taking a deep breath before he started to play the opening riff.



Jason watched with a goofy smile as the surrounding ponies stopped their tasks, becoming curious to the foreign sounding music.  And with how loud these amps were, the town square wasn't the only place within earshot.  Lyra seemed to be enjoying it, trying to mimic Jason's guitar playing with the air, while Bon Bon rolled her eyes.  

After a few minutes, the song came to an end, and Jason felt almost as if some stress had just lifted as he looked over a sea of exited faces.  Not that music hadn't already helped with stress.  He chuckled and smiled wider, gesturing to the others to get ready to start the next song. 

"Glad to see you ponies enjoyed it."  He said, pausing for a moment.  "Hope I can keep it up."  He continued as another opening riff rang out.



It surprised him that the words came so easily, that the notes could all be remembered like the words of a sentence or a mental picture.  He almost forgot about everything that still threatened his existence, all the pain and trials, something that he'd only been able to do when he felt safe in Dash's hooves.  

He looked over the crowd again, picking out those he knew, and watching Twilight stare, allowing herself a smile as she tapped her hoof against the ground.  Some ponies seemed to love the music, really appearing to get into their dancing and frolicking.  A fair number of others just looked on, and he knew that some may have left.  But it felt nice, all these ponies that didn't seem to hold a grudge.  

Jason caught sight of his daughter and Evening, followed by the other crusaders as he strummed out the opening notes of the guitar solo, watching her young eyes light up.  He really loved this guitar line, it had to be one of his favorites.  But all too soon, as if the song had been only a minute, the melody ended and the strings slowed their resonation.  

Cheering rang out as he trotted over to Dash, giving her an exited hoof-bump.  "Nice one."  He said, watching her nod with a slight giggle as Jason walked back over to the mic, almost buzzing with excitement.

"Did you like that last one?"  He asked, receiving a near-deafening cheer in return.  He chuckled.  "Alright, one more.  I don't usually dedicate songs, but this one's to my daughter."  Jason said, watching Scoots' eyes light up as she excitedly tapped at Applebloom.  Jason grinned and let out a slight chuckle, strumming the characteristic notes to the next song.  



Damn, that guitar solo.  It had to be another of his favorites.  Rarity was trying to say something, although Jason couldn't make it out over the crowd's noise.  He took a few steps forward and tilted his ear towards her mouth, as she tried again.

"Could I make a request?"

"You could, but I don't know any of the music around here."

"I just wanted to know if you had any love songs."  Jason was about to make a sarcastic response before he stopped, giving her a nod as he walked back to the others, grabbing the papers in his magic again.  "Change of plans!"  He yelled over the noise, louder than he had expected from the number of ponies present.  "We're doing this one."  

"But we haven't played that one all that much."  Dash said, although her expression didn't falter.  

"I think we can handle it.  Plus, it's a request."  He said with an overly exaggerated shrug, before he turned back around.  "Hopefully I can sing this one."  

"You're too hard on yourself about that, I'm sure it'll be fine."

"I guess we'll see."  Jason replied with a laugh.  "Alright, I was going to end it there, but I'm finishing with a different song, and taking the time to dedicate it to my fiancé, who's currently on the drums."  He watched Dash blush heavily, as a few ponies seemed a little taken aback.  He could care less, besides her reddened face, the sky blue mare seemed to enjoy the attention.  Not that he could tell from how she looked, but the emotions sure helped.  

"So without further ado, here goes nothing."  Jason said, altering a few dials on the amplifier and overdrive pedal, hoping that the song would come out generally how it sounded before.  There were only so many things he could do with a guitar.



As the song drew on, he realized that the vocals seemed to come more easily than he remembered, like he'd finally become relaxed enough to just let them fly.  Of course, his hoof was pretty much a slide by itself, so that made the solo fairly easy.  Apparently this body still had its advantages towards human technology.  

His eyes caught on a mare behind the crowd, staring straight at him as he finished the words to the song.  She was plastered with a mixture of gore and mud, and seemed to let out a heavy sigh as soon as her eyes met his.  

But Jason's reaction was the complete opposite.  It only took him a moment to see through the grime, focus on her fear and rage, know who it was directed towards.  He set down the guitar, leaning it on his amp as Dash gave him a quizzical look, before seeing the same pony he had.  The sound of drumsticks punctuated the air, even though the crowd's noise should have made those light sounds impossible to hear.  

Jason carefully pushed his way through the crowd, feeling Dash catch up, her emotions a slur as well.  As soon as he broke free the mare hit him, wrapping his neck in a hug.  

"Oh my god, I'm so glad that you're okay, both of you!"  She yelled, tears washing away the grime as they filtered down her cheeks, only to be joined by his own.

"Morning, thank god.  You're alive."  It took him a moment before he realized the obvious follow up question.  "Where are the others?"
> Irony
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Irony


"Morning, where are they?"  Jason asked, swiping a hoof in front of the mare's face.  

She retreated from her hug, leaving a fair amount of mud on the chests of Dash and Jason.  "They're out there, in the forest."  Morning replied, pointing.  "We need to get back, Tank's hurt real bad."  Another tear ran down her face.  "He got me out of that building, but-"  She choked back a sob.  "He broke a bunch of bones that way, and I don't know how to feel about it, I don't want him to die on my behalf."

"Yeah, I know how it feels."  Jason replied, as she gave him a quizzical look.  "I'll tell you everything, but we need to get our stuff.  We'll be back in a minute."  He transformed and took off towards their house, buffeting the ground with air and throwing up a fair amount of dust.  Dash easily passed him by, an obvious reminder of just how much quicker she was.  Usually when he saw her fly, he felt proud of her, ecstatic, even.  Jason loved watching her fly, doing what she was known for.  

But now, it was just a ghost of it's former glory, eclipsed by the clashing emotions that washed through his head.  Morning was alive, Tank was as well, the last time he was seen.  But he couldn't shake the feeling of dread, that either Tank was screwed, or that Eravel was still MIA, days after he'd disappeared.  	

Jason landed with a thud, sprinting inside the cloud house, into the living room where they'd stockpiled the guns and weapons.  He put on Dash's armor, followed by the ghillie suit, smiling slightly as he remembered his thoughts from when she died; that she'd never wear it again.  And yet here she was, standing in front of him in her almost full set.  

"Toss me the pistol."  She said, watching as it floated over and she secured it to her thigh, tying the riot shield to her back as well after putting on her saddlebag.  

Jason tied on her knives, putting on his own ghillie suit and strapping the AUG to his back.  He put on the belt of explosives and magazines, checking the one in his assault rifle to make sure that it had remained full.  Dash stuck on her MP helmet and lowered the visor, throwing her other camouflaged helmet to Jason as he quickly strapped it on.

"We good?"  He asked, watching as she grabbed a few apples from the kitchen, probably the last of the food they had on hand. 

"Yeah, let's get this team back together."  She said, straightening the helmet and giving her wings an experimental flap.  They stared for a moment, before Jason walked over and kissed her, feeling Dash hum into his mouth.  "I love you."  She said as he broke the kiss, a goofy grin spreading across his features.  

"Love you too."  He replied, giving her a peck on the cheek.  "And plus, this is just the Everfree.  After all the griffins, we can take that on."

"I hate to say this, but you're probably right."

"Plus, we lived there before, I think we can go in there safely."  

"Yeah."  She replied, looking around for a moment before she galloped through the door and took off, checking that Jason had followed before diving and gaining speed, accelerating right up until she got back to the partially dissipated crowd and landed next to her fellow soldier.  Jason followed with a thump, throwing off his disguise as he noticed the other faces that had gathered around.

"You're leaving already?"  Lyra asked, looking somewhat scared.

"We'll be back soon, okay?  These aren't just soldiers, they're the best, and they're my friends."  He said.  "As long as you're sure you can defend yourself you're welcome to tag along, but I wouldn't recommend it."  None of them seemed to take to the proposition, which was probably a good thing.

"But dad, I don't want you to leave!"  Scoots yelled, nudging her way in between Fluttershy and Rarity.  He scooped her up, placing the foal on the top of his head as a quiet 'aww' went around.

"Why don't we just bring her?"  He asked Dash, who went to reply, before she stopped herself.

"Yeah, she was in the Everfree with us for a while already, right?  And we're better armed this time around."

"She knows how to fight, right?  At least a little?"  Jason asked.

"I taught her, so..."  Dash replied, smiling at the filly.  

"And she can fly, so that's pretty much everything."  He finished.

"You're seriously thinking of taking her?!"  Rarity exclaimed.  "I would never allow Sweetie to do something so dangerous."

"It's not dangerous, the forest is pretty clear of stuff."  He replied, tapping the filly on his head with a hoof.  "And she got through it all by herself following us, I'm pretty sure she has some survival instincts of her own, besides the fact that she's got three of the best to protect her."

"And Everfree predators don't tend to travel in groups.  Besides the Timberwolves I guess, but that's why we have guns,"  she said with a grin, tapping the holster on her thigh.  "You'd be surprised, the stopping power of just a few ounces of lead.  It's like magic, almost.  Just point and bang, injury.  So maybe it's not that much like magic."

"Can we get going?"  Morning urged, one of her wings flopping on her side.

"What's with your wing?"  Dash asked, looking rather concerned.

"I dunno, broken, maybe?  It's been like that for a few days; it stopped hurting so I left it alone.  But if you could fix it..."  She trailed off, cringing as Jason lifted the wingtip with a hoof, pushing it out from her body until it got stuck, refusing to move any further.  He paused, releasing the tension as he tried to diagnose the problem.

"How much do you want this fixed?"  Jason asked after a few moments of silence. 

"Is it bad?"  

"It fused above the joint here, it's nowhere near healed, but I'll need to re-break it while it's fresh, otherwise it'll be a lot harder to fix later when it could break somewhere else."

"Fine."  Morning replied, rolling onto her back and stretching out the wing as far as it went.  "Do it."  A few gasps circulated around, while Jason put Scoots back down and checked the break again, tapping his hoof a few times to check his mark, before he carefully laid a hoof on the outer part of the wing, pulling his other hoof back and striking at the break.  It was an audible crack as the wing fell flat on the ground with a soft whoosh, and a pained whimper escaped her mouth, quickly turning into a long moan as Jason started to mend the bone, reshaping it as best he could.

Rarity made a few noises that made him think she was about to throw up before she trotted away and the bone straightened the rest of the way, healing itself up.  Morning flexed the limb after a few moments, flapping it heavily before folding it back against her side.  

"Better?"  Jason asked, pulling the mare to her hooves.

"Yeah."  She replied, stroking along the muddy feathers.  "I was getting worried that it might not work anymore."

"How did you know how to do that?"  Twilight asked, touching the wing experimentally.  

"I just guessed."  He replied, shrugging.  "I mean, what am I supposed to do, not fix it?"

"You could've made it worse!"

"Yeah, but unlike you, I have second and third chances.  I'm not saying I don't want to get it right, but I have a lot of wiggle room."  Twilight face hoofed, and Jason heard Dash giggle behind him as he lifted Scoots back onto his head.  

"Finally ready to go?"  Morning asked, back to her impatient moving, although she at least looked happier than before.  

They both nodded.  "There's no going back for stuff, so we may as well check that we have everything.  And yeah, let's set off.  Evening, don't get into trouble while I'm gone, okay?"  The filly nodded and Jason resolutely turned towards the forest with the others, checking himself over once more before breaking into a gallop down the partially overgrown path that Morning had come from.

"How far are they?"  Jason asked, turning to the mare as she caught up.

"A ways, I'm not really sure.  I just know where to go."  They lapsed into silence, before Dash eventually spoke back up. 

"So what happened?  Why are you downed in the forest like this?"

Morning peered over and sighed, pausing a moment to hop over a fallen log.  Jason jumped as well, hearing a giggle from Scoots as she bobbed around on his head.  "We took almost a whole day just to get out of the city with Tank like he was, then we took a buggy that somepony left on the outskirts, and loaded him inside.  Steve got in as well, and I got myself all reigned up."

She sighed again, drooping her head.  "But a bunch of griffins followed us, or at least too many for use to shoot down before they cut a few wires.  I broke my wing when we landed, and Steve took out the last few, I think.  Wings aren't fun to break."  She finished, rather matter-of-factly.  

"So Steve's still fine?"  Dash asked.

"He should be, but that was another day ago."  Morning responded.

"So why did you go out, into the forest like this?  Wouldn't Steve be better at fighting?"

"Yeah, but I can run from things, Steve has to defend somepony."  A tear flopped off her face as her head bobbed again, splattering under her feet.  "But I wish I could be the one there."  She said quietly, her voice wavering.

"I know how you feel."  Jason replied, his own voice low.

"What the hell happened back here?"  She asked, slowing her pace ever so slightly and making a turn into a more overgrown part of the forest.

"She died when they used the elements, I had to go back in time and keep her from dying."

"Huh?"

"Pretty cool, huh?"  Scoots asked, squeezing a hoof around Jason's horn more tightly.  One of Jason's legs slackened and he stumbled, stuttering slightly.  

"S-Scoots, don't mess with my horn!"

"Does it hurt?"

"No, it just-  don't do it, okay?"

"Can I still hold onto it like before?"

"So long as you don't shift positions too much."  He replied.  Dash was wearing a rather sultry expression, which he wasn't sure he liked, given the circumstances.  "Do you always need to be suggestive, Dash?"

"I get bored.  And it's fun, getting you all flustered, even if you're good at not showing it."  She replied, giggling as they galloped along.  Jason tried to formulate a reply as a pressure hit him in the side, throwing him and Scoots through the trees as a claw dug into his chitin.  Jason grabbed the filly out of the air, kicking at the wolf that had attacked him before forming a protective ball around her, rolling a fair distance through a clearing.  

"Fly up there Scoots."  He whispered into the filly's ear before tossing her upwards, starting to get to his hooves before going flat again, watching the wolf sail over.  Jason rolled to his hooves, lunging and burying his knife into the wolf's neck in a smooth motion.  He held it there as the animal pawed at him weakly, catching slightly on the ghillie suit.

The body went limp the rest of the way and he levitated it up, pushing through the rather bright blue flowers as he retreated towards Dash and Evening.

"Thanks for all the help, guys."  He said sarcastically, glaring between them as Scoots gently landed back on his head and he touched at the filly to make sure she was actually there.

"We couldn't follow you, that's poison joke, Jason!"  Dash yelled back, gesturing wildly towards the flowers.

"Poison oak?"

"No, it's like a plant that does something ironic to you.  Me and my friends all got it."

"Huh.  Must've never seen that ep-"  He paused.  "How ironic?"

"It shrank Applejack to like... she could fit on my hoof, probably."

"Oh..."  He sighed.  "It only affects me then?"

"Yeah."  Dash said, beginning to walk again.

"How ironic could it possibly be, I mean, it could ironically make things better, but seriously, short of turning me into a real pony, that's not possible."

"Don't underestimate that stuff, as soon as we're done with this we'll have to go to Zecora and get you cured."

"I'm a man, I can take it."

"Now wouldn't that be ironic, turning you into a mare?"  Morning asked, spurring a giggle from Scoots and Dash.

"Oh, so terrible.  It's not all that bad, I've been a mare before."

"You say that now, mister masculine."  Dash replied with a smirk.  

"Oh shush, I'm secure."  He replied with a chuckle, a laugh that quickly died in his throat as he came to another clearing.

"Huh, well this wasn't here yesterday."  Morning said, gesturing to the small cargo plane that was split into two pieces.  She stared a moment before sprinting off, wildly yelling Tank's name as she appeared to finally lose her resolve.  She looked in the smaller tail section before Steve's voice emanated out of the other side, and she sprinted inside.  Jason quickly followed, feeling his stomach turn as Tank came into view.  

"Oh my god."  He said, looking down at the pony.  Tank was swollen nearly everywhere, from the obvious leg breaks to a few ribs and other deep bruises.  He was almost afraid to see what it looked like, partially because of the guilt that still hadn't gone away.  Why hadn't he been quicker to get here?  Maybe he was still under the impression that Tank was invincible, given all the punishment he could take.

In any case, the splints partially holding him together had kept the bones straight, and it wasn't hard to heal them up, melding his skeleton back together.  That was the easy part, but as Jason moved closer to his head, things weren't well.  A few bumps and jars, that was easy enough.  But he could only fix cursory parts of the brain, the areas that he could tell were hurt the worst.  Not that it was that bad, maybe a particularly hard fall or collision.  Anything in the healed areas that wasn't there in it's near original form, memories and experiences, could be lost.  Jason pulled himself out of his task, looking down at the pony again as his breathing became deeper.

"I'm going to warn you now, he may have problems remembering things, but that shouldn't be anything big.  So he's not going to wake up and be like 'Morning who?' or anything like that."

Morning snuggled up closer to his body, happily wrapping her hooves as far as they would go around his chest.  "As long as I get to hear his voice again."

Steve smiled slightly, tapping his hoof on the bottom of the plane.  "So what is this thing?"

"This, my dear ponies, is a small cargo plane."  He slid open the door to the cockpit, which was already partially ajar.  "And it's empty, which is weird, considering I figured this meant other humans would come over."

"So there's more human stuff in here?"  Dash asked, looking around at the boxes, many of which had slid to one side.

"Yeah, but we can go through all that in the morning.  It's getting dark, and I don't want to try to move back through the forest with Scoots and Tank, while he's still knocked out like this."

"Tired from all that?"

"More than you'd expect."  He replied, shedding his gear and slumping against  the curved wall.  "I got used to bone stuff, but the hardest think I ever did was when I tried to fix your head that one time."  He levitated out the spare blanket he kept in his saddlebag, smiling as Scoots laid against him, giggling as he put an arm over her back.  "Come on, Dash."  He said, yawning.

"Hold on, you think I want to sleep in this stuff?"

"You've tried before."  He replied, smirking as a piece of armor hit his face.

"So what?  I like to sleep!"  Dash tossed her spare blanket over to the other three, giving Steve a nod as he jokingly saluted.  She flopped down as well, drawing a hoof through the filly's mane gently before she placed her head on Jason's shoulder, still looking at the filly as she started to drift off.  Maybe she was more tired than she thought...

"I'll get first watch, alright?"  Steve asked, moving down the plane with a spear.  Jason mumbled something in response, although the second half of his sentence was lost as he fell asleep.


_____________________________________________________________________


Dash opened her eyes again, encountering a scenario she seemed to recognize, although it still looked strange.  Jason walked by, looking up at the stars.  

"What's going on, Jason?"  She asked, watching Scoots filter in next to her.

He shrugged, as her friends and her faded in, along with the princesses and himself.  "Well, this is either the first time where you died, or the second time where you didn't."

The elements flared up as a bolt of lightning arced across the ground, followed by a ball that nearly blended into the bright light.  Another Jason popped out with the shield, running through the same events at ridiculous speed.  So that's how fast he went...

"What?"  Dash said, her eyes flitting around to follow the slight shadow.

"Time spell.  Pretty cool, huh?"

"Yeah, you could say that..."

Jason started to disappear, and he poked a hoof into his body to check that he was still there.  "I think I'm waking up."

"There's no way it's morning yet, right?"

"No, maybe it's my watch?"  He asked, not hearing a response as he became conscious to Steve's hoof in his face.  Jason groaned slightly, feeling Dash and Scoots stir slightly against him as he got up, grabbing his gun and moving down the plane.  He leaned back against a crate, propping the gun up on his knee as he stared outside.  His hoof felt a little strange, he realized offhandedly.  

Jason yawned, swiveling across the grass.  Maybe he fell asleep at some point, but he was awake when Morning tapped him, and he slowly moved back to the bed after halfheartedly telling her to go back to sleep and struggling to get up.  He pulled himself next to Dash and passed out almost immediately in his fatigue, something he almost never seemed to do.


___________________________________________________________________


Jason woke up with a slight start, swiveling his head to look at the light streaming in through the cracked windshield.  He rewet his mouth and looked down at Dash and Scoots, asleep a ways further down the wall than he remembered.  He let his head fall back against the wall, letting a quiet, low clang ring out. 

It took him a few minutes to decide to move, although actually putting it into practice was going to be hard.  He scratched his leg, shifting it slightly as his fingers left little red marks.  Jason's brain turned his head towards one of the boxes before he finally looked back down, examining the nearly complete, four fingered right hand he was used to seeing before all this had come to pass.  

Jason wet his lips again, pulling the blanket off himself the rest of the way as he lifted up his other hand and sighed.  More complexity, with the one thing he wanted to hide.

"Yup.  This is ironic."
> Frustration
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Frustration


"Fucking shit plant..."  Jason muttered, looking at the his hands, most of his pointer finger still gone between his hand and the first knuckle.  How did poison joke work anyway?  How could it know he looked like this?  

Jason caught his reflection in a smudged metal plate against one of the boxes, jumping as blue eyes stared back at him.  He had green eyes, so at least it wasn't perfect.  Did he have green eyes?  Yeah, he thought so.  Pretty sure.  God dammit, these were his eyes, and he couldn't even remember.

He leaned back against the wall, shivering at the cold metal and trying to remember if he knew how to walk.  He must, over twenty years of that under his belt.  Heh, literally.  Eventually Jason pushed himself to his feet, gripping the frame of a shelf tightly as he took a few steps and admiring his muscled hand.  After all this, walking wasn't hard, actually.  He'd been tempted to try walking on his hands and feet, but with the less than silent noises of his feet on the ice cold metal he didn't want to take chances.

Jason pulled a couple things off a shelf, looking for... he wasn't sure, really.  Pants?  He was getting pretty cold, and looking down, didn't really fancy having things flop around with how much running he did.  Jason cringed slightly at the thought.  But besides that, having his junk at head level...

Bingo.  He pulled down a suitcase, staring at the combination lock for a moment before he decided to stare instead at a hammer, picking it up with his hand and swinging it into the lock.  After all this, he still remembered how to control his fingers.  Not that he figured he wouldn't, he could still kinda feel them even when they were gone, like little ghost appendages.  The lock broke open as someone stirred, and he quickly opened the lid, finding a fairly large amount of dress clothes, which he threw aside, looking for something that he would actually want to wear.  Ah, army stuff, that worked.  Maybe it was just army surplus, but still.  Something that wouldn't fall apart.

Jason grabbed what he hoped was a clean pair of boxers, sliding them on with the pants and trying to warm up as he stuck his fingers into his armpits.  This plane was freezing.  He couldn't even feel his toes anymore, although he immediately felt warmer from the pants, and quickly threw on a shirt and coat as well.

"Wha...?"  He heard, and turned to find Scoots, much smaller in relation to his size, staring like there was no tomorrow.  "What are you?"

"You know the poison joke?"  He asked.  "It turned me into a human."  Jason finished, watching her face turn from fear to curiosity.  Without any warning, Scoots fluttered up to his chest and he caught her, stumbling backwards into a shelf.  "How good do you think I am at walking after all this stuff on all fours?"  He asked, slightly surprised that he could still feel the emotions coming off of her.  So apparently the plant only went so far?

"You seem to be doing alright."  She replied, nuzzling into his chest.  "But you look weird, why are your eyes so small, and how come you have little fingers on your feet?"

"I dunno, that's what humans look like, I guess."

"So can you still do magic?"

"Normal humans can't, but I don't think I'm fully human anyway..."  He stretched out a hand, imagining that he'd be able to do some sort of force...thing.  But all that happened to the cup he aimed at was a slight jiggle.  "I guess that's a big negative, dammit."  A tiny hoof swept across his face, tickling his skin with the soft fur.

"You're so smooth."  She whispered.

"What the hell!?"  Dash yelled, "Scoots, what are you doing?!  Get away from there!"  Jason quickly set the foal down, brushing a finger against the tip of one of her ears as he slightly shakily stood back up.  "You've got five seconds to explain why you were anywhere near my daughter!"

"Uh, well, I guess I should say that I'm Jason, and this is the effect of the poison joke."

Dash stared, causing him to chuckle as her mouth went slightly ajar.  She backed up to get a better angle, craning her neck before she jumped into the air, coming in at head level and tilting her head.  "You're sure you're him?"  She asked, before she flew forward and bumped him against a rack, throwing his eyes wide as she pressed her muzzle against his mouth.  She pulled back a few seconds later, smiling at his surprise.  "Yeah, you're him."

"Why would you think it was a good idea to kiss someone if you weren't sure?  I could've, I dunno, retaliated?"

"Yeah, but I like watching you blush, and the hive mind still seems to be working."  Dash landed back on the ground.  "When you said how tall humans were though, I never thought it'd be this tall."

Jason knelt down.  "There, better?"

"I guess."  She replied, putting her hooves around him in a hug.  "You aren't planning to stay like this, right?"

"Don't like it already, huh?"  He asked with a chuckle.

"No, but you can't exactly fly, so that defeats the purpose of having a cloud house."  She shrugged, shivering slightly.  "You do look kinda weird though."

"Oh, thanks a lot."

"So, why the clothes?"  Dash asked, pulling at a camo pant leg.

"I got cold.  I don't have fur anymore, or chitin or whatever."  He paused.  "Or magic, or the ability to fly."  He tried shifting into another human, but nothing happened.  "Or shape shifting, for that matter."

"But you do have hands."  She said, reaching a hoof out and pushing it into his palm.  He idly wrapped his fingers around it, making her giggle slightly.  "Still remember how those work, huh?"

"You never really forget, I guess.  Walking is a little weird, but you know...."

"Heh, it's like four little tentacles!"  She looked between his hands, staring more closely at the shorter, scarred finger.  "Why's this shorter?"

"It got shot off, back when my parents were killed and everything."  He stood up again and gave her mane a quick stroke, which she seemed to like.  "I couldn't see much of my reflection besides the fact that my eyes changed color, It kinda makes me wonder if that's the only thing that got screwed up."

He felt a pant leg get pulled up slightly, as Scoots prodded at his ankle.  "Hey, you have fur!  And little blobs sticking off this foot."  

Jason looked down.  "What do you mean, this foot?"

"You only have them on one..."  Scoots replied, showing him the other foot with its missing toes.  

"God damn, that's got to fucking be from that torture."  He swore some more under his breath, realizing that the absence of a second big toe would just make walking harder.

"At least you have fur, right?"  The foal asked, brushing the rough fur of his leg with a hoof.

"Pfft, hardly."  He pulled up the pant leg to his knee, nearly losing his balance again as he pushed the thoughts from his mind.  "It's nowhere near what you have.  Now, back to what I was looking for..."  Jason stood back up, taking a few disorganized steps past the shelves of the plane, getting closer to where Steve and the others were.  He didn't notice immediately as he grabbed a sheet of aluminum from the floor, leaving a slight cut in a finger as he leaned it against a wall, taking a step back.  

Jason felt his legs move out from under him, and he stuck out an arm to break his fall as he landed on his side, looking for the culprit before he pulled himself to all fours.  It took him a moment to realize that he was in that pose, and with a sigh rose to full height, looking at Morning.

"What the fuck are you?"  She asked, her voice low as she stood protectively in front of Tank.  Steve was looking on wide eyed, probably figuring that if things went south he could intervene.  

"It's Jason, Morning!"  Dash yelled, coming around the corner quickly.  "It's the poison joke!"

"Huh- what?!"  She looked him over, mumbling to herself.  "Why's she got the ring?"  The mare asked after a few moments of silence.

"I proposed to her after I went back in time to bring her back to life."

"Okay then."  She said, knocking the spear she'd been about to pick up a few feet away.  "So you're a giant now?"

"Human, giant..."  He mimicked a scale.  "I'm only a little above average on height."  Jason looked back at the 'mirror', which was only slightly distorting his reflection, and jumped a little.  It hardly looked like him, but it had to be, the face was just too similar minus the scars and eyes.

"Is it what you looked like?  I mean, the dreams where you were human always changed our appearances slightly."  Dash said, dragging a hoof along the metal floor.

"I guess, minus the fact that I look like the white version of the Old Spice guy."

"Huh?"

"I'm muscular now, I've never been this ripped before..."  He said, taking off the rough shirt and looking down.  "Wow..."

"So what do these do?"  She asked, pointing at a bicep.

"Curls and stuff."  He said, still preoccupied with his reflection.  "It's like I just took a bunch of steroids."  Jason turned back around, kneeling at their level.  "Anyway, onto my second thing to do..."  He started, dawning a mischievous expression.

"What are you going to- ooooooohhh."  Dash said as he scratched at her behind an ear, feeling her push into his palm.

"Another nice thing about fingers."  He said with a chuckle.  "Ben's cat really liked that, I figured maybe you would too."

"You need to make something that mimics these things."  She said, letting out a sigh as he continued.  

"Hey, do me!"  Scoots yelled, hopping around.

"God, twenty minutes with hands, and this is what happens."  He sat cross legged, picking Scoots up and setting her in his lap.  "And man you're light."  Jason continued, as she flopped down against his thighs, wiggling against his pants to get comfortable.  "And cute."

Morning looked on with a slight bit of confusion as Jason scratched at the other two ponies.  "Is there something I'm missing here?"

"How it feels..."  Dash mumbled, lying on her side and resting her head against Jason's hip.  "This is way better than hooves."

"Yeah, I'm a little jealous."  Jason replied, scooting himself back an inch to lean against the wall.  "You've got cuteness on my race any day though.  Not so sure about other things, but you have that."

"Is that why you're engaged to me?"  Dash asked, chuckling lightly.

"No, you're beautiful and all, but I would've had trouble if you weren't so smart.  It's not like I don't like dumb people, but as a comedian or something once said, 'you can't fix stupid.'  But of course, I don't have to worry about fixing anything."

"You have the most long winded comments."  Her ear flicked against his fingertip jokingly.  "Oh, these things are so nice."

"I think we should probably get Tank back, don't you think?"  Morning asked, beginning to pack her stuff up.  "I know you're all cool and human now, but we seriously should get him to a hospital anyway."

"How's he looking?"

"Better, he's breathing a lot more deeply anyway."

"Fine, here's what we'll do."  Jason paused.  "I'll go with Dash and get this cleared up, get myself back to normal.  You three, get Tank to the hospital, and we'll work stuff out from there.  Where did you come from, Steve?  Before the war."

"Ponyville, actually.  Funny how things seem to circle around eventually, huh?"

"I guess it's not surprising, considering you were in Canterlot."

"Some vacation, huh?"  Steve asked, getting his own stuff together.

"Yeah, I'd say.  But then again, I would still be a wanted criminal."  He chuckled.  "I don't get paid enough for all this stuff."

"You remember that vacation that we talked about a while ago?"  Dash asked, picking herself up from the floor and glancing downwards with a slightly pained look.  "We should take that, go to the mountains or Manehattan or something."

"I'd like to go back, really.  Back to Earth, show you around there.  I know we'd still have to hide out and all, but-  I dunno, it still sounds kinda bad.  Fuck."  

"It'll pass eventually, Jason."

"That's what's funny, I don't think it will.  We've put our lives on the line countless times, and I hardly even get a nod of respect.  I'm not saying that's what I want, but for once, I feel like they should contain their distaste.  I don't want to be transformed all the time, I'm sick of hiding who I am more than I have to."

He felt hooves wrap around his chest as a tear slipped down his cheek.  "It's just so annoying, and I can't fix it.  I destroyed the order of nature to keep you from dying and I can't even control public opinion."  He let out a pained sob, only growing more angry.  "I can't even hold myself together anymore."

Everyone stayed silent, staring at Jason as he tried to regain his composure.  "Fuck this shit..."  He mumbled, shaking his head.  "It's funny how this place is supposed to be all happy and shit, what a bunch of fucking idiots."  Jason got up and untangled Dash's limbs from his body before turning and kicking an empty bucket across the floor with his toeless foot.  He only felt more rage at the missing appendages, and quickly ran down the isle yelling, tripping several times before he exited the plane.

"Dash, is he gonna be okay?"  Scoots asked after a few moments had passed, looking up at the sky blue mare.

"I'm sure he'll get whatever it is out of his system soon enough."  She said, thankful that her fur could disguise the paleness of her face.  

"Fuuuuuuck!"  Jason yelled from outside, as the audible cracks of a tree branch tearing from a trunk filtered inside.  The wolf body landed in front of the plane's entrance, somehow uneaten overnight.

"I'm going out there."  Dash said, rising to her hooves.  "I think he's just working himself into a frenzy."  She hesitated for a moment before running through the gaping exit, shielding her eyes from the light until she caught sight of Jason, as he snapped a rather thick branch over his knee with a corresponding yell.  

Dash set her hooves, lowering her head and splaying her wings before she launched into the air, plowing into the small of his back.  They went rolling on the ground as she tried to pin him, getting on top for a moment.

"Jason, you-"  Her head cracked to the side as he... hit her in the cheek, knocking her to the side.  In the back of her mind, she felt something in the hive mind change, disappear almost.  He wasn't taking any of her love anymore, whether he actually lived off the stuff right now or not, and she was caught in between parts of her head.  

Common sense dictated for her to retaliate, punch him back for hitting his own fiancé.  Another part kept muttering that maybe she was wrong.  But she preferred to think optimistically, it'd always been her fortitude, whether she liked it or not.  Whether he'd punched her or not, it clearly hadn't been intentional, judging from the shaking form a few feet away.  Let him be, part of her mind said, he deserves it.  

But whatever she was thinking, she got up and walked the few feet between them anyway, looking down at the scarred face, with silent tears running down his face towards the ground.  He noticed her and averted his eyes, blinking as another set of tears slid downward.  "I just wreck everything huh?"  Jason asked, his voice sounding almost broken.  "I'm guessing that a sorry's hoping for too much."  

Dash rubbed her cheek, trying to think of something to say.  It hadn't been much of a blow, not compared to some of the stuff she'd felt.  "You know, if this was a normal relationship, and you did all this, maybe I'd be mad, and maybe I'd kick you out of the house."  His eyes shut tightly and she sighed.  "But it's not, you're not a normal guy, and we've hardly been through a normal set of months."

"Don't."  He said quietly.  "Don't just brush this off like some stupid thing, you always do that.  I may not have known it was you when I threw that punch, but the fact that I got that mad-  I don't expect you to forget it, and I know on some level you'll be afraid of it happening again, that at some point I'll threaten your life, or maybe Scoots'.  And what I've just done is put some doubt in the mind of the only pony that trusted me completely, the same one that I'll never be good enough for."

He felt a tear hit his cheek in the silence that ensued, before a heavy blow hit his shoulder.  "You f-fucking idiot!  You think that some stupid little thing will make me doubt you?  You know why?  Because I know that I'll always be able to calm you down, and that no matter how bad things get, I'll always trust you."  Dash leaned down to his ear.  "How much reason do you think I had to trust you on day one?"  She asked, her voice down to a husky whisper.

"God damn, I don't deserve you."  He pushed his head from the ground and sat up, his legs stretched out in front of himself.  

"You'll get there someday."  She replied with a smirk, putting an arm around his neck as she sat down beside him.  "Plus, you helped me through everything when this started, the least I can do is return the favor."  

"You're scaring me.  You shouldn't be okay with any of this."

"I'm pretty sure this relationship means more that one stupid fight, if you can call this a normal fight."  She rolled her eyes.  "It's really not."  They went silent for a few moments before Dash let out a chuckle.  

"What's so funny?"  Jason asked, looking over at her face as Scoots peeked out around the plane.  

"You just looked so hilarious, stumbling out of the plane like that."

"Oh shut up, I'm not used to being back like this yet."

"We need to get you cured soon."

"Why?  So I can-"  His face went a little white and his breathing accelerated.  "I'm like this and I only have a week to bring you back.  Five days, including today."

"It'll be fine, a little bath in cure water and that's it."

"Who makes that?"  He asked offhandedly.

"Zecora."

"You think she's seen a human before?"

"I don't know what she's seen, actually."  Dash replied.

"Yeah..."  He sighed, pushing himself up.  "I'm sorry."  He said, looking Dash in the eye as he stumbled back to the plane.  

"Is everything okay Jason?"  Scoots asked, looking up at him with imploring eyes.  

"Yeah, this sure complicates things though."  He mumbled, starting to sift through the cargo.  There were a fair number of boxes containing clothes; it didn't take much to assume that had been the primary purpose of this flight.  Maybe shoes wouldn't be too much to ask, some nice warm socks...

"So you're staying like this?"

"I wish, with those fingers."  Dash said, any previous anguish seemingly forgotten.  "God, I would love to have some of those on call."

"Well if poison joke repeats itself, then maybe you will."

"I guess you'll have to keep from telling anypony, huh?"

"Yeah."  He replied, grabbing one of her ears in his fist gently.  "I love you so much..."  He mumbled.  "I'm still sorry though."

"We can get going then?"  Morning asked, having draped Tank over her back in his absence.  

"Yeah, I'll see you later."  He replied, "The ponies behind the glass suck at conversation."

"Thanks for the warning."  She sighed.  "Stay safe, I don't want to find a half eaten you or something."

"Oh yeah, could I just grab Tank's machete?"  He asked, pointing to the corresponding sheath on her side.

"Why?"  

"Cuz it's meant for humans anyway, and I can make it work the best."

"As long as it gets back in one piece, he really loves this thing."

"No problem."  Jason replied, carefully unhooking the strap with a few fingers and putting it back around his shoulder as the mare and Steve left, both throwing back waves as they left the other three in the plane.  

"So..."  Dash started.  "I guess we have our work cut out, huh?"
> Holding the Cards
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Holding the Cards


"Jason, what are these things?"  Dash asked, kicking a shoe lightly.  

"They're like foot protectors, so I can kick things and go over sharp rocks and stuff."  Scoots sniffed at one, scrunching up her nose in disgust.  

"They smell like sweat!  Why would you wear these?"

"It's not like I have a choice, and plus..."  He reached over to a shelf, grabbing an air freshener that he had found earlier and spraying it into the shoes.  "How about now?"

She sniffed again.  "Like lemons, I guess."  Jason chuckled and nodded, sliding a shoe on, then the other.  He stood up  and took a few steps, before taking one back off and looking at the missing toes.  He balled up some paper and shoved it into the toe before replacing the shoe and nodding affirmatively, bending over and strapping Dash's saddlebag to himself, following with his own.

"Ready to go?"  He asked, looking downwards to the other two with a grin.  "Wait, hold on."  Jason turned around and pushed open the door to the cockpit, looking around as the other two peered in the door at the controls.  He'd never been in a cockpit before, this was kinda cool.  If there wasn't somewhere to go he'd probably pretend to fly it.  But since there was...

Jason pulled open the door to a small refrigerator, checking the temperature with a hand.  It wasn't particularly cold, but the stuff inside may have survived.  He pulled out the contents, setting them on a small table.  Most of a gallon of milk, some bags of beef jerky that had been refrigerated for some reason--although the cheer in his head wasn't dissuaded--some half and half, and a packaged bar of cheddar that he sniffed and stuck into Dash's saddlebag.  

He knelt to look at the lower shelf and pulled out a pizza box, sighing when the only piece inside was half eaten.  He sighed and decided he'd be better off leaving the milk, grabbing the beef jerky instead.  

"Can I- go on your head again?"  Scoots asked, standing on two hooves, then leaning on the other two in a manner that made her look surprisingly cute.

"Sure."  He replied, looking around for a minute before he found a backpack, and dropped in Dash's armor and gun, along with her holster.  He put the machete and his AUG around his back, checking that everything still fit.  He picked up the filly as she giggled, placing her behind his head so that her hind legs were on either side of his neck.  She hardly weighed anything.  "Happy?"

"Just make sure to duck under doors."  Dash said with a smirk, as Jason picked her up as well despite her squirming, cradling her in his arms.

"I take what I said before back, you're not all that heavy either."  She jumped as he squeezed at her flank, her face lighting up in a blush.  "There're a few things I've been missing.  You have a really squeezable butt, it's not my fault."  He shrugged, making Scoots giggle as she bounced around on his shoulders.

"Scoots is right there!"  She yelled back, blushing more heavily.

"You're the one making a big deal of it."  Jason replied, exiting the plane on more stable footing than before and following a pointed hoof from Dash into the forest.

"And you're the one that's going to make me miss these things when they're gone."  She replied, wiggling into a more comfortable position.  "This sure is comfortable though..."  She murmured, letting her eyes droop.

"Don't pass out on me, if something happens you might get dropped."  He said, lifting her higher until his lips met hers.  He let her back down and watched her blush ease slightly, shifting her to caress her cheek with a thumb, looking at the spot where he had punched her, showing signs of a bruise already.

"I told you to stop worrying about that."  She said, closing her eyes again.  "Shit happens, I'm not one to overreact."

"Are you two still mad at each other?"  Scoots asked.

"No, we're not."  Dash replied.  "Jason can't figure out why I'm not mad.  I'm probably not going to get mad unless he cheats, which I doubt he will."  She finished with a smirk.

"Why?"

"Cuz I know how he felt when he hurt me inadvertently.  The hive mind isn't only useful for you, Jason."

"Yeah, but-"  He was cut off when she stuck a hoof in his mouth, which was rather foul tasting, unsurprisingly.  Wait...

"I don't want to hear it anymore, it's not a big deal, alright?"

"Yeah..."  He trailed off, scanning the foliage for anything he actually recognized.  "So I can taste things again, whether they're your taste buds still or mine."

"Well I guess it's not all bad."  Dash replied.

"It's not anyway, there's something nice about being human, even without all the magic and stuff.  I'm sure if you suddenly went back to how you are now after being something else you'd enjoy it as well."

"Yeah, but I can fly like this, all you have is... most of your fingers."  Dash replied.

"Thanks for making me feel good."  

Dash snickered.  "I'm there for you when you need me."

"I guess there's something I can't argue about.  I thought those didn't exist."

"Yeah, me too."  She replied with a chuckle.  "Hey, let me down, I feel useless."  She squirmed again, as Jason tightened his arms.  

"Dash, come on.  I can't do this normally, cut me some slack."

"Yeah, but you're carrying everything, and me, and Scoots."  She paused.  "You aren't trying to make up for something, are-"

"No, Dash, I still feel guilty, but I'm not going to make up for something by carrying you over a short distance."

"I don't want you to make anything up anyway."

"Anyway, I would have either done something important, taken you somewhere you like, or something to that extent.  Maybe some flowers as well...  I haven't given you many of those before..."

"Jason, I-"  He tried to put a finger over her mouth, before he tried again with his middle finger.  

"If you don't want anything, that's fine, as long as you know I'm sorry, alright?"

"Yeah, I do."

"Then there's no problem, I guess.  But don't take it as me trying to make up for something if we do go somewhere.  I don't need to make something up to do something nice for you."

"I know."  She said quietly.  "Can you grab me a piece of jerky, since we have some again?"

Jason chuckled.  "You're hardly a vegetarian anymore, Dash, what have I done?"

"Introduced me to superior cuisine?"  She asked, opening her eyes to stare up at him.

"Heh, just so long as you don't eat too much."  He replied, transferring her to one arm as he reached around and grabbed a bag, neatly ripping it open with his teeth and proceeding to stare at the bag.  "I can't really get it out..."

"Oh, superior humans..."  

"Yeah, because you can grab so many things."

"Just hand me the bag."  Dash said, not waiting as she took it from her hands, pushing a hoof in and returning with a smallish strip of beef, which she quickly put into her mouth.  "I really missed this stuff."

"Mom, what is that?"  Scoots asked, reaching down towards the bag.

"It's beef, like meat."

"Why are you eating that?!"  She yelled, nearly blowing out the eardrum on one side of his head.  

"Cuz it's delicious, and the cow's dead either way.  It wasn't intelligent in the first place."  Dash reached back into the bag, reaching up with a piece in her hoof.  "Try some."  Scoots stared at the dark colored, peppered meat.  "It could get you your cutie mark..."  Dash teased, waving it around.  The filly watched for a few more seconds before grabbing it herself.

"This isn't because I think it'll get me my mark."  She denied, taking another look before she shoved it all into her mouth.  Dash giggled as she watched Scoots' face, which could be going through any number of expressions at the moment.  Jason knew she enjoyed it a little at least, whether she showed it or not.  He tripped a little over a root, smacking his foot into the ground on the next step and stabilizing himself.

"Don't fall, Jason."  Dash warned.  "I'll be the first thing to hit the ground."

"No you won't, if I know I'm going to fall, the nice thing about being tall is that I have a lot of time to react.  So basically I'd fall on my back and grab Scoots like this,"  He reached over his head and put a hand on her stomach, making her giggle as he gripped her lightly.  "Then just pull her over and onto my stomach."

"Oh, so it's foolproof, huh?"

"Exactly!"  He replied, making her roll her eyes, although a fairly large smile still forced its way onto her face.  Jason suddenly stopped and righted Dash before setting her down, getting himself behind cover.

"So, moment of truth then?"  Jason asked, looking at Zecora's hut as he crouched in the brush, stroking at the very edge of the machete blade with his thumb and letting the sound ring out.

"Why do you toy with fire like that?"  Dash asked.  "You're already missing a finger, what happens if you lop off another one?"

"Don't worry, it'll be- AAAAAAHHHHH!"  He flailed around his fist, watching the other two join with his yell before he started to laugh.  

"You bitch, why would you scare me like that?!"  Dash yelled as she punched his shoulder rather hard, making him miss the armor that was usually all over.  

"I can't just be the nice guy all the time, it gets boring."

"So it's still there?"  Scoots asked, as he held his hand up above his head and she sighed.

"Why are we waiting here?"  Dash asked, pushing through the bush and tugging at Jason with a hoof.  "She's not going to freak out, don't worry."

"I dunno, what if I look like their version of death or something?"

"The chances of that are so low, Jason."  Dash replied, deadpan.

"Fine, but if she hits me with a potion and I end up as something I haven't been before, it's your fault."

She rolled her eyes, raising a hoof and knocking at the door.  It opened a few moments later to a rather surprised looking zebra, which Dash thought was her whole reaction, until Zecora saw Jason and her jaw dropped slightly.

"I see you have brought a friend Rainbow Dash,"  She swallowed.  "I hope the decision has not been rash."  She gestured for them to come inside and they did, as Jason made sure to duck under the much too short doorway.

"He's not usually like this, he got poison joke.  I was hoping you could help"

Zecora turned from a steaming cauldron, tilting her head as she approached Jason again.  "You say this is poison joke?  Surely this must be a hoax."

"How come?"  Jason asked.  "I know for a fact I wasn't like this yesterday."  He reached into his saddlebag and pulled out the photo of Scoots and himself that he'd kept.  "See, that's me right there, and this,"  he pointed to his head, "Is my daughter."

Zecora studied him more closely, lifting up his shirt with a hoof.  "I do believe it is reverting, maintaining a spell like this is quite exerting."

"You're saying he'll go back to normal by himself?"  Dash asked, pulling up his shirt to look at the black patches that were starting to show through.

"I'm sure he will soon, definitely before the next new moon."  

"I don't have that kind of time!"  Jason yelled a little too loudly.  "I need magic back by the end of the week or this future will have never existed!"

"Please, I will need peace and quiet, If I am to repair this-"

"You can fix it?"  Jason asked, his emotions not completely following the sudden change in direction the conversation had taken.

Zecora nodded.  "It's too extreme for a simple bath, but I can speed the path along its path."  She said, grinding something in a mortar.  "Besides, my cauldron would never fit a beast like you.  And after all, I'd have to get rid of this brew."  She finished, gesturing to the swirling contents.

"So how long?"  Jason asked.

"Maybe a day, or two, or three.  Try to avoid a scene, for the ponies may flee."

"So I figured."  He replied, taking a finished potion with a nod, and putting it to his lips.  He looked for a sign that he wasn't supposed to drink it before downing the entire flask in one go, coughing slightly at the taste.  Dirt and fish.  Probably dead fish.  "Blegh."  He said, coughing as he handed the empty bottle back.  "That stuff tastes terrible."

"That is what I would safely assume, it does need large amounts of mushroom."

"Well thanks, hopefully this'll get me back to normal soon enough..."  He said, smiling as he picked up an orange near the door.  "What color's this?"

"That would be orange, can't you see--well played, changeling."

"I told you her head wouldn't explode!"  Dash said with a laugh, making Zecora frown.

"Just because I feel a hankering for verse, does not mean the absence would necessitate a hearse."

Dash stared for a moment, before she pushed the door the rest of the way open.  "Anyway... I'll see you around."  A blush crossed her face.  "Actually, I've got a favor to ask.  You can go wait outside if you want, Jason." 

Zecora nodded, watching them leave as Jason almost turned and collided with the top of the door, swearing under his breath as he ducked and stood outside on the much more worn path than the one he'd taken to get to the hut in the first place.

A few minutes later, Dash exited with another flask in her mouth, carefully stowing it in her saddlebag as Jason raised an eyebrow.  Whatever, she could have her secrets.  She'd tell him if it was important, or maybe it was something he'd see more of later.  The thought made him grin, her surprises hadn't been lackluster so far...

"So Jason, somehow I've forgotten to ask you for a race."  Dash started, breaking the silence.

"I'd lose."  He replied with a laugh.

"Maybe, but I still want to see what happens."  She replied, turning off into a small clearing.  "Come on, line up.  We'll race to those rocks over there."  Dash squared her footing as Jason took off...everything, leaving it in a small pile as he set Scoots down as well.  

"Hold on a second."  Jason said, poking at his stomach.  "I think I'm hungry."

"Only you wouldn't know!"  She replied with a laugh, before turning her view forward again.  "I'll take this stuff to our house and then grab you something from Sugarcube corner."

"We have food with us, you know."

"Yeah, but maybe my friends'll be there, and I kinda wanted to show them I was okay."  

"Why are they always there?"

"It's only in the morning on weekends."  She paused.  "And some weekdays.  Yeah, we need to do something new."

"It doesn't matter to me, really.  Ready?"

"Yeah, ready, set, go!"  She yelled, as Jason popped up from the line and sprinted off to an early lead.  He'd expected that much, watching Dash pass him a few seconds later, widening her lead before they crossed the improvised finish line.  "Okay,"  She started.  "First, let me say, I thought you had me there for a second.  Now, let me just mention that I won."

"Just a mention, huh?"

"It's not like it was going to be close, you said that yourself.  But you're pretty fast for only having two legs."

"Heh, alright.  My turn.  Scoots, come here!"  He yelled, watching the filly trot over.  "Okay, minus flying, I bet that you can't touch me in this clearing, even if you two are on a team."

"No way, you're on!"  Dash replied, taking a few quick steps away.  "So, whenever?"

"Yeah, I'm ready."  He said, sticking a hand in his pocket.  He hardly had time to react as she lunged and he jumped backwards, jumping over Scoots as she ran under him.  Jason landed and rolled, getting shakily back to his feet as Dash started to sprint behind him, and he dipped a shoulder, touching a few fingers to the ground as he changed direction, watching her spread her wings to slow down.

Jason hardly had time to chuckle before an orange ball entered the corner of his vision and he tried to stop, hitting his back on the ground as he fell and Scoots shot over.  He rolled to the side and got up, turning sideways to avoid Dash but not missing the smirk on her face as she tried to hit him with a wing.  She only seemed to do so half-heartedly, and instead whispered something to Scoots before they both spread out again, and a blue ball shot past him.

He could hardly do more than react as Dash tried to tag him one way, then switch to another, making him change his motions faster than he'd thought he'd have to.  He'd gone a fair ways backwards without any sign of Scoots, just repeated occurrences from Dash, herding him backwards.  So Scoots had a fairly easy shot at-

His foot caught on what he was sure was Scoots, and he couldn't regain his footing.  His back hit the ground again as Dash landed on his chest, knocking some air out of his lungs as her smirk widened.  "Gocha."

"Technically, I think it was Scoots."

"Whatever, we still did it."

"Yeah, I suppose you have."  He said, stroking his chin.  "Feel free to move whenever."

"I dunno, I kinda like it here."  Dash replied, flopping onto her side and poking his nose.  "It's comfy."

"Ugh."  Jason pushed her off, hardly sitting up before Scoots knocked him back down, smiling widely.  "You too, huh?"  He asked, slipping a hand under her chest and lifting her up above his head, placing his other hand on her stomach to take the pressure off her breathing.  "How's the weather up there?"

"It's pretty rainy."  The filly replied with a giggle, fluttering her wings.  

"I don't understand why she likes this kind of thing when she can fly."  Dash said, looking up the eight or more feet to her daughter.  

"I like to be taller than other ponies."  Scoots said.  "I'm like the shortest kid in class, I hate looking up to people.  And I also kinda like the fact that I'm still close to either of you..."

"It's too bad you don't like to be called cute, Scoots."  Jason said, scratching her head lightly.  "Cuz you really are, hopefully your colt friend knows how special you are."

"Yeah, he better."  Dash mumbled.  "He's got hell to deal with if he doesn't."  She started pulling stuff off of the pile and strapping it to herself, the saddlebags, the backpack, testing that her wings were still clear enough to fly.  "I'm just going to bring this stuff up to the house, I'll meet you where this trail lets out.  And for the love of god, Jason, don't cause trouble."

"I'll try not to."  He said seriously, lowering Scoots back down to head level and planting a gentle kiss on her forehead.  "I love you Scoots, don't ever forget that."

"Like I would."  She said, rubbing her cheek against his.  "Love you too."  


_____________________________________________________________________


Dash glided down, breaking into a trot as she landed.  She looked around, checking that no ponies were nearby before walking into the forest a little, jumping as Jason grabbed her leg out of a bush.  A hiss left her gritted teeth as she tried not to scream, able to easily feel her heart beating through her chest.  

"God damn, why would you do that?"

"I thought it'd be funny."  Jason replied, his head poking out as laughter permeated the air from a filly somewhere nearby.  "And it was."

"If I didn't pull this kind of thing on you I'd probably be angry right now."

"Yeah, well just so long as nobody finds out it's me in here.  You better not act like you know anything if things go downhill."

"No problem."

Jason paused for a moment.  "So, that food..."  

Dash facehoofed.  "Ugh, I forgot.  Just a second, hold on."  She turned and jumped into the air, watching Jason disappear back into the brush as she gained speed.  At least he wasn't freaking out to be back the way he was, considering how much worse the whole thing earlier would have been.  She couldn't shake the thought that all the stress was tugging at his sanity, to a much greater extent than it had for her.  

Dash sneezed, swerving slightly.  And now she could be getting sick, which was just one more thing she obviously didn't want.  God, it was just one thing after another with this, and there was still the soul magic and Chrysalis to take care of, and even if they could bring Scoots it still didn't seem like something she'd want to do.  Although when it came to Jason, he might want the fighting if it meant friendly ponies.  

She landed slowly, still in thought as she pushed open the door to Sugarcube Corner, accompanied with the ring of a small bell.  Her friends were there, as per usual, but Dash walked past the table, straight to the counter.  

"Dashie!"  Pinkie yelled, zipping up with a cupcake and some sort of more strudel-type thing.  "Where's Jason?  I don't know if he likes the cupcakes that much which is cah-raaaaaa-zy, but I made a new thing for him, I figured maybe he could try it, right?  By the way, where is he anyway?"

"He's...sick."  Dash replied, pushing some bits across the counter and taking the bag in her mouth.  "Tanks."

"So how's he doing?"  Twilight asked.

She set down the bag with a sigh.  "I dunno, not that well I guess."

"Oh, is it serious?"  Rarity queried, looking like she may swoon.

"No, I meant besides the illness."

"Take a seat dear, tell us everything!"  Dash felt a chair hit her legs before she was up at the table, staring across at Rarity as she rested her head across two hooves.  "Is he distant?  Do you think he's cheating?"

"Wha-?  No!  He wouldn't do that, I know how he feels about me."

"Do you?" 

"Yeah, I can feel it.  It's an advantage of him being a changeling, I guess."  She finished with a smirk, crossing her arms.  Any smugness didn't last long as her face fell again and she bit her lip.

"Well, something's wrong, dear."  Rarity urged, probably wanting the gossip.

"If you tell anypony, Rarity..."

"Don't worry darling, a lady doesn't repeat confidential things."  

Dash rolled her eyes, taking a long pause.  "I don't think, after this- I think he's starting to lose it."  She put a hoof to her forehead.  "I'm not exactly sure what part of all this is making him any different, but he freaked out this morning, I could hardly calm him down."

The other ponies exchanged worried looks.  Applejack was the first to break the silence.  "So should Ah be-"

"If you ask whether or not he's dangerous, I'll fucking tackle you over this table."  Unsurprisingly, silence ensued.  "Look at this a different way.  Assume he's a pony for a moment.  Now, this pony's been stabbed, tortured, watched his marefriend die in his arms, had the Nightmare in his head, fought through a war on the front lines, and most ponies hate him.  Like half his body's scar tissue by now, and you never hear him complain!  He hardly brags either, and I've not heard one of you say anything about him basically saving any of you from the griffins or anything!"  

She paused, taking a breath as she readied her next set of words.  "I don't know if you just kinda ignore what he says, but at least trust me.  I'm not under any spell, and I've been friends with all of you for years.  Just fucking humor me, and show the guy a little respect.  Maybe I'm a little biased, but he probably deserves it more than anypony else, for one reason or another."  She paused, a tear coming to her eye.  "I just don't want to lose him, especially not to insanity or some shit like that."

"Um."  Someone said, the only noise for what seemed like entire minutes.  A hoof covered hers, and she looked up the arm to see Rarity.  

"We'll do our best, darling."  

Rage filtered through her chest, as she stood up and the chair skidded backwards.  "You've been trying for ages!  It's.  Not.  That.  Hard!"  She took a breath.  "You can't do your best, you better, fucking, succeed!!"  She opened her eyes back up almost immediately as she heard scraping, only to find that the table had moved back a few feet, along with the chairs across from her.  "Wha-"  She said, staring at the table again before she grabbed the bag in her mouth and started to run off.  "I grta go."  

Dash was hardly ten steps outside before her thoughts turned from her friends and to whatever had happened.  The speed of the change worried her slightly, but after all this time, her friends should have come around by now.  Or was she being unrealistic?  Fuck, whatever.  She'd moved that table.  She was pretty sure she'd moved that table.  But that was impossible, she wasn't a unicorn, and she knew that nothing like this had happened before, with any non-magic user.

So what then, maybe she had the power, but there was no way of expressing it, no horn to make anything actually work.  She was already back to the forest and skidded to a halt over a rather long length, diving into the same bush and landing directly on top of Jason, as he tried to react.

"Jason, what's wrong?"  She asked, looking at his pained expression.

"A few minutes ago I got dizzy and then you landed on my testicles."  He hissed, shoving her off none too gently.  "Ooooooowwwwwww."  

"I just moved a table."  Dash said, as Jason gave her a 'who cares' gesture with a corresponding hand motion.  Scoots seemed to miss the meaning as well.  "Without touching it, I think I used magic."

"But you're a-"  He started.

"I know!"

"Ugh, I bet it's the hive mind."  He mumbled, as her ears perked.

"Oh god, you're right.  It's got to be, huh?"  She paused.  "How can I pull power from that?"

"I dunno, Chrysalis could do the same in reverse or something, it's not like I know what I'm doing."  He rolled over to his side before she pushed him back.  

"How do I do it?  Move things."

"Just let me die in peace, Dash."

"Jason."  She poked him, pulling Scoots over and telling her to do the same with a laugh.  "Jason, Jason, Jason."

"Look, you just kinda will it to do that, and it does.  I'll teach you later, just don't expend my energy right now.  Assuming it's all mine."

"So why does the hive mind let me express the your power or my love or whatever like a unicorn?"

"Fuck if I know."

"I love you too, Jason."  She said with a grin, patting him on the shoulder.  "Come on, it's not that bad."

"It's that bad.  It's like dropping a brick on your nose, but without the broken part and with more pain.  I'm not so sure about the unbroken part."  She chuckled, pulling him into a sitting position.  "I'm going to take Scoots back home, probably take a shower or something.  You'll be okay for a while?"

"Probably I guess."  He replied, kissing her as he placed a hand on the back of her neck.  He was right about the hands, they were nice to have in a way that hooves just didn't measure up to.  "Love you too, by the way."  Jason finished, watching her leave with Scoots already on her back.  

It was quiet after he heard the sounds of feathers beating and a slight yelp from his daughter, and he laid back down in the dirt, feeling his hair flicker across his forehead as the wing blew through the bush.  Jason pulled the machete off his back and looked at the sheath, hearing the blade ring as he slid it part of the way out.  Maybe twenty minutes went by of him, simply sliding the machete in and out, over and over again.  

"Did ya'll hear that?"  He heard, immediately dropping the blade to his chest as he slid it back inside.  

"No, what?"  Another pony asked, as he heard hoof steps approaching.  He held his breath, checking belatedly that his feet were inside.  They were, at least some luck was on his side.

"Ah dunno, there was just this weird noise, it sounded like it came from over here.  I've never heard anything like it..."  Jason watched their shadows play over the bush, as they got close enough that their breathing became audible.  Jason jumped as a snake slithered into his vision, cascading onto his leg and up his chest.  

"It's probably just your imagination, come on, let's get going.  This place creeps me out."  Jason let out a breath, making the snake flick out its tongue and peer to the side.  The steps outside stopped.

"Ssh, Daisy, hold on.  Ah heard somethin' else."

"Yeah, it was probably just a monster or something.  Come oooooon."  The snake lost interest in the voices and continued its trek, pushing its head into Jason's collar and disappearing beneath the fabric.  It slithered back down, staying in place for a moment before it coiled up and appeared to be about to rest.  Jason stuck a hand underneath his shirt, grabbing the snake's tail and gently pulling, before the thing started to come to on the warm surface that had made it let down it's guard.  

He hardly tried to move the snake before it started to freak out and he pulled out his arm, realizing that staying silent wasn't worth the effort.  And he was starting to think he didn't like snakes.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"  He yelled, bursting out of the bush as he pulled the snake from the bush.  He caught the eyes of Applejack and some other pony for a moment before he stumbled a little further, caught up in the snake too much to care about what they would do, as he pulled out the machete and tried to finish the job.  It seemed like only a few seconds before hooves hit him in the back, sending the snake flying and Jason a ways further than he would have expected from such a small pony.  But then again, he was already moving, and she had kicked upward...

Too bad the logistics of his most recent fight were hardly important, as he looked up to more than a few ponies in the town, only feet away at this point.  Jason turned, looking for an escape, although he didn't particularly feel like trying to outrun a mare hardened by farm work.  He'd rather overestimate her than get caught.  Jason turned and ran between a couple ponies, sprinting along the side of the town.

"Get the thing, it's armed!"  Some pony yelled, probably Applejack as she stubbornly gave chase to something that she may not be able to fight.  Or catch, for that matter, Jason thought as he sprinted towards a gutter on a brick wall, easily scaling the miniature building as he started running on the roof.  It really was amazing, just how small things looked from this height.  

He looked sideways to see that a few other large ponies had joined the chase, as Jason quickly sped up again, jumping and easily clearing an alleyway.  He rolled on the other side, scraping his shoulder slightly when he didn't maintain the right rotation.  

Another building, a higher one this time, as he planted his foot on the edge of the roof, jumping against the adjacent wall and grabbing the top.  He pulled himself up easily, taking only the most brief of moments to admire his strength before he was forced to jump into open space, catching the gaze of at least a few ponies as he floated through open air, landing on his feet and rolling again, jumping over ponies like hurdles.  

He ran by an annoyed looking Dash, watching Scoots light up with a grin as he gave them both a slight shrug, blazing past the pair.  Applejack pulled up next to him, preparing to probably kick him somehow before Jason stopped, putting his hand to the ground behind him and cutting into an alley.  It was pretty clearly a dead end, but he grabbed the bottom of a fire escape and pulled himself up, hoping that it would hold his weight.  

It groaned but acquiesced, and he quickly vaulted across to a lower roof, and then back down to the ground as the row of buildings ended.  He could run forever, sure, but he wasn't technically hostile unless he attacked one of the ponies, and he had no plans to.  

Scoots peeled out in front of him, looking like she had something planned.  Jason could see the forest approaching again as she ran in front of him, and in a decision that could fix everything in one go, he grabbed her with an arm, whispering into her ear.  "Act afraid, I have a plan."  

She hardly needed to act as he whipped her around and stopped running, pulling the machete off of his back and holding it up to her throat.  Nowhere near, really, but it would look like that, at least.  He knew for a fact that she wouldn't be hurt, it was a rare instance where he was both in control of the executor and the victim, stacking all the cards in his favor, considering none of them knew.  The few ponies that had chased after him halted, staring at him as he stared back.  A pony took a step forward and Jason stiffened his arm menacingly, backing slowly off the road towards the forest, back into the path he'd come from.  

A slight magical haze gathered around his hand but Jason shook it off, putting his head closer to Scoots' and reassuring her again.  As Jason disappeared behind a bush he let her down, watching in surprise as she suppressed a giggle, running back through the forest and probably about to act like she'd either been released and the monster wasn't bad, or that there was some sort of heroic fight.  Hopefully the former.  

Jason remained crouched for a few moments, trying to let his rapid breathing slow before he stood up.  He was almost at his full height as a blow hit him in the side, throwing purple sparks all over as Jason crashed into the ground.  Dammit, he was so god damn close...  

He pulled himself up with the machete back in his hand, and turned to run again.  Fighting someone like Twilight definitely wasn't a good idea.  Maybe he could win, but that wasn't a chance he wanted to take.  And he'd have to knock her out, any stabbing was out of the question as well.  

Jason hardly got twenty feet before another bolt blasted through the side of a tree and hit his hip, sending him flying again.  His head hit the ground and he felt blood fill his mouth, looking to the side through blurry vision as he blocked another with crossed forearms, sliding along the ground painfully.

A few other ponies broke into the brush as Twilight readied another of whatever spell she'd been using.  Jason tried to push himself up, cradling a rib that he knew was broken.  He was hit before he could get to full height, stumbling into a bush as he realized that any hope of an actual getaway was hopeless.  But dammit, that hadn't stopped him before.  He spit blood out, pushing himself on his back against a tree, sighing as the full fruitlessness sank in.  

"Well, go ahead.  I definitely deserve a death sentence."  He said, making sure that the sarcasm was completely obvious as he spit out some more blood.  "Who did I murder?"

"Nopony, yet."  Twilight said, her horn aglow.  "But I never said anything about a death sentence either."  Jason shifted his head as the tree dented slightly behind himself, laughing at the ponies and what he assumed had been a directed blow to knock him out.  "That looked like a death sentence to me."  He continued, watching at the world started to darken.  Jason drifted out of consciousness, still chuckling at the ponies through the gloom.  He knew they wouldn't kill him, only the soldiers would be capable of such a thing, and he knew all four.  So fuck you, reality.  He knew he could take anything it threw at him by now. 

And this was nowhere near his breaking point, it'd just be another shitty situation, the first where he held all the cards. It felt nice, to know that something would be easier for a change.  He could hardly wait.

	
> Jailbreak
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Jailbreak


Dash hadn't needed to look much for Jason after he'd ran past her and Scoots had gone somewhere else.  Or after him maybe.  

Ten minutes later of trying her best to be on the lookout but not too eager as she flew around the town, a small group of ponies exited the Everfree with a curiously familiar looking blob of camouflage and brown hair.  Her heart sank, and she struggled to figure out what exactly she was feeling.  Scared?  Maybe, but as she swooped down and recoiled a bit at the blood, watching the body as it floated in Twilight's aura.  He was breathing, although she wasn't sure how he'd managed to lose within such a short span.  But then again, he wasn't that used to being human again anyway.  

"Dash!  Where were ya?"  Applejack asked, looking proudly upon Jason.  "Just missed the capture of this..."

"Human."  Twilight filled in.  "The first human in generations as well."

"Yeah, that."

"I have to give these things credit, they can take a lot more of a beating then I know I could."  Twilight continued,  "It took me a good six or seven spells, just to get him to realize that he wasn't running away.  But it's not like he gave up, and he spoke perfect Equestrian too, I'm so excited to question him!"  Twilight looked at Dash again, her eyes never really confirming the smile her mouth showed off.

"Yeah, I really didn't expect that one..."  Dash mumbled, slightly torn over what she should do.  She could say that it was Jason, but then everypony would know, and that was one of the things he hadn't wanted.  But this could get him out of everything, or maybe not, she didn't know why he'd been chased in the first place.

"Dash?"  Applejack asked.

"Yeah?"

"About earlier..."

"Yeah."

"Ah'm sorry, alright?  Ah know you've heard me say this before, and before ya get all annoyed that ah'm apolagizin' to you and not Jason, Ah'm gonna do that too.  He doesn't deserve the lot he has, and as much as Ah'd love to keep things simple and just dislike the guy, Ah know that he's done a lot more than Ah've given him credit fer.  Sorry for not being able to get over it."  She looked around.  "Where is Jason, anyway?"

"He's up in the house, he wasn't feeling well."

"He didn't get hurt, right?"  Twilight asked, studying Jason.

"No, he's fine."  Dash lied, gritting her teeth.

"You don't look fine."  The lavender mare replied, turning her gaze back.  "I'd like to talk about what happened, before you left Sugarcube Corner?"

"Yeah, go ahead."  She sighed, trying to make up an excuse.

"You preformed magic."  Twilight said, rather simply.

"Yeah, she did, didn't she?"  Applejack asked.  "That's pretty darn cool, iffn' Ah do say so mahself.  Ah've never seen anything like that before, and it's kinda-"

"Applejack, hold on."  

"Ah was just sayin'-"

"I know what you were saying, but I have a lot of stuff to do, and this human over here just adds to the junk I have to do for Celestia, and then there's a friendship report that I should really send..."

"Ah'm sure I can get the report done for you, Jason's worth about ten of those, minimum."  Applejack grinned.  "Course, it's been a few months, right?"

Dash could hardly contain her laughter, bursting into guffaws after a few moments.  The others were staring at her, but she supposed they didn't know that Celestia had made up the friendship reports as a joke.  When Jason had told her that, she hadn't known whether to be angry that she'd been duped as well or to laugh for an hour.  

"Why are you laughing?"  Twilight asked.

Dash stopped immediately, her upper lip wavering.  "That's classified."  She said, watching Twilight's face screw into an expression of annoyance.  

"How can it be classified?"

"By the princess's order, I'm sorry."  Dash said, putting a hoof to her chest and swallowing a chuckle.  "Along with a fair amount of war stuff.  My job has it's perks."

Twilight looked a little downtrodden, but only just.  "I figured I'd be the first to know..."

"Pfft, it's not a big deal, you'll know when they're declassified.  If they are..."  She trailed off, almost breaking out into more laughter as she watched Twilight's face.  

There was a period of silence where she could almost hear the gears turning in the purple mare's head, working out plots and deals, ways with which she could try to ease out information.  "So then, the magic."  

"Oh yeah, it looks like I might be able to rival you in a fight.  Oh wait..."  She watched the other mare's face for a moment.  "I'm just kidding.  I'm not sure why I did it anyway, but maybe I'm just an outlier, right?"

"You don't have a way to express the power, there's not supposed to be an outlier."  

"Alrighty then, I'm just going to go back home.  You can figure that out if you want, but I don't care that much about why I get extra power.  I just want to start picking things up without touching them."  She rubbed her hooves together.  "Tell me when that guy wakes up."  She finished, as Scoots galloped over, looking completely depressed when she saw Jason.  

A finger of his twitched.  So maybe he was already awake.  Dash felt a smile spread slightly across her face as she picked Scoots up with her head, tossing the filly slightly and making her giggle.  As much as it went against everything her being wanted, she took off and glided away, a tear blowing out of her eye.  It felt terrible, knowing she was running away.  

And in probably half a day, given how fast changelings processed drugs, and assuming it was the same for potions, he'd be revealed.  She'd either need to figure a way out of the cell he was surely going to be placed in, or hope that he could fine his own way out, without magic or flight.  

Shit.  You know what?  She banked, making a graceful U-turn.  Best thing she could do, was at least be a presence, turn the other way if need be.  And maybe, for once, have a little fun.  She knew Jason would only be taking something like this with a shred of sincerity, so maybe she should just hop on the bandwagon.  A little less stress would be nice.


_____________________________________________________________________


Jason felt a jolt and a bump, cold metal replacing the weightlessness as his wrists were presumably tied with rather scratchy rope.  He could tell that his knees were fairly bent; this chair was clearly not meant for humans.  He opened his eyes, looking at his reflection in a one way mirror across a metal table.  His head throbbed as he looked down at the bruises that had already showed up and swelled.  From the little window he could tell that it had become dark, so hopefully only a few hours had passed.  

He knew the worst, in terms of bruising at least, would be with the ribs that Twilight had broken, but it didn't look like moving would be something he'd be doing a lot of.  Meh, whatever.  They'd have to let him out of their sight eventually.  

Jason stretched out his fingers, looking at the now blackened fingernails and corresponding fingertips,  making light tapping noises against the metal arm of the chair.  He flexed the rest of his muscles, and it didn't take much longer to notice that the rest of his toes were gone, probably starting to revert his feet into hooves.  By the same logic, his fingers were feeling tighter, and it wasn't all that easy for him to stretch them all the way out.  His back wasn't probably going to love being upright, considering the fact that he wasn't going to be bipedal after all this was over.  Speaking of his back, it felt like his wings were at least partially through coming back, but he couldn't tell how far, and he couldn't seem to move them either.  

Jason considered asking about the service around here, before the door across the room opened and Twilight walked in, followed by the officer that he'd seen a few times before.  They sat down across from him, staring for a few moments as Twilight spread out some papers and loosened the ropes around his wrists slightly.  Jason looked down long enough to catch a glimpse under the rope, to the quickly spreading chitin on his forearms.  That was kinda cool, at least.

"So,"  Twilight began, looking up again.  "Where should I start?"

Jason paused, making himself look confused.  "Yo no hablo ingles?"  The purple mare stared, as Jason tried not to laugh.  That was most of the spanish he knew, right there.  "El pepe es bonita este semana?"  The pope is pretty this week, maybe?  Potato, possibly?

"I know you speak Equestrian, let's just end this charade."

"No me gusta."  Jason replied, making himself look angry.  The door opened again as Dash walked in, sitting down in a third chair without any prompting.

"Dash, what are you doing here?"

"I can do whatever I want."  She replied, sniffling to herself.  Definitely getting sick.  "I don't think I'm breaking a law by doing this, I'm more highly ranked than anypony here."  She sighed.  "So how's this guy doing?  I'm not sure if you've got enough rope there."

"That's thirty feet per arm!"  Twilight replied.

"Yeah, but his upper arm is like, as thick as your thigh."  Dash shot back, pointing at the arm, still partially concealed under the rolled up shirt.

"No me gusta."  Jason repeated again.

"Oh, I know this!"  The blue mare exclaimed, nodding her head as Jason repeated himself again.  "He says... the door siding doesn't match the paneling."  Jason nodded.

"There's no way he said that!  How would he even know you translated that correctly if he didn't speak equestrian?!  Are you just goofing around?"

"No, that's what he said."  

Twilight dragged her hooves down her face in annoyance.  "I have things to do, do you think, human guy, that you could help me out a little?"

"Why the fuck would I do that?"  Jason asked, smiling widely.  "You beat me around, and broke two of my ribs.  I don't owe you shit."

"Ugh..."  Twilight moaned.

"So, what exactly did he do?"  Dash asked, rocking backwards in her chair and placing her back hooves on the table.

"He was a ways out in the Everfree, and also armed.  I'm not going to take the chance, especially if he's an unknown!"

"Yeah, but what if he's got friends up there?"  She queried, "Maybe you could beat him up, but twenty?  Thirty?  Hundreds?"  

"I know, but-"

"What if he's a diplomat, with weapons to defend himself from Everfree stuff?  Ooh, what if he's actually a mole, and this is just a way for him to figure out that most of us are worthless fighters?"

"Dash, why are you-"

"Oooooh, wouldn't it be cool if he has superpowers, and he's just hiding them because he wants the rustic experience of the common pon- man?"

"I think that last one may be the answer."  Jason spoke up.

"Shut up!  Listen, I'll figure out what to do later.  In the mean time..."  The chair floated upwards, bumping through a different door and down a hallway.

"Hi!"  He said to a passing pony, twisting his neck and face into strange expressions.  It took all of three seconds for the pony to flee, and even before he could laugh Dash was already chuckling loudly, and even Twilight's expression seemed to lighten.  

"Hey, how come his fingers changed?"  Twilight asked, stopping the chair and turning Jason around.  She took a finger in her hoof, looking at the black that extended almost to the second knuckle.  "What is this stuff?"

"God dammit."  Jason mumbled, spreading his fingers.  "That's flaring up again?"

"You know what this is?"  The mare asked, losing the battle to not give his finger a slight sniff.  

"Oh yeah, it's like the opposite of hookworm in dogs."  Jason said shortly, as he slid backwards into a cell.

"In any case, we'll hold you here for questioning and then you're free to go, alright?"

Jason put up a black thumb as the ropes untied and he stood up, bumping his head into the ceiling as his back gave a few cracks.  "Can I get some gauze for this?"  He asked, lifting his shirt and revealing some more chitin and a fucking nasty giant-ass bruise that covered his side, easily contrasting from the other skin that still covered most of his chest.

Dash was busy biting her lip, as one of her hooves twitched as if she wanted to touch the wound.  "I think you went overboard Sparkle."

"I have trouble calming down!"  She yelled back.  "Sorry."  She paused, turning back towards the other room with Dash.  "So where's Jason again?"

"At home, I think.  I doubt he moved.  There's only two times when he's like this, apparently when he's sick, or after we have se-"

"Dash, come on!"  Twilight yelled back, blushing at Jason's chuckle as it resonated off the walls behind them.  

"Is Scoots still in the room behind the one way mirror?"  

"She's your kid."

"Well yeah, but sometimes she wanders around."

"How did Luna see either of you as good parents?"  Twilight asked.

"Well in case you've forgotten, I'm awesome."  The other mare sighed.  "But whatever problems I have, Jason fills in pretty well.  I mean, she's not a stupid filly, she know's what she's doing.  It works well, kinda.  I mean, sometimes I swear he loves that filly more than he loves me, and it's not like she's even his blood."

"I'm sure she's glad to have you."  Twilight replied, smiling as an orange foal galloped out of a door and down a hallway.  Scoots grappled onto Dash, giggling as the mare tried to shake her off.  

"She's a real cutie too."  Dash continued.  "I swear, she's one of the few constant sources of joy I have, considering either Jason or I have some sort of crisis going on at some point."  She sighed, watching Twilight disappear briefly into a room before she returned with a roll of gauze.  

"I feel sorry for you, Dash."  The mare said as Dash shifted the filly onto her back.  

"I don't want your pity, just some peace of mind and for ponies to not move to the other side of the street when he goes by!"

"Well jeez, I'm sorry."  She replied, putting her hooves up defensively.

Dash's ears flattened against her head.  "Yeah, everypony's always sorry, huh?"  She asked, grabbing the gauze and turning away before Twilight could respond.  She quickly walked down the hall, handing the bandage through the bars as Jason simply started, biting his lip as if he wanted to say something, but he knew his cover would be blown.  

"Who's this Jason guy anyway?"  Jason asked about himself, feeling slightly weird as he thought about the question.

Twilight peered over, glancing at Dash with remorse.  "From the beginning?"

"Or just the short version."  He replied, sitting down on the tiny bunk and cringing as the metal creaked.

"Well here's the gist, I guess."  Twilight started.  "He used to be human, and I don't really know much about his past, but I think his parents got killed by somepony."

"Somebody."  Dash corrected.  "They were other humans."

"Yeah."  She sighed.  "So it started out great, I guess.  Anyway, he caused a fair amount or trouble, and I guess Dash took him in.  I'm not entirely sure why,"  Dash rolled her eyes, looking at the ground.  "-but they both jumped town, saved a city from invaders and proved me wrong, adopted a filly and got recruited again for a few weeks before he got possessed and we had to save him, and then apparently Dash died, and Jason screwed with time to save her."

"And what trouble did he cause?  Murder?  Rape?"

"What?  No?!"  Twilight yelled back, backtracking a step.  "He- I- Uh."

Dash sighed.  "He's a changeling, and maybe part of the war record isn't helpful."

"It sounds so stupid when I can't even explain it."  She murmured, shaking her head.  "I'll see you later Dash."  The other mare trotted off down the hall, closing the door to the interrogation room behind herself.  

Jason smiled, brushing a hand through his hair, knocking it rather painfully into the beginnings of a horn.  The pain didn't matter right now though.  He ignored Dash's slight whispers and got up, looking the bed over carefully, touching the cool metal with the tips of his fingers and looking at the bolts.  Grabbing two of the legs, he quickly pivoted on a foot/hoof and slammed the bed into the wall, watching it blow apart.

It was almost hilariously silent for a moment as Jason gathered up the new parts, listening to hoofsteps a moment later as Twilight and a guard skidded to a halt, staring at the carnage wide eyed.  

"Why did he break that bunk?!"  She yelled.

"Hey, do you have any food?"  Jason asked, looking innocent.  Dash choked back a laugh.

"Whadda ya want?"  She asked.

"What?  But he just-"  Twilight trailed off, waving the guard away as she seemed to become more interested in Jason's diet.  "Ugh, whatever."

"Meat?  I mean, most plant stuff works, but..."  He paused.  "You got any?"

"No, why would we have-"

"Yeah."  Dash replied shortly, tossing him a package of beef jerky out of her saddlebag.

"Dash, what was that?"

"Beef."  

"Why do you have beef?"

"Because it came through, and it's pretty good, actually."

Twilight took a step back.  "You ate it?!" 

"Yeah.  The cow's dead either way, it's not like they talk over there."

"I know, but-"

"Jesus Twilight, I can eat what I want!"

"Yeah, but it's-"  A hoof found its way into her mouth.

"It's good.  The only reason I ate it in the first place is because of how much Jason talked about meat in the first place.  I'm not eating red meat anyway, this is all cooked and stuff."

"I'm pretty sure we cook meat."  Jason said.  "It's not really that safe if we don't."

There was a brief silence.  "So where are you from?"  Twilight asked, cringing as he ate a piece of jerky.  

"Over...there?"  He responded, throwing an arm to the side and pointing, before he noticed a hole through the side of his arm and pulled the the sleeve down before they could notice.

"So why are you here then?"  

"That's...classified."

"Oh, of corse it is."  Twilight sighed.  "Can I at least get your name?"

"If it means I can sleep, yeah."  He paused.  "I'm Sir Ozlov.  Son of Bob."

"Are you serious?"

"Oh yeah, because your names are so normal."

Dash stifled a laugh, before she pulled Twilight away.  "We gotta let him sleep, that's the deal, right?"

"Yeah, I guess..."  She said as she was dragged away.

Jason made sure that they were gone, waiting a few moments to check for any noise.  He only heard the breathing from another inmate and a sneeze from Dash, and quickly tore off his shirt, checking himself over.  He turned his back to the smudged mirror, looking at the wings on his back.  They were almost full size, but there was no way he could possibly get off the ground.  

He gave them a quick buzz, feeling a definite lightness on his feet.  Next on the list fell to his arm, and he pulled back the sleeve.  He wasn't sure what he'd been expecting, but something had made him expect visible bone.  Apparently the reformation of chitin was keeping his arm together while these pointless holes popped up.  It looked so strange, especially considering the idea that his arm was still mostly flesh.  

Jason's eyes shifted to his chest, to the bruise that he'd showed off earlier.  He poked it.  It responded by flaring up in pain, unsurprisingly.  The other side of his chest was covered in... well, it looked like an oddly colored bruise.  Maybe a tattoo.  Something clicked.

It was the burn, from back in camp.  It must be.  Eww.

Fuck, he needed to get out already.  Jason sorted through the bars and rods, holding them up to the light.  Just as he said that the lights went off, and he sighed into the darkness.  His vision started to adjust, and the vague shapes of bars came back into view.  A few more minutes passed as the night vision kicked in, and things were almost back to normal.  

Jason found a bar with bolts at either end and shoved it in between two of the bars.  With his improvised bar spreader in place, it wasn't much of a jump to begin expanding the unit, screwing it one way so that the screws exited the bar and moved the bars apart.  

After maybe ten minutes he moved his escape plan upwards to a different part of the parallel poles.  Another twenty minutes and two spots later, he slipped through, shirt and beef jerky in hand, and started walking down the hallway.  He slid the shirt back on, yawning to himself as he grabbed a projector from the top of a barrel that he'd spotted earlier.  Jason's fingers weren't really working as well as he would have liked; the way that they were curved and black almost made them look dead.  

No big deal, he'd be out of here in no time, and then he could just sleep the remainder of this stupid poison joke off.  Jason faltered mid step, looking down at his shoes angrily.  He didn't even need to take them off to know that his feet were hooves again.  At least that wasn't all bad, he thought as he slipped off the foot protectors, looking at the black, holed chitin that lay beneath.  Jason picked the shoes up and stuck a hoof/foot against the wall, testing whether or not he had his stickiness back.  He did, luckily, and shakily walked his way to the ceiling.  It was a lot easier when he had four points of contact, as well as wings that he could rely on.  

But as soon as he got to the ceiling, a door opened and a patrolling guard walked down the row of cells with a lantern, slowly checking the first few.  He had some time at least, his cell was all the way at the end of the block.  He averted his eyes from the guard and stepped through the same doorway upside down, glad that the ceilings were tall enough for him to still stay in the shadows that bunched near the roof.  

He heard giggling, and looked down to watch Scoots try to get away from the tickling hooves of Dash, making a quick turn as she tried to outmaneuver her mother.  Twilight was reading a book in a nearby chair, yawning widely as she tried to keep her eyes open.  Dash sneezed, blowing her nose on a tissue she grabbed as she ran by.  

"Don't get me sick, Dash."  Twilight said.

"Like it's my choice where the germs go."  Dash replied.  "I wish I wasn't sick though, even if it is a stupid cold."

"What does Jason have?"

"I dunno, the flu?  It's hard to tell."

The blood was starting to go to his head, bringing with it the familiar pressure as a tear went to his eye.  He'd seen movies before; he wiped it away quickly, looking at the locked door that led into the rest of the jail, and the barrier to his escape.  Jason heard yelling, as the door to the cellblock flew open, and the guard started yelling his head off again.

"The guy's gone!  He's escaped."

"Bullshit!"  Dash yelled, watching Twilight scramble in her drowsiness towards the door.  Jason threw a piece of beef jerky at Dash as Twilight left and she got up to follow, making her look up at the looming half human stuck to the ceiling.  "Uh."  She said, taking a step towards the door.  "Good luck."

Jason dropped down as she left, pulling a penny from his pocket and starting to unscrew a bolt from the door.  It popped free after a few seconds and he threw it across the room, moving down to the second of four.  That went quickly as well, and he started on the third.  As soon as it popped free, he heard the door swing open again, and turned to see Twilight again.  Dammit, that mare was the bane of his existence sometimes.

"How the hell did you break out in a half hour!?"  She yelled, as he started on the last bolt.  A blast of magic hit next to him, blowing off a few pieces of paint.  Jason dug into his pocket, throwing the contents backwards.  

"Pocket sand!"  He yelled, watching as the particles almost completely missed.  Jason felt the bolt pop free soon enough, as he let the door fall outwards, swinging it into the path of Twilight's next spell.  He threw the door towards her, sprinting through the lobby.  Jason dove through the door, blowing the glass apart with his armored fists.  

Twilight had stopped, her mouth agape as she looked through the window.  Jason rolled, turning to see that Dash had exited behind him, catching up as she flew.  He dove into a bush, crashing through the foliage and down a slight hill, landing at the bottom in an exquisite sense of pain.  

He groaned out his dissatisfaction, feeling a muzzle push him into a bush.  He turned over, grabbing Scoots from Dash's back and hugging her tightly.  

"You're going to have to tell me what you did."  Dash said, rolling onto her side next to him and kissing his nose.  "At least, so long as we don't get caught overnight, right?"

"Yeah, I guess."  He mumbled, putting an arm around her back.  "But I guess I'll be back to normal by then anyway, and it'll be obvious what happened."

"No, I think, what happened here, was that something has actually gone off without a hitch."

"Heh, I guess we have a first on our hands."  Jason murmured, drifting off to sleep.  
	
	
> Peace?  Close Enough.  Permanent?  Probably not.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Peace?  Close Enough.  Permanent?  Probably not.


"Jason.  You alive?"

"Mrhf."  Jason replied, shifting slightly amid the crinkle of leaves until his face landed on what he was sure was her chest.  It was a stark contrast to the chills running through the rest of his body, something he never really had to deal with before.  He was always the warm one. 

"Can you say a word at least?"  She asked, as a hoof grazed his cheek, clinking off what must have been chitin.  "You're pretty cold."

So she'd caught on as well.  He'd never felt this drowsy before, whether it was from the potion or his injuries.  Maybe a little of both.  His ribs still hurt as he breathed, and there wasn't an easy way to go in and get an enchanted wrap, considering all of his injuries matched the ones from yesterday.  Eventually Jason found the strength to open his eyes, finding the shade of the bush they were in refreshing.  It appeared to still be dark outside, but he would much rather be in the darkest place he could.  

"You good?"  

"Depends."  He said back, almost falling asleep before he could complete the sentence.  "How do I look?"  He felt his hoof get lifted up more than he saw it, letting his head slump back against the ground as his vision blurred.

"Fill of holes, the usual.  Some bumps where fingers used to be"  She carefully rolled him over, audibly cringing when he groaned out his discomfort.  "You've got some flesh on your back still, a few large patches at least.  I think that's it though, you look pretty much like a changeling."

"So what then?"  He breathed, blinking as he tried to stay awake.  

"I dunno, I think we should get back to the house if you're up to it."

Jason sighed.  "And Scoots?"

"Asleep on my back."

"You don't think you could carry me?"  Jason asked.  "Obviously I don't need to be this large."

"How small can you get?"

"Hold on."  He said, taking a few long breaths before he shifted into a much smaller version of himself, probably a little smaller than Scoots was.

"I can do that."  Dash said, sliding a giant hoof under his stomach gently.  "You're so cute like this.  My tiny changeling."

"Mrf."  He murmured, feeling the warmth of Dash's fur a moment later. 

"Just try not to fall off."  She said with a chuckle as she lifted into the sky, sending the cool air over Jason's back.

Dash felt him drift off the rest of the way, his head gently flopping between her shoulders.  She looked backwards at his face, the lines of stress and exhaustion showing through.  He did look cute like that, so seemingly brittle and in need of protection, the complete opposite of his normal demeanor and stature.  It was like the fact that he was even like that allowed a part of him to show through that she never really saw.  

She hardly turned around in time to avoid a cloud, gently banking afterwards and checking her cargo.  Still there, luckily.  Finding things in the dark wasn't exactly her strong-suit.  In any case, she landed a few minutes later, not wanting to go too fast and realize that she had misjudged the location of her house.  

Dash made a bee-line for the kitchen and wiped her nose with a hoof, quickly salvaging a few daisies and some hay in a blob and wolfing it down.  She'd had a lot of meat in the last day, it probably wasn't the best idea to have more.  Scoots shifted on her back, mumbling out her name.  It was too cute, the two creatures on her back; she was a little worried she'd watch them too long and forget to sleep herself.  Dash walked past Evening, passed out on the couch again.

Not like there was much to do tomorrow, though.  She was going to probably have a cold, and Jason was going to have to stay home with her, to keep up his guise of sickness.  Whatever, a day to rest sounded good.  When was the last time she'd even had a day where she could lay around and do nothing, minus weather team days before Jason arrived?  Okay, dumb question.  But still, she was getting a little giddy thinking about it.  

Scoots had school tomorrow though, but that wasn't a big deal.  Worst case scenario, Jason could just fly her down with her scooter.  Or she could just fly herself, but she wanted somepony to see the kid off, it wasn't like she'd be a kid forever.  

That made her a little depressed.  Sure, she had at least five years left, and hopefully Scoots would never become as much of a teenager, considering she was still acting the way she was with no sign of changing.  Like that meant anything.  Oh well, that was a worry for another day.  Ugh, she felt old.

Dash crested the stairs, peering into the darkness of Scootaloo's room.  She opened her eyes more widely, barely missing a toy of some sort that she couldn't make out in the dark and tripping sideways before she could regain her balance.  Jason must've rolled onto something painful as he groaned, making her fur stand on end before she realized the source.  

"Secondary career as a Nightmare Night prop, I guess."  She mumbled, chuckling to herself as she laid Scoots down, tucking her in.  Dash looked around for a moment, grabbing the Soarin' plushie and placing it against the spread-eagle filly's chest.  She must be pretty conked out, usually she snuggled right up to that thing.  Dash went to adjust the stuffed animal, jumping as the filly wrapped her arms tightly around Dash's arm instead.

"Dammit."  She murmured, sighing.  Now if she just slid out her hoof...

The filly lifted out of the bed and Dash sighed again, starting to feel the fatigue herself.  She shook Scoots slightly, checking that she was tightly connected, and flapped her wings.  She went down the hallway to her room, tossing her saddlebag and carefully dropping the projector to the floor.  She flapped her wings heavily and landed on the bed, amidst some difficulty.  

Dash set Scoots down first, using her available arm to grab Jason and transfer him to the cloud as well, not that she had any difficulty with him like this.  God damn, her chest felt tight when she looked at him, comfortably resting over her hoof.  He rivaled how cute Scoots was, actually.  What was funny was that he was just a smaller version of a changeling, and yet she was almost sure even her friends couldn't do more than let out an 'aww'.

The mare fell onto her side, pulling both the filly and Jason into her chest.  She flipped the blanket over the three of them and sighed contentedly, trying to remember a time when she'd felt more at peace with her life.  It'd probably be easier if she wasn't so tired, but for right now, she'd be calling this that moment.  Dash held the other two closer, watching carefully to avoid squishing Jason's frame and causing him pain.  

She smiled broadly, enjoying the moment.  Hopefully these would happen more often.  After all, she wouldn't mind a few experiences like this.


___________________________________________________________________


Dash awoke slowly as light flooded through her window, her thoughts quickly turning to the two in her arms once again.  Not that she was surprised, they were most of what she cared about, all wrapped up into her arms.  Jason was the first of the two to open his eyes, little blue marbles that looked confused almost from the moment they found her face.  

"Why am I so small?"  He asked, holding up a hoof.

"You did that so I could bring you up here, remember?"  She asked, raising him gently.  

"And you're loving every moment of this, huh?"

"You're just so cute!  How much do you think I see of you being like this anymore?"

"As little as I can allow you to."  He said with a smirk.  "I have an image to keep up."

"Oh yeah?  Well just promise me this, mister macho."

"I'm listening."

"Be like this more often, alright?"

"Yeah, okay."

"Huh?  You're just going to do it?"

"Sure, I mean, you're going to be my wife.  This isn't hard for me to do, really.  I mean, it's a little worse than a normal transformation, but if I'm just going to sleep it off then there's no big deal.  Plus, you're really soft like this.  And I'm usually not the one to comment on things like that."

"No, you're not.  Why is that?"

"Cuz all stuff that's even a little soft feels the same, pretty much.  But I get to sink into you, kinda.  It's weird.  Can I get bigger now?"

"I guess."  She chuckled, letting him down on the other side of Scoots.  He took a deep breath, blinking before he was surrounded in the characteristic green flames.  A moment later he was back to full size, and carefully shifted Scoots with a hoof.

"Scoots...  you got school today."  He said softly, laying back down beside her and Dash.  He reached a hoof under the foal, holding her to his chest as he leaned over to kiss Dash, watching her meet him halfway.  Jason closed his eyes, putting his free hoof behind her head to draw her closer.

Jason felt her sneeze before he reacted, as his mouth filled up with air.  He pulled away, not sure if he should be disgusted or concerned.  

"Sorry Jason, I didn't mean-"

"It's fine, you're sick anyway.  I've just never been sneezed into before."  He paused.  "It's weird."

"Hopefully I didn't get you sick..."  She mumbled.

"I'm probably going to get sick anyw-"  He froze.  "Hey, if-"

"Jason?"  Scoots asked, reaching a hoof up to his cheek.

"Yeah?"

"I have to be in school soon."

"Oh yeah."  He paused.  "Remind me what I was talking about when I come back, Dash."  She blew her nose and nodded, pulling the covers back over herself.

Jason hauled his daughter onto his back, trotting quickly down the stairs.  Evening was missing from the couch, which hopefully meant she hadn't found trouble.  He grabbed her scooter in his magic, picking up speed as he went through the door.  The front yard ended and he found himself in open space, quickly transforming into Alternis as he unfurled his wings and dove.  He really liked feathered wings, it was one of the few things he wished he could have for his regular body.

But then again, he'd never tried a partial transformation where he kept the things.  He'd have to remember to try that when he got back up into the house.  It didn't take long to get to the ground, as he landed behind a small bush.

"Don't you ever get scared that you won't slow down soon enough?"  Scoots asked as she hopped off his back, moving to where he set down the scooter.  

"Not really, I just know when to do stuff, I guess.  Probably got more from Dash than just the wings."

"So how come we're out here?"

"I wanted to see you off as best I could.  I don't want to be seen healthy, because that would mean Dash's story was wrong, and that would instill suspicion."

"Oh."  She said.  "Well, I'll see you after school, right?"

"I hope so."  He paused.  "At the very worst I'll just be home."

"Okay."  She carefully balanced her vehicle against a tree and hugged one of his legs.  "Love you."

"I love you too, Scoots."  Jason replied, holding the hug for a moment before he let the foal go.  "Now come on, you'll be late."

"I have way more time than I need."  She replied with a smirk, accelerating down a dirt path.

"She's taking after her mother, I guess."  Jason mumbled to himself, before he took off, returning back to the house.


_______________________________________________________________


"How're you feeling?"  Jason asked as he walked back into his bedroom, catching Dash's eye.

"Like I'm sick."  She replied, her frown wavering as he laid down and pulled her back into his chest.  "So what was that thing you wanted to say?"

"I'll get to that."  He replied.  "But I've got something kinda bad to talk about first."

"How come?"

"We've got high risk jobs, and a big part of that is that we could die, alright?"

"I know, but-"

"I just want to know what to do with you if you do pass away, or if I do."

"You'll get buried, like everypony else."

"That's it?  A lot of people get cremated and then there's lots of stuff to do from there."

"Alright...  well I guess that just leaves where, right?"  She asked.  "I'd like it to be here in Ponyville."

"I don't care where, so long as it's next to you."  He finished, nipping at an ear.  

"Oh, so romantic."  She chuckled.  "So the not depressing thing?"

"Yeah.  I know we aren't actually married, and maybe I'm getting a little ahead of myself here, but would you want kids?"

"I- yeah, I mean, someday, but I don't even know if you can-"

"Listen, I know that maybe we can't have kids, and it fucking pisses me off.  But here's where I started thinking, actually trying to get you pregnant isn't the only way we could know."

"How could you possibly figure out another way?"

"It's actually pretty simple."  He said, chuckling.  "You're sick with what I assume is basically the common cold.  Specific viruses usually only go after one species.  So basically, if I get sick with the same disease, I must be the same species, at some level.  Any breed of a species is able to procreate with the rest of the species, and that means that we'd be compatible."

Dash stared for a few seconds at Jason's amused expression, turning away to blow her nose again.  "If I'm able to get you sick, that means we can have children?"

"It should.  Bet you'd never think you'd have to go through anything like this, huh?"

"No, I guess not."  She was silent for a few moments before another sneeze rang out.  Jason got up and she whined slightly.  "Where're you going?  I get cold without you."

"I'll be right back, I found something a while ago that could help."  He left the room and Dash let her arms fall back to the bed, sniffling slightly.  Jason returned a minute later with a bag, tossing her what looked like a piece of candy as he set down a small plastic disc case. 

"What is it?"  She asked, transferring it to her other hoof.

"It's a zinc tablet, it's supposed to get you over a cold faster."

"Why would I want this?  I thought the object was to get you sick."

"Alright, well for later than?"  He asked.

"Fine.  After you're sick."

"I never thought I'd want to catch something."  He replied, returning to his position behind her.  "So if we can have kids, That'll have to be during your spring heat?"

"Or fall."

"What?"

"They say that in the last bunch of generations that some change happened, and occasionally ponies end up getting two heat weeks a year.  It sucks, really.  There's like, two other ponies around here that have the same problem."

"I guess you'd hate being human, females can get pregnant all year round.  But then again, it's not like they get all... heated about it."

"You must get a lot of unwanted pregnancies over there."

"Depends how you look at it.  I can kinda see you going insane alone and grabbing some poor guy."  She blushed.  "But then again, we have birth control, so..."

"I'm just going to skip over that..."  Dash said with a laugh.  "But I couldn't think of anything better than settling down and having a foal with you.  I think Scoots wouldn't mind another little guy around here either."

"I love you."

"Shh, I have to get you sick."  She replied, pushing her lips into his.  "You know what a good way to do that is?"

"What?"  Jason asked, figuring he already knew the answer.

"Sex."

"Of course."  He replied, breaking into laughter.  "Even when you're sick, huh?"

"Always."  Dash said seriously, before her façade broke.  "You're going to have to do most of the work though."

"Oh really?  I dunno if it's worth it..."

"Fuck your shit."  She said, pushing his face into hers none too gently.


________________________________________________________________________


"You realize this is the first time we haven't passed out afterwards?"  Dash asked.  "Or you, more specifically?"

"I usually do the work."  Jason said, squeezing his arm around her shoulder as they stared at the ceiling.  "At least the ribs are better, I didn't bump them too much, at least.  Did you get that projector, or is it still at the bottom of that hill?"

"The box thing?"  He nodded.  "Yeah, it's over there, by the saddlebag."

"So when's The Running of the Leaves?"

"Tomorrow, I think."

"Aww, really?"  He sighed.  "I'm probably going to be sick."

"It's not like I won't be.  Plus, the other ponies'll be hard pressed to beat us."

"There's Applejack, I guess.  Tank and Morning, if they decide to compete."  He paused.  "Do you know if Tank's alright?"

"I heard Twilight say that he was improving, no signs of a coma.  So that's good, everything seems pretty peaceful."

"I guess, we still need to deal with the soul magic and stuff though."

"Shh, I don't want to hear it right now."  She said, putting a hoof over his mouth.

"Oh yeah, this reminds me."  Jason hopped off the bed, stumbling slightly as he squared his footing.  "I think..."  He transformed into Alternis again, spreading his wings and turning them from gray to black.  "That maybe if I..."  Green flames surrounded him again as he shifted into his regular form.  Jason turned and smiled, spreading the feathered wings that were almost as black as his chitin.

"I kinda liked your old wing- choo!"  She yelled, trying to cover up her mouth with a hoof.  "Lemme see."  She hopped down as well, pulling one of the wings towards her carefully.  "I've never known anypony with black wings before, I don't think.  They're fitting, really."  She paused.  "But don't think you're doing this for me, I don't want you to look different on my behalf."

"I know, I just like that these let me fly fast, and I'm mostly the same otherwise.  I'm amazed I didn't think of this sooner."

"Yeah, you and me both."

"Hey, you wanna go into town or something?"

"Aren't you supposed to be sick?"

"I'm a changeling, I can just say it passed.  If they try to argue I can just make things up."

"God, there's something I just love about our life."

"It's just so different, right?"

"Besides all the other stuff, I guess."  She replied with a chuckle, before she broke into a coughing fit.

"Do you want to go?"  Jason asked, looking concerned.

"Yeah, pfft.  It's a stupid virus, I'm stronger than a few microbes."

"Someday that's going to be your downfall.  Oh, I'm stronger than a stupid country full of people that want to kill me."

"But, I apparently have intelligence."  Dash said, leaning forward to kiss him on the nose.  "And you're still not sick, I'm getting worried."

Jason laughed, pulling her arm around his neck and starting to move towards the door as he levitated the projector and his saddlebag behind himself, along with the case.  "It's not immediate, and even if I did get sick, we wouldn't know for a while.  Unless something changes for me, of course.  But I may not, and that could mean something bad, or that I just haven't caught the disease.  It's all a numbers game, just like everything else."

"Oh you, all math-y all the time."

He shrugged.  "It's what I do."

"Oh yeah, when I'm not sick, and you're not, you still have to teach me magic."

"I know, Dash.  But the thing about that is, it's through me.  I don't have a problem letting you take the energy, it's yours after all, but I don't want you to become dependent on it if I end up... not being around forever."

"Come on, we're practically invincible."

"That's the pride I was talking about."

"It'd only be a problem if you didn't balance it out."  She replied.  Jason chuckled and opened a closet, pulling out a white sheet and throwing it over his shoulder as he turned back around.  "So what's all this for?"

"Well, when I was home a while ago I realized that I still had this DVD, and I wanted to play it."

"And the sheet?"

"Let's get going, I'll tell you on the wing."

She giggled, her laugh somewhat hoarse.  Heh.  Punpunpunpunpunpunpunpunpun.  "Fine, alright?"  Dash hopped into the air, doing a quick circle around the ceiling before she ducked out the door.  Jason spread his wings, admiring the black sheen for a moment before her pursued Dash.   He caught up to what would be a fast pace for most pegasi, despite the fact that Dash was not only sick, but appearing to put very little effort into her flight.  

"So what's it for?"  She asked, sniffling mid sentence.  

"I'm going to- Choo!"

"Hey, maybe you're sick!"  Dash exclaimed excitedly.

"Alright, unless I get sick faster as a changeling, that was just a random sneeze.  Anyway, this thing projects light onto a screen."  He gestured to the floating projector and then the sheet.  "So we get a big picture."  Jason looked around, looking at the late afternoon sun.  "It works better at night though."

"Heh, we can plan, huh?"

"We have drive, at least.  That's what counts."

"Whatever you say, Jason."


____________________________________________________________________


Jason hopped off of the edge of the buggy, levitating his Xbox and several other things behind himself, including the buggy itself.  

"So where're we going?"  Dash asked, catching up at a trot.

"The park, probably.  We need to hang the sheet from a couple branches, and make sure it's at least shaded.  Then we break out the Xbox, and wait until it's dark for the movie."

"Ooh, it's been a while since we played any video games.  How're you going to keep Evening away?"

"Probably just hope that she doesn't find out.  I like the mare, but sometimes I want to play something two player.  Those are always the best games.  I think we have Borderlands in here, but for today..."  He set everything down, levitating the sheet up and tying it to a couple branches.  "I was thinking we play Halo."

"Hay-lo?"

"Dash, everything isn't a horse pun!  The author hates those!"

"The who?"

"What?"

"Whatever, what's in this game."

"Uh, well basically..."  He grabbed a wire and made sure it was stuck into the back of the projector before pushing it into the back of the Xbox, along with one that went to his amp.  "There're these aliens, and several plot points.  They all kinda have this religion, and one guy calls the shots, manipulating the soldiers at will.  Uh, so he attacks humans for some reason, who have these super soldiers called Spartans.  Some of the aliens change sides because they realize the Covenant--that's what the aliens are called--is full of shit."

"Is there more?"

"Yeah, like entire books.  But just shoot the guys, I'll fill in stuff when you have questions.  Not the humans though, those are your friends.  The crosshair turns green."

"Ah."  She paused, her ears perking.  "Who's doing that moaning thing?"

"It's the music."  Jason replied with a shrug.

"Oh yeah, alright.  Those first couple notes were a little weird."

"Yeah.  Heh."  He started the game as Dash joined, scrunching her face up at the Elite that stared back.

"That's one of the aliens?"

"Yup.  Shh, you'll miss something."


__________________________________________________________________


"So... they blew up their base."

"Yup."

"And that was worth it?"

"I dunno, maybe?"

"Wow, what's this?!"   Pinkie yelled, poking at the sheet.  "Ooh look, I can make shadows!"

"Pinkie I can't see my ammo!!"  Dash yelled, gesturing for the mare to get out of the way.

"Wow, are those things aliens?!"

"Yeah, look out."

"Grenade."  Jason said, as blue light exploded across the screen.

"Dammit, I'm dead.  Get somewhere safe, hopefully where I can idle."

"Yeah, or I could pause."  Jason responded, as the music and gunfire suddenly stopped.

"Can I watch this?"  Pinkie asked, planting her ass on the ground before either of them responded.  "I like the pretty flames and smoke."

"How about this?"  He started, grabbing her attention from the immobile screen.  "Why don't you grab some ponies, and tell them to come watch a movie here.  Tell them it's like a moving picture, and that parents should be warned about some gore."

"Is there a limit on ponies?  Can I grab everypony?"

"I guess, but I'm not sure how many of them will want to come if I'm putting it on."  

Pinkie saluted with a serious look, her blue eyes hardening.  "Yes sir!"  She giggled for a moment, before she sprinted off towards town.  

Dash fixed her bangs, blown to one side as Pinkie ran past.  "I guess it should be interesting, I kinda want to see how it looks there, on Earth."

"You'll be disappointed, it was set in... Iraq?  Anyway, that's in probably one of the most dangerous and least developed areas of the world.  So even though it's from the US Army's point of view and you miss all the wife beating and murder in the native population, it's pretty clear that stuff isn't going well there."

"Well then."  She said, as Jason looked away.  "How can you get so mad just by talking about it?"

"Ugh."  He sat down, going silent for a second.  "A rather large chunk of the population is insane, compared to other places at least, and sometimes they even brainwash others to think the same way.  That turns into an anti western sentiment, and so we become targets of morons that aren't above targeting completely innocent men, women and children that didn't even have a slim chance of being threats.  And now, I've had people get angry at me for being patriotic and in favor of my own country, as if it's our fault that all these psychopaths hate us.  We shouldn't have to think about the terrorists' side of the argument, they aren't as important as our own civilians anyway, and the idea that we blame ourselves first is just ridiculous.  But that's what people think, and it sickens me."

"Jesus, we don't have to watch the thing..."

"No, I like it.  It's one of the few pro-military movies I've seen set in recent years."  He went silent again.  "I wish I had this kind of power back there, that I could change the world I lived in for the vast majority of my life."  Dash's arms went around his shoulders, and he sighed.

"I'm sorry, every time I think about living in your world forever seems too complicated."

"I'm not sure why you're sorry, it's not like I haven't gotten more than I deserved in the last few months.  Or not, judging by how you judge injury."  He passed her the controller, grabbing back up his own.  "Come on, I don't want to talk about this shit anymore, I just get annoyed that I can't help.  It's probably how Ben felt before he joined the military."

"Yeah, I guess.  I wish I could empathize more, Jason, but I can hardly get emotional when all I know is that they're bad guys.  That's why I'm sorry."  Jason's hoof brushed her brow, and she looked upwards at him.  

"As if you have to be sorry for anything."  He said, leaning in to kiss her lightly.  "You're way more of a mare than I could have imagined, the fact that you don't know about a place you've never visited doesn't even make a blip on the radar."

"It'd probably mean more if I knew what radar was, but I'll take it as something romantic."  Dash replied, making Jason chuckle as she leaned back in.


__________________________________________________________________


"I didn't really expect this many ponies."  Jason said as he towed over a cloud, setting it a few feet above the ground with the projector.  

"Pfft, I think you're more well liked then you thought."

"Well, whatever."  Jason replied.  "It's still surprising."  He turned and walked towards the screen.  

"Where are you going?"  Dash asked, raising her voice to reach across the extra distance.

"I have to explain what they're about to see."

"Try not to turn red."  She joked with a giggle, walking over to give him a quick kiss.  	

"I'm not in a bad mood, really.  I don't think I'm going to get mad again."  

"So long as you explain it to me as well, we won't have a problem."  

"Will do."  Jason replied, before he jumped into the air and glided to the screen.

"So, you're all about to see a movie, called The Hurt Locker.  I'm going to have to explain the premise, since I'm sure you're all going to be lost otherwise.  Basically, everyone on screen is human, because that's the species that made the film.   Let's see, it's set in a war that's going on between the US Army and terrorists, who are intermixed into the population.  That makes it hard to pick out the bad guys.  The movie follows one squad that defuses bombs, something the terrorists use to kill people.  There is some gore, so children might want to leave, or whatever."  

Jason started to walk to the side of the screen, swearing under his breath as a familiar pressure appeared in his head.  "Not now..."  He whispered, speeding into a trot for a moment before he inevitably collapsed, holding his head between his hooves and trying to make himself appear as if he'd tripped.  Something mundane like that.

What?  No dialogue?  He asked, feeling the pressure lift ever so slightly.

You're running out of time, you know.  It's not like you can fight an invisible threat.  And with that she was gone.  Jason's eyes filled with ponies as he re-opened them, standing around and not sure what to do.

"You okay?"  Lyra asked, pulling him to his feet as Dash pushed her way through next to him.  

"Yeah, sure.  I'll just start the thing."  He finished, flying up to the cloud in short order and beginning the opening credits.  He watched the movie for a moment, mumbling a hello to Rumble, Scoots and Evening as the cloud filled up, staring into space more than paying attention.

"What's wrong with Jason?"  Scoots asked Dash, whispering into the mare's ear.

"I think he's just homesick."

"But doesn't he live up there?"  The filly asked, pointing to their cloud house.

"Yeah, but he used to be... back there.  And I think he just misses everything it has to offer."  She finished, hearing him sneeze and shift slightly.  "I wish there was something I could do, but it's not like I can really bring everything he used to know over here.  And as much as he didn't like fighting, I'm sure it kept his mind off of things."

She walked over and laid down next to Jason, staring at his features.  God dammit, she was feeling useless again.  And yet, she had a room full of human stuff, and a working knowledge of how Jason lived.  Maybe she could do something to make him feel better, to ease the annoyance of being forced from his life and kept away.  She knew he said things were better, and she knew he loved her, but it wasn't as if she knew how to bring his friends over, at the very least.  

That's no place to give up, she thought to herself.  She had some magic, a brain and power.  She could at least try.
> Competition
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Competition


Dash awoke with a start just before her dream self hit the ground, breathing heavily as her heart beat.  God, that'd been vivid, for one of the dreams Jason had appeared not to take part in.  She didn't have to look over to know that he'd gotten up for some reason or another, probably not because he was feeling super jolly or anything.  

This was usually the part where Dash got up to figure out what was wrong, probably exchange a hug and some kisses to comfort the guy.  But assuming he was still feeling homesick, not that she could blame him, her presence might not be the best thing for him to see.  

"Pfft, yeah right."  She whispered into the dark, getting up a moment later.  A look out the window confirmed the time, somewhere near the dawn hours.  Something shifted in the room with all of the human junk, not that she wasn't going to check there first anyway.  Dash peered around the side of the door, gasping at how changed the room looked.  What had previously been a pile was now a building of blocks and several organized stacks and rows.  A glob of pieces probably stuck in the vague shape of the object they would become floated past, followed by several books and a circuit board.  

"How long have you been up?"  She asked, stepping inside and noticing the pile of stuff that JAson must've called junk behind the door.

"A few hours."  He replied shortly, sounding a mixture between annoyed and depressed.  

"I went down to get some books from the library.  Did you know they have nothing on long distance teleportation?"

"How did you get the books this late?"

"Ugh, Twilight left the door unlocked.  Or Spike I guess.  Anyway, I left her a note, and grabbed a bunch of books."

Dash sighed and sat down next to Jason, leaning her shoulder against his.  "This isn't good for you, Jason.  You're just going to burn yourself out."

"No I won't.  What's the big deal anyway?  I would've just been sleepless in bed, I may as well get something done."

"Just make sure you know when to stop, alright?  I don't need a husk of a fiancé laying around."

"As if, I have more brain power than that, I'm not just going to lose my mind."

"You can never be too careful, right?"  Dash asked, pushing her forehead into his and watching her reflection in his eyes.

"I'm guessing you missed having me in bed?"

"No!  Well, yeah, but that wasn't the reason I came over here.  I'm worried about you, I just don't want things to get worse when they have a chance at getting better."

"Heh, yeah."  He paused.  "At least this time you didn't freak out when I left."

"I figure you're not going to find somepony else who wouldn't be scared around you anyway.  And that you couldn't hold a good enough alter ego, or have the patience for another relationship, or-"

"Alright, I get it.  You're my one and only love, blah.  Happy?"  

"A little."  She replied with a smirk, sitting down next to him to put a hoof around his neck.  "Plus, you gotta be rested for that race tomorrow, I don't want to beat you when you're all tired.  That's no fun."  She leaned over to kiss him, before getting back up and sneezing.

"Fine, just a minute."  He said, watching her return to the door.

"Oh yeah, Jason?"

"Mhm?"  He wiped his nose.

"Just because a spell isn't in the book doesn't mean it can't be invented."  She left on that note, chuckling at the blank expression on his face.  If he could get something working, he'd have to take her along.  For all Jason had talked about Earth, it must be a pretty crazy place.  Nothing like the boring sameness of Equestria, anyway.  And she was always ready for a challenge.


___________________________________________________________


"So who's going to win?"  Scoots asked as Jason and Dash landed in the town square, both breaking into trots as they shared a competitive glance.

"It'll be me, I'm sure."  Dash replied triumphantly, bumping against Jason with a giggle.

"Oh yeah, I guess we will, huh?"  Jason countered, pushing his forehead against hers roughly as they stared at each other, plotting and scheming as they walked towards the start line.  A balloon floated overhead, settling over a forest that Jason assumed wasn't connected to the Everfree.  He could see Pinkie manning a loudspeaker, looking down excitedly at a crowd that he could see in the distance.

"Heh, in a way, I just want to beat you, I don't care what place I get."

Dash giggled, covering up her muzzle with a hoof as it turned into a cough.  "I'm handicapped."

"Shush, I was coughing for a while last night also, and I have less sleep to work with."

"You've got longer legs."

"You're lighter."

"You have more muscles."

"You're more aerodynamic."  Jason finished, looking at her smugly as she struggled to come up with another handicap.   He picked Twilight out of the crowd as she walked towards the trio, thinking briefly about trying to go around her before she was already too close to avoid.  

"Are you three competing?  Or two, I guess.  Scoots may not want to compete."  The mare said, turning her gaze towards Jason.  "Are you feeling better?  I heard you had some sort of flu?"

He nodded.  "It wasn't that bad, really.  I think I'm catching what Dash has though."

"Did you ever think that maybe you should skip the race?"

"It crossed my mind, but what if I'm not around next year, as morbid as that sounds?"

"Uh, um."  She replied, seeming unable to come up with a response.  "Did Dash at least tell you about the human that showed up?"

He started to walk towards the group again.  "A little.  I heard he escaped within like, a half hour."

"Yeah."  Twilight responded, drooping her head.  "What humans don't have in magic, they definitely make up for in quick thinking and durability."

"And the hands."

"Yeah, and that."  She sighed.  "I wish I could've questioned him, but after Dash came back and said the trail went dead, well, I dunno.  It was a lost opportunity."  

"So is this the usual turnout, or is something else going on?"  Jason asked, changing the subject as he looked around.

"Celestia's coming here today for something about awards for soldiers that have come home.  She's gone through most of the cities already, and Ponyville is the last one before Canterlot."

"So what's the news there?  Anything of particular notice?"  He asked.

"I'm not sure, I think there have been a few high medals, but most of them are probably going to be given to the ones still inside the Griffin Empire."

"It's Equestria now."  Dash pointed out.

"Well, not until we actually have peace talks on the matter."  Jason said.  "But I don't know when those are anyway."  

"Hey guys!"  Another pony yelled, bringing Dash and Jason out of their conversation and over to the speaker.  Morning was hobbling over with Tank, who had an arm over her back.  

"He's okay?!"  Dash yelled, galloping over to hug at the pony's neck.  Jason felt a weight lift from his chest as he hugged Tank as well, feeling a tear squeeze itself out of his eye.  

"You scared me Tank, I didn't want to be responsible for your death."

"Ah, you didn't call me tank for nothing I guess."  He replied, his free arm wrapping around Jason's back.

"I can only carry you to a point."  Morning wheezed out, before Tank returned his hoof to the ground.  

"Anyway, in the long run all that will have happened is the loss of some feeling in my leg and my back.  That's what the doctors say, anyway.  Morning filled me in on what happened while I was out, it hardly seems like I should be complaining.  But I'm happy for you two, even if I did see it coming a mile away."

"Always that hint of an insult in there, eh Tank?"

"Vanilla conversation is boring."  He chuckled.  "So are you running?  I can guess you are, Dash."  

"Like I would turn down an opportunity to win at something."

"Ah bet."  Applejack said as she walked up.  "Ya think you got it easy this year, huh Dash?"

"Yeah."  She replied.  "Unless Jason beats me, which I doubt."

"Hey, jus' ta clear this up, ya can't use yer changeling powers fer nuthin'."  She turned to Dash.  "And that means no flying for you either."

"Pfft, I don't need flying.  So long as you don't stop time we'll be fine, Jason."

"Huh."  Twilight said, her ears perking.  "What, exactly, do you mean?"

"Well, when I was trying to bring Dash back to life, or keep her from dying as it may be."  He replied,  "I learned some other spells first, like that one."

"Ain't that jus' like teleportation?"  Applejack asked.  

"Hah, no."  He said, concentrating as power channeled through his horn.  His surroundings went silent as he looked up, grinning that everyone had stopped moving.  Jason carefully picked up Applejack and laid her on her side, taking her saddlebag to stick over Twilight's horn.  He stood back and thought for a moment, before he grabbed one of Dash's front hooves and stuck it into a position that made her look like she was thinking, before he propped up her arm with a stick.  Jason ended the spell with a feeling that didn't feel unlike the rapid outflow of air, and stared at his victims.  

Dash just started to laugh, lifting her hoof so that the stick could drop.  Twilight shook the saddlebag from her horn, the hint of a smile showing up through her bewilderment as Applejack chuckled and grabbed back her saddlebag.

"How'd you do that?"  The lavender mare asked.  "I- I've never seen anypony attempt something like that before."

"Yeah, well I had to I guess."  Jason looked at his hooves.  "That's pretty cool though, being able to do stuff like that."

"So did ya ever find out why Dash used magic?"

"Uh, I'm still looking into it, I guess."  Jason replied, needing to yell over the volume increase of the crowd.  In all probability, Celestia had shown up.  He felt a little jealous of her popularity, but in a way he kinda liked the fact that he could go out in public without being swarmed.  If only it was a little less extreme.

The noise quickly diminished as most everyone bowed, leaving Dash and Jason out of the loop as they turned around.  Dash went to drop before the princess extended an arm from a wooden stage not too far away.  

"Jason, you're supposed to bow!"  Applejack hissed.

"Fuck that shit."  He whispered back

"There's no need."  She said with a smile.  "If anyone should be bowing it'd probably be me anyway."  A slight gasp circled around as the princess let out a slight giggle.  She made a gesture and the ponies rose back to their hooves.  "Meet me after the race, I've got some news you may find interesting."

Jason saluted briefly, turning back to the others as Celestia called out a name.  He chatted idly with Tank and Morning for several minutes, watching as ponies quickly received medals and departed, amidst a fair amount of applause.  Jason's name never came up, and for some reason he hadn't expected it to.  But as the last pony got off the stage and attention shifted to Pinkie in her balloon, he knew that he wasn't going to be disappointed.  

A few tense moments passed as Jason looked over at Dash, sharing her competitive grin as he dug in one of his hooves.  Morning lined up next to him as Applejack took her place next to Dash.  

"This could be any amount of awesome this year!"  Pinkie yelled, "Applejack and Rainbow Dash, the usual favorites, have new competition that could shake our perception of the world altogether!!"

"Pinkie, you're exaggerating again."  Spike sighed.  "In all actuality, ponies are saying that Jason and Morning Rain, both members of the to be decorated Team Green Bean, will make a surprise dark horse running this year, no pun intended."

"Exactly!"  Pinkie replied.  "And so, without further ado, the something something annual race thingy is open!"

Jason could swear he heard Spike facepalm from all the way down on the ground.  "In spite of Pinkie's... shenanigans, is everypony ready?!"  There was a huge cheer, as Jason let out a yawn that turned into a cough.

"Oh crap, Scoots."  He pulled the filly off of his back.  "Meet me at the finish like, okay?"  He asked, before tossing her into the air and watching her start to hover.

"Good luck then."  She sighed.  "Too bad you can't both win."  Heh, kids.

"Set?!"  Pinkie yelled before Spike could continue.  "Well then.... GO GO GO!!!!"  A pounding of hooves filled the air as Jason took off, bumping into Dash's shoulder as they ran neck and neck.  Jason took a look backwards to see that Applejack and Morning weren't too far behind, the former gritting her teeth as she tried to catch up.  Jason only pushed himself harder, drawing out a slight lead.  He hardly felt winded, whether that was from his body or the exercise though, he couldn't be sure.  

He took a breath, feeling some gunk in his throat.  So the goddamned cold had caught up with him, he assumed.  He wasn't sure if he could be happy, all things considered.  He'd wanted to win this, one-up Dash in some way.  Just because he was her husband to-be didn't mean he was just going to be a push over.  And some part of him knew that she wouldn't want him to give any less than his all.

"Jason, Dash, Morning and Applejack seem to have created their own pack already, although it's too early to tell who can keep the breakneck pace they've started with.  We may be on our way to a new Running of the Leaves record, if this keeps up."

"You mean they might beat Swifthoof?!"  Pinkie yelled, narrowing her eyes.  "I'll believe it when I see it."  

"Well it doesn't look like you'll have to wait long."  Spike replied, watching the competitors through the falling leaves.  "They're already through the first leg, and this looks like it'll be a much cleaner race than last year."

"Yeah, but who wants that?  It was way more interesting when Dash and Applejack fought it out."

"Let's just hope we don't end up with a fatality, alright?"

"Well that sounds fine, Jason can just fix anypony up, that doesn't matter." 

Jason shook a hoof at the balloon.  "You better not... try anything, Pinkie!"  He coughed, watching her giggle back before he refocused his eyes on Dash, as she drifted ahead.  His hooves thundered down the path, struggling to find purchase as the soil went gravely for a few moments.  Jason coughed again, slipping slightly as a stone rolled under his hoof.  His next hoof came down on worse footing and he tripped, smashing his face into the ground as he slid along.  A few feathers tore out of one of his wings as he came to a halt, still coughing like mad.  

"Jason!"  Dash yelled, pulling something from under a wing.  "Catch!"  She jumped, flaring her wings for a moment to throw an object backwards, which ran into his hoof.  A cough drop.  Heh.  Jason got up slowly, rubbing his wing as he popped the thing into his mouth.  A blob of ponies ran by, followed by a few stragglers.  So what, he could catch up.

Twilight trotted by.  

"Pacing isn't going to help you this time, silly horse."  He said, remembering what Dash had said earlier that morning.  Jason didn't giver her time to respond before he took off, breathing more heavily than he would have liked as the cough drop soothed his throat.  It only helped to an extent, though.  He coughed again, quickly passing by the pack as he ran.  

His face felt a little wet, and he knew without touching his face that some of the gravel had cut grooves in his cheek, probably deeper than he'd thought.  Jason shut his eyes and ran faster, opening them after a few seconds to take advice for a sign that  pointed him up a hill.  God, something seemed off.  Or familiar, he couldn't quite tell which.

Running up stone was much harder than along dirt, and was one of the things he really missed about having feet.  At least it appeared to be some sort of pointy sandstone, which would give him traction.  But then again, he'd be cut up if he fell.  He caught sight of the end of the slope and tried to change direction, sliding to a stop as a few rocks rolled down over the edge.  

"No use staring, I guess."  He said quietly, sure that the sign had been turned at this point.  He hardly remembered this episode anyway, Ben was the real brony anyway.  He'd just seen some of the episodes.  Maybe most, he didn't know how many there were, actually.  Jason sighed, looking over the edge.  

He jumped over, spreading his wings as he hit the ground.  He could feel his hooves heat up as more and more of the hill went by, accelerating him despite his wings' attempts to slow him down.  

"Wow, who said this wouldn't be interesting?!"  Pinkie yelled, swiveling to stare Spike down.  "Look at him, sliding down a hill!"

"Yes, he appears to be doing something different over there."  He paused.  "Is that legal?"

"It's the same distance, and he's scraping off his hooves to keep going, just let him be, Spike."

"But-"

"Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..."  The mare replied, putting a hoof over his mouth.  "Shhhhhh..."

Jason's hooves hit the dirt of the path with a thud, making him almost faceplant again at the sudden change in speed.  He could feel that there was a fair amount of hoof missing, feeling almost as if it had started to become rubbed raw.  But assuming he didn't slide down any more cliffs today, they should stay together.

"It seems as if Dash may be the winner this year."  Spike said,  "Assuming, of course, that she can keep that pace up and stay ahead of her competition.  Speaking of which, Applejack seems to be closing in."

"Oh, but I wouldn't forget about Jason or Twilight Sparkle, if anypony's going to make this more interesting, it's gotta be them."

Jason sighed at their banter and sped up, almost feeling the energy drain out of him as a cramp developed in his shoulder.  Just go faster...  he kept thinking to himself, ignoring the pain as it flourished towards his hindquarters as well.  He  could see the others, slowly gaining on them as he got more and more out of breath.  Fuck it, at this point he was going to give it all he had in a rush; there was no way he was catching up otherwise.  

Applejack and Morning were neck and neck as he caught up, slowly passing the pair by as a drop of blood made its way into his eye, stinging it and turning his vision a slight hue of red as it spread out.  He could hear them huffing and puffing as he put in the last ounces of energy he had, drawing up closer to dash as the finish line neared.  

Dash turned to look him in the eye, smiling for a moment as she dipped her head, starting to pull ahead.  Jason kept up, feeling his hoof catch along the ground.  A sinking feeling hit him as he floated through the air for a moment, watching Dash's expression turn from competitiveness to slight disappointment.  He hit the ground for like the millionth time, sliding across the line just ahead of the other two.

He didn't move for at least a minute, trying to regain control of his body.  Dash pulled him upright, sweeping her hoof down along his cheek in an attempt to rid any of the pebbles of the grooves they'd caused. 

"You okay there, big guy?"

"I shouldn't have done that."  He mumbled, taking a few steps forward.  "I'm tired."  He stumbled over to Applejack, bumping his hoof against hers.  "Good race."  

"Got me there at the end, huh?"

"Yeah.  Some idiot changed the sign around, I had to go down that hill thing."

"Is that still like that?  I thought it was pointing the right way."

"Who went by last?"

"Ah did, that's why Ah was sayin'..."

"Whatever, ugh, I'm fine with this."

"It's still weird."  Morning said.  

Dash left for a moment, returning a minute or so later adorned with medals.  "I believe this is yours."  She said, handing one to Applejack, then Morning, and finally Jason.  He put it around his neck, looking down and freaking out for a moment.  "You left the wing at home, Jason."

"Oh yeah."

"Wow, I can't believe you won!"  Scoots yelled, hugging onto Dash's leg.  

"Yeah, well it wasn't something I'm totally proud of."  She replied.  "I'd have rather won without Jason tripping."

"It's no big deal, I should've watched where I was going."

"So why didn't ya want to bow to the princess, Jason?"  Applejack asked.

"Well bowing has a bad connotation, usually.  It refers to an absolute monarch, as far as I'm concerned.  And I kinda don't want to be part of a system where I'm forced to bow.  I can show respect in other ways, just not that."

"Ah."  

"I don't see too much of that anymore, it's too bad, in a way."  Celestia said, walking up to the group.  "Quite a showing, you four.  I'm impressed."  She sighed.  "In any case, I'm coming to you two, possibly any others of your team, that we'll be beginning peace talks in Canterlot tomorrow.  You don't have to take part, but I feel you bring something to the table."

"Thanks."  Jason said, smiling over at Dash.  "Can we by any chance bring Scoots?  Maybe Evening as well?"

"I'm sure I can get a room ready, if that's what you're asking."  She glanced at Dash.  "Maybe two rooms."

"Where is Evening anyway?"  Dash asked.  I haven't seen her anywhere.  

"She's here."  Lyra said as she walked up, dragging along an unconscious Evening.  "Came over last night and discovered alcohol.  And then I discovered a couple things.  Don't let her out of your sight with alcohol, and don't let her drink alcohol.

"Is she hungover?"  Celestia asked with some concern.

"I think so.  She's probably fine, but she drank so much at once and Jason says that changeling metabolism is way faster than with ponies, so...  She kinda got all that alcohol in her system all at once"

"Alrighty then."  Dash said, poking the mare.

"Yes, at the very worst, we'd rather honor you for your service when you're actually present, so try to arrive by tomorrow at the latest.  Three, if I'm correct."

"Sure thing."  He sighed.  "There's at least one thing I have to do first though."

"Oh, by all means, do whatever you like.  I'll tell somepony to look for you at the gates of the castle."  Jason waved as she left, watching her disappear into the crowd.  

"So what's this thing you need to do?"  Dash asked.

"Remember to keep you alive."  Jason replied simply, taking a few deep breaths as white light started to spread into his vision, sucking him into that peculiar sameness.  Just like last time.

Oh, how he wished things were simpler.
> Light on the Horizon
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Light on the Horizon


Dash looked around, staring at the blackness that Jason had seemingly been sucked into.  She started to panic a little.  No, a lot.  What if something changed?  Anything could have a big impact, right?  How could he possibly expect to do everything the same way?

No, he would.  She knew he would.  Otherwise, wouldn't she be somewhere else by now?  Or did her memory already change to a new set of events and she wouldn't even realize? 

"Is anypony else's brain hurting thinking about this?"  She asked, receiving a few nods.  Dash laid down, resting her head on her hooves.  "That's what I thought."  

She felt a pat on her back, as Twilight's voice greeted her ears.  "It'll be fine, he's done it once before already."

"Yeah, but he was just trying to change the past, now he's doing the opposite."  She complained, rolling onto her side.  "What happens if something changes and I don't love him, or he died between then and now, or took my place?"

"He won't, he knows what to do."  She assured.

"He better get back soon, that's all I know."  Dash sighed.  "I want to punch him, doing this all abruptly.  But I guess it's like ripping off a band-aid, huh?"

Twilight nodded silently, as the others filtered over.  The remaining ponies started to disappear, as both Dash's memories and Jason's absence stayed the same.  Dash waited a few more minutes and got up, feeling Scoots shift on her back as she took several steps away.  She looked at the inquisitive looks from her friends and shrugged.  

"When Jason does something with magic, the first thing I've learned is to give it space."  

"What happened?"  Lyra asked, carefully dragging Evening over.

"Nothing yet, but I kinda doubt something won't go wrong.  It's not like any of his spells look the same as Twilight's."

"Like what?"  The aquamarine mare asked.

"When he teleports, he's just gone and there, no extra flare of light.  Sometimes it looks pretty awesome, but other times it can be one of those freaky things when he just pops up.  He did that to me one time to make up for this other time when I made the alarm clock explode.  That was probably kinda stupid, considering he's probably more dangerous than I am and he's bound to think, at least on some level, that he's being attacked."

"Don't ya kinda get worried with him bein' basically a mercenary and all?"  Applejack asked, furrowing her brow.  "Or that you're still puttin' yer life on the line every day?"

"No, I mean it was kinda scary in the beginning if you really want to know..."  She rolled her eyes.  "But it didn't take that long for me to realize that he was just better at hiding how he felt about the whole thing, and I know it stuck with him a lot more than it did with me, especially with that guy in Ponyville and Chrysalis."

"Chrysalis?!"  Twilight exclaimed.  "You met Chrysalis?!"

"Well, all she did was screw with Jason's mind, and it's not like we know how to track that, cuz she wasn't actually there."  Dash paused.  "Who was at that movie the other day?"  She tapped her hooves together, trying to remember the name.  "What was it?"

"The broken locker?"  Lyra tried.

"No, The Hurt Locker, that was it.  Anyway, that little seizure thing he had?  That was her."

"So what, she just screws with him for fun?"  Lyra asked, getting visibly annoyed.  "I mean, she's evil and all, but that just seems pointless."

"I thought so too, but I don't know what her plan is, exactly.  I mean, Jason told me she was planning something, and ever since he formed the whole link with Evening over there, she can feel the whole thing too.  Apparently it hurts, but it's not like I really feel much more than strange activity."

"What do ya mean, feel?"

"Oh, well this is the cool part with Jason.  One of, anyway.  Changelings all have a hive mind, but the point is I'm kinda in it, and that means-"

"Did I misshear you, Dash?"  Twilight asked, looking like a mix between rather hopeful and slightly freaked out.

"No, but anyway, all that seems to happen is that I can kinda tell his emotions, and we share dreams some of the time."  She paused.  "And nightmares, occasionally."  Dash shivered, recalling some sort of uncomfortable memory.  No one spoke for a few moments, allowing her more unfortunate time to remember why Jason wasn't at her side.

"Ah'm just going to venture that ah wouldn't mind that system too much.  Figure ah'll just skip the part where we accuse Jason of trying to control Dash, and bein' and agent of whoever."

"As if he could control me, the closest he comes is that he's a surprisingly good tease.  Not that I'd tell him that, but I'm sure he knows..."  She paused, looking around.  "Twilight, how long did it take for you to come back?"

"Well Pinkie claimed a few minutes and Spike was too busy eating, or throwing up or whatever.  I'm not sure if time works the same way for her though."

"Heh, you're probably right."  Dash replied, smirking.

"So about that movie..."  Lyra started, as Dash noticed Twilight's ears perk.

"You'll have to ask Jason, he knows about all that stuff.  One of his friends enlisted in that war, but it's not like Jason knows what happened in the time he's been stuck here.  By the way Twilight, if you could find a two-way spell to get him to his country and back, well, I think he'd enjoy seeing his friends again."

"And his parents?"  Morning asked, frowning at Dash's cringe.

"Yeah, they're kinda, well, they were killed.  Murdered.  Not like he ever says much about them though, I'm not sure if he doesn't want to talk or if he's just made peace with all that.  He kinda hates complaining, more than the pointless stuff anyway."

"Are you joking?"  Morning asked.  She stared over at Applejack, who shared her gaping expression.

"No, I was pretty sure I told you guys anyway.  I mean, you had to know, Applejack, there was that thing when he got here..."

"Yeah, but I thought that was just a thing to get back at that little-"

"Bitch."  Dash filled in.

"Sure, that."

"How come he didn't just tell us all this?"  Twilight asked.  "What did he think he had to hide?"

"It's not like that."  Dash sighed.  "He doesn't trust most of you, that's why you don't know.  He would probably be pissed that I told you anything if he didn't trust me so much.  Even then, he'd still be pissed."

"He doesn't trust us?"  The lavender mare inquired.

"Should he, really?  You've shown him almost none until recently, that's probably why Lyra and Morning know more than you could ever find out.  Not that we've probably scratched the surface that much, really.  I don't know if you care, but Twilight, he knows things that you couldn't even imagine..."  Dash flailed her arms towards the other mare, making alien -ish noises.

The blue mare looked sideways again towards where Jason had disappeared, rubbing her eyes before she decided that the rippling of the environment wasn't her imagination.  A slight breeze began to filter past them, drawing towards the ripples as they lit up and glowed.  They intensified for a few moments in both amplitude and light intensity, before a sound not unlike a base-drum went off and sent the air rocketing back.  Dash stuck a hoof back to keep Scoots attached to herself as she strained her eyes into the haze.  She slid slightly, hearing an annoyed yell from behind as the light quickly faded and Jason hit the ground with a thud.  

Dash stared for a moment, expecting another explosion for a moment before she overcame her caution and ran over, sliding in next to him as he looked up.  Their eyes met for a moment before he pulled himself up, his eyes growing wide.  

"What's my name?"

"Jason."  She said, looking confused.

He ruffled her wing for a moment, making her cringe before he found the ring, drawing her wing up so that she could see it.  "You see this?"

"Yeah?"

"Who gave it to you?"

"You did, right after you saved my life.  Jason, you're scaring me."

"Sorry."  He replied, as a tear rolled down his cheek and he dropped her wing.  He embraced her a moment later, sobbing over her shoulder.  "It's finally over, I can't believe it."  He let out a heavy heave.  "I love you so much."

Dash took in a breath, slightly inhibited by the fact that Jason had his arms wrapped so tightly around her.  "You're- crushing me."

"Sorry, I just- you don't know how it's been, knowing that one screwup could delete you from my life."  He let go, staring into her eyes for a moment before she thrust her muzzle into his, wrapping her hooves around his back in a hug.  Jason lost his balance and tipped over, not allowing his mouth to lose contact with hers even as he hit the ground.  He saw Scoots roll to the side with a giggle before he turned his focus back to Dash, kissing her like it was more important than the need for oxygen.  Their friends fell out of focus, forgotten in the heat of the moment.  

"I love you too, by the way."  She said in a short respite, before he drew her close again and kissed her more gently, in a way that seemed to mean more than everything that led up to it.

"So Jason, about that movie..."  Lyra began, making him chuckle slightly into the kiss.  Jason slowly drew away, stroking his hoof over the top of Dash's head and down along a streak of color.  He was still for a moment before he got up, carefully helping her to her hooves as he turned to Lyra.

"That's what you ask right now?"  He asked, laughing lightly.  

"Yeah, sorry."  Lyra replied, scratching the back of her head nervously.

"No, it's okay."  He replied, sitting down to face the other ponies as Tank and Steve stumbled up.

"What the fuck was that?"  He asked, a blob of mud stuck onto the side of his muzzle.  

"Jason went back to change the past again."  Dash filled in.  "And then all that wind happened when he got back."

"Ugh, whatever."  He joined the group, leaning against Morning and nuzzling at her cheek.  "So what did Celestia say?"

"Just that there are peace talks tomorrow and that you have an open invitation."

"Yeah, alright."  Several moments went by in silence.  "I'm probably gonna skip that.

"Fine with me."  Jason said.  "It's not mandatory."  Tank nodded, pulling Morning closer.

"Hey Jason?"  Applejack asked.

"Yeah?"

"Ah'm sorry 'bout all the stuff Ah pulled, with not trusting you and all.  It was a little- a lot unfair."  Jason tried to ask her why she was apologizing, but she continued.  "Ya haven't really had much in the way of a good experience 'round here, and it's not like ah've even tried to make it better.  Ah should'a considered what you thought about this more, and that Ah shoulda probably just treated ya like another pony, not as a threat."

Jason stared for a moment, opening his mouth to respond.  "First of all, I accept your apology."  He quickly turned to look at Dash.  "What did you tell them?"

"She wanted to apologize for a while not, actually."  She paused.  "But I kinda explained that your parents died.  And that we have the hivemind thing going."

"And they look decidedly like they're not about to attack me..."  He paused.  "Huh."

"I think I got the idea across that it's kinda nice anyway."

"And that only chrysalis has control over other changelings, not me, right?"  Jason asked, looking slightly scared.

"Something like that."

"Well I guess that cat's out of the bag."

"Hey Scoots?"  Morning asked with a smirk.  "How often do your parents do all that kissing stuff?"

"I dunno, I'm probably gone.  They get kinda loud at night and then it's just total silence."  Dash blushed, trying to hide her face as she leaned more heavily against Jason.  

"Sorry kiddo."  She mumbled.  Scoots only giggled.

"Well listen, we should probably get going.  There's stuff I'd like to make sure happens, and all that stuff."  Jason said, clapping his hooves together.

"Hey wait."  Twilight said before he got up, and Jason looked over.  "You say 'god' a lot, what does that refer to?  Surely not Celsestia or Luna, right?"

"Ah, here it comes."  He sighed.  "Alright, the princesses aren't gods, really.  They aren't omnipotent, or really even close.  Maybe demigods at most.  But the point is, we don't have anything like that where I'm from.  All we have is a curiosity for how exactly everything was created.  No matter how far back we succeed in explaining, there is still very little information backing up how the universe was initially created.  So people decided to believe in gods, beings or a being that were or was watching over us, for whatever plan he or they have.  Without explaining everything else, that's pretty much the simplest version."

"So when you say 'God damn it...'"  She continued.

"Ah, well in one religion, the most prevalent where I'm from, they believe that there's a life after death, Hell if you're bad, Heaven if you're good.  You're damned if you go to hell."

"Okay then, so what do you believe?"

"I don't know what to believe.  I can't prove that there is or isn't a god, so I don't really do either.  Maybe one day we'll know, but until then I'm not going to make a decision."  He sighed.  "So listen, I'd kinda like to look around Canterlot for at least a little while before dark, maybe admire Dash's statue, if that's at all possible."

"They built a statue of you?"  Morning asked, looking at Dash.

"Yeah, but they pretty much built every one of me with Jason alongside, he's just trying to act like be doesn't want to admire himself."

"I just want to make sure it really exists, it seems like a little too much to ask.  I only saw it when I was trying to bring you back, how do I know that it's actually there?"

"We're in the stained glass of the castle anyway, how is that a stretch?"

"I dunno, but it still feels like one."

"How'd the race go?"  Bon Bon asked, walking up with Octavia.  

"It went well for Dash, at least."  Lyra mumbled, pointing to the other mare.

"I don't know what you expected, Lyra.  You aren't much of a runner anyway."  Bon Bon replied, poking at the mare.

"Yeah, but- ugh, shut up Bon Bon."  Jason heard the latter mare giggle.

"Hey Octavia?"  Jason asked.  "Could you look for a saxophonist while we're gone?"  She nodded to the affirmative, and he turned his attention to Pinkie's landing balloon.  "Pinkie!  How's stuff on the wedding going?"

"Great, I have like everything ready, and all I need to get from you is a little input and a lot of guests to bring!"

"When I get back, alright?"  He inquired, drawing Dash closer.

"Yeah, 'acourse silly!"

Jason smiled, sniffling as he pulled Dash closer.  "You ready?"

"You can go on ahead and get stuff ready, I have to see what the plans are with the weather team for the next few days.  You know, with winter starting and all."

"Oh yeah."  He replied, getting up and spreading his wings.  "I guess I'll see you guys later."

"Wait, hold on."  Twilight, said, putting a hoof on his shoulder.  "Is it true that you eat meat?"

"Uh, I guess, yeah.  It's not like I'm a straight carnivore or anything, but who can really resist beef jerky?"  He paused.  "Besides all of you... okay, I'll just be going.  Come on Scoots."

The foal giggled and hopped onto his back, moving onto his neck as he slung Evening over as well.  "Hopefully I'll see you two there."  He said to Morning and Tank, before quickly lifting off after Dash.

To be perfectly honest, he wasn't sure what exactly he needed, or even wanted to take.  But then again, what did he really need?  Probably just the usual basics, the same ones that happened to be loaded up in his saddlebag from when he'd gotten back.  It was kinda nice that way, most of the stuff he would need was in there already.

"Do I get to go to the meeting?"  Scoots asked, sounding hopeful.

"Why would you want to?  It'll be boring anyway."

"But I want to know what's happening," she complained.  "How's it fair that Evening gets to go?"

"She isn't, I need somepony to watch you."

"I'm too old for that, I don't need to have her there."  Scoots continued.

"Then imagine that you're watching her.  Either way, I can't have either of you causing extra trouble.  That's my job."  Scoots giggled despite her annoyance, hugging around his neck as they landed. 

"Can I at least get top rate coverage from you?"  The filly queried.

"Of course, Scoots."

"Cool, love you dad!"  She hopped from his back.  "I'm gunna go get my stuff, you better not make us get there any later then we have to!"  She yelled backwards, quickly ascending the stairs to her room.

Jason couldn't be completely sure why his daughter was so exited about Canterlot; it wasn't as if she had much of a bond to the place as far as he knew.  He still needed to have that dinner with Rumble, come to think of it.  It probably wouldn't be a big deal anyway, but he needed some way to intimidate the kid.  Not that he got his kicks out of scaring kids, but he could at least aid his daughter and maybe provide some sort of help.

Maybe Rumble wouldn't be her colt-friend forever, one way or another, but Jason wanted that to be a breakup that was grounded, at least partially, on both sides.  The last thing he wanted was for one of the two to cheat, as in Rumble, and think that Jason wouldn't kill him for it.  They were young, after all, and Jason knew that teenagers didn't make the best decisions when it came to love.  He was like a walking example of that anyway.

Jason grabbed his saddlebag from next to his bed, shrugging and grabbing the AUG.  if things got bad, he didn't want to be unprepared.  Referring to the peace talks and not Rumble, of course.  He slipped in some of Twilight's books, sighing as he looked at the spines of the old tomes.  He had had enough of being too weak for everything, forced to squeak by every battle.  But no more.  He would get better, and teach Dash in the process if it meant being able to protect her in the long run.  So long as he wasn't left alone, away from her presence and away from one of the few things he actually liked about this world.  

He hardly felt like they could get married soon enough.  It almost seemed like a safeguard against their enemies, for some reason that he couldn't quite place.  But most of all, he wanted to settle down after all of this, and raise a foal or two. It didn't seem like too much to ask, compatibility with the one he loved in the most intimate sense.  But then again, it just provided an example of another way the world could spite him.

Jason felt a tap at his shoulder, pulling him out of his thoughts as he turned to Dash.  How long had he just been staring into space?  She smiled, leaning over to kiss him.  It wasn't hard for her to notice that he seemed distracted, especially since he'd started kissing her chin.

"Anything wrong?"  She asked.

"You said you wanted kids, right?"  He sighed.  "What if we aren't compatible?"

"You got sick."  She replied, smiling.  "Thus the coughing and sneezing."

"I know, but it worries me more than anything else.  I want to be able to see my kid, something that's my own blood."

"Then what am I?!"  Scoots yelled from the doorway, a tear falling off of her face to the floor before she turned and ran off.  Jason swore for a moment before taking chase, diving and grabbing the filly by a hind leg as she got to the bottom of the stairs.  

She turned to look at him, trying to shake his hoof as her eyes filled with rage.  "Why would you even adopt me if you just wanted something better?  That just makes me the permanent disappointment."

"Scoots, all I said is that I wanted a kid that was between Dash and me."

"Yeah, and that you wanted something that was your own blood.  I'm not, I'll never be.  What's the point in even trying?"

"Because you'll still be my daughter, the one that I love more than anything else.  You're not connected by me to blood, sure, but just because I want a kid between me and my wife doesn't mean I'd want you to be any different.  You're a better daughter than I could imagine.  The only disappointment I have is that you've set the bar so high."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I could've ended up with a jerk, an idiot, someone less cute...  You're an amazing kid, Scoots, and I know I wouldn't have brought Dash back to life without you, or probably stayed sane.  

"So then why do you care so much about a foal that you make with mom?" She asked, appearing calmer as she wiped her eyes.

"Because I want to show that we can, that at the end of the day we still overcame everything and created life instead of destroyed it.  I want to prove that I can be a parent, that I'm not in this relationship for free love, but because I'd be lost without it.  There's only one thing that disappoints me about you, Scoots."

"Yeah?" She asked, annoyance rising again.  

"That you grow up too fast."  He finished, wrapping her in a hug that she eventually reciprocated.  "No matter what anyone says, I love you, kiddo."

"I'm sorry."

"For what?" He asked, leaving her head over his shoulder as she started to talk and Dash picked up the camera and snapped a quick picture before she walked over the rest of the way.

"For doubting you."

"You've got nothing to be sorry about, I should've been more clear."  Jason felt a tear slide down his back, as he began to gently pat the filly in front of himself.  

"I'm just like those other ponies, jumping to conclusions.  I didn't mean to, I'm sorry."  She let out a sob.  "It's not fair, what you got out of all this."

"I know why you want a kid, Jason."  Dash mumbled, her voice obstructed by Jason's shoulder as she joined the hug,  "It's something you can love without the questioning glances, the constant silent input from all of those morons in town.  Without the idea that you're either stringing it along or using it as a battery."  There was a long silence.  

"Yup."  Jason replied, his voice cracking.  "And whenever I try to think of what we've been fighting for all this time, I just come up blank.  I want there to be an end result, and raising a foal just seems to fit."

"Are you ever homesick, Jason?"  Scoots asked after a while.  She let go of his back with a hoof to wipe away a tear, an ever so slight smile developing on her muzzle.

"Mhm."  A tear of his own slipped down his daughter's back as Dash hugged tighter around the both of them.  "All the goddamn time."
> Progress
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Progress


"Why don't you just go back?"  Scoots asked quietly.  "You came here, shouldn't it work both ways?"

"I still don't know why I ended up here.  There's got to be a fucking reason why I'm not even human and I didn't die, but for the life of me I can't tell you what that is.  Everything's got a reason, maybe figuring out how I got here will help me figure a way back."  He sighed.  That was a big maybe.

Dash squeezed more tightly, at least succeeding in making Jason feel a little better.  "If anypony can do it, it'd have to be you, Jason."  Dash whispered into his ear.  "You're way stronger than anypony expected you to be."

"Even you?"  He asked, absent-mindedly playing with one of her ears.  

"I guess..."  She mumbled.  "But it's not like I haven't surprised myself."

Jason chuckled at that, leaning over to kiss her before extracting himself from the hug.  "I think we should get going, Scoots seemed pretty excited about going to Canterlot again."

"Well we need to wake up Evening first, if she's still alive."  Dash continued.

"Yeah, I have a few tricks."  Jason left the room for a moment, returning with a bucket of water.  He threw it over the mare, watching it sink into the cloud floor as she shot up, letting out a scream as she crossed her arms across her chest.  A few seconds of looking around went by before she put a hoof to her head and groaned, staring at it for a second before she replaced a patch of missing green fur.

"Alcohol sucks."  She moaned.  "I've never had such a bad headache in my entire life."

"I'm not sure if I can do much for headaches."  Jason said, before he picked up a second bucket that he'd brought in.  "But you should drink up if you feel like you can, it'll make you feel better."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, now come on, we have to leave for Canterlot in a little bit."  He said, walking into the kitchen as she raised the bucket to her lips.  Jason grabbed some greens, tossing them into a bag before placing them inside his saddlebag.  He gathered a few smaller things before returning to the other room.

"Can you fly, Evening?"  Dash asked.

"Maybe, I'm not opening my eyes any more though."  She muttered, grabbing a pair of shades from a nearby table.  "Alright, let's go."

"Good, alright."  Jason replied, walking out the door and into Dash's front yard.  He stared at the far off spires of Canterlot in the distance, already lost in thought.  "Hey Dash, grab my arm for a sec."  Jason paused.  "You too Evening, I have an idea."


_________________________________________________________________________


"Yeah, well what I thought was kinda cool about that movie was that it wasn't about just fighting."  Lyra said, as Octavia nodded.  "Sure, it had some cool explosions, and gunfights, and corpses, but it kinda had that other element that really made it something good to watch, you know what I mean?"

"Didn't you have some question for Jason about that?"  Morning asked. 

"Yeah, but I just wanted to know a little more about stuff in general.  And why it's called 'The Hurt Locker' in the first place."

"Ah."  The other mare replied.


THUD!!!


The ponies all jumped, looking upwards to the source of the sound.  A large rainbow circle expanded in the sky, laced with hints of black.  

"Is that her?!"  Applejack yelled, swiveling a hoof to follow the multicolored blob across the sky.

"It looks like all four of them."  Twilight responded, looking more surprised than Applejack had ever seen her.  "But that's a good four times the speed she normally does."  

A few oohs pierced the air as Dash finished a circle around he town, streaking off towards Canterlot with her other passengers.


_______________________________________________
 

Dash strained her wings harder, feeling the slight waves coming from Jason's wings hitting her back as he held on For dear life.  Evening was still attached to her other hoof, looking like she was feeling a little queasy.  Canterlot was already nearing, the rather long distance easily bridged by the speeds they were moving, even though it felt the same.  Actually, that wasn't true.  She'd reached supersonic in no time, and then the wind resistance had started to mount, and Jason had started to lag with Scoots.  It was still tons of fun though, especially as she looked down and saw the townspeople, all moving in slow motion as they went about their tasks.  

Dash banked to the side and steered the group around a tower, rolling past another as she started to slow down.  Jason made sure that their speeds had drifted low enough before disengaging he spell and letting go of Dash's hoof.  He could hear Scoots yelling over the wind, her happiness becoming contagious as their moods started to brighten.  Further than traveling extremely quickly while flying had already, anyway.

A few more seconds passed before they were on the ground, looking up at the huge gates to the castle that blocked its main entrance.  It raised after a few moments, a little strange seeing as the thing had only ever seemed to be open.  Minus the first time he'd seen it during he attack, but still.

Jason paused a moment before transforming, looking at Dash's inquisitive expression as she looked over a second Bon Bon.  

"Why her?"  She asked.  "Why even at all?"

"I don't want to attract attention."  He cleared his throat.  "Damn, this voice.  Anyway, if griffins are in there they could be angry.  Maybe they'll just fume or keep it to themselves, but what if they decide to attack someone?  What if the first one they get to is Scoots?"

Dash chewed her lip.  "You may have a point here."  She said, sighing.  "But it's not like I can be a different pony or anything."  She watched Jason extract something from his saddlebag and toss it over.  "How's a hoodie going to help?  There aren't too many mares with rainbow tails around.  Or this spectacular of flanks, either."  She finished with a smirk

"I guess I have to agree with you there."  Jason replied.  "But are you sure your tail is rainbow?"

She looked at him, a distasteful expression on her face as his horn flared.  It only took her a few milliseconds to realize that he had changed something, and craned her neck to see a dark blue tail.  She took a deep breath, trying not to freak out.

"It's just an illusion.  Reverses as soon as it runs out.  Learned it last night.  'Course, it was supposed to be a light red..." 

Dash let out a huge sigh, before she carefully sat down and stuck her arms up, letting Jason put on the hoodie.  "I wish I could just put that thing on myself."  She murmured, flipping the hood over her mane.  "Well, here goes, right?"

"I guess so."  Jason replied, reaching on top of his head to twiddle with one of Scoots' ears.  She giggled a little as they started walking, looking around slowly at the marble walls as they passed several ponies, all of which were moving around busily.  Celestia trotted through the door of the throne room towards them, almost missing their presence entirely until she noticed Scoots and Evening.  

"I trust there is a reason why you two are like this."'  She said quietly.  "Follow me, I'll get you four to a couple of rooms."

"Thanks again."  Jason replied, throwing a joking salute her way.  

She grinned, looking over and shaking her head.  "It's absolutely no problem.  You deserve a lot more than a room and some time off anyway."  She paused.  "So how's Ponyville treating you?"

"Better, I guess."  Dash answered.  "Ponies don't clear out of the way quite as much when Jason goes by, and they seem to be less openly hostile, but I'm just assuming that that's the case."

"I wish there was more I could do, but it's not like fear and hatred is outside the law."

"Yeah."  Jason replied, as they all lapsed into silence.  They walked for a few minutes, arriving at a large wooden door.  Celestial was the first to enter, walking past a huge bed to open a different door that led into a second bedroom.  

"Um."  Dash said, looking around.  "We don't need all of this."

"Even so, it's the least I can do."  She took a few steps closer.  "Make yourselves at home, I'll send for you if there's something I need.  But don't expect a lot."  Celestia smiled and waved briefly before she turned and left, leaving the group to their new room.  Scootaloo stared after her for a moment before sprinting Ito the other room.  The sounds of creaking bed springs met Jason's ears as he assumed she had immediately graduated to jumping on the bed.  The filly tore back out of the room a moment later, hopping onto their bed to test out its bounciness.  

"Come on squirt, you're messing up the covers already!"  Dash yelled, shaking a hoof but not moving to take action.

"I guess you'll have to stop- woah!"  Jason dove into her, making sure to take the brunt of the impact as he wrapped her in his arms.  She flailed her legs uselessly as they stuck up in the air, before letting them to limp.  "You didn't have to be so serious about it Jason."  She giggled, trying to break free again.  He let her go, before quickly grabbing one of her back legs. 

"Try to be quiet Scoots, I'm going to try to teach your mom basic magic."  The filly contorted her face in confusion before a look of realization ran across her face, and she got visibly exited.  "Ooh, can I watch?  Please?"  She asked, hopping for hoof to hoof.  "I'll be quiet, I promise!"

"Sure."  Jason yielded.  "But we're all staying behind her in case something happens.  Dash, come over here."

"Oh, I'm so exited."  She exclaimed, "I- wow, It just feels so cool to even be able to do magic."  She felt Jason tug at the sleeves of her hoodie and allowed him to take it off.

"Yeah, it's a little overrated."  Jason replied.  "I'd rather have flying, if I had to choose."

"I don't have to choose though, which is what's so awesome."  She sat down in front of Jason, grinning ear to ear.  He put his arms around her chest and pulled her back into himself, looking over her shoulder.  He grabbed a tennis ball from Scoots' saddlebag and tossed it across he floor, watching it come to a rest somewhere close to the middle.

"So let me ask you, what went through your mind last time you used magic?"  Jason asked, nuzzling lightly at the side of her neck.  

"I dunno, I was just so angry, and I kinda thought about throwing the table over, and then it slid like that.  I've tried doing it again, but it's not like anything happened."

"Anything else?"

"I thought about you, but that was only for a second."

"Okay, so what I do is kinda find where I'm pulling power from, and at least for me that feels like my gut, where it seems like your love goes.  I kinda push it through my horn, like something I can feel almost flowing.  It's like getting love in reverse, almost.  Anyway, if I were to move that tennis ball, you kinda have to think like you're pushing on it from the bottom and sides.  There's no such thing as a pull, just a push from the opposite side of an object.  That's why you see things in full auras, because it's easy to just push from any side."

"So, first step, find the energy?"

"Yeah, I can't help you too much with that.  It could be from the hive mind or from yourself, just expressed because of the hive mind."

"Huh."  She shut her eyes, willing the ball to move.  It hadn't moved by the time she re-opened them, and she gave a slight sigh.  

"Don't worry, you'll get it."  Jason said reassuringly.  "We know you've done it at least once."

"How long did it take you to get?"  She asked.  

Jason scratched the back of his head nervously.  "About ten minutes."  Dash glared.  "It's easier when I could pinpoint my energy, alright?"

"What about the other stuff?"

"That just seemed logical."  He replied.  "It can't really work without thought involved.  Then again, I visualized it as using my hand he first time, so that could have been why."

"Ugh, do you ever have trouble with anything?"

"Like besides walking, apparently preening, landing, and some other thing I just forgot?"

"Oh yeah, the walking.  If you weren't human there for a day I would have just assumed that you were clumsy."

"Well I am, but I still try to do things with my front legs that I would have been able to do while walking as a human, but as I realize that they won't work the same way I've already started falling.  Or I trip."

"Yeah, you do a lot of tripping."  

"Hey, not since the seventies!"

"What?"  Dash asked, her tone flat.

"Bad joke, just move the thing."

"Fine."  She turned and stuck out her tongue, jerking away as Jason jokingly made to bite at it.  She chucked and turned forwards again, smiling at the gentle warmth that Jason was transferring through her back.  Dash focused on the ball, focused on the source of her side of the link.  She knew there was energy there, and she was starting to know what it felt like.  

She prodded at the feelings from Jason, the line of love that was extending to him.  It wasn't love she needed though, but she could feel something. It wasn't as if she knew what she was looking for.  She felt something that felt like another link forming, but somehow it was different.  There was no feedback, just the cool feeling of energy escaping.  She tried to focus on the ball, pushing on the bottom in her mind's eye.  

"Almost there Dash."  Jason said, watching her forehead start to give off a dull white glow.  The ball rolled slightly, coming to a stop an inch away before it hopped into the air, falling after a second.  The next try stayed up for a few moments as Dash's forehead furrowed, her eyes still firmly shut.  

"Umf."  She mumbled, trying again.  "Is it up yet?"

"You tell me."  He replied, watching her face as she carefully opened her eyes.  There was the ball, a foot or so above where it had lifted off, wobbling to and fro in its white shield.  Dash let it hang for a second in the silence of the room, before she twisted and wrapped Jason in a hug.  

"I love you, ya big goof!" She yelled, as he tried to navigate her arm away from his sore ribs.  "It's such an awesome gift.  The best."

"I still think this wing is better, but whatever you say, Dash."

"Are you kidding?  You opened my mind to magic, and you honk that silly thing is still better?"

"Yeah.  It's like a part of you.  I- god, I love it so much.  It's about a million times better than you think it is."  He sighed, reminiscing.  "If we could just stay like this forever, I don't think I'd mind.  I can't remember a time when I felt happier."

"And I bet you're glad I can't poke holes in that one, right?"

"I guess you could, adopting Scoots should probably be tied.  And proposing to you, if not for everything else going on."  He stuck out his tongue in disgust.  "But I guess you never were one for a whole lot of romance."

"Is it really that obvious?" She asked, giggling.  "You love the fact that I'm easy to please." 

"Woah, just because I don't get you flowers all the time doesn't mean that you're easy.   God, that's not true at all."  She glared.  "But it's not a chore, I'd hate it if you were low maintenance.  Of course, you're nothin like how I'm sure Rarity acts.  She makes good clothes, but man, I couldn't live with her all day.  Or Pinkie.  Or Fluttershy.

"Why Fluttershy?"  Dash asked.  

"She's scared of everything, it gets on my nerves.  I can understand irrational fears, like of scalpels for instance, but I'm pretty sure it gets a little worse with her."

"What about Applejack?"

"I kinda like her, actually."  Jason replied, receiving an inquisitive look from Dash.  "She seems the most had wired not to like me, and yet she appears to be the one trying the hardest.  Even when she wasn't, I could still respect her.  I mean, she's hardworking, owns her own business...  She reminds me a lot of Mankin."

"What business does he own?"  She asked.

"Pick up the ball again and I'll tell you."  Dash groaned, and mask have her a quick kiss on the cheek.  "Come on, Twilight will be so jealous."

"Fine."  She replied, going back to concentrating.

"Jason, you didn't really do magic in two minutes, did you?"  Evening asked.

"I did, why?"

"Cuz it's like, totally impossible.  You can't even be an outlier because it takes at least a few days to even get energy through your horn the right way.  The only reason Dash is already doing stuff is because she's doing it much the same way as she directs love, and there's not much to change."

"But I did the magic, I mean, I wasn't out there for a week."

"Well I don't know what to tell you, Jason.  But there's something we're missing." 

"Whatever you say, Evening."  Jason turned back to his fiancé, gently biting at one of her ears as Evening became quiet in thought.  The ball wavered in the air, going in a small circle before it stabilized itself.  

"What are you doing Jason, it's hard enough as it is!"

"You think you'll be able to concentrate in a quiet environment all the time?  Or without distractions of other types?"

"Like ear biters?"  She asked, the ball bobbing again.  

"Or tummy ticklers."  He replied, running the edge of his hoof across her stomach and digging it in slightly.  

"Ha."  She laughed, trying to bat his hoof away as she kept her eyes focused on the ball.  "Hahaha!"  She took a breath, as the ball dropped slightly and she hunched over, still laughing and concentrating enough, apparently.  "Hahahahahahaha!"  That was where she lost it, a dull bounce becoming audible on the ground.

"That was probably excellent."  Jason said, bumping against her hoof.  It's a good thing you're ticklish, or I may have needed to wait until tonight to distract you.  Das furrowed her brow before a smirk broke over her face.  

"Well maybe a second test is in order."

"I think you may be right."

"So what about your friend, Jason?  What does he do?"  Scoots asked, leaning up against his side.

"He ran an investment firm called El Capitan last time I checked.  Still does my accounting though, always joked that it was 'nice to deal with the small numbers for a change.'"

"He called you poor?"  Dash asked.  "I thought he was your friend."

"Alright, welcome to the world of human males.  Every conversation I've ever had with my good friends basically turns into a competition where we make fun of each other.  I'm exaggerating of course, a lot of them aren't like that as well."

"Why?"

"We're all friends, and it's not like half the fun isn't defending oneself.  It's not straightforward, most of the insults are implied.  That's what makes it kind of fun, trying to top one another.  But it's not like I can do that here."

"Yeah, I guess not."  Dash replied, as a knock sounded at he door.  

"Come in!"  Jason yelled, as the door pushed open.  Celestia poked her head in, looking around.  She saw the quartet on the bed and tried to conceal a grin.  

"I've found something that I need you to do."  

Jason groaned.  "Really?  We just got here."

"Hush, you won't be disappointed.  Plus, I've gathered a fair amount of things for your world that you may want to look through.  With as much of a proverbial watershed that we have for catching these things, I think you may be surprised that more than just dirty socks came through."

"Yeah, why do so many socks come through?"  Dash asked.

"Maybe someone in the warehouse had a little trouble stocking!"  He received several blank stares.  "Ba-doom-chhh..."

Dash facehoofed.  "Why Jason?  Why?"

"I saw the chance."  He paused.  "I took the chance."

"That may have been the worst pun I've ever heard."  Celestia stated.  "And I've been alive a while."

"Everyone's a critic."  Jason replied with a chuckle, pulling himself from the bed.  "So what's this you need us to do?"  

"Oh, just follow me.  It will all be explained in due time."  She said with a smirk.  "You can all come, just hurry up."  Celestia continued, gesturing with a hoof as the four started to move.  In no time they were into he hallway, Scoots taking her normal post over Jason's head.

"So what?  What are we doing?"  The filly asked.  "Ooh, we should go see that statue of you again, guys!"  

"We will if you want to, Squirt.  Just be patient, okay?"  Dash looked forward again as Celestia opened a set of doors, walking out onto a balcony and drawing the roar of what must have been a crowd of ponies.  She motioned for them to stay back, as she cleared her throat and the air became still.

"Only a little over a month ago, this magnificent city lay in ruins.  We needed some leaders, a way to pull victory from the jaws of defeat.  We've had our losses, whether that's been family or friends.  Thousands volunteered to end this conflict before it began anew, to go on the offensive and not take a hit lying down.  Equestria has been a peaceful country for generations, and I'm not sure how we could've survived without the populace we have.  But most of all, let us commend the ones that pushed us all on, even though they should have been the least willing to help.

"Targets, that's what two of the most important heroes I know today were, and l know that the penalty could have been drastic if they hadn't forced some sort of knowledge on us all.  The two most unlikely to step up.  But what a job they've done with the time they've had."  Celestia opened a box, holding up a star that reflected in the sunlight.  A guard walked over to hand Dash and Jason curved plate like things, before he unexpectedly fit them onto heir right shoulders.  They non metal material was actually fairly rigid, feeling almost like body armor.  "So without further ado, I award, for bravery and outstanding service in the line of duty, what are probably going to be the only two gold stars in the history of this country.  But I'm sure you already know who I'm talking about.  Rainbow Dash and Jason, step up."

Jason felt his legs start to move before be really thought about walking, cresting the edge
Of the balcony a moment later, as the crowd went wild.  Celestia carefully placed the stars into dugouts in the shoulder armor, before she threw up a hoof to wave.  Jason and Dash turned to look at each other for a split second before turning back to the crowd, and throwing out a pair of salutes.  

A large portion of he crowd saluted back, and Jason felt a swell in his chest.  He felt content, sure that in the end everything would work out.  After all, he'd spent this long just trying to get accepted, let alone finish the war.  No matter how bad things got from here, he knew the worst was behind him.  And it felt freeing, to know that he was getting somewhere.  It was a feeling he hadn't had in a long time.
> Decisions
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Decisions


Jason looked over the crowd again, smiling widely.  It wasn't often he had a cheering crowd in front of him, minus the few times playing music.  He held his salute, his smile only growing bigger the longer the crowd cheered.  A minute passed before he turned away, leaving as the cheers started to descend in volume.  

Dash caught up almost immediately, bumping into his side happily.  Jason walked past the door to an open room, stopping in his tracks almost immediately as he noticed the contents.  "This is the room?"  He asked, receiving a reassuring nod from Celestia.  He felt like a kid in a candy store, giddy from the shiny star on his shoulder as well as the idea of goodies.  Jason practically dove into the pile of junk, throwing useless or broke items to one side as he searched for the few hidden gems that always seemed to pop up.  That was probably due more to the fact that a huge number of things could be used as he improvised.

"Jason, is this anything?"  Scoots asked, her head popping out of the pile a foot or so away.  Jason tossed the sock that had become draped over her head to one side, before he took a closer look at what she was holding.  The bottles tinkled against one another as Jason grinned, setting them aside.

"IPAs.  Thought these would never show up."

"Beer?"  Dash asked, picking up a bottle and reading the label.  "Eight percent alcohol?!"

"Dash, Dash, Dash.  People take shots of liquor that's over fifty percent alcohol.  I never really liked spirits, but humans have a way higher tolerance to alcohol than ponies.  Probably the only reason I beat Applejack is because I'm bigger.  Maybe I have some changeling stuff going for me, but I doubt it.  It's not like changelings are all that different from ponies anyway."  He coughed and tried to clear his throat, wiping his nose.

"You look fairly different to me."  Celestia said, furrowing her brow.

"Yeah, but let's be honest.  I've got the same structure as a pony, same bones and all.  Small differences in my horn, and I guess slightly larger ones in my wings.  But I'm beginning to think that this chitin comes in a lot like you all grow hair.  I could be wrong, but it doesn't just look like a plate from the side, it's all fibrous looking."

"If I may,"  Evening interrupted, "changelings don't get actual armor until adulthood.  It's all floppy, kinda like extra thick skin.  So when they're all grown and it hardens, it's supposed to be like a coming-of-age scenario.  But you know, Chrysalis and all, we couldn't celebrate."

"Ah yes, Shining Armor has informed me of how the hive mind can work.  He also tried to keep from telling me about how yours works, Jason.  He only let information out when I threatened his position.  I'm not proud of the fact that I used threats, but what you three-"

"Four!"  Scoots yelled, screeching to a halt in front of the princess.

Celestia stared for a moment.  "In any case, I feel a little guilty with all the hunting of changelings after the wedding incident."

"You were just protecting yourselves, it's not a big deal."  Jason replied, waving her comment away.  "They're not my brethren."

"Even so, they were still innocent beings.  I'm just glad that some have survived and broke away."  She continued, looking at Evening.  "Out of curiosity, why did you want to join into a hive mind after you just freed yourself?"

"Oh god, you ask the hard questions."  Evening groaned, slowly sitting on the cool stone of the floor.  "You ponies have strength in numbers, a herd mentality as it were.  You have the ability to publicly discuss things and keep up relationships and things of that sort.  When it comes to changelings though, the loose mental bond told us where other changelings were, and allowed us to communicate through signals of emotion.  Of course, this was before my time, but this is how the history goes."

"Why would Chrysalis bother to teach history?"  Dash asked, beating Jason to the question.  

"Well as much as I hate her, she's kept a fairly large library of works and history alive.  That I can respect.  When I first started to break from the hive mind, I snuck in and read.  When she found out, and I knew she would, I made sure that I knew everything I could.  Anyway, the hive mind created security as it developed, and that's what I want, before it became mind control."  

"So like, what it is now?"  Dash asked.

"Essentially."  She turned to Celestia.  "Maybe this won't mean much, but basically imagine knowing how a loved one felt at any point in time, along with the fact that there is he possibility of sharing dreams, and you've got it.  It was funny, I read an old romance novel and the same things occurred.  I wonder if in actuality, the hive mind works as a sort of comparability meter, as corny as that sounds.  I guess it's not as extreme for me, but with those two, it's kinda like that."

"Ugh, yeah.  Corny is right."  Jason replied, tossing a giraffe made of bottle caps over his shoulder.  "I'm not sure how much I could stand having a relationship like in one of those stupid books.  I have to say, I like the way we don't seem to need to do a lot to keep things different and interesting.  But then again, the constant life or death struggles must work wonders.  If Dash wasn't enlisted and I got home from that war normally..."  He let out a low whistle.  "I'd have to find these two somewhere else to stay the night.  And maybe the next one."

Celestia let out a chuckle, before she turned back to the door.  "I'm sorry, but I'm very busy with all the griffins coming in.  We'll have to finish his later."

"Oh, go ahead."  Jason replied.  "I know how it is."

She vanished from the room, throwing back a quick wave.  

"Hey dad!"  Yelled Scoots, looking up from her back, sprawled all over the floor.  "When you have kids, can it be a colt?"

"And I was worried that you were losing your innocence, Scoots."  Jason chuckled.

"Well you get to choose that at least, right?"  She asked.

"It's fifty-fifty, kiddo."  He replied.  "Although I wouldn't particularly like having a real girly filly around.  You like explosions and building and strategy games, and you're pretty awesome for that."

"Yeah, I agree with you here, Jason."  Dash spoke up, sticking out her tongue in disgust.  "I kinda feel like it would be impossible for somepony growing up around us to turn out like that anyway."

"Heh, you're probably right."


________________________________________________


Jason slumped into his bed, watching Evening and Scoots disappear into the other room as Dash laid down beside him, nuzzling gently at his cheek.  

"You know, I'm a little nervous about tomorrow."  He said, sighing as he magically closed the door behind them.  Jason shifted and took off his saddlebag, floating it over to the small pile of things that they'd brought to the room.

"Well hey, they lost anyway.  I don't even know why we're having these."  

"It's probably a good idea, at least to make terms official.  And if things go wrong, we have guns.  Including that new one."  He finished with a grin, jumping back up from the bed.  He grabbed up the firearm, turning the pump-action shotgun over in his hands.  "Although I just realized we only have the shells already loaded, but either way I guess."   He chuckled, setting down the gun and picking up the six pack of beer, which he placed into the icebox.

"Are you seriously planning on drinking that?"

"Yeah, I missed beer.  Your cider is just like slightly bitter apple juice, it's hardly anything all that great."  He returned to the bed, laughing as Dash extracted herself at the same time he entered.  

"Sorry, I just wanted to grab your computer, if that's okay."  She walked over to his saddlebag, as the blood drained from Jason's face.  

"I can get it, I mean-"

"It's fine, I'm pretty sure I can be careful enough to not-".  She paused, and Jason knew she'd found it.  "Where'd you get a stuffed animal of me?"  She asked.  "I know you don't have the art skills, so this is a little creepy.  Oh wait, you probably wanted to give it to Scoots, right?"

"Yeah."  In all honesty, he had wanted to do so.  But he didn't want to explain the idea that she was part of a show that had proved itself to be surprisingly accurate at recalling Equestrian history.

"So how come I haven't heard of it, they don't mass produce these.  In fact, I don't really remember a window of time where you could've had this made, I mean..."  She trailed off, staring over at him as her expression hardened.  "What's wrong?  You have something to explain?"  Dash asked, an ever so slight angry look passing across her face.

"No, I mean-"

"Just cut the shit Jason!  I don't need to know everything, but this kinda concerns me!"

"Yeah, but-"

"Ugh, these emotion things work both ways, remember?  So why the sudden withdrawal from taking my love?  Guilt?"

"I'm not sure."  He replied, motioning for her to sit as she handed him the plushie and his computer.  "I wasn't trying to keep stuff hidden, but I still don't understand how it works, and seeing as there's probably no importance I figured the confusion wasn't worth it."  He paused.  "You really want to know?"

"You think I just wanted to sit here and not?"

"Fine."  Jason sighed.  So this is where she found out.  "A year and a half ago, Ben got into this television show."

"What?  Ben?"

"Yeah, I told you that it was weird.  Point is, there was this show called My Little Pony, and he obsessed over it for a while.  Got me to watch most of the episodes, although they weren't particularly mind blowing.  The weird part is, you're kind of a character, along with the rest of your friends.  And it definitely got a fair amount of stuff right, too."

Dash was staring, mouth agape before her expression morphed into amusement.  "Yeah right, what kind of dumb-ass story is that?"

"You never asked how I had a real spotty knowledge of this place, and that's it.  Never saw anything about poison joke."  He turned his computer around, showing her a picture of herself.  "It's the only pony picture I have on here."

"Wha..."  She looked at her hoof, then around the room.  "Are we on TV right now?"

"Heh, I doubt it's the same station.  All the harmony and tolerance and stuff, while it annoyed the shit out of me, kinda kept the show more g-rated then it would be with us.  This is an R without inclusion of the sex."  He watched her mouth bend up in a slight smile, before she laid down next to him.  "But no, probably not."

"I dunno if I'll be able to sleep without thinking about that all night."  She paused.  "When you said G-rated, you don't mean they took out all the cool parts, do you?"  

"In all probability, fighting and stuff was.  You know, I kinda expected something more of a reaction than this.  Like, total meltdown, assumption that this meant I was saying you were just a figment of someone's imagination..."

Jason felt her gently punch his arm.  "Oh, I'll never forgive you blah, my life is a sham blah.  Happy now?"  She giggled as she watched his face soften.  "You can explain the rest later, alright?"

"Yeah, I guess."  He sighed, walking over to the icebox again and pulling back out a beer.  He hesitated for a moment before leaving, kicking the door shut with a rear hoof.  He walked over to the window, pulling open the blinds and sitting in front of the glass.  "I just feel kinda bad for not telling you earlier."  He murmured.  

"You act like it's some big deal to me, Jason."  She replied, taking a seat next to him.  "I mean seriously.  If everything was totally, exactly like the show I'd be scared.  So was it?"

"Do you have a pet?"  Jason asked, point blank.

"Obviously not, why would I want to take care of some-"  She turned, pursing her lips as she stared at the door to the other room.  "Stupid pet."

"Well then there you go."  He said, gesturing at her.  "Not the same."

"Then it's not a big deal."

"Yeah, but it's just- you don't really keep that much from me, and this seemed kinda big."  He turned, lining the lid up with a table before he jerked his arm downward and the bottle cap went flying over Dash's head.  

"Like I've told you everything immediately."  She rolled her eyes.  "My parents?"

"Fine."  He took a swig of the beer, a smile starting to pop back up on his face.  "God, the wonders you and alcohol can achieve."  Jason said after a while, causing her to punch him in the shoulder again.  "But thanks though.  If you we're anyone else this whole romance thing would have ended a long time ago."

"I'm glad it didn't."  She paused, leaning up against his shoulder.  "So what kind of pet, exactly?"

"A turtle."

"So anyway, like maybe a hawk?  Some other bird of prey?"

"No, a turtle."

"Well what the fuck.  Some show writers they are."

"Heh, I thought you'd react like this."  Jason replied, pulling her against himself.

"Yeah.  When you figure out how to get us back into your world, we're watching that one."

"You'll be bored."  Jason warned.

"Whatever.  Can I get some of that?"  She asked, pointing at the beer.

"It's an acquired taste, you won't like it."

"We'll just see about that."  She replied, grabbing it and taking down a mouthful.  Her brow furrowed as she tried not to look disgusted.  "Loved it."  Dash said after swallowing, having clearly not enjoyed the taste.  She turned sideways and coughed, shaking her head.

"I guess maybe a lite beer's more up your alley.  Less strong that way."  He chuckled.  "Probably a little less alcohol as well, and about a millionth of the taste."

"Whatever, just finish up.  I think that you have an appointment with me, something about concentration?  It'll get my mind off this stuff for sure."

"Oh man, I thought you'd never ask."  He replied with a chuckle, leaning over to kiss her.  "And don't worry, I'll be sure to get your mind off of everything."


________________________________________________________


Jason awoke with a start, knowing all too soon that he was dreaming.  He looked to the side at three humans, which he assumed were the others.

"Am I...  Human?"  Scoots asked, now a little girl with messed up hair looking down at her hands.  She moved a finger, giggling in response as she knelt to grab something.  "You really undersold this Jason!  It's like magic, almost!  Before I could only pick up kinda small things, but this is way better!"  She exclaimed, disjointedly throwing the thing across the room.

While she was talking, Jason was looking around the area, noticing a bloody handprint against one of the walls.  It all seemed so familiar, but even as he picked up what may have been a gun he still couldn't quite tell what he was looking at.  Something clanked through an overhead ventilation shaft as buzzers and sirens started to wail.

"Contamination detected, lockdown initiated."

"Jason, what's going on?!"  Dash yelled, covering her ears.  Jason opened his mouth to respond before be realized just where he was.  He looked down at the gun, madly flicking levers and pushing buttons as a vent blew in and he was tackled by an alien with blades for arms.  It growled in his face, arms rising back as three lasers appeared out of the gun and Jason shot, blowing one of the arms full off.  The monster went backwards a bit and Jason hit it in the head, watching it go limp as the buzzers stopped.

"I know where we are."  He said, heart beating harder than it had for a while.  "This is from a video game called Dead Space, and basically everything on this ship wants, as its soul purpose in life, to kill us."

"Well this is a shitty dream, why the hell did this even come up?!"  Dash asked, looking annoyed.  "Can't you ever dream about meadows and bunnies?"

"My happy dreams tend to be about you, Dash.  You should be glad those weren't group dreams.  I'm kinda glad you aren't there anyway."  He finished, rubbing the back of his head as some sort of metal bar fell in the distance.  

"So what should we do?"  Evening asked, kicking the dead necromorph uneasily.  "These things don't look that easy to kill."

"I was thinking we just stay here.  Generally things don't attack players if they stay in a cleared room."

"Jason, we're not players in a video game!"  Dash yelled, becoming quiet as a clang sounded again.

"I'm pretty sure I'm the one that's played this, I know a lot more than any of you."  He paused, picking up a gun and tossing it to Dash.  "There, now if we just-

The door behind Jason flew inwards, it's hinges lasting long enough to send the door slightly sideways.  Jason turned and shot off the thing's head, pivoting his arm and firing again, severing a shoulder.  One more shot and the thing stumbled to a halt, still standing there without limbs.  Then it started to regenerate and Jason jumped backwards, fear coursing through his veins.  If there was one thing that scared him more than anything, it was fighting an enemy that couldn't be killed with guns.

"Run!"  He yelled, turning to flee and grabbing Scoots in the process.  

"I thought you said you knew what you were doing!"  Dash yelled.

"Yeah, well that was a boss.  They don't follow the same rules."  They turned down another hallway as a vent burst open behind them and Dash hit the enemy with some rounds.  The four came to a blocked path, general fear running through their ranks as Jason tentatively raised a hand, watching as a bolt of continued energy connected with a chunk of concrete and rebar.  He turned as Dash's gun started firing, flinging the block into the boss as it turned the corner.  A piece of rebar stuck through its neck, binding it to to the wall.  

"Now what?"

Jason shrugged, shivering under the most severe adrenaline rush he could swear he'd ever had.  

"It'll die if I blow it apart, god dammit."  He muttered, before taking off down the hallway.  The monster shoved the block back down the hallway as Jason raised his hand again, watching the boulder slow down as he caught the thing with the beam and stuck it harmlessly to the side.  Then he held up his other palm and fired a different colored bolt, watching it hit the monster.  It slowed down to a fraction of its speed as Jason pulled out the gun, blowing off its arms and head once again.  Then he went for the legs, knocking them off and cutting the torso into as many pieces as he could make.  He ran his foot through the debris, watching as they started to pull back together anyway.  He shot at the ground some more, not appearing to make a dent despite his effort.


________________________________________________


Jason woke up with a yelp, diving out of bed as he searched the room.  He knew the adrenaline had been real, and as Dash came to he was already beginning to crash.  His knees were shaking as exhaustion caught up with him and he fell over, shaking like mad.  Some time later Dash was at his side, pulling at one of his hooves and trying to get him upright.

"That was fucking scary."  He breathed, getting into a sitting position as Scoots burst through the door in tears, latching onto Jason and bowling him back over.

"Those things aren't real, right?!"  She cried out, letting go for a moment to hug Dash.

"No, they aren't.  I'm sorry that this kind of stuff happens."  He sighed.  "I could probably break the link if you want."   

Scoots wiped her eyes, resting her cheek against Jason's neck.  "It's not that, I know that it's just bad luck if we get a nightmare as opposed to something good.  But I can stick it out through the bad stuff.  After all, you're there in the nightmares, it isn't just me like mine before.  And I can control myself, cuz it's all realish.  Just-- no more aliens, kay?"

"Yeah, sure."  As he finished the door swung open, followed by an 'oops' before the door closed again and a knock sounded.  "Come in."  Jason said, rolling upright as Celestia walked inside. 

"I don't want to be too abrupt, but I'd like to get the talks started as soon as possible."  She said.

"Alright, I thought as much."  Jason replied with a yawn and a cough.  "Scoots, don't break anything."

"I'm not that destructive, geez."  She said defensively, turning to storm off in mock rage and almost bumping into a bedside table.  Jason rolled his eyes.  

"Foals, am I right?"  Celestia asked, an eyebrow raised.  "How much of a handful is she?"

"Surprisingly little, actually."  Dash spoke up.  "Although maybe she just thinks more before tackling a problem now."

"I'll just ask the hanging question, do you want another?"  The princess asked, beginning to walk back to the door.

"Yeah."  Dash murmured.  "Maybe I'm rushing too much, but thinking that you may die every other day kinda makes you want to do things as soon as possible, you know?"

"There have been times where I have thought the same way, yes." 

"Yeah, well I'm not even sure if we're compatible to make a kid, and if we can't... I don't know what I'd do, I don't even want to think about it."  She shivered.  "I want to be able to settle down and have that life if I want to, I don't want to be barred because of another stupid obstacle.  Not that I don't know that there will be difficulties, but I can't fix incompatibility like we can get around everything else."

The princess was silent for a few moments, the only sound emanating from their hoof steps.  "I don't want to get your hopes too high, but given the fact that ponies aren't so... genetically similar all the time, what with the wings and horns, there is a spell that can bring you two closer to the genes of one another."

"Really, that-"  Celestia held up a hoof, and Dash halted her speech.

"Normally, this results in a slight drop in magic or flight ability, possibly proportional to a loss of stamina in Earth Ponies, and it's not prone to other side effects.  But assume we use the spell on you two, and it works perfectly.  You, Rainbow Dash, could take on slight properties of a changeling, and Jason could do the same with you.  I'm not saying that it'll be a huge difference, but it might be a lot larger than what we're expecting."

"Damn, I don't know if I'd want you to do that Dash."  Jason said.  "Any of the properties without the others would kinda drive me crazy."

"Like what?  I'm pretty sure I could handle it."  She replied with a giggle, reaching up to tug at one of his ears.

"Well the whole emotions thing is a big one.  Just kinda swirling around and constantly fighting for my attention.  I'm just glad I was pretty secluded those first few weeks, all those encounters with mobs and stuff tired me out.  Point is, it's a curse disguised as a blessing, and if it didn't help me survive and work along with the actual grabbing of love so that-  I'm not explaining this very well."  He paused, walking into a room behind the other two.  "It's like an urge, to go get love from ponies.  I'm not saying to bite them or anything, but my brain kept pointing out ponies that were giving off lots of love."

"And that was hard to stay away from?"  Celestia asked.

"Well I was hungry for a long time.  It's like if someone stuck some food in the middle of a desert and expected you not to go for it.  I didn't know much about anything, and creating a web of lies was one of the last things I wanted to do.  I figured simplicity would work more easily.  After everything blew up spectacularly the second time I at least knew that I wouldn't go hungry.  Even if the human part of me didn't completely know what to think about you, Dash, the changeling half wouldn't stop ogling the love that you were sending my way.  At this point I should probably say that my feelings were genuinely human and human alone, although that hunger wasn't the easiest thing to ignore."

"How long were you feeling hungry exactly?"  Dash asked, cocking her head slightly.  "You seemed pretty good after a few days."

"Yeah, but I started from hardly moving, and totally drained.  And even then you were gone a lot and I got stuck in a cycle of barely sated to starving, in the figurative sense of course.  Thanks again for everything, by the way.  It's not like I ever deserved you."

Dash beamed.  "I knew I'd chosen wisely.  You should have said something though ya goof, I could have tried harder."

"I didn't want to complain.  I'll complain about big impending things and jokingly about small things, but you were already doing more than I expected you to do."

"What'd you expect me to do?"  She asked, a slight hint of amusement in her voice.  

"Nothing, I thought you'd stand by your friends."  He paused.  "Element of Loyalty and all."

"Wait, you thought I wouldn't side with you after I did in the first place and they were in the wrong?!"  She paused.  "But then again, you still healed my wings despite your thoughts..."  Dash let out an exaggerated sigh.  "There's never a black and white, huh Jason?"

"Only for when you want to get mad at me.  The fun parts come without strings attached."

Celestia cleared her throat, turning their attention away from each other.  Jason slowly leaned over, kissing Dash on the cheek and quickly going back to his initial position.  The princess' serious expression partially dissolved, before she reinstated it again.  "Alright.  The talks are in there, and due to the fact that they've surrendered unconditionally, should be over fairly soon.  In any case,"  She started, tapping on the wall as a few ponies started to enter, all wearing badges and uniforms of one sort or another.  "I'd like to work out what we'd like to accomplish ahead of time."

"Makes sense to me."  Jason said, looking up at the ceiling as he thought, hearing the door close.  "Are these griffins from the old government?"

"A few, others are regional or from the occupied parts of The Griffin Empire."

"Yeah, okay.  So we've got a pretty good representation.  Alright, at worst."  He took a few steps backwards, settling into an overstuffed armchair as he finally took a detailed look around the room.  It was probably a bedroom that had been converted into a couple rooms, much more lackluster than he assumed the original had been.  These seemed more like meeting quarters now, although a fireplace still remained in the corner.  

"What shall we do about actually ruling the new territories?"  Celestia asked, settling into a much larger chair of her own.  

"Well, realistically we should keep the capitol the same.  As in this one, I mean."  He sighed.  "Throughout history, what's torn nations apart the most was nationalism, which is generally between those of one race with similar customs and all that stuff.  So our best shot at keeping this place stable and free from internal conflict would actually be to try to ram both sets of customs into one another and make a new one.  So if ponies want to move south and griffins want to move here, obviously we should allow them to.  Encourage them to, even."

"They've got a different currency, by the way."  Dash said.  "Something called the mark, or something."

"Heh, the mark.  All we have to do for currency is match them up by seeing what they buy, and accepting both.  We can screen out the mark or the bit later.  There need to be regional free elections, just like the ones you have here.  Chances are, having ponies as the politicians over only griffins won't help how we look over there."

"And of course, there will always be a hint of racism and separation no matter what we do."  The princess muttered, looking slightly dejected.  "It really is a huge task we've set out for ourselves."

"Yeah."  He paused.  "Oh, one more thing that's actually good news.  Since we're part of the same country, any economic slump that could occur after the war could be averted if we spread out the railroads and allow the griffins to rebuild their own towns.  Get some ponies in there with them, and we make ourselves look good.  That also keeps guys off the streets and provides jobs and all that, so it's kinda hard to look badly at that part of the plan.  The only problem I can think of is budget around here."

"I know."  Celestia shook her head.  "We've got the new taxpayers though, and even if we keep rates low that's still a lot of new income."

"Yeah.  I guess we can look at what to cut and possibly move in some of our technology to start advancing the place.  Coal mines, factories to make whatever it is you people actually make, and this might just work out.  Let me make it clear though, the only way this will work in the long run is if you provide the start up funds and then turn it public.  Basically build the building and leave it to an upstart business.  As a last resort, probably.  Don't want communism popping up."

"Princess?"  One of the other ponies asked.  "A moment?"

"Go ahead."  She said.

"How do you seem to know what works and what doesn't?"  The mare asked Jason.

"Here we go..."  Dash muttered.  

He chuckled, continuing on despite her annoyance.  "Where I come from, there are hundreds of countries in existence.  There have been hundreds of failures, and hundreds of successes.  It's not hard to say that every form of government and practice is flawed, but besides communism they all have at least some chance at success.  Then there's how each government is run, and how money is spent.  My friend Mankin owns his own business, and actually trades stock options with people all over the world.  Anyway, most everything can be run like a business, and generally that provides the most leeway and success.  There are exceptions, but smart investment and calculated risk never hurt anyone.  At least, it's a lot better than the alternative."

"So that's what we're doing when it comes to building?"

"Well, no.  Maybe some schools and stuff, roads and all that.  That last part's what the government is supposed to do."  He paused.  "What that does is hopefully grab at least a few jobs.  I don't want something big, I don't want something where other griffins or ponies suffer because of our interference.  If we could avoid investing government money altogether, that would be best.  But if push comes to shove and things start to dissolve into anarchy over there, we'll have to start building."

"So what's our immediate plan?"  Celestia asked.  "I thought that was it, but then you kinda said it wasn't..."

"Just provide easy credit.  A nice bankruptcy plan.  Patents, federal reserve...  All they need is the ability to get money to start up something, and the existing people provide the markets while we provide loan money.  It's like what I said in the beginning, but without the dabbling in the private sector.  In the mean time there are police forces, hospitals, fire departments..."

"Oh, I see what you're saying."  She rolled her eyes.  "Took me a minute there.  I heard communism and I kinda got a little sidetracked trying to figure out what it meant."

"Dash?"  Jason asked, gesturing towards her with a grin.

Her face turned emotionless.  "It's supposed to be a utopia where the government provides for everyone and there is a population of equal workingmen.  It doesn't work because no one has any inclination to actually do work and because none of the leaders has ever stepped down."  Dash giggled, her face returning to normal.

"Oh yeah, I never gave this to Lyra."  Jason said, pulling a history book from his saddlebag.  "Stupid time travel."  

Dash took it out of his hooves carefully and transferred it to the princess.  "It's the history of his home country from start  to almost finish."  She said.  "There are a lot of pictures, but he tells me that it's a textbook, not a picture book."

"Yup."  Jason continued, chuckling slightly.  "Careful with that though, it's my only one."  He paused.  "Oh yeah, it's also a little biased, so watch out for that."

"I'm over a thousand years old."  Celestia replied with a laugh.  "I'm pretty sure I can detect a bias."

"I guess we'll see."  Jason said, as they started to leave the room.  "Can't say I'm not a little nervous though.  Well, here goes nothing.  It all ends today."
> Talks
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Talks


Jason was the first to sit down at the rather large table, watching the others neatly fill up their half.  He drummed his hooves against the table, waiting for the griffins to walk into the hopefully short talks.  As much as he wanted to have a part in the proceedings, he still wanted to get back home and relax.  Of course, if he had the choice on anything he wanted to do, killing the soul magic guy would be up there, along with finding Eravel.  But since he had no idea how to even begin the latter task, he was stuck with his biggest threat.

He had hardly a night where his thoughts didn't turn to the pony, not just to his perpetual hatred, something that he didn't even possess towards the griffins he'd been fighting, but to his plans.  Jason couldn't say he knew anything about the guy, even Luna was in the dark about most things related to him, and she'd spent years with the guy.  That brought up another question, how had a unicorn survived so long?  Jason figured he'd somehow been jumping bodies, which of course made killing him a whole lot harder.

The only hint of solace that he could take was that in a straight up fight, without all the trickery, he knew he would win.  The pony's only advantage came from smoke and mirrors, along with the extra guys that he had under his command.  But Luna had said something about one of them drawing a gun, and that worried Jason more than anything else.  If he ever got back into the fight with this guy, the first thing he'd have to do is figure out how to make body armor.  That was probably not a big deal; there had to be some of that somewhere in the piles of human junk.

Even then, he'd need help.  Maybe Tank would come along, maybe Morning.  That still left the hole that was yet to be filled by Eravel.  Jason sighed, dragging up unhappy memories of the last time he'd seen the griffin.  It was kinda funny, how much he'd changed since the first time he'd been cowering in the upstairs part of a Canterlot building.  He would have wanted to be at these talks for sure, and would probably know more about the population than Jason could hope from any of the other griffins.  After all, he hadn't exactly been inside the law when it came to research or weapons.

Jason was pulled out of his thoughts as Dash tapped him on the shoulder, pointing at a line of griffins as they walked in.  A few looked warily at the royal guards flanking the door, their expressions stoic as usual.  Jason pulled out his computer, opening a word document and figuring that he may as well take notes.  A griffin walked past as the icon stopped bouncing and a window appeared, and he immediately navigated a few feet further away from the table.

In short order, however, everyone was seated.  That left a rather uncomfortable silence that no one decided to fill.

"We are the champions, my friends!"  Jason's computer sang out, making the whole room turn as he fought to stop the sound.  He tapped away, watching a few griffins look around in an annoyed manner.  "No time for losers, 'cuz we are the champions..." 

Jason stopped the track, letting out a sigh of relief as things started to calm back down.  Celestia cleared her throat, the hint of a grin well hidden in her features.  

"We have come-"

"Cant touch this!"  Jason's computer said, turning heads again.  The song stopped much more quickly as a guitar riff came over.  "America, fuck yea!"  Jason smirked a little, whacking his hoof into the spacebar.  When that didn't work he shut the computer.  "Coming again to save the motherfucking day yeah!  Americ-"  The audio cut off, leaving a brief silence before dash broke into laughter, trying and failing to disguise it as coughing.

Celestia picked up the slack immediately, delving back into her talks.  "Anywho, we're obviously here to decide what is to become of the citizens of the vast territory we've conquered.  Not to pull up any uncomfortable memories, but it is the truth.  Whether your king was possessed or not does not change the fact that you continued to go along with him."

"With all due respect, we were following orders.  That's something we're told to accept, no matter what."  A griffin spoke up, showing off a vest that was clearly military.  "That said, I wasn't involved in the fighting, so I wouldn't know.  I've been stationed in the far south, against the zebras down there.  Lots of raids from those guys."

"Okay listen."  Jason began.  "Let's not focus on who has the blame here.  Call it the king and be done with it, I'm not going to punish griffins for following orders.  That said, you're part of this country now, and you better respect Celestia like she's your leader.  I don't have a problem putting down a revolt, especially with how generous our terms are."

"Fine, let's hear them."  Another griffin said.

"Alright.  I want to get out pretty quickly and have the generalities over and done with, so that we can all get back to our lives."

"I'll second that notion."  The griffin replied.

"Good."  He paused.  "Any of you in the military?"  Most of the griffins raised a talon.  "Alright, I'm not going to take away your jobs.  But you're on thin ice.  One wrong move, and it's gone."  Celestia nodded her approval, and a few sighs of relief circulated around.

"Seems like that was popular."  Dash commented.

"Guess so.  Next on the list,"  He began again, looking over at a pony that was presumably writing what he said down.  "You're all citizens of Equestria now, and that goes along with the shift in loyalty."

"There was an old custom, back when the Griffin Empire was a collection of tribes."  An old looking griffin said, sitting up slightly in his chair as he laid a cane across the table.  "After a fight, the followers of the losing side simply transferred their loyalty, no questions asked.  That isn't to say, however, that we are fickle with our favor.  Proof of death is required, along with the absence of a secondary leader.  Let's just say, the stars quite lined up for all of you, the King never named an heir."

"Excellent."  Celestia breathed, letting out a sigh.  "I think things will go more smoothly than I expected."

"I hope you know, princess, that we will not stand for an iron fist rule by ponies.  We have such a thing as a backbone that goes beyond tribal customs."

"I understand.  You'll be allowed a limited degree of self rule, but I hope you know that there will be ponies coming into the old empire.  We're not here to promote a country of disjointed realms."

"So long as my brethren are treated better than dirt."

"High standards there."  Jason said sarcastically.  "We're trying for equals."

"Why?"  

The question hardly caught him off guard, he'd been expecting some questioning of their somewhat more democratic government.  "Because we're trying to build a country here, not an empire.  I'm sure you know that a fair number of griffins joined our ranks happily, and I know that means a lot to just about everyone else in the military right now.  I guess I'm just saying, you'll have to pull your weight."

"I suppose so."

Jason leaned back in his chair, watching the others as new talks started to break out over the more mundane topics of the new country, from local economies to larger currency issues.  He hardly had to say anything, the rest of his table-mates appearing to keep the conversation on track.  That wasn't to say he found it rather interesting that a yelling match hadn't erupted over something yet.  He shook it off, thinking that it was just the same griffin custom that supposedly changed their loyalties.  

Not to say that he trusted them, that was for sure.  But as the time without an argument continued to stretch on, it almost seemed like all his estimations of conflict and incompatibility had been wrong.  Almost.  He was sure that there would be something, but right now everything was moving far beyond anything he'd been expecting.  Jason lowered a hoof below the table, giving himself a slight tap to check that he was awake.  

Seriously, it was almost creepy that nothing was going wrong.  How could they possibly get along so well after they'd fought a war?  Maybe it was the unconditional surrender, or maybe most of these griffins were just looking for something as far away from the government they'd had as possible.

Jason attributed the sudden silence to his latter idea, watching as the pony that had been scribbling the entire time caught up.  "Are we done?"  He asked, slightly annoyed that he'd simply been sitting in one place for over three hours.

"I say we keep the mark indefinitely."  A griffin said, as a pony turned to rebut.  

"We can't keep two currencies around, and we for sure aren't going to keep the mark."

"And why is that?"

"Because for one thing, we want to keep things simple, and for the other, you surrendered unconditionally."  Jason saw the griffin's tail swish, annoyance registering on his face.  The two seemed to square in their seats, ready to charge at one another as Jason calmly grabbed Dash's gun out of her thigh holster and fired it into the ceiling.

The rest of the table jumped back, staring at him in shock as he put the gun back.  "Ladies, come on."  He said, wiping his eyes.  "It's a currency, not the end of the world."  He yawned.  "You mind if we just call it for today?  I think most everything was already worked through, right?"

A few nods.

"Alright, good."  Jason got up and stretched, the exquisite pleasure of long overdue movement flooding through his system.  He scratched his stomach, watching Dash rise along with a few of the others.  "You want to go rot our brains on video games?"  

"Like I'd answer no."


_________________________________________________________________


"So, do you want to use the computer or should I?"  Dash asked, navigating carefully around a pony that was carrying a platter of drinks and snacks.

"Hopefully we won't have to make that decision."  Jason replied cryptically, smirking at her.  His expression sobered, and he sighed.  "I'm still not suer how that went by so fast.  Usually little things go over months of debate where I come from."

"Really?"

"Yeah.  I'm just glad that this means I'm not stuck here for very long."

"I thought you liked Canterlot."

"Well yeah, but I'd rather be in Ponyville.  It just feels more like home, I guess."

"I'm surprised you think that.  I thought it'd be pretty much lowest on the list by now."

"Yeah, well minus... everything, all of my friends live there, including Morning and Tank, I think.  That counts for something, at least."

"I suppose so."  Dash replied, stopping outside their door and watching him continue down the hallway.  "Where are you off to?"  

"It's a surprise, I'll be right back."  He broke into a trot, disappearing around a corner in short order.  Dash sighed, turning back to the door and pushing it open.  Maybe she would never understand him after all.  

Scoots hurdled into her, her mouth a blur of nonstop babbles as she asked about what had happened over the past three hours.  Dash chuckled, picking up the filly and tossing her gently onto her back on the bed.  

"So what happened?  Start to finish!"

"You're going to be so disappointed..."  Dash began, shaking her head.  "They worked through most all of the big things, hardly any conflict the whole time.  When there was Jason just shot my gun and called it a day."

"You act like I was expecting a lot."  The filly replied, smile spreading across her face.  "I just think it's cool that Equestria is so much bigger all of a sudden!"

"Whatever you say, Scoots."  Dash replied with a chuckle.  The door banged inwards and Jason walked in, a rather large blob of junk floating in the air beside him.  

"I brought things."  He said, walking over to the bed to spread everything out.  "And guess what I found."

"What?"

"You're supposed to- whatever."  Jason sighed, shaking his head slightly.  "This, right here, is, as far as I can tell, a new laptop."

"A what?"

"A new computer."  Jason tried again.  "So here, I don't need another."  He said, sticking it out towards her.

"My very own computer?!"  She yelled, as if not believing that it was real.

"Yeah, first one I found that was any good and also not password protected."  Jason continued, smiling.  "But that's not all, because I also found this little guy over here."  He said, picking up an antenna'd box.  

"Should I even ask?" 

"It's not that crazy, really.  In any case, this is a router, which allows people to connect to the internet wirelessly.  But it also allows me to set up a local network, so that I can connect these babies wirelessly."

"Why do you need to do that?  We're right next to each other."

"Because this allows you to play multiplayer games with me."  

"Oh, I'm starting to like this idea."

"Yeah, I'd rather have two Xboxes, but I suppose this can be just as awesome."  He said, shoving a small device into the side of his computer and making a few clicks around.

"What are you doing?"  Dash asked, watching him drag around several folders and items.

"Okay, so basically that computer was fresh out of the factory, and I want to get actual games and things on there.  What's amazingly lucky though, is that I never deleted all these files that work on PC."

"Wouldn't they all?"

"No, they usually only work on one or the other."

"So why do you have them?"  Scoots interjected, poking at the new computer as Jason took it.

"Ben was having internet troubles in Afganistan, and I made up a care package flash drive full of a bunch of games he liked.  I kept them on here for some reason, probably just that I was too lazy to delete the files.  But hey, I guess they turned out to be useful."

"Yeah, I'll say."  Dash responded.

"I'm not sure about other people, but I really don't like to delete anything off of my computer unless it's completely useless.  It's a wonder I don't hoard physical things."

"Well, only a little."

"Most of that stuff is one of a kind here!"  

"Not the socks, Jason."  She reminded, giggling slightly.

"They're never good socks either, just sweaty old ones."  He replied, sticking his tongue out in disgust.  There was a long silence as Jason switched the flash drive to the other computer, broken only by several clicks.  

"So Jason, you had a car, right?"  Dash asked.

"Yeah, I thought I talked about this."

"No, I mean I knew you had a truck, but was that the extent of it?"

He felt a tug at his arm and looked at Scoots.  "You said all of that when we were in the Canterlot Archives, Jason.  Dash wasn't there."

"Oh yeah, I guess you're right."  He said, sighing.  "I had a really old truck, along with another car that I ordered about three weeks before I ended up here."

"And how come that hasn't come up in conversation?"  She asked, smirking.  "Is it fast?"

"I'm not telling, Dash.  If we actually get back to earth, I'll just show it to you in person."

"Oh, if I guess correctly will you tell me?"

"Maybe..."  He said, slightly unsure of what she would say.  Dash ran over to her saddlebag, pulling out a book and flipping through a few pages.  

"Chevy Chimero?"

"No, Da-"

"Lamborghini mira?"

"Surprised you pronounced that one, but-"

"Ferrari Enzo?"

"Dash!"  He yelled, getting her attention.  "You can't just read out of a book about cars until you get the right one."

"Fine, how about a price range?"

"Ugh, it cost me under a hundred grand."  Jason said.  "But that's the only hint you get, jeez.  This is like the engagement ring all over again."

"For the record I'm glad I found out."

"At least you didn't look too unsurprised when I proposed."

"Shush, I was totally surprised."

"I just gave up on the whole romantic part, I figured there was no point trying to wait for a moment that may never come."  He let out a slight sigh, walking over to the bed with the two computers in his magic and laying down.  "Hey, I got something you two might like."

"Oh yeah?"

"Mhm."  Jason replied, closing Dash's computer and waiting for the other two to settle in at his sides.  "Where's Evening?"

"Asleep."  Scoots mumbled, "She was practicing transformations and magic or something and made herself all tired."

"Ah." 

"So what's this you're showing us?"  Dash asked.

"Well you know how I talked about roller coasters a while ago?  I have a few videos saved from forever ago when I was trying to convince Mankin to go with Ben and me to this place called Cedar Point."

"Alright..."  Dash leaned forwards, staring at the screen.  "What's this?"  She asked, pointing at another window.

"Oh, that's nothing."  Jason replied quickly.

"Play this to annoy griffins-"  She snickered.  "So you planned all that, huh?"

"No, it was for sure an accident."

"I thought it was, good acting."  She finished, laughing rather hard.  Jason waited for her to calm down a little, and she spoke up again.  "So how fast are these things?"

"Depends.  This first one goes to one hundred and twenty, but it's kinda short because it was the first of its kind.  They named it the Top Thrill Dragster."



"That was it?"  Dash asked.  

"Like I said, first of its kind."

"It looks so slow though."  Scoots continued.

"That's just because it's a camera, you can't feel it."  Jason said, waving a hoof at her.

"Whatever, I don't know how much I'd like to be strapped into one of those things anyway.  I'd rather just control where I go, not let some track do it for me."

"Maybe you'll like this one better than, I give you the Millenium Force."



Jason looked at the other two, simply staring at the screen.  "Fine, let me just skip to my favorite one here, this one's called the Maverick.  Ninety five degree drop on this one."



"And humans build that stuff for fun?"  Dash asked.

"Yeah...  It is fun, so..."

"Really?  I'd be freaking out stuck in restraints like that, there's no way I could ride something like that."

"Never thought I'd be able to say that I was more extreme than you at something."

"Cool it, it's not like we'll ever ride those."

There was a pause, and she knew she'd said the wrong thing.  "Yeah, I guess you're right."  He looked at his hooves, before he slowly closed the computer.  "Can't do much as a small horse in a human world, huh?"  Jason asked, pulling himself out of the bed.  "Can't really do anything at all."  He stood still for a few moments, before slowly walking over to the bathroom and closing the door behind himself as the sounds of running water replaced his hoof steps.  She assumed he was taking a shower for whatever reason, just because of that comment.

"That was stupid."  Dash mumbled to herself.  "God damn."  She sighed, shaking her head.  "I'm going to go talk to him."  

"What can you say?"  Scoots asked, making her stop and think.  What could she say to comfort him, really.  This was a life that he was never able to go back to, how could she say that it would be alright?  

"I don't know, Scoots.  I'll think of something."


______________________________________________________


Jason pushed his head against the cool tiles of the shower's wall, trying to stem the line of thoughts telling him exactly what he'd never be able to do again.  He heard the door close, not changing positions as he felt her awkwardly wrap her hooves around his neck, rubbing her side up against his.  

Dash could tell from his body language that he was crying, an occasional slight heave of his chest giving her all the information she needed, no matter how well the running water hid the rest. 

"I'm sorry, Jason, I shouldn't have-"

"No, don't be sorry.  You're right, I was just getting my hopes up for nothing."

"I-"

"I mean, it was stupid anyway.  Like what, us going back is suddenly gong to make us human?"  He heaved again, one of his tears slipping off of his face separate from the shower water.  "It's stupid that I'm acting this way, I know.  You're probably just thinking that I should grow a pair and get over it, but I can't.  I'm an outsider wherever I go, and-"  He let out another sob.  "No matter how much I want to go back I know that I really don't have a place where I feel like I belong.  Like there's nowhere I can wholeheartedly call home."  His talking dissolved into more sobs as he stopped trying to communicate, allowing himself to slide down the wall onto his side.

"I'm sorry."  Dash murmured.  "I'm sorry that you feel like you do."  Her eyes flashed with a hint of anger.  "But don't think I'm doubting you, I know it's hard, every single day I'm stuck with a constant reminder of why you aren't happier."  She laid down next to him, propping his head up against her chest.  "You think I like that?  Not being able to help remedy the problem?"

Jason didn't respond, but his eyes said enough.  He was tired, sick of the fact that he knew nothing would ever be easy.  That even what should be simple could be replaced with hostilities or worse.  But for once, she didn't know how to make him feel safe, or even from what side to approach the problem.  She'd only been homesick of Cloudsdale until she'd found a place in Ponyville, but even now Jason hardly had that.  It seemed like a problem only time could solve, and that was the one thing they never seemed to have.

Dash didn't move for a long time, simply stroking at the smooth chitin of Jason's neck and trying to think.  He moved suddenly, getting to his hooves slowly and leaning down carefully to kiss her.  It wasn't long, but it got the point across.

"Thanks."  He said, leaning back in to kiss her again.  "You're always there, I don't know what I'd do if I had to figure everything out for myself."

"Shush, Jason.  You're probably handling everything better than you should be anyway.  I'm just here to help with that little extra bit that you can't."

"I just hope you know how much that means to me."  He replied, a tear dripping onto her face.  

"Probably a lot more than I know, the way you're going on about it."  She said, giggling slightly.  "And I hope you know that this relationship, taxing as you may think it is, is a lot better than anything I could've imagined."  Dash leaned up without another word, kissing him more forcefully and seeming to almost push his problems away.  He could figure everything out later.  He may not know where his home was, but he knew exactly who he wanted to have there.
> Secrecy
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Secrecy


Jason awoke as the first hint of light crested the horizon, his face still against the calming fur of Dash’s chest.  He didn’t open his eyes for quite a while, simply trying to enjoy the moment as much as he could.  He still didn’t feel great about anything, but with his arms wrapped around his significant other he at least felt calm.  None of the previous night’s dread had managed to soak back into his system, instead replaced by a more simple feeling of annoyance that didn’t seem to want to go away.

That was probably compounded by the fact that Jason still didn’t know why he had been brought here in the first place.  All he knew were reasons that he hadn’t, and the feeling of ignorance only seemed to weigh upon him like a brick.  Jason sighed, trying to figure out if he would rather live like this or as a made up pony. 

They both had their disadvantages, and both ways still made him feel like an outsider.  In a way, it was too bad Dash was as attached as she was to his changeling form, because it kept him from trying out different things and looking for something he wanted.  Even that didn’t help too much, because even with near complete control over his appearance, he wasn’t sure how he wanted to look.  

His first idea was to go by what Dash wanted, and he would definitely not mind changing himself for her.  In a more literal sense, of course.  

In some part of his mind, Jason knew that with just Dash and Scoots, possibly some of the others, he felt like he was actually in a place that he liked.  Not to complain, but as soon as he left the company of his familiars into the presence of strangers- he didn’t know how to explain it, but besides the fact that he could feel any hatred coming off of their forms. 

Not that things were as bad, but it was seemingly unrelenting, and it tired him out.  Maybe that was why he wanted to go back to earth, to meet up with some people that he knew better than anybody, besides Dash.  A place where his every move wouldn’t be questioned by most of the ponies present.  

Dash tapped him on the head, having apparently woken up earlier.  “Just try to think about the good things, Jason.”  She murmured, jumping slightly as he moved and pressed his lips to hers.  

“It’s a little hard not to.”  He replied with a slight smirk, reaching around her back to play with her wings.  

Her breath caught and she struggled to push his arms away, giggling the whole time.  “Why do you have to do this when I say something serious?”

“It gets my mind off things.”  Jason said, moving his hooves down to her lower back and simply pulling her closer until he had their chests flush against one another.  “Forces me to try to think about the things I haven’t done to you yet.”

“Ooh, I like what I’m hearing.”  She replied, sweeping a hoof down one of his cheeks.

“Oh yeah?”  He pushed his forehead against hers.  “We’re coming up on a wedding pretty soon, do you want to figure out what we do during the, say, after party?”

“Let’s call it consummation and sound educated.”

“It’s not like we aren’t.”  Jason replied, giving her a light kiss on the nose.  “If you’re going to be the one carrying any foals, I’d rather you get control over the first time as a married couple.”

“So long as you figure out a way to make it romantic when I’m in heat.”

“Huh?”  Jason asked, looking confused.

“I kinda get pretty- well, unreasonable with all of the hormones and stuff.”  She said, looking away.  “And I doubt I’m going to give a shit about romance.”

“You never give me an easy task, huh?”

“I figure it’ll be more fun to think about that than anything else right now.”

“Yeah.”  He said, already appearing to think.  “So like, the whole week, or…”

“No, silly.  Just one that we can call the time where we started a life.  Disregard the others.”

“I guess I’ll try not to think too much about it.”  He said, chuckling.  “Don’t want to get myself too exited in advance.”

Dash giggled, laughter increasing as Jason rolled her on top of himself, kissing her again.  “We’d make a great foal.”  Dash said.  “I don’t care what anypony thinks anymore, they’re all idiots if they can’t tell that I love you.”

“Oh man, I love you so much more than you can imagine.”  Jason almost growled, leaning up to kiss her again as she met his kiss, shivering slightly as she realized that the covers were no longer there.  A soft glow of green wrapped the blankets, comfortably wrapping the pair up as they made out.

Dash let her eyes flick to the door, making sure that Scoots was still inside as she felt her wings start to stiffen, beginning to tent the covers as the main door opened, closing less than a second later.  

“God dammit.”  Jason mumbled, not sure whether to find the knocks afterward funny or annoying.  He let Dash off to one side, her face red as she tried to hide her wings.  Jason didn’t even make the attempt, his glossy black wings spread out mostly under the covers.  “Come on in.”  Jason said, realizing that annoyance had won out slightly.

“Sorry about that.”  Celestia said as she walked in, a blush spread across her face.  “Usually it’s just Luna in here with me, I’m not used to knocking on doors inside the castle.  I can come back later if you want…”

“Chances are that would have ended if I heard Scoots wake up anyway.”  Jason replied, waving her off.  “Go ahead and say whatever you want.”

“Ah, well in any case I still feel a little guilty.  You two don’t seem to get a lot of time together when there aren’t other things going on.”

“We’ve only got two more guys to kill, then it’s smooth sailing.”  Jason said with a grin.  “It sounds like a lot, but it just seems to me that if we’ve completed the first thing and only gotten stronger in the process that things will at least become downhill.  I’m not saying the worst is behind us, but it may well be.”

“Glad to hear things are looking up, at least a little.  Twilight tells me that you’re looking for a way to get back to America, correct?”

“Yeah, I guess.  I miss the people that I used to know, and they probably think I’m dead.  Body wont have shown up, I’m sure.”

“Why’s that?”

“Dunno, I showed up here though.”

“I suppose.”

“Anyway, I just miss everything I used to know and do, and even if stuff develops quickly here I’ll never do a lot of stuff I did once.”

“Hey Jason.”  Dash asked, tugging at his shoulder in thought.

“What?”

“When you dream, we pop into places you’ve been, right?  Experiences that you’ve had?”

“Yeah, I suppose you’re right.”

“So then even if you can’t go to these places, you can always just relive them as vividly as the first time.”

“Oh man, I’m so glad you thought of that.  My god, what a relief.”  Jason looked like his face was about to break, with as large of a grin as he had breaking out upon it.  “And I can show you four, and I’ll get to do those things, andohmygodthankyousomuchforthinkingaboutthis!”

“Jason, calm down!”  Dash said with a laugh, putting a hoof to his chest.  

“I can’t, I hardly even know why this makes me so happy, but-  Wow!”  He laid back on the pillow, the goofy grin sticking on his face.

Celestia laughed, pulling out a few pieces of paper and handing them over.  “I can’t say I’m happy that you’ll be leaving Canterlot, but I would like to congratulate you again on both the gold stars and your union in general.  As much as you don’t think ponies like one or the both of you, I’m sure you’ve become role models for at least a few youths by now.

“Hey Dash.”  Jason said, elbowing her gently.  “You think we’re more recognizable than the Wonderbolts?”

She paused, a smile breaking across her face as well.  “I’ve succeeded at becoming more recognizable than Spitfire.”  She said, as if not believing it.  “That’s crazy.”

“And speed wise, how far do you think you are ahead of them now?”  Jason asked.

“At least by three times the speed of sound.”  Dash said quietly, looking at her hooves.  “My god, I never even thought about any of this.”

“Why did you want to join the Wonderbolts, exactly?”  Celestia asked.  “Fame?  Fortune?”

“A little, but what troubled me was that I wouldn’t really find something to set myself apart outside of Ponyville.  I wanted to be something unique, where ponies would look back and I would be in the history books, at least for something.  Immortality, in a way.”

“And that’s what makes all of this worth it, to a certain extent.”  Jason filled in, receiving a small smile from Dash.

“Just insane…”  She whispered, shaking her head slightly.

“Actually, that’s what some of these papers are about.”  Celestia said, taking out a stack of papers.  “Those ones there are just ultimatums, if you don’t want to deal with any of this.”

“What are these things that need our permission?”  Jason asked, looking at the paper Celestia had already handed over.

“Mostly things that are in reference to you two.”  

“Like what?”

“A whole bunch of ponies gathered around with contracts for deals for Team Green Bean trading cards, action figures…  But there are some book deals in here, on the war and otherwise.”

“Why do those need my permission?”  Jason asked.

“A few ponies wanted to interview you on things, there’s hardly anything known about Rainbow Dash or you in particular, Jason.”

“Ah.  I’ll probably kick the toys, that seems kinda disrespectful.  Can’t get mad at them for trying to make money, but seriously.”

“Foals really took to little stuffed animals of Luna while she was gone, and she seems to have enjoyed the fact that she wasn’t ever forgotten or feared as a princess.”

“I’d suppose so.”  Dash said, watching Jason get up and stretch his legs.  

“So Jason,”  Celestia started, “Why do you have such an aversion to government?”

“Yeah, why is that Jason?”  Dash asked, poking him in the side.

“How about I just start from the beginning, alright?”  He asked, watching them both nod.  “Years ago, there was a guy named Adam Smith that kind of vocalized the way a completely free-market system should be.  He said that the government should only do two things.  Fight wars, protect negative liberties, and a few other things.”

“What are negative liberties?”  Dash asked, looking confused.  “Like what, they’re things I don’t have?”

“They just don’t take anything from other people.  Like arms rights or free speech.  But what I love about my country is that the government has laws placed on itself by the people.  When America was founded, after a crappy constitution for ten years where the government was just too weak, they drafted the Constitution.  The express purpose was to keep the government in check, and it specifically notes in the Declaration of Independence that if the government fails in protecting the rights of the people and defending them, that it can be replaced.”

Celestia, for once, looked slightly slack jawed.  “You’re saying that people purposely limited their own power, and that something they created hundreds of years ago still works?”

“Yeah, I suppose I am.  In any case, the rules on government were still not enough, and a bill of rights was added on to ensure free speech, the right to bear arms, and things like that.  Those are both supremely important to the American ideology, and they pretty much decide everything in a document that only takes up a few typed pages.  But everything had a reason, like when the founding fathers created gun rights.  They really wanted to make it harder for a corrupt government to occupy areas of the country if it so decided to.”

“And has that ever happened?”  Dash asked.

“No, there was a civil war because of several large disagreements and hostilities mostly by one side, but besides that the country has had surprisingly few large domestic issues.  It’s quite the democratic success, no matter how much people try to downplay its historical significance.”

“It still is?”  Celestia asked.  “I’ve only read to the early eighteen hundreds, but it’s mentioned to the year two thousand.  This country had trouble when just half of the leadership was gone a thousand years ago, I’m surprised that the consistent changes in leadership hasn’t broken down.”

“Well you know Washington?  First president?”  She nodded.  “It could have broken if he didn’t let go of the presidency.  That’s what happened in a lot of other places.  People just don’t let go of power once they have it.”

“And yet that’s central in the system.  Giving it up, I mean.”  Celestia filled in.

“Thus the existence of a constitution, the people have the leverage to replace the government.  Or make it really hard for them to rule.”

“Yeah.”  The princess trailed off.  “And you’ve got tons more population than we do.”

“It’s pretty crazy that it even works, huh?”

“A little.  Is most of the world democratic?”

“No.  A lot of democracies fail.”

“How come?”  Dash asked, tapping at his computer and pulling up a picture of the world.  

“See these places here?”  He asked, pointing to Africa and parts of Central America.  “A lot of democracy comes down to money.  These places usually don’t have the personal income levels to see it through, people are too willing to give up rights for promises of food and the like.  Countries like these in the Middle East and Russia have a lot in the way of natural resources, so their governments never need to develop a middle class or their economy and it becomes hard to support different government.  Evidently that doesn’t work out too well either.”  There was a pause.  “I wish I had an American flag, I miss seeing one of those waving around in the wind.”

“Patriotic still?”  She giggled.

“I have a million things to be proud of.  No matter how much I complain, we’re still the most well off country in the world.”

“Really?”  Dash asked, still looking at the map.

“Yeah."

Celestia laughed, making the other two jump at her sudden outburst.  “I find it funny that I manage to learn something from almost every conversation I have with you.”

“And I realize that somehow somepony always manages to get you talking about something like this.”  Dash mumbled.

“What are you really going to do?  Stop me?”  He asked, grinning.

“I’m worried that one day you may never stop.”  She said, giving him a serious look.

“Fine, let me humorously do something different.”  He said, stretching again.  “I wonder if I can still walk on two legs.”

“Proceed.”  Dash said, waving him on with a grin.  

Jason reared up, sticking his arms out to either side as he took a few halting steps forward.  Dash chuckled, and he could feel blood rush to his face.  “As if you would be able to do this very easily.”

“I’m not the one that decided to do it.”  Dash responded, still giggling away.

“I know you two are eager to get back, but I’ll need to meet you in a few days so that you can both sign the treaty.”  Celestia said, “And I can collect any of those rights at that time.”

“Oh, alright.  We’re actually planning on getting wed before something else happens, so you may have to check with Pinkie.”

“Don’t worry, I know about the wedding.  I’m planning on attending, if that’s alright.”

“No, of course!”  Jason responded.  “I’d want you there.”

“Do you want it here in Canterlot?  I could have that arranged…”

Jason looked at Dash, before she spoke.  “If it’s alright, princess, I’d rather keep it small.  I don’t need to have everypony there, just my friends and Scoots.”

“I understand.”  Celestia finished, giving the pair a slight bow.  “You know where to find me if you need to use that fertility spell.”

“Of course.”  Dash said, giving a nod.  “Feel free to contact us if something goes wrong.”

“I seriously hope I won’t need to.”  She said with a laugh.  “I feel as if I’m overworking the pair of you.  The rest of your pay is in the bank, I’m sure it won’t be hard to verify who you are.”

“Thanks, princess.”  Jason said, waving goodbye as she walked out the door.


___________________________________________________________________


Dash fell backwards onto their cloud couch, letting out a massive sigh as she sank in.  “Finally home again!”  She yelled, sliding her hooves around excitedly, watching as Jason walked up one of the walls and onto the ceiling, pushing a square piece of wood into the ceiling and packing cloud around it to make sure it stuck.  He immediately went down again and grabbed the router, pulling out a tube of something and walking up again.

Long story short, he held it to the board for a couple seconds and let go, watching with a slight grin as it stayed stuck.

“It’d be nice if I had a generator, I don’t like having to power all of these things all the time.”

“At least I can help out on that front.”

“Oh no you don’t, not until I teach you what to do on- I dunno, a calculator?”

“Thanks for having high standards of me.”

“Hey, you did pretty well concentrating, but that was only moving things.  And not anything big, at that.  I’m not sure what you have the capacity to do, but it’s almost definitely not anything huge.  Maybe teleportation over short distances or a small illusion spell, nothing like me slowing time down.”

“I can’t say that disappoints me.”  Dash replied, looking around the room excitedly.  “Teleportation would be awesome!”

“Yeah.”  Jason confirmed, sitting on the couch next to her as Scoots came trotting back down the stairs.

“Jason, does that mean you can teach Scoots stuff too?”  Dash asked, watching the foal’s ears twitch.

“It might.”  He replied with a smirk.  “I’m a little against making either of you too dependent on it, seeing as I might not last forever.”

“But Jason!”  Scoots whined, “I wanna do magic like Dash!”

“I’ll teach you Scoots, I just want to wait until I work out the kinks with your mom, okay?”

“So long as you come through with it dad!”  

“Don’t worry kiddo, I’d love to give you something like that.  Especialy if it gives you a little more ease in defending yourself if you need to.  But it might not always be there.”  He warned.

“I know, it’s not a big deal!”  She exclaimed, launching herself onto the couch between them.  A long silence ensued as she wormed her way in between the pair, making herself warm from their combined body heat.

“You want to see if Bon Bon will let us play a few songs?” 

“Oh, so much.”


____________________________________________________________
 

“Octavia, what happened to that saxophonist?”  Jason asked, watching the gray mare sigh.

“Well it’d be nice if you gave me some warning one of these times, I could have told her about it.”

“What’s her name?”  

“Melody.”  

“I don’t get how you ponies get these names and take so long to figure out what your cutie marks are.”

“It’s all a conspiracy, Jason.”  Dash said, waving her hooves around as she tested out the base drum.

“Whatever, we can play a song without her.”

“Jason!”  Bon Bon yelled, hopping onto the stage.  “I told you if you preform here that I was going to pay you, so how much is fair?”

“I’ll take two bits.”  He paused.  “I don’t want to be too expensive.”

“Jason, I’ll do a hundred.”

“No, as far as I’m concerned your payment is giving me a place to play.”

“Just- ugh, you make me feel so guilty!”

“Fine, I’ll do a hundred.”

“There we go.  Deal.”  The mare walked off, shaking her head in annoyance.

“Jason, what are you doing?”  Dash hissed, trying to be quiet.

“You’ll see…”  He replied cryptically, striking a chord as the assembled ponies cheered.





Jason watched the results of the song, an explosive cheer rising out of the audience.  He saw Scoots cheer from a vantage point on Lyra’s back, easily above crowd height.

“Do you ever do anything Jazzy?!”  A pony yelled, looking a little more angry than Jason figured was really necessary.

“Yeah, I guess.”  Jason replied, coming up mostly blank for things to play without a saxophone.  “I have one thing, kinda.  Jazz guitar, I suppose.”  He said after a moment, grabbing a couple of papers and handing them to the others.  

“Oh, I’ve been looking at this.”  Octavia said.  “How am I gonna do this part with a bass though?”

“I think I can get it to sound right, hold on.”  Jason grabbed her overdrive unit, reaching up to strum a string as he adjusted a few dials.  “No…”

“Jason-“  Octavia started, looking at the crowd.

“Wait, I can get it.”  He said quickly, messing with the dials some more.  “Almost there, I did this once already.”

“This song?”

“No, adjusted a dial.”  He replied with a chuckle, shaking his head as he strummed her bass again.  “There, you’ll just have to move your hoof pretty fast.”

“Can’t say I’m not used to it by now, with all the guitar lines you’ve gotten me to do.”

“Heh, I guess.”  Jason looked over the crowd, smiling to himself.  He'd have to replace the piano with guitar, but it's not like there was much of that.  “Here goes.”





Another cheer, he'd somehow thought that a sudden change like that would leave some ponies confused.  Jason shifted and noticed a light orange pony take a few steps onto the stage, setting down a saxophone case as she stared at the crowd of overjoyed ponies.  Jason allowed the crowd another brief respite, congealing with the other two on the new member.  

Melody stared at Jason and Dash almost like they were ghosts, before she watched Jason outstretch a hoof for her to shake.  She grabbed it with both hooves, shaking it like there was no tomorrow.  “It’s an honor, both of you.”  Melody switched to Dash, who looked like she was rather enjoying the attention.

“Both of you, I’m so glad Octavia asked me to do this.  Sorry I’m late though, I didn’t know that you were planning anything, and-“

“Look, I’m glad you’re in the band and all, but you don’t need to treat us like…”  Jason paused, struggling for the right word.  

“Heroes?  Saviors?”

“Like more than a couple of band members.”  He finished.

“Really?  You two pretty much saved the country, how is that not something to treat you well over?”

“Well…”  Dash began, before Jason cut her off.

“Just- normal ponies, alright?”

“Fine, sure.”  She said, still acting a little too nervous.  “So, which song are we playing first?”

“I think we’ll play this one, then this one.”  Jason said, showing her a piece of paper.  “You’ve practiced them?”

“Of course, I wouldn’t dream of screwing this up.”

Jason sighed, watching her quickly prepare her instrument and give it a few test blows.  

“Ready?”  Jason asked, getting an affirmative nod from the mare.  “Good.  I’ve been waiting to play these.”  He finished, lining up a hoof before he strummed off the beginning of Keith Richards' iconic guitar riff.





Jason threw a motion to the others, giving them a big grin.  He spun his hoof, signaling that he wanted to run right into the next song before the crowd even calmed down.  Octavia wasted no time, quickly strumming off the iconic notes to the Pink Floyd classic.  





“Wow.”  Jason mumbled.  “Just- wow, I love playing this stuff.”  The ponies began to break up as they realized that the show was over, a few coming over to get autographs that Jason was sure were worth more than they would be as just musicians.  A few minutes later he found himself accepting a bag of bits from Bon Bon, which made him grin a little.  Dash only scoffed, as if thinking he was actually going to accept it.

“Dash, you want a burger?”  Jason asked, hearing a grumble in the affirmative from the mare.  He chuckled, waving Lyra over with the order.  She returned a few minutes later, with some food that he handed to Dash, watching the hay crunch as she took a bite.  

“Keep the change.”  Jason said, plopping the entire bag down in front of Lyra.


_______________________________________________________________________


"I have to say, I love doing that."  Jason said, pulling the bedcovers over himself.  "Playing music, I mean.  Not the crowd part, necessarily."

"Then why do you always go somewhere populated?"  Dash asked, giggling.  

"I do better under pressure."

"Fair enough, I guess."  Dash looked to the side, picking up Scoots by a hind leg and tickling her now exposed tummy.  "What'd you think Scoots?  Up to expectations?"

"I- hahahahaha.  STO- hahahahahahaha."

"Just give me an opinion, squirt.  It's not that hard."

"I-  hahahahaha so evil haha."  Dash let the foal down, who took more than a few moments to regain her breath.  "I loved it.  It was some of the coolest stuff I've ever heard."

"Some of?"  Dash asked, annoyed, watching the filly stare in horror.  "I'm just kidding, to bed with you!"

"Aww..."

"Come on, it's way too late for you to stay up, especially with school tomorrow."

"And that thing with Rumble, right Scoots?  Dinner?"  Jason asked.

"Yeah.  Well actually, his brother gets back tomorrow, so maybe not.  But probably?"  She shifted her hooves on the ground, barely meeting the gaze of either of her parents.  "Could I- you know, stay here tonight?"

"How come Scoots?"  Jason asked, getting out of the bed and kneeling next to the filly.

"I just get lonely, and sometimes I get scared about things and I'm not here so-"

"Eventually you're going to have to sleep by yourself, Scoots."  He said.

"But what if Rumble-"

"Whoa woah woah.  Not for a long time, I hope."

"But-"

"Listen Scoots."  Jason began, sitting against the side of the bed and pulling her over as Dash leaned against his other shoulder.  "I know you like him and all, and I'm sure he feels the same, but there's a thing about young love, alright?"

"Yeah..."

"Kids tend to feel like they're in love when they may not be, like they're being too easy with their feelings.  I'm not doubting how you feel, I just want you to be able to think about it and know that you're feeling the right way.  That's not to say that things might get in the way of whatever goes on, but that should be where things get decided.  I knew people that would break up over the stupidest things, which really showed that they didn't care enough about each other to get over whatever it was.  That's not to say you can forgive everything, but make sure you're not overreacting or doing the opposite.  I know how that ends up, trust me."

"Sure dad, I'll try."

"Sometimes I feel like whatever I say won't change much."  He said with a chuckle, getting up and climbing back into bed as the others joined him.  "G' night."

"Night."  Dash said, mirrored by Scoots.  Jason's eyes hardly stayed open for a second, and his mind remained awake for only a little bit longer before he was out, descended into dreamland.


_____________________________________________________________


Jason's eyes shot open, checking that the moon was still comfortably above the horizon before he slowly extracted himself from Dash's perpetual hug, moving Scoots next to her and making sure they remained snug in the blankets.  He nodded to himself, quickly descending down the stairs and into the kitchen, shivering at the nighttime cold.  Presumably that was only compounded by the beginning of winter, with the snow he could clearly see floating past the window.  He'd have to raise the house later so that it wouldn't cool off quite as much.

One glass of water later he was out the door, gliding downwards through the snowflakes that so readily attached to his chitin and melted.  A few backwards beats of his wings and he slowed down, coming to rest on one of the branches in Twilight's tree.  He followed it to a window that she never seemed to lock, pulling the circle open and hopping carefully inside.  He dared not let his hooves touch the ground, worried that the steps, as silent as they were, would still wake the sleeping mare.  

Jason floated over and scanned the books, translating this way and that as he looked for something useful.  He pulled out a few, lowering himself to grab another before he turned around and glided over the railing of the second story.  He froze in his tracks as the sound of running water from the bathroom made itself known.  Jason took a look at Spike's basket, eyes going wide as he realized that the dragon wasn't there.  

The door opened and Spike locked eyes with Jason through the dark, presumably with the night vision to do so.  

"Hey spike."  He said, Twilight's body matching the voice perfectly.  "Figured I'd do some midnight reading, seeing as I've been getting a little behind."

"Twilight, I thought you were asleep?"  Spike glanced at the bed, messed up covers concealing the real Twilight.

"Alarm spell, totally silent to other ponies.  Or dragons, I guess."  He giggled.  Oh man that was weird. 

Spike pulled an expression that made Jason think that his acting had been off, or he'd said something wrong.  He still had to find a way to keep Spike from asking Twilight about this later though, and went downstairs to grab a few more books.  He didn't like Twilight's body, it felt a little too brittle for his taste.  Nothing like Dash's.

"Gotta make Spike's question seem in place, can't really make him think it's a dream very easily..."  He whispered to himself, forming wings and waiting a few minutes before taking off, littering books on teleportation around Twilight's bed as if she had gotten up and actually done some research.  She wouldn't have any memory of getting up, but that could be more easily passed off then an ungrounded question from Spike.

"What?  Wings?"  Spike asked, looking at him through the dark.  Damn, it had sounded like he'd fallen back asleep.

"Yeah, I just grew them.  Weird huh?"

"Huh?"  He asked.  "Is this a dream?"

The words he was looking for.  "Depends."  Jason said, teleporting in front of the basket as he transformed into a male version of Twilight and floated the books back from Twilight's bed.  "Do you want it to be?"  

And with that he teleported outside and transformed back, three books still in tow as he flew away.  That was entirely too close.  The worst he'd had to deal with was whatever that silly owl was that Twilight had trying to molest him.  He'd been a lot more careful after that, making sure whatever he did stayed secret, and ridiculously quiet.  Jason watched Everfree trees move by below him, slowing down and landing in a clearing that already had a good inch of snow in it.  Funny, he'd thought the weather didn't carry over.  

Jason set down a book under a nearby tree, reading through a few pages before he found where he'd left off.  He read the passage several times, his mouth mimicking the words his mind deciphered.  He'd made a pact with himself to get stronger, and he was going to follow through.  "Just another day."  He mumbled, standing up straight and making his arm flare with green flames as his horn began to glow.
> Traditions
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Traditions




"Jason, come on, wake up!"  Dash said, pushing Jason's nearly lifeless body around in the bed in an attempt to get him to move.  

"Mhr."  He mumbled, clearly not happy that he was being pulled away from his slumber.

"We have to go talk to Pinkie about stuff, you of all ponies should be right on top of this.  Are you feeling alright?  Usually you're pretty awake minus the times when we..."  She glanced at Scoots.  "You know."

"Yeah, I'm not sure why I'm so tired."  He lied, sitting upright.  The last thing he wanted to do was give her another reason to worry at this point, with everything coming up.  Besides, studying ways to keep her and Scoots safe wasn't the worst thing he could be doing.  "So why does Pinkie want to see us?"  Jason asked after a moment, rubbing his eye with a slightly singed hoof.

"She wants to just set up things in general, get a date, all that stuff."

"Select bridesmaids and best men?"

"I guess so."

Jason sighed, rolling out of bed and giving Dash a quick kiss.  "Alright, let's get going then."

Dash grinned, splaying out her wings and adjusting the ring on her primaries.  "I know everything is supposed to be happening so fast, but I feel like we can't get hitched soon enough, you know?"

"Kinda.  I'm a little more nervous about things."

"The wedding in general or everything?"

"I just- we still have to get soul magic guy, and Chrysalis seems intent on reminding me that she's screwing around.  I'm just saying, I don't think this will be the happy ending part."

"What's a few months of trials if we can live uninterrupted for the rest of our lives?"

"I'm worried that it won't just be a few months.  This stuff tends to haunt people."  He said with a sigh.  "I'm sorry, this has all just made me a little pessimistic."

"Good thing I'm such an optimist."  Dash said, wrapping her arms around his neck and giving him a quick kiss.  "Now come on, we have to get Scoots to school and see Pinkie."

"Love you."  Jason said, kissing her again.  "Not sure where I'd be without you."

"If you keep saying that I'll have to start taking you seriously."  She replied with a giggle.

"You may as well start, it's definitely not a lie."

"Pfft, you sell yourself short."  She replied, whacking him with a wing as she walked past, headed towards the door.  "Come on, I'd like to take a nap at some point today."

"Tired?"  Jason asked, yawning to himself.  

"Yeah, actually.  That wasn't supposed to be a half-assed thing to say in the way of sex."

"Doesn't that pretty much defeat the purpose?  What you just said there?"

"Brutal honesty will do the kid good."  She said, mussing up Scoots' mane.

"Whatever you say,"  Jason replied with a chuckle, leaving the room by her side, a certain orange filly not too far behind.  

"First day of winter today."  Dash noted, looking slightly exited.  "First snow went well last night, so I've heard."

"Oh really?  None of the usual screw ups?"

"No, not yet.  Snow's easy, the only hard part is making sure that it doesn't melt too fast, and that the snowpack holds in the mountains where it makes sense."

"I thought you just kinda made it rain whenever you wanted water."  Jason said.  "Why do you even need a snowpack?"

"It's just a precaution, in case the air is too dry for Cloudsdale to make us summer clouds."  She paused.  "Is the snowpack important for you?"

Jason nodded, hoisting Scoots onto his back and taking off.  "We have a mountain range near us, and all the snow up there is what supplies the area when it's not raining.  I don't know what it is here, but for us that's about eight months of the year.  Sometimes less, sometimes more."

"I've got to say, the fact that you people can't control the weather and keep from having shortages amazes me."

"I guess, but it's not like we've ever been able to control the weather.  People just know what to do by now."

"I think I'll stick to control, thank you very much."  Dash finished, doing a quick roll and losing at least a few feet in altitude.

"Sugarcube Corner?"  Jason asked, reciving a nod as the blue mare corkscrewed and frolicked, leaving Jason to look down on the town below.  It was gently blanketed in what was at least a few inches of snow, stuck to roofs and trees and shining in the morning light.  There was something about winter that he loved, the cool air and the way it seemed to scream for him to go outside like summer never really had.

He was so lost in thought that he almost hit the top of Sugarcube corner, dodging at the last moment and looping around to land.  Dash gave him a look, watching the unscathed filly hop off into the snow and shiver.  Dash only reached back, grabbing a scarf and tossing it to the kid, who gratefully wrapped it around her neck and took off towards school.  

"So it doesn't snow where you live?"  Dash asked, noticing his focus on the white fluff that squished underhoof, chilling the more sensitive spots in the holes of his hooves.  Jason looked over for a moment, green flames covering his form and leaving a mostly black pony in their wake.  He spread his wings, looking over the navy blue gradient that he had added along the primaries.  His eyes were the same color blue, although he had added in pupils and the whites, really appearing to make them jump out from the rest of the color scheme.

"No."  He said, tearing himself away from the rather nice looking coloration with a huff and a huge cloud of frozen breath.  "Only in the mountains."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I mean a lot of times it gets cold enough to snow, but it never does.  It's pretty dry here though, winter only seems to feel cold when you get that humidity going along with it.  Leave the house and it's like three seconds until fingers start to go numb.  Feels like hell's frozen over some days."

"You're just complaining over nothing."

"Fine, I'll just make sure you see that eventually, and then you'll be like 'oh Jason, I'm so cold, let me get some of your body heat' and I'll be the gentleman that I am, and rub your face in my wisdom."

"So long as you know the same goes for all the things you thought I was exaggerating."  She replied with a giggle, finally opening the door and walking inside.   Dash walked up to the counter and rang a bell, that kind that everyone just had to ring as soon as they saw it.  That type of bell.  

"Just a second!"  Came Pinkie's voice from behind the counter, as she popped out with a face full of flower.  "Had to get the foals to sleep, and you probably know how they are..."  She said, her bouncy energy not completely disguising the slightly fatigued look in her eyes.  "But that's okay, because now I get to put together Dashie's wedding, and what could possibly be better than that?"

"Sleep, looks like."  Jason commented, taking a seat at one of the tables.  "So what's this you've called us here about?"

"Well, I've got a few things, but since I knew that you wanted to get knotted as soon as-"

"It's hitched, Pinkie."  Dash interjected, as the pink mare slapped her forehead.  

"Of course, Dashie."  She let out a quick sigh.  "In any case, I put together a few things, and I just want you to decide what you want, and then there's the issue of who you definitely want to invite, because I was thinking about just making it an open wedding so that anypony could come if they wanted to and I'm not sure if you'll have as many ponies as you'll want if it's just invitations and-"  She stopped for breath, her face flushed from the fact that she hadn't taken in any new oxygen.

"Look,"  Dash began,  "I know it's our wedding and it should be all big and awesome and stuff, but I don't care if it's just us or if everypony in Equestria is there.  I only care about, I dunno, a hoofful of ponies, and the rest- well..."  She bit her lip.  "The point is, I don't want you going overboard making this the best wedding ever, I just want it to be something I can look back on and enjoy, I want it to be memorable."

"Memorable..."  Pinkie repeated slowly, the clunking in her head almost audible.  "I can do that, I suppose.  I'll have to change the ammo in the party cannon..."

"So you can do that?"  Jason asked, snapping the mare out of her trance.  

"Yep!  Sure can!  All I need from you two is stuff like which cake you'd like and some rings and of course bridesmares and best colts."

"I've got the bridesmares."  Dash said, raising a hoof slightly above the table as Pinkie pulled out some paper.  "Twilight, you, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, Morning and Evening."

"That's it?"

"As far as I can tell."  Dash said, examining a hoof for a moment.  "They're my best friends, at least the ones that are mares.  I'd add Lyra and Bon Bon, but Jason kinda brought me into a friendship with them more than I did."

"And you, Jason?  Stallions, of course."

"So more than one best man?"

"No,"  Pinkie started, her head drooping slightly before she shot back awake.  "Lots of groomsmen, only one best man."

"I guess it'd be Tank then.  But even though I'm sure it'd be a longshot, do you want to send for Shining?"

"'Course."

"Celestia said she was expecting an invitation or something, right?"  Dash asked.

"Yeah, but I'm not sure if she was being kinda sarcastic.  Might as well send one though, huh?  And then one to Luna, I guess."

"Really?  The princesses?!"  Pinkie said, almost seeming to become less and less tired by the second.

"Yeah, hopefully."  He paused.  "Tell them that if they're busy, it's no big deal."

"You keep saying that, I'm not sure how this isn't a huge deal for you guys!"

"Pinkie, it's not that we don't think it is a big deal, it's just that we don't need it to be huge.  Maybe Jason thinks differently, but I just want to get married, I don't need all the fluff."

"Always to the point, Dashie."  Pinkie said with a giggle.  "Anywho, I have these pictures of cakes I made before, and if you want to look through them and tell me which you'd like."  She said, passing over a few pictures.  "And don't worry about the little top part, I made one that I'm sure you'll love."  The pink mare finished, laying her head against the table.

"Don't have twins, Dash."  Jason said, making the mare chuckle.  "I didn't think Pinkie could get tired."

"Me neither."  She whispered back, looking at the usually energetic mare as if she had just explained what the inside of a black hole looked like in perfect detail.

"This one looks kinda cool."  Dash said, pointing to one that looked somewhat like an hourglass through the layers.  

"I feel like it's not going to do too well actually looking like that for long though."

"Yeah, maybe at a wedding with fewer ponies specifically trained to fuck shit up."

Jason broke out in laughter.  "I wish that was a title.  'The fucker of shit.'  Wait, never mind, it doesn't work anymore."

"Maybe like a nametag?  Hello, I fuck shit up?"

Another laugh.  "Right to the point, I see."

"I've heard ponies like that about me."  She said, placing a hoof on her chest.  A snore eminated from the mare across the table, small amounts of flower billowing off her lips on each exhale, and swirling around in a beam of light that came in through one of the higher windows.

"So this one then?"  Jason asked, pointing out another that had four peaks to it.  "It's not vanilla."

"Flavored?"

"No, like not run of the mill."

"Ah.  I swear you just use these words to make me feel stupid."

"Well I've only heard that one in use towards un-modded video games, so..."

"Another thing I wouldn't have known about.  Love those."  Dash responded, the hint of a smile breaking across her muzzle as Jason stuck a hoof around her head and leaned over to kiss her.  "Pinkie's making me sleepy."  Dash said, making him chuckle.

"Psst.  Pinkie."  Jason said, poking her mane.  There was a rather long delay before the mare went stock straight up, making her tablemates jump.

"I wasn't sleeping, just uh- resting my eyes?"

"Just need to see the top part, unless it's a surprise or something.  Then we'll let you sleep."

"Oh, yeah."  She muttered, walking over to the kitchen like some sort of equine zombie.  

"This is like some sort of horror movie."  Dash whispered.  "It's like some weird version of that other personality.  The evil one that I've naturally forgotten the name of."

"Can't help you on that one."  Jason replied.  "It's not that weird anyway, I kinda like her lower key.  Easier for my brain to manage."

Pinkie trotted out a moment later, setting a little statuette of the pair on the table.  The two were in wedding clothes, facing opposite directions with their sides against one another.  The interesting part, however, was in the goofy details.  Jason still had a gun slung over his back, Dash's drawn and pointed off into the distance as she perpetually watched his back.

"I like it."  Dash said, breaking the silence.  "Better than one where we're just standing there or something."

"I'm going to have to agree there."  Jason continued, leaning in closer.

"Good."  Pinkie said, carefully picking it back up.  "Ima go sleep."  She said, trudging off towards the front of the shop before she realized that she was going the wrong way and turned around.

"Speaking of sleep..."  Dash began, standing up and yawning.  

"Yeah, you go take a nap, I've got to go get measured for Rarity anyway, if she'll make something for me."

"Good luck."  Dash said, making her way to the door with him.  "I always hated getting measurements for that kind of thing."

"I know, there's no way you could possibly enjoy that anyway."  He said, smirking.  "In a lot of ways, you're pretty predictable."

"Whatever you say.  I still see most of the stuff you do coming a mile away."

He swiped a hoof at her, missing as she giggled and hopped into the air.  "Don't take too long!"  She yelled down, quickly rising towards their house and grinning.  

Jason simply shook his head and laughed, drawing a look towards the jet black pegasus, easily standing out in the snow.  He bowed his head slightly, still wary of attracting attention despite the recent shift in public opinion.  Maybe it was still obvious, but that didn't mean he wanted to shout out who he was.

The streets were mostly unswept, leaving a near pristine sheet of snow to lay across the street, rising only slightly against walls.  It reminded him of the shape of the surface of water, with the slight upturn at the edges.  A few steps later he found himself in front of Rarity's boutique, and raised a hoof to knock.  The sound, as usual, wasn't particularly loud, and he instead went to hit it with his knee, making a much louder noise than he had imagined.  Sweetie Belle opened the door a few moments later, staring at the black stallion wide eyed.  

"Can I help you?"  She asked, talking a small step back.  Jason shifted back, watching the foal actually appear to relax.  "Sis, Jason's here!"  Sweetie yelled, hearing no sign to the affirmative that her sister was alive.  "I'll be right back, stay here for a sec."

Jason chuckled, watching the foal run off and leave the door open in a very kid-like fashion.  There was some more muted yelling before Rarity trotted down the stairs, putting on a smile as she caught Jason's eyes.  

"Sorry about the wait dear."

"I can come back if it's a bad time, I mean I don't have to be here now."

"No, I'd like a break from the other project I was working on anyway."

"Ah, alright."

"So I'm assuming you'd like me to make you a suit, impending wedding and all?"  The white mare asked, batting her eyelashes.  

"Yeah, that and something else."  Jason reached back, pulling a piece of thick tattered cloth out of his bag.  "This, I think, is Kevlar."

"Is that a new fabric?"  Rarity asked, beginning to look excited.

"Well- I guess, but this one is bulletproof because of how it spreads out an impact, and I want to see if you could attempt to make some armor."

Rarity stared for a moment, cocking her head to one side.  "Darling, I'm not sure how fabric could hold up against spears and blades, it's not as if there's anypony shooting at you."

"Is it alright if I tell you what I can while I get fitted?"

"Of course, dear."  Rarity said, taking the thick and rigid fabric from Jason's hoof and setting it aside.  She picked up a tape measure and circled him a few times, stopping at what seemed to be random increments and humming thoughtfully.  "Is there anything you'd like to see?"

"Just something without a whole lot of gems.  It reminds me more of a tux from where I come from that way."

"They never used gems in wedding dresses?"  Rarity asked, putting a hoof to her heart as if she'd been shot.  "Why ever not?"

"Gems are rare.  The biggest diamond could fit on my hoof, and that's worth some ungodly amount."

"Really?  Sounds like a dreary place."

"There are ways to make things pretty without bells and whistles, Rarity."

The mare giggled, gesturing to a dress that sparkled in the light.  "Think of the gems more as highlights, there to bring out the natural beauty of one of my creations, drawing ones eyes to the most favorable places at the most favorable angles."

"You really design it with all that in mind?"  Jason asked, looking at her incredulously.  

"Somewhat, I will concede that it is not to the degree I may have made you think, but I have started over with designs when they just don't seem to come together."  She said, looping the tape measure around his leg and moving a pencil against a floating notepad.  "I'm assuming you're going to be wearing what I make in this form?"  Rarity asked.  "Including the wings?"

Jason looked back at the wings he still had, with the same gradient that he had just added.  "I guess, yeah."

"You enjoy those better than what you were born with?"

He cringed, something that rarity missed as she measured up a hind leg.  "Yeah, they're more sleek, meant for speed.  The ones I had were basically good for hovering and moving backwards."

Rarity was silent for a while, still eying the tattered Kevlar.  "So why the armor?"

"Oh yeah.  I can only tell you some things here, because the rest is classified, but basically... You know the guy that tortured me, for reasons I still don't know?"

"Yeah, I can still see a lot of the scarring."  Rarity replied, her voice a little less boisterous.  

"Well that guy... I need to find him, and I need to kill him before he decides to continue with whatever his plans are.  He's got ponies all over, and things are organized.  Luna's having trouble tracking the guy down, especially because this is the first she's heard of him in the last thousand years.  Then there's the fact that Luna's been shot at already, and if he's figured out that guns kill ponies, I need to be ready to end the problem once and for all."

"A thousand years?  What?"

"All I can say, I guess, is that he's not immortal.  But he's found a loophole."

"Is that all you can give me?"  She asked, measuring his neck.

"Yup, I think so.  I'll make sure it's declassified as soon as he's dead."

"Sounds like something I'd like to read about, magic has grown rather lackluster as of recently, most of the interesting spells were devised by Starswirl or came about earlier.  But there are some laws on magic experimentation, due to the fact that somepony blew up a corner of Manehattan a hundred or so years ago."

"What was he trying to do?"

"I'm not sure, but I can assume that it had something to do with his wife, because she died a few days prior.  What I don't know is if it was a suicide, or more likely an attempt to bring her back.  And yet you found such a clever loophole, Jason.  My life wouldn't be quite as... interesting without Dash around."  She chuckled slightly, scribbling on a different pad of paper.

"Can I move?"  Jason asked, shaking a rear hoof slightly in an attempt to get feeling to return.  

"Not yet darling, I just need to sketch out a few ideas and you'll be free to go."

"So what do I owe you?"

"Oh, I don't need anything."  She said, waving a hoof.  

"Ugh, look, I don't like getting free stuff.  Can I just please pay you?  We can say that you were all generous and I refused, but I have the money, and you're trying to run a business here.  And I can't think of anything I'm really going to spend it on, it's not like living in a cloud is expensive."  He paused,  "How about a hundred bits."

"I could never possibly accept-"

"Okay, fine, a hundred twenty-five it is."

Rarity huffed, shaking her head.  "You're just as stubborn as Dash sometimes, Jason."

"I like to think I persevere."  He replied, smirk playing across his face.  "So, is this good weather for the beginning of winter?"  He asked, looking out a slightly frostbitten window.

"Sometimes we get a little more snow the first day, but this seems about reasonable."

"Ah.  So what do you call snow angels here?"

"Snow what?"

"Like, when you kinda- you know, with the arms and, well you can kinda do the legs."

"I'm not sure I know what you're talking about."  The fashionista responded, her brow furrowing.

"Hey, how come Sweetie's not in school?  They have school today, right?"  Jason asked, a little bit of worry condensing in his chest.  

"It's just a tradition, I let her stay home and we just curl up in front of the fireplace with some hot cocoa."

"Jeez, I asked if I was interrupting anything."

"Yeah, but like I said, it'll help push that other design out of my head."

"If you say so."  

"Well, I've got all I need, so I suppose you're free to go do whatever it is you do in your free time."

"Wait, sis!"  Sweetie yelled, somehow sprinting down the stairs and not tripping.  "Can he be on our team for the snowball fight later?!"

"I don't know Sweetie, why don't you ask him?"  Rarity responded, watching the foal take in a huge breath of air.

"We're going to have a snowball fight and we need ponies to be there and if you want to can you be on my team?"  She paused, quickly adding,  "With Dash?"

"How many ponies are we taking about here?"  He asked, grinning at her enthusiasm.  

"Well, Scoots said she'd see how many ponies she could get from school, and they're looking around after for any other ponies that want to play.  We're trying to get the whole town in on it, make a tradition, because we're going to be the CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS TRADITION STARTERS-"  She took a breath.  "YAY!"

"The whole town?  Are you going, Rarity?"

The mare's face grew distasteful.  "Unfortunately, yes.  But Sweetie has said that I'll only get wet, and while I'm sure that's true, it'll mess up my mane."  She complained.

"Come on, if they get the whole town to do this, think of how much fun that'll be."

"Oh, I never said I wasn't going."  She snickered.  "I've always loved myself a snowball fight."

Jason grinned.  "Well I'll tell you what, kiddo.  I can get a few more ponies together to help your little war."

"Would you?!"  She asked, face lighting up. 

"Sure, it'll let you stay here with your sister longer.  What time?"

"Well it gets dark around four thirty, so we were thinking three, meeting in the town square.  Actually, the market square."

"Alright, I'll be there."  Jason replied, trotting towards the door.  "Thanks, Rarity!"  He yelled, back, watching her wave as he closed the door behind himself.

Off to order a couple rings, then.  He set off, making the incredibly arduous journey all the way across the street to get to the familiar blacksmith shop.  Snow had melted off much of its roof, Jason could only assume from the fact that Ferris seemed to keep the furnace running nonstop.  Jason walked inside, propping the door open with a nearby rock and blowing some air from his lungs.  Compared to the cool outside temperature it felt like hell in here.

"Hey, Jason."  Ferris started, sticking his head out of the back.  "I came across something you might find interesting."

"Oh yeah?"  He asked, his interest piqued.

"Yeah."  The blacksmith said, unlocking a cabinet behind the counter and hauling out a gun, which he laid across the counter.

"You just found this?"  Jason asked.

"Found?  Pfft, this thing was totally broken.  It came with a belt of what might be ammo, a stock, most of the gearbox, part of the barrel... Anyway, it's most of the way together now, and I have to say, it's been a lot more fun building this rather than regular pointy things."

"Yeah, it looks like it'll be fun to fire as well."  Jason replied, ducking down to get a better view.  "I think it's an LSAT, which is only really notable because of the fact that it completely burns the ammo when it fires, so you just have the little belt part, I think.  Good for weight saving."

"And bad for me, I'm still stuck on how to make more of them."  He said, scratching his head.  "I wouldn't trust it, but it should fire at least one bullet."

"Won't draw in more?"

"Not yet, no."  He paused.  "But I'm guessing you're not here to quiz me on my gun smithing."

"No, I just need to place an order for two wedding rings."

"Ah, for the misses and yourself?"  Jason nodded.  "Well then, could ya just...  New wings?"

"Uh huh."

"Alright, well if you're sticking with that size, I can fit something on there.  Just extend it over the counter for a sec."  He said, pulling out a tape measure and a protractor and taking a few measurements as Jason spread a wing.  "Alrighty.  This one's going to be a surprise."

"I'm sure I'll like it, whatever it is."  Jason said, a chuckle escaping his lips.  "By the way, there's some big snowball thing going on later today at three in the market quad, if you're feeling like a break."

"With these old bones?"  Ferris asked with a laugh, gesturing to himself.

"I doubt a snowball fight could be that hard on you.  You look pretty spry for an old pony."

"Hey, watch who you're calling old."  He replied with a smirk.  "We all get there someday."

"I know, I'm not looking forward to it."  Jason said, chuckling as he made his exit.  He moved onto the Gilded Griffin, opening the door and raising his eyebrows slightly at the amount of business he saw, especially given the fact that at best the beginning of the lunch rush was here.  He walked over to the counter, receiving a huge wave from Lyra before she went back to trying to get something off of the otherwise spotless surface.  

"What brings you here?"  She asked, looking up from the smudge.

"Just wanted to see if you'd be up for some snowball throwing at three, apparently my kid masterminded the idea and then neglected to tell me about it, so after her friend asked me to see if some of my friends wanted to play, I figured asking wouldn't be a big deal."

"If Bon Bon'll let me off I'll go."

"You could make an announcement around lunchtime, see if you can drum up enough of a crowd.  Plus, three is kinda dead, right?"

"Yeah, I'll see what I can do."  She chuckled.  "Do we know who's on which team?"

"I'm apparently on Sweetie's with Dash, but that's about it."

"Hey, no fair!  You'd be the best at this, how could the other team hope to win?"

"I'm going to go see if Tank and Morning will play, Evening if I can figure out where she is.  You wouldn't happen to, would you?"

"She said something about school, I'm not sure why she wanted to go, but it's not like she knows that much about... anything, realistically."

"I just can't see her learning voluntarily.  Hopefully she worked in a new spot with Cherilee or something, the last thing we need is another scare over changelings."

"Because you definitely didn't have a role in the first one."

Jason chuckled, leaning against the counter and stretching a leg.  He lowered his voice.  "I was a changeling for one day when you found me out, I'm not sure what you expected."

"I thought it was longer.  How'd you get magic down in a day anyway, all that teleportation and all?"

"I don't know.  Evening said it should have taken a while, and from what I can gather even Twilight had trouble.  So I'm not sure why I got used to being this so quickly.  It's weird, I should have been without magic and grounded at the very least for a week."

"I kind of think that's beyond the realm of a little good at magic, I mean, you didn't ever use it before, so that's extra weird."

"I know.  It'd be nice if I could just read a book or something about what happened, cuz it's been months and I still have hardly any idea why I'm here.  Seeing as Celestia and Luna find it strange, they couldn't have done it, and I doubt that it's some corny thing like 'I was brought here to avert the fate of Equestria'."

"But then again, you kinda did."

"I know, but that was more luck and perseverance than anything, and if I did that I don't see why I stuck around."

"There's still the other guy."  

"I know, but- ugh, I'm glad I'm still here for obvious reasons, but seriously, I'd love a little information."

"Yeah."  Lyra responded, going silent for a while.  "Do you like being a changeling?  Like, more than you liked being human?"

Jason paused, rolling the thought around in his head.  "I'm not sure.  I guess if I'm going to live here I'd rather be a changeling.  Society's built for ponies, and chances are I'd lose more than a few brain cells before I remembered
to duck under everything.  I guess I also like magic and I really like flying, but I could pretty much make up for the first one with hands.  There's just something I enjoyed about the way something felt in my palm or at my fingertips, let alone the feeling of power that goes along with it."

"Power?"

"Hands are weapons, you can make fists, choke someone, or just clench a couple small muscles and discharge a gun.  They're such simple mechanisms, and they're the reason why humans are on top of the food chain, minus our brain size and predatory nature.  Eyes up front and all that."

"So you miss hands?"

"Yeah, and walking on two legs.  Last complaint here, ponies just aren't all that flexible.  I'm not saying I really was either, but we have a larger range of motion in most joints and things like that."

"So if you could go back, would you?"  The mare asked, running her hoof across the same part of the counter.

"To being human?"  She nodded.  "No."

"How come, I thought you said-"

"Yeah, I know what I said.  But I'm used to this body, and it's still mine.  I miss being human, but I've done everything like this.  I just want things to stay simple, and a change like that isn't something I'd particularly want to go through again.  It's not like I remember it, just blackness and bam! changeling, but I just want things to stay the same.  I've had enough change for one lifetime."

"Heh, I guess you're the opposite of me then.  I'd give a human body a whirl if I had the chance."

"I never saw that one coming."

"Come on, fingers?  Grabbing heavy things without magic?  That's pretty cool."

"I like how in my world, moving things without touching them is cool, and here somehow that just doesn't work anymore."  Jason said with a chuckle.

"It's the heavy things, silly.  Anypony with a brain can lift up a toothbrush or a pebble."  Lyra said, swishing a hoof through the air dismissively.  

"Alright, either way.  It's still funny."  Jason said, spinning himself on the bar stool.  He stopped himself with a hoof, feeling a hint of nausea as he got up.  "I should probably take off then, go see if Tank and Morning are around.  Do you know where they actually live?"

"Oh, yeah.  Tank said something about moving in with Morning to this house kinda by Octavia's.  I think."

"You think."

"Yeah, look, I don't have the best memory.  I think it's greenish, kinda like my coat but more blue."

Jason sighed.  "Always a help, Lyra."  he mumbled, turning around and walking past a few entering ponies as her laugh rang out behind him.

Another walk through the snow of the mostly deserted and eerily quiet streets, his hooves making little noodles of packed snow as it went through the slightly more vertical facing holes.  Mental note.  Changelings are easy to track in winter.  Some green fire sprouted forth, leaving a light grey pegasus in their wake, the same black wings sprouting from his back.  He added a slight transition between the grey and black, nodding slightly in favor of the change.  At least he wouldn't ever need to look at himself and hate on some part of his anatomy when he could just change it.

"Hey Jason."  Came Octavia's voice, making him jump slightly.  

"How'd you know it was me?"

"You forgot the cutie mark.  It's pretty rare that a stallion gets as old as you without finding something they like doing."

"I guess so."  He replied, beginning to walk beside the mare.

"First winter here, right?"

"Yeah.  First time it's snowed where I live too."

"In a way I'm in the same boat there."  The other mare said, receiving a quizzical look fro Jason.  "It doesn't snow inside Canterlot, the princesses don't want to chance the extra weight or the whole erosion process if they can help it."

"Ah, I guess that makes sense."

"So where's Dash?"  Octavia asked, looking around as if she expected the blue mare to pop out and hit her with a snowball.

"She's asleep, trying to catch up I guess."

"How come you aren't with her?  You look like you could use a rest."

"Cuz I keep finding things to do.  I've just got to tell Morning and Tank about a snowball fight that my kid and her friends are trying to make a town tradition at three, and then I can get some rest.  Or lay down, at least."

"Mind if I go?"  She paused.  "Throw snowballs, not sleep with you."

Jason paused.  "Yeah, of course.  Heh.  I would make some remark if I wasn't about to get married."

"Oh yeah, congrats on that by the way."  Octavia said, punching him lightly in the shoulder.  "Of course, it's not like you two weren't like, completely made for one another or anything."

"So I've heard."  He replied, chuckling slightly.  "Funny how all it took to find a wife was a trip to a completely different planet, or dimension, or whatever this is."

"Gotta keep that in mind, you know."

"Obviously."  He paused.  "Would you mind showing me to Tank's house if you know where it is?  Lyra said that it was near hers..."

"Oh, sure."  Octavia sped up a little, her hoof prints becoming further apart.  "I actually told Melody that I'd meet up with her for lunch after I bought some food and stuff, so we kinda need to hurry."

Jason nodded and sped up, matching her pace through the snow as they passed Twilight's library and the familiar red of Octavia's, shining in the weak winter sunshine.  "It's that one over there."  She said, pointing to a building a few houses down.  The kinda blue one."

"Ah, so Lyra was at least right on that front."  Jason replied, setting off with a wave.  "Thanks."

"No problem."  The grey mare replied, turning and rushing towards her house.  Jason watched her go as he walked towards Tank's front door, knocking a few times with his fetlock and avoiding the usual soundless first try.

A few seconds later the door opened to Morning, who's face scrunched up in confusion.  "Can I help you?"  She asked.

"It's me, Jason."  He responded, watching her gesture for him to come inside.  "Wipe your hooves off if they're showy."  She said, giggling at the blobs they had collected as soon as he stepped onto the doormat, from the melting and collecting of other snow.

Jason chuckled and flared his hooves, a thick cloud of steam rising past their heads at a temperature that was rather comfortable.  Morning closed the door behind him, quickly hurrying into another room and returning with a bowl and a whisk, stirring up some sort of batter that Jason couldn't quite place.  

"Smells good."  He noted, watching the mare's face light up.  

"I'm glad you think so, I've been experimenting with different cookie doughs on Mist, but-"

"Sorry, who?"

"Oh, Tank."  She replied, offering him a spoon.  "Want a taste?"

"Sure."  He replied, glad that he was still disguised as he let the flavor dissolve on his tongue.  There was some sort of tang to it, mostly masked by sweetness.  He couldn't figure it out though, especially not with all the annoyed thoughts circling around in his head that he had never actually asked, Tank's name.  "I can't believe I never knew his name was Mist."  He muttered.  "Cookie dough's great though."

"You think you're the only one that gets to be secretive?"  Tank asked, walking into the room.  

"You're supposed to be resting!"  Morning protested, trying to push him back out of the room.

"Oh, I could use a little exercise.  Those doctors are just being melodramatic."  He waved her off with a hoof, brushing the smaller mare aside.

"That's what you've been saying, but it's not like I can't tell you're not a hundred percent."

"I know, but it's okay.  I'm a stallion."

"You say that so matter of factly, like it actually means something."

"Says the mare."  Tank responded, crossing his arms and looking smug.

"So..."  Jason began, breaking their attention away from one another.  "What did the doctor say you were actually up to do?"

"Well, he said no warfare, no getting stabbed, no high stress.  That's about it."

"So, you think you'd be up to lead a team in a snowball fight?  My kid's trying to get a thing together with most of the town, and Lyra pointed out that if both Dash and I were on one team, that would make things unfair.  It's at three for the record.  Market square."

"I'll tell you what."  Morning began.  "If this guy gets to sleep between then and now I'll let him tag along."

"I'm not a little kid, Morning."

"Yeah, but I don't want you to hurt yourself  It was hard enough the last time!  They didn't even think that you'd wake up!"

Tank frowned, taking the mixing bowl from the mare and setting it aside as he wrapped her in a hug.  He mumbled something into her neck and she seemed to calm down a little, drooping her head.  "We'll be there."  Tank said with a wave as Jason turned to leave, realizing that to some extent, the couple he'd just turned his back on was strikingly similar to Dash and him.

Jason closed the front door and took off, slowly rising through the frigid air as he approached his house.  It wasn't a long flight, but maybe that was just because his thoughts were elsewhere.  He landed in the front yard, walking inside quickly.  He wasn't sure what he felt like doing, but as it turned out sleep seemed like the farthest thing from his mind.  Dash was passed out on the couch, her back arched.  He had to fight the impulse to tickle her completely exposed tummy, rifling through his saddlebag to grab the digital camera instead.  

He had taken to carrying it around lately, mostly because of the fact that he always seemed to miss these kinds of opportunities.  Jason snapped a quick photo, flicking an ear with his hoof as he walked past.  Now he just had to find something to do.


_______________________________________________________


"What's this game?"  Dash asked, making Jason visibly jump as the screen turned red and his character met a gruesome end.  

"It's the kind of game where you try not to scare people while they're playing."

"So the game over message right there means you won, right?"  Dash asked, chuckling as she stretched out on the couch, making a groan noise to match.

"Yeah, exactly."  Jason responded, as Dash slowly got off the couch to join him.  

"So what is it?"

"Well this has got to be my favorite series of all time."

"I thought you said that about Halo."

"Did I?  I forgot about this one."  He paused.  "This, dramatic pause, is Serious Sam."

"It doesn't look that great."  Dash said, squinting at the screen.

"I'm seriously rethinking this marriage thing, Dash."  Jason said with a laugh.

"Yeah, well...  What makes this so awesome?"

"I'm glad you asked."  Jason replied, making his tone more like something that someone would hear in an infomercial.  "You see, the most interesting part of the game is that the original came out in 2001, which is something around twelve years ago.  Anyway, it was one of the first first person shooters to actually work, and involve an interesting play experience.  Besides that, it's completely different from things like Battlefield or COD because of the fact that there are specific ammo and health drops, most of which are booby trapped, and that it's nearly impossible at higher difficulties.  Like, a hundred enemies on the map at a time hard."

"But you're only fighting like three at a time."

"That's the other thing, the game has easy parts to keep you playing, so that when it gets into an arena and you're dying left and right, people don't get as annoyed.  But also, they don't use tons of enemies to overwhelm the player all the time, sometimes they hide some things around corners to lunge at you, or like I said, trap an item that you really need.  You know, greed against reasoning."  He moved his guy for a few more seconds, blowing a horse-like skeleton apart with a shotgun.  

"So it's just a shoot-em-up game that's really hard?"

"I guess, but it get's easier if you can act more creatively.  The enemies don't know where you are if you're behind walls, so that's an easy way to go.  This was way back when people could be wowed by graphics and gameplay, without the necessity of an involved storyline.  I like it because of what it has, not because of what it lacks.  It's just so unlike anything else I guess."

"From what I've seen so far, that's pretty clear at least."  She said, scratching her head.  

"Another thing is that there're like a million secrets, some of which you'll probably never find."

"Ah."  She replied, looking behind herself.  "When was that snowball thing?"

"Three, why?"

"Oh, no reason.  It starts in three minutes though."

"Well shit."  Jason said, setting down the controller and standing up.  He arched his back and groaned, several pops and cracks echoing out.

"You really need more sleep, Jason."  Dash said, putting a hoof to his cheek.  "You look like a zombie."

"I'm fine."  He replied, waving her off.  "You could have seen me in college."  

"Just- don't do anything stupid, okay?"  He nodded in reply, nuzzling up against her neck.  She nibbled at one of his ears, giggling as it twitched around.  "Now come on, we've got to go win something."

"Don't go crazy, Dash."

"I won't need to, this'll be way too easy."  She replied, a smug look on her face.

"Okay, well Tank and Evening are on the other team."  Her expression faltered slightly.

"Meh, we're better than them anyway.  It can't be that big of a deal."  She said, watching Jason swipe up the air horn fro way back when and follow her outside.  A few clouds had gathered, although he wasn't sure if they were in preparation for more snow or just as a partly cloudy end of the day.  "That's weird, I didn't think we were scheduled for anything other than clear today."  Dash muttered, watching a cloud leisurely float past.

"Another weather team screw up?"

"I dunno, my memory's not as good as it used to be, I could be wrong.  It's not like an overcast day is really that big of a deal anyway.  I mean, we get some carryover from the ever free, but those clouds usually dissipate as soon as they cross into the different climate, especially considering the fact that none of these clouds are very big.  But they'll probably go away eventually anyway."

"If you say so."  Jason said, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek and taking off.  Dash spiraled past him and he sped up after her, easily finding the rather large crowd of ponies that had gathered in the market square.  He looked at the blue mare, noticing a spark in her eye that he only knew too well by now.  She translated over, pushing one of her fore hooves against his and pulling him straight down with her.

A bolt of fear rushed through Jason before he figured out what she wanted him to do, matching her speed and actually preforming his part of a spiral as they descended.  The ground came up fast as Dash let go, breaking off one way while Jason flattened out in another, wings straining at the force he'd needed just to stop falling.

It wasn't a pretty landing in the snow, especially since he didn't know how deep the ground really was or how he was supposed to land in snow.  So some faulty footing and a long slide later he finally came to a stop, looking up at some ponies that he had nearly avoided taking out.  Laughing assaulted his eardrums as Dash walked over, snow caught only in the fur of her hooves unlike the everywhere situation of Jason. 

She pulled him to his hooves, wiping a tear out of her eye as she led the way into the center of the square.  Jason picked out Scoots, walking over to the filly and wrapping her in a hug.  "Nice job getting all these ponies here."  He said, watching her face light up.  

"Yeah, I'm just surprised so many ponies were open to the idea!  Hold on, I gotta tell everypony the rules."  She finished, taking off slightly shakily into the air.

"Everypony, listen up!"  The filly yelled, as most of the talking died down.  "Thanks for showing up today, it's really nice of you all.  I'm just gunna go over the rules really quick, so try to stay quiet."  She paused for a moment.  "I thought about how this would work for a while, and with this many ponies we're going to have to do a one-hit-dead kind of thing.  Ponies are basically incapacitated at that point, and can be dragged back to the team bases to be revived.  Leg shots are the same, but you can still use uninjured legs.  You'll still need a teammate to revive yourself though, even if you escape immediate action."

"So how do you win?"  Some pony asked.

"Ah, well Applebloom's out there with Applejack right now setting up some flags and the general position of the bases.  If your team is in control of one of the flags, you can revive teammates there instead.  This excludes if the spot is under attack, cuz then you're down until the area isn't under fire anymore.  You can win by eliminating the other team, or being under control of all of the flags."

"So how do you know when they've all been captured?"  Jason asked, shrugging as the filly stared at him.

"These."  She said, holding up several pads of paper, "Are linked to one another.  Pinkie Pie has graciously agreed to be the judge, and she'll watch what happens."  She said, the hot air balloon slowly inflating behind her.  "One team marks one symbol, the other team marks another."

"My god, this is planned out."  Jason whispered, receiving a nod from Dash.  

"It's hard to look at her as the same filly when she does stuff like this."

"We just had to pick the kid that's going to grow up way faster then we're ready for, huh?"

"It's not like she ever does anything besides impress me anyway."  Dash replied.  "She's going to one hell of a something when she grows up."

"Everypony clear?  By the way, a hit is when a Snowball stays together to hit you in one obvious part.  So if it hits a branch and blows up and you get hit with a shower of snow?  No problem."

"And magic?  Flying?"

"Almost forgot.  Uuh, Magic is fine for a few things, like making snowballs and gathering snow for walls.  Both teams will have unicorns, so that's hardly a problem.  Obviously there's no magical throwing of snowballs...  No stopping time, Jason."  She said, staring at him again as her wing beats got slightly out of rhythm and she dropped a foot or so.  "And wings can be used for gliding only.  Jumping across streams and down hills, all that sort of thing."  

Sweetie Belle stepped up onto a box under Scoots.  "Everypony on this side, one team, and on this side, the other!"  She yelled, sweeping her hoof back and forth as Scoots dove back down and hauled up a hand drawn map, which was rather detailed even from a distance.  "We'll be playing in the Whitetail Woods and the town, and all movement in the Everfree is forbidden.  You all know what the firebreak looks like, and any movement inside that area is against the rules!"

The teams divided quickly as Applebloom stepped up beside Sweetie on the box, almost slipping off as a rear hoof lost its purchase.  "All of ya'll on this team, follow mah sister and ah.  To the rest of ya'll, follow Rumble and Thunderlane!"

There was a huge flurry of movement as the group separated, its components moving in opposite directions.  Jason and Dash were near the front, chatting idly as Scoots landed atop Jason's back.

"Did you like it?  I did okay?"

"You did great, kiddo."  Jason said, beaming as she settled down on his back.  "Do we have a team name?"  He asked the rather sizable group, receiving several head shakes in return as Lyra, Sweetie and another foal filtered towards him.  "That you, Evening?"  He asked the foal, as it gave a nod.  "I take it you liked school then?"

"It was better than a hangover."  She replied, getting a few strange looks.

"I could assume."  Jason replied.  "Drink some water next time."

Evening just grunted in response, her small filly form buried almost up to her stomach in snow.  "So, team name.  How about... I dunno, Team Inedibility?"

"Shouldn't it be something menacing?"  Rumble asked as they came to a halt, his brother doing a double take as he went to attention.  Dash waved him off, giggling to herself.

"I think he's drawing inspiration from Team Green Bean.  Basically hope that the enemies have enough of a chuckle about the name to throw them off a little.  'Course, we're dealing with Tank and Morning on the other team, and they're the third and fourth best fighters to actually survive."  She said, trailing off with a sigh.  

"So this is home base here?"  Jason asked, walking over to a rather pitiful flag, which was basically some cloth tied to a stick.  The wobbly cuts helped make obvious the fact that they were done by Sweetie.  A pad of paper was attached to a tree with a pencil hanging next to it, the apparent capture point of the base.  

"Reminds me of battlefront."  He mumbled, poking at the paper with a hoof.  "So, what's the situation with a base here?  Just start building?"

"I guess."  Evening said, reverting into her usual green pegasus form.  

"Alright, everyone get over here, we'll need to make groups."  Jason said, watching as ponies filtered over.  He counted out the ponies and made five groups of ten, looking around for anyone else.  "What's the population of Ponyville?"

"Two hundred fifty, give or take."  Dash said, wobbling a hoof in the air.

"Ah, so not too shabby on the numbers then."

"Not when you include the fact that the elderly aren't out here, along with young foals and their parents."

"I think you've got yourself a tradition here, Scoots."  Jason said, meeting her end of a hoof bump with his own over his shoulder.

"Is the weather nice up there Scoots?"  Sweetie asked with a giggle, staring up at the orange filly.

"Why don't you see for yourself?"  She replied, reaching a hoof down for the other filly to grab.

"What am I?  A bus?"  Jason asked, feigning annoyance.

"I'll act like I know what a bus is and say yes."  Scoots replied, hanging her saddlebag over Jason's head.  "We can throw stuff for you like this anyway.

"I can just float the snowballs for you to grab you know." 

"Yeah, but you look hilarious with this over your head."  He put a hoof to his forehead, hearing a few snickers from around the area.  

"Okay then, without further ado, let's get you four to spread around the other four groups, and I'll just join this one here."  He said, gesturing for a few ponies to move.  "Which group has the lowest number of unicorns?"  There was some shifting before one group raised their hooves.  "Cool, you're back here.  I'm assuming you'll have enough time to prepare, and we'll need more to make better forts more quickly."

"How many points are there, Scoots?"

"Uuh, six.  Two in the town, two in the woods, and then the bases at either end."

"Less cover in the town, realistically..."  He paused, pointing to another group.  "We'll take the town, you other two take the woods."  He turned, looking at the completely undefended flag.  "Alright, let's get something built before this thing starts!"


____________________________________________________________


Jason ducked behind a corner as a snowball whizzed by, watching a pony fall melodramatically as he was hit in the street with one of the white projectiles.  He twitched a few times, going silent as another volley opened up.  Jason leaned out, throwing a snowball just over the head of one of the enemies, stepping out and floating some more over.  He kept the rain of death upon the ponies, the rest of his team joining in as they noticed the drop off in resistance.  

They had been stalemated with these ponies for most of the game so far, their quick start enough to net them the point that Jason and Dash were attempting to capture.  He wasn't sure what had happened on the other side of town where he'd sent the other team, but the game was evidently still going, so they hadn't captured everything yet.  

Jason hopped a small snow wall, throwing a snowball that plowed right into a stallion's face as it popped up.  Dash threw another that hit the pony trying to save his team member, as resistance quickly disintegrated.  Lyra put a symbol on the pad of paper under the 'A' category, staring at the others for a few seconds.

"They've got B in town and D out there, but it looks like our stuff is still holding."  The mare said, ducking under a stray snowball.

"It better, this team can't win this thing all by its lonesome."  Jason said, pushing a hoof against the wall and making sure it stuck before he started to scale the brick building.  It wasn't a slow task, but it made him an obvious target even as he changed colors to match the brick.

"Jason, what are you planning to do all by yourself up there?"  Dash asked, jokingly tossing him a snowball.

"Oh yeah, hold on."  He said, gliding back down.  "We need to do that thing with Scoots and Sweetie."  He said, kneeling to allow them to get on.  "Just make sure you're on pretty tight."  He paused.  "Hey, where's Rarity?"

"She just got something that told her to rush an order, so she had to stay in the boutique.  She looked like she was about to explode, so I left a little early."  Sweetie replied, watching nervously as Jason stuck a hoof to the wall again.  

"Technically this isn't cheating."  He said, hearing a small chorus of giggles as the fillies seemed to agree.  Jason pulled himself onto the rooftop, the snow just as plentiful on the slightly slanted surface.  His horn glowed as several snowballs formed, floating in an ammo line behind himself for the fillies to grab.

"Hold on, and get ready to fire when I say."  He said, watching them both nod as he started to run.  Jason got to the edge of the roof and jumped, vaulting off the raised edge and spreading his wings as he crossed the gap.  A pony looked up from below, a shocked look on her face as he landed on the other side.  

Several houses later he found himself over the other point in town, hidden behind a smoke emitting chimney as he watched the precessions below.  There wasn't much in the way of a battle, it seemed as if most of the ponies that were on his team had been 'killed' or dragged away, which gave him a perfect opportunity to keep them distracted.  

"Ready?"  He asked the fillies, peeking out at the group again.  They both nodded, snowballs ready in their hooves.  Jason grinned, jumping out from behind cover as the fillies started to pepper the small courtyard with snowballs.  "Waaaaaaaa!"  He yelled, jumping to another rooftop as the team returned fire.  One went down, a teammate already dragging him out of fire before a followup shot could be thrown.  

Scoots got hit with a snowball in her off arm, acting like she'd been shot as she fell off Jason's back and slid to a halt in the snow.  Jason looked back with a smile, running up sideways on a wall that ran perpendicular and jumping off in the opposite direction.  He scooped Scoots up on the way, placing her on his head and feeding her a few snowballs as he pivoted hard and jumped off the roof, feeling snowballs whiz past him as Dash and the rest of the crew showed up and started adding to the chaos.  

Jason felt a snowball hit his side and let himself drop out of the sky the last five or so feet into a bank of snow that must've slid off a roof earlier.  He went way deeper than he expected as his vision went black, cold closing in all around him.  Something about it seemed hilarious though, and he couldn't stop himself from laughing.  The other two quickly took part, the snow bank becoming a white pile of giggles and laughs against the movement and yelling of ponies outside.  

Several minutes later he was pulled out by a leg, and pulled into a welcome meeting with Dash's lips.  "That was probably the coolest thing you could've done in a snowball fight ever.  You're revived by the way, point's clear."  She said, grinning widely as she scraped up some show and made a kind of cube with her hooves.  Jason started laughing again, holding his sides as it started to hurt.  "Hey, what's so funny?"

"There was this show, and one of the characters kept trying to make snowballs.  But he ended up making cubes and pyramids and stuff, and I dunno why I find this so funny hahaha!"

"Well come on, we've still got some more stuff to go."  Dash said with a grin, pulling him away at a gallop.


__________________________________________________________


Another point down, as Jason sighed off on the list and gave a sigh, watching another symbol show up at the exact same time from the other team on a different point.  

"We have more points, but it's like we're making no progress whatsoever."  Jason said, pulling Dash sideways as a snowball whizzed past and he scraped some snow together in his magic to make a wall.  "Take cover!"  He yelled, throwing a snowball towards a pony that he assumed was Morning.  He couldn't really tell in the failing light, although he knew that if he didn't finish soon they would run out of time.  

He watched Lyra create a kind of blob to hide behind, the air becoming full of snow as what Jason assumed was the most heated battle raged.  Galloping sounded nearby as three ponies cleared his wall completely, diving over in a way that at least allowed Jason to take one out with a snowball before he had to dive out of the way of returned fire.  He threw another one back, losing his balance and skidding on the layer of snow as a voice sounded in the distance.

"And that's it!"  Pinkie yelled.  "We're out of time, and light for that matter, so we'll have to call this the end of the first annual awesome snowball fight of total complete epicness!"  She yelled, rather muted through the cool air due to her sheer distance away.  Jason chuckled, getting up and helping another pony upright.  He took the paper off the tree, figuring he would return it to, well, it was probably his anyway.

"Annual!  She said annual Scoots!"  Sweetie yelled, wrapping the other snow covered filly in a hug, before they expectantly looked at their flanks and groaned.  "Are you kidding?  This is like, the one thing we've completely succeeded at!"

"Jason, why didn't we get them?"

He shrugged.  "Think of it this way, maybe you did well because parts of it are like your cutie marks, but not exactly?"

The two paused, as if considering whether to explode at the cryptic comment or not.  "Maybe he's right, maybe we've been too specific Sweetie."  Scoots said.  "Maybe we should just do broad things like this."

"Like twenty questions?"

"Yeah, but without asking the stupid specific questions!"  She yelled, jumping backwards in shock as Rumble's head popped out of the snow next to her.  

"So, I heard my brother's dating your daughter?"  Thunderlane asked, walking up a little nervously.  He threw a belated salute, a bead of sweat making its way down his forehead.  

"Yeah, they look cute together."  Jason said, watching the orange filly counterattack and tackle the other foal, rolling a few times in the snow until they both came to a stop in a mess of giggles.  

"He's a good kid, if you'll take my word for it.  I'm a little surprised that he actually found a filly that loves all the... weird parts about him, but I guess as long as he's happy I am.  He looked pretty freaked out when I said I was leaving, like total breakdown material type stuff, but it looks like he survived."

"Heh, I'm glad.  I was thinking about having dinner with him tonight, mostly because I don't really know the kid and I wanted to if he was dating my daughter and all."

"Why don't you just pop over to my place?  It's the least I could do, repay you for, well, I'm sure there's something.  Least I could do for my commanding officer."

"You were under my command?  I never really saw you there."

"Yeah, well big unit and all.  I ended up getting pinned down pretty hard with my unit in the capital, stuck up in the middle of the part that took forever to capture.  Kinda slummy, really.  Felt like I was going to die of thirst out there."

"Well listen, I'll take you up on dinner as long as you realize that you don't owe me anything, and that I can't really cook anyway."

"Heh, I'm pretty limited outside of a few dishes as well, but I can make do pretty easily."

"Alright."  Jason said, putting away the pad and quickly snapping a picture of the three foals in the snow before Dash went over to round them up.  "Now?"

"I guess, I'm pretty hungry myself.  It's close to five already, so it's not that early to eat."  He said, looking up at the increasingly common clouds and frowning.

"Alright, cool.  It's been a while since I've had food."  Jason said, receiving a strange look from Thunderlane.


____________________________________________________________________


"So, uh, Rumble,"  Dash began, pulling some salad out of a bowl with an oversized fork.  "What's the whole story behind you two meeting?"  She asked.

"Well, uh..."  he paused, watching Scoots try to urge him on.  "Scoots had this pad of paper like the ones we were using today, and then Diamond Tiara stole it and I found her in some trees basically looking like she was... sadder than I've ever seen her before.  Not that I'd ever seen her sad, really, she never showed it off.  Anyway, she asked me if I wanted to help her get it back and I said yes and we did."  He went silent for a while, the crunching of leaves and the panting of Grey Thing under the table the only audible noises.

"How?"  Thunderlane asked.

"We, well, we kinda beat them up."

"But they threw the first punch."  Scoots quickly added.

"Ah."  The dark grey pegasus replied, not looking like he was sure how to react.

"And then what?  It's not like we communicated the days after that."  Dash continued.

"Well, we kinda hung out over the weekend and came up with an idea for a prank for Cherilee, or really a couple."  Scoots said with a chuckle.  "But she ended up setting them all off at once, which was way better and totally worth a week's detention."  Another silence, as Scootaloo chewed up some salad leaves.

"So then like three days in Rumble never showed up, and as it turned out he broke his leg in a hole when he was running,"  Rumble by now had turned beet red, only moving his food around on the plate and mostly trying to act like he didn't exist.  "And I found him in the hospital like that."  She said, turning a little red herself and stammering over a few words.  

"I didn't really know much about romance."  Rumble confessed, staring at a leaf that had found its way off his plate.  "So I checked out a book and was running with it when I hurt myself.  In any case, she actually agreed when I asked her on a date, and after what was probably a little mediocre of a picnic I- well, I kissed her."

Several seconds passed, before Thunderlane burst out laughing, sticking a hoof towards his brother.  "Nice job, guy.  She must really like you, pulling you into her company like that so quickly."

"Yeah, I guess."  Rumble murmured, looking up a little.  "I tried to keep the medical bill low for your sake, Thunderlane."

"Bro, if you broke your leg trying to read about romance to date her, well, it's pretty nerdy actually.  But still, it shows a lot of devotion."

"Yeah, you're right."  Jason agreed.  "I hope you know that I'll be watching you like a hawk, Rumble.  Although as much as it pains me to say, I'm going to give my permission to date her, if that means anything."  Rumble looked up, his eyes wide.  "Really?  I thought you'd say that I was too much of a goofball, or too weak, or not mature enough, or-"

"Honestly, if you want my exact opinion, I'd rather it be you than anyone else I've ever known.  You care for her, I can feel that much.  And you're what?  Fourteen or something around there?"  Rumble nodded.  "Then you have nothing to worry about with being weak or whatever, and you seem ridiculously mature in my opinion.  Plus, I'm a total goofball and I got this awesome specimen of a mare right here.  Of course, if you really screw something up, something that wasn't mutual, heads will roll."

"Uuh, yeah, alright."  Rumble said, his emotions looking completely mixed on whether to be overjoyed or freaked out.

"But congratulations."  Jason said, watching a smile break out on Dash's face as he stuck a hoof across the table to shake Rumble's hoof. 


BANG!!


Jason's arm jerked, knocking over an empty glass as he looked behind himself at the noise.  A few raindrops hit the window, turning into a downpour in a matter of seconds.  

"Shit."  Dash said, getting up and running towards the door.  "I'll be right back."  She spread her wings and took off, the door closing with a slam behind her.

"Rain?"  Jason mumbled, completely baffled.  "I should go."  Jason said.  "Something starting up like this can't be good."

"It's not Everfree."  Thunderlane said, getting up as well as he stared through the window.  "In fact, I've never seen anything just gather like this."  He continued, putting a hoof to the soaked window as wind blew against it.  "We have to stop it though, something like that's just going to build on itself until it runs out of water."

"Yeah, I figured."  Jason said, dropping his camera out of his saddlebag and opening the door, only to get buffeted with a sheet of rain as  noise filled the room and the pair departed.  "I've never seen anything like this!"  Jason yelled, his wings struggling to take off with how wet they and his disguise's fur were already.  Dash and several other ponies were already up in the clouds, trying to dismantle the thunderhead that was flashing overhead.  

"There wasn't a front here, there's not even a reason that something like this would pop up!"

"You think it was planned?  How easy is it to create something like this as a trap?!"

"I'm not sure, I've never tried to weaponize weather like this!"

"Dash!"  Jason yelled, flying up to the soaked mare as she threw a chunk of cloud towards the ground, kicking it into oblivion as lightning discharged from the bottom.  "What is this?!"

"I don't know, but it's not even slowing down!  This isn't just something slapped together, it's well made, like ponies fucking put it together!"

"How could that be true?"  Jason said, trying to rip off some cloud and separate the storm into more manageable chunks as a pegasus was blown past.  "We aren't fighting ponies!"

"I'm just telling it how I see it!"  Dash yelled back, lightning striking nearby and setting her fur upright.  "And things look goddamn bleak on actually fighting this thing!  I think we're going to have to wait it out, worry about flood control and stuff later.  It shouldn't even be rain, climate here should get it magically to snow!"

"Wait, let me try something, get everyone away from the storm!"  Jason yelled, dropping back towards the ground, through what almost seemed to be more water than air as he got close.  He turned, watching ponies move away as he tried to blink his eyes free of water.  Scoots went by with an umbrella on her back, getting under an overhang and leveling a camera.  

"What are you doing Scoots?!  Get back in the goddamned house!"  He yelled, trying to push her back.

"You're going to do something awesome, I want to see it, and then immortalize the moment!"  As she finished her sentence lighting struck the bell tower, sending a metal weathervane spinning past the pair and across the cobblestone street.  

"No, it's not safe!"  He yelled, realizing that he didn't have time to argue.  He erased the wings and added a horn, looking back and forth to make sure no ponies were seriously close.  Jason took a few steps from Scoots and flared his horn, running more power through it than he could ever remember doing outside of traveling backwards in time.  If they couldn't stop the storm, then he would move the whole damn thing to a place where it could play out by itself.  Even if the storm didn't send down a tornado or anything, this town probably wouldn't do seriously well against a flood or anything of this magnitude of rain, hell, nowhere really could survive this without at least a landslide or some floods.

"Jason, what are you doing?!"  Dash yelled, landing next to him as the air seemed to cool, all available energy running into the spell as he shut his eyes, concentrating on nothing other than the storm and the greenish tinge it was taking on.


Bang!!


Dash covered her eyes from what she assumed was the light of Jason's spell, opening her eyes again to see that Jason was gone, a black splotch in his wake.  She stared, mouth agape, looking up at what had become a starry sky.  The rain stopped a couple seconds later, her saggy fur suddenly feeling heavy as adrenaline started to wear off.  

"Dash, where's Jason?"  Scoots asked, putting a hoof to the stained cobblestones.  She couldn't tell if the filly's eyes were wet with tears or rain, but either way she looked pretty freaked out, to say the least.

"I- I don't know."  Dash said, her breath catching as several other pegasi landed.  

"What did he just do?"  Thunderlane inquired, looking around at the sky.

"He- I'm not sure, I need to sleep!"  Dash yelled, trying to wipe her eyes of rainwater.

"Huh?"  

"Look, I- I can figure out if he's still alive that way, it's my best shot."

"Are you okay?"  He asked.

"No- yes, look can I borrow a bed?"


______________________________________________________________


Jason remembered teleporting, the familiar feeling of changing air pressure as he landed, his horn suddenly aflame with pain as he landed upon what he assumed was tall grass.  Tall grass and dry dirt, which only took a moment to get wet in the storm.  All he could tell in his muddled state was that he had teleported, and moved the storm as well.  He was only supposed to move the storm, a specific thing that he'd been trying to practice as he attempted to bridge magic and weather control.

He swept a hoof past his horn, missing the tip and lowering his aim.  All he found was a lower end, the last couple inches missing for some reason or another.  He opened his eyes briefly, more pain going through his head.  His other arm moved subconsciously, a burning pain starting up in tandem.  It was almost as if being aware of the arm had started the pain as his head lolled to one side, ground sliding beneath him as he could feel himself being dragged away.  But his brain was way past caring, waiting a few moments before appearing to shut down completely.


______________________________________________________________


Dash 'woke up' into the dream as it were, looking around feverishly for the stallion that had suddenly disappeared just minutes ago.  She found him easily, the white world yielding only one other object.  Him.  And he wasn't in the best shape either, laying on his side and breathing lightly.  Somehow he'd lost part of his horn, which somehow showed up in the dream even though he appeared to be unconscious in real life.  But as she put her head to his chest and listened to his heartbeat, she could tell it wasn't fatal at least.  

Like that meant anything.  It was consolation at least, but it hardly put her mind at ease.  She laid down next to his form, wrapping her arms around his chest and letting the off-beat tune of their heart beats play out as silent tears slowly wet down his side.  It was hours, she was sure, that she laid there with her head rested on his, what could be miles apart, yet so close as to touch.

Jason shifted, his heart rate increasing as he shifted ever so slightly, one of his eyes opening after a hiss of pain.  He craned his head to one side, his eye focusing on her for only a moment before he let his head drop back to the ground.  

"Sorry."  He said, his breathing still sounding rather pained.  

"I'm just glad you're okay, mostly."

"Yeah."  He replied.  "I'm not in Ponyville anymore, huh?"  he asked, something they both knew he had the answer to.

"No."  She said shortly.  "But whatever you did, the storm's gone."

A slight smile graced his lips, a tear slipping out of one eye and to the floor.  "Horns grow back, right?"

"Anything grows back on you, Jason.  I wouldn't worry too much."  

"Alright, the storm then.  You said that was put together by ponies, you have any ideas who?"

"No, not right now.  I guess it wouldn't need to be ponies, but somepony trained in putting things like this together.  Look, you worry about getting back to Ponyville and I'll worry about figuring out who did it, and why your spell went wrong.  And I get lonely, so you better not take too long."  She finished, poking at his good side.

"Oh yeah, somebody dragged me away before I passed out.  Hopefully they're friendly."  He watched a glint of worry make itself known in Dash's eyes, sighing to himself.  "Sorry I always do this to you."

"Hey, I'd be mad if I didn't know anything.  I'm still a little annoyed, but you moved that storm and I'm sure that sompony was caught in that.  At this point, it seems like it was worth it.  And you didn't know that that was going to happen."

"Heh, I'm glad."  he said, his shoulders beginning to become transparent as the dream began to fade away into oblivion and the feeling of Jason in front of her started to disappear from her mind, as an equal part of loneliness was suddenly imparted.  

Dash's eyes opened to a familiar orange blob and a mixture of grey and black, as she rubbed her eyes and slowly sat up.  "He's hurt, but alive.  He'll live, that's hardly even a scratch for him."  She said, her daughter and the brothers coming into view.

"How can you know that?"  Rumble asked, surprising the other two with his outburst.  

"We share dreams sometimes, it's part of the changeling thing, and it's kinda nice in that respect.  What time is it?"

"Quarter after midnight."  Thunderlane said, I figured out this thing here,"  He said, pointing to the camera.  "And there's something I think you should see..."


________________________________________________________


Jason opened his eye, already too aware of the pain in the other to even attempt opening that one.  He did anyway, getting a glimpse of what was surely things before he closed it again.  So he wasn't blind.  That brought a ridiculous amount of relief flowing back, more than he thought he could ever feel.  Missing an eye meant no more fighting, realistically.  No taking down soul magic guy, and no peace at the end of the road.

But as he left his thoughts and focused on the ceiling, running a hoof through his mane slowly to make sure that indeed, the horn was still there.  He let out a sigh, feeling the jagged edge from before significantly less sharp, and already showing signs of health.

He tried to roll, realizing that a belt was holding him to a rather uncomfortable wooden table.  Jason struggled for a moment, recoiling and trying to curl up as pain lanced through his side and down one of his arms.  It wasn't like the burning pain that he normally felt, it wasn't the kind where certain positions made things easier.  It just hurt like mad whenever it damn pleased, and it made him angry.  

Jason flared his body, completely destroying one part of the leather and rolling onto the ground next to the now burnt table.  He tried to get up, before his leg sent another jet of pain through and he staggered, tipping over onto the dirt floor of the small, semi-damp hut as his brain clouded over with pain.  The door opened in the center of his vision, a few trapped rabbits falling to the floor as the oh so familiar by now looking griffin talons peeked out behind them.

He tried to calm his breathing, tried to push himself upright in a way that didn't make things feel like they were going to hell.  Maybe that thing with Dash had been a dream, and he was in an ironic hell to be tortured.  Somehow, if he was going to hell he felt more entitled to something than a shack with one griffin.  

A shadow passed over him as his attempt to get up faltered and left him back where he was in the first place.  He watched a talon reach down, presumably for his neck, and tried to call upon magic reserves he knew he didn't have either available or the ability to express.

To his surprise, his head was lifted up off the ground and he was propped none to carefully against a table leg with a knife to his throat.  

"Who are you?"  The griffin asked, Jason's eyes going wide not at the idea of death, but the owner of the words.

"Eravel?"
> Running on Empty
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Running on Empty


"And how, might I ask, would you know my name?"  Eravel asked, pushing the knife more heavily into Jason's neck.  

"Because I led Team Green Bean!"  Jason choked out, some blood seeping out around the knife.

Eravel's eyes changed, looking almost apologetic as he pulled the knife away, pushing a palm against Jason's still-furry chest and keeping him immobile.  "Prove it."  He said cooly.

Jason shifted his arm slightly, hoping that he wouldn't cause additional damage to himself as he transformed.  Without further ado he did, membranous wings spreading from his back as the rest of his disguise was shed.  "I don't know if you want information, but I'm pretty sure I'm the only one here that knows I used to be human.  Only changeling, anyway."

"My god, it's really you..."  Eravel said, sagging slightly as he sat down, looking uncomfortable as a little bit of red showed through a bandage that was wrapped around his midsection.  He leaned forwards and put his arms around Jason, making him gasp painfully as pressure was put on whatever injury he actually had.  "I thought you were dead."

"Same here."  Jason replied, taking a few breaths.  "You're hurt."  He continued, all other thoughts struggling to surface through the blanket of pain that had come down upon him.  

"Bullshit, I'm fine.  You're the one that looks like you got run over by a train."  He said, his voice cracking as he struggled around some more words.  "Did- did we win, at least?"

Jason tried to adjust his position against the table, only succeeding in falling on his side with a groan.  "Yeah."  A tear slipped out of his eye, something he'd like to attribute to the relief of finding Eravel but not decisively able to.  "We did."  He felt himself slipping away again, watching Eravel get up to look at him, appearing to worry that Jason might be dying.  Maybe he was, but it hardly felt like the peaceful embrace he'd felt before when he was close to dying.  This was just pain, and the necessity of rest that he couldn't ignore.

He pushed the griffin away with a weak hoof.  "Just need sleep."  He mumbled, eye closing again as his head lolled to one side.


_____________________________________________________________________


Jason shifted, batting a bug off of his nose as another flurry of noticeably lessened pain rushed through his arm.  His eyes lazily opened, one closing back up as some residual pain began to emanate from it.  The thatch roof of the last time he had woken up replaced by what looked like a mud wall, a skinned something roasting over a fire pit.

"I see you're awake again."  Eravel said, walking by with a few sticks, which he tossed into the fire.  

"Yeah, I suppose so."  He slurred, trying to get back into the state of living.

"So, you mind telling me what I missed then?  It's been at least a couple weeks that I've been stuck down here."

"Yeah... how come you didn't seek out Equestria if you were still alive?  I thought, after all this time, that you were dead."  Jason asked, his brain doing about two calculations a minute through the haze.  It almost felt like he was floating half in, half out of reality, his brain partially unable to comprehend the idea that this wasn't some sort of weird dream.  

"Yeah, thanks for looking."  He said cooly, gaze almost feeling like it could cut.  

"Like I wouldn't have!  Ponies did look for you, and I've hardly had the capacity to until recent!"  Eravel sighed, looking into the fire as it flickered light across the room, competing with the light that filtered in through a hastily made window.  He lifted up a wing, pointing to the bandage again with a talon.  

"That spear, when I got hit I thought it'd been alright, that there wasn't much damage.  But as I decided the best thing to do was get the hell away from all those griffins, well, I tore whatever it was the rest of the way somewhere in the middle of my getaway.  So I'm flightless, until your horn heals up."

"Oh, yeah.  Guess that makes sense."  Jason paused, his brain beginning to turn on as any anger ebbed.  "Did you build this?"

"No, after I escaped I glided on an updraft for a while.  Flapping's pretty much what I can't do.  Anyway, that ran out around here and I wandered until I found this village.  They let me stay, apparently they got hit with some sort of small epidemic and a lot of houses are empty anyway."

Jason sat up, grimacing through the much more reasonable pain.  "So what?  Griffin village without occupying soldiers?"

"That's north from here, actually.  Mostly zebras this far south, actually."

"Really?  I guess that explains the mud walls.  Would have thought wood for griffins, like the rest of the towns and such."

"Yeah, not too much wood around here."

"Guess not."  Jason confirmed.  The pair lapsed into silence.  

"I'm glad you're alive, I was worried sick about the lot of you, the rest of the team and all."  He said, looking at the ground as he turned the stick through the blobs of meat.  

"Yeah, same here."  Jason replied.  "Hardly a day went by where I didn't fret about you or Tank or the rest."

"Why?  Were you separated too?"

The stallion sighed.  "I suppose so.  The king, you know how he started acting all diabolical a little over a year ago?"  Eravel nodded.  "Well that was the Nightmare, and if you don't know what that is, it's like a kind of spirit that can possess ponies... or griffins."

Eravel looked slack jawed.  "You're serious?"

"Yeah, we killed the thing and it took me over, blew up the building with Tank and Evening inside and went straight for the elements, which are-"

"I know what those are, they told me a fair amount when I was in Canterlot."

"Okay, well then there was this big battle, and right as the elements hit me, or Nightmare or whatever he threw a spear that clipped Dash's neck, and she ended up bleeding out in my arms."  he said, his voice cracking.  "But I- well, I didn't want to see her die like that.  I ended up going backwards in time to save her, and then going through all manners of extreme care to keep a time loop working.  So she's alive, basically.  In any case, I proposed to her after all this time, and we're going to get married at some point coming up."

Eravel's frown rapidly changed, as he carefully put an arm around Jason's back.  "Well congratulations on that one, guy."

"Yeah, most ponies that know me think it's a good match, I'm pretty sure."  He paused.  "Your meat's starting to burn."  Jason said, watching Eravel clamor for the spit to move it out of the fire with a chuckle of his own.

"And all this?"  The griffin asked, gesturing to Jason's side and horn.  "I know Dash can fight but jeez, you must've really made her angry."

Jason laughed, shifting slightly so that he was in a better position.  "Did I tell you she can do magic now?"

Eravel choked on some water he was drinking, giving a grin as a small drop landed in Jason's eye.  "So you made the second best fighter stronger?  Did you give her a horn or something?"

"No, it just works the same way we share dreams, there's some power there.  Low key stuff, maybe short teleports tops.  But she seems to like occasionally moving things."

"Yeah, you're making me jealous."  Eravel said with a laugh.  

"Well hey, you have the equivalent of fingers.  I'm pretty jealous of that."  Jason replied.

"I guess we'll have to agree to disagree."  Eravel grinned, sitting against the wall opposite from Jason.  "So what happened?  To make you look like that and all?  It sounded like things were going pretty well and all."

"Yeah, I suppose.  We had this big snowball fight with the town, cuz it's winter there now, and I met with my daughter's colt-friend type thingy.  He's like the opposite of what I expected her to go for, but it's not like I understand how women think.  I figured it'd be some heavy metal eighteen year old beatnik stoner hippie."

"Ah yes, I understood some of those words."  

Jason muffled a laugh with his good hoof, trying to regain his resolve.  "Anyway, this was the first day of winter, and this huge storm rolled in, like a giant waterfall downpour.  I've never seen anything like it, not even this one year back home where it rained for a month straight.  This was like, flash flood type stuff."

"So you moved it here?"  Eravel asked, looking out the window with a hint of nervousness.  "That was one hell of a storm last night."

"I know, but it wasn't supposed to move me, and it wasn't supposed to go this fucking far either.  That's beside the fact that I shouldn't have ended up hurt.  I mean, that was on par with time travel, but it wasn't like I would have expected an explosion and whatever happened."

"Any casualties?"

"I don't think so."  Jason said, bending his arm around to look at the source of the pain, a strip that seemed to run down his arm.  "Can you tell me what I'm looking at, Eravel?"  Jason asked, twisting his arm around.  "I really don't want to bend it more than I need to."

"Yea- woah!  What the hell!"  He ran a talon down Jason's arm, out of sight from what Jason was mostly sure he didn't want to look at.  "I'm no expert, but this doesn't look like any wound I've ever seen."  He let go of Jason's arm, setting it gently against the ground.  "You're insane, I hope you know that."

"I'm beginning to become more aware."  Jason said with a chuckle.  "But hey, I'm just on a quest to become more powerful than anything else, no big deal."

"How come?  Why the change?  I was pretty sure you were worried about going mad with power and all."

"You remember what I said about the soul magic guy?"  Jason asked, receiving a nod.  "Well he's still alive, and I know whatever he's got going can't be good.  So I'm going to kill him."

"And I'm guessing you'll need some help, huh?"

"You can't seriously be volunteering, right?"  He asked.

"Why not?  I'm not saying I love fighting, but it's better than nothing, or the lack of any connections I'd have living in Equestria."

"Oh please, I know a bunch of ponies that would love to meet your acquaintance.  With the fact that you have fingers, I bet a certain mare would be particularly pleased."

"Is she interested in some sort of relationship with a griffin?"  Eravel asked, looking confused.  

"No, she'd probably be interested more in the parallels to humans.  She finds humans fascinating, not like a love interest as far as I know."

"Ah, I was going to say."  The griffin trailed off, picking up a hunk of meat.  "You're fine with meat, right?  You'll eat it, I mean?"

"Only if you have enough, I mean, I don't need to eat at all really.  I think it kinda supplements my energy, but digestion goes so slow that it wouldn't keep me alive."

"I think three rabbits is enough that I can afford to give some away."

"Well in that case, of course I'd love to eat some actual red meat."  Jason said, wiping away a bit of saliva with a hoof.  The aroma, it wasn't perfect but it was so much better than stupid vegetable odor.  Or even fish, he was never much of a fish person in the first place, and those Everfree things were nowhere near salmon quality.

"I guess at this point I'm totally sure it's you."  Eravel replied, grabbing a knife with a rather muddled up handle and slicing some meat in half.  "I deboned it earlier, so just watch in case I missed a rib or something."

"Did you ever get things like this earlier?  When you were in the griffin empire?"

"No- well, not fresh like this.  These are from this morning.  Well, the ones that I trapped overnight.  I killed them this morning."

"Ah."  Jason said, impatiently clamoring for one of the meat blobs as Eravel continued to slowly check that the meat was correctly cooked.  "Eravel, I'm getting the illusion of material hunger, come on..."

"Fine."  The griffin said, tossing over a lump that almost seemed bigger in Jason's hooves.  He stared for nearly a second before he bit in, burning his tongue slightly but ignoring the pain as rather tender meat blanketed his borrowed taste buds.  

"Oh, so goord."  He mumbled, forcing more of the food into his mouth.  


_______________________________________________________________


"Twilight, look, do you know what happened yet?"  Dash asked, walking into the library.

The purple mare looked up from a book, scratching her head.  "I think I can fill you in on some of it."  She said, sighing.   "Jason tried to move clouds,"

"Succeeded at moving clouds."

"Whatever, he moved weather.  That's normally impossible for unicorns, but I'm assuming that he also had ambient pegasus magic going on.  So that means that whatever he did, teleportation, wasn't a total shot in the dark.  It seemed almost like he was fairly experienced, to be able to move something this large."

"Okay..."  Dash said, furrowing her brow.  

"So onto why things went wrong.  You said he said that he was in some grassland somewhere?"  Dash nodded, peering at the book that Twilight had set out.  "Well the most we can gather from that is that he's not close, but south of the badlands and southwest of the southern griffin desert is the closest place."

"But that's like... hundreds of miles away!  It's not possible to teleport that far!"

"And so, my hypothesis is as follows.  Nopony's ever really done this, as in moving a storm, minus the princesses, but that was more low key.  Maybe they're just not crazy enough to try it, or maybe there's just never been the need.  In any case, the amount of power to teleport that far should be completely out of Jason's reach, unless he's suddenly become more powerful than Luna and Celestia put together."  The thought scared the librarian a little, she liked Jason and all, but he only ever seemed to seek more power, a little more skill in deployment.  She wasn't sure if she enjoyed the fact that even if his straight magic might not stand up to hers, he was stronger than her in a number of other ways.  Chiefly, the combinations of different forms of magic, something she wouldn't be able to do unless she suddenly became part pegasus.

"And I feel like it's safe to assume he's not..."  Dash filled in, urging Twilight on through her exceedingly slow explanation and partially out of her thoughts.

"So then, he must've received a boost."  She said.  "And from what I've gone through in these books, I think the reason may be that magic could be positively charged, and in that magnitude it was, well, a super magnet."  But then again, he'd only proved the fact that he seemed incorruptible when it came to magic, like he knew exactly who to use it on, and that it only appeared as a means to an end.  Like he wasn't going strictly for more power.  

"You're saying he got struck by lightning."  Dash filled in.

"I'm assuming that's the case, after all you were telling me that he had almost a line of pain running down one side, and his horn would have been the entry point, so it makes sense that it would be damaged."  That brought up another point though, what did he know that she didn't?  She had used to be the point of knowledge related to the princess around here, and although she hadn't lost that connection, she knew there were things she wasn't let in on.  Maybe they were small things, but the sketchy information on the character in Manehattan seemed like an obvious red light.  Maybe she felt a little left out, like after all this time of being in the spotlight she should be included in the natural extension, as selfish as that sounded.

"He- really?"

"Yeah."  She replied, shaking her head to try to clear her thoughts.

"So, he moved really far because of the extra energy?"

"I think so, unless he's secretly a god."

"So safely ruling out that idea, could we use something like this to teleport us back to Earth?"

Twilight opened her mouth to respond, before closing it again.  She flipped a page in her book and sighed, turning back to Dash.  "Magic's never really been done as a group thing, really.  I'm assuming we'd do something more to that extent if we were to do it at all, as opposed to striking him again with plasma."

"So you're not sure?"  The blue mare asked, shifting on her hooves as the same feeling of loneliness surfaced again.

"No." 

"Alright, gotcha.  You want to see something cool then?"

"I...guess?"

Dash chuckled and walked over, pulling out the digital camera and handing it to Twilight.  "See that?  That's Jason at the bottom there, and I assumed that the big white line was either his spell or lightning.  Although lightning seemed like the dumb answer."

"Or both."

"Yeah."  Dash replied, sighing.  "He's always the lucky one."

"I suppose so."  Twilight replied with a chuckle.  "Now get back to Scoots, I still have a lot to do."

"Like what?"

"Find him, for one.  I know a few spells, but those are mostly screwed up by the fact that changeling ambient magic exists to destroy those spells."

"And evidently you can go around that?"

"Yeah, I hope.  Maybe send somepony out to bring him back."

"Somepony?  Oh, whoever shall we send?"  Dash asked sarcastically, watching Twilight shake her head in annoyance.  

"Call it a slip of the tongue, Dash."  The mare said, flipping another page in her book as dash turned to leave, voicing her own chuckle.

"You know, this is probably the best mood I'll be in for the rest of today, considering my next stop's the weather team headquarters."

"Trying to figure out why a ghost storm popped on over all of a sudden?"

"Yeah, I figure if Celestia didn't decide to send me anything yet then my next best bet'll be there."  The blue mare said, taking a few more steps.  She looked over one shoulder as Twilight turned away to look at the bookshelves, concentrating and closing the book behind her back as she closed the door behind herself, grinning ear to ear.


___________________________________________________________


"Mf."  Jason mumbled, putting a hoof to his head.

"What?"

"I dunno, maybe Dash is using magic or something."  He replied.  "Or I could be tired or dizzy from whatever happened."

"What do you remember?"  Eravel asked, watching nervously as Jason pulled himself to his hooves.  "About how you got here."  He added.

"Ow, fuck."  He mumbled, straightening his legs.  "Buncha light, feeling like I was falling, almost.  Then I woke up on the ground in all this pain, and I guess you found me."

"Bloodless wound, whatever it is.  A little from your horn, I guess, but other than that nothing."

Jason ran a hoof along the painful part of his hoof, upwards until he passed his shoulder and followed it up his neck.  "I know what this is."  He breathed.  "Or, at least, I know what it looks like."

"What?"

"It looks like lighting scars, at least in the way it went straight through and to the ground."  Jason muttered.  "But I don't see why, there was no reason for it to strike me."

"Do you realize how easily you could pick up mares if you didn't already have one?"  Eravel asked, a smirk over his face.  "You played this huge role in a war, are a hero, you have all these stories to tell and now you've been struck by lightning.  And then you still have a sense of humor and seem to be at least partially humble."

"Partially, thanks."  Jason replied sarcastically, taking a few shaky steps to stretch his legs.  "But I doubt they'd get over the changeling part, I'm pretty strange to live with as it is."

"I don't think you understand the amount of fervor there was for you two after Canterlot.  I'm talking tons of mares just dying to meet you, some stopped by pretty much every day.  'Ooh, is Jason here?'  'How about now?'  Probably on about how they only wanted to meet you or something.  Like they didn't know the rumors about you two were pretty founded in reason anyway."

"Yeah right, you sound like some phone sex commercial."  Jason replied with a chuckle.  "Just dying to meet you."

"Huh?"

"Never mind."

"Well anyway, the funny part was that some of them brought stallions along, and they looked so jealous I thought they might die.  And then there's the less vocal group of stallions that ogle at everything Dash related, statues, whatever else they made with her involved."

"Like, how many are we talking here?"  Jason asked, becoming genuinely curious.  Not jealous at all, that was for sure.  Nope, definitely not jealous.  Or insecure.

"Not anything mind blowing, but nothing too shabby either.  Canterlot's a big city though, I'm sure it was nothing near a large percentage."

"It's still pretty strange though, I wouldn't think anyone besides Dash would see me for any more than a changeling."  Jason responded, looking at a hoof.

"Yeah, or they thought of you as exactly that.  I mean, you can be anyone, I'm sure some of them were, shall we say, fantasizing."

"This is creeping me out."

"I know, it's more fun that way."  Eravel replied, shifting a talon across his full gut, giving a groan as he shifted slightly.  "Besides, there's not much to do out here anyway.  Not until evening anyway, that's when things get interesting."

"Yeah?"

"The zebras have all of these things they do, usually just campfire stuff and stories."  Eravel said.  "After I told them repeatedly that I wasn't a deity they seemed intent on making my stay nice nonetheless.  It's weird, I would have thought that they would see more griffins down here, but until recently I guess nobody was allowed out."

"You turned down being worshiped?"  Jason asked, smirking.  

"I hardly even looked like the thing, I don't know what they were talking about."  The griffin replied with a chuckle.  "I guess there was a beak and talons and wings, and maybe it was a little alike, but let's be realistic.  It had tiger stripes."

Jason let out a laugh, slowly flopping down onto his good side as the room became silent.  "I miss Dash already."  He mumbled, dragging himself away from a light square that was dangerously close to his flank.  It was already like a million degrees here, he didn't need the sunlight to add to that.

"Yeah, well as soon as your horn heals we can just teleport back, no big deal."

"That's the thing though, I couldn't have possibly teleported this far.  I don't even know my limits when it comes to magic, but I'm sure that's way past one or another."  He said.  "There's no way I'm getting back like that, especially not with a passenger."

"So, what then?  We're stuck out here?"

"No, I'm sure I can find the way back."  Jason said.  "I can find north if there's any sort of iron stuff around here."  He paused.  "Or, at least the north-south line.  I'm not sure which way's north on this planet anyway."

"Funny thought, huh?"

"Yeah, reminds me of how foreign this place really is."  He said with a chuckle.  A wave of fatigue washed over him for seemingly no reason, making him sway slightly.  He could feel love starting to drain out of himself, and even though Eravel was friendly and he could derive some amount of love from that, it wasn't enough.  Jason needed to heal, needed to recover all the love he'd lost from moving that storm.  But all he could think about was how tired he was...


____________________________________________________________


"Hold on Dash!"  Cloudchaser yelled, returning her focus to the mare behind the window of the weather building, luckily a new hire.  

"I don't have any goddamn time to wait, if this is something serious I've got to get on it!"

Cloudchaser ignored her, only shaking her head in annoyance.  "Alright."  She said, turning away from the window.  "She says the storm came from the Cloudsdale factory."

"Why-"

"Wait, there's more."  The other mare interrupted, taking a paper from the mare and handing it to Dash.  "The unofficial report."

Dash gave a nod, quickly refocusing her eyes and scanning past the procedurally written top lines.  

Begin Report:
Upon inspection of Cloudsdale factory this morning, twenty two ponies found dead.  Causes of death: blunt force trauma, seemingly applied by surprise.  Two ponies in intensive care with same injuries, none conscious at the time of this report.  No ponies were known to have made contact with local authorities, and rest of crew is still unaccounted for.  Forensics turned up little evidence, no weapons left on the scene of the crime.  No equipment damaged, sabotage can be removed as a motive.

Assumed organized crime, of organization unknown.  Motives also unknown, although Ponyville cloud strike was also reported, with few seeming results.  General Jason reported to have moved storm to location unknown, although he is also missing as of the time of this report.  No other Ponyville casualties reported.

Orders have been sent to Canterlot in an attempt to pull together a search team, although there has been no response.

"What?"  Dash asked, looking down at the paper as the door creaked and Thunderlane walked inside.  "Read this, tell me if you can make any sense of it."  She said, handing it to the stallion.

He was silent for a few moments, his eyes wandering back and forth across the paper.  "Huh."  He said.

"That's all you got?"

"I'm not sure what you were expecting, I'm not experienced with motives and stuff.  I don't really even know that much about what's going on."

Dash sighed.  "Dammit Jason, why'd you have to leave me alone..."  She muttered to herself, feeling a pang of loneliness flash across her heart.  "I- it seems like all they wanted to do was get a storm over here.  But that seems ridiculous, because why would you attack a weather facility just to make a storm like that?"  

"Like I have an answer for you."  Thunderlane replied with a shrug.  "I didn't join the army because I was a good strategist."

Dash turned to leave, the other stallion tagging along.  "Why did you join?"

"I dunno, I guess I just didn't want to see Equestria get kicked around.  Maybe it was revenge, but I like to think that it was because I wanted to make this country a safer place."


________________________________________________________


Jason let out a snort as he woke up again, looking around lazily and trying to remember when he'd fallen asleep.  Eravel came into the view of his one eye, the other closing quickly.  He slowly got up, smiling slightly at the much lessoned pain in his arm and horn.  

"Awake again?  Planning to sleep off another injury there, are we?"  Eravel asked.  "You know, some of us aren't quite as able to do that."

"I know."  Jason mumbled.  

"Is your eye going to be okay?"  He paused.  "I thought about asking earlier, but it looked like the least you'd want to worry about."

"Oh, yeah I think so."  Jason replied, closing his good eye and turning away from the window as he opened the eye.  He froze, squinting the eye in confusion.  Things were different, he just couldn't pinpoint- he slowly opened his other eye, as color re-integrated itself into the greyscale he'd been looking at.  "Fuck."

"What?"

"I think my eye's gone colorblind."

"Yeah, right, let me see."  He said, grasping at one of Jason's hooves.  

"You can't see what's wrong!  It doesn't work like that!"  He huffed, trying to calm himself.  His heart rate only seemed to increase, unable to escape the grey that seemed to spread everywhere, poisoning his vision with colors that shouldn't be reflecting off of the objects he was looking at.  Jason felt a thump against one of his sides, the world shifting sideways as the ground decided to become the wall.  

A weight hit him across the cheek and his mind cleared a little, a familiar griffin looking down and yelling something.  The yellow of his beak only faded to a light grey, blue in his eyes disappearing likewise.  A cloth covered his faulty eye, wrapping around the back of his head as he was shaken around.  

"Snap out of it!"  Eravel yelled, bringing back a talon to try slapping him again as Jason grabbed it with his magic, an impulse of pain going through his horn and forehead.  He could almost feel the energy flow out of him on such a small spell, unsure whether he should be more worried about the energy loss or the burning pain that kept searing further into his brain as the spell went on.


________________________________________________________


"Jason, wake up, come on!"  Eravel hissed, shaking him around.

The changeling stirred, wings fluttering on his back pointlessly as he lifted his head from the ground, making sure to keep his one eye tightly shut.  That appeared redundant, however, because the rag was still wrapped around his head. "Fuck, what happened?"

"Well, you figured out that one eye is colorblind, and then I think you really weren't expecting that or something, and it almost looked like you went into shock.  Then just as you looked like you were coming out of it you used magic.  There was a fair amount of yelling and then you passed out."  He wiped one side of his face, dragging away at least a tear.  "You can't ever just act predictable, huh?"

"I guess not."  Jason replied slowly, grabbing the rag and pulling it back.  "But if I'm going to get used to this, I may as well do it before we start to make our way back."

"You think we can start tomorrow morning?"  Eravel asked.

"Yeah, what's got you so eager to get back?"  He queried, watching the griffin's face turn a slight shade of pink along with taking on an expression that clearly said 'drop it.'  He shrugged and closed his good eye, opening the other to its view of the universe.  

It wasn't quite as bad the second time, but maybe that was because he was at least partially resigned to that fact.  He could count his blessings that it was only the one and that he wasn't blind, but even though his brain filled in the colors for things most of the time they still seemed a little less vibrant.  Like the colors of Dash's namesake wouldn't ever really look the same.  As ridiculous as that sounded, it seemed to ring true.  He could still just close the stupid eye, but for some stupid reason he couldn't seem to wrap his head around it.  Just about the only thing he could wrap his head around was the warmth of the tears running down his face.

"Jason, say something."  Eravel said, snapping his fingers in front of the stallion's face.  

"I'm not sure what you want me to say."  He replied, studying the different parts of the room systematically, trying to keep his emotions as repressed as he could.  It didn't seem to be working.

"Look, it's just one eye, it's not a total disaster, I mea-"

"That's not it, you don't get it!  I have all this stuff hanging over my head, I don't need something else to add to it!"  He paused, taking a ragged breath.  "I- I miss Dash, my eye's screwed out of color, and to top it all off I'm starving.  To tell you the truth, I haven't been this hungry since before I met Dash, and I'm scared.  I can't get all that much from friendship, at least, not with these stupid injuries, and I feel like I'm on a timer until I starve."

"It can't be that severe, right?"  Eravel asked hopefully, watching one of Jason's arms twitch.

"I don't know, I never know anything."  He mumbled back, flopping onto his side and sending a few more tears into the dirt.  "I just don't want this to be the thing that kills me, some stupid spell.  I couldn't forgive myself for leaving Dash alone."

Eravel didn't respond for a while, the only sound filling the room coming from his much deeper breaths.  "Look, Jason.  I don't know what it's like being you, but the least we can do here is get your mind off of things.  It's not like this is anything imminently pressing, right?"

"No, depending on what I do I've got at least a couple days."

"Do you want to meet the townspeople then?  It's getting pretty late, they do some cool stuff at night.  At the very least they may have some friendly emotions to throw your way."

"Sure, fine."  Jason agreed, accepting the griffin's talon and pulling himself upright.  He decided not to mention the fact that he felt like he was about to fall over from exhaustion.  Or that two days may have been an exaggeration.  Last time he'd been this, well, empty, he'd hardly kept from passing out during a fight from non-fight related causes.  And now he was healing, which was something he had to power and couldn't stop, and he knew that laying around wouldn't be the slow deterioration it usually was.  One night of sleep and he could be in a coma by morning.

When Eravel said that it got dark though, Jason thought as he tried to change the direction his brain was headed in, he was definitely right.  Like, pitch black, no signs of light across the ridiculously flat ground that stretched into the distance.  

"Yo, torch."  The griffin said, handing him the burning object.  

"Thanks."  Jason replied, taking it in his hoof as he stepped outside onto the noticeably still wet ground.  Even after a day of direct sunlight, jeez.  They walked through some grass that was still moist, the droplets shining in the flickering light as the duo changed direction and made their way towards a group of other torches.  That could be dew, but considering the mud it seemed doubtful.  Or not, he'd never really lived in a grassland before.

"What's burning on this torch?"  Jason asked, moving it closer to his face.

"I don't know, it's something the locals make.  They say that it keeps getting in the water, but if they do some things to it, it burns for a long time."

"Like, what color of stuff."

"Oh, it's black.  Kinda like liquid coal or something, it's really weird."

"No way, surface oil?!"  Jason exclaimed, all other thoughts momentarily being pushed to the back of his mind.  "And they've refined it as well?  You know what this means, right?"

"Better torches?"  Eravel asked, happy that Jason had seemed to become less depressed.

"No, well, yes, but if we start pumping this stuff, think of all the lights we could have going!  Think of how long these burn, and how much energy is in such a simple substance!"

"Yeah, but Equestria's all the way... over there."  He said, pointing in what might have been the right direction.

"We have trains, all we need are a few tank cars.  Look, people already did the whole, oil baron thing, I know everything that they did to make money.  So without all of the time it took for people to do this stuff I can just give them the tips in the first place!  But then, what's to stop them from making electric power after that with all of the already abundant energy for lighting?  Nothing!  Then there's just telegraph, and we're up to civil war era stuff!"

Eravel was laughing, and only slapped Jason on the back.  "You're the only one that could possibly get so excited over a black liquid."

"It's an important thing."

"Whatever you say."  He replied, the two of them becoming quiet as townsfolk came into view around the torches, all seemingly happy about one thing or another.  It was definitely strange looking at all the zebras around, with their predictable coloration compared to the pastel and seemingly random colors of ponies.  

"Eravel!"  A zebra said, putting a lot of stress on the a.  

"Hey Zan!"  He replied, grinning as he bumped an elbow against the zebra's.  "How're things going?"

"Very well, I think, with the rain and all.  It was unexpected during such a drought.  Saved many of the crops."

"He doesn't rhyme everything."  Jason mumbled towards Eravel.

"I don't, you are right.  Only the elders rhyme, it shows planning and intelligence.  These are things all elders should have."  Zan replied, his ears apparently better than Jason had thought.  "I hope to become one someday."

"So then what's going on here?"  The changeling asked, pointing to the other zebras.

"Actually, it is customary that a guest introduce himself before we exchange anything more than generalities."

"Alright, well I'm Jason."  He said, watching the zebra's stare.  "I'm a changeling, kinda like a zebra in a way."

"I have never heard of such a race."  Zan replied, squinting his eyes.  "But if you are a friend of Eravel's, then you are a friend of mine."

Eravel leaned over and whispered something into the zebra's ear, his eyes widening before he took off back towards the camp, yelling about something.

"What did you do?!"  Jason yelled at the griffin, taking a step closer to take advantage of his slight height advantage.  "It's hard enough to get anywhere to like me, you don't need to go around making it harder!"

"Oh, don't worry."  Eravel replied with a smirk.  "I'm sure they'll like you after I told them that you brought the rain."

"Wha-"  He started, taking his gaze off of his teammate to stare instead at the mass of black and white moving towards him, slowing to a stop as a few started to bow.  "You fucker."  He mumbled over.  That's not to say he couldn't see where the zebras were coming from, it appeared that they were all Earth Ponies anyway.  Moving weather or using magic, hell, even flying seemed like something only powerful beings would be able to do.  But that wasn't to say he liked being treated like this.

Before he could protest though, he felt gratitude start to enter his system, like the warmth of soup after a cold day.  It felt amazing, from so many beings at a rate that even then still didn't rival Dash.  But it was something, and he was thankful.  Of course, it was still based on a lie.  

"I- I'm not-"  He started to say, his mouth blocked by a hoof from another zebra.

"We know you aren't a god, but that is not why we are so awed."  Jason shot him a confused look.  "You're not of the right caliber, but that doesn't mean you aren't a messenger."

"Uh, alright."

"With the recent rains, we are not without our gains."  He said, pausing.  "We would like to celebrate, for I am sure that you coming here has been fate.  I have yet forgot your name, but I offer mine as Ashertame."

"Jason."  He responded, awkwardly sticking out an elbow as the zebra started the movement, bumping elbows before the elder quickly moved away, along with the other zebras, off towards the middle of the large group of huts.  Zan gestured for them to follow, and they did, joining back up around a rather large fire pit.

"Let us not remain on the fence, for with such an important we shall spare no expense!  All of you, give notice, for we shall be frolicking with the lotus!"  The group cheered, a basket of dried flowers being quickly produced out of a nearby hut by a foal, before he shot Jason and Eravel a grin and ran back to his hut.  "We would like to give you first choice, after all, if is for you that we must rejoice."

"It's really not a big deal."  Jason said, picking out a nice flower and attempting to figure out how he could place it in his mane when he really didn't have much of one.  He looked back at the elder, who seemed shocked.  

"Do you not want to eat it?  Not even just a little bit?"

"Oh, you eat it?"  He shot a look at Eravel, who shrugged in response.  Jason smiled at the elder, taking a large hunk out of a petal with his teeth and chewing it down.  There was a pause as Eravel followed suit, and then the zebras seemed to begin their party, cheering and passing the basket around.  

The flower really wasn't bad, it had a nice sweetness to it that made it just slide down his throat, bite after bite.  Not that it was a large flower, really, but it sure was better than stupid hay.  He let out a small burp, looking over at Eravel again, walking towards the griffin.  He felt good, like his stress was just floating away.  Come to think of it, he felt like he was about to float away, like he had suddenly become light as a feather.  

Jason grinned, joining in with the mass of black and white that almost seemed to blend into colors, his bad eye appearing to ignore its recent injury in favor of the kaleidoscope of shapes and colors that had taken over his vision, sparkling in certain places where the firelight made the colors shine true.  It was a beautiful display, one that seemingly went on into infinity.  And yet, that just seemed like an overlay to the party, a mess of good feelings and happiness that only powered Jason along through the celebration.


__________________________________________________


Jason's eyes fluttered open, the absence of color catching off guard for a moment before he adjusted, rolling over on what felt like a mat.  It was a comfortable mat, one that he wouldn't mind-

His eyes went wide, mind filling with panic and a bit of pain and drowsiness as he shot up from the mat, looking down at the face of a zebra mare, who looked rather happy in her dreams.  Jason couldn't manage any words, the feelings of dread and grief flying through his mind at breakneck speeds while his mouth only opened and closed, legs shaking.  "No no no no no..."  He finally managed.  "There's got to be a good explanation for this."  A tear slid down his face as his voice cracked.  "Fuck, there's just got to be."
> Repercussions
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Repercussions


Jason raked a hoof against his forehead, backing up slowly until he made contact with the wall.  He flattened his back against it and slowly slid into a sitting position, his emotions starting to turn from shock to grief.  How was he supposed to explain this?  He couldn't, because he should've seen this coming.  

A tear slid out of his eye and down to his chin, where it dripped off a moment later.  It only took him a few seconds to break down the rest of the way, his usual resolve broken down by the fact that he knew he'd screwed up.  Maybe this hurt more than Dash's death.  That one was arguably not his fault, but this...  He had eaten the thing of his own will, and there was no fixing something like this.

It hurt, more than any blade ever did.  Not just the idea that he could lose her forever, but the idea that he knew he had to initiate the problem by telling her himself.  Maybe it was a failing in this case, but he couldn't keep this from her.  He couldn't let this slip out in a way that was even worse.  

Jason continued to weep, a small dark spot forming where his tears met in the soil.  He'd never known how serious he'd been when he said he didn't deserve her.  But on some level, he still had hope that none of what he thought had happened, that maybe he was overreacting.  

He froze at that, maybe he was.  The drug might not have made him a raging womanizer, although the fact that he had woken up in that mare's bed...wait.

Jason stood up, checking himself over for any sign of stickiness or a sign that something was amiss.  He tasted his mouth, a definitely foreign taste still hanging around.  His resolve took a hit, a leg beginning to wobble.  Maybe this was his greatest fear.  Losing Dash through one of his own shortcomings.  Like how quickly his need for love had gotten him to eat that flower without a second thought.  

But the mare, she didn't even look like a zebra anymore.  Jason walked over to the still somehow dozing zebra, pulling the blanket off of her head and jumping backwards in shock.  He landed on his back, scrambling back to his feet and taking another look.  Just a zebra again, not-

"Jason!"  He heard, turning to look at the door.  Dash walked inside, looking more angry than he could've imagined.  "What's this I hear about you sleeping with some mare?"  She asked, her mane and coat flickering between color and greyscale a few times.

"No, I didn't-"

"What's that even supposed to mean!?  You know what you did, that even if you didn't go all the way you still had the drive to."  She replied, talking a few steps closer as Jason took the same number backwards.  He shut his eyes, shaking his head quickly.  As he opened them again, the blue mare had disappeared, replaced only by open air.  Jason only felt his breathing increase, he knew everything she'd said was right.

"Why are you even fighting with me here?"  Came Dash's voice again, this time from behind him.  He spun, coming face to face with her.  "You know that after what you've done, with that kind of a breach in trust, well..."  She grinned, pushing her muzzle only an inch from hishis.  "I hope you know that we'll never be together.  That you'll never hear me say that I love you ever again."

Jason felt tears run down his face, collecting in the wetness that was already on his chin.  "No, Dash, I-"  

"And guess what?  It's all your fault.  There's no nightmare in your head, no circumstances to blame.  And the filly that you adopted-"

"No- don't say it!"  He protested, trying to put a hoof to her cheek but watching as it went right through.

"She'll hate you.  She won't be able to even look at you without the distaste of knowing that at one point you were her father."  Jason didn't respond with more than a continuation of his tears, Dash's avatar flickering away and popping up again a few feet backwards.  

"Don't even try to touch me, you know you'll never feel my fur, or for that matter anything from me."  She spat, her anger surfacing again.  "And you know what that includes?  Love.  You think you're hungry now, just wait.  As soon as you confess, and I know you will, you're never getting an ounce from me ever again.  You'll die hungry and alone, and I won't even care."  She flickered away, and Jason let himself collapse onto the ground.  

Dash was right, everything she'd said.  He couldn't get out of this one, and he wasn't sure he'd want to.  She was correct, he'd confess as soon as he had the chance.  And frankly, he felt like he deserved to die for this more than any other thing.  All that trust, the link they shared, and he went and threw it in her face like it had never existed.  

Yet he didn't feel like he was wallowing over himself, he felt more like he was in this state because of what he had destroyed.  He knew he meant a lot to Dash, and he knew that she wouldn't be able to look at him the same way ever again.    She- he didn't know how depressed she may become, with one of the only ponies she thought she could rely on actually the most disloyal of them all.

"What's the matter?"  He heard, jumping slightly as his eyes met the with those of the zebra.

"I- I slept with you and I know that my fiancé is- well, we're not going to get married, I know that much."  He said, punctuating the end of the sentence with several more tears.  

"Did you?"  She asked, throwing Jason off slightly.  "All I remember is that we kissed for a while and you kept calling me Dash."

"Yeah, that's her name."  Jason replied, watching the mare stick a hoof between her legs and pull it back to her face.

"What are you-"

"I'm going to gamble and say we didn't do anything serious."  She said.

"Like hell we didn't, at the very least I kissed someone that wasn't my marefriend.  How is that not serious?"

"I don't see what you're freaking out about, you were drugged.  And you thought I was her anyway, that has to mean something."

"No, just-  I need to get some air."  He said, stomach grumbling as he left.  It wasn't near as bad as last night, but he hardly cared if he fell over and died right now.  Even if it was just a kiss, or whatever had happened, wasn't that the same?  Sure, it probably was worse if he's actually slept with her, but he hadn't felt any sort of relief after she'd said they probably hadn't had sex.  It was the morals of the thing, and either way they weren't good.  About the only thing he could take from this was that he'd called her Dash.  If he'd really thought it was her, then maybe this didn't count as cheating.  But seeing as he didn't remember a thing, the whole night was starting to turn into Schrodinger's cat.

And ironically, he'd come out here to find Eravel and hopefully start back home, to the place where everything would blow up.  He didn't want to stay here, so close to the memory of what he'd done.  That, and he didn't want Dash to worry.  Even if she had been right about everything in the hut.  Jason looked up, his eyes meeting Dash's again across the fire pit, which was full of smoldering ashes.

"So what're you going to do afterwards?  You know, when you run out of things to live for?"  She asked, her eyes feeling like they dug into his skull.  

"I-"  His voice caught.  "I don't know.  Maybe hope that she decides to keep me around."

"Good luck."  Dash replied.  "You know that's a pipe dream anyway."

"So what if it is?!"  He yelled back, causing a couple zebras that were actually out and about to turn and stare at him.

"Well, I'm just warning you that you'll be disappointed.  But, you know, believe all you want."

Anger bubbled up in Jason.  He wanted to tell her how wrong she was, that Dash would accept him no matter what he did.  But he couldn't, and he knew it wouldn't be true.  He dipped his head, looking up a moment later to see her gone, replaced by a slight breeze that cooled the new tears on his face.

He stood in place for a while, eventually getting himself to move again on the search for Eravel.  He tried only three huts before he found the griffin, surrounded by several giggling mares.  Jason rolled his eyes, watching the griffin give a nervous chuckle as he extracted himself from the zebras.  There was a long silence as they stared, before Eravel noticed Jason's face in the dim light and his own expression became worried.  He followed Jason outside without a word, letting the fabric that blocked the door fall back into place.

"Before we get into whatever serious thing, let me just say that I can see what you ponies have going with mares, man."

"You- seriously?"

"Yeah, I guess.  Not many griffins around these parts.  Plus, they're all fuzzy and kinda small.  Ponies are way squishier than a griffin, and-"

"Eravel, we can talk about the ins and outs of mares later, just- what do you remember about anything I did last night?"

The griffin shrugged.  "It was kinda strange, I mean, you got high in like five seconds and then went totally apeshit for a few hours before you brought some mare off into a hut.  It was like you got an express treatment of that thing.  It was supposed to go on for most of the night, but you looked about to crash when I last saw you."

Jason groaned, raking a hoof against his head.  "Fuuuuuck."  

"I'm guessing you woke up with a mare?"  

"Yeah, and I can't remember anything.  Not one detail.  All she remembers is that we kissed, and I'm hoping that that's when I passed out."

Eravel ground his beak back and forth, making a barely audible grating sound as he thought.  "You're not going to keep it a secret, right?"

"No, I would never do that."  Jason replied.

"It's either that or loneliness forever."  Dash said, appearing behind Eravel.  "You know something like this getting out might not blacklist you, but I'm sure you won't find another mare like me."  She said, smiling as Scoots appeared next to her and Jason jumped.

"Hey, you okay?"  Eravel inquired, sticking a talon over Jason's shoulder.  

"Why would you betray mom?"  Scoots asked, her eyes filled with tears.  "I thought you were a good pony."

"I- I didn't mean to do anything!"  He yelled back, knowing that his excuse wasn't completely justified.

Eravel looked over his shoulder, staring at open space.  "What the hell?  There's no one there, Jason!"

"I thought you loved me."  The filly said, continuing to stare at him.  

Jason could hardly take it, between the constant grief that they were providing and the fact that he still had all the usual stuff to worry about.  More tears dripped from his chin, his gaze not breaking from the filly as Eravel shook him around.  "I'm sorry, I'm just so sorry."  He said, letting himself go the rest of the way as Eravel stopped shaking him and put his arms around the stallion, trying instead to comfort the guy in his hallucination as opposed to bringing him out of it.


___________________________________________________________


Dash shook her head, trying to rid it of the tinges of despair and grief that seemed to be popping up in her head.  Not that she really knew why, she was still worried about Jason but she knew he was alright.  She hadn't seen him in her dreams last night, but that was far from an anomaly.  That's not to say it wasn't a little worrying by itself, but she was sure he  was okay.  After all, he was the one that could seem to take just about anything and keep going.

"Dash!  Do you know how to work this?!"  Scoots yelled from downstairs, jarring the mare from her thoughts.  She pulled the toothbrush out of her mouth and spat, sticking it into a holder as she trotted out of the room.  Even if she wasn't all that worried about Jason not coming back, she knew she already missed him a whole lot.  That was for damn sure.

"What is it squirt?"  She asked, messing up the filly's mane as she joined her on the couch.  

"How does Jason get this box thing started?"

"The Xbox?" 

"Sure."

"He uses magic to power it, I think.  I'm not sure how exactly, he told me he would teach me sometime."

"So we can't play it?"  She asked, looking up with a pleading expression.

"No, but if you want we could go into town, get some hot cocoa or something.  You want to do that?"

"I guess."  She replied.  "I'm not sure if I can reach these spring thingies with my wings anyway."  Scoots said, tossing down the controller in distaste.

"Your wings will grow, you don't really have a lot to worry about."

"But what if they don't, Dash?  What if I don't grow?"  she asked, her eyes wide.

Dash giggled, putting an arm around the filly's neck.  "I used to think that I would never grow, cuz I was like you and ended up being smaller than all my friends.  But you know what?  I grew, and all those worries went away.  I'm bigger than most of my friends now, and I have to say I like looking down on them, even if it is just an inch."

"Yeah, but-"

"Stop worrying Scoots.  Like Jason always says, once your childhood is gone, it's gone.  You don't have hardly any worries, a roof over your head and three meals a day.  Enjoy the fact that all you have to do is go to school and look for a cutie mark."

"Yeah, but I'm never going to find my cutie mark if all you do is give me riddles about it."

"Please, if you looked at your entire life you'd find that it's staring you in the face, Scoots.  Plus, if I told you what it was, what fun would that be?"

"But I'd have it, I mean-"

"You're good at your talent, I've seen you excel at it before.  The fact that you don't have an emblem bragging about what it is is hardly something to look forward to.  It doesn't come with power, it hardly comes with any answers.  When I got my cutie mark, I already knew what my talent was.  That's when it appeared."

"Dash, come on!"

"No, you'll know when you get it, because you won't have to look at your flank for confirmation.  You just know."

"Does Jason get that without the mark?  Like, the feeling?"

"I dunno Scoots, but from what Jason tells me he doubts that all humans find their special talent.  There're just too many things to try, I guess."

"Yeah, with all the stuff we've done, it's kinda crazy that we'll actually find them at some point.  I mean, there are only so many things, right?"

"You'll have to narrow it down a little there, Scoots."

"That's fine, I don't have to do anything girly.  I can just, you know, do something awesome like you."

"Whatever you say, kiddo."  Dash replied with a laugh, picking the filly up with her hooves and holding her in the air above her head.  "Now what do you say we get that cocoa?"

"Depends."  Scoots said, trying to make a serious face even though Dash's hooves were tickling her somewhat.  "Candy cane, or no candy cane?"

"Oh, a trick question.  I believe the correct answer is, only if they're of that straw variety?"

Scoots giggled, response enough by itself.


__________________________________________________


"Returning home, I assume?"  Zan asked, meeting up with the griffin and still slightly emotional changeling just outside of the blob of huts.

"Yeah,"  Eravel answered.  "We're going back home.  Or, at least, he is."  He said, pointing to Jason.  "Hopefully I'm arriving at my new home."

"With these measly supplies?"  He asked, looking at the understaffed saddlebags and rabbit hanging from Eravel.  "At least come with me to see the elders, I'm sure they'd me more than happy to give you some extra sustenance."

"Alright."  Eravel said, before Jason could deny the offer.  "They don't like it when you refuse."  He informed the changeling.  They walked for a short while, arriving at a much larger hut.  Walking inside, they could see that it was not only devoid of windows, but it was also surprisingly well lit.

"It is not polite to simply go away, without staying with us for a short foray."

"Yeah, sorry."  Eravel answered, watching Jason's eyes nervously.  He seemed focused on one side of the hut, his fin-mane on end.

"We know you are rushed and we won't delay, so at least take some supplies before you leave, okay?"

Eravel's mouth turned up into a slightly forced grin, still letting his eyes flick over to Jason every so often as a few zebras walked up with some platters of food and drink, along with some rather primitive looking blades.  "Thank you."

The zebra smiled and nodded, turning his attention to the changeling.  "He does not seem completely right, what do you think is the cause of his blight?"

"Shut up!"  Jason yelled, taking a few steps backwards as if to prove the need for concern.

"He's having side effects.  From the lotus, I think."  Eravel replied, quickly packing away some pieces of food.  "He thinks he might have slept with a zebra last night, and now all he can see is his fiancé and kid.  Obviously they're not happy."  The zebras only stared wide eyed back, as if such a thing had never happened before.  "Can you fix it?"

One shook his head.  "Our medicines only serve the things we know, outside of our race progress is quite slow."

"Well shit."  Eravel said shortly, hoisting a few things into Jason's saddlebag and pulling him away from whatever he was looking at.  "Thanks, we'll be sure to visit sometime."  He waved and turned to leave, stopping in his tracks and turning around once more.  "Hey, real quick, if he can figure out a way to get that black stuff out of your streams, would you let ponies over here to do it?"

"I don't-"

"Oh yeah, ponies with wings like him can move clouds around.  Maybe not as many at a time, but-"

"Yes."  The zebra replied quickly, his one word answer apparently not requiring a rhyme.  He nodded his head a few more times to affirm his point.

"Alright, cool.  Talk to you later, I suppose."  He said, pulling Jason towards the door.

"Take care and goodbye, may your lives be long and your bodies stay spry."

Eravel saluted in response, dragging Jason outside with a few attempts at calming words.  "Why are you still helping me?"  Jason asked, turning towards the griffin after he'd lost sight of his hallucinations.  "You know what I did, I'm not trustworthy in the slightest!  Even my own daughter thinks so, and-"

"Jason, they're not real!  That's not Dash, and she will never be Dash!  You've been tormented all day by these- these things!  You probably didn't sleep with that mare, and you couldn't control your actions in the slightest!"

"But you could, couldn't you Jason?"  The sky blue mare asked, trotting up from behind Eravel.  "You chose to take that drug, didn't you?  You knew what drugs from your world could do, and you hardly gave one from here a second thought.  Pathetic."

"No, I-"

"Jason, she's not real, you have to ignore her!"  Eravel yelled, gripping the sides of Jason's head and forcing him to look the griffin in the eye.  "She's not going to leave you, you'll be fine."

"Really?"  He asked, hoping for only the slightest bit of a pick-me-up.

"No, of course not."  Dash objected.  "He's a griffin, they probably have multiple partners.  What's one more to them anyway?"

"Jason, ignore her!"  Eravel yelled.

"But then again, you're not a pony anyway, you're just some scum species inhabiting a body that you don't even deserve, isn't that right?  And now it'a all about love, huh?  So even after all this time, when I thought maybe you were different, you're still exactly the same as the pieces of shit that attacked Canterlot."

"No."  He said, his voice low.  "I am nothing like them!"  Jason yelled, taking a step forward.  

"Oh really?  Pretending to be a messenger of god to get some free love and a babe?"

"I was going to die, Dash!  I didn't have a choice, can't you see?!"  He asked, the rivulets on his face increasing again. 

"Sound's pretty self centered to me."

"I don't give a fuck what you think!  Until I get home, your stupid opinions don't mean a thing!"  He took in a breath.  "Dash will understand, even if I did sleep with that zebra.  She's not shallow like you, she knows me better than anyone!"

"How sure are you of that?"  Dash asked, smirking.

"Sure enough."  He replied, turning away and sprinting off as fast as his injured leg could carry him.

	
	
> "Long time no see."
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


"Long time no see."


"Jason, you don't even know where you're going!"  

"Yes I do, I know Dash is this way!"  He yelled back, watching the injured griffin struggle to catch up.

"Slow the fuck down, there's no outrunning a hallucination!"  Eravel responded, watching the changeling start to slow down.  "And secondly, how hard is it to transform?"

"Not that hard, I guess.  Depends on what I do."

"Would a regular pony work?"  Eravel asked, watching the resulting ball of fire.  Alternis stepped forwards, examining his features.  

"It's been a long time since I've used this disguise."  Jason noted, trying to ignore a shadow that moved behind Eravel.

"So you're sure you know where we're going?"

"Yeah, positive.  It's one of the few things I actually know."

"What do you mean?  You've got the highest security clearance, I don't see how you can't know something."

"You'd be surprised."  Jason responded.  "I don't know why soul magic guy-"

"Can't we just make a name for him?"

They both thought for a moment, before Jason simply said, "Bob."

"Works for me, I guess."

"Okay, so Bob has an interest in me for reasons I can't understand.  I mean, I'm kinda powerful but I'm nothing seriously special."

"Well..."

"Look, I'm no Twilight.  I can't do anything without Dash and everyone else I know, and even then I use everything up pretty easily.  I mean, my only advantage over her is that I could hurl way more stuff at her in a shorter period of time."

"No stamina."

"Yeah, I'm screwed after I run out of love."

"Thus, why you don't use magic to fight.  Tiring, I take it?"

"Yeah, I mean small things have pretty much no effect as far as I can tell, but as soon as I start factoring teleportation and heavy fighting-type magic things become taxing."  He paused, looking quickly to one side.  "Anyway, the problem about all of this is that I've never really been charged up all the way.  Every time I start to feel full and content I have to go use a bunch of magic."

"Hold on, does the amount of love you have correspond to how you feel?  Emotionally I mean?"

"I...guess so.  Yeah, that makes sense.  I was feeling great right before I got sent here, right before the war and really up till the fighting, so yeah, you're right."  He'd never really thought of that one before

Eravel went silent, and they walked in silence for what must have been twenty minutes.  The midmorning sun was really starting to beat down as the village disappeared into the heat-waves of the desert and flat ground extended as far as the eye could see, peppered with occasional trees and some groundhogs.  Not exactly the crowds of grazing animals Jason had expected, but they had just left a zebra village.  

"So how do you get love, exactly?  Forgive me if I'm prying, but it's not like I have any other changelings to ask."

Jason chuckled, stopping short before he shook his head.  "Fuck."  He muttered under his breath.  "It's like- ponies have this kind of field of undirected love that they already put off.  That changes depending on their emotions, but not by all that much.  Anyway, it's a small amount of stuff.  When stuff gets directed towards me, wow, that's still kind of a rush.  I mean, Dash always has something going, but sometimes she really sends a lot my way."

"Like when?  Sex?"

"Not really."  Jason replied, shaking his head.  "Like after, romantic stuff, like that.  But when I proposed was still the biggest stream of love I've ever gotten, and with the broken leg I had at the time and all, it felt like liquid painkillers had just replaced my blood for a few seconds."

"The power of love, right?"  Eravel asked with a grin.

"I guess so."  Jason answered with a chuckle.  "I never thought I'd be budgeting my activities on what ponies thought of me.  Or Dash."  He finished, looking slightly off-put.

"Guy, look, she won't leave you."

"Yeah, I'll believe it when I see it."  Jason replied, looking away.  The heat continued to beam down upon them as more time passed, quickly heating Jason up much more than it seemed to be doing to Eravel.  He felt a drip slide down his forehead, leaving a cool trail as it situated itself at the tip of his muzzle.  That's funny, he didn't particularly remember ever sweating before.

He ran a hoof across his forehead, swiping up the moisture and giving it a quick lick.  Definitely sweat.  Chances are the only reason it was showing up now was because of how much hotter it was around here.  Higher body temperature, less need to sweat.  Especially in Ponyville weather.

Not that he really missed not sweating, but it made him feel more human somehow.  Like he wasn't as far from the way he had been as he had once thought.  But then again, it's not like it really meant much.  Sweat, big deal.  His stomach grumbled again, and Jason looked up at a mountain that was starting to emerge out of the haze in the distance.  

"Is that the Canterhorn?"  Eravel asked.

"No, we have to go through some forest first at the very least.  Probably some of the old Griffin Empire."

"Great."  The griffin responded, turning back to the bleak environment.


____________________________________________________________


"Twilight, how's that location spell going?"  Dash asked, pushing the door to the library open and finding the mare passed out in a pile of books.  "Twilight."  She said, shaking the mare's shoulder as Scoots trotted over with a giggle.

"Mrf."

"You fell asleep Twilight."

"Oh, Dash."  The sleepy mare replied, sitting upright.  "I'm not getting much closer to finding what I need." 

"Well you didn't need to kill yourself over it."

"Whatever you say, Dash.  Anyway, I can find him if you happen to have part of him laying around.  Like a hair or something."  She paused.  "On a hairbrush maybe?"

"You expect me to keep a hairbrush around?"  Dash asked, putting a hoof under her bangs.  "When I can look this fabulous with no help?"  She asked, flipping her mane as much as she could while she batted her eyelashes.

"So, that's a negative?"

"Yeah."  The blue mare replied, getting quiet as she thought.  

"What about his hoof?"  Scoots asked, reminding the other two of her presence, which was at this point in an empty space in one of the higher bookshelves.

"What about it?"  Dash inquired.

"You remember when they, you know, that pony..."

"Yeah."  Her mother responded, grimacing.  "I know I didn't grab that, and I'm assuming nopony else did."  She paused, giving a slight heave.  "Guess I better see, huh?"

"Maybe you'll find something that Luna didn't turn up."

Dash chuckled nervously.  "I kinda doubt it Twilight.  I'm not sure how hard I want to look anyway."

"Yeah, I guess I can understand that one."


_______________________________________________________________


"Jason, how're you feeling?"  Eravel asked, looking over at the tired Changeling.  

"Fine I guess.  Kinda hungry."

"We should stop walking, wait for dusk."  Eravel said, looking at the near vertical sun.  Jason agreed, eyeing the brown dots in the distance that he figured were grazing animals.  It was only now that he could see somewhere, the herd slowly moving away from the path the pair had taken.  Now that they had started up this mountain, he could even see the curvature of the earth.

"Makes you feel pretty small, huh?"  Jason asked, joining Eravel under a tree.

"The space?  Oh yeah."  He laid down, watching Jason scratch away some of the loose topsoil and lay in the small hole he'd created.

"What's that for?"

"It's cooler this way, the lower dirt doesn't heat up."  He grabbed what looked like an animal skin canteen out of his saddlebag, chugging down a fair amount of the water.  "How're we doing on fluids?"

Eravel took a moment to answer, checking himself over first.  "We have two full sacks of water and some tubers, ignoring the two half things we still have."

"Ah."

"So how's the horn?"  The griffin asked.  "I mean, I like walking, but..."

Jason touched his horn with his hoof, sighing at the still chipped end.  "It's going to be a while.  I'm not sure how long, more then that it's gotten a lot better."

"At the result of a whole lot of love."

"Yeah."  Jason replied.  "Fast healing kinda sucks when you can't tell it to stop."

There was a long pause.  "So, got any stories?  We'll be here for a while, so the floor's all yours."

"I'm sure I have one, at least."  Jason said, wiggling around a little in the dust and enjoying the opportunity to rest.  "I mean, pretty much anything through high school just seemed to be a joke between Ben and me.  Not to say we failed it, I got into college and all.  I'll never understand that guy though, he had good grades but he ended up just enlisting in the military.  He called me and told me that he scored crazy high on the IQ test too.  That tests how smart you are, by the way."

"So what'd he do?"

"Well somehow he meandered into the 101st Airborne, which is nicknamed 'the tip of the spear' for a reason, and was eventually deployed in Afghanistan eight or so months ago as part of a recent deployment.  Uh, three hundred twenty...seventh infantry, if I remember correctly.  'No slack' was their nickname, and from what he said they really didn't have much to give.  With him it was trial by fire, things seemed to heat up before they got better, and he called me after the first three weeks, told me that he'd gotten part of his ear knocked off by an old pistol some terrorist had.  He kept saying that maybe he wasn't cracked up to be in the military at all."

"So he left?"

"No, he stayed.  I asked him why he was there, and his reasoning hadn't changed in the slightest.  He didn't say anything for a while besides a thanks, and then he hung up.  Ben called me again a few days later, thanked me again for what I'd said.  I mentioned that it was nothing, but he wouldn't hear it.  Kept repeating that he was sending something out to me, that what I'd said had meant a lot."  Jason paused, taking a breath.

"So what was it?"  Eravel asked, taking a sip of water.

"He sent me a couple pictures, a letter, and his chest armor.  I kinda opened up the package and couldn't figure out what it meant until the pictures and stuff fell out, and then it was pretty clear.  They'd taken an intelligence post and were ambushed just down the road when it had been cleared, from a nest of machine-gunners up a hill.  Ben wrote something about the fact that he'd figured that was the moment when he was going to die, with all the bullets impacting around him.  He ran for cover and a round hit him in the chest.  He couldn't get over how much it hurt when it hadn't even gone inside his body, which was something he repeated several times throughout that letter.  Two other soldiers went down on the road and he dragged one off into the ditch by the side."

"I'm assuming you're not telling me a depressing story, right?"

"Just hold on.  They had a Humvee to provide cover, but as the gunner started to fire this RPG came down off of the hill where all of the terrorists were and it took off the guys head.  Didn't even explode, just a neat little *fwoop* gone.  That's where this story turns around, because Ben decided that he had to get into that Humvee.  He knew it was stupid, a thought that he explicitly stated on that page, but he ran out into the road to get behind the vehicle anyway.  Another round bounced off his side and threw him into the dirt.  This was where the letter got less detailed, like he seemed to remember less of what happened.  Anyway, Ben got inside the gunner's seat of that thing, threw the other guy out, and mashed the buttons that make it fire so hard he said he broke off a fingernail.  Two other guys that he said must've had a couple of extra testicles ran up the hill as Ben fired and cleared the nest like it was nothing."

Eravel didn't respond, only staring blankly back at Jason as if expecting more.

"Those two in the road both survived, although one had his arm amputated."

"Oh."

"Yeah, so I kinda figured after that letter that I wouldn't let myself go to war, because if Ben had trouble I figured I'd be nowhere near ready for it.  Funny how I ended up in the military despite that."

"I guess."

"You're a griffin of many words."

"I don't know what you want me to say."  Eravel paused.  "So, why the armor?"

"The side got shredded and it was probably not good for another run in the field.  But on another note I have Rarity making bulletproof stuff for us.  Or, making bulletproof stuff in general, I'm not sure if she's gotten that far yet."

"Ah."

"You mind if I get some sleep?"  Jason asked, watching Eravel shake his head.  "Good, cuz even though Dash isn't talking to me, I'm still seeing her."

"Jason, what you did,-"

"Look, the fact of the matter is that I kissed another mare, maybe more.  Not someone else, me."  The changeling said with a sigh.

"I hope you know I'm not letting you push that side of the argument.  It's not your fault at all."

"Whatever, Eravel."  Jason responded, closing his eyes and easily falling asleep in the blanket-like heat.  


_______________________________________________________


"Oh my god."  Dash said, motioning for Scoots to stay outside.  There was a slight ruckus and the other crusaders joined her, presumably catching up on whatever had happened in their time apart.  "This place looks like it's about to fall apart."  She breathed, pushing past some boards labeled 'condemned' and looking around the decrepit place as she stumbled down the pile of bricks they had created from before.  She was on the floor now, a cool breeze keeping the place from heating up.  But it was winter anyway, she doubted that would happen.

It was creepy, looking at this place.  Luna had made sure to keep things under wraps, and from what Dash could see so far it was a tomb to the gang members they had killed before along with whatever else happened to remain.  As she walked down the central hallway she couldn't help but notice the stench, covering up her nose with a hoof.  Luna must've missed a few bodies, if she had even decided to take any of them away.  It may well have not been worth the effort, especially if this building was scheduled to be demolished.  She wasn't sure if that was true, but it definitely made sense.  That way things stayed buried. 

But then again, it had been quite a while.  If it were going to be demolished, she would've expected it to be already.  Maybe it was just unimportant, and there wasn't anything here to be found by anypony else.  That made sense at least, all things considered.  Randomly knocking down a building drew some attention as well, and then there would probably be questions, and things would look bad for the princesses at a sensitive time.  Some of the bodies had been moved for sure though, so it wasn't as if things had simply been left.  

At that point it could be more of a warning, keeping any other members away.  That seemed to make sense, seeing as it would be a little hard to set up camp in a place where several of one's brothers had been killed in gory ways.

Dash's hooves clopped against the smooth stone as she exited the hallway, entering into the pitch black room and looking around.  She lit up her forehead after a few tries, casting a flickering white light around the room.  It didn't take her long to find the place where Jason had been tortured, and with a sigh her eyes focused on the round slice of bone and chitin that she was sure was his hoof.  She heaved, throwing up a little in her mouth.  Dash spit it to one side, shaking her head and throwing the bone into her saddlebag.  She turned, more than a little ready to leave.


SLAM!!
 

Her blood froze, keeping the rest of her in place momentarily before she got herself moving again.  She galloped towards the door, grabbing the handle and pulling against it as hard as she could.  It hardly moved.

"Fuck fuck fuck fuck."  She rattled off in quick succession, putting a rear hoof against the wall next to her to try to add some leverage.  

"Long time no see."  Said a low voice, one that she found oddly memorable.  Dash swiveled, keeping her back to the door as she pulled both her knives from her saddlebag and began to tie them around her hooves.  It only took her a few seconds before she looked back up, her mouth free again, and saw him.  He looked no older, not a speck of dust on the guy as light seemed to beam off his smoke covered face.  "Nice to know that one of the alarm spells is still limping along."

"Fuck you."

"Hey, let's be civil about this.  I mean, what's the fun in being angry at each other all the time?"

"It's not supposed to be fun, you tortured Jason for nothing!"

"Tortured is a strong word, what do you say we use tested instead?"

"Whatever.  So you're going to do the same to me?  What the fuck is your game anyway?"  She asked, taking a step back despite the unafraid air she wanted to put off.

"Torture you?  No, I'd have no reason for that.  But tell me, has your coltfriend had anything weird happen to him?"

Dash's eyes widened.  "What did you do to him!?"

"I didn't try to do anything, but I suppose anomalies do occur."  

"What did you do?!?!"  She screamed, anger racing through her body.  "What right do you have, targeting him like that?!"

"I hardly targeted him, he just made himself notable."  Dash didn't respond, only crouching lower to the ground as she stored away his words in the back of her head for later.  

"Like how?"

"Oh, if I told you now what'd be the fun?  He's already helped me, I'll probably afford him the knowledge at some point." Dash couldn't contain herself anymore, she ran off at a sprint, splaying her wings and taking off as she hurtled towards the pony.  The mist in his face cleared, showing what looked like a surprisingly normal and youthful pony's face.  The knife in her hoof went straight through his neck and a low chuckle circulated the room.  As Dash turned, she couldn't find the apparition anymore.  He'd disappeared.

Dash's legs trembled as she landed, and she let herself fall into a sitting position.  

"Fuck.  I wish you were back, Jason."



	
> Worry
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Worry


"Jason.  Come on, it's getting dark."  Eravel said, shaking the changeling gently awake.  "We should get moving."

"Yeah."  He said, slowly pulling himself to his hooves.  "I'm so hungry."

"How bad?"

"We better be close, I guess.  I've not got much left."  Jason stuck a hoof to his horn, feeling that the missing couple inches had mostly come back already, albeit slightly thinner from what he could tell.  Jason sighed, his stomach rumbling slightly.  It was funny that his stomach even reacted, he was pretty sure it wasn't responsible in the slightest for doing things with love.  Maybe just a residual effect, assuming his theory about having ponies as a common ancestor was correct.  

Jason reached to his back hoof and pulled off the metal shoe, ignoring the still slightly disfigured hoof under the protective cover.  A photo slipped off the surface, the one he made sure to always keep on him.  It was of Dash and Scoots, the former on her back on their bed, looking up at the camera.  Scoots was looking up as well as she tried to avoid Dash's tickling hooves, an innocent expression of joy spread across her face.  

A tear hit the laminated surface, sliding off and nestling itself into the soft fur of his chest.  For some reason his mind focused on something Dash had said not too long ago, when she'd scolded him for letting his wings get into such bad shape.  With hardly another thought on the path his thoughts had taken he turned his head around and pushed his nose into the feathers.  They felt just like Dash's, mostly because they had been expressly modeled after the shape of her wings.  

He only felt more homesick and guilty, thinking how sad it was that he'd basically resorted to a photo and his own wings to try to feel Dash's gentle touch, the loving caress that somehow he knew wouldn't ever be the same.  Maybe she'd keep him around, but he knew that there was some sort of trust bond damaged that he just couldn't fix.  Jason uncrossed a few feathers, brushing his chin against the leading edge of his wing as he transferred to the other and shivering from the decidedly welcome tinge of pleasure.  

Eravel had taken to testing his bowstring, notching an arrow and shooting it into the tree they had taken shelter beneath.  He nodded happily and unstrung the apparatus, grabbing his arrow a moment later and wrenching it out of the tree.  He glanced at Jason, looking away sadly a moment later.  Eravel felt sorry for the guy.  He could tell Jason was dying, and even past that he had to deal with all the guilt of something that wasn't really his fault.  And as it was clear to see, Jason didn't do a good job dealing with guilt.

"You ready to get moving?"  Jason asked, his voice cracking as he pulled his muzzle away from his wing.  

"Yeah, you sure?"

"I don't have much of a choice on the matter."

"Fair enough."  Eravel replied, feeling another tinge of sadness towards the changeling.  

"I don't want your pity."  Jason said, slowly pulling his saddlebag onto his back and beginning to walk up the side of the mountain again.

"How can I not feel sorry for you?  You're starving, and there's not much I can do.  All my love is going to healing you, and even then it's not offsetting the loss.  And you won't stop beating yourself up over kissing a mare that said you called her Dash anyway."  Jason didn't respond, only speeding up his pace slightly.  "You know that you've got nothing to worry about with Dash, she'll still love you given the circumstances."

"You don't get it Eravel!"  Jason snapped, turning around.  "I'm going to have to say, at some point, that I may have slept with another mare.  No matter how justified I am, even if by some strange logic she accepts it, I never will!  It's not just some thing, it's constant proof that I'm not worthy of this relationship.  And even if nothing changes with Dash, well, I'm- I don't know what to do about it."

Eravel didn't really know what to say.  He let the air fall silent as they finally crested the ridge and a golden sunset came into view, appearing to melt into the now gentle heat of the grasslands.

"It's pretty."  Jason said simply, surprising Eravel with the fact that he had even spoke at all.

"I'm going to make sure it isn't your last."  The griffin replied, taking a quick gulp of water and staring out over the land.  

"You're a good friend."  Jason said, letting a slight smile grace his lips.

"And wouldn't you say that that looks like the beginning of eastern griffin territory right there?"  He asked, pointing to the beginning of a tree line.

"I hope so."  Jason replied, beginning to walk down the other side of the hill.


_____________________________________________________________


"I got your stupid thing, Twilight."  Dash said with a sigh, carefully pulling Jason's hoof piece out of her saddlebag.

Twilight's face turned a little green.  "Is that-"

"Yes."  She finished, setting it down on the table.  "The chunk of him they cut off."

"Oh my god."  The purple mare continued, struggling to take her eyes off the thing despite her obvious discomfort.

"So can you do it?"  Dash asked, breaking the other mare out of her trance.  

"Yes, I think so."

"Dash, can I come in?"  Scoots asked, poking her head through the door.

"Yeah, just try not to look."  She replied, watching the filly trot in.  Her friends followed her, and she watched with some humor as Scoots leaned against Rumble the same way Dash usually leaned against Jason.  It sort of made her sad, making her remember the fact that as of late she'd had hardly any time for anything romantic, even the normal gestures they shared.  That, in turn, made her miss Jason even more than she already did.  It was amazing how quiet things were without him, and how boring they seemed.  

"Had to borrow a bit from Zecora for this."  Twilight said, lowering her head and flaring her horn as Dash set down the hoof on top of a map.  "When things come to changelings, well, normal magic doesn't seem to really work the same."

"So I've seen."  Dash murmured, watching the crusaders plow their way upstairs despite the complaints of Spike.  "He's never really been Average Joe."

"Who?"

"It's just a thing he says, like the embodiment of normal."

"Ah.  Hey, while I'm prepping this, you know anything about dreams?"

"Yeah, I- well, maybe, I mean it's not like I have much to go on really."

"It's just that Spike kept having these recurring dreams where I was up in the middle of the night as an Alicorn, apparently reading books.  I mean, an Alicorn.  How ridiculous."

"Yeah...  Like how many dreams?"  Dash asked, pretty sure who the suspect was already.

"I'm not sure, a few at least."

"I don't think there's much I can say, I doubt it means much.  When Jason dreams of things, I know that they're coming from his head for a reason, I mean, it's almost always relating to something that's happening, whether it's some fear or homesickness.  By the same logic we've shared happy dreams, in the first of which he saw a Sonic Rainboom."  The blue mare finished, putting a hoof to her chest and grinning, possibly to disguise a giggle at the fact that Jason had taken the precautions to leaving at night to read.   Maybe he was worried about her worrying about him, but she knew by now that he had his reasons, especially with the time she'd died in his recent memory.  It's not like she remembered dying, seeing as it had never happened, but she knew how it felt to hold Jason in her hooves when she'd thought he was dying.

"Alright here goes."  Twilight began, flaring her horn and stopping as Dash pressed her own to the other mare's chest.

"Kids, get down here and keep a movement to a minimum!"  She yelled, watching the four Crusaders run down the stairs at the same speed they had ascended, a tired looking Spike plodding down behind them.  

"This'll find Jason, right?!"  Scoots yelled, looking ridiculously excited.  "I made an art project in class that I want to give to him!"

"What is it Scoots?"  Dash asked, trying to keep the foals distracted while Twilight worked her *ahem* magic.

"I- well, I'm not sure if I can trust you..."  She replied, narrowing her eyes and giggling.

"Come on, you know I can keep a secret."

"Fine, I made him a- well, this'll sound kinda dumb but I saw that wing around his neck and I wanted to make one for him since he loved the one that you gave him so much and I- I dunno, it was kinda stupid."  She sighed, continuing before Dash could say anything.  "So we made one."  The filly said, holding out an orange triangle that was partially covered in glue and twigs.

"It's- pretty nice Scoots."  Dash said, her acting worse than terrible.  

"That?  Really?  That was just the first one, before Rumble said that he knew how to do this kind of thing.  Made me waste an old feather on that first one before he told me, too.  Then Applebloom made little reinforced holes in them and made them into necklaces, and Sweetie, well, she actually did a good job with the straps.  It went so well we made an extra for you, mom."

"What?"  Dash asked, taken aback.  That clever filly, she'd done a good job keeping the surprise until the last second.

"Yeah, lean over."  Scoots said, watching Dash's head dip as she slid on the necklace.  "You like it?"

"I love it."  She said, going silent for a moment before she broke into laughter.

"Dash!  Quiet down!"  Twilight growled, silencing the mare.

"What's so funny?"  Scootaloo asked, her eyes growing a little foggy.

"I just- when I gave Jason something like this I couldn't figure out why he liked it so much.  And now here I am, probably feeling the same way.  Come here."  She said, wrapping the filly in a hug.  "The rest of you, come on, join in."  Dash continued with a giggle, watching the other three tentatively add to the blob of ponies.  

"Done."  Twilight stated, taking a few steps back to stare at the map.  "See anything?"

"What am I supposed to be looking for?"  Dash asked, looking around the map.

"Is this something?"  Spike inquired, pointing with a claw at a tiny ball of green flame that was a few feet off the side of the table.

"Yeah, you could say that."  Twilight responded, her eyes going wide.  "If I would've known he was that far away, I would've gotten a bigger map."

"You're saying he's so far away he's not even on the map?!"  Dash yelled, getting slightly angry.  She'd figured she'd use this and find Jason in the morning tomorrow in a way that didn't involve traveling a billion miles.  "Well, fuck!  Why can't anything just go smoothly for once?!"

"Dash, the foals."  Twilight warned.

"So what?  Nopony understands these words anyway."

"With the way you're throwing them around, it won't take long before that isn't the case."

"Well what do you want me to say?  Oh, ponyfeathers, my fiancé is a million miles away and Pinkie has the wedding scheduled for the day after tomorrow.  And I miss him, I'm worried as all get out, and because of the fact that I haven't had contact with him in days, I don't know what the situation even is!"  She watched the flame splutter and go out, before lighting again.  

Twilight checked the spell, making sure that it was still running correctly.  "That can't be good."


________________________________________________________


*piff*

Eravel's ears perked and he turned, jumping slightly at the fact that Jason had appeared to have passed out behind him.  The griffin ran backwards a few steps, grabbing the changeling by one of his hooves and putting him onto his back.  He moved over to a now more common tree, setting him down against the trunk.

"I'm not going to get back."  Jason mumbled, his eyes staying closed as a tear slipped out of one.  "I'm not getting there like this."

"Jason, it's fine, I'll just-"

"No."  He said, opening his eyes.  "I'm not getting back this way.  But by wing, we might stand a chance."

"But how're you going to fly when you can hardly even walk?"

"I'm not going to, you are."  Jason replied, concentrating and shrinking himself down to the less-than-foal size he had been when Dash had carried him weeks ago.  "I'm not going to stay conscious after I heal you, there's no way.  Ponyville is that direction exactly."  Jason said, drawing a long line in the dirt with a hoof.  "Don't miss."

Without another word his horn glowed, sending a large twinge of pain into his forehead.  But he was mostly healed already, it wasn't anything he couldn't handle.  And at this point, he needed to fight through it no matter what.  He watched Eravel's limp wing snap into place as he reconnected the tendon and healed up the rest of the wound, blowing a joking kiss towards the griffin as fatigue caught up with him and the world went black.

Eravel hardly wasted a moment, immediately throwing one of his saddlebags to the ground and clearing out a side.  He picked up Jason with a talon, trying not to make an 'ooh' noise at the cute little foal before he placed him in the pocket, using it like a hammock.  Jason somehow fit, slightly amazing Eravel even though he had expected such an outcome.  His hooves peeked over the rim as well as his forehead, bringing the overall cute level so high that Eravel had to look away.  

Concentration was important at this point, more than anything.  The griffin spread his wings, aiming in the direction that Jason had pointed and taking off.  It felt amazing, the previously stagnant air blowing against his face in the act of something he hadn't been able to do for weeks.  He'd have to get something to repay Jason for this when he woke up.

There was just something he missed about the way he could look down on the foliage below, the way it quickly moved beneath his reach.  He rose towards a low cloud, realizing at the last second that Jason wouldn't go through.  He pulled up hard, his previously uninjured wing the one giving protest.  He wondered if Jason's healing went beyond just a simple repair, that at this point his wing was superior to what it had been before.  That, or it was back to its optimal health and the other had atrophied.  Either way, the healed one felt great.

He'd never been healed before, besides with a few small cuts, and the whole experience of, well, this, was just strange.  His wing had gone from mostly immobile to fully functioning in under a minute, with no soreness or hint that he'd ever been hurt.  There was a scar, but that was hardly something to worry about.  The ragged one Jason had in a diagonal between his eyes was something that could stand to be healed.  But then again, Jason couldn't work that magic on himself.  If he could, well, they wouldn't really have much left to fight by now.

Thoughts of Ponyville soon overtook Eravel's mind, with doubts and fears that could easily be founded in reason.  While he was here to reassure Jason that Dash would still be there for him, Jason wasn't exactly able to tell Eravel that he would fit in at the present time.  The mere fact that his name was in the news didn't seem like enough of a buffer when ponies could more easily see the fact that he was a griffin.  All things considered, if he saw a griffin coming towards him right now he would probably attack it without a second thought.  Of course, he wouldn't kill the thing without a good reason considering the war had ended, but the idea remained the same.

Jason seemed to find his place though, and if he could chances are Eravel would be able to.  Canterlot wasn't very easy, he was mostly around guards that were told, somewhat grudgingly, to protect him.  He'd had intelligence, and he'd been useful that way.  But now he didn't have a buffer, and that worried him more than everything else.  Eravel wasn't the close combat fighter that the others were, hell, he had trouble fighting even some of the most incompetent griffins with knives like Jason and Dash did.  That pair seemed to fight like it was as second nature as knowing how to breathe.  Kinda like him shooting an arrow.

He supposed the point of his thoughts led up to one point: if the civilians decided they didn't like him enough to wipe him out, well, by the time he put on brass knuckles and took one down there would just be another, and then another.  He couldn't survive those odds, even if he had his bow at the ready.  

Eravel shook his head, speeding up his flying past anything he had attempted before.  It wasn't as if he hadn't thought about trying to find a top speed before, it was more due to the fact that he wasn't able to attempt it.  When he'd lived under griffin rule, the calorie usage was astronomical and worthless, and while he was fighting it was pretty far back in his mind.  Maybe that was what allowed him to push all other thoughts out of his mind and focus on the joys of flying, the only other circulating thought about the fact that pushing himself now was what he needed to do.  He had all the food he needed for a flight like this, especially with the cool air floating over what he was sure were griffin lands keeping him fresh. 


_______________________________________________________


"Twilight, get it back!"  Dash yelled, watching the mare hurriedly flip through a notebook.  

"I don't know what happened Dash, the spell's still running and everything, I mean-"

"So what?  Was that not Jason at all?!"

"No, I'm sure it was, unless this isn't his hoof."  The purple mare went silent for a few moments, flipping another page.  "Get Zecora, hopefully she'll be able to make sense of some of this."

"I- fuck."  Dash replied dumbly, turning and spreading her wings.  She jumped into the air and shot through an open window, staying close to the rooftops as she sped through the center of town.

It was dark and beginning to snow again, to make up for the lack of snowpack that they had lost when the rain had made it all melt away.  Of course, the ponies in the weather factory were still MIA, which gave Dash a sinking feeling that they had been related to one of the enemies they still had to fight.  That was only one of the reasons why she was so nervous, and her heart so loud in her chest right now.  If that light flickering meant what she could assume, and realistically was the easiest thing to assume for that matter, Jason wasn't doing too well.

Dash couldn't say why exactly, or what had happened to lead up to the problem.  But whatever link she usually felt was gone, replaced by an eerie emptiness and a lack of the feeling of power that came with the love swirling around her, ready for use.  Whether that was to her advantage or Jason's though, it didn't matter.  She just knew that she missed the feeling.

Dash's eyes widened, as a thought went through her head.  She'd done a few spells before, that proved that Jason was still alive.  She screwed up her face in concentration before stopping.  But if he needed the love, well, she could end up taking some pivotal amount. 

The mare felt a tear slide down her face, covered up by the snow melting across her cheeks.  She didn't like being so worried all the time about things she shouldn't even have to deal with.  She was twenty three goddamn years old, and she felt like she was aging past thirty.  She wouldn't even mind if Jason were by her side, at this point the griffin war seemed like a cakewalk compared to how torn up she felt right now.  

It became obvious all too quickly that she'd bottled up her feelings too long, ignored possibilities that she knew she should entertain, and that just made things all the worse for her in the present.  She loved him, and everything in the world only seemed to exist to throw that in her face like it was some kind of lame joke.  Almost as if, despite their power, they could do nothing to keep their own relationship functional.  

She just wanted Jason back, cuddling with her and stroking her back and telling her that it would be alright, that she was overreacting.  Dash wanted to feel his wings around her again, that warmth that dwarfed her own and made her feel that special kind of safe.  

And all the universe wanted for her was to make things the opposite.  She was cold and numb, her mane was full of snow, and she was more worried than she could ever remember feeling.  Jason was out there somewhere, and she couldn't do a thing to help him.  She couldn't curl up in his recovery bed, or talk to him or even look at him.  He could be dead, and given how hard it had been for Twilight to find a living changeling, it would be impossible to find a dead one.

Dash crashed through Zecora's door, bringing a hoof to her eyes to wipe away the tears.  She didn't know why she even cared, her red eyes were a give away by themselves.

"Just- no rhymes."  The blue mare began, taking a ragged breath.  "I need you to help with something."

Zecora opened her mouth to respond before closing it again and grabbing a small sack.  She gestured for Dash to leave before leaving herself, closing and locking the door hurriedly before she took off at a gallop towards Ponyville.  

Even through her muddled thoughts, Dash had to admire how fast of a mare Zecora really was.  It would put most normal ponies to shame, honestly, and Dash knew she wasn't going full speed given the muddy ground.  The time it took to get back was hardly longer than the time it had taken to find her way there, and as soon as they ran through the library door Twilight began briefing Zecora on what had happened.  The zebra walked over and stared at the map, watching a green flame pop up again slightly closer to the table.

"It's been doing that for a while, I'm not sure what it means!"  Twilight said quickly, watching the zebra calmly stroke her chin.

"This is quite an abnormal target to pick, are you sure that this is not soul magic?"

"What?"  Dash breathed, her eyes going wide.  "How do you know about that?"  Twilight only stared at the two of them, completely out of the loop.

"I do not claim to be an expert, but you can learn about these things with surprisingly little effort."  She watched the flame flash again a few moments later, blowing it out immediately and watching a blue orb spin for a moment before dissipating as well.  "I've never seen a spell like this, but of one thing I am sure not to miss.  There is something off about this soul, but I doubt that is what's taking the toll."

"You've got to be kidding..."  Dash muttered, her contact with the soul magic pony coming back into her head.  He'd said he went after Jason for a reason, but she'd just passed that off as some stupid excuse.  Then again, this also made her wonder what exactly he'd been after.  Jason was a self-evident changeling, and she knew he had a strong will, but that was about all she could pin about him that would merit torture in the slightest.  It hardly seemed like a good enough reason for all the effort.

"What do you mean, soul magic?"  Twilight questioned, staring at Dash.

Dash wiped her nose, trying to pull herself back together.  "It's, uh-"

"Yeah, I'm sure it's classified.  That figures."

"Christ, Twilight, it doesn't matter!"  Dash rebutted, unintentionally taking some of her emotions out on the mare.

"Well maybe it does to me!  I used to know everything, and now I'm kept in the dark about all of it!"  She responded.

"You're Celestia's student, have you ever thought of the idea that maybe, just maybe, that only applies to things about her?!  This involves Jason, Luna and me, and anypony else we decide to get involved.  If that's not you, then tough shit!"

The duo stared at each other for a time, as Dash watched Twilight visibly grind her teeth together.  "The reason,"  The lavender mare began, "That I feel entitled to such a thing, is that the elements usually have to stop the things that pop up."

"Yeah well hey,"  Dash responded, throwing her hooves into the air and making the bystanders take a step back in surprise.  "the world doesn't revolve around the stupid elements.  They have their uses, but they couldn't have fought that goddamn war, and they definitely couldn't have brought me back to life or moved that storm.  They aren't a magical cure-all like everypony seems to think."

"You- they-"  She cut herself off, looking at the map and then back again.

"This isn't a contest, Twilight, if you want to know things you better be damn sure that you want to put your life on the line to find out enough to tie up loose ends!"  Dash finished, narrowing her eyes.  "And I'll tell you, going out there with no training, no resolve to kill somepony when you need to, well, it's pretty much the same as a death sentence."  She paused, taking a breath.  "So if you want to know more, you better think hard about whether or not you'll be able to help out.  Information isn't free."

Twilight didn't respond, only staring at Dash for a moment longer before looking away.  Dash walked back to the map, staring momentarily at the space where the green flame had been showing up.    

"I do not mean to pry, but have you used that potion of, shall we say-"

"No, not yet."  Dash responded, her cheeks turning a deep red despite all of the other things that should be keeping her anything from embarrassed.  "I was- I dunno, waiting for a special occasion."

"It's not something to use on a whim, for I hope you know how it will affect him.  Not to say it is terrible, more to say that it has its-"

"Yeah, I read the directions.  I'll be honest, I'm kinda jealous that you have the recipes for all of these things."  Dash responded, making sure to cut the zebra off before things got too descriptive.  "But considering Pinkie seems adamant about making sure I'm married in two days, well, I dunno.  Maybe then."  The mare's neck suddenly twisted as the green flame showed itself again, almost a foot closer to the table than it had been before it flickered and went out again.  "He's moving."

"Who is?"  Applejack asked, walking into the library and staring at the ponies.  "Applebloom, we should get goin' pretty soon here, ya don't want ta be too tired for school tomorrah."

"But sis,"  She whined, "Twilight's got 'er magic mumbo jumbo goin' tryin' ta find Jason, and Ah want to see what happens to 'im."

"Ahm sure we can-"

"He's still moving!"  Scoots exclaimed, looking straight up at the place where the flame was appearing.  "And fast, too!"

Zecora scrunched up her face in confusion, something not missed on Dash as she felt hope flood her body.  He was still coming back, and she would get to see him again.  He wasn't dead in the middle of a desert, only- wait.

"I thought you said it looked like he was passed out?"

Zecora only nodded.  "He is not moving under his own volition, I believe he may have formed some sort of coalition."

"So... he might not even be coming back.  Something could have just grabbed him."  Dash stated, her face going white.  "What if that's what happened?  I mean, he was all alone, and Chrysalis could have figured something out about where he was, and I know he can fight but he doesn't have any of his guns or knives, and he can't take on an army by himself, I mean-"

"Sugarcube, yer worrying yerself ragged."  Applejack said, wrapping the mare in a hug.  "He's gonna come back, he'd never stay away from a mare he loves so much for long."

Dash didn't respond, only burying her muzzle into Applejack's shoulder and letting out a sob.  "Nothing ever goes our way, it's just one bad thing after another!"  She wheezed, feeling Scoots hug around her hind leg.

"Mah granddad used to say somethin' about that, after a buncha years a floods and bad weather, before Ponyville was big enough ta have its own weather team.  He always said that things ain't gettin' better 'till everythin' seems at its worst.  Ya can ask Granny, she was with him the year things finally turned fer the better."  Applejack paused.  "Ah know it's no war, but surely things're gonna go well for ya.  Think about after this is over.  Ya'll have just front-loaded yer bad luck, I'm sure it'll come around."

"Thanks."  Dash sniffled.  

"Just think a what comes later.  Ya'll have a family to plan, somethin' that honestly makes me a little jealous.  But mark mah words, Ah'm sayin' you'll be over and done with, at the rate you're goin', 'fore we even hit spring.  Ah don't know if you're tryin' this Estrous or another, but ah bet you'll be done with time ta spare."

"You willing to stand by that one?"  Dash asked with an ever so slight smile, removing herself partially from the hug.

"Course.  Ah'd be stammerin' over mah words if ah was lyin'."

"Yeah.  I guess so."  Dash replied, allowing a gentle chuckle into her overly crackly voice.

"At this rate he'll be here soon."  Rumble said, watching the flame appear again on the corner of the map.  "What's the scale on this thing?"

"An inch to ten miles, give or take a little."  Twilight answered, looking rather tired.

"Well this is nowhere near Dash speed, but it's not too shabby either."  Rumble said, pointing to the dot as it appeared again and marking its position.  They all waited another forty or so seconds before it appeared again, about a third of an inch farther along.

Dash's heart fluttered, and she turned to move towards the door before deciding against it.  "How long?"  She asked simply.

"We got a ruler?"  Rumble asked, taking one from Twilight and holding it up to the map.  "Thirty four minutes."

"How'd you do that so fast?"  Twilight asked, slightly taken aback.  Rumble giggled, looking up at her.  "I like math."

"Thirty four minutes..."  Dash breathed, unsure exactly how to feel.  "I want to meet him halfway."  She said, turning before Applejack stopped her.  

"And what if that's not somethin' friendly?"

"I don't care!"

"Yeah, but ya can't take on a dragon or somethin' worse, 'specially if Jason couldn't."

Dash only stared for a moment before she went silent, walking over to one side of the library and curling up into a ball.  She just wanted the next thirty whatever minutes to go by, and then she would just walk over and meet Jason, and they would go back to her house and she wouldn't have to be lonely like this.  That was what would happen, she wouldn't let herself think otherwise.  The mare began to doze off, a combination of her exhaustion and previous sleeplessness catching up with her.  


_________________________________________________


"Dash, four minutes!"  Somepony yelled, jostling her around.  How had she even fallen asleep there?  It hardly felt like she'd done any more than close her eyes.  

"Looking like it's coming in from the south-southeast, if I'm right."  Rumble yelled as Dash got up, grabbing Scoots and tossing the foal onto her back as she ran towards the door.  Applejack got there with her sister first, running outside with Dash in pursuit.  The snow was falling faster now, an inch of fluff covering the frozen ground as the four ponies blazed down the street, their eyes plastered to the sky.  

Dash skidded to a stop, setting Scoots down without another word as she crouched and launched herself into the air.  She saw somepony in the distance, and she aimed to figure out her enemy as soon as she could.  

She felt her blood nearly boil as the flyer flew through a bream of light, letting her know that it was indeed not of a friendly race.  Dash only sped up, running into the side of the griffin and sending them both far off course.  He spread his wings in an attempt to slow down, flailing an arm back to check something in a saddlebag.  He pulled out a ball of fur and pushed it into his chest as the duo crashed into the ground, the snow and still soft dirt below them helping to break their falls.

"You-  What have you done with him?"  Dash asked cooly, watching the griffin roll over wide eyed.  

"Why did you attack me?"  He asked, smearing a blob of mud from his face and bringing with it a sudden wave of recognition in Dash's mind.  Distress overtook her mind, as she watched him uncross his arms and present a pony, smaller than a foal, towards her.

"I think,"  He panted, "That we should get to a hospital."

"What happened?"  Dash asked, immediately taking Jason and cuddling him in her arms.  

"He- He ran out of love."  Eravel replied, pulling himself to his feet.  

"I'm glad you're alive."  Dash said, before she tucked Jason to her chest with a hoof and took off as fast as three legs could carry her.  Eravel followed behind without a second thought, his eyes meeting with Applejack's as they moved.  The farm pony only squared her hooves, pushing Scootaloo behind her with a hoof.  Dash stopped momentarily, staring between the two.  "He's friendly.  It's a long story,"  She looked at Eravel, "For more than one of us, but we just need to get along long enough for us to get him to the hospital."

Applejack nodded, watching the griffin pass before she herself began to move.  "Where's Jason?  I thought you said we were getting him to the hospital."

"Yeah, we are."  Dash replied, holding Jason out slightly from her chest and watching Applejack furrow her brow.  "He's finally back home."  A tear streaked out of her eye at the thought, but from her others it had one crucial difference.  She wasn't sad when she shed it.  She was still worried, but she had something tangible to worry about.  And that small victory, no pun intended, was enough to change her mood for the better.

	





	
> Confessions
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Confessions


A few doctors were huddled around Jason, talking quietly back and forth as they worked over the tiny body.  A beeping started up, his heartbeat slow but regular.  Dash had trouble throwing out the feelings of nervousness, despite the fact that Jason was back and alive.  

A doctor walked over as the group started to break up, tapping at her shoulder to get her attention.  "He's going to survive, there's no doubt about that.  But it appears that he's basically passed out from a mixture of exhaustion and hunger.  Best thing we can do is wait, because I'm sure he'll wake up at some point."  The pony sighed.  "I'm still a little fuzzy on what you'll need to do and how long it'll take to give him enough love, but I'm sure he'll be up and around before you know it."

"Thanks."  Dash said thankfully, wiping at her eyes.

The doctor nodded, leaving the room and letting them alone.

"So Sugarcube, ya care ta explain?"  Applejack asked, turning her view from the tiny pony tucked into a hospital bed to the much larger griffin standing in the opposite corner of the room.

"Which part?"

"Well, Ah guess ya could start with him, and then we can move on ta why Jason decided bein' adorable was a good way to pass out."

Dash stared at Applejack for a moment, watching a doctor walk into the room and bend over Jason with a needle.  "Bloodwork."  He explained.  "Not sure if we'll find out much, but we still have some more of his around here."

"Is it like pony blood?"

"Yeah, mostly.  It glows in the dark, which I think relates to the amount of love on hoof."

Dash widened her eyes, her mouth partway open.  "Okay..."

The doctor shrugged.  "I'm just telling you what I've seen."

"Yeah, I believe you."  She said, letting out a dry chuckle as he left.  Dash bent over Jason and put an ear to his mouth, checking that he was still breathing as some water dripped from her mane onto his face.  "That griffin right there is Eravel."

"Yeah, that sounds kinda familiar."

"It should, because he's a member of Team Green Bean.  Chances are he was in the paper at some point."  

"This is Eravel?!"  Applebloom asked, running over to the griffin and looking at him from different angles.  "Ah've never seen a male griffin before, have you sis?"

"No, ah don't reckon Ah have."  She replied, taking a few steps over.  "But if you fought with them, you're okay in my book."  Applejack finished, sticking out a hoof for him to shake.  Eravel picked up on it after a second, gripping the hoof and gently moving it.  Dash watched them let go, Applejack's eyes not leaving the griffin for a few seconds afterwards.

"Something caught your eye there Applejack?  Handsome guy?"

"No, Ah mean Ah- that's not why Ah-"  Dash broke into laughter before she could finish, making the other mare turn a little red.  

"Anyway,"  The blue mare continued, sobering rather quickly.  "What happened out there?"

"I- He'd want to tell you, not me."  Eravel replied.  "Long story short, with part of his horn blown off and all of the burns, he didn't get enough energy from me to actually replace the love he was using."

"What burns?"  Scoots asked, watching Eravel as he came over and gently put Jason on his other side.  There were a symphony of gasps at the scars, ones that emulated lightning in appearance as they drew a straight line from his leg to his shoulder, disappearing into his neck.

"My god."  Dash said, staring at the off-color markings and lowering a hoof to touch at one gently.  "Was he in a lot of pain?"  She asked, her voice sounding pained.  She'd just assumed that he'd shake off the horn thing, she hadn't seen any of this...  And now she felt like a jerk for not worrying more.

"Well he was when I picked him up from the field, and for most of the day after that.  Did a lot of sleeping, especially because one of his eyes hurt.  Anyway, he scared me this one time because he ended up freaking out over it.  It felt better so he opened it, and all he could see were hues of grey, apparently.  He freaked out about you,"  He said, pointing to Dash,  "Told me later that he was worried that you'd never really have the same colors to you.  But then I tried getting him to pull it together, and he tried to use magic.  That wasn't pretty at all."

"I should've gotten there sooner."  Dash said, a tear dripping from her face onto Jason's.  "I can't ever keep him from getting hurt.  I'm just so useless when it comes to keeping him safe."

"Sugar-"

"Just listen, Applejack.  He's got magic and all, and I know that I won't be as powerful as he is.  But we made a pact, back in Canterlot.  Watch each other's back or die trying, and I have to say in that light I just look like a joke."

"Yer too hard on yerself, ya both are."  Applejack replied.  "Yer doin' the best with what ya got, and honestly yer doin' a better job than any mare would, given the circumstances."  She went silent, watching Applebloom yawn at the end of the bed.  "Ah hate to say it, but Ah'd better get goin'.  This little filly needs her sleep and all that.  But just holler and Ah'll run straight down, free a charge."

"Thanks, Applejack, you're a good friend."  Dash said, wiping her eyes.  "I'm glad I have you."

The farm pony nodded, gesturing to Applebloom to follow as she left with a wave.  Eravel snored, his head tilted backwards in one of the chairs.  Dash let a small smile grace her lips, almost impatiently hopping back over to the bed.  She jumped on, careful not to jar Jason too much.  If he needed love, well, she would provide it.  It was the least she could do, letting him run out like this.  That made her feel like an ass, letting the guy that her heart was bound to end up starving because she hadn't expressed her affection, or had just not focused on doing so.

Dash pulled herself under the covers, extracting Jason's limp form and setting him on her lap.  Scoots lazily stared at her from the end of the bed, before she laid her head down and closed her eyes, presumably too sleepy to stay awake any longer.

Her mother's mouth pulled up into a slight smile as she leaned back against the headboard, tracing her hoof over the lightning scar again.  Her eyes started to follow the scars that crisscrossed his hooves and legs, skipping along until she reached the cheek that was showing up at her.  Dash sighed, stroking her hoof lightly against the little wings in the way Jason liked.  It wasn't the kind full of sexual tension and lust, just the gentle caress of the edge of her hoof against his primaries.  She wasn't sure if she expected him to move, to push himself against her touch like he usually did, a subconscious thing that she had quickly come to enjoy, like a cat pushing its head against somepony's hoof.

But he remained just as lifeless and as unresponsive as before, and that seemed to cut deeper than any knife could.  She knew that he was going to be alright, but she couldn't help feeling just as lonely as she had been.  Jason was in this body, and she knew he couldn't hear her voice.  Yet she decided to speak anyway.

"I'm not usually one for these kinds of talks, and even if you can hear me I'm not sure if it'll make any difference.  I'm not sure why you didn't have more love, Jason.  I love you more than life itself, and I can't even remember to do just that.  It was my fault that you went hungry, and I'm lucky you didn't die.  I don't-  I don't know what I'd do without you Jason, I can hardly handle the loneliness after just a few days."  Dash's breath caught, as a tear fell and hit Jason's face.

"I miss having a shoulder to cry on, the reassurance and security that being with you provides.  I- I wish we didn't have to deal with anything, that we'd have time to relax and be romantic.  I miss flirting all the time, and I miss having the time to just cuddle.  Our marriage- I want it to happen, but at the same time I know it'll never be perfect.  We've got too much still hanging over our heads, and the worry is starting to wear me down."  She finished with a sob, knowing that Jason wouldn't make an attempt to console her.  

"I just- I want to lead a life where we can do the things couples are supposed to do, maybe some stuff that would actually let me show how much I love you.  But I can't, I never can."  She took in a ragged breath, blinking tears out of her eyes.  "We never have the time, and I'm always stuck focusing on the things that I need to do, rather than the things that I want.  We shouldn't have to schedule ourselves out, squeeze in times where we can actually cuddle or make love to one another.  Things are almost robotic, Jason, and it's just not fair.  I can handle the fighting, and maybe a lack of time.  But I feel like I'm drifting away from you, and I'm scared."  Her voice squeaked on the final syllable, and she quickly found herself out of any position to talk.  

She wasn't exactly sure how much time went by as she quietly sobbed, still petting Jason's increasingly wet wing.  Eventually she lowered herself from a sitting position, pulling Jason to her chest more closely and yanking the covers over the both of them with her mouth.  "A-Applejack said something to me today, that we would be done before spring even came around.  I know you can't hear me, but the idea of us having a foal, it just- I want that to happen more than anything else.  I just wish we didn't have to plan it around things, that you-"  Dash stopped talking, her voice cutting out again.  She was sure of what she wanted most.  Something simple, predictable.  She wanted her life back, her relationship.  But most of all, she wanted the freedom to do with her life what she wanted, without all of the obstacles in the way.

With that revelation Dash felt herself calm down slightly, hugging Jason a little tighter as she dozed off.


_____________________________________________________


Dash woke up early the next morning, looking straight at Jason's emotionless, still sleeping face.  Dash nuzzled his cheek, the fur on fur contact making her smile ever so slightly.  Dash was out of bed a few seconds later, pushing Scoots awake and realizing that she didn't need to do the same for Eravel, who was already staring at her.  

The blue mare scooped up Jason, pulling an IV from his arm and cradling him as she walked towards the door.  His heartbeat was faster, and she knew that he was well on his way to waking back up.  She'd bring him back to the house, let him wake up in comfort and away from a hospital room, and then-  well, she wasn't really sure.  Probably lose her shit or something, after all this stress.  

Dash looked back to see that the other two were following her, as a doctor quickly began to protest her actions.  "You can't move him yet, he'll need fluids, and-"

"Look, lady.  He's going to wake up soon, and I don't want him to be stuck in this hospital when that happens."

"Just- bring him back if he's not up in six hours, alright?  No more."

"On my honor."  Dash replied with a salute, her humor never really getting into the remark.

"Is he up and at 'em yet, Sugarcube?"  Applejack asked, pushing through the doors.

"No, I think he will be soon though."  Dash replied, rocking him slightly in the crook of her arm.

"Do ya ever tell him ta do that just because?"  She asked.  "Ah mean, he's mighty cute like that, and Ah'm not sayin' it gets ya goin' or nothin' but he is- Ah mean, Ah could just tickle at his belly for hours, he's such a cute little thing."  She paused.  "Heh."

"I've never really told him to do this, no."  Dash began.  "But you're right, it makes me think about what a foal would look like when we have one, and even though I know it's him I just- it makes it easier to think of better times, I guess.  And yeah, he's really soft."  Applejack giggled, reaching out to stroke a hoof down the side of Jason's neck.  

Jason shifted but didn't wake, letting out a quiet noise that sounded like a coo.  Both of the mares drew back slightly, looking at each other before they burst out laughing, immediately going back to tickling Jason.  He didn't move again, and the pair quickly began to lose interest in specifically doing just that.

"So, Ah came by to visit but if ya'll are plannin' on goin' back ah'll just let ya be.  Hey, Ah'd like to have dinner with ya again soon, ah think it'd be fun."  She said, giving Dash a teasing poke to the chest.

"Yeah, sure."  Dash replied, turning around in time with the other mare to find that Scoots had become completely distracted and Eravel stuck in a rather confused looking stare at the older mare. 

"You have a weird relationship."  He said, reaching behind a couch and pulling Scoots out.  

"Hey, I'll take what I can get.  Not a lot of time for us to do the whole romance thing."

"Yeah, I guess that kinda makes me feel a little sorry for you."  He said, walking through the door and holding it for Dash.  She gave him a nod of thanks, fully splaying her wings and looking in the direction of her house, in the opposite side of the sky from the midmorning sun.  Dash transferred Jason to her back and slowly took off, wary of the fact that holding Jason put her a little bit off balance.  

Eravel rose behind her along with Scoots, as they sped off into the air.  Dash changed direction as a cloud floated into her way, dipping downwards and suddenly missing the feeling of Jason against her fur.  She pulled up, looking back in a panic as he almost seemed to float by with the momentum she had passed off, before beginning to drop like a rock.

Naturally, he chose that exact time to wake up, his eyes opening towards Dash as the wind buffeted into his back.  He sluggishly looked behind himself, before his legs started to flail and his tiny wings only flapped uselessly.   The cyan mare took a mighty flap and sped up, swooping down next to Jason and wrapping him in her hooves.  His head was already lolling back again, and she really couldn't blame him for passing out in a situation like this.  

Dash sighed, feeling guilty as she gripped him tighter and swooped out of her dive.  She didn't really care for being slow anymore, and sped past Eravel on the way to her front yard.  Her destination began to approach and she took a few backwards flaps, landing on her side to protect the cargo.  It was the least she could do, after failing that miserably.  And also considering the fact that holding Jason in her hooves like this meant she only had two to land on.

She transferred him to the crook of her arm, his fur cold after the vast amount of windchill in the cold winter air.  Dash sighed, walking into the door and holding it open for Eravel, who went to land in front of the door and disappeared through her front yard.  "Can't you walk on clouds?  I mean, I knew a griffin that could..."

"I dunno, I've never tried.  Actually, I have, but maybe there's a technique to it, or something with magic..."

"Yeah, I guess.  Could just be ambient stuff floating around."  Dash said, slightly confused.  But then again, she'd never really seen any of the other griffins attempt the same thing...  This was like the first time where she wanted to actually talk to Gilda again.

"I'm just going to fly and look around then, if that's okay with you."  Eravel said, allowing a little more of his head to show.  "Not much point being around here if I'm just going to have to hover.  But give me a holler if he wakes up, I'll be kinda close, somewhere or other."

Dash nodded, giggling at the appearance of his head sinking back into the cloud like some sort of groundhog would into a burrow.  She turned and walked inside, an upbeat looking Scoots racing past her and up the stairs.  Dash flapped her wings and rose upwards to the landing, softly touching down and walking into her bedroom.  She pulled back the covers and tucked Jason in, leaning down to gently kiss him on the forehead.

Dash climbed into the bed with him, putting an arm around his chest as she did so.  Scoots joined in, hugging around Jason's back.  

"Is this how big a foal would be?"  She asked, stroking a hoof through Jason's mane.

"Probably a little smaller, Scoots."  Dash replied.

"Well I can see why you'd want to have somepony like this around."  She murmured happily, nuzzling up against one of his ears.  "Was I ever this cute?"

"At some point, yeah."  The other mare said, smiling.  "But then again, I don't think it's possible for a foal to be anything less than a ball of cute."

Scootaloo's stomach rumbled, and she hopped out of the bed.  "You want anything?"  She asked, turning around once she got to the door.

"You don't have to stick around you know, Scoots.  Feel free to go out and meet somepony if you want."

"It's fine, I'm just-"  She yawned.  "Well, I might sleep a little bit, actually."  The filly replied, turning and leaving the room.  "Tell him I love him when he wakes up!"  She yelled back, a giggle coming along with the words.  

Dash smiled, propping Jason against her hoof and letting out a tiny huff of impatience as a few minutes went by.  She watched one of his eyes flutter open, before the other followed suit.

"Jason."  She said, her smile growing as she moved to hug him.  "It's about time, you damned bastard."  He only pushed at her weakly and she relented, figuring that she was squishing the air out of him.  Her expression changed completely as she only retreated to find a face full of tears.  "What..."  She said, tipping the end of the expression into a question.

That only caused a tear to slide down his face as he rolled off her arm and down to the bed below, misjudging his landing and slipping to the ground.  Before Dash could jump down to help and ask what the hell had gotten into him, he spoke up.  "I don't deserve your love, I'm sorry."  He said, arduously getting to his feet as several tears hit the floor.  

"What are you on about, Jason?!"  She yelled, slight anger overtaking her previous concern.  

"I- I didn't mean to-"  

"What?"

"I didn't mean to cheat on you, Dash, it just-"

"What?!"  She screamed.  "You're joking, there's no way you'd do that!"  She yelled, throwing all other thoughts into the back of her mind.  

"That's not it, I was high at-"

Dash stammered over her words, wings twitching in her rage.  "You little shit!"

"Dash, I didn't get to-"

"What?!  Explain?!  How the fuck do you think you get the right to explain yourself out of this?!"

"I- I-"  He paused, coughing as his throat contracted painfully.  "At least let me-"

"No!"  She yelled, jumping from the bed and sending a hoof towards his face.  He didn't have the time nor the energy to avoid it, and stars exploded across his vision as he splattered against the wall.  "What do you think this all is?!   Some sort of joke?!"

"No, just let me-"

"Get out."  She said, her voice low.  "Get the fuck out!"  Dash followed up, as an aura wrapped around one of his legs and jerked him to one side.   One second he was inside, and the next he was out the window, spinning like mad as he tried to extend his wings to balance.  He hardly got into a glide before his chest hit a cloud, knocking the air out of him and making him wheeze.  

Dash was probably right, her doing this like she was.  He probably deserved it anyway, and on the highest level it was his decision anyway.  He just wished it didn't hurt so much.

Jason didn't care if anyone saw him, sobbing like there was no tomorrow.  In reality, there wasn't.  He didn't want to live in a world without Dash, and he knew that in a way he couldn't.  If only he had gotten the whole story out, then maybe he would still be up there, in her hooves, giving her the hug he'd been dreaming of for days.  


____________________________________________________


Dash retreated into a corner, ignoring her instinct to go over to the window and check that she hadn't killed Jason.  There was no way she had, that wasn't- he wouldn't- 

She heard a quiet sob, and her anger flared again.  She only balled herself up, biting her tail to keep from grinding her teeth together.  All this time and what?  He'd just go off and sleep with some other mare?  She'd been worried sick for him, about how she hadn't loved him enough, about how their relationship didn't give her the time to actually be romantic.  Now she realized that she'd trusted him too much, that the fact of the matter lay in the fact that she had been played from the beginning.

All that talk of children, had it just been one big lie to keep her from noticing their slow drift apart?  That seemed to add up, only fueling the frustrated tears that slid along her muzzle.  

"Mom, what-"  Scoots started, before the open door slammed in her face, sealing over as a white haze covered the area.  The last thing she wanted right now was to tell her own daughter that Jason hadn't even cared about her.  If that had been true, had Scoots just been a tool for him, a way for him to get extra love and a little of her favor?

"Mom, let me in!"  Scoots yelled, her voice cracking as soft thuds sounded through the wall.  

The logical part of Dash's mind intervened, pointing out the fact that Jason hadn't even accepted a hug from her after he'd woken up.  He'd denied everything she sent his way in the beginning, and then had proceeded to try to tell her everything.  Why would he even give anything away if he had cheated on her?  Dash sure wouldn't have, well, maybe to Jason, but-

Wouldn't that mean he'd actually screwed up?  That he was trying to make things right in the only way he knew how? 

At the same time though, this would probably be the easiest way to get over something, rather than finding out about it later.  It just seemed too well timed.  So then why hadn't she let him explain?  If what he had to say was a forgone conclusion, what had been the aversion to her hearing it out?

That was a stupid question, of course, as if she had been thinking of logic when she'd flung her fiancé out the window.  She felt sorry for him, everything he'd gone through while he was away, and right now she hated herself for it.  Dash still wanted his hooves around her, telling her that it would be alright.  She couldn't replace the pony in her mind with anypony else, he was just the one that fit, and knew her well enough to understand her fears.

Dash let out a much louder sob than the others, her angry manner shifting to total confusion.  She only knew a few things here, that Jason had cheated and that he had been high at the time.  But even now, even after what he'd confessed to, she didn't want him to be out of her life.  

And yet, if he had gone and done what he was acting like he had, well, she just couldn't keep him around.  Trust was such a big part of their lives, and Jason seemed to know that so well that he'd specifically attacked that.

She wanted to rationalize this, to say that he'd been forced to have the drug, or that he'd been forced into cheating.  Something, anything to make him innocent.  But his argument, even if she had cut him off, it had no hint of acting as if he'd not been under his own control the whole time.

Dash spread out onto her side, bawling her eyes out as she pretended she could melt away into the floor.  Scoots was still yelling something that she didn't care to make out, the thunder in her head blocking everything besides her treasonous thoughts.

Maybe he'd been affected by the lightning, that maybe it'd altered his brain and something had changed.  Maybe he'd forgotten everything about her and everything they'd done together, and only remembered days later.

An orange filly flew through the window, landing in front of Dash in an equal state of grief.  "Mom, talk to me."

"I-"  She couldn't seem to formulate words, sentences forming for brief moments in her head before they flew out again, completely forgotten.  

"What?!"  Scoots asked, tears flowing freely from her eyes.

"Jason- I- he- said he cheated on me."

Scoots took a step back, staring at Dash with wide eyes.  "Why?!"  

She wished she knew the answer.  "I don't know."

"Well, did you ask?"

"What am I supposed to do?!  That's how he started his confession, and then told me that he was high at the time!"  Dash replied angrily, as Scoots pulled at her with a hoof.

"Please, just try.  Don't act like this is the end of things already, there's no way he'd do that."  The filly protested, making Dash break down into another round of sobs.  She took a few minutes to compose herself, before stepping onto the bed.  Scoots followed a moment later, confusion on her face.

"If- if I'm going to ask him anything, I want the time to know what I'm going to say."  She said, laying on her side and closing her eyes.  "And- and the time to know I can handle going near him without ripping part of him off.  I- I kicked him into a wall, Scoots, and he's hardly bigger than a newborn foal, with about half the energy.  I don't know what's even wrong with me, I was so quick to just accept what he was saying and do that, I just-"  She broke off into a long bout of crying, her chest tight with a combination of guilt and resilient anger.

Scootaloo only hugged her mother tighter, watching her breathing eventually even out.  They laid there for what felt like hours, although the thoughts screaming around in her head gave her more than enough to occupy her time with.  Scoots never moved either, her eyes focused on the pillow as they slowly leaked tears.  

Dash let her eyes fall shut for a few minutes, trying to calm her mind.  She got up feeling better, under the impression that she could confront Jason without trying to kill him.  Dash walked over to the window, her heart giving a painful beat as she watched snow fall.  She felt terrible, and all she could hope was that after whatever went down she could go on living with whatever they might still have.


__________________________________________________


The first snowflake stuck into Jason's fur, leaving a cool spot as it melted and another one replaced it.  It felt nice, complimenting his well deserved lack of love with the cool feeling that almost resembled the feeling he got when he used it.  He chewed off a piece of cloud, trying to fill his mouth with some moisture and keep from being so dry.  His eyes had no problem pulling moisture out of nowhere, so why did the rest of him?

Time went by, the small rivulets of water going down one cheek and into the cloud near his ear never breaking.  Sometimes they grew stronger as Jason remembered a particular thing or another, memories that were only that.  Something that no one would understand but Dash, the only other codebreaker for the analogies currently estranged from him.  And he couldn't assign an ounce of blame to her, not that he'd even want to if he could.  

Yet as he grew colder he never began to shiver, only accepting the cold as what would hopefully be a good alternative to the horrible pain in his gut.  He didn't want to starve to death, and yet he didn't want to stay alive only to feel such a pain until he died of that cause.  But even now, he didn't want to let himself die, he wanted to keep fighting until his eventual end, even if he didn't have much of a reason to.  He wasn't usually the one to give up, or to accept things as they were, but he'd never wanted more than now to just fall asleep and stay away from the pain. 

More snow collected, part of him beginning to go numb.  For the first time he felt the sting of cold, only allowing it to sink in further.  Jason let his eyes close, a drop of melted snow water sliding past his eye and joining with a tear that had just been squeezed out.  

Someone wiped the layer of snow from his side as a blanket fell over him, hooves gently tucking it around his body.

"If you've earned one thing in all this time of saving me and watching my back,"  Dash said, stepping around to his front with tears in her eyes.  "It's the right to explain yourself."


	 
> "Yes!!  I told you!"
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


"Yes!!  I told you!"


Jason felt his eyes sting, more moisture appearing as he looked up at the mare he'd never really expected to see so soon.  

"Well, whenever you're ready."  Dash said, urging him on and looking like she was trying to keep herself from breaking down into tears as well.

"I-"  He stopped, his brain stumbling over the words.  "When I woke up I-I- everything hurt, I couldn't hardly move.  I started to heal, but just when things were starting to get better I j-just kept feeling hungrier.  I k-knew after the first day that I wasn't going to s-s-survive at the rate I was g-going.  H-hunger isn't like it is for you.  After a-a while it gets so all-consuming, it starts to take over my b-brain.  On top of that I kinda freaked out when I realized that I still can't see color out of my l-left eye.  Anyway, Eravel b-brought me into the center of a zebra village and toted up the fact that I had moved the rainc-c-clouds.  I got this rush of love, a-and it f-felt like-  I can't really explain it, but like a meal after not eating f-for days."

Dash nodded, gesturing for him to continue.  

"T-they wanted to celebrate, and they started h-handing out all of these lotus flowers.  I knew there was something up with them, but I d-didn't know what it was, and I didn't w-want t-to piss off the zebras keeping me alive by not eating it."  Jason stopped, letting out a rather loud sob as he tried to continue.  "And that's where things went downhill."  He choked out, another tear hitting the cloud with a soft 'plat'.  

Dash only stared, her eyes staying red and puffy.  

"I don't remember much after that, besides a bunch of colors in the following few seconds.  The next morning I woke up in bed with a zebra, and I couldn't- I didn't r-remember anything t-t-that I should have.  I asked her what had happened, and she only remembered that we had k-kissed."  Jason choked back a sob, his eyes watching Eravel in the distance as the griffin approached.  "And that I kept calling her Dash, over and over again."

"Really?"  Dash asked, sounding slightly hopeful as Jason nodded his head.  

"I was- oh jeez, he told you?"  Eravel asked, hovering next to the cloud.

"Eravel, just go away."  Jason murmured, the griffin taking on a confused look.

"Look, when this happened I told you that I wouldn't let your relationship end this way, and I won't.  Dash, do you want to know what happened after the night he doesn't remember?"

"Do you know if he cheated?"  She asked.

"No, but I know he was telling the truth about not knowing.  He said that the Zebra, well..."

"Checked herself."  Jason filled in.

"Yeah, that.  And by that logic, he didn't.  But even after all that, the lack of much of a reason to think that he hadn't done any of that, a combination of the drug and his guilt didn't really bode well."

"What happened?"  Another inquiry came, her face suddenly full of worry.

"I-"  Jason began, his voice cracking as he sat up and pulled the blanket around himself tighter.  "I k-kept seeing you and Scoots, and I knew that everything you said about me was right, about the cheating, about the fact that you might not accept what had happened and that I'd die from it, one way or another."

"Honestly, he was a wreck."  Eravel said, rising another foot or two.  "He couldn't think straight, and every time he looked up there was something there to torture the crap out of him."  Eravel paused.  "Look, I can't say I know how you feel about this, or what you think about what he did.  But at least take it from me that if he'd have denied that lotus, I don't think he'd still be alive.  And besides that, all he's done has been to kick himself about it day in and day out."  Eravel sighed, raking a talon through his feathers in annoyance.  

"Look,"  The griffin continued, "What I'm trying to say is, for something that he had so little control over, he's more than sorry enough to make up for it.  Any punishment you think he might need, trust me, he's already done to himself."

Dash was silent for a few moments.  "I- I'm not sure what to say,"  She began, tears dripping down her cheeks.  "Jason, I-"  she paused.  "Jason..."  She said, waving a hoof in front of his face.  He still wasn't accepting her love, and whereas before it served to make her feel that she was somewhat in the right, it now just made her worried.  

Eravel was right, and she knew he was telling the truth.  Dash knew that to at least a small extent she would've reacted the way she did no matter what Jason said.  She just felt angry at the world for all it had thrown at the two of them, and besides Twilight last night, Jason had been the second target.  But she knew that in a way she couldn't always blame herself for these things.  She could forgive Jason and everything would smooth out.  Trust, it seemed, was turning into a commodity that could only become increasingly rare, and she planned to hold on to what she had.

"What the hell is wrong with him?!"  Eravel yelled, shaking Jason by his shoulders.  

"I-"  Dash began as all other thoughts faded, trying to throw her love at Jason by this point just to elicit a reaction.  Something changed abruptly and Jason's stubborn blocking of her love reversed.  The ambient hive mind that seemed to float around her disappeared away from her perception, reverting back to love that Jason could use.  Dash's legs trembled slightly, the sudden change putting her off balance.  Jason fell backwards, his eyes wide open as the usual slow, almost unnoticeable pull of Jason on her love turned to something resembling a vacuum.  It felt as if she was being pulled a little from every side as a cold sensation started to spread in from her hooves.  She let out a short yelp of fear, the only thing she could think to do at the moment.  But as quickly as whatever he'd done had started, it ended.  She let herself collapse, breathing heavily as she tried to get her train of thought moving again.

Dash slowly got up and walked over, far too confused to let out more than the residual tears she still had.  Her love was flowing in the right direction at a normal speed as Jason moved again, one of his legs shifting stiffly.  He rolled to one side as a few more twitches went through his limbs and Dash jumped slightly.  The blue of his retinas had been replaced by an emerald green, a slightly hazy green glow floating around him before dissipating, seeming to absorb into his skin.

She stood over him for a moment, trying to decide what to do.  After a split second she made her decision, flopping down and pulling his back to her chest gently.  His hind legs bucked out slightly, back arching briefly.  Dash couldn't be sure what she'd just experienced, although to tell the truth she didn't really feel any worse for wear now that it was over.  If anything she felt somewhat better, seeing as the shock of whatever that was had pushed away any thought of her grief or rage.  It had come back a little, but a contented feeling had seemed to arise to counter those, keeping them as simple ghosts of their previous intensity.

"What- j-just happened?"  Jason asked, slurring his words slightly and looking down at his hooves.  One spasmed to one side, and he quickly brought it back into position.  Where previously he had felt hunger, there was a nice feeling of at least having something to run off of, that he wasn't feeling that same burning pain of hunger.

"I thought you'd be able to tell me."  Dash replied, squeezing her hooves around his midsection .  

"Does this-"  He started, craning his neck around as a tear slid from his eye.  "Does this mean that-"

"Yeah."  Dash replied, nuzzling into his neck as his leg twitched against her.  "I'm not saying I'll be able to let things snap all the way back to normal immediately, but I can't say that you wanted any of this.  If there's any forgiveness that should be given for cheating, well, you've got it."

Jason opened his mouth to say something but only a squeak came out, his eyes brimming with tears as he squirmed around in her arms to face her.  He opened his arms as wide as they went, almost getting around half of her chest as he tried to hug her, gibberish coming out of his mouth as tears of relief flowed from his eyes.  

"Love you Jason."  Dash said with a giggle, striking at his mane.  

Jason nodded in response, trying to clear his throat as he wiped his eyes.  "Love y-you too."  He replied, his voice hoarse.

"Yes!!  I told you, Rumble!  I knew they wouldn't ever break up like that!"  Came a voice from above, as they all looked up and Scoots quickly pulled her head back over the side of a cloud.  

"Scoots, get down here!"  Dash yelled, beginning to laugh.  Before she knew it Jason has joined in, the air of sadness on his face seeming to evaporate as the filly landed and struck a heroic pose.  She proceeded to check her flank for a cutie mark, before sighing and looking back at the other three.  

"Not even for helping you guys, huh?"  She asked, Rumble landing awkwardly behind her as the filly's expression changed to an angry one.  "I hope you know how un-funny that was, guys.  I don't know what I'd do if you two broke up, and I was stuck having to choose one or the other of you, or whatever happens in that scenario."  She said, looking down at the ground sadly.  "Just- can you promise me it won't happen?"

"I can now, Scoots,"  Dash began with a grin, reaching out and pulling the filly over with a hoof.  "Or you can wait until tomorrow and we'll make it official."  She let out a giggle at the open-mouthed expression of Jason, poking him lightly on the nose with a hoof.  She felt happy, not that it was really an emotion she had expected to feel.  That wasn't to say it wasn't welcome, but as soon as that thing had happened with Jason it almost felt like whatever had occurred had made her lose her train of thought long enough to actually realize how much better things were.  

Eravel was no longer MIA and she could honestly say that she still loved Jason.  Maybe that was it, no weird love stuff about it.  She could lay back and say that they'd won one, no ifs ands or buts about it.

"So, tomorrow?"  Jason asked, still looking somewhat shocked.  

"Why, getting nervous?"  Dash asked, smirking at him.

"No, I just- you sure?  I thought you'd be mad or something, at least a little."

"I'm sure of two things, Jason.  I still love you, and I don't think that there's anything by now that can hope to change that.  Us delaying something that's inevitable as far as I'm concerned doesn't really help anypony, and I'd rather just let things get back to how they were, grudge free.  It's not like I enjoyed the past couple days, and I just want to get as far away from that as I can.  The best way to do that, I think, is by returning things to how they were originally."  She paused, grinning slightly.  "You know, when we first fell in love, without the distractions of everything swirling around?"

Jason only nodded, his voice cracking on the first word he said before he simply gave up.  Dash pulled him gently to his hooves, nuzzling him on the cheek as she did.  "So on a lighter note, or maybe heavier depending how you look at it, how's the whole love thing going?"  She asked.

"G-good, I guess.  Whatever happened a minute ago helped, to say the least.  I'm guessing you don't know what happened there either?"

"I-"  

"What just happened!?"  Another voice yelled as Evening, now a white pegasus with a blue mane, rose past the cloud, double taking as she saw Eravel.  "Hey, you're alive!"  She exclaimed, flying over and giving the griffin a tight hug.  As soon as she broke off the changeling's expression changed, more to one of annoyance than anger.

"You've definitely been helpful these past few days, Evening."  Dash said sarcastically before the pseudo-mare could begin.

"Yeah, well- There was this cute stallion, alright!  It's hard living around here and not getting distracted by all of the love.  By the way, it wasn't much of a help when I suddenly got a bunch ripped out of me like that!"

"Ah."  Jason said.  

"Yeah, the same thing happened to me, although I guess it doesn't really matter that much seeing as I create love."  Dash continued, before turning back to Evening.  "Just let it go, it's not like he did it on purpose."

"Well-"  She stopped, pulling in her wings and landing on the cloud despite a jealous look from Eravel.  "What exactly happened?"

Dash didn't respond immediately, taking a moment to gather her thoughts.  "He stopped being responsive, and then he moved all of the love and his eyes turned green.  Then there was the fact that even then there was a haze around him and he kept twitching."

"Really?"  Evening asked, furrowing her brow.  "Never thought I'd see that one with my own eyes.  I guess I still didn't, but- you know, close enough."

"What?!"  Dash asked, getting a little more worked up than Jason would have thought she would.

"Dash?"

"Look, you've got a lot of catching up to do, Jason."  She said, squeezing him to her side reassuringly.  "You were saying, Evening?"

"Yeah, well something like what he did, it forms from the hive mind as a kind of failsafe.  How it used to work, before Chrysalis of course, was that families and so forth could support themselves over longer distances if one of them ended up becoming seriously low on love.  Sometimes that would kill the other ones, if they were all in the process of starving, but given the fact that there was an entire city of changelings that usually didn't happen.  From what I could tell, anyway."

"So I did that?"  Jason asked, looking around somewhat nervously.  "How come Scoots wasn't affected?"

"Probably has something to do with her age.  Changelings don't get much control over any part of their own hive mind until they mature, and I can assume it works similarly when you try to connect with her.  It's an imperfect link."  She paused.  "Anyway, that system is only really used for Chrysalis as a failsafe.  Makes her really hard to kill if she can just pull all the love she needs from other changelings."

"So it doesn't mean that I'm like- going to kill any of you inadvertently, right?"  Jason asked, his eyes sticking to Dash.

"With Dash in this thing, no.  I'll just make sure to stay stocked up on love.  It's the least I can do, really, given the fact that you saved me in the first place.  Just don't take it for granted, kay?"

Jason grinned, hugging his stubby arms around the mare's neck.  "Thanks, Evening."

"You're welcome.  Now listen, I kinda have to get back to the date you stole me away from, and I'm pretty sure that I'm on thin ice with this guy, considering the way I've been late the last few times."  She said, not really looking particularly worried.  "But you know, it's not a big deal when you can just move on.  I don't envy you, Jason."  She finished, hopping off the cloud and diving towards the ground below.  

The wind rustled through her mane, the cool of the winter air feeling nice against her fur.  A few seconds later she was landing, light clopping noises barely sounding out as she touched down.  She put on a worried expression, before running off in the direction of the restaurant she'd been at earlier.  

"Sorry about that, I-"

"You know what?  It doesn't matter."  The stallion across the table said, wiping his mouth with a napkin before he threw it down on the table.  "I don't know why I kept believing you when you said you were sorry about being late, you clearly don't care about me, or this, or anything as far as I can tell!"

"No, I-"  Eh, a week was pretty long anyway.

"You can't just expect to pay no attention to me and expect to..."  His voice trailed off in her mind, blocked off as she started to focus on his toned form.  Maybe she was missing something by ending this.  "You aren't even listening!"  He exclaimed angrily, turning with a snort.  "Goodbye, Rain."  He said, putting some bits down on the table and leaving.  

Evening shrugged, rubbing her stomach and smiling slightly as she sat down and leaned back in her chair.  She wasn't sure how Jason went through all the love he did, she could get by just fine on the junk from dates like these, without even trying for something more.  She probably should, but it was so easy to just find another guy and bat her eyelashes.  Like that one right there, she thought, getting up and trotting out into the street towards a red stallion that looked like he could buck over a house.  She let her colors change slightly, something that could be called a trick of the light to any onlookers.

"Hey there, big guy."  She said, trotting next to him.  "Need any help with that?"  Evening asked, pointing to the bags of stuff he had hanging all over his back.  As if he would need help to carry a train.

"No, thanks.  Ah'm fine with carryin' this much."  Ooh, an accent.

"You sure?  Don't want to get as pretty a coat as yours all sweaty."  Evening continued, giggling.

The stallion grinned slightly, although he didn't immediately respond.  Eventually, he spoke.  "Ah haven't seen ya around here before, what's yer name?"  His eyes flickered back to her flank, which she wiggled slightly.  "And why haven't ya got a cutie mark?"

Shit.  She looked back, noticing that it was definitely missing.  Ooh, this didn't make things easy.  "I don't know."  She began, forcing tears to well up in her eyes.  "I don't like to talk about it."

"Woah, Ah didn't mean ta cause ya grief."  He responded, looking guilty.  

"Yeah, it's okay."  Evening replied, wiping an eye.  "My name's Eve-"  Damn. "Eve, by the way."

"Pretty name for a pretty mare."  The red stallion finished, making her heart flutter.  Shit.  He gave her a quick wave as he split away from her, walking down a path towards the apple orchard.  "Ah'll see ya around!"  He yelled back a few seconds later.

Evening turned around quickly and began walking towards Lyra's house, trying to make sense of what she had felt when he'd given her that compliment.  This was just another material act, like what she usually did.  It had to be, she couldn't feel things for these ponies, that was unprofessional.  But Jason did it so well, and he seemed happy.  

The mare only shook her head, speeding up.  She didn't want to be stuck to some other pony like he was, she wanted options, and more importantly the ability to hide who she was more easily.  She didn't like how she looked, normally.  At least, not in the presence of ponies.  They looked at her with that condescending gaze that she hated, or even with just a look that made her feel ugly.  

Evening didn't want to start anything like this, like an actual relationship, but she couldn't deny to herself that something was different here.  He'd responded to her coquettishness almost as if he was the one teasing her, and that was much different from the other stallions that had mostly blushed and acted awkward.  Maybe she was just bad at choosing?  No, those had all been great choices.  This one was faulty, and she didn't want it to continue.  It was already too much work, and she definitely didn't want to feel grief when they broke up.

Evening skidded to a halt and rang Lyra's doorbell, standing outside for a moment before the other mare opened the door.  Evening sighed, her mouth opening and closing again.  "Lyra, you're a pony."  She finally said bluntly.

"I am."  The aquamarine mare responded, giggling.

"I need to talk to you about ponies.  And- emotions thereof."

Lyra chuckled, ushering Evening inside.  "It's about time you realized you don't know everything."


__________________________________________________________


"So, you were supposed to get me caught up on stuff?"  Jason asked, nuzzling into Dash's neck as the two of them shared a bed once again.  Scoots had gone off to do something with her friends, and Eravel had simply wanted to continue flying around.  Dash couldn't blame him, seeing as he'd suddenly got his flight capabilities back.

"Yeah, I'm not sure if it'll ruin the mood but alright."  She paused.  "We've got the wedding tomorrow, and speaking of that Ferris brought in his rings the other day.  I like the inscription."  

"What- what inscription?" 

Dash giggled.  "Oh, you'll see soon enough."

"Fine."  Jason mumbled in response, drawing her a little closer.

"Then we ended up tracking you, and for that spell to work I needed to grab that old piece of hoof from when it was... cut off.  But when I was there what's his face-"

"Bob?!"

"The soul magic guy?"  She asked, watching him nod his head.  "You named him-"  She broke into a fit of laughter.  "Whatever.  Anyway, he was really cryptic about why he targeted you in the first place.  All he said was something to the extent of 'he made himself a target, being like that.'  I didn't know what that meant, until we actually tried to track you down.  Zecora ended up looking at the tracer thingy and saying herself that it wasn't a normal soul."

"Not a- what?"

"Yeah, that's what I said.  But with more yelling and crying."  She looked to one side sadly.  "I was a little frayed last night."  Dash paused, letting out a long sigh.  "I don't know what it means, but you feel fine, right?  Er, nothing seriously different?"

"No, I don't think so."

"Alright, I'll just push that out of my mind..."  She replied, pulling up a mental checklist.  "So, you were training yourself at night?"

"You found out about that?"  Jason asked, looking somewhat nervous.  "I just didn't want you to worry about it."

"I would've come with you, even.  It doesn't worry me."

"Yeah, see... I wanted to keep it secret for a few reasons.  Not that I didn't think you'd keep a secret, just- I dunno, I wanted to just think while I worked on stuff.  Then there was the fact that to the rest of the population, I kinda- learned some things that could help us, but nobody will really see it that way..."

"Like what?"

"I'll show you when I'm stronger."  He replied.  "And feel like I have enough energy to go back to normal.  Getting this much bigger is kind of annoying."

"Yeah, and it's not as if it would go over well if other ponies saw me kissing a foal."

"No, I would suppose not."  Jason chuckled.  "But I'll tell you the other reason I didn't tell you, and you specifically."

"Oh yeah?"  She asked, her ears perking as Jason grinned.

"Let's just say I started checking off the list of things I wanted to do to you when we're, say, in the mood.  This whole changeling and magic combination is actually pretty agreeable."

"Ooh, I like what I'm hearing."  Dash replied with a giggle.  "It's about time."

"Hey, I'm not a magicy sort of guy."  He replied, jumping as Dash pushed a hoof into his stomach and he burst out in laughter.

"I might just be willing to move up my forgiveness if you keep on like this."  She joked, hearing Jason's laughter only increase.  

"Glad to be back."  He said, sobering quickly as he nestled his head beneath her chin.

"I hardly thought I'd say this, but even after all the stress and tension, this kinda almost makes it all worth it."  Dash responded squeezing him against her form.  "You know, I think Pinkie wanted me to meet her to get some stuff figured out."

"You think she'd care if we missed it?"

"As far as I'm concerned, it wasn't ever scheduled."

"Ooh, we're such baddasses."  Jason mumbled, waving his hooves around.

"We've got to keep a reputation here, Jason."

"Obviously."  He replied.  "They can deal with us missing one thing in a history of being on time."

"Heh, yeah."  Dash giggled, staring up at the ceiling.  "Plus, I wouldn't mind a little cuddling and chatter for a while.  It's so calm, I think I'm actually starting to like it."

"What do you mean?"

"I used to hate it when things were really quiet, especially when we were trying to be all stealthy.  Even back when I was just flying around here and doing whatever with weather, I either slept when I was out of stuff to do or flew around.  That's where the pranks came in, but now it just- I don't really want it to end.  If I just laid here all day and neither of us said a thing, I'd probably be happy."

"I think the funniest part about all this is the way it's changed the way we think."  Jason replied, clamoring onto her chest and worming himself into her fur.  "I'm in the same boat as you with inaction, but then again, it's not as if we had each other when we were bored."

"You mind if I get to sleep, Jason?"  Dash asked, feeling him let out a silent chuckle.  

"I'm so wrecked I probably wouldn't care if you decided to start shooting off fireworks in here."

"So a no, then?"  Dash inquired with a giggle.

Jason barely nodded, his fatigued expression on such a little body making her giggle as she leaned her head back and put a hoof around Jason's midsection.  For the first time in forever she felt like she hardly had a care in the world, like the guys still out there were just insignificant specks.  How she felt- it was a feeling that she couldn't really remember having to such an extent in, well, forever.  

She wasn't really sure why she felt the way that she did, but maybe it was because for once things seemed to a partial conclusion.  She had closure, a soon to be husband, and it seemed as if from beginning to end of this little adventure she'd actually gained something that was set in stone.  There were no loose ends from the war that she still cared to tie up, and the feeling of finally realizing that coupled with the warmth of Jason against the slight winter breeze, well...

She couldn't think of anything that even compared.
> The Calm
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


The Calm


"Jason."  Dash murmured, lifting one of his hooves up and letting it drop limply back to her side.  

"Yeah."  He replied, waiting a moment before he yawned widely and stretched.  

"You think you can get back to normal size?"

He was silent for a moment, closing his eyes again before he replied.  "Yeah, I think so."  He said, watching her back up a few inches.  Jason did the same, before he concentrated and felt the whoosh of green flames over his body.  He opened his regularly colored eyes again, his head brushing against the headboard where it had previously been below the pillow.  Jason raised a black arm, smiling slightly at being back into a form he recognized.

"It's about time, Jason."  Dash mumbled, grinning.

"I-"  He stopped, cut off as Dash put her muzzle to his.  Her hooves flew around his neck, and Jason reciprocated with a slight chuckle.  She hardly stopped to breathe, hot air brushing across Jason's nose every few seconds as Dash only pulled him in closer.  Jason moved his hooves down to the small of her back, holding her tight and rolling so that she was on top.  The pair only increased their heated kissing, as if it was more important than the need to breathe.

"Um... hello?"  Came a voice from the hallway, the frenzied session between the two soon-to-be-wed ponies coming to an abrupt halt.  Dash's ears were flicking backwards somewhat comedically, searching for any available sound.

"Pinkie said that she couldn't find you and sent eep!"  A pony that turned out to be Fluttershy said, her head appearing for only a moment before it disappeared around the edge of the now fixed and wide open door.  

Dash let out a long sigh, pulling up a hoof to wipe her mouth as she rolled to one side and stood up.  "We weren't doing anything, Fluttershy.  What did Pinkie want?"

There was a brief pause as the mare walked into the room, her face cherry red and mostly hidden behind her mane.  "She just wanted to see you two for preparations, with the wedding and all.  She couldn't use her flying machine to get up here because she said something about trying to make it better.  I'm not really sure what that means, because I would never trust that thing to stay in the air.  Sorry I just came in, but you didn't answer when I knocked..."  The mare finished, her tone of voice implying that she would probably be deathly afraid of riding the flying machine anyway.  Jason assumed she meant if she was Pinkie, but he couldn't exactly be sure.  It wouldn't surprise him if she was afraid even with wings.  

"Just- tell her that we'll be down in a while, I guess."  Jason replied, rolling his eyes slightly.

"Oh, alright."  She said, looking relieved as she walked back through the door.  "Sorry."  

"No problem Shy!"  Dash yelled after her, before her attention was turned back to Jason.

"Glad she didn't come five minutes later."  He murmured, stretching out as Dash leaned into him.  "I think she may have melted from embarrassment.  Would have been a little tough to explain."

"I guess."  His fiancé replied, letting her eyes shut once again.  "What did you want to do before all of this happened?  Before you got sent here?"

"I dunno, I guess I wanted to have this one job that I'd been looking at."  Dash gave him a look and he paused.  "Uh, you know how I was an accountant, and I told you that it was really a means to an end?"

"Yeah..."

"Well the thing was, I got fired from there the day I ended up here."

"Alright, I knew that much."

"But in a week I had an interview scheduled for a company called Cisco."  Jason continued.  "Got all excited, bought that car that I can't tell you about.  Then I crashed, woke up like this, and I guess you know the rest."

"Are you happier here?"  She asked, watching Jason stare off into space.  The delay scared her a little with every second it went by, before eventually he only shrugged.  "I'm not sure.  I mean, I could have been happier, but I also could have been more depressed.  I'm really don't hate it here by any means, but I guess the last few months could've been... better.  But hey, I have a family now, and that means a lot."

Dash pulled herself against him, raising her head to nip at his ear.  "I hope you know that as soon as we run out of things to kill, we're going to make sure Scoots has a different place to stay for at least a week."

"Don't you think that's a little bit of overkill?"  Jason whispered back with a chuckle.

"Not if we finish on time."  She replied, feeling Jason's face flush more than she could see it, he cheek becoming hot against hers.  "Heat is a lot more fun when you've got a stallion around."

"I'd imagine so."  Jason replied, meeting her lips again for a moment.

"You know,"  Dash began, drawing back.  "Now would be a good time to show me all of that stuff you practiced without giving me any information.

"Yeah."  Jason replied, laughing to himself.  "You'd be surprised how many of the spells started as things I could use to effectively fight, and then became things to use when you're in the mood, so to speak."

"I feel like this is going to be one of those scenarios where you talk me into something."

"Yeah?  Why don't we just find out."


_________________________________________________________


"What the hell, Jason."  Dash breathed, looking around the clearing at a multitude of scorched trees, some of which were missing entire branches, while others had simply become piles of ash.  "I didn't think you practiced how to be a pyromaniac."

"That was hardly it, Dash.  I did other things."  He said with a grin, putting his knives through the holes in his hooves.

"How does that feel?"  She asked, pointing to his hooves.  "Like you still have hands?"

"It always feels like I have hands, they just aren't there."  He held up a hoof.  "Look Dash, I'm flipping you off!"

The other mare let out a giggle, gently swatting his hoof away.  "Just set something on fire already, Jason."

"Fine."  He said, his smile never fading.  "Go over that way or something, I don't really want to marry some ashes."

"I'm indestructible, this is hardly necessary."  Dash replied, though she still trotted off towards the side of the clearing.

"Her's to hoping I don't exhaust myself."  Jason raised his voice, feeling a burst of love enter his body, along with the feeling of calm that went with it.  He nodded back to her with a grin, watching her smile in response.  

Jason squared his footing, building up some magic before he started shifting a fore leg, building up some fire.  He spun, releasing the fire with a burst of magic as he came back around to face the same way.  The fire, now propelled and fueled by his magic, grew for a moment as it flew in a growing arch pattern.  It impacted several trees, which immediately caught on fire, the flames quickly turning from green to orange.

"Well.  That was cool."  Dash said, hovering a fair distance above Jason.  

"Oh, that was just the beginning.  After I figured out the way that worked, well..."  He trailed off, rearing onto his hind legs as his forearms flared, crossed across his chest.  Jason came back to the ground hard, a rather small ball of fire trailing off in between some trees.  Dash furrowed her brow, staring for a moment before a giant fireball appeared, blowing through some trees and setting them alight before melting snow in their branches could put it out.

"And that was something equivalent to delayed release."  Jason informed her, taking a joking bow.  

"Is that it?"  She asked, hoping that Jason would say no, especially with all of his teasing.

"It is, unless I can somehow get a beautiful assistant."

"Can't do everything yourself?"  Dash asked as she glided down, smirking.

"I could, but it would just look normal."

"Huh?"

"Stand still a second."  Jason said, his horn flaring.

"Do I get to be let in on what's going to happen?"

"Not yet.  But don't worry, of all the magic I've done, I trust this the most."

"Somehow that doesn't put my mind at ease."  Dash replied, shutting her eyes tightly.  She felt something that felt like a tap on her head, followed by what made her think that somepony had decided to pull on her forehead with- she could hardly even hope to explain-

"Done."  Jason said, reaching out a hoof to put to her cheek as she opened her eyes.  "And before you ask, yes, it's totally reversible."

"What... is."  She asked, her head drooping from extra weight that shouldn't have been there.  Dash put a hoof up past her head, feeling a clunk more than she heard it.  "What."  She said simply, moving her hoof around on the newly formed horn on top of her head.

"Also, I should probably tell you that it doesn't let you do magic.  I could maybe figure that out, but there's more to magic than just the horn.  At least, that's what I can tell by looking at myself."

"How'd you look at yourself?  I mean, internally I assume?"  Dash asked back, still moving her hoof around on the horn.

"Just healing myself, kinda.  'Cept, that doesn't work, so I was just looking around, almost.  Like what I do normally with other ponies but without repair.  But I still can't actually get it to work on myself other than that.  Maybe someday."  He paused.  "Anyway, I turned the changeling transformation into a localized spell.  Hands down the hardest thing I've ever attempted."

"You bring a mirror?"

"Heh, yeah."  Jason said, producing the reflective instrument from his saddlebags and holding it up to her.

"I'd probably like this more if I didn't know exactly how it would get in the way of everything."  Dash said with a giggle, tilting her head to one side.

"Guess it has its trade-offs, princess."

"What- oh, yeah."  She chuckled.  "Maybe it is kinda nice, even if it doesn't do anything.  Do I get all the feeling in it?  You know, like when I'm teasing you and all that good stuff?"  She asked, her gaze turning sultry.

"Some of it, I think.  It's kind of a prototype, really."  He paused.  "On another note, I did this with the knives."  he said, holding one up that was glowing orange.  Jason walked over to a tree, putting it near the edge of the dead trunk and pushing it through.  It seemed to go like a warm knife through butter, leaving a trail of smoke as a sizable cut in the tree was left behind.

"God, you're turning out to be powerful."  Dash said with a laugh, her attention momentarily directed away from her horn.  

"Well I've got a lot of power to use, Dash."  Jason said, taking off the knives and leaning over to give her a kiss.  "But here's the one I'm most proud of."  He continued, pointing at the tree.

"What?"

"Hey Dash."  Jason said from behind her, as she looked back at the Jason that was in front of her and squinted her eyes.  A moment later she turned around, staring at the clone of Jason that waved to her.

"What..."  She breathed, taking a step and reaching out a hoof, which she expected to go through him.  It hit his neck with a clack and Dash took a step back, staring as she tried to come up with something to say.  

"There's- there's-"

"Yup."  The first Jason said, pointing to the one she assumed was his clone.  "Exact replica of me, fully functioning besides the fact that I have to control him.  It's kinda useless that way, really, because whenever-"  Dash pushed her lips into the real Jason, throwing one of her hooves onto his back and sliding it across his wing.  She watched the feathered appendages fan out with a pomf, and quickly looked at the clone.  He'd seemed to go completely unresponsive, before a foreleg buckled under him and he hit the ground.

Jason hissed in pain, holding a hoof to the shoulder that the clone had hit.  Dash glanced back and forth between them, unsure as to what she could say.  "Uh..."  Was all that came out, as the thing whisked away into oblivion in a burst of green fire.  

"I haven't exactly figured out how to keep myself from feeling everything he feels either.  Thus, the reason that this is so useless right now."

"Yeah, but I can see how this became real sexually driven."  Dash said with a chuckle.  "I think we're going to have a lot to do when we get the time."  The mare said, a smirk drawn on her face.

"Oh yeah, it'll be a good time to show you how versatile some of this stuff is."  Jaso responded, grinning at her.

"I can't wait..."  Dash trailed off, dragging a hoof down Jason's neck with a grin.  "Have you ever given any thought to the idea that we might not have to?"  She asked, gesturing to the forest.  "It's not like ponies would follow us inside, at least not if we went a little further."

"Oh, aren't you the sultry one today?"

"I dunno, I think it would be fun to be head over hooves in love for a while.  It's not like we've had the time to..."

Jason grinned, leaning forwards to kiss her.  "What would you say if I said I wanted to wait until tomorrow night?"

"I'd probably say that I actually kinda hoped you'd say that."  Dash replied, putting Jason a little off guard.  "And it'll give me a chance to use a certain potion that I had made a while ago."

"I'm guessing that you'll keep me out of the loop on what it does?"

Dash turned away, wiggling her flank slightly at him as she took a step towards town.  "It would ruin the surprise, Jason.  Somehow I don't think that you will care either way so long as I tell you that it's totally as good as you can imagine."

"I dunno, I can imagine some-"

A rather loud thud sounded a little ways away, followed by some annoyed, rather close by yelling.  The pair blushed at one another as Jason dawned his usual Alternis disguise, not so much worried about whether or not ponies recognized that it was him, but in an effort to try to avoid the looks that a fair amount of the population still gave him.  He figured he shouldn't care by now, but some part of him just didn't want to get into the scenario in the first place.

"God dammit Rumble!  How can we be spies when you can't even balance?!" 

"Scoots, shh!  They're coming this way!"  Another voice yelled, as some hurried hoof steps were heard.

Jason laughed to himself, putting a wing over Dash's back and pulling her tightly against his side as he acted like he didn't know the crusaders were up in the branches of a blatantly obvious tree, a short distance away from the clearing.  He heard some hurried writing, before there was another yell and a ball of orange landed with a buzz and a thud in front of Jason.  A notepad landed on her mane a moment later, prominently displaying the words subject appears to be with a squiggly line drawn off the paper from the beginning of the next letter.  

"Well, at least this is a better endin' than tree sap."  Applebloom observed from one of the lower branches, gracefully hopping to a few other branches before she was back on the ground.  

"You okay Scoots?"  Jason asked, poking at the filly.  She snapped upright, pointing what looked like a Nerf gun at Jason's face.  "Did you hear any of the things we said?"  He continued, his face turning a little red.

"I think I should be the one asking that question."  Scoots replied.  She obviously hadn't.  "So, are you..."  The orange filly trailed off, as if having forgotten what she was about to say.

"Feeling lucky!"  Sweetie yelled out of the tree.

"Yeah, are you feeling lucky punk?"

"Seeing as you don't have fingers to pull that trigger, a little."  Jason replied with a grin.

Scoots didn't reply, only staring at Dash as Applebloom walked up and did the same.  "Dash, why do you have a horn?"  The orange filly finally asked, not breaking her gaze from the new appendage.  

"Jason figured out he could do stuff like this.  It's useless, but I guess it's still pretty cool at the same time."  She answered, putting her hoof back to her forehead.  "We'll have to prank somepony with this spell."

"I like how you go right to that."  Jason said with a laugh.

"Yeah, well you made sure to keep me unexcited from the beginning there."

"I didn't want you to be super happy that you got a horn if it didn't do everything it was supposed to."  Jason replied.  "But it does look pretty good on you."  He continued, giving her a peck on the cheek.

Dash giggled, pushing him back gently.  "Just make it go away, we have to stop putting off this thing with Pinkie."

"Fine."  Jason replied, as a now familiar pressure pushed into her forehead, his horn brightly aglow.  He let out a grunt as it disappeared, her mane falling back into place as he took a few quick breaths.  "God, I'm getting tired."

"You shouldn't push yourself like this."  Dash said, putting a hoof to his cheek.  "It can't be good for you."

"Ah, it's no big deal.  Plus, I've only got one more thing to show you.  All of you, I guess."  He paused, sitting down.  "Thing is, none of you can tell anyone what I'm about to do, because I doubt that they'll react well."

"What could... possibly be that big of a deal?"  Dash asked, putting a hoof against Jason's shoulder.

"Just- watch."  He said shortly, pointing to a tree.  "See that?"

"Yes, that would be a tree, Jason."  The blue mare replied with a giggle.

Jason chuckled, raising the angle of his hoof.  "The bird in the branches, Dash."

"Alright..."  She trailed off, staring at the bird for a few seconds.  Nothing happened, and she turned to look at Jason.  He was doing an equal amount of nothing, just staring off into space aimlessly.  As she looked back, however, the bird took off, gliding from the tree towards them.  It decelerated and landed on Jason's shoulder, looking around at the five of them calmly.  A few seconds passed as it chirped a note, then two, and fluttered off again.  

Jason blinked, rocking around dizzily as he took some deep, heaving breaths.  Dash wrapped a wing behind his back, leaning into his side and giving him something to support himself with.  A few more blinks and he turned, displaying green retinas yet again.  The mare jumped slightly, letting out a squeak before she could compose herself.  

"Your eyes changed color again Jason."  

He sighed.  "Yeah, I know."

"So you controlled that bird?!"  Scoots asked, a huge grin forming on her face.  "That's so cool!"

"It's also the best I've done so far."  The changeling replied.

"Why were you even practicing something like this?"  Dash asked.

"I dunno, but ever since we showed that movie and Chrysalis did that mind thing again, I was just kinda fed up with the whole thing.  That's where the practice started, but considering the lack of time I just made some ants change direction and stuff.  That was pretty cool, but I could only do a few.  Even now I have trouble controlling that many.  Anyway, I just wanted to have some sort of idea how the hive mind worked before we got into something with Chrysalis.  I wanted to have a trick to use."

"But it ended up in a dead end?"

"Pretty much.  It's weird, I've never really had trouble with anything magic or changeling related, but now I am.  I'm not saying that I'm annoyed it's not coming easily, first off.  The thing is, I just don't know how she controls a swarm of changelings when all I can control is one bird for five minutes."

Dash shrugged, the crusaders only wearing slightly slack jawed expressions as they stared up at the pair.  "Ya got any cool stories from all yer time, well, away from here?"  Applebloom asked, Rumble and Sweetie nodding along.

"Only really got one."  Jason said, looking at Dash.  "I have trouble breaking things up ever since I got here, it's all just one long story if you ask me.  And frankly, I'd like to see what those ponies come up with when this is all over with."

"Oh, you signed those book deals?"  Scoots asked.

"Yeah, I'm no narcissist, but I would kinda like to see someone else's take on everything that's happened.  It does a nice job of adding context."  Jason paused, reaching back into his saddlebag as Dash shared a knowing smile with him.  "By the way, maybe you won't like the fact that I'm doing this in front of your friends and all, but I found something a while ago and forgot to give it to you."  

He pulled out the plush of Dash and held it out towards Scoots.  "If you don't want it that's fine, but you said that you-"  It was swiped out of his hoof and immediately wrapped in two more as the filly hugged it to her chest.  She matched a stare from Sweetie a second later. 

"Don't think I'm going soft, I'm just- uh, it's something I wanted."  Scoots finished lamely, still not relinquishing the doll.

"So, no story?"  Applebloom asked, looking a little downtrodden.

"I've got one, if you'll agree not to try it.  Assuming you find out how to, I guess."  Jason chuckled.  "Anyway, I had this friend before I got here named Ben, and he had some chemistry lab in college or something where they made pure oxygen.  So naturally, he made something like that in his apartment, which I think involved electrolyzing the water...  Point is, he called me up, said that he had a tank full of oxygen.  He came over and we set up all of these heavy things to throw, because we figured that since you need oxygen and sugar to run the body, and having no oxygen reduces strength, the opposite must be true."

"Well, I can see where this is going."  Dash said with a roll of her eyes, receiving a shush from Jason.

"Uh, so he came over, stuck this tank down, which looked like a rented scuba tank or something.  We ate a bunch of candy and waited for a sugar high, and then he took a few breaths of oxygen.  Basically we just ended up laying around, being all woozy because that's apparently what too much oxygen does to you.  Of course, it probably would've ended sooner if Ben hadn't made so much oxygen, because we ran out an hour or so later.  That's probably..."  He looked over at Dash and cringed,  "The most stoned I've ever been in my life, and we both swore off the stuff.  As in, pure oxygen."

"I'm glad to see that you were so mature."  Dash teased, leaning heavily into him.

"Hey, we had the freedom to do a lot, that's not something you just ignore."

"Whatever you say, Jason."  She continued.  "It's not like I really took you all that seriously in the first place."

Jason stood up, striking a pose.  "It seems that I've succeeded then!"  He turned, grabbing one of her hooves and pulling her upright.  "Come on, we have to go see Pinkie before something breaks in that head of hers."

"That's probably a smart move."  Dash replied, grabbing Scoots with an arm and holding her up in the air.  "And by the way, why'd you think you could spy on us?  Huh?"

"Cuz if we could do it to you, then we'd have to be good at it!"  She replied through giggles, as Dash began to tickle her. 

"Oh yeah?  You know what I do to ponies that spy on me?"  Scoots didn't reply, too busy trying to remove Dash's hooves.  The mare looked downwards at the other crusaders.  "I tickle them..."  She paused.  "To death."

Rumble gave a nervous stare up at the filly, then back to Dash's jokingly malicious glare.  He seemed to know it wasn't his place to intervene, and simply retreated a few steps to pick up the plushie Scoots had left behind.  

"So then."  Jason began, mercifully floating Scoots out of Dash's reach and onto his back.  "Off to Pinkie's?"

"Yeah."  Dash replied, wiping an eye.  "If we ever get there it's going to be a miracle."


___________________________________________________


"Hey look.  We made it."  Dash said, pushing open the door to Sugarcube corner and bracing for what she assumed would be the immediate arrival of Pinkie.  She let her guard droop a little, only to tense again when a chair creaked.  All she saw were several empty tables, minus one that currently housed Applejack and Big Mac and an assortment of cards and bits.

"Is Pinkie here?"  Jason asked, filing in with the other four behind Dash.

"Nope.  She went out ta look for ya."  Applejack replied, her face drawn.  "Hasn't come back yet."  She laid down some cards, cringing as Mac smiled and took some bits.

Dash sighed.  "Alright.  Jason, you want to stay here in case she comes back, and I'll go look?"

"No, I can look, I mean-"

"It's fine, I need to check in with the weather team anyway."  The mare replied, waving a dismissive hoof.  "Plus, I could use a little flying time anyway."

Jason opened his mouth to protest, before he simply shrugged.  "Alright, see you later."

Dash stood up taller, raising her muzzle to his in a short display of affection before she opened the door and disappeared.  Jason let out a huff of disappointment, walking over to where the Apples were and plopping himself down in a chair.  

"What's this?"  He asked, receiving a short glance from both ponies.

"Poker."  Applejack said, a nod from her opponent backing up the notion.

"Oh, you have that here?"  Jason asked, looking to the side at the crusaders, all of which had their fore hooves against the table, watching anxiously.  

There was a rather long silence, before the two laid down their cards and Applejack took the pot.  "Ya want ta join?"  she asked.  "Think you can beat me?"

Jason thought for a moment, before he reached into his saddlebag and pulled out a small bag of bits.  "What's the buy in?"

"We play with forty each, winner gets five from every loser.  It's pretty friendly."

"Ah."  Jason replied, counting out the bits and pushing them into a pile in front of himself.  Applejack put down five cards in front of him as she dealt to the rest of the table, stacking the cards back neatly as she finished.  "How do I know you aren't stacking the deck in your favor, Applejack?"

The mare grinned, throwing a punch across his shoulder.  "Ah may be able to bluff, but if Ah tried to do somethin' like that it'd probably be the most obvious thing in the world."

"Sometimes she gets all sweaty."  Mac said, staring at his cards.  Jason shook his head and chuckled, picking up his own cards.  They weren't bad, really.  Applejack laid out three more cards on the table, none of which matched the ones Jason had.  So the cards were bad then.  He only had one face card, so that was out of the mix.  Double sixes weren't bad, but they probably had something better.  The fact that he had two queens was promising, until he recognized that Luna was on one, Celestia on the other.  So those were different.

Jason let out a sigh, before he realized that Applejack had definitely noticed that one.  So much for the first hand, since bluffing was pretty much out of the question.  But then again, he had something that they didn't.  Not that it was cheating, because it was something he couldn't control.  Reading their emotions was probably going to shift this in his favor.

"Ah raise the pot two bits."  Applejack said, pushing out the bits.

"Fold."  Jason replied as the two looked to him, tossing his cards down.  He would just not take their money at the end.  He wasn't really a guy that would cheat, or at least not on something that didn't concern his livelihood.  If he had the opportunity to cheat if SAW asked him to play a game, he probably would.

The round ended as Jason exited his thoughts, four bits shifting towards the mare.  Three more quick hands went by as Jason tried to interpret emotions.  They were clearly still disguised, and even when they seemed to emotionally have something great, half the time they were bluffing.  

"Jason, does the small pile mean that you're winning?"  Scoots asked, receiving a chuckle from the other adults.  

"No Scootaloo, it means that he's getting his ass handed to 'im."  She said, pausing.  "Did Ah use that one alright?"  She asked Jason.

"I don't know if it helps your insult if you aren't sure what you're saying.  But yeah, right on."

Applejack grinned, as she dealt out some more cards.  Jason was starting to see the tabs that went along with the emotions.  The little signs that notified him whether they were real or not.  It was somewhat funny that after all his practice, even reading emotions was a little hard.  That wasn't to say he couldn't read Dash, or maybe it was.  He could, but that might just be because he knew her personality.  

"Jason."  Applejack said, waving a hoof in front of his face.  "You awake?"

"Yeah, sorry."  He said, pushing a large chunk of his bits in.  With three jacks, the mascot replaced with a rather similar looking pony guard, and a good chance that they were bluffing, this was a bet he felt he could take.  "I see your twelve and raise you seven."  

"Ooh, going out with a bang here?"  Mac asked as he pushed in some bits, surprising Jason with the fact that he had actually talked more than to bet or announce his cards.

"I lost a long time ago."  Jason replied, frowning.  One of Applejack's ears perked, and he knew that she was onto him.  That was probably overkill, in hindsight.

"Fold."  she said, throwing down some mediocre cards.  Mac seemed more confident, or felt it at least.  

"Triple tens."  The stallion said, leaning back in his chair.

"Heh.  Triple jacks."  Jason reached forwards and wrapped his arms around the small pile, laughing maniacally as he dragged it back.  "Guess I'm back in the game."

Mac snorted in annoyance, pushing his cards over to Applejack as she dealt out a new set.  "Guess this is where things get interestin' then."

The three went through numerous hands, bits consistently shifting between players.  But Jason had turned the tide of this game around.  He let small ones go, trying to dissuade suspicion so that he could see the look on Applejack's face when he told her.  Just as she was dealing out some more cards Dash walked in, pulling a hyper Pinkie behind herself.  

The foals all sped off, eager to leave the boring adult game and probably high on sugar they had ingested when the three had been staring at one another.  

"Good to know you can watch the kids while I'm gone."  Dash said, looking over at the four bouncing foals and similar looking adult.  "And I would finish up, because she'll only keep interest in them for so long."

"All in?"  Jason asked, looking around the table as Applejack nodded.  Jason pushed in his bits, leaning back and staring at the other two.  

"Fold."  Mac said, shrugging at an angry stare from Applejack.  "Mah best card was a six.  Plus, either way Ah'm not endin' up in first place."

"Fine, ya get a free pass on this one."  His sister grumbled, staring at Jason.  "Guess this is it."

"Guess so."  He replied, as they both tossed down their cards.  There were a few moments of silence as they continued to stare.

"Four of a kind."  Applejack said with a grin, as Mac checked the cards.

"Straight flush."  Jason countered, rivaling Applejack's grin with his own.

"No way..."  She paused, looking at the cards for herself.  "Well Dang."

"Yeah, so I'll just grab my forty bits."  Jason said, pulling out a chunk and counting them out.

"Ya mean fifty?"

"No, I had emotions to help me out, that's not fair to you two."  Jason said, as Applejack only began to chuckle.  

"Ah knew my bluffin' was perfect on that hoof!"  Mac yelled, grinning.  

"Or was it?"  His sister countered, tossing a bit at him.  "He still knew."

"Sis, I-"  He shook his head.  "Fine, yer right.  Was still fin playin' with ya though.  Means somethin' that ya didn't take the bits."  He stuck out a hoof, which Jason shook.  "And by that logic, you can take 'em."

"I- What?"

"Assuming, a course, that we can do this again sometime?  Ah figure Ah'll have to develop the ultimate poker face to throw you off.  And Ah'll need somethin' ta get back when I beat ya."

"Fine."  Jason said, continuing to shake the stallion's hoof.  "I have to work on my poker face anyway, I never was that good.  But this friend I had just destroyed when it came to poker.  If I ever get back, or find a way to bring them here for a visit, I'll have to introduce you two."

"What's he do for a livin'?  Applejack asked as Jason stood up and scooped over five more bits.

"He trades stock options over the global markets, along with a fair amount of futures.  He used to do some pretty risky stuff, but now he's kinda made the foundations, I'm pretty sure.  I could show you what I'm talking about, but I doubt it'd make much sense.  I hardly even understand it."

"Yeah..."  

"So Jason, Dash!"  Pinkie yelled, landing on top of the table and making it rock dangerously to one side.  "Are you ready to add the finishing touches to the best wedding ever?!?!"

"I guess..."  Jason said.  "You didn't mail out invitations that called it that, did you?"

"No, of course not silly!  I knew that you didn't want to make it some huge deal and all, so I made sure to keep it a little less than what I wanted to do.  You'll like it, I'm-"

"Pinkie."  Applejack protested, tugging at a card that was stuck under the mare's hoof.  Pinkie lifted her hoof out of the way, turning back to Jason.  

"Anyway, I'm sure you'll love it.  There's not really a theme, but you said that you didn't really want to complicate things.  So what I did, after giving it a fair amount of thought, and I'm sure Dashie knows how hard it is for me to concentrate, is attempt to create something more like what you've been around, and what you've come from."

"What..."  Dash trailed off.

"It's simple, after I figured it out.  I'm sure you saw all the giggling with the weather team members while you were checking in, huh?"

"Yeah..."

"Well I had them sculpt everything they could from clouds.  That wasn't much, and admittedly I had a little trouble rigging-"  She trailed off, staring wide eyed at the pair.  "Aaaaanyways, other than a few little charms it's normal.  It'd help if I knew something about the two of you, but everything's so secretive or just unknown when it comes to you."

"I would tell you stuff, Pinkie, we just don't have that much time to."  Dash said, shrugging.

"It doesn't matter that much to me, so long as you like tomorrow.  Are your parents coming, Dashie?"

Dash looked as if someone had taken a good shot at her gut with a baseball bat.  She took a step backwards, trying to compose herself and managing to force out what might have been a partial smile.  As if Jason couldn't feel all of the anger radiating all over the place.

"Did you invite them?"  She asked.

"I don't think so, you didn't put them on the list."

"Then I would guess that they aren't."  She replied calmly, a cool tone sinking into her voice.  

"How come?"  Pinkie asked, clearly not picking up any of the hints Dash was giving off.

"Business, I think.  Real long term stuff, you know?"

"Oh, I gotcha."  

"Good, why don't we move on to all of those questions that you had."  Jason said, putting a hoof around Dash's neck gently.

"Oh yeah!"  She dove off the table, sprinting into the kitchen.  Pinkie returned a couple seconds later with a platter of cupcakes, which she set on the table the foals had occupied and covered with paper and crayons.  "Alrighty then!  Only four hundred and thirty seven questions to go!"  Dash spit some water onto the floor next to her, trying to cough the water out of her lungs.  

"What?!"  
> Making Things Official
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Making Things Official



Dash awoke with a start, turning over in the bed in a small amount of horror until she saw Jason and calmed down.  She could've probably just felt the hooves around her, but she hadn't exactly been thinking straight.  Yesterday almost felt like it hadn't happened, and she'd been a little worried that maybe it actually hadn't.  Thus, the slight freak out and dread that had already ebbed away to a quiet contentment, only heightened by the fact that she hadn't woken up Jason.

It was funny, for all the complaining that they had done.  If she'd known that she'd feel this safe, with hardly a need or adverse emotion from the beginning, well, she probably would've just kept her mouth shut.  Somehow things just felt like they were right.  Sure, there were two more things to take on, but that was their jurisdiction, in all probability.  They could call the shots, and somehow she didn't feel scared or angry when she thought about that.  Maybe a little annoyed, but it felt different from before.

With the griffins, things hadn't really been expected.  She'd hardly thought when she woke up one day that she would end up the commanding officer of... a lot.  Dash raised a hoof into the air, staring at it thoughtfully.  If she had fingers, she could probably hold out the equivalent number to their spot in the chain of command and have at least a few left over.  It was too bad that Jason couldn't get fingers on her the way he could get a horn, she would've liked the chance to give them a whirl.  

In any case, the stuff he could do now was way more than she had ever really expected.  That wasn't to say she had low expectations, but it almost seemed like he could do anything he set his mind on now.  Sometimes he hardly even blinked an eye.  She would hate to be fighting for the other team, in all honesty.

But then again, he wouldn't be much of a threat at that point, without all the love to use.  Even beyond that, they really did make a good team, despite whatever she'd said two days ago.  She just had to make sure that whatever crap he got himself into, she was dragged along as well.  As long as they stood together, Dash was sure that nothing could possibly beat them.

Beyond that, they had their squad from Team Green Bean and Morning, and for once she almost felt like bursting out laughing over just how much they had in their favor.  They had an army behind them if they so chose to use it, filled with veterans from one of the few Equestrian military conflicts.  

Dash rolled onto her side, pushing her back gently into Jason's stomach.  His hooves wrapped around her a little more tightly as he let out a murmur of something or other, his head turning as some dream swirled around in his head.  

She glanced at the bedside table, a small clock proudly displaying the time with its hands as a little past seven.  She could assume that much, seeing as the sky was shining with bands and ribbons of yellow.  But she didn't feel tired, she just felt that gentle happiness.  It was probably something akin to what she should have been feeling over the last few months, had there not been any fighting.  

Or maybe not, maybe she was feeling so at ease right now because of what she'd gone through.  She could fight anypony hoof to hoof and win, and by Jason's words even him.  Or at the very least, have the odds on her side.  And the relief that flowed through her body at their recent good fortune to follow up all of the bad stuff.

Dash's thoughts began to wander into more mundane topics, as she tried to imagine what Jason would look like in a tux.  Or what she would look like in a bridal gown.  Both ideas, well maybe the latter more than the former anyway, seemed somewhat surreal.  By the end of today she would have a mate for life, and while part of her screamed out to worry, she just couldn't find a reason to.  Maybe they would get into fights and yell, and maybe that would result in a little more destruction than with a normal couple.  But they just seemed to have more substance there, that all of the fighting had formed a stronger bond.

Either way, she was finding it hard to continue to lay in bed, with all of the energy that had started tingling through her limbs.  She turned over once again, putting her arms around Jason and giving him a squeeze.  Dash leaned forwards, nuzzling against his still furry cheek as she hummed some old song that they'd played a long time ago.  

It was those gentle notes that lured Jason from the retreat of sleep, his eyes opening and focusing onto hers.  He yawned, leaning back as canines he'd kept glimmered in the light.  It made her a little jealous sometimes, to see all of the stuff he could do now that he understood how.  But then again, she could just ask.  Dash grinned.

"What's got you so happy?"  Jason asked, studying her with those shiny green eyes.  

"Just stuff, I guess."  She responded.  

"Are you nervous?"  He inquired, his eyes flicking away.

She shrugged.  "I probably should be, but I'm not.   You?"

Jason tapped his hooves together a few times, his face the embodiment of nervousness.  "A little."

"How come?"  Dash asked, barely covering a giggle.  "Am I not good enough for you?"

The changeling let out a nervous chuckle, putting a hoof to her cheek.  "You know that's not it."  He paused.  "I just- it's a big thing, and- I dunno, part of me wants to make sure that everyone that we need to kill is taken care of."  His eyes left hers and he sighed.

"What difference does it make?"  Dash asked.  "I've been thinking of us as basically husband and wife anyways, the fact that we make it official isn't going to change who we have to fight and when.  Even the fact that we'll be married doesn't change that much, we'll still be just as torn up if one or the other of us doesn't make it."

"Yeah..."  Jason replied, letting his head slump into her shoulder.  Neither of them talked for a while, and before Dash made another move, he was asleep again.  She giggled and rolled out of his grasp, figuring that there were better things she could do, rather than lay around.  

So naturally, her eyes gravitated towards Jason's computer.  It'd been a while.  

Dash pulled the computer out of the saddlebag, setting it on the floor and laying on her stomach in front of the screen.  Her hoof tapped the track pad and the screen lit up, the need for a password becoming evident.  Dash sighed, letting her forehead fall to the floor.  

It took her three tries to punch in 'Scootaloo', a password that she was sure had been different from the initial one.  It would probably be easy for somepony to get into her computer as she'd just shown, but he'd probably done it for the gesture anyway.  It's not as if he had to worry about a pony actually realizing what a computer did if they got the password.  

Even she hardly knew what things did.  The screen was covered in little folders and photos, pictures of cute little cups on paper...  It was weird and foreign, but she kinda liked it.  The colors that were vibrant in their own way, with shading that seemed obsessive.  The background picture was pretty though.

Dash stared at all of the little emblems for a while before she ended up deciding on a new one, a little sideways 'L' thing.  A grey rectangle popped up a moment later and Dash jumped slightly.  The screen filled with a new window, which after a few seconds of reading she had figured out to be full of games.  At least she knew that they'd never run out of things to play.

The mare glanced over her shoulder, wondering for a moment where Jason had put the computer that he said was hers.  Ah well, she was already here.  And so she browsed the rather short list of games, deciding on one that piqued her interest:  Roller Coaster Tycoon.


______________________________________________


"AAAAAAAHHHHH!"

"Shutup game!"  Dash whisper-yelled at the computer screen, as the weird looking people yelled again.  Jason rolled over, murmuring something.  She didn't particularly want to wake him again, seeing as he was obviously tired enough.

A low, guttural yell left a child, and Dash sneered.  "You've sealed your fate, tiny insignificant people!"  She scrolled away on the map, giggling to herself as she built a coaster that ended facing straight down the path.  The thing crawled up a hill, before accelerating and smashing through a way overcrowded area as Dash laughed maniacally.  

"Dash, what are you doing?"  Jason asked, making her face turn a bright crimson.  "Who are you talking to?"

"Uh."  She paused.  "The tiny insignificant coaster people?"

"Discovered my computer?"  He asked.

"A little."  

Jason let out a grunt as he got up, slowly walking over to Dash.  "You know, there's a button that controls the sound right here."  He said, tapping on it a few times.

"Wait, you heard all of that?"  Her face somehow turned a deeper shade of red.

"Most of it.  I used to do what you're doing too, you know.  I had a childhood."

"Great, I thought I was being clever with this."

"Well technically you came up with the idea yourself..."

"Yeah, I guess..."  She sighed, trying to will away her blush.  "We should probably get ready, find Rarity and get suited up and all that.  Pun intended."

Jason chuckled, letting one of his hooves revert to normal and holding it up to the light.  "I swear I'm starting to turn grey."

"You're probably just going to shed again."  Dash replied, waving a hoof dismissively.  "Besides, wearing a black tux won't look as weird."

"Yeah...  guess I never thought about that."

"Well if you're still nervous, feel free to think about what we'll be doing tonight...  and tomorrow, come to think of it."

Jason's face reddened up only slightly, and as soon as Dash smirked he leaned forward and kissed her.  The two hugged around one another, as Jason took a funny step and they both toppled to the ground.  Neither seemed to care, small pains of no notice to them when there were much better distractions.  Dash pulled away some time later, taking some quick breaths as Jason repositioned to nip at one of her ears, drawing the corner into his mouth as she let out a cute coo of enjoyment, pulling him tighter against herself.  

"I never thought I'd consider being late for my own wedding."  She panted, pushing Jason off her ear only to pull him into another kiss.  "I also never thought I could make such a big decision with no doubt in my mind."  

"I love you Dash."  Jason whispered into her ear, following with some more explicit sentences.  Dash's blush deepened again, as she wiggled herself around impatiently.  

"You can't just leave me feeling normal, huh.  It's always got to be some sort of ploy to get sex."

"I wouldn't try if it didn't always work."  He replied with a chuckle.  "Besides, you're the one that usually plays with my emotions."

"Who said that?!"  She asked, laughing.  "You're the one with the teasing, I just up and say stuff.  I mean, we're practically husband and wife, what's even the point?"

"To see how far I can push things."  Jason responded with a chuckle.  "Besides, it makes things last longer."  

"Fine, whatever."  Dash replied, shaking her head with a grin.  "I'll go get Scoots, I guess."  She said, turning around and trotting out of the room.  Jason sighed happily and picked up his computer, folding it up and stowing it back in his saddlebag.  Dash entered a moment later, waving a piece of paper around.  "This may not bode well."

"What?"  He asked, taking the note as she handed it over.

If you find this, I've left a little early.  I can't tell you why, because that would ruin the surprise.  But let's just say that I've needed to employ a little help to make sure I didn't hurt anypony.  These things could really put a damper on sompony's day.  But magic is too mainstream, so I'll just be doing something magic can do, but better.  You two may not have viewed this as an opportunity to compete against Shining's wedding, but I think that it needs to have that one thing that makes it awesome.  Besides the two ponies getting married, that is.

P.S.  I didn't know if I should buy a gift for the wedding, cuz Rumble said that was something you did and Sweetie said the opposite, so think of this as a gift.  Hopefully it'll be as cool as it was on paper.

"So...  She's got help at least, right?"  Dash asked, looking worried.

"Yeah..."  Jason replied, skimming the letter again.  "But those four are growing up, they've been a lot more successful with just about everything.  Maybe they'll never figure out their cutie marks on their own, but I'm starting to think that whatever those four end up doing with their lives, that they've really assembled quite the team.  It could have been Rumble that balanced out what they already had, or I guess it could have been them growing up."  Jason sighed, looking away.  "I- when we have this foal, you've got to remind me not to miss their youth."

"It's kinda depressing, huh?  I know Scoots'll still be living with us, but she's gone so far from that little filly in the woods or the leader of my fan club.  I just wish I was here for more of that."

Jason put his arms around the mare, drawing her into a gentle hug as the two stayed silent, simply thinking.  A grin broke out on his face, a poke from Dash letting him know that she wanted to be in on whatever he was thinking.  He moved her a little ways away to look her in the eyes, stroking a hoof down that magnificent mane of hers.

"I was just thinking about what we've done for her, and how important she's become.  She wanted somepony to get her off the street and love her, and I guess that's what she got.  I know it isn't the optimal setting for her or for us, but as far as kids go, she's pretty much the dream child.  I just feel like there's something we have as a family that makes us stronger, no matter the amount of time we're stuck apart."

He went silent again, the silence continuing for a while before he took a breath and started anew.  "You know how you're always asking if I like it better here, or on earth?"  Dash nodded into his shoulder, not making a sound.  "Well with all of the crap we've had to take to get here, it sure feels like it was all worth it.  I have a beautiful daughter and a bride to-be that I love more than life itself..."  He trailed off.  "And unlike before, I have a little peace to enjoy it."

"You know what?"  Dash asked, letting a giggle past her lips.  "I woke up this morning thinking exactly that."

"It's a good feeling, huh?"

"Yeah."

More silence.

"Think I could beat you to Sugarcube corner?"  Dash asked, excitement creeping into her voice.  "Could be the last time for a while we get to fly..."

"Depends on if I get to use magic or not."  

"I'm not sure I like the idea that you can fly faster then me when you want to."  She said, regarding him with a look that was still playful.

"Well hey, I'm not going to take the title from you.  'Sides, you already went faster when I slowed down time."  He murmured, putting a hoof to her cheek as he leaned forwards and kissed her.  They both sank in, as Jason quickly pulled back and dove out the window.  "Head start!"  He yelled back, as she grinned and wiped a hoof across her lips, spreading her wings and launching herself after him.


______________________________________________________


*PIFF* 

*THUD*

Rarity took a step back, surprise written all over her face as Dash and Jason skidded across the ground, coming to a halt at her feet at the end of a long skid mark of squished grass.  

"Today?!  You can't stop horsing around for one day?!"  The fashionista yelled, as Dash got up and grinned.

"It's just a little bit of a grass stain and some dew, it'll be covered up by the dress anyway."  She said, as Rarity let out several sounds of annoyance.  The blue mare looked back and sighed, taking a few steps back to pull Jason upright.  He had been descending a little faster when he'd hit, not that it wasn't because of a maneuver that he had attempted much too close to the ground.

"You okay?"  She asked, as he shook his head around.

"I think so."  He replied, spreading his wings and checking himself over.  "Yeah, no cuts or anything."

"Darling, have you ever thought about getting any of those scars fixed?"  Rarity asked, holding open the door and ushering them inside.  

"No, not really."  Jason replied.  "They're kinda like physical memories, and I don't really want to forget how I got them.   I suppose it would have been nice if I kept any of my hu-"  He cut off.  "Any of the scars I had before, but those all healed."  

"Well if you happen to change your mind, the spa does something for just such a thing.  Granted, it may need to be... on a much higher scale, but I'm sure you'll be happy with the result."  She turned her attention to Dash, moving a step closer.  "And you and I, Dash, have a lot of getting ready to do."  Rarity said excitedly, whisking the mare away.  "I'll be back in a few minutes to make sure everything is in order with your clothes, Jason, so make yourself comfortable!"

"You better not think you're changing much with me, Rarity!"  Dash yelled, as she was pulled back out the door and away."

Jason allowed himself to look around, finding pretty much the entirety of his friends.  He walked over, sitting down at a large circular table.  Tank walked by, giving Jason a heavy slap on the back followed by a congratulation.  Morning giggled at the stallion's behavior, before murmuring a similar line.  

"Any of you know what I should expect from Pinkie?"

They all shook their heads, but Evening suddenly spoke up.  "You mean in terms of the party?!  I hope she has alcohol,  because I really l-"  Lyra grabbed Evening and put a goof over her mouth, effectively shutting the disguised mare up.  Lyra's face was covered in red, a little seeming to seep onto Evening's face.

"She likes cider."  The aquamarine mare said simply, letting the mare go.  "She's a real lightweight though, heh."

"How do ya know Eve, Jason?"  Big Mac asked, pointing to Evening.  Somehow he expected better than that, really.

"I met her during the war."  He replied, not needing to make a face to show his annoyance.  She felt it anyway.  "Why?"

"No reason."

"Hey Applejack."  Jason began, turning attention away from the others.  "Speaking of booze, I have something for you.  Figured it anyone would appreciate it, it'd be you."  He reached into his saddlebag, on the side that he luckily hadn't landed on, pulling out a beer and sliding it across the table.  The mare picked it up, staring at the bottle in confusion.

"Ya tryin' ta imply that Ah'm an alcoholic?"  She asked, chuckling to herself.  "What is it?"

"It's called beer, made from something called hops.  Anyway, it's way heavier than what you ponies have, and it's kinda bitter, but I used to really like it."  He sighed.  "It's an acquired taste, but I dunno, you might like it."

"Did Dash?"  She asked, and Jason laughed.  

"No, she tried to act like it was good but she hated it.  Just to warn you though, that's probably a good six glasses of cider in terms of alcohol that you're holding.  Maybe more, but I guess it's not the lowest content beer out there."

"Ah don't want ta sound rude, but was everypony where you came from an drunkard?"

"From beer?  No, not usually.  That's like seven percent alcohol, but things go up to like sixty for shots."  Someone gasped.  "Everyone has a high tolerance for it though, compared to you.  A small female might be able to match most of you  people on the first day of drinking.  Or not, but it's probably close."

"Ah..."  She trailed off, sliding the bottle around on the table between her fore hooves.

"So how's it feel?  Getting married, I mean?"  Fluttershy of all ponies asked, a blush showing on her face.  "I- I don't really have a special somepony at the moment, so maybe it doesn't matter anyway, but I guess I was just-"

"Fluttershy, it's no big deal."  Jason confirmed, chuckling a little at the fact that he could tell what the rest of them were feeling, yet not really himself.  "I guess- I'm kinda nervous, but I know I'm doing the right thing here.  And yet I'm pretty excited, even though this doesn't really change that much.  Maybe that's underplaying things, but it's really just putting into writing what's already there."  He leaned back on his chair, wishing for a moment that he was already halfway through the ceremony.  "That's probably why I didn't want anything crazy."

"Yet you employed Pinkie."  Twilight said with a giggle.

"I don't even think that's the biggest possible problem."  Jason continued, slightly glad that Pinkie wasn't here.  He wasn't really insulting her, but she might misinterpret that.  "Pinkie's parties are predictably insane, I just asked her to tone that down a little.  Anyway, the Crusaders have something planned, and that's not good.  Or maybe it is, they've been more successful when it comes to things more recently."

"You seem rather trusting of them."  Another voice said, as the other ponies either bowed or saluted.  Jason turned to look behind himself, grinning as Celestia entered his vision.  

"Hey Celestia."  He said, watching Twilight's face screw up a little in the corner of his eye.  It was fun, messing with her.  "You here for the wedding?"

"Why else would I be here?"  She asked with a grin, gesturing for the other ponies to stop bowing.  

"To tell me that there's a secret crazy mission to go on?"

"From what I hear, you're in a holding pattern right now anyway."  The princess replied, sitting down in a chair that was much too small for her.  "And by the way, I wouldn't dare miss this.  It may not involve a princess, but it's still important in my book."

"Good to hear."  Jason replied, grinning.

"Just in case you didn't know, Shining Armor and Cadance will be arriving as well, along with some friends of yours that the general happened to meet in Canterlot."

"Sky and Star?"

"I...think those may have been their names, but I was never able to meet them in person."

"Yeah, it's been a while."  Jason replied, getting a distant look in his eyes.

"So where's the bride?"

"Rarity took her off somewhere, to do whatever it is she does to ponies to make them look pretty.  Honestly, I would generally think that makeup or... whatever you put on fur would kinda just look dumb, but I'm not really sure what the drill is."

"I can't really help you too much."  Celestia replied with a slight grin.  "It's been too long, things have changed just a little too much when it comes to a lot of things like fashion and so on."

"I can imagine."  He said, as they lapsed into a small silence.  

"So how are you, my student?"  She asked, turning to the purple mare that was still a ways across the room.  

"Good, princess."

Celestia put a hoof to her forehead.  "Twilight, just call me Celestia.  It's not as if I haven't known you all for long enough anyway.  The only one that seems okay with doing stuff like that is Jason, and sometimes Rainbow Dash."

"Alright, I'll... make an effort?"

The bell on the door jingled as Eravel entered, throwing a casual wave towards the princess before he pulled up a chair next to Jason.  "You know a lot of ponies."  He said, looking around at the group.  Big Mac looked rather uncomfortable.  "I'm Eravel, by the way.  You can trust me."  He paused.  "That sounded kinda dumb, but it's not untrue."  The griffin paused, grating his beak together.  "So, no bachelor's party?"

Jason laughed.  "No, I didn't really have the time for one anyway.  And I didn't care all that much either."

"Jason, what happened those few days away?"  Twilight asked.  "How'd you run out of love so fast?"

The changeling leaned back in his chair, letting out a sigh.  "I broke my horn and had to heal from the lightning, and as much as you may all think that healing quickly is great, it's not that much fun when you can't keep it from using up what you have to live off of."  Jason trailed off, looking at the princess instead.  "But they have oil down there, you should get some ponies right on that."

"I am aware, Eravel flew into Canterlot late last night and told me.  I hear that it's something important?"

"Yeah, just about everything has petroleum products involved at some point in production.  But just so you know now, with this small of a population and a whole planet to use, you're not going to have to worry about running out.  Where I come from, there're billions of people, and we just keep discovering new oil deposits, and ways to get more out of the old ones.  And solar is generally a waste of time compared to hydroelectric and nuclear."

Celestia chuckled, nodding her head.  "I've actually tasked a fair number of ponies on repurposing a dam to provide more than mechanical power.  As of yesterday they got a turbine to move and a little lightbulb to power on.  They used magnetism or something, it's rather strange."  Another giggle.  "I'm getting too old for this job."

"If they ever get a pony with an idea to alternate the current, he's right by the way.  DC isn't efficient."  Jason explained, twiddling his hooves as the door opened once again.

"There's my favorite general!"  Shining yelled with a laugh, trotting across the floor and colliding with Jason as the stallion threw his arms around the changeling.  

"Long time no see, buddy!"  Jason replied, managing to free one of his hooves to hug back.

"Should I be worried, Shining?"  Cadance asked with a smirk, as her husband only grinned back, letting Jason go.

"Maybe if Dash were here."  He looked around.  "So where's the bride-to-be?"

"Rarity took her away.  I'm just kinda worried that she'll go overboard with makeup or something, and seeing as Dash never really does anything like that, not that it bothers me, it would just distract."

"I'm sure that she'll do fine."  Cadance said, smiling reassuringly.  "She's talented at what she does."

"Yeah..."  Jason trailed off, a pang of nervousness running through his gut.

"I don't really want to bring military stuff into the spotlight, but I don't know when I'll see you again after this..."  Shining began, his ears pining back as his wife gave him a look.

"It's alright, if you want positioning for stuff in peacetime then I'll try to send you something soon."  A grin broke across his face.  "Also, build a military building outside of Canterlot, like a giant thing.  Design it so that from above, it looks like a hexagon.  Call it the Hexagon.  Make plans for every form of military action conceivable against every enemy.  And when we get the technology, outfit that and the castle with big artillery guns.  Or missiles."

"Did you just make that up?"  Morning asked, looking away from Tank.

Jason looked around shiftily.  "Most of it..."  He trailed off.  "A lot of warfare is shock and awe, you know."

"Well I suppose if you end up needing to fight again, it'll be on your terms."  Celestia said, as Jason grinned back.


_____________________________________________________


"Mmmmmm..."

"What is it now, Rarity?"  Dash asked, amusement absent from her voice.

"Oh, nothing, I just-"  She put a hoof to her chin, tilting her head sideways.  "I really think you should let me do your face."

"I don't need makeup."  Dash responded.  "I've never worn it before, and I don't need it now."

"It'd only be a little blush, darling, nothing crazy."

"Jason won't like it."  Came her simple rebuttal.  "I won't like it either."

"You know, just once I'd like you to have a feminine side Dash."

"Hey, I am the one who got a coltfriend because of that attitude."  The blue mare said with a laugh.  "And you told me to act like you.  Pfft."  Another chuckle.  "Ow!"  She yelled, rubbing at her shoulder where she was sure Rarity had poked her with that needle on purpose.  

"Let's focus on the task at hand, shall we?"  The fashionista said, carefully cutting a loose thread with some scissors.  

"Fine.  When do I get to see Jason again?"

"Dear, you aren't supposed to until the wedding begins."

Dash let out a long groan, throwing her head backwards melodramatically.  "Why couldn't we just do this in a half hour?"

"Oh, Dash, you know you'll want to look back on something bigger than that.  It may not mean as much as it should to you, but I'm sure it will later."  The mare stepped away, admiring her work.  "Now stay here, I've got to get the bridesmaids, and then as soon as I'm done with that, I've got to get Jason.  Then maybe you'll get your peek, alright?"

"Just don't take too long, you're starting to make me a little nervous."  Dash said as the other mare put her hoof to the door, the former shifting on her hooves.

"I won't, darling.  Also, don't sit down in that dress.  You can probably lay down on your stomach if you're careful, but problems with my handiwork will just take more time to fix!"

"Do I at least get somepony to talk to?!"  Dash yelled as the door closed behind Rarity.

There was a long silence as the mare tried to figure out how laying down worked in a dress that clearly had some sort of structure to it.  Most dresses had things like that, to keep them from slipping to one side or another or something of the sort, but now that she was actually feeling a little tired, sensibility didn't mean too much to her.

The door opened again, and Rarity peeked inside.  "As it turns out, I found some company."  The door closed once again and Dash sighed, unsure whether to think that it had been a joke or not.

"So, I heard you broke your record for speed, that right?"  A voice asked, as the door began to be pushed open.  Dash felt the fur along her neck stand on end.  Spitfire walked in, grinning across the room at the dressed up mare.

Dash furrowed her brow, cocking her head to one side.  "Why're you here?"  She kinda expected to be more excited than she was now, but it was probably just the nervousness again.

"For the wedding, of course."  The mare replied, looking somewhat strange without her Wonderbolts uniform on.  "I brought Soarin' too, but he just seemed all grumbly this morning.  So he's out there buying a bunch of food."

"I'm not really that important though, I don't see why-"

"Hey, listen.  I wanted to thank you for everything you've done.  Same with your colt friend, but I'll have to tell him in person."

"You don't need to thank-"  Dash began again, before she was cut off.

"I also want to apologize.  Look, you're arguably one of the best flyers.  You've proved that time and again, and I guess I'm sorry I never recruited you.  Maybe now you don't care, or realistically couldn't be on the team even if you had the opportunity.  But if you want to do a show with us some time, I'd love to have you.  And before you ask, if you need Jason for that act, feel free to extend my invitation."

Dash didn't respond immediately, only staring at the fiery mare in disbelief.  A smile broke out on her face, yet she didn't really know how to act with the dress on her like it was.  "Thanks!"  She yelled, beginning to giggle.  "I- oh, wait until I tell Jason, he'll be so happy for me!"

"Just- Dash."  Spitfire began again, grabbing the mare's attention.  

"Yeah?"

"Try not to make the rest of the team look bad, aright?"  She asked, watching the grin reappear stronger than before on Dash's face.  "I'll be in touch- wait."  She pulled a package from her saddlebag, leaving it on a little table.  "Think of that as a wedding gift.  Don't open it until you're free though, I don't think it would be as cool."

Dasd looked at the box, then back at the mare.  "I never thought one day could possibly be this awesome."


_______________________________________________________


"I think you're ready to go."  Rarity said, scraping her hoof gently at what turned out to be a scar.  "How does it feel to get married to some pony, Jason?"

"Like I never woke up this morning."

"Well if this is all a dream, I hope you never have to wake up."

"I wish it didn't sound that corny."  He replied with a sigh, shifting around in the tux.  It felt weird, sliding around against his once again showing chitin.  But from a seamstress that only dealt with fur, he couldn't complain.  At least his wings had places to fit through the fabric on his back, and were mostly comfortable at his sides.  It seemed that the feathered wings served more purposes than one.  What he'd transposed onto his back as a way to fly faster and make Dash happy had turned into a way to hold a ring.

"You think everything will go alright?"  He asked.

"After all that you've been through, it better."

"Yeah, I hope you're right about this."


___________________________________________________________


Music played, as the gelatin of nervousness finally solidified into a good-sized brick inside Jason's stomach.  His eyes looked for something to stare at, and everywhere they wandered he only found perfection.  Pinkie had done a perfect job, everywhere from setup of the stage to the pews that looked rather ornate, all the way to the atmosphere itself.  Things were accented by clouds built into the construction, as a gently overcast, almost picturesque sky hung overhead.  

Jason's eyes found a new target, in the form of Dash walking slowly down the isle.  Some part of his brain noticed the crowd, a number of ponies that he'd never really expected to show up, rise.  Another part of him felt bad for her.  He didn't know the drill in marriages around here, but it had usually been customary for the father of the bride to escort her.  As Jason regained his focus Dash was in front of him, and her eyes seemed to monopolize his vision.  

Cadance smiled at the two of them, as Jason took one of Dash's hooves in his own.

"I know that you two didn't want to keep with all of the frills, so I'll give you the slightly shorter version."  A few laughs came from the crowd, before she cracked open a small book and began to read.  "Today you enter as individuals, but you will leave here as husband and wife, blending your lives, expanding your family ties, and embarking upon the grandest adventure of pony interaction. The story of your life together is still yours to write. All those present have come to witness and celebrate your love and commitment this day - eager to a part of the story not yet told."

"Love should have no other desire but to fulfill itself. But if your love and needs must have desires, let these be your desires: To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night. To know the pain of too much tenderness. To be wounded by your own understanding of love; And to bleed willingly and joyfully. To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving; To rest at the noon hour and meditate love's ecstasy; To return home at eventide with gratitude; Then to sleep with a vision of the beloved in your heart and a song of love on your lips."

She paused, looking to Jason.  "So do you, Jason, take Rainbow Dash to be your wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do you part?"

"I do."

"And do you, Rainbow Dash, take Jason to be your husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do you part?"

"I- yes, of course."  She said, blushing at the slight screw-up.

"You have for each other a golden ring."  The princess said, gesturing to the pillow where Rumble had set it.  "This most precious of metals symbolizes that love is the most precious element in your life together. The ring has no beginning and no ending, which symbolizes that the love between you will never cease. You place these rings upon each others feathers as a visible sign of the vows which, this day, have made you husband and wife."  Jason took his, sliding it onto Dash's other wing before waiting for her to reciprocate the action.

"And finally, if there are any objections to these two ponies getting married, speak now or forever hold your peace."

Silence.  Dash counted her blessings.

"And now, by the power vested in me by the State of Idaho-"  She cut out.  "Really couldn't help yourself, huh Jason?"  Another pause, as the audience calmed from a slight wave of laughs.  "Without further ado, I hereby pronounce you husband and wife."

Cadance sighed happily, as a few rockets sailed up in broad daylight, and Jason realized Scoots' plan.  May as well make sure they aren't premature, he thought, beginning to lean forwards.  

"You may now kiss the bride." 

	

	
> Sequel
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well, it's up.  Hopefully this won't bump me into featured, because then admins would delete this.  But it's been a wild ride, and hopefully I can count on you people to drop a favorite or an up-vote if you liked this story.  It'd help a ton.   

I need 219 words to make the word count in this story 333,333…

Someone commented that I went overboard with the sequel, seeing as it went for twice the length of the first one.  It annoys me a little that this series is so long, because on some level I just want it to end.  It's too long, god dammit.  I just kept adding things, and while they made the story better, they also expanded it.  I came up with 'Bob' in like twenty minutes, and now he's a critical part of everything.  Ugh.  

So without further ado, the new story will be located Here.  Hope that you all like it.  It'll be nice to watch favorites and things roll in for a day or so, if this story was anything to go by.  Keep being awesome, viewers, and I hope that you'll all stick around to the bitter end of this series, because it should be quite the finale.  Assuming I can pull it off.