Courage is Magic

by Raizuo

Rating: teen
Tags: Adventure, Random, Dark, Human, Romance
Length: 58955

(Sequel to Friendship is Recovering) John is back in Equestria, and he is not alone this time. His brother/detective named Chris will be joining him in this adventure. How will Chris cope with the technicolored ponies?

It has been two years since the events of Friendship is Recovering, and John was very determined in those years to return back to Equestria, the land he calls home. He also brought along his newly found "Brother" with to join him on what he calls his "Final" treasure hunt.

Chris is still skeptical of John's stories as of now, but when he appears in the exact place that John was talking about, his perspective of reality is warped.

However, despite the fact that John is actualy happy to return home, there are always dark forces looming. Another adventure is about to begin. This time however, John doesn't have to tackle it alone. With Chris's detective abilities and John's mild craziness, they are ready to go through on a new adventure. An adventure that will push their own skills to the limit and strain their friendships. The only question is: Who is actualy ready for it?

(2nd story, this one follows up my first story of Friendship is Recovering, for those of you who have seen my first story, do note that I did change it entirely. Now that's out of the way, I would actualy like to tell you now that this is a direct sequel to my first story. So certain events may not be understandable without reading it.)

(Bit of a message for any artists out there reading this, I really would love to get some cover pages for both this story, and the first one. If you want to help me with getting a picture for both of those stories, send me a PM with either a suggestion of what I can use, or an offer about it. I will gladly be able to provide details about what I imagine the picture to be like if you just ask me.)

(Last note before I stop wasting time and space, I would like to have someone else who is able to look through my stories and go over things that I may have got grammatically wrong, or I left something unexplained. I do not want to walk back into the first time that I tried my hand at this once again, so send me a PM and I'll get back to you ASAP about it.)

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2013-10-15 17:10:02 UTC

Prologue:It begins again.

Prologue

The story begins again.

I looked out of the window of the plane, watching the landscape below go by slowly. I actually enjoyed being up in the sky, despite the fact that I never feel the wind. Now where are my manners, I can't tell a story without telling you a bit about myself.

My name is John; I am what you would call a treasure hunter. Only, I've recently declared myself retired. I am around my early 20's so I have given myself too much credit for treasure hunts. I'm around an average height of 6"5', and my hair is a brown color like dirt and it was short but raggedy. The only thing I ever wear is a yellow trench coat, and I really never bothered to replace it at all, so it was really worn with time. I've repaired it before, but I've never had the chance to really repair it then. Before, I used to cut myself off from everyone who wanted to actually be friends with me because of the memory that I've had before, now I've changed my views on that. Ever since my brother, or detective to some, found out and arrested years ago the true mastermind behind my best friend's betrayal, I've gotten to be a bit more friendlier. Now it's only my crazy personality that I've developed from something that happened a year ago that would drive people away from me. Not that I cared, I still enjoyed the peace and the quiet I got.

"John, you okay back there?" My pilot would ask me constantly. I don't trust myself to fly planes, so I hired an experienced pilot to do so. It wasn't cheap, but it was still worth being in the air.

"I'm just fine," I said in response. I checked my coat that I wore at all times for the single thing that mattered so much to me, a single yellow feather.

"You say that now, just wait until we actually get there," My brother said from the co-pilot's seat. His name was Chris, and I actually think that it's pretty simple for being a detective name. He wears a brown suit that you would see detectives wear, and his trademark fedora. Strangely enough, he actually loves his fedora... maybe even more than his job. I even managed to get punched hard for stealing it, but he wasn't going to kill me. We both actually were happy that we had family and were not about to break it now.

"We’re almost there anyways," I said to him with a glare and a smile. He would only chuckle.

"And I would bet that you won't ever get to... Equest-something-or-other," He said.

"Equestria," I corrected with a harsh glare.

"Right..." He said with doubt in his tone, he was still skeptical as ever about my stories.

"At least you are not crazy enough to jump out of the plane," I said, getting up and putting on a backpack. I double checked it to make sure it was a parachute, and not some bag that was full of something else because that would be Clichéd.

"Oh no you don’t!" He shouted, but he couldn't get up in time to stop me from opening the plane door.

"Guess you will need to come with me then, if you want to make sure I am okay!" I shouted over the wind flowing through the door, and jumped out of the plane.

"Keep flying, this will be the last time you see either of us!" My brother shouted at the pilot, and jumped out as well. He also had put a parachute on, but I guessed he only followed me because he wanted to make sure that I wasn't going to try to kill myself. I wasn’t that crazy, so I turned back down to the earth.

The wind was the only sound that I heard while I was freefalling. I was really enjoying the freefall, until I saw my brother catch up to me. He actually tied his hat to his head with a thin string, so he won't lose it as we fell down to earth. I wanted to chuckle, but the only thing going through my mind was the fact that I was enjoying my time in the sky. It sadly had to end, and I pulled a cord to get the mini parachute deployed for when I deploy the main chute. I saw that Chris did the same. We both fell for a few more minutes before pulling the cord to deploy the main chute. I felt myself jerk upwards as I had my decent slowed greatly by the chute. The wind stopped rushing by me, but I was still a distance above the forest. I pointed towards an area for my bother to know where to land, and turned towards it.

"Damn it John, you are crazy!" My brother said as soon as we touched solid ground.

"Then why did you follow me anyways?" I snarked at him, while giving him one of my trademark smiles.

"Touché" He said, being annoyed that I responded to him with a snarky comment.

"Yep, I need to take more lessons from Pyro about this when I see him," I said, thinking back to when I was in the world of Equestria two years ago.

"Again with this... You've told me this same story multiple times!" Chris said, being extremely annoyed at me for doing so.

"Hey, I actually liked being there," I responded.

"You keep telling yourself that..." He said as he cut the parachute off from the bag.

"I will," I responded, and did the same.

________________________________________

We kept the bags with us, and cut off the parachutes since we may not need them anymore. I, for one, was glad that I had kept the bag. You never know when you could need one. After a quick trek through the forest, we would come across an old temple. Huh, Déjà vu... I thought, as I compared it to the one I saw two years ago.

"This is the place... anyways, this temple was the only temple that sent many treasure hunters back home in disappointment... and I can see why," He said, pointing at the temple door that blocked us from entering. The door slowly grinded open as I walked towards it.

"You say something?" I asked him, with a mock questioning look. He said nothing in response, but he did give me a harsh glare. I chuckled to myself as we both entered into the temple.

________________________________________

Strangely enough, most of the temple traps were almost exactly the same as the temple before, with the only exception of it looking even older. In fact, it was old enough that the ruins were actually crumbling away with time. Because of that, some of the traps would fail to activate. The dart trap however worked perfectly fine, and I had to work together with Chris to through the room.

"I hate dart traps now..." He said, pulling darts out of his beloved fedora.

"Now you know how I feel," I responded, also pulling darts out of my bag and my skin. Chris managed to use me as a human shield to avoid some darts, so I was of course mad at him for a while. But I never hold grudges forever, so I forgave him.

We made our way to the room before the treasure room. I was right in my assumption of Déjà vu, since this room had a pit in the center of it.

"No way we can jump the pit," Chris pointed out.

"That much was obvious Sherlock..." I told him with a frown.

"Don't compare me to him," He told me with a light punch to the arm, “You know I’m way better.”

"Since it bothers you so much, I won't if you help me find a way over," I said looking around the room.

"Alright then," He said, and goes to investigate any nearby object that could be used.

A minute of searching later, Chris got my attention by waving at me as I looked around the room. I walked to where he was to see what he found.

"Hey, how about these dry planks?" He said showing me the planks.

"I'm surprised that they’re dry, but time doesn't really like this place," I pointed out, and pushed lightly on the center of the planks. They snapped apart very quickly like twigs, leaving my brother to hold two broken planks.

"Right... I've also seen some vines-" He started to say, but I shook my head.

"We both know we can't jump high enough to reach those," I told him.

"Good point... unless you happen to be a super human in that world," He said with a half mocking tone. He would discard the broken planks as well since they were useless.

"Wasn't even a human," I responded back in mock shock of him asking.

"Oh yeah... you clearly stated that so many times," He said, trying to egg me on, “You were some sort of horse with wings.”

"Pegasus. Hey look, that ledge looks like a good way," I said, completely changing the subject. He would glare at me for how I have managed to avoid the subject entirely.

"Yeah... it looks wide enough-" he started to say.

"To edge across," I finished for him."You've done this before?" He asks me with a raised eyebrow.

"Something similar," I responded with a shrug.

"Figures, I might as well go over first," he said, and made his way to the ledge. He put a foot down and skillfully edged across.

"Figures that you'd get practice doing that," I said, following my brother across the ledge.

"More than you would think," He said in an attempt to be mysterious. I rolled my eyes in response to his attempt, “How else do you think I got into your apartment when you wouldn’t open up?”

"Let's just go," I said, walking to the entrance of the treasure room.

________________________________________

"Really..." I heard my brother say in disappointment as we entered the room.

"What?" I asked.

"That's the thing that we went in here for..." He said, starting to become very annoyed.

"Pretty much... this reminds me so much of the first time I've done this, and that was two years ago," I said.

"It’s a glass statue," He said, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose out of annoyance.

"So?" I questioned, while moving towards the center of the room to pick it up.

"It is just a stupid-" He started to shout, but I picked up the statue and the whole room would turn white. I heard nothing else, and I don't think my brother even noticed it since he was shouting at me with his eyes closed. He does that when he thinks that I've just built up his hopes so high, only to be let down just as quickly. But that was not my thought anymore.

My only thought was this: I was finally going back home after all of these years of being away.

Chapter 1:Returning to Equestria

Chapter 1

Old faces, new adventures, and almost the same old John

“Statue!" Chris finished as soon as we reappeared in a familiar forest.

"Really? I don't see the statue anymore," I said with a small smile on my face. He then opened his eyes, before blinking a few times in confusion.

"Am I dreaming now? Or am I actually talking to a yellow horse that has wings?" He asks.

"You’re talking to a yellow Pegasus, and one that you know very well," I said, giving him a smile that he should recognize.

"John?" he asks, being unsure if I was kidding or not.

"Yep... you should be careful about trying to get up on two legs though..." I warned, and got up from the forest floor. Chris completely ignored my warning and attempt to stand on two legs, only to fall down again.

"What did you do?!" He asks me in a panic.

"I did nothing, might want to check your reflection when you get a chance," I said in an attempt to calm him down.

"Right... where are we?" He asks me while lying on the ground.

"Ok... first of all: you have four legs now, so try thinking that way," I said, ignoring his question. He sighed and did just that, managing to stand up properly, "Good, second of all: this is what I think they call the Everfree forest," I said while taking a look around to try to figure out where I was this time.

"Good god... we have been teleported to a forest, and I don't have-" He said, but then he caught himself in surprise.

"Is something wrong?" I asked him.

"I think.... I saw my reflection off of the lake," He said in a worried tone. I turned around and saw that we were near water this time. 'Huh, this is a first...' I thought in mild confusion

"Well... I think you are lucky to keep your fedora that you adore so much," I said in a deadpan tone.

"Yes... but my suits gone; replaced by... fur?" He questioned.

"Yep, you are indeed a pony," I said, killing any suspense that was in the air.

"So those stories... they were actually true?" He asked me, uncertain if he was tripping out or not.

"Yeah, they are perfectly real; Allow me to be the first to welcome you to Equestria, the land of colorful talking horses," I said in a sarcastically cheerful way.

"At least I kept my hat..." he muttered to himself.

"Yeah, now to find a way to town," I said, and started walking.

"Uh, a little help?" He asks, being uncertain about where to begin on walking. I had to facehoof at the fact that I had to teach my brother of how to walk on four legs. As I turned back, I noticed something when his hat shifted a bit off of his head..

"Wow, you are lucky," I said to him.

"What makes you say that?" He asks in confusion.

"For starters: you have a horn," I said, lightly tapping where his new horn was.

"And this is useful how?" He asks, being very skeptical about the world that he was in.

"Well, once you learn how to use magic, it's easy for you to do stuff," I explained, while walking around him in a circle.

"Good for me... now how do I walk?" He asks me flatly while adjusting his hat back carefully to avoid putting a new hole in it.

"Alright, first of all I need to tell you that you should still treat your hooves like hands," I explained, hoping that he would get the picture. After that, I explained to him in great detail of how to walk in his current form.

"Sounds easy enough," He said.

"It is," I said, trying to hide my snickers from his sight.

"This shouldn't be too hard then," He said. He started to walk forward carefully, before slowly picking a pace that he is able to walk in.

"Damn it..." I muttered under my breath, being disappointed that he did not fall flat on his face like when I tried to walk for the first time. However, things have a funny way of working out. Chris tripped and fell on his face before he even got back to me.

"Alright, you have done almost what I did, now follow me, I think I know the way out of here to the town," I said, helping him up.

"And what is the town's name?" He asks me with curiosity.

"None other than good old Ponyville," I said, and started to lead the way through the forest.

________________________________________

I ran out of the forest with my brother following close behind after I've managed to get us lost in it.

"Why, no, ‘how’ are these wolves made out of damn trees?" He asks me in annoyance while breathing hard from running.

"Hell if I know, at least we got away," I said while trying to calm down.

"That is because I shot one of them twice," He said in annoyance. He would lay down on the floor to rest for a moment becuase of how fast we ran.

"Well I don't like pistols," I replied back with a glare. I chose to remain standing because I was not sore yet because of my many experiences in running away from things.

"I know you don't, but I at least like one to be able to defend myself," he said to me with a frown. He would get up after he rested enough and reload his pistol with some difficulty. I wondered how his kept his weapontry for a moment, before realizing that I kept my bag of knives the first time I came here. So the best explanation I came up with how his could get his pistols is because of magic.

"Right, we have our differences in weaponry; now that we’re out of the forest, See that town? That is Ponyville," I explained with a small smile on my face.

"Looks small," he commented flatly.

"It is, but it's somewhat fun," I said, and I lead him into the town.

"By the way... if your stories are true, then when can I meet your friends?" He asks me.

"One of them will be in about two seconds, the others will come eventually," I said, and quickly ducked.

"Wha-" He started to say, before being tackled by a pink blur. I was right to follow my instincts about ducking and avoided being tackled.

"Oww..." He groaned in pain, as a certain Pink Party Pony was on him in excitement.

"Hello there! I'm Pinkie Pie!" She exclaimed in an excited tone. I decided to spare my brother the punishment of hearing Pinkie's long winded talking and spoke up.

"Hey Pinkie, can you get off my brother?" I asked her.

"Alright Mr...Wait, I know you!" She exclaimed, pointing a hoof at me.

"And I am...?" I asked, leading her on.

"You’re one of Twilights friends! Which one was it..." she said, causing me to face hoof.

"Wow... she's one big ball of excitement; what do you think John?" He said, and Pinkie suddenly froze where she was thinking.

"I know it's been years Pinkie, but rea-" I started to say, and I was rewarded with a huge gasp.

"John! You're back! This calls for a reunion party!" She exclaimed, but before she could take off to arrange it, I grabbed her tail.

"Could you wait first? I want to talk to some of my old friends at the bar," I said.

"Okie-dokie-lokie!" She said, and bounced away from me. Somehow managing to get her tail out of my hooves without me noticing.

"How did she-" Chris would ask in surprise.

"It's just Pinkie being Pinkie, don't try to explain it," I told him with a sight, and made my way to the bar.

"She is one of your friends... right?" He asks me.

"Yep, now to meet a few others," I said, and a tiny grin would spread across my face.

________________________________________

I silently entered the bar without drawing too much attention to myself, and immediately merged with the crowd. Chris just simply entered and went straight to the bar stool. I kept him in range of my hearing, but I stayed in the crowd. He sat at the bar and a golden (literally) pony walked up to him from behind the counter. I remembered that his name was Sparx, and that he may actually be made of gold. I never asked him though, but I don't think he would appreciate me asking now after all of these years have passed.

"Please give me the strongest drink you offer here," He tells Sparx, who in turn looked at him in surprise.

"Why would you need something that strong?" He asks, being curious about why he would order one.

"Because I will need it," He says simply.

"Why would you say that?" Sparx says, being increasingly more curious, “The last one to order that was… point is, he’s gone.”

"Because both of our worlds will become a very big surprise," He says vaguely. I smiled, glad that my brother didn't flat out tell him about my return. I decided to stop listening in at the bar and enjoy myself in the crowd. It lasted for a whopping ten seconds before an event happened.

"I won't ask you again, Please leave," A familiar fire colored pony would say. I remember his name (how can I forget? He did follow me around and saved my flank countless times back then) as being Pyro, aka: Fire colt.

"You have *Hic* nuthin' on me to kick me out," The dark green pony would slur. He was staring Pyro down while drunk, and I knew that it was a bad combination, for the drunk anyways.

"You had too much," Pyro said as plainly as possible. His voice had gotten a bit deeper and he got a bit more muscular since I last saw him.

"I haven't *hic* had enough yet," He slurs, and stumbles around with an empty bottle in his hoof. I'd bet that he will break it and use it as a weapon. I thought to myself, and started to slowly make my way towards the drunken pony.

"I did warn you," He said, and moved to forcibly remove him. But before Pyro even touched the drunk, he brought a punch to Pyro's face. Resulting in the drunk burning his hoof. Wow, that’s sad. You’d have to be really new to this town to make a mistake like that. I thought in pity for the drunk.

"Bad idea," Pyro growled, and he tried again to grab the drunk.

"I don't like your face now," He slurred, breaking his empty bottle and making it a dangerous weapon. Pyro would back away for a step, though not out of fear. Called it, now for knocking out the drunk. I thought, and snuck up behind the drunken pony.

"Why do you drunks always keep doing this...?” Pyro would mutter in annoyance.

"This is what you get for getting in my- hurk!" he said, before passing out due to a blow to the back of his head.

"Sleeping like a baby," I whispered.

"I had that perfectly under control," Pyro says to me.

"Is that how you would greet an old friend of yours?" I asked him with a smirk, he would narrow his eyes before widening them in surprise.

"John, is that you?" He asks, not really sure if he was dreaming or not.

"The one and only," I said with a smile.

"I can't believe it, you are actually back!" He exclaimed, getting the attention of the nearby ponies.

"And it is really good to be back again," I said in relief. Pyro walked up to me and punch me lightly in the leg, my bad one from when I got a dart trap to it as I was going through a temple two years ago. It hurt a bit, but it did not actually burn me this time.

"Guess you learned how to control it huh?" I asked, lightly rubbing the part of my leg he punched.

"Yeah, it's still great to see that you are back," He said, and looked like he was trying hard to restrain himself from hugging me.

"Yeah, now do you mind if I talk to Pyro? The real one?" I asked him.

"Sure, but first I've got to drag this drunk out of the bar," he says, and I nodded to him as he does his job and started draging the drunk out of the building. I smiled at how far Pyro has come in terms of controlling his power before walking up to the bar.

"Told you..." Chris says; taking a drink out of his glass.

"How did you know that John was here?" Sparx asks in suprise.

"Because I actually came with him," He mumbled, but it was still clear enough for Sparx to make it out. I also made it out as well since I've known him for long enough.

"Really? Who are you then?" Sparx would ask.

"His name is Chris," I said, sitting in a chair next to my brother.

"Hey John, it has been quite a long time since you last were here," Sparx says. He also gave me one of my favorite drinks: Applejack's hard cider.

"Yeah, almost gave up on trying to return, two years is too long of a time to wait," I said, taking a drink out of the mug that sat in front of me.

"It really is," He said with a soft smile. I put down my mug after drinking almost half of the whole thing.

"So how is Midnight doing these days?" I asked simply.

"She really has not been truly happy while you were gone, I think she still blames herself for what happened," Sparx explains to me, “at least that’s what Dawn tells me that Blitz tells her.”

"Then I might as well go and find her then; she will probably hurt me, but I should be fine," I said with a small shiver. I did fully expect Midnight to slap me first before recognizing me.

"I think I should come with you," Chris said, getting out of his seat.

"No, I will need to do this alone," I told him with a serious glare. He would sit back down in surprise.

"Alright, you know more about her than I do," He said, turning back to his drink. I smiled, hiding the fact that I really wanted to meet her again.

"Last time I saw her, she was working at the Radio Station still," Sparx said, anticipating that I may ask where she was. He put his fore legs on the counter and I saw a ring on one. I wondered what the reason was for him wearing a ring for a moment, but I decided to ask him about it later. Chris would drink the rest of my cider, before turning back to his drink again. I chuckled softly to myself.

"Thank you,” I said to Sparx; and walked out of the bar. Time to see how Midnight Song will react to my return. I thought as I made my way towards the place I used to work at: the Radio Station.

Chapter 2: Love returns

Chapter 2

Love is almost like a boomerang, one who truly loves you will always return to you.

I arrived at the Radio Station in the late afternoon. At least, that's what I guessed it was because of the sun's location in the sky. The building did not look any different from years ago when I last saw it, so I marveled again at the fact that it never changed. I decided to stop waiting around the entrance and enter the building. The insides looked almost exactly the same as it did two years ago, except with the addition of a new room. It was next to the instrument room so I figured that Vinyl Scratch actually put that there because of my unexpected absence. I entered the instrument room first, for old times’ sake. The room looked very organized and clean, surprising me greatly. The instruments were also in good condition as well, so I figured that Octavia would be relieved at the fact. I smiled and exited the room, closing the door behind me. I went into the neighboring door to find that the entire room was filled with electronics. I couldn't even see to the wall because of how much electronics were in it. There's no way I'm ever going to organize this room without a freaking forklift. I thought in bitterness. I figured that Vinyl could still find something in it anyways, so I did not even bother with anything. I closed the door and looked down the hall to the electronics room where I used to work. I hoped that I could still work here, despite missing two years of work. I smiled, remembering how I met Vinyl and Octavia for the first time. I chuckled at the memory as I made my way to the room.

As soon as I neared the room's door I heard a voice speak up.

"So... What is new today?" A male voice asked, in a heavy accent that sounded like it came from New Jersey in a bad attempt to start a conversation.

"You asked that two minutes ago," A familiar female voice said in annoyance.

"Can you blame me for wanting to talk with you as I work?" He asked. When there was no reply, I used that moment to softly open the door and sneak in.

"You don't even have anything interesting to talk about," A navy blue pony said. I could never forget her name: Midnight Song, such a beautiful name. I noticed that her mane looked the same as it did two years ago, Dark blue with a light blue stripe running through it. Her tail looked smoother though, I raised an eyebrow at that and I closed the door just as softly. However, the green pony that worked opposite of her turned and noticed me.

"Good point, Now who are you?" He asked, pointing a hoof at me. I noticed that his mane was the color of a lemon, but his eyes were lime green. For some strange reason, it reminded me of a soda drink.

"I was... just visiting," I said in an attempt to disguise my voice.

"You did not answer my question," He said to me with an annoyed glare.

"Just a friend of Midnight," I said in a higher pitch. That plan backfired on me however as Midnight raised one of her ears.

"Blitz is that you?" Midnight asked as she turned around. Before I could say anything, she looks at me with her blue eyes, her beautiful blue eyes, which were the same color as the ocean. They widened in shock as she notices and recognized me.

"Umm... Hi?" I said nervously, waving a hoof. The only answer that I got was silence, before I saw her walk up to me angrily. Yep, this is going to hurt... I thought, internally bracing myself for the slap that would come. I was right when she got up to me and slapped me hard in the exact same spot that she slapped me last time.

"Not again!" I said, rubbing my cheek in pain where she slapped me (again).

"Who are you and why are you here?" She asks me in suspicion.

"My name is John and-" I started to say, but Midnight interrupted me.

"The John I know of vanished years ago to save me; if you are him, you should prove it!" She said to me out of anger of dealing with a copy of the one she loved. I was going to prove her wrong about that though.

"I remember two years ago where we first met, you really did not give a good impression to me and eventually you slapped me in the exact same place you just slapped me now; after that, you gave me a dare to work with you for a week and I agreed. Though I was surprised about what I found later on," I said as calmly as I could. Her eyes widened in surprise (how, I have no clue, they were already very wide with anger). She knew that only the real John would remember. I was glad that I was the real John, otherwise that would be awkward to find if I wasn't the real thing. The only response I got from her is silence. The green pony just looked at me in confusion. I sighed. I turned to leave when someone tackled me from behind.

"I can't believe it! You are really back!" Midnight exclaimed in happiness. I've never heard or seen her so happy in two years, and I have a lot of catching up to do.

"You know him?" The pony asked.

"Know him? He is the only other pony would could stand to work with me for a full week!" Midnight explained.

"Really? I’ve never met him though," He wondered.

"That would be because I worked here I think... two years ago?" I said in my attempt of explaining.

"Ahh, that would answer why I never met you, you disappeared one day," he said, understanding the situation now.

"Now where are my manners... again, my name is John, and you are?" I asked.

"My name is Flash Record, now your name is odd to me," He said.

"How come?" I asked him.

"Because that name isn't something that a pony would be named," he said with suspicion.

"You would be right about that, though I am sad that word about me never got around..." I said in disappointment.

"You didn't really do anything famous two years ago," Midnight would point out for me.

"Thanks for reminding me..." I said in a sarcastic tone. I made it very clear that I was being sarcastic.

"You welcome," She responded in a cheerful way, knowing that she managed to get me angered like before. I opened my mouth to say something else, but then a pony opened the door pretty loudly.

"Hey I need you-" I heard a familiar female voice say, but she paused out of surprise. I turned around to see the newcomer and knew exactly who it was. Then again, the purple shades were a dead giveaway.

"Vinyl?" I asked to make sure that it is her name, and not her daughter or something strange like that.

"John! Since when did you get back?" She asked, using her magic to move her purple shades to her head to look at me with those rose colored eyes.

"Just today, it's great to see you again," I said with a smile. Vinyl was one of the only other DJ's that I know of that really loves to kick off parties and do it right. It's one of the reasons I could bear being in Equestria the first time around.

"Same to you, so why are you here?" She asked me.

"Simple, I'm here to see if I can't meet someone again and possibly work here once more," I explained, taking a quick glance at Midnight.

"Sure, we could always use more trained hooves in this station," Vinyl said in a relaxed way, just like I remembered her.

"Does this mean I still have my job?" Flash would ask.

"Why do you think I'm taking your job? I would never deny a pony a job if I can help it," I said in mock offence.

"Because with the way you know Vinyl Scratch, I felt like you might be kicking me out," He said in annoyance.

"I'll have to talk to Octy first anyways, to let her know that your back," Vinyl said to me.

"Great, now I heard Pinkie Pie is going to throw a party for my return, you going to be there?" I asked.

"Of course I'll be there! Every pony need to have DJ PON-3 at the party or it just gets dull," She boasted. I chuckled at her boast, and was also joined by Midnight.

"Can I talk with you for a moment though John?" Midnight asks after we calmed down.

"Sure, but not here," I said, looking around.

"I'll hold this area out while you go ahead and talk with your old friend," Flash Record says in a bored tone.

"Done this before?" I asked him.

"Yep," he responded simply.

"Figures, you will be fine doing this right?" I asked him. He gave me a glare that answered my question.

"Okay, I'll take that hard glare as a yes, lead the way Midnight!" I said in a strangely happy mood. Midnight just walked out of the room without waiting for me to start following. So I quickly picked up the pace and caught up to her.

________________________________________

We kept on walking to an empty room in the station that had obviously not been used for a long time. It was just an empty room that was accidently made when they expanded the building. Since it was not needed, no one ever needed to go there in the first place. Now it was a place that I was going to hope to unveil my biggest surprise for her.

"John, you there?" Midnight said waving a hoof in front of my face as I was deep in thought.

"Sorry, I must’ve spaced out," I said with a light blush.

"Well we are here, so stop being spaced out," She said; and entered into the room. I entered in as well and close the door softly, because I did not like to slam doors that may or may not be extremely old.

"Alright, first of all-" I started to say, but Midnight surprised me by kissing me on the cheek, causing me to stop talking to blush red. She giggled at how red my face was.

"What.... why did you do that?!" I asked, trying hard to calm down.

"You have no idea how hard it was to be away from you..." She said with half lidded eyes.

"Okay, who are you and what did you do with the real Midnight?" I asked with a grin. She gasped at my question.

"I am offended that you think I'm a changeling!" She said in mock offence.

"Well the one I remembered would not just kiss me out of nowhere," I said, ignoring the fact that she was kidding with me.

"No, but that is only because I did not realize how much I loved you, at least, until you disappeared to save me," She said, growing sad as she spoke the last part of her sentence. I walked up and put a leg on her in comfort.

"It was never your fault, I would never blame you for what happened then, and it's in the past now," I said in an attempt to comfort her with my words as well. She looks at me in the eyes and smiles.

"I was afraid that you would blame me for being so-" She started to say, but I stopped her sentence with a light hoof tap to her lips.

"I never will hold grudges against a beautiful La- Mare like you," I said, almost slipping up on vocabulary. I swear that I could really get lost in those eyes of hers if I keep staring at them. I loved the color of the sea; it’s so calming to me because of how long I have traveled when I was an active treasure hunter.

"John?" She asks, pulling me back to reality again.

"Yes Midnight?" I ask, trying to keep myself from getting lost in her beauty again.

"You do know that I can see that you're staring," She said with a small grin. I attempted to maintain my calmness and failed miserably.

"I wasn't- I didn't mean to- Agh!" I said, and turned away to hide my red face.

"I don't mind if you stare, it was just starting to get uncomfortable for you to keep doing it," She said while giggling. I felt bad for myself because I was away for two years and now I can't keep a straight face anymore.

"I don't mean to stare, now can you stop getting me embarrassed so I can ask you something?" I said, turning to her with my face red in anger, or at least I hope that’s what it is.

"Alright, I can't promise anything though," She said with a small smile.

"Okay... I wanted to give you something since it was finished, but because of what happened I couldn't give it," I said, reaching slowly behind me.

"You wanted to give me something?" She asks, being curious about what I wanted to give her.

"Of course, but it's a gift for both of us now," I said, pulling out a small box that I kept with me. Wait, where do I keep all this? Oh well, I best not think about it. I might get a headache.

"A box?" She asks, but she would be speechless in surprise when I kneeled and opened it.

"No, it's a proposal for us to be together, and I will never leave you again," I said, showing her the ring that I kept for two years. I never let it out of my sight because I have waited so long to show her. I even made sure that it would fit her hoof as well.

"Two years..." She said, being almost speechless about what I just did.

"It is way too long for me to wait, Midnight song, Will you marry me?" I asked. I secretly hoped that she wouldn't flat out refuse me. She was silent for what felt like a long time, and I almost gave up hope when she tackled me in a hug. I fumbled and quickly closed the box so the ring would not get damaged. I ended out hitting the floor with Midnight on top of me, unintentionally pinning me down.

"Of course I will! You are the only one I would ever want to stand to be with!" She exclaimed happily. I could not say anything because of how happy I was that she accepted. The only thing I could do was kiss her on the lips for the first time. It surprised her about my willingness to kiss her, but she also eventually returned the kiss when she comprehended what I was doing. During the kiss, I felt a weird sensation in my wings. They felt oddly stiff and uncomfortable, but I didn't really care. All I cared was that I was actually kissing my fiancé and that we still felt the same way about each other after all of these years.

Chapter 3: Meeting in the library

Chapter 3

I still find it intresting that they are named after the evening times.

I took longer than I planned to exit the radio station because of how long I spent in that empty room kissing Midnight. I was almost as happy as Pinkie Pie throwing a party when I started walking to the library. I didn't know how long I was in there, so I was not surprised to find that it was around the evening times. I walked up to the tree to make one last visit before I went to Sugar Cube Corner to celebrate my return all night. The big tree that was the library hadn’t changed at all, and I was pretty sure that I knew who still lived there. I walked up to the door and knocked three times and waited. The door was then answered by a sizable lizard.

"Do you need something?" The lizard asks me. I was confused about why a lizard was living in the library.

"Yes, two things actually, who are you?" I asked.

"I'm Spike; Twilight's number one assistant," He boasted as proudly as I remembered him saying before, “well... her only assistant”

"I see... is Twilight here?" I said in an attempt to hide my surprise.

"Yes she is, but why do you need to see her?" He asks me with curiosity.

"Can you blame me for wanting to see an old friend?" I asked with a smile. His eyes glinted in recognition.

"I'll go and get her right away John!" he said quickly and ran into the library. I decided to let myself in as well since I didn't want to wait outside. As I closed the door, my only thought was: I wonder if she has any of those Daring Do books that Rainbow eagerly talked about two years ago...

As I waited, I looked over the shelves of books. I was impressed by the fact that most of the books are things that she would read. I then heard a soft clop over to my left.

"This had better not be one of Pinkie's pranks again..." I heard a female voice say in annoyance. I figured that Pinkie Pie may have done too many pranks since my disappearance.

"Trust me, this one is not even related to her," Spike said in response. I turned to the stairs to see a purple horse with lavender highlight in her purple mane.

"Then who is?" She said. I cleared my throat loudly enough for her to hear, and she turned her head to the source. As soon as she noticed me, her eyes widened in surprise.

"Hi there," I said raising a hoof in greetings.

"John?" She asks, not entirely believing what she is seeing.

"The one and only, unless you met another pony that happened to be named John," I said jokingly. She teleported right in front of me and surprised me greatly.

"If you are him, would you mind if I go through your memories?" She asks me.

"Sure, just don't go through any memories from a year ago," I said with a bit of unease at her question. Her horn suddenly glowed with a purple light and I felt like something was going through my head. I was not very fond of the sensation, but it faded along with her horn's glow.

"I am very sorry I doubted you John," She said in a strange mix of shock and sadness.

"You looked through the memories I told you not too..." I said in annoyance. I wasn't too happy about the possibility of it happening.

"Yes, but I didn't mean to however, I only have just recently learned that spell," she said with a worried look on her face.

"He deserved what I just did to him," I told her darkly.

"Who did?" I heard a familiar male voice say. I turned to see a blue pony with a light blue mane going down the steps.

"I will say that he said Shadow Blade..." I told him. I took a bit to remember the name of the blue pony but I found it eventually. His name was Dusk, another human turned into a pony.

"What? Why, he’s back at Canterlot! Although he prefers the name Dusk Relic," He exclaimed in surprise.

"Well whoever he is... Was, I turned him into a pile of fresh darkened hamburger meat," I said with a dark smile forming on my face. Dusk slapped me with his hoof to snap me out of it quickly.

"Thanks, needed that," I told him.

"You’re welcome, now what took you so long to return?" He asks me jokingly.

"Well excuse me for not having a magically convenient item that would return me home!" I said while giving him a look that told him that I was not amused.

"Welcome back though," He said, holding his hoof out.

"It is good to be back again," I said in response, giving him a hoof bump. Then Pinkie randomly appeared behind him.

"What the..." I said in surprise. I did a double take to make sure that I wasn't seeing things.

"Can I get the party set up now?" She asks, startling Dusk a bit.

"Sure, it would be a better way for me to meet the rest of them anyways," I said. Pinkie would rocket out of the window like an actual rocket. I looked confused at the Pink trail that she left as she rocketed (Literally) out of the window.

"Only one day passes and you want to have a party?" He asks me.

"Yep, because I need to celebrate my return somehow, that and it's for a new guest that came with me.

"You brought someone with you?" Twilight asks me out of curiosity.

"Yeah, you'll meet him at the party though, now do you have one of those Daring Doo books that Dash told me about?" I asked, completely changing the subject.

"Rainbow actually checked all of those books out, but I did get a letter from Daring Do," She said and held out the letter in her magic.

"Really? From Daring Do herself?" I asked.

"No, Celestia sent it to me," She told me.

"Figured as much," I said and took the letter from her magic. I opened it up and read it to myself.

Dear John,

First of all, welcome back, this world needs to have more ponies that can hunt for ancient treasures that the archaeologists cannot hope to get to. I have heard some rumors about what you did so I would like to meet you myself to see if the rumors are actually true. Perhaps I could work with you in some of my hunts if you don't mind doing so. If you want to send a letter back to me, just send it to Celestia, she knows how to get it to me.

-Daring Doo.

"Interesting, if I meet her I should bring Rainbow Dash with me," I thought out loud to myself.

"I'm sure that she would love that," Twilight would say in response.

"Okay, do you mind if you give me a paper and something to write with?" I asked.

"I figured that you would say that, so I got the paper and quill all set up on the table," She said with a gesture to the exact table with the paper.

"Not bad," I complemented and walked to the table. I used my hoof and pulled the quill out of the ink well and started to write, snickering once at the start of it.

Dear Daring Doo,

Thank you for the welcome back, I'm glad to be back after all this time away. I actually would like to meet you as well, but could we meet in Ponyville? I live there and I would like to stay there for a while. As for working with you, as long as it is worth the pain of getting the item, whatever that may be.

John.

P.S. I am going to be having a celebration in Ponyvile so Celestia, could you bring your sister to the party?

As soon as I finished the letter Twilight look at me with a very impressed looked, Dusk would have the same look as well.

"That is really nice hoof writing there," Twilight complemented.

"Thank you, I've been practicing," I said in response. In reality, I've been actually writing so much that I've gotten used to how it felt to write so I could easily do it with hooves.

"I see… do you want me to send this to Celestia?" She asks me.

"That would be great," I responded with a nod.

"Okay then, Spike!" She said and spike would walk up to her.

"Alright, I'll get it to her right now," He said, taking the scroll from her. He burped pretty loudly and a bit of fire burned the scroll. A hardly visible pink smoke exited out of the nearby window.

"There we go, so what now?" I asked.

"We could catch up on the times," Dusk offers.

"Nah, I think I'll head to Sugar cube Corner to bake a cake for the party," I said with a mischievous smile. Before they could say anything to stop me, I walked out of the door. I had a plan to get back at Celestia and Luna for dropping me down a dark hole two years ago. In fact, it would be one of my best cakes that I have ever made. It would be so great, that the cake tastes like a pie.

Chapter 4: preparing for parties

Chapter 4

Royals have two diffrent attitudes, snobbish or understanding.

It didn’t take me long to find Sugar cube Corner because I remembered that the building looked like it was made of deserts. When I looked inside however, I didn’t see Pinkie Pie. I decided to enter the building and check the kitchen. The kitchen was an absolute mess of dough sticking to the ceiling and the floor. In the middle of it all was Pinkie Pie stuck in the dough batter like a bug in a spider’s web. I chuckled a bit at her problem but I moved to help her.

"Hey John, can you help me with baking the things for the party?" She asked me as I helped her out of the web of dough.

"What did you do to cause this?" I asked her when I got her out of the sticky dough web.

"I think I may have put in baking soda instead of sugar for one of the things so I when-" She started to say, but I put a hoof in her mouth to prevent her from talking my ear off.

"I think I know what happened now; can you help me with something?" I asked. She nodded and I removed my hoof.

"Okay, I want to make a pie that is in the shape of a cake, frosting and all," I explained to her.

"Why would you want to do something like that?" She asked me.

"A bit of a joke on a certain royalty," I said with a grin.

"Alright I'll help!" She said quickly. I was surprised that she agreed to help me so fast. Then again, Pinkie does like pranks.

"Alright, now I'll also help you make the treats as well," I told her and started scraping some of the dough into a bowl. I threw the pieces of dough that have stuck to the walls, ceiling, and the floor away since I did not trust it. Despite that, there was enough dough to make the party treats in the first place.

________________________________________

By the time I helped Pinkie pie finish with all of the things for the party, the pie in the shape of a cake was done. Along with other sweets such as: cupcakes, Muffins, Donuts, real cakes, pies, and some banana breads. We baked more things but I don't remember them all off the top of my head. I actually worked with Pinkie Pie to bake the banana breads with fruit and I think it worked well. I then helped Pinkie pie to carry the tables out for the food. As I helped her with it, I noticed my brother walk in.

"Hey brother, how was your time at the bar?" I asked him as he walked up to me and helped me set up the table. I put the punch bowl down and start filling it up with punch when he responded.

"Getting to better terms in my current form now, I am more surprised at the fact that everyone here is nice to each other," He said in half wonder.

"Yep, you should really get along with everyone then," I said in a bored way since I was helping set up the party.

"Hoorah..." He said half heartily.

"Is something wrong?" I asked him in concern.

"I may have found someone who reminded me of one of my cases in the past," He told me with a sad sigh.

"We both know that he deserved what happened and what I did to him," I said to him in a serious tone.

"I know, but it’s not that case," He said.

"Then which one was it?" I asked him in curiosity.

"The case where I had to bust a bunch of innocent people that ended up being corrupted... I almost lost my assistant then," He explained to me.

"What is wrong with that?" I asked him.

"It's the reason of why I left the force in the first place, some of them were not even corrupted but they were jailed all the same... I lost my trust in them because they did not even bother to give them a fair chance since some of the cops were also corrupted," He told me.

"And what happened to them?" I asked in a half mocking tone.

"I arrested them so fast, that they didn't even have a chance to turn in their badge..." He said to me darkly.

"Oh..." I said, being surprised. Chris would say nothing more after that, and we set up the rest of the tables and the two stages in a very sad silence.

________________________________________

When I saw Pinkie return, I also saw that she brought Sparx with. He also had a mare with him I don't actually remember seeing two years ago, so I turned to look at her. She had a dark brown coat that it looked like tree bark, her mane was also brown but it had two highlights of green and yellow. Her eyes were a dark green like the deep forests that I have been in. I turned back and set up the final table and turned to them.

"Hey Sparx, who is your friend?" I asked with moderate excitement.

"My name is Celestial Bell, and you are?" She answered. I would narrow my eyes at her because she sounded a bit like royalty. She looked at me with a bit of worry; she was not too worried since Sparx was next to her.

"Does it matter if you wear fancy stuff?" I asked in a half mocking tone.

"Not really, I don’t even like wearing them so much anyways," She stated in a half annoyed tone. I widened my eyes in surprise.

"Oh, I thought you were... never mind, my name is John," I said, and held out my hoof. She surprised me by giving me a light hoof bump. She sounded like royalty but... wait a minute. I thought to myself.

"I see that the party is set up now," Sparx said.

"Indeed," I said, shaking myself out of my thoughts and turning to him. I almost missed seeing a glint of gold on Celestial's hoof. I figured it was also a ring of some sorts.

"Can I ask you something?" I asked Sparx.

"Sure, what is it?" He asked me in return.

"You both wouldn't happen to have an engagement ring on your hooves, would you?" I asked them, pointing at his ring.

"Yes actually, we have just been engaged a year ago but Pyro wanted to wait until you got back," He said with a smile. I also saw Celestial smile as well. I guess Pyro really helped me in not missing an awesome wedding. I thought to myself.

"Alright then, I got a bunch more stories to tell you about at the party," I said, changing the subject again.

"Really? Like what happened during the years you were missing?" He asked innocently.

"Yes, but I can't tell you about an event that happened a year ago, I think my mind may still be a bit broken from that," I explained in a calm tone.

"Actually John doesn't want to explain it because he brutally killed someone that you may know and/or hate," Chris said from behind me.

"So is he still okay?" Sparx asked Chris.

"He wasn't actually kidding about the broken mind part," he said in a dark way.

"I'll tell everypony that the party is ready now!" Pinkie exclaimed suddenly and ran out. I thought she invited them already... I thought to myself in confusion. I shook my head and turned to my brother.

"Ready for a time of your life?" I asked him.

"Does it involve me having to shoot my way out of anything?" He asks me with a smile.

"Nope, it's a mass party," I told him simply.

"Then I'm in," He said with a smile.

"Glad to hear it, Sparx could you help me get Vinyl’s turntable ready?" I asked, turning my head to Sparx himself.

"Sure, I'll be glad to help you," He said, and walked with me to the stage to help me set up the turntables. I was really excited for the party and seeing everyone once again. In fact, I think I might do something of a bass drop for everyone to see when the party is about to end.

I love ending my parties with a bang.

Chapter 5: Party like it's a party!

Chapter 5

Parties are never complete without something fun to them.

When Pinkie returned again, she brought the whole entire town with her. At least, everyone who she could find anyways. Everyone was wondering why Pinkie would throw a party this time until one of the ponies noticed me. The brown pony gave me a weird look and I glared back in response.

"Do I know you from somewhere?" The brown pony asks me. It resulted in the rest of the ponies looking in my direction and wondering who I was.

"Probably not, my name is John," I said in an attempt to not lash out at them in anger.

"Do you happen to know what Changeling ooze tastes like?" I heard one of the ponies in the crowd ask. It confused me enough of the question to calm myself down pretty quickly. I knew that they may not know for a fact if it's me, so I decided to help them out on that.

"Last time I tried eating it, it tasted like some green Jell-o that was sitting out in the sun for around three days," I said with a small shiver. I am never trying that again because the taste was close to what I said, only a bit weirder.

"By Celestia! You're really back!" I heard a mint green pony shout.

"Did someone happen to call for me?" I heard a royal voice say. The ponies immediately bowed to a large white horse with wings and a colorful mane that flows like it was being blown by the wind. I remembered her easily and smiled.

"Celestia! Here have some cake!" I said, offering her one of the cakes that I baked.

"Thank you," She said in a polite tone; grabbing the plate with her magic. I managed to maintain a straight face as she took a bite and looked a bit surprised and confused.

"So why are we here... Oh John! Welcome back!" I heard a different royal voice say. I knew for a fact that it was probably Luna, she was a bit smaller than her sister but her coat was a dark blue along with her mane looking like the night sky. I think she does live up to her name.

"Thank you, have some cake," I said and offered the plate from the same cake. I then saw Celestia look at me in confusion.

"Could you tell me why the cake tastes more like pie?" she asks me. I grinned and tried to hold back from laughing.

"Did I mess up on the cake? I think I might have given you a slice of pie in the shape of a cake," I said while holding back laughter. Luna looked at me before even taking a bite of the pie/cake.

"I don't think I did..." I said and pretended that I was deep in thought. I saw Luna decide to taste it and see if I messed up.

"John, why does the cake taste like pie?" Luna asked me in confusion as if she hadn’t heard Celestia. I snorted and fell over laughing to the confusion of everyone. As I was laughing, I noticed a gold Pegasus with a grayscale mane wearing a pith hat enter in through the window. No one noticed her because they were focused on me laughing on the floor. As soon as I calmed down enough to breathe and speak normally I got up.

"Gotcha! I waited two years to do something like that to you!" I said between laughs.

"I don't get it," I heard a pony in the crowd say.

"You both dropped me down a hole! Now you get pie in the shape of cake," I said with a serious look but the grin never did leave my face. Celestia would also chuckle as well.

"I see you have managed to get us then," She said and did a warm smile.

"That is a really good joke John, perhaps I should try that next time my sister is stealing my cake," She said, directing the last part at Celestia.

"Two years? That's an interesting time to wait to prank royalty," I heard the golden Pegasus say. I turned to acknowledge her.

"Sort of, now who are you?" I asked.

"I am Daring Doo, and you must be John correct?" She said with a confidence that I recognized.

"Indeed, the one and only, now cue the fan girl squealing," I said. Daring looked at me in confusion for a moment until I heard a chorus of squealing. I decided to take to the air and avoid being trampled. Wait, how did I remember how to fly? I thought to myself in confusion as a crowd stormed over where I was. I shook my head, deciding to ask that another day.

"Make sure you leave some time for her to talk to me! I actually want to talk with her about her offer to me!" I shouted at the crowd. I think I also saw a cyan Pegasus with a rainbow mane in the crowd, and I knew it was Rainbow Dash. She was really that big of a fan of the Daring Doo books. I flew towards the stage where my brother was waiting.

"I can't believe that you’re not jealous of her yet," He said as soon as I landed.

"We both know that I don't care much for fame," I told him simply.

"I am sure that Daring would feel almost the same way," He said with a small smile.

"I'll just get on the stage, I want to tell one of my stories about a hunt before this party gets too cold," I said and made my way onto the stage.

________________________________________

The crowd near Daring died away when I stomped loudly on the stage to get everyone's attention. Only Rainbow Dash wouldn’t pay any attention to me and asked Daring to Sign one of the books (that she probably got from the library). Daring did so and Rainbow squealed softly in delight.

"If you don't mind, I would like to tell you a story that I have while I was gone for two years, so if you would kindly quiet down I can get started," I said, and almost every pony there looked at me with interest and some sat down in front of the stage.

"Okay then, now which one should I tell..." I said to myself. I tapped my chin with my hoof twice before I came up with an idea.

"I know, how about the story about the story about the time when I found a mirror," I heard murmurs around the crowd and I figured that it would be the best story to tell.

"Okay, we start this tale in a bar, I was hanging around it as I usually do when this woman walked into the building, To everyone in the bar, she looked astoundingly beautiful, I wasn't really paying any attention because I did not really care for beauty because I had my eyes for someone else, She walks up to me and asks me if I would like to do a job for her, I would refuse at first, but then she started offering me rewards ranging from money to her body, I said no to every one of those offers; Especially when she offered her body," I paused to shake my head in disappointment.

"She really wanted me to take the job so she asks me what I really want, I told her that I was in search of a certain knife, turns out that she had the knife that I was looking for with her, so with that reward, I took the job of the treasure hunt, this woman points me to an island and gives me the knife, I took it but she actually followed me to make sure that I didn't try to walk out with the knife and not do the job in the first place," I paused again to take a drink of water and I was happy that the room was silent this time. I set down my glass and continued.

"Now I know you are wondering: Why do I need a certain knife? I will actually keep that to myself because I don't think you would want to know," I told them. They wouldn't want to know what I used it for either. I thought to myself.

"Anyways, I get to this temple and lo and behold, the door wasn't even open, the lady who followed me happens to walk up to the door and opens it for me, saving me time of attempting to open it in the first place. Now, when I entered in the temple, the door shut behind me and forces me to have to continue onwards, the first trap I encountered in the temple was a dart trap," I paused to stomp the floor in anger.

"Bloody dart traps always get on my nerves!" I shouted angrily at the crowd and startled a few ponies, “sorry,” I really did not want to stay on the topic of dart traps, so I continued my story.

"After getting through the dart traps, I avoided a few other typical temple traps such as: Fire shooting out of the floor, rooms where you have to step on certain tiles, running away from boulders, and some items that are not even real,” Daring gave a look of “I know how you feel” I smiled and continued, “now after passing all of those traps you would think that I have just obtained the treasure easily, right? Wrong! It is never that easy to obtain a treasure despite all of the traps you have gone through, So when I saw the mirror I saw something come out of the shadows, I pulled out a knife and prepared for a fight when I noticed a key thing about the figure when he walked into the light that was shining in the room," I paused again to finish the rest of the water in the glass and carefully put the glass near the middle of the stage where I wouldn't tip it over and break it.

"The figure was me, and I couldn't even think about trying to beat him, he knew me well and had his own knife drawn out to fight; I did the first thing that I could think of, and that was talk to it. Surprisingly, he had his own mind as well. I found out that I was right about the figure being me except the fact that he was my opposite self; as I talked to him, we both became less hostile and more friendly towards each other since we were not trying to actively fight each other, I really enjoyed the conversation but it is pretty boring for me to repeat again though," I looked around the room and smile when I saw Midnight Song also in the room to listen to my story.

"Either way, it turns out that the only reason that my reflection came to life was because it was cursed. With my reflection's help, I managed to remove the curse from the mirror that I was searching for. Then the lady that I saw earlier comes in and thanks me before disappearing, leaving me to wonder of who that lady was. I figured that she was a spirit of the mirror that has long since suffered because of the curse. I can't argue with what she did though, I did get the knife in the first place, now normally I would make my way out of the temple, but the mirror offered to teleport me out of there so I agreed to its offer and with a flash of light I found myself out of the temple, it wasn't really one of the best treasure hunts I did but it was a pretty interesting one," I said and paused long enough for them to know that I finished my story. They applauded (well, stomped on the floor) for me. I even saw Daring Doo join in as well.

"I think you told a great story," Daring said when the noise died down.

"Thanks, I won't ever tell you about the reason of why I needed the knife," I said with a dark smile.

"John, don't scare the audience," Chris deadpanned to me.

"Sorry, I think some dark memories may have taken a bit of my mind apart..." I admitted.

"Wait, what do you mean by dark memories?" Twilight asks. I was surprised of her being there in the first place, until I saw Dusk as well.

"I'll explain that for John, he managed to... do something to someone that I assumed that you called evil, at least based on what John did anyways; So he butchered that person so much that he would resemble what we call ground hamburger, the body was so torn apart that I had to stop John from doing it again; I think John may still carry a bit of scars from it," Chris explained in a sad way. The ponies would look at me in horror.

"I still don't like what I did," I told them to try to set them more at ease. It worked to a degree, but some were still a bit worried about my state of mind.

"Who was it that you managed to kill?" Pyro asks in curiosity, not even helping the situation at all. I figured that he came with Dusk into the party when I wasn't paying attention.

"He called himself Shadow Blade I think..." I said with uncertainly in my voice.

"I thought that we got rid of him," Sparx said. I figured that Dusk may have brought his whole entire living family to the party, so I shouldn't be surprised at their appearance.

"I thought so too... I think that he would probably be dead by now after what I did to him; His shadows really did a number on my mind and I really don't want to talk any more about it in fear of relapsing and repeating it on somepony else," I said with growing worry.

"Would you mind if I offer help?" I heard Luna say to the surprise of the crowd.

"If you can fix my mental state about that event, by all means go ahead," I said with a light tap to the side of my head.

"Very well, first I need to have us go somewhere where we won't be disturbed," Luna explained.

"Sounds good, Pinkie could you keep the party going without me?" I asked.

"Will do!" Pinkie responded with a salute.

"Great, now where-?" I started to ask, but I saw Luna's horn glow and I felt very tired for some strange reason. I was careful to lie down on the floor before closing my eyes. I don't have any idea of what happened, but I was pretty sure it was part of Luna's attempt to help me. I hoped that she succeeded in it too.

________________________________________

I opened my eyes to find that I was in a creepy morgue, and that Luna was nowhere to be seen. The building looked very abandoned and in pretty bad shape. I looked up to see a dark blue sky, so I figured that it was probably something that Luna put me into while she went around in my memories. I was glad that she did this because I really don't like what I did to Shadow Blade. He was evil, but I don't think he deserved what I did to him. I sighed and looked around the general area. It looked exactly like what a morgue would look like except in a certain area of the floor. The floor looked more burnt like as if a lightning bolt struck the area. I was curious about the mark on the floor, so I decided to investigate it. In the center of the burnt area was a name, I did not recognize the name until I read it out loud.

"Morning Cloud..." I said to myself softly, and then a flash of light illuminated the area for a brief moment. When it faded, I noticed that a near invisible pony stood where the flash happened.

"Another day in this place..." It lamented.

"Who... are you?" I asked with uncertainly. He would turn to look at me.

"Wait, you can see me?" He asks.

"I guess so... I thought this was a dream?" I said in confusion.

"It probably is, but I guess you were the one who managed to kill Shadow Blade?" He asked me out of the blue.

"I guess? I don't know if that was him though," I said in confusion.

"I'll take that as a yes, so that means that you’re going to help me," He said in an excited tone.

"Don't I get a say in this?" I asked him.

"Not really, since you did read my name and I appeared here," He explained to me with an odd smile.

"Son of a-" I started to curse, but the rest of my curse was thrown away by a weird feeling. The spirit disappeared and I had a feeling that I remembered when Golden Shield did something like this two years ago.

"So much for that, now who-" I started to say but I got an image of Scootaloo in my head.

"Okay, I think I'll talk with Scootaloo and see if she can point me in the right direction of where Morning last was alive..." I said to myself. I looked around and the morgue was still there. I decided that while I wait for her to finish going through my past to look around this morgue. I searched through the drawers for the bodies in the morgue, two of them had a skeleton inside. They were creepy with their sightless eyes, but I got used to it quickly since I've seen things similar to that. I did see a few of them suddenly fill with blood, but when I blinked my eyes it vanished. It was creepy as hell to me, but I was hoping that it would not continue. I got my wish when I saw a glint of a flash appear next to the blackened area. I turned to investigate the glint and saw that a map had appeared in the floor. I looked over the map and committed it to memory before it disappeared with a soft glow.

"Well that was pointless, going to remember that area though..." I said to myself. There was no one around to hear me, so I figured that I could do something to pass the time. I thought about playing five finger filet, but I tossed that idea out because I had a hoof. It would be too easy to play that game anyways, so I decided to do the second best thing, Knife throwing. I walked to a wall and pulled out a knife to draw a target upon the stone. I took a few steps back from the target and used the same knife to mark the floor where I would stand for throwing. I put that knife away and pulled out four other knives for the little game.

I set them down on the floor and picked up one of them. I narrowed my eyes and concentrated on the target, and threw the knife. The knife sunk into the wall about eight centimeters off from the bull's-eye, I was disappointed. I picked up the second knife and threw it at the target without bothering to aim. The knife sank into the target at its lowest point.I think I may need practice at this... I thought to myself as I picked up the third knife. I carefully aimed at an area above the bull's eye and threw the knife. The third knife sunk itself directly dead center in the bull’s-eye. Okay maybe not. I thought in half surprise. I picked up the last knife and threw it at the wall without bothering to aim. That knife hit the area of the wall far below the target. I looked at it in surprise before becoming embarrassed. "Woops." I said to myself, glad that no one was able to see my embarrassing throw, or that no human males were standing there either. I walked to the wall and retrieved my knives. As I turned back to walk to the line the world started fading to black along with the sky. Finally... I thought as the world slowly became black.

________________________________________

I awoke to find myself lying on a bed in what looked to be a pretty fancy room. I blinked once and looked around the room to see Luna standing next to me looking pretty tired.

"You have really fought Shadow Blade..." She said in worry.

"I guess so... did it work?" I asked anxiously. She looked at me with a bit of surprise, but smiled.

"I have, but it was not easy for both of us to fix it," She told me as calmly as she could.

"Both of you?" I asked.

"Your mind was very broken from when you fought Shadow Blade, his shadows almost turned you insane but I am surprised to see that you have managed to beat them, but the lasting effects were hard to remove without someone who has experience in them," Luna explained to me, and gestured to her left. I looked and saw a dark purple earth pony that looked similar to Dusk. Out of Instinct, I reached towards my bag to pull out a knife when Luna used her magic to stop me.

"Shadow Blade..." I spat out in anger.

"Clam down John, this is not the Shadow Blade that you know," She said to me in a calm tone. I glared at the earth pony with suspicion before looking at Luna.

"Explain it then, I know I killed Shadow Blade myself!" I growled in a dangerous way.

"I was corrupted by him until six very brave fillies banished him from me," The dark purple pony says in a calm way. I turned my gaze back to him.

"Right, so what do you go by now then?" I asked him.

"I go by Dusk Relic now," He told me in a calm way.

"Alright Relic or whoever you are, give me just one reason that I shouldn't try to put a knife in your head," I threatened.

"Because I want to be the father that I have failed to be for Dusk, Because of Shadow Blade I have missed so much of his life," He says with sorrow in his voice. I looked at his eyes, and saw that he was telling the truth. I slowly got up and set my bag on the bed.

"Oh... I am very sorry for what I did then," I said to him, matching his sorrow.

"Don't be, I know that I have done evils that I-" He started to say, but I interrupted him.

"You didn't do them on purpose, but I want you to tell me the truth, are you really Dusk’s father?" I asked him.

"Yes, and of Morning as well, but because of Shadow Blade, he is no longer with us..." He told me sadly.

Wait, Shadow Blade is my father? I heard a voice ask in my head.

"Oh hell no... Not this again" I grumbled out loud.

"Is there something wrong?" Luna asks me.

"Yes, I have another spirit who manages to possess me," I said, not being amused at the prospect of another spirit deciding to use me as a home.

"This has happened before?" Dusk Relic asks me.

"Yep, Golden Shield was the first," I said to him.

"Who is it this time?" Luna asks me in curiosity.

"I think he called himself Morning or something like that..." I said; Luna and Dusk Relic looked at me in surprise.

"Morning? But he died," Relic said.

"I think he did, but now I have his spirit haunting my head," I said to him in annoyance, “it’s really annoying how often this happens to me.”

'You do know that I can hear that, right?' Morning said in my head.

"Yes... I know," I said out loud.

"This shouldn't normally be possible... Unless," Dusk Relic says in thought.

"Unless what?" I asked in confusion.

"Unless you happen to be one of the legendary elements that have been lost to this world," He finished. I looked at him like I thought that he was crazy.

"What are these elements?" I asked him.

"They are elements that have long since vanished from our world, if all of them were to be found, they could be used to dispel any evil," He explained to me.

"Woo... I have this power that I could use to possibly kill everyone if it is in the wrong hands," I said sarcastically.

"It is impossible for it to be used for evil, if it was going to be used for evil it would have killed you," He explained.

"Yeah, so how do you know so much of these so called elements?" I asked him.

"Because Shadow Blade talked about them, and how he worried about being killed before finding one of them while he controlled me," He said with a grave look.

"Great, so now everything evil is going to be hunting me if they know this," I lamented.

"Not unless you tell them," Luna says to me.

"Oh... never mind then," I said.

"I think I will leave you to rest, when you are ready to learn more about your abilities, meet me at the observatory," Dusk Relic says to me and walks out, “oh, and one last thing, I am sincerely sorry.”

"Alright... I suppose I could use it anyways," I said, confused as to why he was apologizing, and nodded to Luna. I got back into the bed and closed my eyes.

Do you think that you could be as awesome as me? Morning jokingly asks me in my head.

Shut up and let me sleep. I replied in my head and closed my eyes. I did not want to deal with anything more since I managed to have my mind pieced back together. It was going to be one heck of a day when I open my eyes again.

Can you tell me what happened to Dusk? Morning asks me in my head. I gave him no reply as I drifted off to sleep.

Chapter 6:Knights of Canterlot

Chapter 6

Sometimes all you need is time.

I opened my eyes from my rest and got out of the bed. I felt weird after sleeping in a bed that was that comfortable because I have never actually slept in one for a long time. Mostly because I was trying to avoid being killed by the royalty that would almost immediately enter the room.

You’re awake, that’s great. Now I can ask you some questions, I heard Morning Cloud say in my head.

I promptly ignored it and walked outside. The halls were almost as fancy as the room was, except the fact that some places of the walls had banners of the sun. I figured that they were the signet of the Princess of the Sun. I smiled as I thought of the odd coincidence of the two royal sisters that I’ve met. One sister was of the sun, the other was of the moon, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they controlled the sun and the moon.

Actually they do control the sun and the moon, Morning pointed out.

“That is something great to know… now to figure out where the observatory that Dusk Relic talked about is,” I muttered to myself.

Since I didn’t really get directions, I decided to ask the first pony that I see for it so I can get there later. I walked down the halls and looked out the window. I widened my eyes in surprise when I figured out that I was in the castle in what they call the capital city. Note to self, stop getting a free pass into large castles. I thought to myself.

Get lost often? Morning asks me with what I could guess is with a smile if he had a face. More than you could count, I thought jokingly. I turned around and saw a white pony wearing golden armor.

“Excuse me, but do you happen to know of someone who-” I started to ask, but he interrupted me to my annoyance.

“Shining Armor is looking for you; he wants to see you in the training grounds,” He said to me in a trained flat tone.

“I’ll make my way there, once I figure out where it is,” I told him with a bit of annoyance in my voice.

“I’ll take you there,” He offered.

“That would be great, thank you,” I said, mimicking his trained monotone. He wasn’t even amused and started walking off. I followed him with a frown on my face, but I turned it into a bored look. Are guards really trained to be that boring? I thought in my head.

Pretty much, not that they really have any reason to be that way though, Morning replied. I smiled and made a soft chuckle at that. I disliked trying to be serious in everyday life because it never really suited me.

________________________________________

I eventually was lead to an area that is just outside of the castle. The grounds had a few training dummies in the shape of ponies, along with a few other targets for practicing with the bow. I thought about using the targets for my knife throwing practice, but I thought otherwise since I’m sure that the targets have been stuck with enough arrows to turn them into porcupines anyways. The guard that was leading me saluted to a pony that wore purple armor rather than the typical golden armor that I have seen the guard wear.

“I brought John here sir,” The guard said.

“Good, now head back to your post,” The purple armored pony would say. I figured that he was a very high rank because of the guard calling him a sir, so I think that he is very experienced in fighting to become his rank. The guard walked off. The one I was brought to turned to me.

“You must be Shining Armor correct?” I asked.

“Indeed, and you must be John,” He replied.

“The one and only, it’s almost an honor to meet you,” I said while holding out my hoof.

“Almost an honor? Are you saying that you met someone better?” He asks me, not even bothering to give me a hoof bump. I lowered my hoof in disappointment.

“Yeah, I think Twilight Sparkle has more experience,” I told him with a smile. To my surprise, he also smiled.

“She does, but then again, she is an element of harmony and I am proud of her,” He says in a voice that sounded like as if he was talking about a family member, “She is my little sister after all”

“Twilight is your sister? Then I think she’s lucky to have a brother like you,” I said with a smile that equals his own. To admit something, I was actually fond of families myself. I have long since dreamed of starting one, so I made a very big promise to myself to never break apart a family, if I can help it.

“I’m sure that Twilight says the same thing sometimes, but we are not here to talk about my family,” He told me to try to get me back on track.

“You’re right, so why did you want me here anyways?” I asked.

“I’ve heard from Luna that you have someone that I should know, so I would like to speak to him,” He says.

“Sure, but I’m pretty sure I would rather him talk to you himself rather than having me translate for him,” I said with a small frown. I can’t believe that I would willingly let someone control my mouth for a while, but I think they would want to talk.

“Very well,” he said, waiting for me to do something. I sighed and closed my eyes. Try not to insult him so much, even though you can talk through me I still have limits on what to say. I explained to Morning.

Now why would I go and do that? He is my captain for Celestia’s sake! He said in mock shock.

Good point, have fun while I listen to this conversation. I thought in an attempt to remind him that I was always listening while he uses me as a temporarily home.

Well that’s not creepy at all. He said. I felt my throat move in an attempt to clear it.

“Hello Sir,” Morning says in greetings.

“Hello, may I have the name of who I am talking to?” Shining asks in confusion.

“I thought you would remember me, then again, I did die trying to slow down Shadow Blade,” Morning said in half disappointment.

“Morning Cloud?!” Shining shouted in surprise.

“Yes, but why do you… oh right, I died,” Morning said in now complete disappointment.

“But how-” Shining started to ask.

“I’ll answer that, I think somehow I have been able to pull Morning’s spirit back from the dead and there might be a chance that I can revive him again,” I explained, taking back control of my vocal chords to explain to him.

“Ah, so that’s what Luna meant by that,” He said, thinking out loud. I guess it’s a family trait. I thought with a mental chuckle.

“So what did you do since I died?” Morning Cloud asks in curiosity, asking through my voice again.

“I needed to get a new Second-in-Command since your death, so I put... Derpy as the second in command,” Shining said, surprisingly not shuddering.

That might explain why that grey Pegasus has a shield for a cutie mark… I thought to myself.

“Isn’t she the one that is somewhat clumsy sometimes?” Morning asks.

“Yes… it was not one thing I liked doing, but I had to do it because of your death. Astonishingly, she took the job very seriously and didn’t even mess up!” He explained.

Morning kept my face as neutral while I was laughing so much that I thought my head would explode with the effort to keep it in. I found it funny about this happening because of Morning’s sacrifice for his family. I didn’t find the sacrifice funny though, only the events that happened afterwards.

“Will you still allow me to be in the royal guard if I should be revived?” Morning asks.

“Only after you have been alive for a week, you’ll need the rest to recover,” Shining said.

That and I think you need a chance to catch up with who you love in the first place, I said in response for Morning to hear.

“That’s nice of you, but I still would like to have my spot in the Royal Guard,” he deadpanned.

“I can’t do that, but I can give you command of a newer branch of the royal guards though,” Shining offered.

“I think that’ll be the best offer I can get,” Morning said in half excitement. I figured that they were almost done, so I decided to take control of my vocal chords again.

“Very well, as for you John, I was going to offer you-” He started to say.

“Sorry, but I don’t like being restricted to be protecting others,” I said.

“Actually, I wanted you to know that you can lead a secret part of the royal guard that is not restricted by the normal rules of the Royal Guards,” He told me.

“I’d be honored, but I’ll save it until Morning is alive again,” I said with a small smile.

“It would be best, I don’t want you looking crazy in front of everypony do I? Now Dusk Relic wanted to talk to you in the observatory,” Shining told me.

“I know, but where is it?” I asked innocently.

“That’s right… you never got the tour of the castle, I’ll take you there,” He said knowingly.

“That would be great,” I said in a bit of joy. Shining Armor started walking, I followed along behind him. You need a better sense of direction. Morning said in my head. Shut up… I thought in annoyance as I walked.

________________________________________

I soon arrived at a tower that had a telescope at the top. I wanted to facehoof because of how obvious it was to locate, but I was still walking.

“Here we are, the observatory,” Shining said.

“Great, now you can return to whatever it was that you were doing,” I said.

“Only I get to tell my soldiers to do that,” He said, annoyed.

“Relax, I was just joking,” I said calmly. Shining glared at me for a moment before walking off. Geese, that guy needs to learn how to relax. I thought.

He’s relaxed when Candace is near. Morning said knowingly. I chuckled, knowing exactly what Morning meant. I didn’t waste any time in entering the observatory. Dusk Relic was waiting near a table.

“You’re here! Come, we have much to discuss about your... ability,” Relic said in a sense of urgency. I decided to spite him a bit and slowly walk over to him until he gave me a look that said “Stop messing around”.

“You’re really no fun,” I said in a disappointedly and sat down at the table.

“That’s because this is no joking matter, I have been studying the element that you are and found a grim tale about it,” He says with a darkened face.

“Everything about my life is grim: The people I have killed, the fact that I have rejected friends, and the single fact that I have single hoof(?)-edly killed the biggest threat that you know of,” I said in an annoyed frown.

"Yes, but it seems as if your element is one of the very few Elements of Creation that have been forgotten by time," Dusk would explain.

"And I should care about this, why?" I asked with a bored tone.

"Because your element could actually be able to revive my son without magic, you are more important than you would realize," Relic says in a grave tone.

"So you’re worried about me trying to revive every one of my friends if they die," I said in a deadpanned tone.

"You hold power to do that. But the question is will you respect their wishes if they meant to die?" He asked me.

"What is this, a trick question? Of course I would respect it, nothing deserves to be cursed to die again and again," I said with a look of annoyance. Dusk Relic smiled at my answer, as if he understood what it meant to be like that.

"You hold power, but you can respect others wishes,” he mumbled, scratching away at some parchment that had appeared out of nowhere, “I was right to believe that you deserve to know."

"Deserve to know what?" I asked him.

"You should know the origins of your parents," He told me.

"What do you mean? I thought that they were normal people who died from time," I said in confusion.

"They were, at least they used to be, history has long since said that two ponies had fled from evil carrying two of the Elements of Creation, one of them controls life, the other one controls order," He said in a story telling way.

"Wait a minute, your saying that they had stolen the elements?" I asked in shock.

"No, they were saving them from a very ancient evil, this evil has long since been defeated by the Princesses we know today and Discord," He explained.

"Discord? I’ve never heard of him," I said deep in thought.

"He is a strange creature of chaos, but before you or dusk got here, Celestia decided to give him a chance to redeem himself by having him stay with Fluttershy. She managed to get him to behave in a way that does not cause too much problems but he still does a few things for a laugh," Dusk Relic explained.

"So that explains that statue..." I said to myself softly.

"Indeed, but I want to ask you something," He says to put us back on the subject.

"Go ahead," I said with a wave of my hoof.

"Do you have a brother?" He asks me.

"Yes, he's a pretty good detective," I said with a smile. Relic gave me a calm look.

"I am sure he is; now we are here to talk about ‘your’ abilities, correct?" He asked me. I figured that he wanted to know if I wanted to talk about them, so I nodded my head.

"You do not have many abilities due to your element, but they are very powerful if used correctly," He explains in a way that reminded me of a sage.

"And what would these said abilities be?" I asked with interest.

"One of them is already happening now through your dreams, you have taken a spirit into yourself to give him another chance at life that he has missed," He explained.

"And the other ability?" I asked with growing interest.

"That ability is something that you should only use in a time of great distress and need, it will turn you into one of the great knights of life and let you fight an opponent of evil that is too strong to fight otherwise," He explains and pulls out a rough sketch of what it would look like.

"So it's basically a huge power boost to fight someone who decides that it would be a good idea to rule the world, and has the power to do it and plunge the world into darkness?" I asked.

"No, more of the destroying the world and all living beings on said world," He said with a small chuckle.

"That shouldn't be too bad, so most of my abilities don’t activate unless they are needed at the time, so I should be fine," I told him with a small smile.

"I am glad that you have gotten used to having this element," He said with a carefully hidden sigh.

"At first I thought it would be something I would have to live with, but this is something I can do easily," I said.

"It is, now I would like you to meet someone else that claims to know you very well," He says.

"Alright, you can go get him," I said.

"I don't need too... Golden Shield, would you come meet our guest?" He asks while looking up. I saw a yellow Pegasus with a mane that looked similar to gold jump down from the second floor. He landed on the floor with a soft thud after slowing his decent with his wings and turns to look at me.

"I see that they were right, you have returned," Golden Shield said with a soft smile.

"Damn right, how have you been?" I asked with a wide smile.

"I have been growing used to this time thanks to you and Luna," Golden Shield would say.

"Great to hear, now would you like to join me in going back to Ponyville? I have a party that needs to be finished and a wedding to plan," I said, letting the smile drop from my face.

"Wedding?" Golden Shield would ask.

"Yep, first between Sparx and Celestial Bell, then Midnight and my own," I said with a small bow when I finished.

"You finally proposed to Midnight Song," Golden Shield would say with a scoff, “about time.”

"Yeah, and you’re not going to be my best man... Stallion," I said with a glare.

"I think I made my joke come out wrong..." Golden Shield says in sadness.

"You have a long way to go before you can make proper jokes," I said with a small chuckle.

"Since you did mention that, shouldn't we get you back to Ponyville?" Dusk Relic asks.

"That would be great, and I think I'll bring you two along," I said, getting up after sitting down for a while.

"That would be great to do, I have vacation time anyways and I was planning on wasting it helping Relic study the stars," Golden Shield says.

"You were never the one to enjoy anything outside of the capital unless invited..." Dusk Relic said with a quiet scoff.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Golden Shield asks.

"It means that you need better hobbies," I said. The room was silent for a moment, and then all three of us broke out into laughter. I stopped laughing first, then Relic, and finally Golden Shield.

I don't get it, Morning asked, oblivious about what we were laughing about. I ignored it and turned to the door. I turned my head to the other two ponies in the room

"Let's get going before we miss the fun," I said to them. They would nod in approval and walk out of the observatory with me.

________________________________________

We would arrive at the train station a minute later. Most of the nobles glared at me, but continue on in a hurry when they see Golden Shield.

"You must have really built up a reputation to scare the nobles like that," I pointed out to Golden Shield.

"Mostly because I have flawlessly arrested a noble who assaulted a lady, and I was not one to stand by and watch it happen," He explained.

"Knightly as ever," I told him.

"And I won't ever change that," He replied. I chuckled and walked up to the ticket booth.

"Three tickets to Ponyville," I told the pony in the booth. He printed the tickets and gave them to me, I offered him bits but he told me to keep them. I left the bits for the tickets with him anyways because I felt like he actually needed them, despite his kind offering. I gave the tickets to Relic and Golden Shield and we made our way onto the train. I was surprised to see the ponies on the train treat Golden Shield with a kind respect instead of the way that they would to royalty. I almost felt jealous of how they treated him before remembering that I didn't actually care. The train would continue to go at the normal pace and I stared out the window at the passing scenery.

"So… how has your life been?" Golden shield asks me in an attempt to start a conversation. I turned my head towards him to answer.

"Interesting to say the most..." I replied and turned my head to the window again. I was not really in any mood for a conversation and I wanted to show him that. He picked up what I was trying to tell him and remained silent.

I really hope I can see my brother and everyone else again soon, Morning said in my head.

You will, I will promise you that; and I will find out where you were last alive. I replied.

Why don't you just ask me about it? I know where I died, He told me.

Yeah I know… I just like to hear it from someone who is alive, so I'll ask Scootaloo. I thought in response.

Alright... Morning said in disappointment and said nothing else for the remainder of the train ride. I smiled to myself, picturing what the day would have when I returned back home as the scenery passed by in the window.

Chapter 7: Love and music

Chapter 7

It's a wedding! What else can I say?

As the train rolled into the station at the town of Ponyville; I was trying to not grow annoyed with Morning's constant chatter in my head. He didn’t talk as fast or as long winded as Pinkie Pie can so it was bearable. I think he only tried to annoy me because he wants to really mess with me. Sadly for him, I have gained more patience than the princesses would ever have.

Does this mean you don't love anyone? Morning joked. I was close to changing my mind and deciding to kill him.

Never say that to me. I thought in anger.

Why not? Morning asks me.

Because I did propose to someone, and I may kill you when I revive you if you joke about that. I thought darkly. Morning became silent for the moment as the train stops fully. I got up with Golden Shield and Dusk Relic to get off of the train.

"This time, you’re going to actually party Goldy," I said with a smile.

"Oh great," he said in annoyance, “a new nick name.”

"You need to get out more anyways," I replied to him jokingly. I only joke around because it makes things easier for others. With Golden Shield, I wanted to make him more relaxed.

"You still assume that I am a hard emotionless soldier," He said with a small smile.

"You have actually gone to parties and laughed?" I asked in mock surprised.

"I have laughed at some funny events," He said. I looked at him in confusion as we stepped onto the station.

"You have to be there to understand it," Relic says after getting off the train as well. I sighed in disappointment.

"Don't feel too bad," Golden Shield says in an attempt to cheer me up. It almost failed because of the way he said it flatly.

"He has a- who is that coming our way?" Relic asks in surprise. I turned to look in the direction just in time to get tackled in a hug by a blue blur. When I could see again, I smiled as I knew who just tackled me.

"I am so glad that you are back!" Midnight Song said while hugging me while I was on the floor.

"I guess you really were worried," I said in a calm tone.

"Ever since Luna teleported you away, I’ve been very worried!" She explains while getting off of me and helping me up.

"We have helped John to restore his mental state," Dusk Relic said flatly.

"We? Did you help Luna?" She asks.

"I have, John is really lucky to have survived that encounter with Shadow Blade," He said. "And I am Dusk Relic,"

"I think I'm lucky to have met Midnight," I muttered to myself softly. Aww... Morning says in my head. Don't go all soft on me... I replied.

"I have a question," Golden Shield says.

"What is it?" Midnight asks him.

"Where did you get that ring?" He asks, pointing at the ring that is on her hoof. Like you don’t already know. I already told you. I thought rolling my eyes

"Oh I wondered if anyone would notice that," She said with a smile.

"I gave that to her," I said with a smile that would match Midnight's smile.

"Why are you both smiling?" Golden Shield asks in worry.

"Because John happened to propose to me using the ring that you see on my hoof," She said. I was surprised to hear four very loud gasps, and I turned to look at the source. I saw Pinkie Pie with her jaw almost on the floor in surprise, Sparx and Celestial Bell giving me a smile, and Pyro giving me a cocky grin.

"You propose to her and never told me about it?!" Pinkie exclaimed after reclaiming control of her jaw.

"You never asked me about it," I told her simply.

"How are we going to have your wedding with Sparx's wedding happening today?" She asks in worry.

"Why not have only one wedding and make it a big party?" I asked her.

"But you would take most of the attention of the wedding," Pinkie explained with wisdom. I wasn't surprised that she had knowledge of planning because she throws too many parties to be unorganized.

"Not unless I tell them," I said with a smile.

"What do you mean by that?" Pyro asked.

"I mean after the initial wedding of Sparx and Celestial Bell, I would reveal the fact that I proposed to Midnight," I explained.

"That will work perfectly!" Pinkie exclaims, and she would run off at a speed that would make any speedster proud. I smiled as I knew what to do as well.

"To Sugarcube Corner!" I shouted, and ran with Midnight towards the building.

________________________________________

When I arrived at Sugar Cube Corner, I saw that Pinkie worked faster than I thought. The whole place was absolutely decorated for the wedding, including a turntable. To my surprise, I saw Vinyl Scratch near a table with a dark grey pony wearing a pink bowtie. I walked up to them and noticed that Midnight walked a different direction to talk to Blitz.

"Hey Vinyl, hello Octavia," I said in a greetings to the two ponies.

"So you are back, I almost thought that Vinyl was hearing untrue rumors," She says in that smooth voice.

"Yes, but why in the hell is Vinyl over here and not at the turn table?" I asked in confusion. I got my response when I saw Vinyl pull out her backup pair of purple shades.

"That's because you are going to DJ for the wedding, request of the groom," She told me with a smile. She had her own pair of shades over her eyes to hide her red eyes. I only recently saw them when I was at the radio station, but it was only for a brief moment. I knew she had a back up pair of sunglasses in case of the shades breaking. I took the shades and put them on. The world looked purple through them, but I felt relaxed in them. I made my way towards the turn table and looked it over. It's been a while, but I think I should be fine. I thought to myself.

You used to be a DJ? Morning asks.

Yes, I was. I thought simply to answer his question.

How much experience? He asked in curiosity.

I think about five years of experience. I told him. I smiled and looked over the turn table to make sure that everything was still operational and that everything was working properly. I spun a disk to make sure that it was loose enough to spin. After I was sure that the turn table was working properly, I put on a disk and played some random songs while I waited for the wedding to start.

________________________________________

The room slowly started to fill with ponies that have been waiting for this wedding to happen for two years. Some were nobles who were there because of the fact that royalty would be there. I made a mental note to keep an eye on the nobles after the party ended because I simply didn’t trust them. The day when I would trust a noble would be the day that the sky would rain meat products and bacon, and I can't even eat meat as a pony anyways. I kept changing the songs every now and then to keep the pre-party interesting. From the corner of my eye I saw Dusk walk up to me.

"Hey Dusk," I said while lifting the needle to pause the song that was playing.

"Hey John, how have you been?" He asks me.

"I'm better, though if you see Scootaloo, could you tell her that I want to talk to her?" I asked.

"Talk to me about what?" I heard a female voice ask. I was startled to hear the voice and turned to where it came from. I saw that an orange Pegasus with a purple mane has just walked up to me without being noticed.

"I just wanted to ask you something, don't think that I am here to open up old wounds," I told her.

"What do you want to know?" She asked in unease.

"I want to know where Morning Cloud was last alive," I said in a quiet tone to prevent others from hearing the conversation. It was loud enough for Scootaloo and Dusk to hear however, and both looked at me in surprise.

"Why would you want to know that?" She asks me as quietly as I did.

"I think I will let someone else answer that for me," I responded and closed my eyes. Try to keep it quiet, I don't want a panic to start. I said to Morning star. When I opened my eyes again, I had a small tear in one of them.

"Are you okay John?" Dusk asks, noticing the tear.

"I’m sorry," Morning whispered through me.

"Why are you sorry?" Scootaloo asks.

"For sacrificing myself in an attempt to try to slow Shadow Blade," He responded. Dusk looked at me in surprise with Scootaloo.

"Morning?" He asks very quietly with tears in his eyes.

"Yes, John wants this to stay quiet though because he claims that he can revive me," He said in a skeptic tone.

"And can you John?" Scootaloo asks.

"I can do so, but I need to know-" I started to say, but Dusk interrupted me.

"It is a Morgue at the edge of the Badlands," He said pulling out a random map and circling an area on it. I took the map and put it in my bag and nodded. Dusk walked with Scootaloo to her friends that were waiting for her. I sighed and put the needle back down on the next song.

Will you actually do it? Morning asks me.

I promise you that, but let’s have fun first as this is a wedding you won't miss. I thought in response.

________________________________________

Soon the whole room was filled with the entire town wearing nice tuxedos, or at least the nobles were wearing them anyways. I stopped the music for a moment to give a microphone to Dusk. He nodded and I would put on a headset. Earlier, I came up with a plan of music for celebrating the marriage, so I found a recording of one of Twilight's songs that she sung at the wedding of her brother. I added a bit of a remix to it and got Dusk in on it. He told Twilight, and she agreed to do it. I also gave Pyro a headset as well, since he will be a part of the song as well.

"Yo! John!" Vinyl called.

"Need something?" I asked, using a hoof to move the headset to around my neck.

"Celly wants you to play the wedding music now!" She said. I snapped out of my daze to stop the current music to everyone's surprise. I changed the disk and put the needle down to let the wedding march music play. As it played, I saw Sparx in a tuxedo walk up to the turn table.

"Are you ready John?" He asks me.

"For what?" I asked in return.

"To marry us, Celestia requested that you marry us instead of her," He explained. I looked at him in surprise, I wasn't expecting to be the one to marry Sparx with his beloved, but I calmed down before I made a scene.

"What do you mean I'm marrying you?" I asked in a whisper.

"Well, Celestia requested for you to marry us and Celestia Bell agreed with us," He whispered. Damn it Sparx... I thought, but I nodded my head to agree with it. I had to go with it because I could not back out.

"So where is Celestial Bell?" I asked.

"She should be coming out right now," Sparx said. True to his word, I looked at the door and saw Celestial Bell walk in wearing a very beautiful dress with fillies throwing flower petals behind her. If I was not deeply in love with Midnight Song, I would have had my jaw hit the floor because of how beautiful she looked in the dress. I assumed that Rarity made it, since it really does match her eyes. She walked up to the turn table next to Sparx. He looked at me with a look that says: "Go ahead." I cleared my throat and picked up a secondary microphone.

"Right, we are gathered here today, to celebrate a union between two ponies, Golden Sparx and Celestia Bell," I spoke. Morning joined me on the internal groan.

"I am NOT going to say fancy words to describe the wedding and situation, it's beautiful and all but I dislike flowery words, besides, you can describe it in many more ways than I can," I said, resulting in a few chuckles.

"Now on with the wedding," I said and jumped off the turn table and landed with grace in front of Sparx.

"Do you promise to love your soon-to-be wife and help her through any kind of troubles that you both will face?" I asked.

"I will," He said simply.

"That is golden," I said with a chuckle at the pun I just made (it resulted in Pyro facehoofing) and turned to Celestia Bell.

"Do you vow to uphold the family that you will make eventually and be with him until death separates you?" I asked.

"Of course I will," She said with a smile. I returned it with my own smile.

"Very well, could I have the rings brought up here?" I asked. Pyro walked up to me, holding a cushion that was probably made to be fireproof that had two rings upon it. He sets it down in front of me and I made no move to pick up the rings.

"You expect me to pick them up for you? These are your rings, not mine," I said jokingly. Sparx looked and rolled his eyes, but he picked up a ring and put in on Bell's hoof. Bell picked up the other ring and did the same with Sparx. They both looked at me with an eager look.

"Don't look at me, you should look at each other and-" I paused to clear my throat.

"Kiss the bride!" I said in a deep tone. To my surprise, they turned to each other and kissed. Cheers erupted from the crowd as they kissed. I chuckled and got back on the turn table.

"Hey you two, once you’re done kissing I have a song for you to hear!" I shouted and put the disk on and put the needle down.

The start of the song would start to play as Twilight is revealed in the audience holding a microphone. I smiled as my plan was revealed as Twilight started to sing.

(Music that is playing By the Aviators)

Love is in Bloom

A beautiful bride

A handsome groom

Two hearts becoming one

A bond that cannot be undone

Twilight then continued on with the chorus of the song from the crowd.

Because love is in bloom

A beautiful bride, a handsome groom

I said, love is in bloom

Starting a life and making room for us

I let the music play for a bit and I saw Twilight give the microphone to Dusk, and then he proceeded to sing the next part.

Love is in bloom

More than a feeling

Faithful and true

A connection lasting forever

A force holding two hearts together

I chuckled as I was impressed at Dusk's singing ability, but I had no time to wait as Twilight sang the chorus of the song.

Love is in bloom

A beautiful bride, a handsome groom

I said, love is in bloom

Starting a life and making room for us

Then Pyro walked up in front of the turn table and start rapping.

Lemme tell ya about love, lemme tell it just right.

Coming up from above, call it love at first sight.

Lights up a smile; fills you up with delight,

Gets a little too high when two ponies unite!

It's like riding a bike but without the peddle;

Evil-doers try to mess it up and meddle.

But you settle 'em down, give a little to share

Before you know it baby, there's love in the air!

Ponies care about the weight that accompanies their mate.

They salivate affection and they soon graduate

Towards the feeling of love, they don't bother to hate.

You better tell 'em how you feel now before it's too late!

Then you'll find yourself blank, down to reminisce

About how ya both met and then shared your first kiss.

Some people hiss at this and start huffing and puffing,

I tell 'em to stop derping out and I give 'em a muffin. (Really Pyro...?)

Did I stutter? Look, here's some conveyance:

You heart needs swing and a little bit of Cadence!

You need some cheer, spread it peer to peer;

Keep your lover near and they will wipe every tear!

No fear when you got a bride and groom.

No imminent doom or very intimate gloom.

You may think love is fake, well you're free to assume

Let there never be hate because love is in bloom!

Cheers erupted from the crowd as the music played, I started actually bobbing my head to the song a bit myself until it became silent. I then smiled as the next part of it started to play, and I swear I may have heard Pinkie Pie say something before Twilight sang the chorus again.

Because love is in bloom

A beautiful bride, a handsome groom

I said, love is in bloom

Starting a life and making room for us

For a few of the lines I've joined in singing them, but Dusk joined in singing the chorus for the last time.

Because love is in bloom

A beautiful bride, a handsome groom

I said, love is in bloom

Starting a life and making room for us

I let the rest of the song play before it ended and the sound of cheers filled my ears with the noise.

All I could do was smile.

________________________________________

Because I was going to unleash my next surprise.

"Thank you all, but before we start the reception, I want to tell you something," I said for everyone to hear. They grew silent as they were curious about what I wanted to say.

"First of all, I know you may not know this, but I have recently proposed to somepony," I said. Many of the ponies in the crowd gasped.

"Who was it?" I heard one of them ask.

"Who was it indeed...?” I said with a grin. Midnight slowly started to make her way up to where I was.

"I hate to interrupt your moment John, but I would love to say thank you for the ring," She said when she was halfway there. Every pony in the room turned to her in surprise.

"Dang it Midnight, if I didn't love you so much I would want to scold you for that!" I said in mock anger. The ponies connected the pieces and Midnight got up to me before the cheering started again.

"Woo you go John!" I heard Vinyl shout from the crowd. I smiled and took a bow with Midnight by my side.

"So you want the wedding to be now as well?" A pony asks.

"Nah, I think we should only have one wedding, but I wanted to reveal this because I can't just leave you without another thing to look forward too!" I said happily.

"Wow, you really saved a great surprise for us all!" A pony shouted in excitement.

"Indeed I did, now let’s just get the reception started!" I exclaimed to the joy of many of the ponies.

________________________________________

During the party, I hung around Midnight for a bit to accept congratulations from the ponies. When that got dull, I decided to sneak out and start walking towards my house. I was surprised when Midnight joined me as well.

"What are you doing following me?" I asked.

"Since we are engaged, I figured that we should live with each other now," She told me with a light kiss on the cheek. I maintained my cool and continued walking.

"What about Blitz?" I asked.

"I'm sure Blitz will find somepony to move in with her," She said with a small smile. I remembered back to when I met a certain blind pony.

"I'm certain she will, now I need to go back home to pack," I said.

"Pack? Are you going somewhere?" She asks.

"Yes... I promise you that I will return alive though," I said in an attempt to keep her calm.

"I hope you do, because if you don't I will come find your body and find a way to revive you just so I can slap you for dying," She said in a serious tone. I looked at her in surprise and worry, but she then hugged me.

"Good luck," she said simply.

"What, no trying to stop me from going despite the fact that it’ll be dangerous?" I asked.

"I can't stop you because I know that you’ll return again," She said. I smiled at her letting me be able to travel when I needed to. So before we entered my... "Our" house, I gave her a kiss. It was a romantic kiss in front of our door, but I regrettably ended it so I can pack.

________________________________________

I looked through my bag once more to check if I have everything I needed. I had the map to the area, I have my supply of knives for if I need to defend myself, I have food and water rations, and I have bandages. I nodded when I figured that I was ready to go. I walked to the front door and opened it. Behind the door was Scootaloo, to my surprise.

"Oh, where are you going?" She asks me.

"To the morgue, I won't keep either of you hanging," I said to her. I started to walk past her, but she put a hoof on me.

"Please come back safe, even if you don't bring Morning back to life," She told me.

"I'm John, have more faith in me," I said with a smile. I was really unsure of what would happen, so I made promises to try to keep my luck up for the trip.

"Alright..." She said, and I walked away.

I turned my head in the direction of the Badlands and saw the sun already lowering. I nodded to myself and started out on my trek to my destination.

Chapter 8: Journey

Chapter 8

Travels are a part of what we are.

I reached the badlands by the time that the moon started to rise in the distance. I sighed as I rechecked my supplies. I had enough rations to last me for the entire trip; it could even last for weeks if I used it right. I wasn't worried about running out before I reached my destination. What I was more worried about was dangers that may or may not lie ahead. I have experience in handling traps, just not nature's creatures that may be aggressive towards me. I sighed once again and started to walk forward with the moon shining down on me from above. I wonder... is Luna watching me right now? I thought to myself with a small shudder at what she might see on a nightly basis.

The dust was starting to fly around in the wind as I walked. I quickly pulled a piece of cloth out of my bag and put it over my mouth, remembering the first time I went to the Badlands, to prevent myself from breathing in any of the dust as I attempted to travel onwards.

The only thing I could see in front of me was the grey dust flying around in the air and the grey dust on the floor. The whole area was devoid of any type of greenery, so I understood why they have called these lands the Badlands. The dust obscured my path of sight with the color of grey, and I snorted softly to myself in annoyance. There was just no way that I could be able to continue in the dust storm safely, so I decided to do something that may not have been a good idea with the loose dust, but I had no other way to get shelter.

I started using my hoof to dig a hole in the dirt to use for a temporarily shelter from the storm. I climbed into the hole and covered up the entrance as best as I can with the dust to allow air inside without the dust filling in the temporarily shelter. I was surprised when the dust did not collapse on me, so I lie down on the warm ground. As I lay in the "Shelter" I made, I thought back to my promises that I made in the town to the two mares and smiled. I fell asleep peacefully as I waited for the dust storm to cease its constant blowing.

When I woke up, I dug my way out of the shelter that started to fill in and saw that the dust storm has passed. The area was clearer to see now so I could continue on. I took out my map and found out where I was in the Badlands with a bit of subtle magic that was put onto the map. I wondered how the magic got there in the first place, but I didn't question it at the moment because I figured I'd ask Dusk about it when I returned. I found where I was going to travel and used the sun that was rising to find my direction.

I knew that despite the fact that this world is different from the world I know, the sun always rose in the east. I continued on the rest of my journey to the morgue that Dusk had marked upon my map with a circle.

I encountered no creatures other than the non-living ones of the dust in the forms of storms on my way. I wasn’t surprised because the place didn't look like anything could inhabit it, unless they could create their own food. I did, however, see a few flying black bugs’ patrols flying every now and then, and they didn't see me to my luck. I remembered that they were called changelings, so I decided to not make contact with them right now. I knew that they were friendly but I didn't want to get their help right at this moment. I wanted to try to keep my presence quiet here as much as I could to make the journey back easier. The rest of my journey would have nothing even close to being an interesting encounter.  When the sun started to set again in the west, I could see the morgue. I was surprised at the pace that I had since I reached it in just less than two days. I heard Morning start saying something in my head, but I tuned him out and made my way to the door of the abandoned building for the dead.

The door fell inwards with a loud crash. I had attempted to open it the normal way like anyone would, only to find that the door was stuck. I had kicked it three times before it fell inwards. I looked into the single room with the drawers that would contain dead bodies. I recognized the place because of my dream, and it also resembled those back on Earth.

The only thing that was different was the fact that a single colorless body that lay in the center of the floor instead of the scorch mark that I saw in the dream. I walked up to the body and looked it over once, and felt a presence leave me in spirit. I figured that this was Morning, so I just waited for him to get up and then return home. As he started to become colored as he once was (I guess), I heard a loud howl from behind me.

I reached quickly into my bag for a knife and turned around to the source. I saw that five rather large wolves that were somehow made of bones entered the building. The lead wolf, which looked different from the rest because of its red eyes and intent glare, was looking at me like as if I was going to be food for them. I pulled out one of my knives from my bag and tensed myself an attack from them. The lead wolf barked once as if to tell the other wolves something. They didn’t advance with him. He advanced to a distance that he could leap at me easily, and started to circle me. I turned with him as he circled me to prevent him from getting an open shot at my back.

If he was thinking that I would be easy prey, he would find that I wasn’t going to be food for skin and bone wolves without a fight. It then stopped where it was after making a full circle around me. I had loosened myself up enough to be ready to counter him for when he jumps straight at me. I was right when he ran forward and jumped at me to engage in battle with me. I was not so sure if this was a battle that I could win, but I needed to protect Morning from the wolves, so I prepared to fight.

Chapter 9: Wolf Fight!

Chapter 9

Caution: Some dark scenes ahead due to battle, this is all done in John's self defense. Reader discression is advised if you are not fond of fight scenes that have certain details within.

I am not going to leave him to die!

I quickly ducked under his leap and swung my knife at his stomach. It succeeded in wounding him. It crashed behind me. I turned around to face it. It snarled at me and tried to attack again. It tried to catch me off guard by sprinting right at me, but I sidestepped it with ease. When it slowed down, I ran up to it and swung my knife at it in an attempt to end it. I was unlucky and missed my target, earning him a free shot at my leg with a claw. It stung for a bit, but I ignored the pain easily and gave him a knife to his flank as I retreated.

I turned to face it and glared at it. While it glared back at me, I gave him a smile. It growled again and charged at me like before. I side stepped him again, but it turned out that he was feinting and managed to jump onto me and start clawing my legs in an attempt to disable me.

The wolf was smart, I gave him that. So I punched it quickly in the snout to stun it and threw it off me before it could continue to assault me. The claw marks it gave me were too light to make much of a difference, and it somehow knew that. I quickly managed to get up as he was leaping at where I was located on the floor and dodged by stepping to the side of the arc. I gave it another slash with the knife and backed away from it. I smiled as I pulled out a second knife because the first one was already covered in red blood. He got up and stared at me for a moment. I leveled a knife at him and smiled. He surprised me by barking once at one of his lap-wolves (heh... pun) that stood by. That wolf ran straight at me, and I killed it quickly by throwing the bloodied knife into its skull. It crashed to the floor as I ran up and retrieved my knife from its skull as quickly as I threw it. The alpha wolf glared at me, and I responded with an equally dark glare. It snarled loudly and charged at me again. I jumped over him landed. Without missing a beat, I turned to slice one of its hind legs near the heel in attempt to stun it. I managed to nick him, but it was too fast and avoided the rest of the slash.

I was annoyed at the fact that the cut wasn't deep enough to slow it. It turned to me with anger in its eyes. I raised my knife and pointed at it again. It responded by barking multiple times. I turned and saw the other three wolves charge at me all at once.

I quickly moved to stab one of the wolves that leapt at me through the neck, resulting in its blood going over my hoof. The second wolf managed to get behind me and leap onto my back and began clawing and biting my wings (it hurt a lot). I quickly maneuvered myself and rolled, slamming that wolf's head into the ground, resulting in a loud crack. I no longer felt it trying to tear my wings off, so I assumed that I broke its neck or skull. It didn’t really matter to me, as long as it wasn’t trying to kill me.

When I got up and looked at it, I was right. The wolf's head was dislocated in a way that it obviously shouldn't be. I forgot about the third wolf, almost. It managed to leap onto me and start clawing my legs and stomach. I fought it for a moment before getting a knife between the ribs. Its blood slowly dripped onto me through its wound before landing on me, dead.

I shoved the dead body off of me and checked myself while I had the chance after the wolf's assault. I found that the second wolf had enough time on my back to render my wings pretty much useless for the rest of the fight. Not that I would use them anyways, but it might have helped if I didn't see bloody feathers all over the floor near me. I turned to the wolf with a very angry glare, a glare that threatened to kill it for doing something so cheap.

It simply gave me a wolfy smile, but its eyes told a different story. He was angry that I killed its pack, and it was going to get revenge for them by killing me. I knew that I was severely wounded, but I had to fight on to protect Morning from it. I made a quick check at Morning's body and saw that it regained its full color. The wolf used my moment of distraction to charge at me.

I picked up a nearby knife that I dropped and ignored the protest in my muscles as I jumped over the wolf again. I didn’t land as gracefully as last time, so I crashed to the floor. The wolf quickly turned around and capitalized on this advantage by attempting to bite my neck. I quickly had my knife meet his teeth before he got close to my neck, and pushed him back. He charged at me again, but I was not in any shape to avoid his attack this time. He clawed me very deeply in one leg and on my right wing before I forced it away again. In a rage, I slashed it across the snout twice and it retreat quickly. I glared at it once again and decided that enough was enough. The wolf gave me the same glare and I decided to take a page out of his book. I challenged him in one last strike, and the wolf waited for me to move. I pulled out a knife and ran at him directly for one last attack. The wolf ran at me to finish me off, and we both met in the middle. I slashed him at the neck quickly, but he gave me a very deep claw wound to the chest. As we passed each other, I turned back and saw that he was still standing. I started to panic, but then the wolf's head slowly revealed the cut that went straight through its neck and the head rolled off and hit the floor with a thud.

I collapsed in exhaustion from the battle, with my adrenaline slowly fading away; I started to notice how much it hurt from the wounds. The pain started to slowly fade away as I grew tired. I couldn't move, and I was bleeding badly. I promised everyone that I would return home, but I guess that it may not happen. I was too wounded to move, and I was also alone. As I started to close my eyes to sleep, I saw a glimpse of a blue pony with a brown mane and brown eyes looking at me in worry before everything blurred and I could no longer keep my eyes open. I let my head fall down and hit the floor softly.

'I'm sorry Midnight... but I guess I have met my end here. I failed... I failed everyone.' I thought to myself in sadness, as I waited to see the light that would take me away.

John... you have fought well and you deserve to return home; but I guess it is now up to me to make sure that it happens. I am going to wake up Morning, and point him in the right direction to save you from this grim fate. Do not give up. You are needed in this world.

Chapter 11: Changelings and reunions

Chapter 11

I slowly opened my eyes to find that I was in a strange room, not like any strange rooms that I have awoken in recently. I was confused on where I was, since the last thing I could remember was dying in the morgue. When I looked down however, I saw I was covered in changeling ooze. I must be in the hive. I thought to myself. I wasn't too worried about them, since I figured that they were friendly towards me.

I turned my head to the right to find Morning asleep right next to me. I smiled, knowing that Morning probably saved me from certain death. I didn’t try to move, because I wasn’t sure if my wounds had healed completely quite yet. I sighed and almost immediately became bored since I couldn't really do anything. I passed the time by counting how many shapes I could make out in the ceiling (one hundred thousand three hundred and ninety four).

________________________________________

When Morning finally woke up, I had a complete script of what I would say to each of his comments ready.

"Well… did you have a good sleep, Sleeping Beauty?" I said, sounding like I had been waiting for hours (which I had been).

"John! When did you wake up?" He asked in surprise that I was already wide awake.

"Earlier than you did," I said with a deadpanned tone and a soft sigh.

"Since you’re up, I got a note from someone for you," He said and pulled out a piece of paper. I gently lifted one of my legs to grasp it in my hoof and bring it to where I could read it easily.

Work with the secret service in Canterlot to prepare yourself for what is to come, you should at least get a break before joining it however, you did just nearly die anyways. We shall meet each other when the story, and my editor, will allow me the time to do it.

-Raiz

That is one of the weirdest note's I've read... I thought to myself. I then noticed a changeling fly into the room.

"Ahh, I see that you're awake now, I'll remove the healing ooze from you," The changeling says as if he (or she?) had practiced multiple times.

I think that the changeling was female because of the slightly higher pitch of her voice, compared to the slightly deeper voice of the males. I was glad that Chrysalis was allowing her hive to have feelings, but I figured that some didn’t request to get them and will probably seem emotionless. She began to remove the ooze from my body. It felt weird as it slowly peeled off my body like dead skin. It began to itch where the ooze formerly was. I didn't move to scratch it though, in fear of opening my wounds again.  As soon as the ooze was off of me, she helped me off of the thing that I was laying on.

When I was on the floor, I stretched out my wings and legs, as they had become stiff from the non-usage. I was a bit surprised that my feathers and parts of my wings grew back though. I thought they would have been useless for the rest of my life.

"I see that you are looking better than when you came in," A familiar royal voice says. I smiled as I knew who it was.

"Chrysalis! I am glad to see you again!" I exclaimed in excitement.

"And you as well John," She says with a small smile, “you are looking much better than when your friend brought you.”

"Guess I am going to have to thank you for saving my life," I said to her with a short bow. I was pushing it, but she saved my life, so I can put my biases against royalty away for a moment.

"You don't need to thank me alone; it was because of your friend, Morning, was it? That you survived, and I have to thank you for helping me to create an alliance with the Equestrians," She said with genuine gratitude.

"Really? When did you do that?" I asked in surprise.

"I think it was a week after you disappeared, so it about was two years ago that I made the alliance," She said in thought.

"I don't know if you were scared of me, or if you were honoring me with the alliance," I said in a tone that made me sound unsure.

"More of the honoring part, actually," She said. I rolled my eyes with a smile, figuring that would be why.

"I think she sent a letter to Celestia recently about you being here," Morning pointed out. I looked at him in surprise.

"Did she reply back yet?" I asked Chrysalis. I was not happy that Celestia could possibly be aware of my presence here.

"No, at least not yet anyways," She said with a small smile. I was close to hugging her for telling me that, but I decided against it.

"Okay then, so I should be headed-- hang on a moment!" I said in excitement as I remembered having something in my bag for her, “where’s my bag?”

I was pretty sure that she was confused about why I would be digging through my bag. I pulled out random items such as: an orb that I won from a poker game, a random trophy, shutter shades, a red boxing glove, a talking ball of metal, a deck of cards. Going to keep that, I thought as I put the deck in a side pocket of my bag and continued to go through my bag. A metal helmet with horns, a weird looking gun that shoots portals, a disarmed nuke, a radio, a cell phone (How'd that get there?), a green mask, three triangles that form one bigger triangle, a whip that I would never use, a banjo (How am I going to play that anyways?), and a pickaxe made from diamonds.

"Uhh, John? Why is all of that stuff in your bag?" Morning asks in confusion, “and how?”

"To be honest... I have no clue... Oh here it is!" I said pulling out a picture that Chrysalis would recognize.

"Is that a picture of Daring Doo?" She asks me with interest.

"Yep, I met her recently and I think that she would be fun to work with sometime," I said with confidence.

"So why did you need that picture?" Morning asks.

"Because I am going to give it to her," I said with a half smile as I held it out carefully for Chrysalis to take. She would take it in her hooves as carefully as if it were a very delicate artifact.

"Th-th-thank you," She says in an attempt to prevent herself from squealing in delight.

"You’re welcome,” I said, “now we can go Morning.”

"Right," He said and followed me out of the room.

Right before I reached the entrance to the room, I was wrapped in a very odd hug. I shuffled around to see that the black mass of insect-like body hugging me was Chrysalis. Okay then... I thought and shot Morning a dirty look for giggling.

When she released me, she apologized and went off somewhere else. I glared at Morning who had burst out laughing and said, “this is kept between the two of us. Or I’ll tell Scoots about that changeling who was watching you in your sleep.”

________________________________________

After I had to ask a changeling for directions after I got lost in the tunnels of their hive, we finally found the entrance. We stepped outside into the sunlight.

"You really need a better sense of direction," Morning said to me in a teasing tone.

"Shut up," I said to him in annoyance.

"So do you know the way-" he started to ask me in a teasing way, but I hit him lightly on the back of the head before pulling out a map.

"Yes, this time just follow me there, and I know the way," I said in a pretty angry tone.

"Alright..." He said while rubbing the back of his head. I sighed and planned my path back home, and took off into the sky.

________________________________________

I flew with Morning the whole way through the badlands and over the other lands until Ponyville came into sight. I smiled at the prospect that I returned home. It vanished when I saw a group of ponies wearing masks talking to what looked like a noble. I silently pointed it out to Morning. He nodded as we turned towards the group. I could hear them long before I was halfway there to them.

"I don't care what they say, I just want Dusk dead!" The noble shouted at the masked group.

"But he did nothing wrong to us!" One of the masked ponies exclaimed.

"His wretched family ruined my plans for Celestial Bell!" He said in pure anger. I had to chuckle softly; I married them in the first place, so I was going to stop someone from ruining that marriage now.

"Why does Dusk need to die though? Can't we just hurt him to give them a message?" Another one of the masked ponies asks.

"I want to give them a message. One that is easy enough for their primitive minds to decipher," He replied. I snickered silently in my head as I landed. Better time than any to rudely interrupt his plans. I thought when I landed silently behind the noble. He didn't notice so I decided to make myself known.

"Hey, rich and snobbish!" I shouted loudly in his ear. I know I didn't need to, but the surprise on the noble's face when he heard me was priceless as he turned to me.

"Who-?" He started to ask, but I quickly pulled out a knife and nicked him on the leg lightly.

"That’s my friend you’re threatening to kill," I said in a low tone.

"Argh! Kill that pony!" He shouted at the masked ponies. I smiled and brandished my knife to fight again, but none of them moved.

"Are you crazy? That’s John you are trying to have us kill, are you trying to kill us instead?" One of them asked. I was sad that they were smart enough to not fight me. The noble however widened his eyes in surprise.

"You’re lucky I only meant to lightly wound you, otherwise you would have died before you could even shout that," I said with confidence. Morning then landed next to me and the noble looked incredibly mad and pulled out a knife. He dropped it when he felt a pistol pointed at the side of his head.

"Thank you John, but I'll take it from here," A brown unicorn wearing a fedora that matched his coat said. I knew it was my brother, but I was surprised to see that he was wearing a brown trench coat that fit him in his form. I figured that he had that made for his detective look to be complete.

"Well thank you for the welcome back brother..." I said sarcastically.

"I have been waiting for someone to confess to trying to kill Dusk. There have been a few attempts on him lately. You’ve been gone for about a week. One moment," He said and forced the noble to the floor as he cuffed him.

"Right, you are under arrest for the attempt to murder Dusk Cloud. May whatever deity you worship have mercy on your soul," He said in a serious tone that proved that he was an authority.

"You know they worship Celestia right?" I said.

"Who cares, he still is headed towards jail for it anyways," He responded and he picked up the noble and started towards a building.

"I didn't know that Ponyville had a police station..." Morning said, “Oh, wait, I remember. That was the last place I was in Ponyville,” he said this last part quietly.

"If you’re looking for Dusk Cloud, he's at the library with Scootaloo and her friends," Chris said.

"Thank you," I told him as he walked off with the noble in front of him. I sighed and turned to the library. The moment I turned to look at Morning, he was gone. I looked around and saw him running in the direction of the library. I sighed and followed him.

________________________________________

Morning stopped just as he reached the front door of the library, but he made no move to knock.

"How will they react to me once they find out I am alive again..." He asked himself in worry. I snorted once and walked up to him.

"You'll never know until you do it," I said to him and kicked the door open. When I turned back to look in the room, there were four surprised ponies sitting in what I believe was supposed to be circle. One of them then looked annoyed when he recognized me.

"You do know that it is polite to knock on the door?" Dusk says in annoyance, “you know I live here right?”

"I do, but I didn't really care much for being polite since I have just returned alive with a guest," I said.

"Wait, what do you mean guest?" A white unicorn with a two colored mane asks me. I remembered her name vaguely as Sweetie Bell.

"I mean, I just brought someone back that you might know," I told her.

"Who is it?" A yellow mare with a pink bowtie on her head asks me in an excited tone. That would be Apple Bloom.

"I'll let you guess," I said; stepping aside to reveal Morning who was right behind me. All four of them gasped in surprise at Morning being behind me. I looked at Dusk and gave him a sly grin.

"Um... hi," Morning says breaking up the awkward tension in the air. He was promptly tackled by Scootaloo in a hug/kiss. Ahh, it’s so funny when it isn't happening to me. I thought with a chuckle. As Scootaloo and Morning had their reunion, I looked at Dusk again with that same sly grin.

"I told you that I would bring him back," I boasted.

"This normally shouldn’t be possible, but yet here he is! Good as new! I saw the body, or whatever was left of him. He pretty much disintegrated," He said with shock.

"Yeah, but I did give you a fair warning earlier about that, just don't try to think too hard on how to explain it as it will hurt your head," I said. Dusk would sigh in response.

"Hey, do any of you have-" I heard someone say from the direction of the door. I turned to see that Twilight just walked into the library and is looking at Morning in shock. I looked at the scene of Scootaloo and Morning still on the floor hugging; only Scootaloo looked to be close to crying.

"Hey Twilight, I'm back with a friend," I said. Twilight would still be frozen in surprise and I walked up to her. "Hello?" I asked, waving a hoof in front of her face. I was then levitated away in a purple aura as Twilight would storm up to them in anger.

"How dare you mimic Morning!?" She shouted, mainly directed at me.

"That‘s not a fake, just look through his memories and prove that he is the actual one!" I shouted while being levitated in the air. I was more worried about her trying to kill Morning than my own safety, but I put my own safety as a close second. Twilight looked at me with the same suspicion as she did when I first confronted her, but her horn glowed brighter as she uses the memory spell-thingy to go through Morning's memories. He looked as uncomfortable as I was when she did it to me for the first time.

Her horn's glow faded, resulting in me crashing to the floor and a whole shelf of books falling onto me.

"You really are him..." She said in a mix of shock and happiness.

"I wasn’t lying... so could you not do that to me again?" I asked her from within the pile of books. The books glowed purple as they floated off me, and I could see that Twilight was blushing as she shelved the books back on the proper shelf. I got up and brushed myself off with my hooves. Dusk glanced at me and noticed a certain detail.

"Did you fight a wolf or something? ‘Cause that scar looks recent," Dusk pointed out. I looked at the healing claw mark on my side and then looked back at Dusk.

"Never... ask about that again... ever," I said with a low growl, “and... um... don’t tell Fluttershy.”

"Okay I won't," He said with a bit of worry. I really didn’t want to talk about my fight at the morgue. I almost died there and no one would have known. I liked looking brave until I have no other choice but to be scared. But I was never going to say that I was invincible because of that event.

"I think I should get the girls!" Twilight said excitedly and ran out of the library. I remembered that no one actually closed the door yet, so she just ran out through the open doorway.

"I'll just go and get everyone else, they need to see him with their own eyes," Dusk says, following Twilight out the door. I figured that I should close the door before the wind blows through the library. After closing the door, I looked back at the center of the room and noticed that Scootaloo finally let Morning up.

"Hey Morning?" I asked, getting his attention.

"Yeah?" He asks me with a goofy smile spread across his face.

"I have a feeling this week might be one of the best weeks to celebrate being alive again," I said with excitement.

"Same here, now who is that who is behind you?" He asks me. I was going to turn around to see who entered when I got hug tackled from behind. I sighed as I knew who it probably was.

"Hi... Urk" I said when someone hit my back, “Midnight.”

"I am so glad that you’re okay! Celestia just sent me a letter that made me worried about you!" She said. Well... crap. I thought.

"Well, I did almost get killed back a small pack of wolves... but I think I am fine," I said in annoyance. I was not about to tell Fluttershy that in the near future. She would probably give me the stare for killing those wolves in self defense... or worse. Or at least that's what I hoped that she would do if she found out.

"Almost?" She asked me in worry.

"Yeah, but I am alive now; that's all that matters," I said in an attempt to keep the mood happy again.

"Yes you are, and I am glad you are back again," She says and kisses me on the cheek. As she got off of me, I was paralyzed to the floor and couldn't move because of how much I was blushing. Morning started to chuckle, but Scootaloo also kissed him on the lips and he did almost the same thing. The only difference is that he was paralyzed while standing up. I would have chuckled, but I couldn't even work my vocal chords due to how embarrassed I was.

________________________________________

We were frozen in place by our loved one's kisses until Dusk walks in with a small crowd of ponies. I shook my head and looked over the crowd. I saw Sparx, Bell, Pyro, Dawn, and Blitz; but there were a few others that I don't recall meeting.

"Hey John, welcome back!" Sparx says. I sighed and turned to him.

"Hey Sparx," I replied in a bored tone.

"I heard you just brought back my uncle," He says with a smile and almost no other emotion.

"I did," I simply said, two ponies would carefully walk up to Morning. I looked at them in confusion, but they were looking at him in surprise.

"Dad?" I heard one of them ask. She was smaller than those that I guess were around her age; she had very bright blue sparkling eyes that matched her mane and tail; her coat was a light magenta. Morning nodded, holding back tears and they would suddenly start hugging and crying. Morning is a father?! I thought in wide eyed surprise.

The other one, a tall, muscular colt had similar features as Morning. He had a grey mane with a neon yellow streak (which was obviously dyed in) running through it in the shape of a lightning bolt. His coat was the same color as his mane, only darker. His eyes were bright yellow. I saw his pupils and was instantly shot back in surprise. Amazingly, they were in the shape of thunder bolts. New nickname, Thunderhead... unless that’s already his name.

"I still cannot believe that you brought him back," Pyro said in surprise.

"And I can't believe that a noble would want to kill Dusk, but I can't answer that," A voice says from the doorway. I saw my brother enter in through the door.

"Someone tried to kill me?" Dusk asks, obviously oblivious to the fact that there have been assassination attempts on him.

"Yep, key word being tried since he never got his mercenary's to think about killing you," Chris said with a chuckle.

"So what was the situation with him?" I asked my brother.

"He was one of the rare wanted nobles, so he's not going to see daylight outside in a long time," He says with a smirk. Come up with the category yourself? I asked in my thoughts, half expecting Morning or someone else to answer.

"Great to hear that, so have you got any cases yet?" I asked.

"No, but then again, they don't know my reputation about solving cases yet," he says in disappointment.

"How many did you solve back then?" I asked in curiosity.

"Around twenty, but that's only a rough estimate," He says.

"I see, you should have an office here if you want to try to get cases," I told him.

"I already got one, free of charge thanks to Celestia, it even looks similar to my old one," He says in surprise.

"Huh, how does she know what-" I started to say, but I remembered two years ago when I was told by Celestia that she knew about my life. "Never mind..." I said, interrupting my own sentence.

"You look like you know the reason of how she knows us," He told me flatly.

"I do, but I still regret for not punching her back then..." I said with a small frown.

"Really? How come?" He asks me with a confused look.

"Because she happened to know me back then, and she was the reason I got here two years ago," I said while looking at his eyes.

"Ahh, so you assume that she was spying on both of us," He deduced.

"Pretty much, or so I believe," I told him darkly.

"We have all been spied upon at least once, so you shouldn't be too worried about that," Sparx tells me in a simple tone. He moved away from the window and I saw the quick movement of a head. From the details I did see, it was not Bell. Mainly because she was standing right next to him.

"Alright..." I told him and turned back to the reunion that was happening in the library.

________________________________________

The door opened again a few minutes later to reveal the six girls who represent the elements of harmony. I was surprised when Rainbow Dash ran up to Morning and hugged him very tightly, before letting go in embarrassment.

"Can I ask why she did that?" I asked Twilight in confusion.

"Morning is her son," She explained, “well adopted. You should have seen Dusk when he first saw Morning,” she chuckled, “priceless.”

"Ahh...” I said in understanding. I was very happy because I have reunited a family again from an event that tore them apart in the first place. It almost made me jealous about it as well.

"John?" I heard Chris ask.

"What do you need?" I asked him in response.

"You look like you envy the fact that Morning has a family," He says in a knowing way.

"No... I don't envy-" I started to say, but Chris gave me a glare that tells me that told me I shouldn't even try to lie to him.

"Okay, yes I envy them," I admitted sadly.

"Why don't you make your own?" He asks me.

"Once I marry Midnight," I say in response.

"Good point," He says. We jumped in surprise when a cannon goes off loudly. Immediately after the loud bang, the whole room is covered in banners that read: Welcome back from the grave, Morning, So glad that you are alive again!

I chuckled at how she fit all of that onto a banner, but I was more surprised at how quickly she got a party going. I looked at my brother, and he shrugged in response. I shook my head and decided to join the party because I wasn't going to do anything else. Out of the corner of my eye, I think I saw an orange pony. But when I turned to look there, it was gone. I simply thought that I was seeing things and rejoined the party.

________________________________________

As I lay on the floor in pain; stuffed from eating so much cake at once, I started to think about how I really missed this place when I was back on Earth. I knew that I would probably never leave this place again if it was in my power, but I would gladly do it again if it means to protect those who cannot get help from anyone. I noticed that the only pony who was moving around a lot was my brother. He was walking around and picking up the scraps of confetti that have settled on the floor with his hooves.

"You do know that you could use magic, right?" Twilight asks him.

"You do know that I never learned how to use it, right?" He replies, in an attempt to mimic her like a little kid filly.

"You never learned how to do magic?" She asks in surprise.

"You know that I came here with John, I used to be human. So forgive me if I find if magic is a bit too farfetched for me," He explains.

"If you want, I can teach you," She says.

"You would teach a detective on how to use magic? That would be interesting," He says and turns towards Twilight.

"I would, I am the element of magic and friendship after all," She replies.

"Good point... let’s start tomorrow, everyone looks to be pretty dead tired from this," He says with a small chuckle.

"Yeah, I was surprised at how John could keep up with Pinkie Pie in that cake eating contest," She said in surprise.

"I don't think that was a good idea on my part..." I groaned as I expertly suppressed the urge to vomit.

"Probably not, but at least you won and got Midnight to hug you again," He said with a smile.

"Shut up and don't wake me until morning..." I said in annoyance and closed my eyes. I was probably never going to do that again because of the stomach ache that will undoubtedly manifest in the morning when I wake up.

Chapter 12: Afterwards

Chapter 12

I opened my eyes with a pained groan. The gurgle in my stomach told me that I would probably puke soon, which is why I was glad that someone left a bucket next to me. It was empty at the moment, but it was going to be filled with vomit very soon.

"Good morning ponies!" A cheerful voice said. I put my head into the bucket and puked in response. When I finished hurling the contents of my stomach into the bucket, I coughed a bit and put my head back where it was on the floor. I noticed a brown leg next to me setting down a glass of water.

"Urgh... thanks," I said.

"You're welcome, just don't puke over the floor if you can help it," He told me. I responded to him by puking into the bucket again.

________________________________________

I was really not feeling that well as I lay on the floor, not moving. I managed to stop puking long enough to drink the entire glass of water that my brother left for me. I made a mental note to never challenge Pinkie Pie to a cake eating contest again.

"Hello... what is that smell?" I heard a male voice ask from the door.

"Probably the puke that’s in the bucket over there," I heard my brother say. I was comforted to know that he was going to make sure I recovered.

"Now who would fill a-" he started to say but I think he figured it out. "Oh..." He finished.

"Yeah, that's John, you’ve probably heard about him, he managed to keep up with Pinkie in a cake eating contest," My brother explained.

"Ahh... I see now; is he well enough to talk with me?" The voice would ask.

"Yeah... so long as it is not about cake," I responded. I heard hoof steps go closer to me until I saw an orange leg with a wrist watch on it. I blinked once and it disappeared to be replaced by a brighter orange leg.

"Are you okay to stand and talk?" He asks me.

"Hell no..." I responded to him with a frown that said: “I just got done puking into a frigging bucket, what do you think?”

"I'll meet your gaze then," He said and walked in front of me and lied in front of me. He was a very vibrant orange color with a yellow mane and emerald eyes. He looked very cheerful for talking to someone who is sick.

"There, now we can talk to each other," He said. I looked him over and saw that he didn't have any wings or horns, so I assumed that he was a normal pony.

"Right, who are you anyways?" I asked.

"I am Orange Star, but most of my friends call me Orange because I like the fruit. That and it’s my first name. You must be the John that I've heard so much about!" He said as cheerfully as if I were talking to Pinkie.

"Yeah," I told him simply.

"It is great to meet you after so long!" he would say with a smile.

"It's great to meet you too... I guess," I said in response. He was too cheerful, so I thought he was probably coming up with something.

"Oh that's right, you’re not feeling so good," He said, dropping his cheerful look for a moment.

"Gee, you think?" I said in annoyance at how dense he sounded. He stood up and went through his bag.

"I think I would also feel the same way," He said while rooting through his bag, “if I faced Pinkie on the cake-eating battlefield.”

"Too much cake can do that to you," I explained in a deadpanned way. I was surprised when I saw him pull out a glass filled with an orange liquid, "what that?"

"Something to help you feel better," He explained. I decided to take a chance and drink the mysterious orange liquid. It strangely tasted of mainly oranges with a hint of apples. When I finished the glass, I found that my stomach stopped hurting so much. I carefully started to stand and Orange Star stared at me in amazement.

"I said that would help you to feel better, not down outright heal you!" he said in shock.

"At least I can work with this," I said. Orange made a loud gasp that was oddly similar to the sound Pinkie would make.

"Oh buck! I forgot that I had work now! See you later John!" He shouts and runs out of the library. I looked at him in confusion as he ran out of the window of the library instead of the door; I shook my head and turned to Chris.

"Was that orange juice?" My brother asks.

"I think so," I said, being as confused as him. I decided to shake my head and make my way to the Radio station to work for once.

________________________________________

As soon as I stepped outside of the door, I breathed in a breath of fresh air. I let it out with a sight and turned towards the radio station. I hoped that they were able to work without me for the time that I was gone. I smiled as I knew that I was finally going to work for the first time in two years, the first one was just a simple visit. Now that I finally had time to go there due to the events that have happened to me recently, I was excited to return. I decided to not waste time walking there, and opened my wings to fly to the radio station.

I got to the Radio station pretty quickly. I landed gently in front of the doors and walked into the station. Due to habit, I decided to make my way towards the room where the radio equipment was stored. As soon as I got there, I saw through the doorway two ponies. The first pony was trying to get past Vinyl to get to the radio equipment, but she was stubborn about not letting him near.

"Come on Vinyl! You really need to check the voltage rating on that if it doesn't work!" He says and tries to get past Vinyl again; she moved to stop him again.

"The voltage is just fine Flash!" She said to him sternly.

"Then why is your Dubstep music not working as well as it should?" He asks in anger. I sighed and decided to sneak by her and open the equipment to investigate.

"I can guarantee that it will work just fine this time!" She says and turns around to mash a button. The result was me being electrocuted for a bit until the failsafe cuts in and shuts off the equipment before it fried me. I hit the floor and had my hoof drop the wire that I was holding.

"I told you that it wouldn't work just fine," Flash said with a grin.

"It shouldn't do that... unless..." Vinyl said and walked over to me.

"Ow..." I said in pain.

"Dear Celestia, I am so sorry I didn’t see you there!" She said in surprise and apology.

"It's more of my fault since I snuck into here," I explained and got up. I used my hoof to brush the ashes off that formed on me; Flash stared at me in shock (No pun intended).

"So is there a problem with the voltage?" She asks me.

"Not really, all that's the problem is the way that the voltage was trying to flow through, most of the wires are in bad positions and would waste the charge before it could even reach its destination, I was in the middle of reconnecting those wires," I explained.

"Those wires can hold that much voltage?" Flash asks me in surprise.

"Yeah, they are high powered fiber optics, perfect for transferring voltage around at a constant rate, now don't turn it on while I fix the problem," I said and went back to where I was working before I was tazed again. It was an easy duty to go and plug the wires in the places where the circuit should be able to have the energy used before going to the next place without wasting energy on the travel. I finished it in under an hour and closed the equipment.

"There, it should work now," I said.

"Alright, here we go!" Vinyl said and pushed the button. I was blown to the wall with how loud the bass drop was, and Flash joined me. She quickly turned it off and turned the volume down to reasonable levels for us. I peeled off the wall and hit the floor after Flash slid down. I felt incredibly dizzy, so I didn't risk trying to get up.

"Vinyl! Why did you have it turned up so loud?!" Flash Record shouted over the ringing of our ears.

"I wasn't aware that it was up that high!" She shouted.

"Did you really need to turn it up that high?" I asked her.

"Of course I did!" She shouted back at me in glee. The ringing in my ears slowly stopped. While that was happening, I heard the door slam open.

"Uh oh," I barely heard Vinyl say in worry. I wondered why until I saw a grey mare storm into the room, and looking pretty pissed off.

"Vinyl Scratch! Did you need to have a bass drop happen now?" She asked in pure anger.

"Sorry Octy, I had the volume up a bit too high and John managed to fix the problem with the equipment," She explained. I was very surprised to see Octavia that mad. I have never once in my life seen a musician that mad except when they were beating up others with their musical instruments. Most of them were battle bards anyways.

"I see... and you didn't think to check the volume level before turning it on?" She asks Vinyl while calming down.

"I couldn't adjust it since the equipment was off," She said. I figured that I should probably get up and help to diffuse the situation.

"She is right, the power wasn't on so I could switch a few wires around to fix it," I explained. She turns to look at me, and her eyes looked less angry now.

"I see, thank you John," She said politely.

"You're welcome, now I need to brush this event off by fixing a few things in the electronics room," I said and walked out. I was glad that it wasn't too bad, but then I noticed someone walk next to me.

"How'd you know so much about radio equipment?" Flash asks me curiously.

"I used to be a DJ, got a few gigs at radio stations and had them give me a few lessons on electrical engineering," I said with a smirk.

"You are really full of surprises," He said with a grin.

"And don't you ever forget that," I said with a light punch to his leg. We chuckled and talked about bits of our lives as we walked to the electrical room.

________________________________________

"And when I said, 'Hey, would you kindly put that down?' He literally put it down right where he picked it up, so I decided to mess with him again and say, 'Would you kindly dance the chicken dance?' and he danced like as if he were a chicken!" We both laughed at my story so hard that I was crying.

"Oh Celestia! I can't believe you did that!" He said while laughing.

"I know! Too bad that he left after that," I said with a few chuckles to end my laughter.

"Yeah, oh we're here," he pointed out and I noticed that time really flew by when I was talking with him.

"What took you two so long? We have a lot of speakers to fix!" Midnight said.

"You were waiting for me? I'm touched," I said with a grin.

"Save your flirting for after work," She said and jerked her head toward a speaker. I wasn’t surprised at how serious she was in her work, but I was going to walk home with her anyways.

"Wow, you really have picked a good mare to be your wife," Flash says as he moved towards a different speaker.

"Yep, now let’s get to work," I said, adopting the same amount of seriousness as Midnight did.

I worked in relative silence with Flash Record and Midnight song until Vinyl came into the room looking pretty annoyed.

"How are the speakers working now?" She asks me.

"They were simple fixes, I had to replace a few wires in some of the speakers," I explained as I closed a speaker shut.

"Great, now do you know of somepony named Chris?" She asks me, sounding even more annoyed.

"Of course, he's my brother," I said in confusion.

"Well your brother's at my door demanding that he search through the radio station," She says growing more angered and annoyed.

"Let him do it, he's smart enough to not tear the whole place apart and he knows what he's doing," I explained.

"I hope so," She says and walks out of the room to let Chris in. 'I hope so too...' I thought as I turned back to the next speaker. A minute later and I saw my brother walk into the room.

"Next time, how about you ask her first," I said without turning from my work.

"Sorry, but I had to do that in order to bust up another assassination attempt," He explained.

"Dusk again?" I asked in a bored tone.

"Yep, that is now the thirtieth time that I had to stop an assassination attempt towards Dusk this week," he said in annoyance.

"Wow, did you find out why they were all aimed at killing Dusk?" I asked as I closed another circuit box of a turntable.

"This attempt has confirmed it, someone has been convincing them to try to kill Dusk, it makes sense actually, because every time has their allies think otherwise about it," He explained to me.

"Can you figure out who it is?" I asked him as I turned to him with interest.

"Don't need too, this one broke on me and flat out told me the name of the pony that I need to investigate, but I cannot arrest him yet without solid evidence to do so," He said in a annoyed tone. Sometimes, the law tends to get in the way of justice.

"Who is this pony you're searching for?" I asked him in curiosity

"They have called him The Shadow but this pony told me that his real name is Shadow Edge," he said with a grin.

"Shadow Edge? I've actually been tracking him for a long time," An orange pony says out of nowhere from behind Chris. Both of us were shocked to see Orange Star standing at the entrance.

"How did you-" Chris started to ask in surprise.

"I have my ways and sources, I know almost every pony in this town and I know of a source that has told me that Shadow Edge has been experimenting with mind control magic," he explained.

"How did you get here without us knowing?" I asked him.

"Oh that? Trade secret," He said with a grin. I face hoofed at the fact that he was trying to be all mysterious.

"You seem to be well prepared Orange Star," I said to him.

"I am indeed, now shall we bust him?" Orange asks Chris in excitement.

"Not yet, I need to get solid evidence that he was practicing mind control magic in order to convict him," Chris explained.

"Oh, so we need to be able to prove it, can I help you find evidence?" He asks while hopping up and down.

"Sure," Chris says in an unsure way.

"Yay! That means I get an excuse to bash down somepony's door for once!" He shouted excitedly.

"No it does not... you have read way too many detective stories," He said while trying to hide his smile, “anyways, it gives me the excuse to knock some...pony’s door down.”

"Aw..." he said in disappointment. I thought that his vibrant color faded to dark a tiny bit.

"Wait... your brother is an actual detective?" Flash asks from his spot on the other side of the room.

"A very good one at that," I said as Chris walked out with Orange Star behind him. I chuckled and turned back to my work again.

________________________________________

I worked the rest of the time in silence; I didn't even answer any questions that were directed at me from Flash. Most of them were yes and no questions, so I just shook my head or nodded to answer them. I did say a few words to answer questions from Midnight, but that was pretty much it.

"Alright, the work day is over now," Flash announced in relief. Does he always point out the obvious? I thought to myself. I shut the speaker that I finished working on. I saw Midnight do the same and walk towards me. I walked with her to the entrance of the building and I opened the door for her.

"So when will be officially married?" She asks me suddenly as soon as we were outside.

"I think sometime this week, provided that I don't have any more adventures," I told her. We would both chuckle at the fact that I actually have down time from my adventures for once.

"So, how about we go home?" She offers.

"A good idea, but I remembered that I never got the chance to decorate the house," I said in a sad tone.

"Don't worry, I did that for you already," She said. I looked at her in worry.

"Please don't tell me if you made the house pink," I said in a joking but worried way.

"It's mainly yellow and blue," She said while patting me on the back in comfort. I sighed in relief as she didn't make the whole house become one giant doll house.

________________________________________

We arrived at our house and I saw that the house was actually painted a shade of blue, so I was naturally surprised that it was painted.

"By the way, they didn't have enough single beds for both of us, so I got us a double bed," She said in a sweet tone. I decided to quickly turn and kiss for before walking through the door into my our home.

The living room was a mix of yellow and blue furniture, so I was glad that she told the truth. I didn't really care for the placement as I went straight upstairs to the bedroom. When I got there, I noticed that the double bed was a shade of green instead of blue or yellow. I knew that green was a mix of both blue and yellow, so I was impressed at that. Before I could get into the bed, I was grabbed from behind by Midnight.

"Sorry John, but you really need a shower first," She said as she started dragging me to the bathroom. I opened my mouth to argue, but I couldn't really do anything as she dragged me into the bathroom and locked me into the bathroom.

"Was it really necessary to drag me into the bathroom to get me to shower?" I asked her from the other side of the door.

"Yes it was," She simply said. I sighed and turned towards the shower. I turned to look at myself in the mirror and I could see why she wanted me to shower, I was covered in dust and a bit of ooze. Why the heck did no one tell me about this? I thought as I stepped into the shower. I was impressed at how simple it looked, but I turned on the water and started to work on getting myself clean. I took a bar of soap with a hoof and scrubbed my fur all over to clean out all of the dust and the other things that I might not be aware of. It took me what I could guess was a minute because of how many times I dropped the bar of soap. When I put the soap on the rack I got it from, I noticed a bottle of shampoo above it. I picked it up and used it to lather up my mane first. When my mane was clean, I moved to my tail. My tail was clean soon after I washed the bubbles out of it. I smiled and turned the shower off. The smile faded away when I noticed a new smell that I didn't recognize before. It smelled like someone had been sweating too much. The smell worried me for a bit, until I realized that it was coming from outside of the shower. That is not a good sign, but what is that smell? I debated with myself. I decided to slowly open the shower door and prepare for whatever it was. Turns out the smell was coming from outside of the bathroom instead. I sighed in relief as I picked up a nearby towel and used it to dry myself off. I walked to the bathroom door and opened it. I found myself suddenly in the grasp of Midnight, who smelled exactly like what I smelled in the shower.

"I can't wait anymore!" Midnight near shouted and started to drag me towards the bedroom. I wondered why she would do that until I remembered something I read in a book. Oh... crap... I thought in worry as Midnight dragged me into the bedroom and locked the door. Based on what I remember reading, this smell means that she's probably in heat. But why is she in heat now? I read that it only happens during a certain time... I thought in confusion. It faded away when she looked at me like if she was going to have fun with me. I was worried at first, but it faded away when I saw that she moved to the bed and was looking at me expectantly.

"I'm sorry for dragging you into the bedroom, but I really need you to help me," She said in a seductive way.

"Considering that you dragged me in here, locked the door to the room, and smell like you have just been through a humidifier, I'm pretty sure you are asking me to have sex with you then?" I asked to make sure my thoughts were correct. She nodded and I sighed.

"How long did you hold off being in heat?" I asked her.

"About two years," She answered, waiting for me to come to her and waving her tail at me. I shook my head and smiled as I made my way towards the bed where I was expecting to have an interesting night with her.

Chapter 13: Family

Chapter 13

I opened my eyes while still feeling the effects from last night. My legs were still sore from how many times I have moved them to pleasure Midnight. Because of how long I have been adventuring in my life, I had a great amount of stamina due to all of the running that I've done. It was just barely enough to outlast Midnight Song in heat before she finally went to sleep right next to me. I looked over to my side and saw her sleeping peacefully on me; her head was lying on the base of my wings. I felt her soft breathing and it started to feel weird. I didn't want to interrupt her peaceful slumber, but I had to in order to move. I smiled as I replayed the events of last night in my head again, and how much we both enjoyed it. I had a nagging feeling of guilt for doing it, but I decided that we both probably needed it. I sighed and flapped my wings a bit.

"Mmm... give me five more minutes," She said sleepily.

"I would, but then I couldn't tell you of how much fun we had," I said in a joking way. She quickly lifted her head.

"I did not... I did," She said as she quickly remembered what she was doing last night.

"I still don't blame you, you were frustrated from holding in those moments for too long," I said in an effort to comfort her. It worked as she calmly got up.

"At... least we will get married anyways," She said in an attempt to find a silver lining from what she did.

"We will, count on that," I said and got up shakily on my legs like a newborn foal. She walked over to a nearby mirror and attempted to straighten her mane. I tossed her a brush that was lying on the nearby dresser.

"Thanks," She said as she used it to brush her mane.

"No problem, I'm going to make us some breakfast," I told her and walked out of the room.

I was probably going to need to get a massage or something to ease the soreness in my legs. I can't believe I'm thinking about it, but I wonder if they have a spa here... I thought as I entered the kitchen. I shook my head and focused on making food when I noticed that we had a bit of a surplus of eggs in the refrigerator. Scrambled eggs and cheese omelets it is. I thought as I took the eggs and the cheese out of the refrigerator and started to break eggs into the pan.

I was glad that I was experienced in cooking because of how often I travel. Only difference is, this time I actually got it without ‘stealing’ the ingredients. I had to nick a few ingredients as a treasure hunter because they were usually sold at too high of prices, but they usually didn't even notice that I took anything in the first place.

________________________________________

A minute later, and the whole house was smelling like eggs. Midnight almost floated down the stairs to investigate, like those cartoons I watched when I was a child.

"John, I didn't know you could cook!" Midnight said in surprise.

"I didn't know that you forgot that I used to travel," I said in response as I put an omelet on a plate for her. She walked over and almost ate the whole omelet in one bite.

"Mm!" She said with her mouth closed.

"Good omelet with cheese, isn't it?" I asked. She nodded the way a bobble head would. I put my omelet on my plate and piled the scrambled eggs next to it. I took a bite out of the cheese omelet, and found that it was better than what I have expected. In fact, it was almost like I've tasted a cheesy omelet heaven. I was glad I was pulled out of my daze by Midnight slapping me in the face, despite the fact that it hurt.

"Ow… I needed that!" I said as I rubbed my cheek.

"You’re welcome, but when did you learn how to cook this greatly?" She asked, gesturing to the omelet that I recently took a bite out of.

"I guess from all of the times that I've cooked while I traveled on the road, only this time I've cooked with an actual stove," I told her. She looked at me in confusion at the fact that I had never used a stove before, but I know how to work with one.

"I've traveled quite a bit back then in the past, so I’ve cooked with open fires rather than stoves; I’ve cooked with stoves before, just in case you’re wondering," I explained.

"Were you an adventurer back then?" She asked me curiously. I shook my head.

"Yeah, I thought I already told you this?" I asked, “I was depressed because of the death of someone… very close to me.”

"So you were a depressed traveler?" She asks in a joking way.

"No, I only traveled to try to escape the pain and death that followed," I explained to her. I was starting to become depressed about thinking about the past. I looked at Midnight in a way that I hoped that would show her to change the subject before I started crying.

"I see; we should be headed for work before Flash gets angry at us," She said, and I internally sighed in relief for the subject change.

"Yeah, I'll go and get these plates ready to wash when we get back," I said as I started picking up the plates with my hooves and putting them into the sink with my wings. It was a trick that I've taught myself.

________________________________________

It was still morning when we both arrived at work. I agreed with Midnight to never speak of last night to anyone as it would possibly cause panic, or Pinkie to throw a party of some kind. I was surprised to see Flash Record at the front entrance for once, and I started to worry at why he would be there in the first place.

"I'm so glad you're here, we have a bit of a major issue happening with the radio equipment, Vinyl wanted you to check it out immediately," He explained.

"What’s wrong?" I asked as I walked with him.

"Considering that something may have broken a part of it, the equipment isn’t working at all," He explained on the way there. Oh hell, sounds bad. I thought to myself in worry as I picked up the pace to the radio room.

When I got to the radio room, I saw Vinyl looking incredibly worried for, from what I have seen, to be the first time. She turned to me in relief at my arrival.

"Thank Celestia that you’re here, the Radio equipment has just stopped working, and I need to get the show started soon!" She explained to me in a panic.

I nodded and walked up to the radio equipment and opened up its circuit box. The wires inside were tangled. I had difficulty trying to find anything wrong with it. I started pulling the wires out of the box after making sure the equipment is shut off. After I pulled out all of the wires, I went through the grueling task of untangling them from the mess that they were.

It took me almost a minute to untangle all of the wires and get them straightened out on the floor to inspect. I saw that a few of the wires were cut in half, but I noticed that it wasn't a jagged cut that would happen if they were torn apart, it looked like a clean straight cut through the wires. I could easily guess that someone used a knife or scissors to cut the wires apart. I turned to Flash Record in order to speak to him clearly.

"I found the problem, turns out the major wires have been severed and need to be replaced," I explained. I knew that a simple wire tear could be fixed with electrical tape, but the problem was that this was obviously not a wire tear. I didn't trust electrical tape to hold it together without causing some problems with the system. I was wondering about who would deliberately cut the wires of an expensive piece of equipment, but I shook my head. I wasn't a detective; I was just as simple as I could be for a pony living in this world. First I need to fix this problem at hoof, before worrying about that.

"Here are the replacements," Flash said as he put down a bunch of wires next to me.

I nodded and removed the severed wires from the neat arrangements, glad that I memorized what wire goes where. I put the new wires down where the severed wires used to be. I nodded to myself and double checked all of the wires to make sure that the rest of them are fine. After checking the remaining wires, I started plugging the wires back in where they should be.

After I plugged all of the wires back into the circuitry, I turned to look at Vinyl and motioned for her to turn it on. I kept the circuit box open so I could notice any problems immediately when they occur so I could prevent a power failure. When the power was turned on, the wires held as I heard the hum of the electrical equipment. I let out the breath I didn't even realize that I was holding and closed the circuit box. I turned to look at the wires that I had removed from the circuitry.

"I can tell you that these wires must have been cut by something," I said, pointing out the obvious to confirm the fact that I noticed it right.

"Great work there John!" Vinyl said with a slap to my back.

"I agree, I think you might have just saved the equipment from turning into a piece of junk," Flash says simply. He got a glare from Vinyl and me.

"Never say that to a DJ unless you want to possibly get hurt," I warned Flash. He turned away from embarrassment.

"I'm glad that you've fixed it though John," Vinyl said to me again.

"It was nothing really," I said with a neutral face.

"It was not simply just nothing," she said as she prepared everything for the show to start.

"It would be if I don't ask for anything," I explained calmly.

"I think that you deserve a break from this work for today, don't try to argue since I'm giving this to you as a one-time thing," She said to me with a serious face. I sighed because I knew exactly how much Vinyl loves her equipment. It's almost a part of her, so if it didn't work properly it would be like tearing a piece of her soul out.

"Alright fine," I said while raising my hooves in mock surrender.

"I think you'll deserve it for today," Flash says simply to me. I sighed and lowered my hooves.

"Alright, but you really should have someone to be able to do things like this as I won't always be there to fix everything," I said as I started walking towards the door.

"Flash Record could probably handle the minor problems that may occur," Midnight said to me as she watched me walk out.

"Probably? I know I can," Flash boasted. I chuckled to myself as I left the room.

________________________________________

As soon as I stepped through the door, I was staring straight in the face of a masked pony. My instincts triggered and I quickly dove to the floor as he swung a knife at me. It cut a few hairs off my mane as it whistled over my head. I got up as quickly as I did a fast uppercut to his head to buy myself a bit of time. I had thought about randomly screaming “Shoryuken” but I decided against it. As he stumbled back in a daze from the uppercut, I pulled out my knife and prepared to fight him. The masked pony recovers and gave me a glare that almost burnt with how angry he was. I could see in his eyes that the fire of rage burned brightly. I raised my knife with confidence and I saw him widen his eyes in fear. He then spoke to me in a voice that I could tell was male.

"You should die for your crimes," He says as he brandished his own knife.

"What crime would that be?" I asked while keeping my knife close.

"For killing our lord," he says, and pulls out a pistol to my surprise. Oh come on! I thought in anger as I glared at him.

"So you're just going to try to shoot me, good luck with that!" I said as I prepared to move as soon as he fires at me to avoid the shot and disarm him.

"I won't need luck," he says as he pulls the hammer back and keeping the pistol pointed at me. It wasn't at point blank  rang however, so I knew I could avoid it if I timed it right.

"You will when I get to you and beat you to hell and back," I said and loosened myself in order to move fast. He kept the weapon pointed at me while I saw him start to try to get something out of his bag. I decided to scrap my original plan and quickly threw dry dust from the ground at him to blind him. It worked and he stumbled back and shot the pistol at where he thought I was. I was very lucky that he missed, and as the bullet grazed my cheek and embedded itself on the wall behind me. I quickly put a knife to his throat before he could recover to try to shoot at me again. I heard the door open behind me and I resisted the urge to look behind me in order to keep an eye on the masked assailant.

"I heard a gunshot from out here, WHOAH!" The voice of Flash asked me in concern.

"I'm fine for now, he barely missed me," I responded to him as I put the blade closer to his neck.

"It won't be that easy to kill me," He said with a confidant smile. I wondered why he said that, but he managed to punch me right in the face with his hoof. I stumbled back, holding my face with my hoof in pain. I underestimated his willingness to use close combat moves on me. I was more surprised at his strength as I shook my head to clear it. When I could see straight again, I saw that he had the pistol out again, only he had it pointed directly at my forehead. I was frozen in place like a deer staring at the headlights of an incoming car.

"John!" Flash shouted in concern for my safety.

"Once again, I am staring death in the face," I muttered to myself in worry that I wouldn't survive.

"Not for long!" A voice said from nowhere. The masked pony looked confused for a moment, but he was suddenly drop-kicked by an orange pony.

"What the buck?" I asked at the same time as Flash Record. I then noticed that the orange pony was Orange Star, the pony I've met earlier in the library.

"How did you do that?" I asked him in confusion.

"I was on the roof," Orange says with pride.

"Why were you on the roof?" I asked with more confusion than before.

"Why not?" he asks me in return. I was not happy about his response, but he would soon get drop-kicked by Pinkie Pie.

"What is with you and drop kicking ponies?!" I asked in surprise as I backed up to avoid her tail.

"Hey John! I was just going around when I noticed this mean pony walk towards the radio station after shoving a pony down to the floor and threatening another pony, so I knew that he was trying to hurt a pony and I can't let that happen, so I followed him in a sneaky way and- mph!" She said as I shoved a hoof in her mouth.

"That explains enough, but why did you just drop-kick Orange?" I asked as I removed my hoof slowly.

"Wait... I didn't get the mean masked pony?" She asked. I pointed at the knocked out masked pony and then at Orange Star.

"OHMYGOSH I AM SO SORRY!" She exclaimed in surprise and sadness. I thought I saw her mane straighten as she shouted.

"I see cakes and oranges..." he said in a daze.

"I really do appreciate your concern for me though Pinkie," I said with a small smile. Her mane would return to it's regular form as she smiled again.

"What... the..." Flash said behind me, unable to comprehend the event that just happened in front of him.

"I don't know either," I told him simply.

"But... they... argh!" He shouted and stormed back into the building in a mix of rage and confusion. I chuckled at his reaction.

"So what are you doing now?" Pinkie asks me curiously.

"To say the truth, I am taking a day off of work after fixing a major piece of equipment," I said to her. I then realized that it may have been a bad idea to do as she gasped loudly and jumped a few inches into the air.

"That means you can help me to bake cupcakes!" She shouted excitedly as soon as she landed.

"That's nice, what about Orange?" I asked her.

"He should be fine, all he needs is an orange," She says and pulls an orange out from a nearby tree.

"Dare I ask why you had an orange in a tree?" I asked her with a confused look.

"For in case of orange emergency's like this silly," She explains.

"Okay, how do you happen to know Orange Star though?" I asked her, being more confused than before.

"Oh that's easy, ponies always assume that he's from the orange family, and they are related to the apple family, but he's actually from a different branch of my family, so he's my cousin," She explained. I was surprised at how much sense it made. I almost thought that someone replaced the original Pinkie Pie for a moment, before I realized that it is impossible to replace her.

"Orange Star is your cousin?" I asked her to clarify the fact.

"Yep, he moved into town only a few days ago because he heard so much about the town, and when we met for the first time he was surprised at me and asked me if I was Pinkie Pie, I told him that I was and he did a weird sound," She said and demonstrated what sound he made. It looked like a cross between a squeal of excitement and a squeal of joy. "So then he told me that he has been waiting forever to meet me since I was a family of his and I was like 'really?!' And he was like 'Yeah, I heard that the Pie family has one of their children move out somewhere and I never got to meet her, but now I am meeting her!' and I was shocked to hear that he never met me!" Before she could continue onwards in her rant, I saw Orange get back up and shake his head to clear his dazed head.

"Did someone get the plate of that cart?" He asked as he slowly started coming back to consciousness.

"No, because I'm sure you can't get a plate of a pony," I said with a joking smile.

"Oh yeah... Pinkie?!" He asked in surprise. He was less surprised when she offered him an orange.

"Long story short, Pinkie thought you were attacking me and decided to drop-kick you," I said before Pinkie could try to explain in her long rants. I made a mental note to ask them how they learned to do that move another time.

"Oh... Makes sense then!" He said cheerfully.

"Great, now do you want to come with us? We are going to go to Sugar cube corner and make cupcakes," She asked him.

"Sure," He said simply. I looked at him in confusion about why he would say something so simple. But I couldn't do it for long as I was quickly flung onto Pinkie's back. She started running off in her impossible speed to get to the building for baking the sweets.

This is going to be one hell of a day, I thought to myself. I managed to see Orange tie up the masked pony before he disappeared from my sight from Pinkie rounding a corner. I was more surprised at how she could go at such high speeds while carrying a pony on her back, but I decided to not question that feat.

________________________________________

It wasn't even close to the afternoon yet when I noticed that Pinkie had just suddenly stopped to examine a random object on the floor, resulting in me flying through the air without my wings open, and landing with a hard thud in front of three very surprised ponies.

"Where did you come from?" One of them asked me in surprise and confusion. I turned to look at them and snapped back to reality in surprise.

"Oh hello Scootaloo!" I said as I quickly got up and brushed myself off.

"John? Why are you here?" She asks in confusion.

"Ah bet that he's been going around town," Apple bloom guessed.

"More or less, but how does Pinkie even move that fast?" I asked.

"We don't really ask, since every pony knows that she's pretty hard to explain," Scootaloo told me.

"So you’re saying that the town got used to the exciting pink pony?" I asked her.

"More or less, her parties will always make the town livelier," Sweetie Bell explains.

"I see... So where are you going?" I asked.

"I heard that the Wonderbolts were going to have practice for one of their shows here in honor of Morning's return," Scootaloo says to me.

"Wonderbolts?" I asked with confusion on my face.

"You don't know who they are?" She asks me in surprise.

"Umm... no?" I said in an unsure way. I immediately regretted saying that as I was getting dragged quickly by the three ponies as they ran towards a single random direction. So much for helping Pinkie... but I think this will be good though, since I get to meet what I assume are celebrities. I thought as I was dragged by the three ponies who were very good friends with each other, but not in a romantic way.

________________________________________

We arrived at an open field a distance away from the town when the three finally stopped dragging me. I got up and checked my wings to see if I lost any feathers while being dragged. Since they were still in place, I turned to see why they stopped to a very surprising sight. There was a line a pegasai wearing blue suits and a single Pegasus was patrolling in front of them. I thought it looked more like a drill sergeant pacing in front of his or her recruits in order to train them in how to be a soldier. I chuckled at the comparison until I saw one of them take off when the patrolling pony pointed at him. He did some really nice tricks in the air, but I wasn't too impressed. The three fillies on the other hoof, they were really impressed at the trick.

"Really? Just loops and such? Those moves didn't even entertain me!" I shouted before the rational part could stop me from speaking. The blue suits suddenly looked at me in surprise, and some looked at me with disgust. The patrolling pony however looks at me with a small smile.

"Now there's a Pegasai that sounds like he knows what he's doing, could you come over here?" She asks me. I was shocked to realize that it was a mare that was patrolling, not a stallion. Shaking off the surprise, I made my way towards her.

"Before I let you prove how great of a flier you are, I want you to introduce yourself," She said.

"I'll introduce myself when you do so," I said in what I think was a gutsy move. The ponies in blue suits dropped their jaws  to the floor over how I was treating their commanding officer. She however smiled, to my surprise. I took a notice of her details to try to remember her by, and I think that she looked like a fireball because of her orange mane. Is she a relative of Pyro? Nah, probably not.

"I like you, my name is Spitfire, captain of the Wonderbolts," She said to me in a calm but commanding voice.

"Same goes to you, I’m John," I said, resisting the urge to salute her.

"Very well John, if you think you’re so great at flight that you can criticize my team, then prove that you can do some yourself," She dared me.

"If you are going to fly and do tricks, then at least make them somewhat entertaining, as so!" I said and took to the air. I did the exact same loop as the one who flew earlier did, but I looked more enthusiastic about doing it than he did. The result was me leaving a trail while completing the loop. The line of ponies wearing the blue suits looked at me in a mix of surprise, awe, shock, or embarrassment.

"You need feeling into your tricks, otherwise it's going to end out bland," I explained like I was teaching them.

"What if too much enthusiasm causes them to do something other than what they needed to do?" Spitfire asks me with a raised eyebrow.

"Then they did it wrong again, too much enthusiasm can result in doing a beautiful but very sloppy trick," I explained. She would give a bit of a laugh and pat me on the back once.

"You really know your stuff, just like Rainbow Dash does," She said to me.

"I'm honored that you compared me with her, but I think that if you can't get your little squad to put on a decent show, then I'll have to do some of it it for you," I said with a cocky grin.

"And you think that you can do my job?" She asked me in a serious tone.

"No, I can't," I said in a serious tone devoid of any emotion. She stared at me as I kept my face emotionless, and then started to laugh.

"So you’re a soldier, a trick flier, and a modest pony all in one," She complemented.

"I am no soldier, but I can fight like one," I explained with a grin.

"I could use help anyways, since Soarin isn't here," She said.

"And I'll be happy to help, now what will you have me do?" I asked. She walked up close to me and whispered her plans  in my ear, and I smiled. I liked the way she thinks, and I liked the way that she leads her squad like a commander should. I nodded and agreed to the plans and started to walk along the line of Pegasai. I only stopped when I saw one of them had pupils of a thunderbolt.

"I got my first volunteer to fly," I said to her. She nodded and I turned back to the Pegasus. "I want you to first do the flying routine once, make sure to impress me," I said in a voice that was commanding as I could make it without laughing. He opened his wings and flew up and went through the routine that Spitfire explained to me. As I watched, I could swear I heard a bit of thunder, and I was impressed at how well he was doing it. When he landed, I clapped my hooves together twice before walking up to him.

"Great work there," I said to him and he nodded to me silently.

"That's Thunder Cloud, he is one of our best fliers," Spitfire explained to me.

"One of them? I hope that you mean that your squad is great as well," I said in a joking way.

"Not all of them are what you think," she answered me seriously. I sighed.

"Alright, all of you who know the entire routine forwards and backwards please step forward," I said and waited. I saw only three of them step forward.

"Right, you three run the routine," I ordered and they obeyed quickly. I watched them carefully as they went through the routine. I noticed that one of them slack off a bit on a trick however.

"Hey, run that trick again!" I shouted at that pony. He looked at me in a bit of surprise before grumbling and repeating the trick with more focus. I nodded to show that he did it correctly, and he continued the rest of the routine. Suddenly, the second one just stops in the middle of a trick and just hovers there. I turned to him with a glare and he responded with a gesture with his hoof.

"Finish that last trick you were doing," I told him as calmly as I could. He grinned and flew right up to my face.

"Make me... chicken," He taunted. I simply gave him a glare and dared him to back it up.

"Last chance to try before I beat your sorry flank to the floor," I warned. He decided to try to force me away from him with a swift punch. I block it easily to the surprise of every pony watching. I warned him, I thought as I pushed his leg away.

"Congratulations, you're the first one who will be put into a headlock by me for not following orders," I said as I kept a steely gaze upon him.

"I'd like to see you try!" He taunted. I swiftly punched him in his unguarded face and then put one of my legs around his neck. I didn't put too much pressure to choke him, just enough to hold him in place. He struggled and hit me as much as he could, but he wouldn't even escape my grasp.

"I want you to promise that you will follow your commander's orders and not do something like this," I said with a low voice.

"Let go of me and I will!" He said.

"Not until I you say it first, I can do this all day if I have to," I said with a small grin. He sighed in semi defeat.

"Fine, I promise to follow Spitfire's orders," He said. I let him go and he went back to the line of ponies.

"Good, if any of you ponies mock him and I will have you personally answer to Spitfire!" I said and turned away from them and marched off. Spitfire stopped me from leaving though.

"Is that it?" She asks me.

"Yep, I don't want to take control over your entire team," I told her simply.

"I'm impressed that you got him to listen, he's always been a stubborn one to us all," She said, “He’s pretty good, but stubborn as an ass.”

"Yeah, I think you can do just fine without me around," I told her (I assumed she meant a donkey when she said ass).

"I'm sure I will, since I have to make sure that they stop slacking off," She said to me. As I turned to leave the field she stopped me one more time.

"If you ever want too, you could join the Wonderbolts," She offered.

"Thanks for the offer, but I'll decline that because I'm not one for following orders," I told her. She nodded and waved me off as she went back to patrolling the line. I chuckled at what I just did and turned back towards the town in order to enjoy the rest of my day.

Chapter 14: Technolgy and Ponies

Chapter 14

I continued through the quiet town, making a note to try to let Pinkie know of what happened before she got too worried about where I went. As I continued to walk, I saw a pony carrying something that I thought was interesting. I didn't get a good look at him before he disappeared though, so I wasn't sure who he was. I shook my head in disappointment and attempted to go onwards. I didn't even get two steps forward before I was facing face to face with Pinkie Pie and her blue eyes. I decided that now was better than never, and I opened my mouth before being interrupted by Pinkie.

"I am so sorry about what I did!" She said apologetically to me. I saw her mane droop a little bit. Because of this I knew that she was indeed sorry. I nodded my head to accept her apology, and she jumped up and down quickly in excitement as her mane resumed its consistency of being very fluffy as before.

"Now, about those cupcakes...” said in order to keep her on track and stop her excited jumping. She started to say something, but I couldn't hear it because I got tackled once again by what looked to be a cyan blur. What is with this world and the ponies tackling me?! I thought as I was pinned down to the floor. I turned my head to face the attacker, and saw a cyan pony with magenta eyes and a rainbow mane looking very pissed off at me.

"What the hay did you do that for?!" Rainbow Dash asks me in fury. I was worried about her deciding to hurt me, so I asked the only thing that went through my head at the moment.

"What do you mean?" I asked innocently.

"You know what I mean!" She growls back.

"I really don't unless you are more specific about it," I told her.

"Your stunt on the field in front of the Wonderbolts!" She nearly shouts at me, but keeps a very angry glare upon me.

"Oh, that..." I said. I knew exactly what she was talking about. "How did you find out about it?" I asked her.

"I was watching them practice while I was doing my own practice nearby!" She said to me. Yeah right, you were just focused on watching them. I thought to myself as I use my wings to push her away and get up.

"Well, to explain why I did that, I don't entirely like those who just do half-baked tricks and expect someone to not notice it," I explained. It didn't help to calm down Rainbow Dash to my dismay however.

"Now what makes you such an expert in things like that?" She asks me with suspicion. I gave her an angry glare that matched hers, as I knew that she thinks that I am not actually me, despite all of the proof she saw recently.

"I've taught myself for years to catch small details, so if you think that I can't be able to do a few aerial acrobatics, then you haven't lived my life!" I said to her with restrained anger in my voice.

"You past was a being a trick flier? I seriously doubt that," She said with confidence. I heard something in my mind snap and I got straight in her face.

"I don't give a damn about what you think about me at the moment, but I have lived a life in the past that has only ended up in disappointments, failures, and all of the crap I went through! If you think that I've had an easy life, then stop thinking that way! I've had a life where I’ve dealt with death, destruction, chaos, and even felt the pain of it all! If you think that I managed to somehow live a life of freedom and peace, then you are dead wrong!" I snapped angrily at her. She tried to say something but I didn't even let her try to start. "Furthermore, I know that you've lived a normal life for a Pegasus, I am never going to be anything like what you are, and I never will be!" I continued in anger.

"Now hold on there! You're not the only one with the problems in your past!" She shouted in her defense.

"Really? Then what do you have that was horrible?" I challenged.

"I had lost my parents when I was a filly, I never was able to grow up with parents unlike you," She said in response. I was just about to shout something back in response when an old memory that I have long since wanted to forget surfaced suddenly. My anger from earlier faded away quickly as I remembered a fragment of my past.

"You're... not the only one who doesn't know their parents..." I said with a saddened tone. She widened her eyes in surprise at why I have suddenly become sad when I was clearly angry at first. "I... never met my parents as both of them have died by unexplained causes when I was very young," I told her. I wasn't about to explain to them that I actually knew exactly how they died. Tears started to form in my eyes, but I blinked them away quickly before Pinkie Pie or Rainbow Dash could notice it. I did notice that Rainbow Dash looked less angry at me, but she still had some anger left in her. I tried to make myself as angry as possible, but that was impossible for me to do so because of what I have just revealed for them to know. I turned my head away instead, to try to hide my eyes from their gazes.

"I... Don't really like talking about my past, it's as bad as the story I told you years ago Pinkie..." I said calmly and started to walk away.

"Wait," I heard someone say from behind me. I turned around and saw that Rainbow Dash had walked up to me when I wasn't looking. "I thought you were trying to make yourself look cool in front of them, and I was a bit jealous that you were able to do so," She explained. I turned towards her and sat down on the dirt.

"I think we can still be friends, even though I know for a fact that we may not be able to understand each other fully..." I said as calmly as I could possibly say.

"I think that would be great," She said, holding out a hoof. I smiled and gave her a hoof bump in friendship. I then noticed a barrel moved in an odd way nearby out of the corner of my eye.

"Pinkie, as much fun as it is to hide in barrels, you shouldn't do that," I said towards the barrel. The barrel suddenly stopped moving as it knows that I've spotted her.

"But I'm right over here?" Pinkie says. I turned to see that she wasn’t in the barrel this time.

"Then who-?" I started to ask, but I recognized the blue mane that was sticking out of the top of the barrel, "Midnight..." I softly said with mild annoyance.

"I'm sorry, Vinyl also wanted me to take a break because I wasn't feeling so good today," She admitted while climbing out of the barrel with some difficulty.

"Will you be okay?" I asked her with some concern. I was pretty sure that she came up with that excuse in order to be with me, but I don't like the fact that she is skipping out on work.

"I think I will be okay, but I never knew that you have lost your parents at such a young age," She said with light tears in her eyes. I sighed at the fact that she knows that as well.

"How much of it did you hear?" I asked her.

"Most of it, just not your earlier conversation," She said while blinking away the light tears. I chuckled as I knew that I wasn't the only one who had a habit of sometimes listening into conversations that I shouldn't hear, and that was too often for me to count.

"I suppose I have a bit of an explanation to give you when the day ends," I said with a small smile. Midnight returned the smile as well, but I still wasn't falling for her excuse about feeling not so good.

"I guess you do, but don't you have something else to do?" She reminds me. I looked confused for a moment before realizing what she is talking about.

"Oh yeah, do you want to help us as well since you have nothing else to do?" I offered to her.

"I'm supposed to be sick," She told me simply.

"You will be after you try so many cupcakes," I said with a mischievous smile. She looked at me in confusion before realizing what my plan was. However, it was far too late for her to back out when I picked her up and started dragging her towards Sugar Cube Corner. I also had Pinkie help me as well, but that's only because she wanted someone to help out as well.

After managing to drag Midnight into the bakery, I've convinced her to help us with taste testing the cupcakes that were made. She was worried about being forced to try every single one of them, but I decided to join her in taste testing them. Pinkie was happy about the fact that I volunteered as well, because she cooked a bunch of cupcakes with Orange already. I sighed and decided to do the job that I unwittingly took along with my lovely soon-to-be wife. The only worry I had was of all of the cupcakes that I've seen come out of the kitchen.

"How many did you bake?" I asked with worry.

"Around a hundred sixteen give or take a few," Orange says with enthusiasm. I could feel the sweat drops forming on my forehead. I turned to notice that Midnight was also worried as well.

"On a scale of one through ten, ten being that we will really regret this, how much do you think we might regret this?" I asked her quietly.

"I think this takes a solid eight," She quietly responds.

"Good enough for me, let’s get to work," I said and picked up one of the cupcakes. I calmly took a bite out of it, and just as quickly spat it out. "Dear lord! That cupcake is way too sweet to be a normal cupcake!" I shouted in disgust as I tried to use my hoof to wipe the taste off of my tongue.

"Oh yeah, that was the test cupcake," Orange said, taking it off of my hooves. I glared at him for leaving the “test” cupcake on the tray.

"Don't ever leave tests just lying around like that," I told Orange sternly. It was wasted upon him, as he happily bounced into the kitchen to get the real one. I sighed and picked up the next cupcake to try. I gave it to Midnight and she took a bite out of it.

"I think that this cupcake has too much of an orange taste in it," She says simply after finishing the cupcake. She nods to me and I picked up the next cupcake. I opened my mouth hesitantly, worrying that it might be another testing cupcake. But when I took a bite, it tasted like a party in my mouth. Only instead of fireworks, it was exploding with a delicious flavor.

"That is one awesome cupcake!" I complemented, and Midnight glared at me for being lucky. I smiled and decided to turn this into a bit of a private game between us both. "Whoever gets the most good cupcakes before we finish all of them, or we both end up on the floor, wins," I whispered to her with a bit of confidence.

"You're on," She replied, and we started eagerly digging into the cupcakes one by one.

We were down to the last two cupcakes, and I was looking very ill from eating so many cupcakes. Midnight also looked as ill as I did, and I decided to make one last attempt to beat her. I wasn't sure who was winning though, because the only thoughts on my mind were to end this suffering as soon as possible. I looked at Midnight, and she had the same look on her face.

"Come on, there are only two cupcakes left!" Pinkie exclaimed eagerly, not really noticing our faces. I looked at them, and picked both of them up.

"Yes, so let's make this count..." I said with a tiny groan. I put one down in front of Midnight, who picked it up and looked at me. I decided that we should finish this self induced torture together, and I nodded. I tapped on the table once; we both picked up our cupcakes. I tapped the table again, and we opened our mouths. I tapped the table for the third time and we both shoved the cupcake into our mouths. The result was the taste having us both turn green in the face.

"Uh, you don't look too good now..." Orange says. I would have given him a sarcastic response if I wasn't trying to keep myself from puking.

"Bathrooms are down the hall over there," Pinkie says quickly, noticing our very green faces. I nodded at her in thanks, and ran with Midnight down to the bathrooms. She ran into one of the bathrooms, I ran into the other. I managed to get to the bucket in there and puked my guts out into it. One can only handle so many cupcakes before his stomach has to empty itself out. I vowed to never intentionally volunteer myself or my wife in anything like this ever again.

As soon as I stopped puking into the bucket, I took the bucket and replaced it with an empty one. I pushed my way out of the stall and found that Midnight was passed out in front of me. I could see traces of vomit on the side of her mouth as well, but I knew that I was the only one stubborn enough to be conscious, but I was slowly starting to have my brain swim. I set the bucket down and gently carried her to the main room.

"Orange... Please make sure that we get home," I said before closing my eyes and hitting the floor with a thud. I heard worried voices for a short time, but they faded away  quickly before I could even make out who they are and what they were saying.

When I opened my eyes again, I noticed that I was back home in my bed. I looked around and noticed that Midnight was also next to me. I could tell that she was still passed out, so I went and got us both a cup of water to drink. As soon as I got to the sink, I noticed a strange brown pony in the living room. I was confused on who he was and how he got into my house.

"Excuse me, but who are you, and why are you in my house?" I asked him. He turned his head to me in surprise, and I backed up in surprise as well. I saw that his eyes were actually glowing a blue color, but I couldn't figure out what color they  actually were.

"Oh I'm sorry, is this your house?" He asks me in what sounded like surprise. I knew that he was faking his surprise

"Yes it is... now why the hell are you here?" I asked him once again, not buying his fake surprise.

"Oh, I thought I could meet someone who just recently came back," He tells me. I was going to say something to him, when a device started beeping in his pouch. "Oh would you look at that, its working!" He says in an excited tone.

"What's working?" I asked in confusion.

"Oh, it's the device that should track him down and allow-" The pony started to say, but he noticed my glare. "does your name happen John by any chance?" He asked me.

"Yes..." I said with slowly growing suspicion.

"Oh, never mind then..." He said, turning off the device and putting it away in his bag.

"Now why the hell are you in my house looking for me?" I asked him again with a bit more force.

"I simply came to introduce myself, and welcome you back to the neighborhood," He said with an interesting smile. I wasn't really amused at his smile, but I wasn't going to draw a knife on him yet.

"Very well, you know that I am John, now who are you?" I asked him.

"I am Tech Hooves, the pony of technology," He said with a slight bow. My anger vanished and gave way to being impressed.

"So you make technology or something?" I asked him.

"I actually do, most ponies don't really appreciate my efforts however..." He said, saying the last part through clenched teeth. I could understand why he would feel that way however, “Most of them don’t even take me seriously.”

"I see... now that we met, can you please get out of my house?" I asked him in a more polite way.

"Of course, but before I go, I have a feeling that you could use this," He said and gives me a strange looking knife. I took it in my hooves and looked over it carefully.

"Okay, anything else?" I asked him as I put the knife down upon the table.

"Nope, I hope to see you later!" He said, and would walk out the door. He is an odd Stallion, but I think I'll possibly be seeing him more later on... I thought as I finally managed to get time to walk into the kitchen. I took out two glasses of water and filled them both up to contain as much as it could hold. I put them carefully on my wings and balanced the glasses of water upon them as I walked up the stairs. It was slow going and very hard to do so, but I managed to get up all of the steps without spilling a single drop of water. I didn't get too far from the stairs when I saw Midnight exit the room that we were in.

"Oh hello, I got us some water since I was up," I told her. She said nothing as she took the glass from one of my wings and drank nearly the whole thing quickly. I decided to pick up the other cup of water and drink the water as well.

We both finished the water in the cups quickly and I took them back downstairs to put into the sink. As soon as I got back up, I noticed Midnight walk back into the room. I also entered into the room to join her as well.

"So what now?" I asked her as soon as I walked into the room and closed the door.

"I think it would be best if we sleep for now..." She replied in a tired voice. I nodded in agreement and helped her back into the bed. I smiled as she moved into a comfortable position on the bed. I decided that I would join her for once, and got into the bed myself. Before I closed my eyes however, I felt someone put a hoof on me. I smiled as I could tell that the leg belonged to Midnight, and smiled as I closed my eyes and started my slow decent into the unconsciousness of sleeping. Most of my dreams were filled with imaginations of the future I will have with my wife and my two children as well if I had them. They were very pleasant dreams, and I'm very certain that anyone who dreams of having a family would understand the reason of why I have those kind of dreams.

Chapter 15: Memories can last

Chapter 15

I opened my eyes sleepily as the sun shone through the window. I turned my head to the other side, and quickly noticed that Midnight was not in the bed. I bolted upright in surprise, wondering how long I had slept in this time. I got up and hurriedly ran down the stairs in order to make a quick breakfast. When I got down to the first floor however, I smelled something coming from the kitchen. I sniffed at the sudden scent, and widened my eyes in surprise. It smelled like something that I have come to love since I've entered this world, and that was the smell of something cooking. I could tell from the scent that it wasn't eggs; instead it was the smell of Pancakes fresh off the griddle (a type of pan for those who don't know). I wondered who would be making pancakes at this time, so I let my curiosity get the better of me and went to investigate the kitchen. When I entered the kitchen however, I was shocked to see Midnight at the table with a pile of pancakes next to her. She turned her head to look at me when I entered.

"Ah, I thought you weren't going to get up, so I made breakfast," She said with a light smile.

"You made pancakes!" I exclaimed, not even trying to hide my excitement. She looked at me in confusion, probably wondering why I was excited to eat pancakes. I didn't answer that question yet, and I went to the table and took a pile of pancakes and put it on my plate. I can say for a fact that I love pancakes almost as much as I like muffins. I dove into my pile pretty quickly and ate the whole stack of pancakes in ten seconds flat. When I finished it, Midnight was staring at me in shock.

"I had no idea you liked pancakes that much!" She said, still recovering from my quick feast on the large pile. I grinned and turned orange in embarrassment. As she ate the rest of her stack, I waited for her to finish it before speaking again.

"I'm sure you're wondering why the hell I like pancakes so much," I said, guessing what she was most likely going to ask me. She nodded and I chuckled to myself, "That's actually something from the past, before I became a treasure hunter," I explained.

"I know, you ran away from home after your wife got murdered," She told me in a deadpanned tone.

"Yeah, but I never really did tell you what happened to make me a treasure hunter," I said with a grin. I knew Midnight would become curious about it and ask me, but I was surprised when she gave me a smile.

"Someone you knew made pancakes for you?" She asked me.

"Yeah, he was... a friend," I told her, closing my eyes to remember back to the time when I met my only great friend, my mentor.

"What was his name?" Midnight asked me with a look of wonder in her eyes. I didn't answer her right away, but when I opened my eyes again, I looked right at her.

"Jonathan Hanselwood," I said, and sighed of all the memories I have had with him.

"You must have really liked him as a friend to speak so fondly of him," Midnight says to me.

"I did, but I think I should start from the beginning," I said with a small smile.

"The beginning?" Midnight asked in confusion.

"Yeah, from when I first met him," I said to her as I flashed back to the past. "It all started in a forest,"

In the forest, a campsite was located with the ashes of a fire. A man sitting near the ashes groans with disappointment, his fire went out and he couldn't get it lit again. He sighed and stood up and stretched. The man was five foot two inches tall, and he has a well toned body from his job. He runs a hand through his orange hair, before grabbing the end of it to tie back into a pony tail. He sighed to himself and walked to the nearby lake, where he filled his canteen and washed his face. As he stared into the lake with his sea blue eyes, he could see that scar over his right eye from the time when he was a soldier. He was captured by the enemy after a failed operation and tortured for information, but they didn't break him. He survived long enough for his allies to free him again, but the scar lasted long after the war and into the rest of his life. He sighed and started to make his way back when he heard a cry. Thinking quickly, the man rushed in that direction, unsheathing one of his knives to help defend the person from the wild life.

He burst through the bushes to see a frightened teenager surrounded by hungry wolves. The teen had brown hair and had an average body for his age. The teenager was crouched down in fear as the wolves circled him, eager to feast upon him. But when the man suddenly burst through the bushes, they turned their heads to the new prey, or threat. They stopped circling the teen, and turned to the man holding the knife.

"You should know better than to try and pick a fight," He growled. He aimed it at both the teen, and the wolves. The teen was more frightened of the man that came through the bushes, but he hoped that the man wouldn't leave him either. The wolves decided that it wasn't worth it to try and get him, and one lunged towards the teen. His eyes clamped shut as the wolf lunged. He slowly opens his eyes to the sight of a dead wolf with a knife in the side of its head. The wolves looked at their fallen comrade, and decided that it was not worth trying to get either of them at all. They ran into the forest to hunt for something else to eat. The teen however, was frozen to the spot in fear. The man walked up to the teen and offered a hand, but the teen didn't move. The man sighs and picks up the frightened teen in his arms and carries him to the campsite.

"Wait, so he saved you from being eaten by a group of wolves?" Midnight asks, interrupting my story.

"Yes, he did... though now that I think about it, it's a bit ironic that I almost was killed by wolves recently," I said in a mix of wonder and confusion.

"So what happened next?" She asks, preventing me from getting too far off track.

"He brought me to his camp, Gave me food, water, a place to sleep, and basic survival skills in the wild. But only after I told him that I had no home," I said, continuing the story from where I left off.

"That was a lie, you did have a home but you ran away from it," She pointed out to me. I sighed in a mix of annoyance and sadness.

"Yeah, but I wasn't about to let the chance of adventure slip away from me. So on that night when he was about to leave, I stopped him."

"Wait!" The teen shouted to the man. Who stopped and stared in annoyance.

"I told you kid, I am done with training you," He says sternly, but it didn't deter the teen from getting in front of him.

"I don't want to get more training; I want to go with you!" He said with eagerness in his voice.

"You're still too young kid, you wouldn't want to go with me," The man said in a harsh tone.

"So you think that you're just going to leave me here to die? What if those wolves come back? I'll just follow you to where you're going then!" He said with a serious look in his eyes. The man looked annoyed; he didn't want to have to take care of this teenager.

"Look kid, my job is dangerous, deadly even. I don't want to have you die from being stupid," He said in a hard tone. He moved to go around the teen, but he only blocked his path again.

"So? I've seen death before; I'm not going to let you go until you let me come with!" The teen nearly shouted at him. The man growled and pulled a knife.

"Either you get out of my way, or I will have to make you," He growled.

"Then go ahead and try!" The teen shouted at him. The man took steps and moved to slash the kid, but the kid didn't move. He didn't even close his eyes in fear. The man stopped in mid-movement in surprise when he saw what was in the teen's eyes.

"You know what, I've changed my mind," He said as he put his knife away.

"Really?" The teen asked in confusion. He wasn't sure if he was kidding to try to distract him, or if he was serious.

"You have guts kid... I like that," he said with a chuckle. When he saw the fire in the teen's eyes, he could see himself in them as well. He decided to take the teen along to train him.

"So will you take me with you?" The teen asked in excitement.

"Only if you are willing to go further in training," The man said with a small smile. The teen almost jumped in joy, but restrained from doing it under the harsh gaze, "Before we start... what is your name?" He asked.

"John, my name's John," The teen now known as John replies, holding out his hand to shake.

"My name is Jonathan Hanselwood, but just call me Jonathan," the man replied, taking John's hand and shaking it once. Unknowing to either of them, they were about to enter in a friendship that neither of them would have ever expected to be possible.

I chuckled to myself. "After that, he trained me in everything I know today, mostly in knives though, but I learned the rest as I went with him," I said as I remembered the long, hard training that Jonathan put me through. I disliked it at first, but I eventually learned to adapt with it, "It was also during my travels with him that I've became friends with him, and he helped me out so many times. And even vise-versa"

"You must have really liked him as a friend to do all of that with him," Midnight said in wonder.

"We were, but I'll just jump forward in time to what really cemented out friendship," I told her.

"We're here," Jonathan says to his partner. He looks over the ruins that hold the treasure that they seek to protect from the treasure hunters that were trying to steal it for their gain.

"About time, I thought that walk was too slow," His partner John says with relief. Jonathan groans in response to his statement.

"You need to stop whining about-" He started to say, but then noticed the treasure hunter's trucks being there. "Fuck, you were right this time," He said.

"I saw them as we left the camp, but you wanted to WALK there," John said with a mix between annoyance, and boasting.

"Laugh it up all you want, pretty soon I'll leave you to be hit by a trap when you wander into it," He said in a serious tone. A usual threat he made on many of their adventures.

"Not if I don't let you go in one first," John shot back. They glared at each other before bursting out laughing and giving each other a pat on the shoulder.

"I knew you wouldn't fall for that!" He said while laughing.

"Yeah," He replied, chuckling himself, "you've used that too many times old man." The two stopped chuckling and got serious once again.

"Looks like we need to beat them there," He said.

"Provided that the traps didn't kill them all first," John replied in a joking tone. Oh I wish it were that easy... Jonathan thought to himself. He silently led John to a side door entrance and opened it with the amulet that they had to raid the camp for. The door opened softly and they entered in, with John closing the door behind them. The hallway was lit with torches, but Jonathan knew that it wouldn't be easy to get through.

"Floor traps," John said, pointing out the strange floor tiles that stuck out from the ground.

"Why do they insist on making those, it's almost like as if they want people to die," He started to say. John waited for him to finish his line first, "Oh wait, they do," He said with a light chuckle.

John was going in front of him and avoiding the floor traps. John was only going first because this was his final test to be a treasure hunter, so Jonathan was keeping an eye on him to be sure that he didn't make a mistake that could cost him his life.

"Can't we just skip to where you find the treasure?" Midnight asked, interrupting my story. I glared at her for a moment before sighing. She's got a point there... I thought to myself.

"Alright, I go through all the traps and the what-not on the way through and we arrive in this really big chamber..."

The two Treasure hunters emerged from the passage into a large chamber.

"Whoa..." John said in awe, looking impressed at the sheer size of the chamber. Jonathan however, was used to the size.

"Come on John, we need to get to the treasure before they do," He said, nudging John out of his amazement.

"Right," He said, and refocused on the task. "They always put the treasure in the middle of giant chambers like this..." He muttered to himself.

"That's the gist of it, looks like some of them survived though," Jonathan said, pointing out the men following a man with a business suit. The man was pretty pissed off because of the fact that he lost men to get to the treasure, but he knew that they were too incompetent to keep a hold of the amulet that would have made their lives easier. But they lost it to the two treasure hunters.

"Looks like we barely beat them here, but now we have to get to the treasure first," Jonathan said.

"Yeah, but we should probably try to slow them down... let's knock some of those pillars over in their path," he suggested.

"No, we can beat them there if we just hurry," Jonathan pointed out. John sighed because he knew that it would take too long to push one over anyways.

When they were halfway there, a sharp eyed goon of the business man spotted them.

"Fuck, one of them saw us!" John shouted, and started climbing down faster. Jonathan on the other hand, was already at the bottom.

"Get them you fools! We can't let them reach the treasure!" The business man shouted. The goons pulled out guns and shot at John, who managed to get off the wall just in time for a bullet to hit where his head was.

"Run!" John shouted, and Jonathan ran right next to him as they ran towards the steps to get up to the altar. The bullets sprayed around them and at their feet, and a few more grazed them. They ignored the light wounds and kept running, not stopping to look over their shoulders. Suddenly, Jonathan tripped over a solid piece of rubble and hit the floor. John paused for a moment and looked back.

"Keep going! You have to beat them!" He shouted towards his partner. John looked to the altar, then to his fallen partner, than back to the altar. He made a decision and ran towards his fallen partner and helped him up.

"You fool!" The business man shouted, and ran up the steps. He shot it towards John, knowing that he would no longer be able to beat him there. But he saved his friend from death as he pulled his friend towards a broken wall.

"Why the hell did you save me?" Jonathan asked in both surprise and anger.

"Friends don't leave each other behind," John replied.

"But that means that you've lost the treasure," he said with growing anger.

"No, I realized that the treasure is not worth losing a friend over," John replied.

"And that's what made up your mind?" Jonathan asked in anger.

"Well that, and the fact that the stairs were trapped anyways," He pointed out, and the business man got crushed by a boulder tumbling down the stairs. "Ugh..." He said in disgust as the boulder left a red puddle where the business man once stood. All Jonathan could do was laugh.

"And after we got past the trapped stairs, we found the  treasure wasn't actually real at all, so we were disappointed about it, but then he offered to make me something for us in celebration," I continued.

"What is it?" She asked in excitement. I grinned and looked at her.

"We are eating something similar to it right now," I said. She looked at me in surprise. Her eyes trailed to her plate, which had been full a second ago.

"So that's why you like them..." She said, finally having a question answered.

"Pretty much, but he was my last friend as a human anyways," I said, adopting a darker tone.

"Why? What happened?" She asked with concern.

"He disappeared from the world..." I said simply.

"So he just... ran away?" She asked me.

"No, he actually disappeared from the world entirely through a portal... I will never know if he's alive or dead now," I said, my eyes growing sad as I remembered the moment I last saw him.

"John! Stay back!"

"I'm not leaving you to be sucked into that portal!" I shouted at him.

He was barely holding onto the broken wall as he looked John in the eyes, they had the look of accepting his fate in them.

"You have to! It's too late for you to save me without being trapped in its clutch, please, just live for us both." He told me with sadness. Tears were in my eyes as his grip started to deteriorate.

He let go of the wall as I was pulled away by a member of my team, I reached out my hand towards him. Hoping that something would let me save him.

“JONATHAN!"

I shouted out his name as he got sucked into the portal

I sighed to myself, "Ever since his disappearance, I couldn't bear to make friends again because I was afraid that I would lose them too" I said with a heavy heart. I put down the fork and looked outside. "I think we should get to work, it's been hours already, and we're still sitting here," I said while standing up on all fours.

"I guess you're right..." Midnight responded as she stood up as well. We both decided to head out the door and go to the station for work. Though I felt a weight being lifted from me for telling her that story as I walked. It was the first time, that I could freely tell a pony a story like that, and now I feel closer with Midnight. I knew that our marriage would work, but the only question was when it was going to happen.

Who will be the one to marry us?

In the Crystal Empire, there was a tournament starting. It involved the best fighters from around the entire empire, but a single pony looked over the list with a bored look. He knew that they wouldn't fight him, so they all requested to drop if they were put up against him. He sighed and looked for a replacement on the list of ponies. His blue eyes gazed over the list in boredom, and he knew that no one would fight him. He suddenly stopped upon a name that stood out from the rest of the ponies: "John" He raised an eyebrow and turned to the guard who was looking over the list as well.

"Who is this John?" He asked him.

"He's a pony who recently appeared in this world, he lives in Ponyville." The guard said.

"Nightblade... are you serious?" He asked the Dark blue pegasus with a black and white mane and tail. His tail almost looked as if it were made from metal from how it looked. But, of course, it was made of hair.

"I'm not one to joke around with you. You're Steel Blade, the best guard that this kingdom will ever have," He responded to a grey earth pony, his mane was brown and had a ponytail in it. His tail however, looked straight and it only went down half of his leg.

"Then I want to invite John to this tournament," Steel Blade said.

"Very well, I'll get everything ready for it," He said and walked out of the room. Steel Blade sighed and looked at the name once more. He felt that the name was familiar, but he shook his head.

He used to be known as Jonathan, but now he is Steel Blade.

Chapter 16: An old friend

Chapter 16

It was being a bit of a slow day at the radio station; mostly due to the fact that the radio equipment had no problems with it since the day that I fixed it. I didn't even know that I fixed it more than I thought, so I worked with Flash Record and Midnight Song in the electrical equipment room. Nothing really interesting happened, other than a bit of chatting about a few things like how our life was; mostly the basic stuff that you would normally chat about in the work room. That changed when a shiny pegasus flew into the room.

"Is there a John here? I've been directed here to give him a letter," The sparkly pegasus said.

"You're a long way from home, what brings you here?" Flash asked him.

"I need to give John a letter," He said flatly. I sighed and walked up to him after putting down the wires on the table.

"I'm John," I said in a bored tone. He simply held out a interesting letter for me to take. I took the envelope and opened it up with a knife. The sparkly pegasus walked out of the room, knowing that his job was done. I didn't pay him any mind as I took out the paper that was within the envelope.

"That's odd, I've never seen anypony use that kind of paper," Flash commented. I rolled my eyes and looked over the letter once. Then I read it over again in surprise.

"What is it?" Midnight asks me in worry.

"I think I should read this letter out loud to you," I told her and cleared my throat.

Dear John,

I would like to formally invite you to the Crystal empire tournament to participate in the event of combat, the reason you were chosen is because the contestant dropped out of the rankings due to personal reasons. You were chosen from a list to take his place in the tournament, and I would request that you head to the Crystal Empire to sign up officially in the tournament. Bring this letter to show proof that you were invited.

Steel Blade

As soon as I finished the letter, Flash Record was looking at me with his jaw on the floor.

"You got invited to the Crystal Empire by Steel blade?!" he said in shock.

"I guess so... why are you so shocked about it?" I asked him.

"Steel Blade is the best knife user in the Crystal Empire! Nopony can come close to his accuracy in throwing knives!" He said in a mix of being a fan Stallion, and being awed by the letter.

"Best knife user? I think I should try him then," I said with a smirk.

"Are you crazy?!" He near shouted in my face. I gave him a serious look that shows that I was not crazy at all. "Okay, your not crazy, but your not going to have an easy time with it though," He says to me.

"I also am a trained knife user, I think I can easily overcome him in it," I said with a cross between being arrogant, and being brave.

"I'm sure you can do that," Midnight said to me with a bit of pride. Flash looked at her, then at me.

"You really are both crazy..." He muttered to himself before returning to his work. I just put the letter back into the envelope and smiled at Midnight.

"Before you ask, we need to let Vinyl know of this," She said before I could say anything. I sighed, knowing that she was right about that. We cannot just skip out of work at any time without reasons, so I walked with Midnight to the radio room to talk with her.

"Sure, I'll allow it" Vinyl says with a smile on her face.

"Really? That's it? No begging, crying, screaming,shouting, or anything like that?" I asked in surprise.

"I won't do any of that stuff, but I'm sure Midnight would though," She said with a smirk.

"No I won't!" Midnight shot back at her boss.

"You will if John's going to leave without you," She says with a glint on her purple shades. I sighed, knowing that Vinyl was just teasing her.

"Vinyl, please, for the love of Celestia, don't tease my fiance in front of me," I said to her. She just gives me her grin in return.

"And why would I want to do that?" Vinyl asks me. I only gave her an angry glare in response and she threw her hooves up in mock surrender.

"Teasing aside, I give you my full permission to go to the tournament," She says with a tiny bit of authority in her voice. I know she's too relaxed to be very authoritative, but that's what Octavia is for.

"Okay, I'll return after I've won or lost the tournament," I said and turned to leave.

"Hold on a moment there," Vinyl said, stopping me from leaving.

"What?" I asked, being annoyed at the fact that I was wasting time.

"Make sure you bring back something for all of us from the Crystal empire," She told me, then went back to her turn tables to do her radio show. I chuckled to myself softly as I walked out with Midnight, knowing that Vinyl just asked me to get everypony a souvenir from the Crystal empire.

Normally, a normal Pegasus would just take the train, and that is exactly what Midnight did. I wasn't on the train with her however. I was flying towards the Crystal empire after stopping at the library to get a map from Twilight Sparkle. She was worried about what I was planning to do, but Dusk helped me to convince her otherwise. It would actually benefit me to fly there, since it would be a long time before the train actually got there. As the green grass gave way to the white snow, I decided to land because of the strong winds blowing the snow around. I was a bit dense for not dressing warmly, but I was able to ignore the chill for a while as I made my way through the snow. No wonder Twilight wanted me to dress warmly. I thought to myself as I trudged through the freezing snow. I was unsure about why I thought it was a good idea, but I remembered that I wanted to fly there myself. No wonder it takes the train a while to get there though, the snow was very heavy at this time of year. I did not want to stop however, or else I would be increasing the risk of dying to frostbite out in this winter area, so I kept moving. The winds were too strong for me to attempt flying, so I had to drag myself through the snow in order to keep moving. I need to prepare better... I thought to myself as I continued to walk through the white snowfield. I only got a few more steps further before I collapsed in the snow and my sight grew dark.

When my sight returned, I thought I was dead because of the sheer white color, but then I looked up and noticed a crystal pony wearing a doctor's outfit on her

"You're awake!" she called out in surprise. I tried to turn to face her, but failed badly as I turned too quickly and fell down. I groaned in pain as I was lifted back into the bed.

"I'm never... going to walk through a snowfield... again..." I swore to myself. I looked at who helped me back into the bed and saw that she was clear. I could see through her. I had a small pun surface in my head, but I forced it back down to the depths of my mind where it came from. I was not going to use it here out of respect.

"You need to rest a bit more, you're lucky that one of our guards found you there, you would have froze to death," She explained. I refrained from rolling my eyes because of how nice she was.

"Yeah, could you tell the guard that I say 'thank you' if you see him?" I said to her.

"I will, but why were you in the area anyways?" She asked me.

"I was on my way to the Crystal Empire to partake in a tournament," I said, motioning towards my bag. She looked at me in confusion and gave me the bag as I fished out that letter. I gave her the letter and she read it over before being surprised.

"Steel Blade invited you?! That's why Shining was so excited... you are from Ponyvile!" She exclaimed in surprise.

"Yep, this must be the Crystal Empire then," I said to myself out loud.

"It is," The nurse answered simply. I gave her a quick smile and set my bag down.

"Guess I'll get some rest then, I want to be in-" I started to say, but the nurse put a hoof on me. It was weird seeing something so shiny put a hoof on me, but I didn't mind.

"Perfect shape for the tournament," She finished for me. I chuckled as she knew what I was going to say.

"Pretty much," I said when I stopped chuckling. She gave me a warm smile and left to take care of the rest of the ponies in the hospital, then I learned that there wasn't any, since they only get patients who are actually ponies instead of looking like they were made of glass or crystal. They can get hurt though however, so those were the only other patients that were around. Some of them were in beds as well, but I assumed for different reasons. There was nothing else I could do, so I closed my eyes since I needed to rest and recover.

"John..." A voice calls out from the black darkness.

"Save the pity for a later time, it won't ever bring him back," A voice that I recognized as my past self answered.

"Why would I pity him? I was even fond of-" He started to say, but a crack loudly sounded in the darkness. The black turned the color of blood red.

"That was my friend, you son of a bi-" I shouted, but I held back saying the rest of it.

"Calm down John! Somebody get a doctor!" A different voice shouted out before all sound faded out.

I opened my eyes to the color of white. I groaned and stood up before blinking once in surprise. I rubbed my eyes and saw that I was indeed in that same room where I met Golden Shield. 'Why am I here now?' I wondered to myself as I looked around.

"John, can you hear me?" A voice calls from the vast whiteness. My first reaction was to try and pull out a knife. As I reached for where the knife should be, I quickly found out  that I didn't have any knives on me in this place.

"Who are you, and where are you?" I asked in a mix of fear and annoyance.

"I'm just a friend of yours, but you should know something," It said in a calm tone.

"What is it? Impending doom?" I asked in a mix of eagerness and confidence.

"No, it's someone you know," It said simply. I raised an eyebrow at that.

"Someone I know?" I asked in confusion.

"Yes, you will meet him at the tournament," it told me.

"Who is it then?" I asked it, but it never got the chance to answer back as the white faded back to black.

I opened my eyes to find that I've managed to roll to the side of the bed while I was asleep. I rolled the rest of the way off the bed and stood on my hooves. I was less sore than I was earlier, so I decided to make my way towards the exit of the building.

"Hold on a second John!" A voice called from behind me. I turned around and saw a crystal pony walk up to me and give me a map. "You'll need this," He said to me simply.

"Thanks, now how do you know my name?" I asked warily.

"The nurse told me," He said with a small smile. I sighed, knowing that he probably would be right either way.

"Alright, have a great day," I responded to him as I walked out the door.

"You too, have fun at the tournament!" He shouted in response. I turned around to ask him how he knew that, but he was gone. I shook my head and walked out of the hospital.

As soon as I got a step out of the hospital, I was nearly tackled by a dark blue blur. I was able to avoid it as it slowed down to give me a clearer view of who it actually was.

"John! Thank Celestia you're okay!" Midnight nearly shouted in relief.

"It's going to take more than just a single snow storm to kill me," I said, but I wasn't about to go testing my luck everywhere. I nearly died in that snow field back there, and that's never a pleasant experience.

"Maybe you should try and prepare yourself more next time," She said in a berating tone. I smiled and laughed, and she joined me in laughing as well.

"Since I'm up and walking, how about we head for that tournament before the sign ups close and I have to be forced to watch it," I said with a smile.

"Do you know the way there?" She asks me. I pulled out a map that the crystal pony gave me and showed it to her.

"Of course I do, we need to go that way," I said, pointing in the direction that I think we should go.

"Actually, it's that way," She said, pointing the other way. I frowned, knowing that I've got to get a better sense of directions sometime.

"Right, lets just go then," I told her flatly. She chuckled at it and we start walking our way towards the arena where the tournament is being held.

When we arrived at the arena, I was a bit disappointed that it wasn't made from crystal. But at the same time, glad that it wasn't. Crystal isn't so great for walls, no matter what anyone says about the castle. I saw a few ponies gathered outside one of the gates. So I turned to my fiance and nodded. She understood what I was going to do, and went to try to get into the spectators seats. I turned back to the one gate and walked towards it. As soon as I got near, I heard a commotion.

"What do you mean that you're filled? You still have one spot left!" A crystal pony shouted at the guard.

"That spot was reserved for a pony from ponyvile," The guard stated plainly.

"And when is this pony going to be coming then? Face it, he won't be there," the pony said. I felt like now was the best time to intervene before it got out of hand, or hoof. Depends on what you are for that saying.

"I'm here," I said, walking up to the guard. The crystal pony looked at me in confusion, since I almost looked like as if I came out of nowhere.

"you have the letter?" the guard asked me. I nodded and pulled it out of my bag and gave it to the guard. He glanced it over for a bit.

"So you're John then, we were just waiting for you," He said, stepping aside for me to enter. The crystal pony who wanted to get in was shocked at them having that spot reserved for me. I kept a neutral face as I walked past the guard and into the arena.

"When is this event going to start? I'm getting sick of waiting!" I heard a voice call from a room. The guards helped me to get to the room and went to announce that the event is starting. I was about to enter when I heard them.

"It'll start when our 'mystery' pony arrives here," A female voice said in response.

"Yeah, but why is it taking him so long? I mean it's not like as if he's outside the door right now," He shot back at the female. I opened the door loudly to announce my arrival. Two crystal ponies turned to look at me in surprise. One was a male who was colored like a ruby, and his mane was short and messy and had the color of an emerald, his tail was medium length and matched his mane in color. The other pony was a female that was colored like a sapphire, and her mane was a bit longer. Her tail was short, but I could tell that she cut it that way to keep it from impairing the movement of her back legs. The way her mane and tail or colored was a different story. They were colored like a mix of a ruby and an aquamarine. I chuckled as the male pony hit his face with a hoof.

"You were just waiting for him to tempt fate, weren't you?" She asked with a small smile. I shrugged in response.

"Don't blame me, I ended up having perfect timing," I said to her as soon as he removed his hoof from his face.

"So now everyone is here, now all we have to do is wait for Steel Blade to come and give us a pep talk about how we should try our best, and then gloat a bit about how we can't hope to match him," He said with a mix of eagerness, disappointment, and annoyance.

"By the way, I never learned you're name," She said, completely ignoring what was said by the other crystal pony.

"John," I said simply. "And who are you two?"

"My name's Blooming Sapphire, and he's Bloody Vomit," She answered, I raised my eyebrows as the second name.

"Don't listen to her, I'm actually Red Savior," he said, earning a look from the mare.

"Why would she call you Bloody Vomit though?" I asked him.

"Because she thinks that I would be barfing as soon as I get out there," He answered with a look of annoyance. "That only happened once,"

"And I think it will happen again if you don't pay attention," A voice from behind me says. I turned around in surprise and saw not a crystal pony, but a grey colored pony with a brown mane that had a ponytail his tail was short, in fact, it only went down about half of his leg. The most predominant feature about him however, was the fact that he had a scar over his right eye. Oddly enough, it seemed as if I knew him from somewhere, but I couldn't place it.

"Steel Blade!" The stallion shouted in surprise.

"Good to see you too, now... since everyone who is going to participate in the knife challenges are here, I am going to go through a bit of rules." He stated. From the looks of him, it looked like as if he said the same thing over and over.

"Go ahead then," Sapphire said.

"Right, first of all: You are not allowed to attack your opponents this year, but you are able to hinder them in any way possible, but you cannot completely stop them from getting to their goal for more than two seconds," he explained. The mare looked a bit disappointed, but Steel Blade didn't show any signs of seeing it. "Second, the reward for winning is a spar with me in the arena after the event is over, and I want to give an actual show so there is no forfeiting," He said.

"Now why the hell would I want to do that?" I asked him.

"Because I am the best knife user in the crystal kingdom," He said.

"So? I'm going to make sure that I beat those two and get a match, then we will see who's the best!" I declared.

"What, you have a rivalry?" Red asked.

"Certainly sounds like one," Sapphire replied. I ignored them and glared at Steel blade. The only thing he did was laugh in response to my challenge.

"Looks like we've got someone with fire, then again, I'm glad I invited you here John," He said. My glare turned into a look of surprise. Before I could ask him about it, I heard the sound of a fugal horn.

"Looks like it's starting, I shouldn't keep you all waiting around now," Steel Blade said, and walked out. I was confused for a moment, but I turned and took a seat in the room. The only thing going through my head until the time where I stepped out into the arena grounds was a single question.

Why did Steel Blade invite me to this?

Chapter 17: A new challenge

Chapter 17

As soon as I reached the gate with the other two competitors; I could hear the loud cheering on the other side. Shortly after, I heard a loud thunk coming from the door.

"Guess the free-for-all battle part is almost over," Sapphire commented.

"Do you have many events like that?" I asked her.

"Not really, we are under strict rules against killing, but there was nothing against knocking your opponents unconscious," she said with a small smile.

"Good to know that, I'll make sure to be gentle when I beat you," Red said in a mix between mocking, and arrogance.

"Well don't expect me to be gentle with you," Sapphire shot back.

"Yeah yeah, I bet you'll last for only two seconds out there," Red replied.

"I bet you won't even get the chance to beat me," I said, wanting to get in on the taunting action. Both of them looked at me with looks that didn't look amused. "I wasn't kidding, you won't even get close to beating me," I said with a cocky smirk.

"Bold words from a newbie who just got invited," Red told me.

"Bold words coming from someone who underestimates me," I shot back. Both of them raised an eyebrow, but there was no time to say anything else as the gate started to open. I was blinded a bit by the sudden sunlight, but my vision adjusted quickly.

"And now, the event you've all been waiting for, it's time for the battle of knives!" A voice shouted over the noise. The cheering escalated in volume until I cannot hear myself, and just as quickly as it started, it grew silent.

"Now, normally the rules will have the contenders fight as soon as they reach the center, but the rules have changed this year," The announcer explained. "This year, it will be a fight to win, but not in the way you all expect,"

"If you will allow me," Another voice said from the stands. I looked at where that voice came from, and it was from a box that was magically enhanced to carry out sound, but I saw a yellow-orange pony wearing a grey fez on his head. I raised my eyebrow at the fez, but he continued. "The rules are as follows, don't do anything to mortally wound one of your competitors, and don't ever stop moving," He explained simply.

"What do you mean by that?" the announcer asked him.

"Simply that, the competitors are required to remain in motion by the time the event starts, and if they stop moving for too long, they will end up finding themselves being hit by a moving wall," He explained to everyone with a small smile on their face. Wait, what? I thought in confusion, but I saw that the door was suddenly replaced by a brick wall. The other two competitors noticed the same detail as well.

"Where the hell did that wall come from?" I asked out loud in confusion. The answer I got was a chuckle from the fez wearing pony.

"Glad you asked, using a bit of unicorn magic by unicorns around here, I was able to make this wall look like brick, but it is pretty soft and sticky. So if you get touched by it, be it mane, tail, or even hooves, you'll become stuck to it and unable to move or fight, thus removing you safely from the competition. However, you will still be able to taunt your opponents as they run and distract them from the obstacles," He explained in detail.

"Taunting doesn't sound very fun..." Red said.

"You're absolutely right, which is why I changed it for if a pony gets knocked out of the competition, they will be able to fire random things from the wall, but nothing dangerous," he responded.

"Random things, like wh-" Sapphire was going to say, but she couldn't finish it when a rubber chicken hit her from nowhere, silencing everyone in the arena, including the announcer, in astonishment and confusion.

"So THAT'S where I left the lucky rubber chicken..." The fez pony said to himself seemingly unaware that we heard what he said.

"A... A rubber chicken?" I asked in a mix of utter confusion and shock.

"Yep! It's entirely random, so no one can get used to seeing the same thing being shot at them... just make sure you watch out for the rubber anvils," He replied. Before I could ask him anything else, I saw the course rise up in front of us.

"O.... Kay then, let's get this event started!" the announcer pony said. I shook off my confusion along with the other two ponies’ right next to me and focused on the obstacles that have appeared in front of us. "Ready?" the announcer called. I lowered myself down to sprint immediately, the other two did the same thing. "GO!" He called, a cannon firing into the air. I was quick on the draw and started running into the course. The first obstacle was a simple short wall, short enough to be able to jump over with ease. We all cleared it, but I didn't drop my guard because it suddenly reminded me of my past. I remember that course, but why would it be used here? I wondered to myself as I continued on. I knew that if it was that course, then the wall would be the only easy obstacle to deal with. If this course was exactly like the one that Johnathan put me through in training. Then the next should be- I thought to myself when I was interrupted by a spear shooting at me directly. I knew that it had a blunt tip, but I wasn't about to take a spear to the face. Instead of trying to swerve to the side to avoid it, I went into a slide. Everything slowed down for a moment as I went under the spear. The adrenalin in that moment wouldn't last, so I glanced ahead and gauged the spaces where I could possibly slip through without getting hit by any of them. By the time everything returned to normal speed, I was up on all four hooves and going forward quickly and going through some of the spaces that I mentally marked. A few of them had nearly hit me, but I swerved away from it at the last moment because of a split second swerve. My reactions were seemingly fast because of the familiar obstacle, but I've had a few very close calls with spears narrowly missing me. After clearing the obstacle, I couldn't make enough time to look behind me at my other competitors. Based on the sounds that were made, I would say they are doing well. Until I heard a chorus of "oohs".

"Looks like our 'under dog' passed by with ease, but Bloody Vomit was unlucky enough to take a spear to the face." The fez wearing pony said in a mix of excitement and pain. I reasoned that the only reason he had pain in his voice was because of how painful it looked. I could easily relate to it because I was hit in the face with those blunt spears as well.

"And because of that, we have our first competitor out!" The announcer announced. Wow, he didn't last long. I thought to myself in disappointment. He was all about talk after all, and not enough about speed, but that changed when I saw a bean bag hit me.

"I guess we are counting beans now!" The fez pony called out, resulting in most ponies groaning audibly. I almost felt like doing that as well, but I focused on the next obstacle ahead.

"Guess Bloody didn't last so long in this huh, serves him right," I heard Sapphire say next to me.

"Don't get too arrogant, because that's not the only thing you need to worry about," I responded and saw the next one. It was a few stepping rocks to get across, but I knew that not all of them were as sturdy as they looked. I decided to take a chance and rely on speed along to get across. Sapphire thought the same thing and leaps next to me over to a rock, as soon as we landed on a rock, it started to crumble and we would quickly leap to the next one, repeating the cycle until we got across the pit.

"Man, seeing that road makes me in the mood for ice cream..." The fez pony commented.

"How come?" The announcer asked him.

"Because that was a rocky road," he replied.

"Enough with the horrible puns already!" I shouted up to him.

"I agree!" Sapphire shouted as well. The fez pony remained silent for a moment, and I thought he was going to say another pun.

"I think I should be serious in this then," He said, surprising both of us for a moment.

"So, no more bad puns then?" the announcer asked him

"Can't promise that, but I'll keep a lid on saying more puns for the remainder of the event," He said, making both of us sigh in relief for that in our head and continuing to run, avoiding the random objects that Red shot or threw at us. The next obstacle that appeared in front of us is something that seemed so simple, but incredibly complex. A pit with an obvious rope in front of us. I knew that the easiest thing to do was leap for the rope, but I saw that the rope was too loose to be able to easily swing over. I thought about running on a wall, but there was no wall to run on. So we both slowed down to a stop next to the pit. Sapphire looked like she was going to leap for the rope, but I pulled her back.

"Unless you want to end up falling, I wouldn't recommend that," I said flatly.

"How come?" She asked me, looking very annoyed at it.

"If you didn't notice, the rope's knot is too loose and will probably untangle if you grabbed it," I told her, pointing at the rope. She looked at the knot and understood about why I stopped her.

"So how can we cross?" She asked me as the wall started getting closer.

"Simple, we run over," I said and backed up a short distance.

"What do you mean by-" She started to ask, but then I ran over the pit,literally. I was realizing that I wasn't falling down the pit halfway over, so I was about to ask about it when a bit of loud laughter came from the announcer's box.

"I love it when the art looks real, it makes you think that it's really there but it's actually a flat surface!" He said between breaths. I was annoyed at the trick, but at the same time impressed because it slowed us down to allow the wall some time to catch up to us. I ran faster to get further away from the wall and get some more time, but then I saw a wall rise up in front of me. I ended up crashing into it hard and making myself dizzy for a short period of time. I shook my head to clear it of the stars and saw Sapphire going into the wall. I followed her in and realized exactly what this obstacle was; a maze. It was designed to confuse the person, or in this case pony, from where to go to reach the exit. I sighed and looked for a narrow hall in the maze, knowing that despite its complex paths, it had the simple solution to simply go over the whole thing. I was mad at Jonathan when he did that to me when he ran his own course with me, but I realized that he was teaching me something. Sometimes, the best solution is the one that's so easy and simple that you would overlook it as a possiblity. When I saw a narrow hall that suited my needs, I used it to run up and climb on top of the walls, completely circumventing the maze.

"Hey! That's cheating!" The fez pony shouted at me.

"Actually, there's no rules against using the obstacle to your advantage..." The announcer pointed out.

"But still!" He said, being a bit annoyed at me.

"Steel Blade actually did the same thing when he ran this," The announcer pointed out. I widened my eyes in surprise, but shook my head. first clear this course, then ask questions later. I said to myself as I ran on top of the walls. Sapphire looked up at me in surprise and realized that she was too late to follow me out. When I jumped down at the exit, the cheers erupted.

"Our Underdog manages to beat his opponents, but the hardest obstacle is yet to come!" He announced, doing his job. The fez pony muttered something under his breath, being quiet enough to not be heard. I smirked and moved forward to the final one. The smirk would fade from my face when I saw exactly what it was. The one thing that Jonathan did to spite me, knowing that I would always fail it every time, but he could do. He never told me about how he did it, but I eventually figured it out. The obstacle was simple to pass, get the statue off the pedestal in order to get through. What he doesn't say is how heavy the statue was. I walked up to the statue and glanced at it for a moment before removing the head. The door to the other side of the room didn't open, so I knew exactly what to do. I didn't have forever since the wall was closing in behind me, so I had to be swift in removing the statue from the pedestal, bit by bit. First I removed the head of the small statue, then the arms, the body, and finally the legs. As soon as I removed the legs I heard a click and the door opened nearby. I wasted no time in running through it before the wall hit the frame of the door that I just went through.

"How did he do it? He figured out the last obstacle in such a short amount of time!" I heard the announcer say in shock.

"Hay if I know, but that means that we have a pony who managed to actually clear the second to last obstacle!" The pony wearing the fez said with anticipation. Last obstacle? What did...- I started to think, but then I saw the last part of it. I never really got that far, so I had no idea what to expect. But I saw a ramp sloping upwards, a ramp sloping downwards, and a path going forward.

"Now, from here on, the time limit is removed and he no longer has to worry about the wall, but he does have to worry about which of the three paths there is correct, two of them lead to a dead end, and only one of them leads to the finish area," The announcer explained.

"From here, we can see the paths and which one goes where, but not our so called 'Underdog'," The fez pony continued. I realized that this one was no more than a simple game of chance. I looked at the paths for anything to help my chances, but I couldn't really find anything upon them. All I could see was the darkness at the end of each path. Darkness... I thought to myself and closed my eyes bringing myself back to the past when I was training with Jonathan and before he disappeared into the portal.

"Why are we here in this stupid cave?" I asked Jonathan, being a bit annoyed about all the running around that he made me do.

"This 'stupid cave' contains a treasure that is unlike any other treasure that you'll ever find," He said in a stern voice.

"Come on... I did the course, somewhat... Now we are here in this damp and dark cave to search for a treasure?" I asked, being more annoyed than before. He didn't say anything in response to my question, all he did was silently lead me through a slowly growing darker cave. My annoyance gave way to nervousness as I got a bit more worried about where we were going. We kept going down, further into the dark cave and everything was slowly getting darker. I was scared and worried that Jonathan might have gotten us lost, but then we emerged into a lit part of the cave with a simple smooth rock in the center of the room.

"It's just a stupid rock..." I said, being let down for him leading me to it.

"Have some respect for the dead kid..." He said to me harshly. I was about to say something in response, but Jonathan moved to it and kneeled next to it. I wondered why he would do that, but then I saw the writing on the rock.

'The greatest treasure hunter'

I wondered about why it was there, but then I realized something important. Jonathan was respectful and somber because this wasn't just a cave to him. It was a tomb to one of his friends long ago. Once I realized that, I knew a bit of why Jonathan came here, but I didn't really understand why he brought me here. I opened my mouth to ask him, but I decided to close it and walk up to him instead.

"Sometimes, you have to descend into the darkness in order to see the truth of the matter," He softly said.

"What?" I asked him in confusion, but he got up from his kneeling.

"Let’s go," he said simply, his eyes full of a drive that I've never seen him have before. I was confused about what he said earlier, but I shook it off and followed him back out of the cave.

Descend into the darkness in order to see the truth... I thought as I opened my eyes. Everything was silent so suddenly, and I wondered why it became so silent. I figured that everyone was probably waiting for me to make the decision and is holding their breath, so I looked at the paths again. The path on my left sloped upwards into the darkness, the path on my right sloped downwards, and then the path in front of me continued forwards into the darkness. Sometimes, one needs to descend into the darkness in order to see the truth... I repeated in my head. I knew exactly which path I should take. I turned to the path on my right that sloped downwards and walked down the path into the darkness. At first, I couldn't see anything, but I moved forwards. I wasn't about to turn back now, I've come this far to try and get some answers about why I was invited here.

After what seemed like an hour of walking, I emerged into a sudden bright light and the sound of cheering all around me. I winced a bit at the cheering and the light, but then I saw Steel Blade ahead of me with a small smirk on his face.

"Of all the ponies that have ever got that far, you're the first one to have picked the right path the first time," He said in a voice that seemed like as if he was proud to see something. "I'm glad that I invited you... John"

"Now why is that?" I asked him, hoping that he'll give me some answers to my questions.

"Because I thought that I have overestimated you and would see you fail to do an obstacle of mine," he explained.

"You're letting on less then what you know," I said with a small frown.

"Really?" He asked me in fake shocked voice. "What makes you think that?"

"Because I know some of those obstacles in the past, and only one other person could have made it so brutally hard to first timers," I explained to him. Instead of a surprised face like I expected, he smiled like if he was about to reveal something to me.

"I'm glad you remember your training... John," he said, causing me to raise an eyebrow in confusion.

"The hell do you mean?" I asked him, tired of beating around the bush.

"I thought you would have learned how to swear less in front of an old friend," He said with a smirk.

"Old friend? What do you mean by-" I started to say, but then I looked at his features. His eyes, his mane, the scar. I widened my eyes in surprise when I could connect those features to a certain someone I knew from the past.

"Jonathan?" I asked softly in a mixture of surprise, confusion, and happiness. He nodded slowly and waited for my reaction. I stood there in shock, my mind reeling in the surprise of finding that my mentor and best friend was alive all these years. My first reaction that I wanted to do was punch him for doing a self-sacrifice and making me worry for him all those years but I couldn't bring myself to do it, so I did the second best thing and walk up to him. We looked each other in the eye as the crowd let out a gasp. After holding eye contact for a while I hugged him, trying hard to not cry and failing to do so.

"You have... no idea how much I've missed you..." I told him as I hugged him.

"I... think I can tell, but... could you... let go of...me? you’re hugging me... a bit tightly..." he said breathlessly. I let him go and blushed a bit, moving to wipe a tear off my face to hide it. "Thank you... and I missed you too," He said.

"Did you see that one coming?" I heard the announcer ask in surprise.

"Nope, but that has got to be... one of the best heartfelt reunions that I'll ever see," The fez pony responded in a way that sounded like he was trying not to cry.

"I had no idea that our captain of the guards used to be a human, but it was to be expected from all the things he said and did actually," The announcer responded.

"What, you actually saw that coming?" Steel Blade asked the announcer.

"No, not really," he responded earning a chuckle from Steel Blade, or Jonathan as I knew him as. He turned to me again.

"Normally, I'd congratulate you for this, but I did personally train you myself back then, so it was expected of me to see you here," He said.

"Wait, so you’re not going to give me a trophy or anything shiny like that?" I asked him.

"Why would I do that? You can always find one in a ruin," He said, pointing out the fact that I was a treasure hunter.

"Come on! I had to pass through traps and a puzzle just to get here!" I said, being a bit annoyed at him for doing that.

"Wrong, you had to pass through traps and TWO puzzles to get here," he pointed out.

"That last one doesn't count," I said in response, growing in anger a bit.

"Really? Then why is it that most ponies go up or forward then?" he asked.

"Because it's habit for them to go either way; that last one was a game of chance!" I near shouted.

"And what's wrong about a game of chance?" He shot back at me.

"Chances are that if I didn't pick the right path, I could have fallen into a mud pit!" I replied with a glare. He glared back at me, and we held it for a few seconds before laughing.

"Glad to hear that you're still somewhat the same John that I know of," Jonathan said.

"Yeah, but you should meet my fiancé," I said with a small smile.

"Wait, fiancé? Didn't you already get married once?" he asked me. I shot him a glare that told him to drop it. He chuckled.

"So... can I at least have something to bring back? I need to have a few things to remember this moment, and I don't think Vinyl will ever let me live it down if I don't" I told him.

"And you work for your bits too? What else have I missed while I was busy doing my own job?" He asked in surprise.

"Probably nothing, unless your job was two years ago," I told him. His eyelids lowered and a frown formed on his face.

"I've been here longer than you have John, don't even think about it..." He told me flatly.

"What? So I can call you an old timer? I thought I already did that in the past," I said with a joking smile.

"I'm not old enough where I can't kick your flank across this arena," he said with a smirk, earning an ooh from the crowd.

"Want to bet?" I asked, taking on a fighting stance.

"No..." He said flatly.

"What's the matter, too old to fight?" I asked, trying to taunt him.

"No, I'm afraid that if I fight you, I'd beat you with ease," he responded with a smirk. I furrowed my eyebrows and charged at him. He moved so fast that I couldn't tell what happened until I've ended up on my back with his leg on me.

"You're not the only one who's been training," he said as he kept me pinned to the floor.

"Damn..." I softly whispered to myself in wonder and anger, thoroughly berating myself for underestimating him greatly. Even if I wanted to get up, Jonathan was able to keep me pinned with another move, so I decided to take the better route and offer the olive branch. "Could you help me back up? I know that I can't beat you at all if you can move like that," He smiled and lifted his leg off me and helped me back onto my hooves.

"At least you know when you’re beaten," he said with a bit of pride.

"Oh, you only had many years of training, I can't beat that... yet," I said, saying the last part with a small smirk

"Over my broken knives," he said with a smirk in return. We held that for a moment before laughing at each other. Things really don't change, even when we are different. I thought to myself while we laughed with everyone else, who joined in as well.

Perspective:???

I smiled as I watched the two old friend reunite together and laugh again. Both of them were too serious for their own good, so I was glad that I've made the decision to save John. He was worth saving, but there was still more to do. The only thing I have left to do is help his brother. Chris is a good detective, but he's too anti-social. Obviously he gets the job done, but he doesn't care how many ponies he hurts or angers to do it. I was glad that I fixed one thing, but now I had to fix another. I adjusted my grey fez on my head and turned to the announcer pony, who was a blue crystal pony that had the look of experience around him.

"I guess I'm done here then," I told him with my classical smile.

"Yes, thank you so much for filling in for my co-announcer; I don't know what happened there, but at least we didn't have to put the event off," He said shaking my hoof.

"You're welcome," I said and turned to walk out.

"If you're ever in the crystal kingdom again please let Shining know," he said as I left the room. I'll keep it in mind when I have time. I thought to myself as I walked out. As soon as I got out, I went into a nearby closet and gently pulled my fez off.

"Phew, that's one thing done... now I have another step to take before I can get them both ready for what is to come," I said to myself as I reached into my fez and pulled out a crystal. I set it on the ground and waited for it to float into the air and activate its magic. As soon as its magic activated, an orange face appeared.

"Orange Star?" I asked the crystal, knowing that he can hear me.

"You need something?" he asked me with an excited look.

"I did my part, now I need you to do yours," I told him simply.

"John's better now?" Orange asked me with an uncharacteristic frown on his face.

"Yeah, I told you I could get the two together... All I had to do was look back in John's history to find out what happened and connect the pieces, then making sure that his name would be noticed on the list of ponies," I explained, wondering about why he would have that frown.

"That's great!" Orange near shouted at me with glee. I chuckled, knowing that Orange is an uncle of Pinkie Pie. The Pie family used to be rock farmers, but Pinkie was the one exception.

"How are things on your end?" I asked him.

"Not good... I was unable to set up any fancy mystery that wouldn't end up leading back to me," Orange explained. I sighed, knowing that Chris was too good at his job to allow us to be able to set it up without him getting wind of it.

"Change of plans then... Orange, I need you to keep an eye on Chris, I'll have to send a pony over there to set one up for him to solve," I said to him.

"How are you going to make sure that he doesn't connect it back to you?" Orange asks me.

"I have my own connections..." I said in a very vague way. Before Orange could ask me anything else, I turned off the crystal. As soon as I put the crystal back in my grey fez, I reached in there and pulled out a cellphone. I thought about it for a bit before putting it back in the fez and shaking my head. Why do I even have that? I thought to myself as I pulled out another crystal, this one was black instead of clear. I sighed and activated it, and a voice came through the crystal.

"Yeah?" He asked me, getting to the point. I smiled, loving about how direct he was. It makes everyone's lives so much easier that way.

"Can I ask a favor of you?" I asked, knowing that the crystal would hide my voice tone and distort it a bit to keep my identity hidden.

"I'm listening..." He said, sounding very interested in it. I smiled, knowing that he will be the best pony to do exactly what I need to have happen.

"Yeah, I want you to set something up," I said, explaining my plan to that pony. I knew full well that Chris will have a hard time of solving this case alone.

And that's exactly what I need to teach him before it happened.

Chapter 18: Death

Chapter 18: Death

Persepctive: Chris

Another morning, another day that I've slept in my office as if it were my home. I opened my eyes, wondering to myself if the recent events were just a dream. When I moved to rub my eyes though, I saw that I had hooves instead of hands. I remembered how that happened and sighed. "So much for those hopes..." I muttered to myself as I got out of my makeshift bed. The bed itself was not really much more than a few sheets of cloth covering a spot of the floor that I use for sleeping. I looked around my new office and it was pretty much the same thing as before. The office floor was clean because I actually made some time to keep it clean, but I found it was a bit harder to do that since I was a pony. The only upside of this is the fact that now I don't have to worry so much about how to go about cleaning because I was a unicorn. The downside is that I only was able to levitate items instead of using a so called spell to clean the entire floor, so I still used my hooves to clean it at times like these.

After cleaning the office and going through my usual routine of taking a shower, brushing my teeth, and going to the nearest store for coffee, I walked to my office desk and set the cup down on top of it. Because of how peaceful this land was, I seldom saw the stink of pollution outside like I did when I was still a detective in the city. I learned that there were a few major cities here with odd names like Fillydelpha, or Manehatten. I chuckled to myself after thinking about those names but the sound of the door opening had me put the frown back on my face. "What do you want Orange..." I said, knowing full well the pony that just walked in.

"Nothing much, I just came to see how you’re doing." he replied in his cheerful way. I said nothing as I sighed, knowing that no matter what I try, he's always going to find a way to annoy me by getting in my office.

"I'm fine then, so you don't need to be here," I told him flatly, hoping that he would leave.

"Can't do that," he said with a suddenly deep voice. I turned around and saw Orange giggling.

"So you've made it your life's goal to annoy me for while I'm here?" I asked him with furrowed eyebrows.

"I'm not annoying you, I'm actually helping you!" He said while bouncing up and down. And that's what's annoying me... I thought to myself as I turned back to look out the window.

"I appreciate that, but I don't think you're helping as well as you think..." I said, almost muttering the last of my sentence.

"Really? Am I forgetting something?" He asked me with a confused tone. I decided to use this to my advantage and try to get him out of my office for a while.

"Yes... you're forgetting something that Pinkie told you to always give to everyone..." I said with a strained cheerfulness. He put his hoof to his chin in thought until he realized it.

"OH! I forgot to bring you a cupcake!" he shouted in realization and ran out the door. I used my magic to close the door and sigh.

"You already did give me a cupcake..." I muttered as I looked at the small box that Orange left. He was silly at times, but I wasn't about to let him close to me just yet. I've worked better alone, and I am sure that I could keep it that way. I groaned as I heard the door open again. "Damn it Orange, why do you need to keep bothering me?" I asked in a bit of anger.

"Orange? Who's he?" I heard a female voice ask. I turned around to see a unicorn that is colored as white as snow, except that her mane was maroon. What made her a bit strange to me was the fact that her eyes had no pupils, but that wasn't the detail I was worried about. What I was worried about is the fact that she looked like she'd recently been crying

"Just a friend who won't stop bugging me, but I can tell that you are here for more than just making small talk," I said to her, I figured that she had something that I could do to take my mind off of things.

"You would be right... something horrible happened..." She said, trying hard to not cry again from whatever it was. I realized that this might be more serious than just asking a favor of me, so I got up and pulled out a notebook and pencil out of habit.

"What happened?" I asked, trying to get more details on what I think might be a big case in this town.

"I was just walking down to my friend's apartment... when I heard this scream," She explained. I looked into her eyes to gauge if she was telling the truth about this and saw nothing that hinted at a lie.

"Go on..." I said gently, knowing better than to try to force a female to try and talk about it if she doesn't want to.

"I... went to 'see' what she was screaming about, when I... felt her body on the floor, I was worried so I checked and... and..." She started faltering near the end and I realized exactly what it may be.

"She was dead... wasn't she?" I asked her softly. She nodded and I wrote it down in the notebook.

Friend of the victim was walking down the road and heard a scream, when investigated the victim was dead.

"What was her name?" I asked the distraught unicorn.

"Blitz..." She replied sadly. I raised an eyebrow about it but decided not to pursue it and wrote a note below:

Victim's name is Blitz

"Alright... I would recommend to go see family while I check this out, you've been through something that I never expected to see happen" I told her truthfully, I wasn't expecting to get a case that might be a murder at all while I was here. The unicorn nodded and started walking out when I remembered something. "Hold on, could you mark where your friend's apartment is?" I asked her. She stopped and sighed, marking an area on my map with a circle. It wasn't neatly, but I think I could tell that she was blind from her pupil-less eyes. I thanked her and started to gather a few things for the case once she left. I put on my trench coat with plenty of pockets, put my brown fedora on my head, then I put my trusty revolver on the inside of my coat along with a few pencils for if I break one, and a back up revolver for emergency use only. I double checked everything before exiting my office to check the scene.

I arrived at the scene to see a few ponies wearing golden armor guarding the area. I walked up to one of them and he looked at me sternly.

"No civilians allowed," He said simply.

"I'm not a civilian," I replied moving to pull out my wallet and finding a paper instead. I decided to pull it out and see what it was and found that it was a paper that said that I was a detective and my name. I showed it to the guard and he nodded.

"Glad we have a detective now, the town's police entered the area and is currently combing the area," He explained to me. I pulled out my notebook to ask a few questions from him. I made a mental note about asking the so called princess about the paper after I finished the case as well.

"What was learned about the scene so far?" I asked, seeing if I can't learn more about what happened.

"You want the short version?" He asked me with a tired sigh.

"I'm a detective... I'd rather have the details," I replied with a stern glare.

"Very well... The victim's name was Blitz and she was found by her friend Dawn, who was going to check on her," He started.

"Was her friend a white unicorn with a maroon mane?" I asked him and he nodded.

"She was outside the building to check on her and heard the scream, when she 'saw' the victim, she called for help from the local police force and we went and investigated... most of the force refuses to go in there because of the sight inside however," He continued. I raised an eyebrow at that.

"Sight? What do you mean?" I asked him.

"You might want to see for yourself..." He told me in a dark tone.

"Might as well while I'm here..." I told him and followed him up to the room. I didn't even get close to the door, but I could already smell the stench of death outside the room.

"This is as far as I can go without wanting to puke..." He said turning back around to get back to his post.

"Thank you," I said as he left and opened the door. I widened my eyes in surprise when I saw the state of Blitz's body. It looked like she was entirely broken, but it looked as if she was cut open in the stomach and her blood pooled on the floor. Through a cut on her stomach, I could see through the muscle and some bones to see the internal organs of her. I kept a straight face from my training, but I wanted to retch at the sight. Of all my cases that I've done as a human, I've never once seen a case that would leave a victim anywhere close to this.

"Dear god..." I muttered to myself softly and averted my eyes to my notebook. I wrote down the details in my notebook:

The victim was cut open, but her internal organs look still intact. The cut indeed looks recent, confirming for the third time about when she was attacked and killed. The cut looks narrow, but deep enough to cut through the entire muscle.

I looked up from my notebook at the scene, making sure to have only small glances at the body and looked for whatever clues or evidence I could find. The first thing I made sure to check was the door, and the handle looked perfectly okay, but the lock was destroyed entirely. It looks like it was a forced entry, so it might explain the screaming being heard from outside. I thought to myself. The lock was in no shape to be used again, so I knew that whoever destroyed the lock probably used either an explosive or smashed the lock in. With the condition that it was in however, I couldn't really tell which one it was at the moment.

I turned away from the door and looked around the room, making sure to be careful on where I look because I didn't want to chance looking at the body too much. I was glad that I saw a bathroom nearby, but I needed to be focused on the scene instead of loosing what little I had to eat today. I looked at the window and saw that it wasn't at all broken. "Looks like he escaped through the same way he entered..." I muttered to myself. The window didn't look at all broken, but I took a closer look at it, pulling out my magnifying glass to do so. The window was mostly clean except for a few small things like dirt. It helped me to know that she wasn't killed near the windows at all, but that left the fact that he was able to kill her quickly in the middle of the room, unless he caught her off guard.

I turned to the bathroom and looked inside, finding an entirely different story there. There was blood on the floor, dragging out in the way that I came in. The worst of it was in the shower, where it was entirely coated in the crimson red blood. It wasn't the first time seeing blood for me, as most of my previous cases always had some blood in it, but I was shocked at the amount of blood. Nothing could ever make this much blood so I assumed that he didn't entirely catch her off guard, but he did win the fight. I turned from the shower to a nearby small window and saw trails of blood leading from the window. When I went to investigate, I saw that the glass from the window were on the inside instead of the outside. I took out my notebook again to write the details that I found for this case.

Victim looked to have been killed in the bathroom while she was showering. It looked like she finished though because the blood wasn't washed away. There was too much blood in the shower to have been no struggle at all, and there was blood leading from the small window in the bathroom. From the scene, I can tell that he entered through the bathroom window, but I'm unsure about if he exited through that as well, or if he exited through the door.

As soon as I finished writing I decided to do something to allow the other guards and official investigators to be able to enter without wanting to vomit and took a sheet from the bed and put it over her. It was a gruesome sight to be sure, but I wasn't about to let whoever did this continue to murder ponies in that way. I made one last sweep of the room before exiting the building.

When I was out of the building, I told a nearby guard about covering the body and he nodded in thanks and went off to tell the others. I was on my way back to the office to see if it had happened in the past when a certain Orange pony showed up suddenly.

"Hi there! I heard that you were here, so I thought I'd say hello and give you an orange, I remembered that I already gave you a cupcake and-" He said in a fast paced tone before I shoved a hoof in his mouth.

"Just... stop talking now..." I told him with a serious glare. His eyes furrowed and then raised in confusion and he said something muffled by my hoof. I removed it slowly and let him say something.

"Did something happen?" He asked me in a worried tone.

"Yes...there was a murder recently, and I have to get to my office to check the previous newspapers for anything that might match this murder," I explained to him. I figured that he wouldn't really be too much help and try to get more details out of me. To my surprise however, he did a complete 180 on his actions and looked suddenly serious.

"I've checked those, but I know that not all of the news was there..." He told me seriously.

"So you think that there's something that the reporters are hiding?" I asked him, pulling out my notebook again.

"I would believe so, but I don't entirely know if it's true..." He said to me in a thoughtful tone. I was looking at his eyes, and he looked in a certain direction that made me believe that he was lying to me.

"You know more than you want to let on..." I said to him, subtlety accusing him of lying.

"And what makes you think that I would be lying?" He asks me in a surprisingly defensive tone. I thought for a bit on how I could possibly prove him wrong. I knew that he wasn't always there, and that he was the cousin of Pinkie Pie. But then I remembered something.

"I don't think that you're lying, I know that you are because you are always up to date on news. If you weren't up to date as you claim, then maybe I should ask Pinkie Pie about how many times you have checked a newspaper," I told him.

"But I know just what's on the newspapers!" He said even more defensively.

"No, you know a bit more because you happen to be close to one of the so called Elements of Harmony, and they are the ones who may be informed about certain bits of news, and Pinkie is more than willing to open up to someone... or in this case, somepony, who is a family member," I said, finishing my point against him. He sighed in defeat, knowing that I've managed to catch him with a good fact.

"Okay, Pinkie tells me a few bits of news that Twilight told her, but that's it..." He said with a small frown. Oddly enough though, I thought he looked disappointed in me for a moment before being cheery again."If you want to know more, you should ask Twilight about it!" He said cheerfully before bouncing away. I raised an eyebrow about him bouncing away as I closed my notebook. I shook my head and focused more about what he told me. It's almost as if he wants me to ask Twilight about it.. I thought to myself as I turned towards the office again. Perhaps I was right and the newspapers would not have any information to give me, but I still found it odd about Orange Star's words. I didn't need to pursue it however; it wasn't relevant to the current case at all. What was relevant was getting those papers and reading up on what I can before going to the library and asking Twilight to contact the princess. I'm going to need all the help that I can find for this case, but I don't want to try to pull others into a murder case. I wasn't ever going to let that happen again.

Perspective:???

"Hey, don't you think that you overdid it a bit?" I asked the now bloodied pony.

"Overdid it? I think I did that job perfectly!" He exclaimed with pride. I sighed and shook my head sadly.

"Not quite... you've attracted the attention of a detective, and it's only a matter of time before he finds that it was you who did it," I explained to him.

"What?! But I was so careful to make it gruesome as possible!" He exclaimed with worry now showing on his face.

"Well, there was a detective who was able to find out that you broke in through the window" I pointed out.

"Great... I just need to kill him then..." He said in a voice that pretended that he regrets having to do that, but I knew better.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you... he's probably armed" I pointed out.

"Oh... that changes things..." He said, the hidden smile falling off his face quickly.

"It does change things indeed... find a way to keep him off your trail for as long as you can" I said before turning away. He left with a small flash of magic for teleporting away. As soon as he left I smiled in the darkness "So the game begins now... let us see how well you play Chris..." I said to myself before leaving the area.

It was a long time since I could play such a great game of shadows against an actual Detective. I hope Chris won't disappoint me greatly while we play, because that would just simply take the fun out of the game.

What neither party knew however, was the fact that there was someone else watching them from the actual shadows. That shadow smiled with glee, knowing that he was about to see some running around, but he knew that he had to be careful, lest he attract the attention of his better side before the time was absolutely right

Chapter 10:(Morning) Savior?

Chapter 10

This chapter is put into Morning Cloud's perspective

"Come on, get up!" A voice shouted from the blackness. I still couldn't move, but I started to slowly open my eyes. They shot wide open when an orange blur started to shake me, and I failed to get him away from me as my eyes focused. The pony was light orange with a brown mane and eyes. He even had a watch on his right leg and a fez on his head

"Good, you're awake," he said with worry in his eyes.

"Who are you?" I asked him.

"We don't have much time to talk about this, so just call me Raizuo for now," He said with a sense of urgency.

"What do you mean by that?" I asked him.

"John is bleeding out, if he doesn't get help soon he will die, I know of a way that can save him, but I need you to trust me," He explained. I looked at John and saw that he was very wounded and laying in a puddle of blood.

"Alright, what do I need to do?" I asked Raizuo. He randomly pulled out a wooden sled.

"Use this and get John back into the Badlands, find the changelings and mention John's name to them, they will help you in saving John," He explains while tying a rope to the sled and then helping tie me to the sled as well. He carefully moved John onto the sled with my help, and lightly tied him to the sled.

"Good luck Morning, and if you happen to see Sparx, tell him that Raiz says hi," He said with a smile.

"What-?" I started to ask, but he vanished into thin air. I shook my head and started to run. I really hoped that the strange pony knew exactly what he was doing, because I don't want to return to Ponyville for the first time in... a very long time, with John's dead body.

________________________________________

I kept running as fast as I could with the wooden sled trailing behind me, trying my best to find the changelings that Raizuo talked about. I was very sore from all the running, but I wanted to get help from anything before John dies. John groaned lightly in pain and I had to slow down to try to prevent him from getting hurt by the ropes that kept him on the sled.

I turned back to check on John for a moment, and saw that blood started to coat the sled. I turned forward again to see two shadows in the distance. I decided that I had no other choice but to run towards the shadows. When I could see them, I saw that they were black bugs, changelings as they are called. They looked at me in confusion.

"A pony? Here?" One of them asks in a female voice. I remembered hearing about it from my adopted mother, Rainbow Dash.

"Please, can you help me?" I asked, dreading the fact that I have to talk to them in order to get help for John.

"You are just a pony, not a changeling like us," The other one said in a male voice. I remembered back to what Raizuo told me, “Why should we help ‘you’?”

"Please, I need help for him," I said and motioned towards the sled.

"Who is that?" The male changeling asks.

"He’s my friend, his name is John," I said. One of them widened its eyes in surprise.

"John, as in The John?" She asks me.

"Yes, John needs help right now, or he will die from how wounded he is," I said in worry. The male changeling would buzz in annoyance.

"We have to help him," The female changeling says to him.

"Why should we?" He asks.

"Because he is a good friend of the queen," She explained. The male changeling would sigh and nod. They both moved towards me and untied me from the sled, and worked together to pick it up and get it airborne with my help.

"I should come with," I told them.

"Fine, but just know that we will be watching you," The male changeling says and they began flying towards a mountain that was in the distance. I kept pace with them as they flew with John between them on the sled.

________________________________________

We arrived at the mountain, and I saw more changelings flying around the base. They quickly noticed us and grew curious about why a pony would be flying with two of their own. As a result, many of them flew up to us. They also flew with us to the entrance when they noticed who was on the sled.

"Hold, we will get the queen and our healers immediately," One guard says after noticing who was on the sled. He flew into the entrance that was set into the mountain. The two changelings slowly set the sled down on the ground and waited. I paced around the sled in worry while I waited for what they called “healers” to arrive. I was very worried about John. When I saw the two guards return they had two small changelings and a very large one. The small ones moved to put John in a cocoon and I moved to stop them. The big changeling would get in my way however.

"Do not worry, we are only doing this to be able to safely transport him to an area where we can safely heal him without losing too much blood," She explains in a calm voice.

"Who are you?" I asked with confusion.

"I am called Chrysalis, I am the queen of the changelings here," She says in a mix of confidence and worry.

"Why would you help John this quickly though?" I asked in even more confusion. Normally, changelings would outright refuse to help a pony without any reasons for it. So I heard from Shining Armor when I was his Second-in-Command.

"Because John has helped us all, earning him a place as a friend of the hive," She explained as we followed John through the tunnels to a rather large area.

The two small changelings set John down on a weird looking table and removed half of the cocoon to allow John to breathe.

"How has he helped you?" I asked as the small changelings looked over my friend.

"He helped me to get the idea to arrange an alliance with Celestia, only a week after he disappeared however, and she accepted the alliance and ensured that my hive would survive from now on," She explained to me in a wistful tone.

"So, how are you going to help John?" I asked her.

"There are certain parts of what you ponies call Ooze that have healing properties that can heal and close a pony's wounds in almost half the time it would normally take, we will use this to close up his wounds," She explains like as if I were a student. I looked at her in disbelief, because I thought that she was kidding, but when they started covering John's wounds in the ooze, the smaller wounds would immediately close. The major wounds would begin to close as well to my surprise.

"I had no idea that it even had properties like this..." I said in awe.

"You are very lucky to have brought John to us, he would have bled to death from his severe wounds if we did not start closing his wounds," She told me in a calm way.

"Thank Celestia..." I softly said to myself.

“No,” said a changeling from behind me, “thank Chrysalis.”

"He will however need to rest, feel free to find a place to sleep in the hive; I need to send Celestia a letter to inform her of this event," She said and flew off. The other small changelings also flew off, their work done, leaving me alone in the room. I sighed in relief and was glad that John was going to be okay again. I walked up to him and looked over his wound, and thought back to what I did when I sacrificed myself to stop Shadow Blade.

"I see that you made it in time," A male voice says in the room. I turned to see Raizuo behind me.

"When did you-?" I started to ask him in surprise.

"Another time, right now I have one more message for John, so I need you to give it to him when he wakes up," he explains, somehow floating a note in air. He wasn't even a pegasus, much less unicorn, but I didn't question him as I took the note and put it somewhere to get it later.

"Okay? Now can you tell me how you knew about the changelings helping him?" I asked him, but he disappeared as quickly as he came.

I looked around in confusion as he couldn't have teleported. I shook my head and decided to get some sleep since I realized that I was very sore from all of the running and flying I did. I picked a spot next to where John was resting and lay down on the floor. I was uneasy for a moment, but it faded away as I closed my eyes to sleep again. John was not dead because of me, and I think I won't let him ever forget about it easily. I smiled as I drifted off to sleep in a peaceful slumber.