Becoming a God: Forgotten Past

Chapters

Prolog
Chapter 2: The Negatives and Drawbacks of Moving
Chapter 3: Extreme Afternoon Measures
Dream 1: To find Poise
Chapter 4: Evening Coincidences
Chapter 1: Carriage Ride of the Hotheads

Prolog

The sky was framed by the low red evening sun. Ponies, who still roamed the streets started to retreat home, waiting for Lunas Moon to rise and put the land and them to rest, readying themselves for the next day.

Celestia was on her way towards the lower, cooler parts of the castle of Canterlot. A shiver always ran down her spin whenever she came down her, not only because of the cold air. The halls were mostly stacked with material for festivals or other more or less important occasions. But in some Wings, deep within the depths of the castle and sealed behind doors, shelves were filled with old books or relics, some of forgotten times, could be found which bear secrets that were not for the simple pony. Secrets of might, secrets of destruction, secrets of her own...

The harmless festival items emit an creepy feeling in the darkness, as it was impossible to figure out how exactly they looked like and one had to imagine what it could be. This method though led to the wildest things. Whenever she came across the materials for the Summer Sun Celebration she couldn’t shake of the thought that creatures hid inside the rides that were supposed entertain, ready to jump at her every moment. Nopony would ever go down here other than for the reason to retrieve needed objects for festivals, let alone live here, except him...

She reached a small wooden door. The with rusty nails filled wood already showed signs of rot, so much that it surprised her every time how it was able to handle her touch whenever she opened it. But then again, compared to other doors down here it was in good shape and also rather clean, probably because of its usual usage. Grease inside the door shoes was sparkling in the light her horn produced as she drew closer.

When she stood in front of the door, the shuffling of metal objects cringed in her ears and the low mutter of a being could be heard. She stood a while there, listening to the evolving noises, which soon resound through the floor she came from. She thought of how to encounter him, she always did. He was good at outsmarting ponies, even though he rarely socialized with them, almost never. Whenever he was needed at the surface, he would emerge like a ghost, finish his assigned tasks with a efficiency even she envied, and would again disappear like he never existed. Though his sight would be burned into anyponies mind that had the luck to spot him in this short time, just like a real ghost would do.

He had a feared reputation, like that of a boogeypony who's fictional story’s would be told to little foals in order to scare them. He comes, he goes and hardly speaks a word, beside an eventual insult here and there. Because of this, his existence was sometimes doubted. This fact always made her laugh, and sad... After the noises behind the door abruptly stopped and only the sound of her own breath filled her ears with noise, she put all her courage together and opened the door.

The room she entered was overfilled with metal objects and mechanical parts, that would look like garbage to the simple pony eye. The dim light of a blue gleaming lantern hanging at the ceiling was reflected in them, filling the room in a beautiful, almost ocean like shine. Sadly it was the only thing she was able to explain with a positive word. When she examined the mess of a room further, she was able to identify recreated horns and wings, connected to gems which seemed to beam from the inside. Blueprints with drawings of ludicrous constructions even the most simple of pony would question the use of with an ironic undertone.

And in the middle of the whole mess stood a young stallion, maybe of the age of twenty. His coat had the color of deep blue, which made him almost appear transparent in the light the room shone in. His ruffled, earth brown mane was only partly visible, because a angular metal plate that reached about two inches out, lay on his forehead. In the middle of the plate lay a hole, leading into absolute void.

When she took a glance at his hind legs she noticed that they were still surrounded by a metallic construct and, like always, were covering parts of his cutie mark, which resembled two meshing gears, both filled with a grass green gem. The purpose of the construct would be discovered soon by anypony meeting him as his hind legs where thinner than those of a young mare, what made them look awkward when compared with his front leg, which appeared to be completely healthy.

A wing came into her view from this angle, a bit messy and covered with oil, but otherwise in good shape. But after he turned towards her, a deformed, crippled limb that was cluttered with little stitches and filled with small feathers, of which size even a Pegasus foal would be ashamed, greeted her eyes. It twitched sometimes, but rested otherwise still on his side.

After her examination, she finally stopped her gaze on his face. He raised an eyebrow while he watched her with a neutral, lukewarm, almost bored facial expression, not a hatred and agony filled one, like it should be whenever he would lay his eyes upon her. She hated him for this, and then, would hate herself even more.

“What is it today? Somepony spilled his drink over the Main Magic-transformer or stabbed the oven of the royal kitchen with a spear again? Or is it already time for that Starflyer-something tournament? Were is this damn calender?...” he ended his sentences before she even really realized that his lips were moving.

His voice was deep and ordered, without a lot of emotions behind it, as it did not matter to him what he was saying. She finally shook of her thoughts and began to talk to him, stopping his search in the chaos.

“None of that has occurred, Fid. Your talents won't be needed...” Fid turned his head away from a rather large mountain of metal, catching her gaze and raising an eyebrow.

“So, what is the reason that you again greet me with your awing presence, princess?”

“I,” she paused for a moment, trying to bring out the right words in front of him “arranged a, lets call it 'holiday', for you.”

“What is the occasion?” he asked, suddenly mildly serious, the emotion of annoyance painting his face.

“A trip to receive your memory from your early life that you lost two years ago. I found the perfect asset that will anticipate the matter. You will meet this pony at the destination.”

His face darkened lightly “And may I ask 'where' this destination lays?”

Celestia hardened her facial expression as she continued with a bit of hesitation “...Ponyville.”

Fids eyebrows almost disappeared behind the iron plate on his head after he heard this and shortly after, he began to laugh.

“What is this, Celestia? Do you want to send me on a trip of ´finding true friendship´? I am well aware of who lives in Ponyville and what role they play in Equestria. I´m not that dumbfound of the outer world. Do you seriously expect me to meet your little student and the rest of the Elements to let them show me how to care and love?” The blue colt brought out between gasps. “I thought you were a little bit smarter than that.” He finished with a amused expression.
Celestia stared at him, hardening her facial expression. “The Elements have nothing to do with this matter, nor will they ever. The destination is Ponyville because you will not be the only one taking this trip.”

Fid groaned before answering. “Now listen, Celestia. Why should I go with some ponies I probably don´t know on a trip I will possibly not like to a place that I will definitely hate?”

His eyes were locked on hers, filled with expectations. “I know as good as you that you want to know what happened when you were younger, how you were able to invent all of your creations and where you have been in order figure it out. With the help of this trip, all of this,” she made a gesture to point out the surrounding room “will make real sense to you, I'll promise it will.”

The face of the colt hardened, his gaze trailing of while he was thinking. He took a good look around the room, examining every invention if him again and again, even though he should know exactly how they look like. His gaze finally stopped at a metallic wing and afterward on his crippled limb.

A heavy sigh escaped his throat. “Fine, princess. I will play along, but don´t expect me to find joy in any of this.”

Celestia nodded. “Good, you will meet the others at a carriage in front of the castle gates in three days, until then I will appoint a group of ponies to load a cart with the tools and material you surely want take with you.”

After she saw him nod slightly, she turned around and left the colt alone again. When the door closed behind her she was not capable anymore of holding her tears back which always tried to escape her eyes every time she saw him. “I´m so sorry Fid...”

She headed back up the castle, leaving the dark and cold basement behind her.

Chapter 2: The Negatives and Drawbacks of Moving

Twilight Sparkle stood on top of a hill, in front of a house that was highly in need of care. This house stood empty for quite a while, or so she heard. Nopony ever wanted to inhabit this building because it´s location made it unpractical for both social and solitary ponies. For socialists it was far too remote from Ponyvile, while for while for solitary type, there were other reasons...

She slowly looked over the plenty of holes that perforate the roof created by she knew who and facehoofed. How in Equestria should she properly introduce this shack to Princess Luna and her companions? Well, the view of Ponyvile was great and, uhm...

Who even choose this as there residents? Oh yes, Princess Celestia herself...

Her letter that arrived last night was a little cryptic to her. All it really said was to meet Princess Luna and two other individuals at her current location, help them to move in and guide them through town. Also, their identities had to be kept secret which meant she was not allowed to tell anypony else about this. The letter itself had even a spell cast on it to prevent Spike from reading it to her.

This whole situation made her feel really uncomfortable. Why did they need to live in Ponyvile for unknown period of time? The letter did not explain it. This may had its reasons, but still, the lack of knowledge was about to kill her.

A strong wind blew her almost of the ground. Right, it was autumn. Cold weather and leaves everywhere. Standing on top of a hill didn't help a lot either. Well, maybe the freezing wind would be able to cool her down for a bit...

Twilight spotted a carriage emerging from a little forest at the bottom of the hill. Nervousness started to crawl up her back. She really needed to think of something fast now. Maybe she could use some illusion magic to disguise the buildings flaws. No, Luna would probably see through them...

Oh no, oh no, ohnonononononononono! The carriage was about to reach the top of the hill! Maybe she could just tell them that this is the wrong place and show them another one like, like... Applejacks farm! She has more than enough space for visitors! No, she doubted that a barn would be of the princess the taste... Oh by Celestia, it's almost right in front of her! Right, Raritys Place! It´s a hig-

The sudden noise of hoofsteps broke her track of thoughts. When she looked up she found herself with a middle aged mare, a strange- no, interesting looking colt that already passed her the moment she noticed him and a tall, snow white- wait, was that Blueblood? She hasn´t seen him since-

UNIMPORTANT! She had to think of something quickly! Hold on a second. Who was that mare?

Her coat had the color of the night sky and the azure mane of hers went excellent with it. Despite the perfect match of her colorization, she appeared to be fairly normal to though. But looking past the few features of age, there was something very familiar about her...

Could it be? It had to be! This mare had to be Princess Luna! She must've disguised herself to blend in with her subjects.

With this realization came another one. She still had absolutely no clue what to say. J-j-just go with the flow, nothing can possibly go wrong by doing that!

“S-so, P-princess Luna, I assume? How was the trip?” she smiled at her the best she could, what, judging Luna's face, looked terribly awkward.

“Yes, it was... quite nice, Twilight Sparkle,” Lunas view drifted over to the House.

“So, I can assume that this will be our Quarter?” Twilight took another nervous gaze over the building. The pony that just passed her analyzed the construct with a critical facial expression, and was somepony yelling about getting a ride back home?

After finishing, the blue colt turned around heading straight towards Twiligtht.

“Well, you see, your highness-” “A cart should´ve arrived by now, any idea where it is?” asked the strange colt after being in earshot, cutting her off mid sentence. His voice was really low for his apparent age and made Twilight cringe a little.
“Erm, yes, it stands right behind the building. I show-” but before she could continue he was already on his way towards the entry of the house.

With a little shrug the Princess headed there as well. Even Blueblood followed them after noticing that everypony was leaving.

Oooough, I´m so stupid! Twilight hit herself mentally and physically before entering the building herself.

Once inside one could see just what kind of catastrophe the house was. A thick layer of dust covered the whole floor and furniture, even the windows that were not broken. The only reason that the first room, that had roughly the size of a larger living room, was brightly emitted were the giant holes in the ceiling. Nature also decided to sprout over the sunlight the holes let in. For some reason though, the princess beside Twilight giggled.

“Looks like we have a bit of work waiting for us,” and with that, she was off, cleaning, confusing Twilight, a lot.

“No! NO! I will not live in this hovel! Out of the question!” Blueblood screamed in pure shock after he let the condition of the house sink in.

“I will return to Canterlot this instant!” when he began to head for the door the blue Colt was stopped him.

“You know that the carriage left, right? So the only way is on hoof.”

Blueblood hesitated before answering. “I do not care, I rather sleep outside than in here!”

The Colt took a glance out of the open door and with him Blueblood. Twilight also looked. Trees, grass and Dirt could be seen.

The Colt glanced back at Blueblood, skeptical. “Have fun.”

The Prince stammered, shaken by the realization, looking for the right answer, before finally giving up and tipping over the floor with an horrified expression as if the dirt would melt his body, would come in contact with it. Twilight couldn't help but grin at the sight. The Colt looked again over the damage. Twilight thought she heard a light groan emitting from him.

“You clean, I'll unpack,” he suddenly proclaimed and walked outside.

“Wait, where are you going?” Twilight called out, stopping him in front of the door.

“Unloading my cart,” he stared at her, as if he still was expecting something.

“Should I help?” asked Twilight, keeping in mind that he looked rather unfit for the task.

“Fine,” he answered bluntly while turning away. Twilight was bit taken aback from his respond.

Fine? I asked to help- Hey! She noticed he was already leaving. Frowning, she followed him behind the house.

Twilight trotted next to him, once more looking over his body. It was not a pleasant experience He looked greatly disabled, more than any other pony she has ever seen.

When he shortly stretched his left robotic wing out of discomfort, she was able to take a peek under, discovering just how heavily deformed the real one below was. Not only had it only the size of that of a little foal and was missing a lot of it feathers but also some of the limbs seemed to be bending into directions they shouldn't. The needles stuck into it didn't help either...

Maybe she should try to start a conversation? She hesitated at first but decided it would be the best.

“Oh! I haven't introduced myself yet! I´m-” “Twilight Sparkle, Student of Celestia, Element of magic,” the colt interrupted her, without even changing the direction of his gaze.

Twilight stared at him in disbelieve for his rudeness. Still, she tried again. “I also don't know you're-” “Fid,” once more he interrupted her.

Twilight raised an eyebrow at his respond. “Just Fid? Don´t you have a second name, titles or-”

“Just Fid.” he said again. “Just... Fid?” “Yep.”

Twilight groaned at his respond, but at least she now had a name. Though it was a strange one and, she assumed, probably not even his real. She pulled herself together and tried to give this one more shot, for her curiosity’s sake.

“So, Fid. What is your job in Canterlot? I mean, you being here must have a reason, or?”

The stallion grumbled audible, apparently loosing his patients, but answered anyway. “I am the new senior engineer in magic technology after the old one elected me.”

Twilight blinked at that responds. He is the new senior EMT? She partly knew the old one since he and her father used to work together. The stallion has grown old over the years and it came to no surprise to her that he had elect somepony else for this position, but for him choosing such a young colt was out of place for that grumpy pony. Fid must have astonished him greatly.

Finally, both of them reached the cart behind the building and she just now notice how big the house actually was. It wasn't huge but well over standard. Fid examined it, finding a backdoor. He opened it, shortly analyzed the content and trotted back to the cart where he started to dig through the stuff that was loaded inside.

Twilight shuffled from left to right, the silence making her feel uncomfortable after a while.

“So, should I unload the cart into the house for you?” she asked a bit impatient.

Fid retreated his head out of the mountain made out of even to her indescribable machinery and gave her a monotone look. “No need for that.”

Twilight stared at him in surprise. What was he planning to do? Carry the stuff? She suddenly noticed him finding what looked like a Unicorn horn made out of metal. After the discovery he screwed the horn into the hole inside his metallic forehead-helmet-thing, tilt over a bit of the content, what appeared to be glowing gems, from a bucket into the bag on his right side and, lastly, grabbed a wire from the bag and plucked it into the side of the helmet.

For a while, there was complete silence, even more so then just a second ago, beside the slight hum of his bag. The colt sighed and gave the bag a light pat.

Suddenly, it hummed even louder than before and his metal horn began to emanate a multicolored glow, brighter than that she had ever seen on a regular Unicorn. As soon as the horns glow stopped to brighten up, he began to magically lift the carts content one after another through the backdoor with the help of levitation.

Twilight could not believe her eyes. How is this possible? Was he an alicorn? He definitely had wings, but a horn? The helmet of his may not sat too tight on his head, but a horn would never fit beneath there, even ignoring the fact that the horns of the alicorns she knew were way larger than average.

She guessed that he, or somepony else, she obviously couldn't say for sure, invented a way to give non-unicorn ponies the ability to use magic! The discovery of that fact flood her mind with so many positive and negative conclusions.
Mostly negative.

If everypony could use magic, all of Equestria would fall into chaos! What Pinky Pie on her own could do with such a ability gave her shivers! No, there had to be a kink to it! Something had to prevent everypony from using magic! She had to figure out what it was, and if there was none, she had to create one for everyponies safety!

“Erm, excuse me? Fid?” The deep blue colt was still in the middle of unpacking his cart and continued with it, though he did seem to have noticed Twilight since he answered. “Yes?”

Twilight hesitated a bit before continuing. “How- how does it work? You know, you being able to use magic.”

Fid actually stopped walking and looked for once straight at her, dropping some of his machinery back into his cart that he had been levitating. This face showed actual surprise, not a bit surprised, not half surprised, no, real surprise. “You can't tell?”

His sudden disbelieve to that question made Twilight feel even more uncomfortable and also insulted. Did he now thought that she was stupid?

“Well, I...” “Don't. You obviously wouldn't have asked if you could,” he cut her off, sighing as he continued under the frown of Twilight.

“In short, I place magical loadable gems into this Magic extractor,” he pointed at the round duffel bag he was wearing, “then the extracted magic flows though those wires made out of magic conductible metal,” he followed the wires coming out of the bag up to his head, “into this magic distributor, or metal horn if you want to.” He tapped at it.

“I could have guessed that much myself,” Twilight groaned. “You haven't explained how you are able to control the magic emitted by your magic distributor. By your explanation all you would get by doing this would be a nice light show made of uncontrolled energy. Without a mental connection with the magic you are emitting you couldn't possibly do the things you just did right now. A Unicorn has this connection since its horn is directly connected to its mind, but I doubt that you have that, do you?”

Fid looked at her with the slightest sign of a smile on his lips. “I do indeed, sort of.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean by that?” “Well..”

His sight suddenly drifted off as if he was trying to receive the answer from the beautiful scenery that lay behind Ponyvile. Twilight just now realized how gorgeous the view from atop of the hill was. A flat field filled with flowers and lone bushes stretched far to a not huge, but still big forest. If the view would not be interrupted by the Unicorn Range she bet one could look all the way to the Galloping Gorge. It was the perfect sight for daydreaming, arrange one thoughts, come up with new ideas or just drift off without a care about the world.

”I am not sure either,” Fid suddenly said out of nowhere, almost whispering.

She looked at him confused. “You're not sure?”

The colt broke free from the dreamy state just as fast as it came and his face hardened back to the expression she first met him with.

“This theme is closed , Miss Sparkle. Don't ever try to bother me with it again.” Without a second glance he continued his renovation.

This colt... She swore. Did he really not know, or was he just lying to her? It didn't sound like a lie, but then again, he probably was a master of this art. Was it national top secret information? If it was, she was well in the right position to hear of such a ground breaking discovery.

Maybe he was just not in the position to tell, or maybe he just could not tell out of personal reasons what would explain his sudden aversion. He did say he was elected to the new senior engineer in magic technology by the old one what would mean that he probably supervised Fid's work, or maybe even worked on this project himself. Either way, Twilight now knew who to ask to figure out more about this colt and his invention, Tinker Bronzekettle.

Luna levitated pieces that used to be part of the ceiling and threw them outside with a sigh. She brought herself to look again over the condition of the house. It was definite that this building stood empty for years, if not decades. It was a miracle that the walls haven't come down by the time they entered.

The wood that she stood on was so unsound that it gave away beneath her hoofs, so much that she did not dear to stand on the same spot for too long. But doing so blew up dust that invade her lungs, causing her to cough.

She actually thanked the giant holes on the ceiling for there constant deliver of fresh air, though the constant chilly wind made this approval obsolete. She kicked a pile of broken wood in her frustration. Renovation was impossible.

“But there's nothing a little magic can't fix,” Luna chuckled.

After a little stretching the princess continued her work. First of all, the trash had to go. She went from room to room, throwing rubble out of windows and imprint the structure construction into her mind at the same time.

Secondly, she placed herself outside and began to cast a spell, controlling the wind within the building. She made the air whirl, strong enough to suck up particles of dirt, but not strong enough to destroy the house itself in the process. She mentally went through the whole house, not forgetting any of the corners and cracks. After being satisfied with the cleaned amount, she blew the dusty whirlwind out the front door, creating a brown shining cloud that soon was diluted by natural wind into demise.

Now, for step three she had to revive the stability of the rotten wood. For that she began to cast another spell, one that dried the wood of its abound in moist followed with the reconnection of its cells. She readied herself outside and began to weave her magic around the whole house, reanimating it back to its former glory.

The spell was quite draining to say at least. After she was done her breath was slightly unstable and she felt beaten down. Shaking of the fatigue she headed back in to survey her work. The floor no longer postponed under her and no clouds of dirt filled the air with every step she took. Here and there some planks gave some noise of stress, but now she had not to fear that the ceiling would come down at any moment. Speaking of the ceiling...

The giant holes still filled the room with the cold air of the autumn and the broken windows let the wind flow freely through the rooms. At the time though she needed to sit down for a bit. When she was in search of stools she suddenly notice that there was no furniture to be found.

A very unroyal groan emitted from the princess. She needed somepony else to continue the work while she would look for a place to rest. The engineer and Twilight Sparkle probably had there hoofs full, so maybe it was time to teach that nephew of hers some knowledge in carpeting.

Speaking of the devil, where is he anyway? Luna examined every room again, looking for the lost prince without any success. Maybe he went outside while she was working. He definitely did not help and she also haven't seen him the entire time she cleaned the house. With a exhausted sigh she trotted outside and began to search the area for him. He couldn't have gone far, it's Blueblood after all.

After a couple of minutes she found said pony, covering in a magical bubble, flinching paranoid at everything that moved.

Oh dear.. the poor boy must stand under shock from the wrecked house... She couldn't really blame him. The house was in a horrible state and when a pony like him would be told to live in it...

She stretched her muscles, trying to wake her tired body. Something was missing though. Luna looked over to the spots her wings used to be. It's going to be quite annoying to not being able to fly for some time. She didn't even dare to look into her own face right now. The illusion spell she created was set so that she would take the form of a mare in her mid forty’s, with sprinkles and everything.

She couldn't deny that she also felt pretty old at the moment, being exhausted like this, even if a unicorn that mastered the magical arts would have spent the resources of five to carry out what she just did. The fact that she was thousands of years old didn't help either... But what was she thinking about. Right now, there were other problems that needed to be taken care of.

She walked over to the barrier Blueblood created and knocked a couple of times against it in order to achieve his attention. A cringe confirmed her success. The royal pony gave her a brief glance and, after recognizing her, went back to staring holes into the ground. Luna sighed in annoyance. It looked like she had to convince him with words to make him drop the barrier.

“Blueblood, please. Lower the barrier and come back into the house.” The white colt gave her a look of pure terror. “Back into that hellish dirthole? You must me out of your mind!”

Luna's faced turned into a frown. Just take his insult Luna, he doesn't now better. “I cleaned the house and revived the wood into the finest timber you will ever see.”

Blueblood had a sudden glimpse of hope blinking in his eyes. “Y-you did? S-so the house now resembles at least the lowest standards for royalty?”

The goddess rolled her eyes. Just let him think it is just to make him leave his dumb bubble.

“Yes, it is. I only need you now to repair the ceiling and we can start to refurnish the place.”

The glimpse of hope in his eyes turned rapidly into that of disbelieve. Maybe she should have waited to tell him this after they went back in.

“Y-you want me to do what?! What an absolute absurd idea! I am the prince of-”

“And I am the princess of the moon and in a way higher position than you are,” she spoke perfectly clear for him to hear.

The colt visibly cringed further together with a face that could keep a hungry manticore from killing him. The display made Luna smile. In his current state he looked so cute like a foal that just did not want to clean its room and rather play with his friends, or do whatever he does in his free time. But, like a foal, he had to take responsibility eventually and just like one she would teach him it, starting now.

Luna laid her horn upon Blueblood barrier and cast a spell to undo it with ease. Like a bubble popping the barrier began to break from the spot her horn rest and with a loud noise it blew away, scattering magic particles everywhere.

The prince was terrified to find his defense being defeated that easily and promptly began to build his barrier anew. Luna though stopped him by stomping on the ground with her hoof. The stallion stared into her eyes again with his expression begging for mercy. This time however, she did not fall for this psychological attack and stared back with a face a mother would give a wretched child.

“You will now come with me inside, listen to me when I give instructions and execute any task I order you, do you understand?” All the colt could do was nod in fear. Pleased, the princess gave him a acknowledging smile and turned, with a prince on her tail, back to the house. That went smoother than I expected. she thought giggling.

Once reaching the border of the house, she felt that Blueblood was suddenly stopping. She turned towards him annoyed, seeing him staring skyward.

“What is the matter now? Do you want me to drag you in?” the princess groaned, noticeably tired.

The prince gave her a short recognizing glance after looking back up again. “No, I just thought I saw some- What in the name of Sun?!”

Luna stared at him in confusion and turned afterward her head back to the house. Before she even lay eyes upon the direction Blueblood was gawking at, a sudden loud noise emitted from behind her. Cursing to herself, the trotted inside, looking for the cause of the sudden ruckus. Once there, a cloud of dust met her, covering the whole floor and limiting her area of sight. With another sigh, she cast the same spell again she cast before, just in a smaller scale.

After she blew the dust outside she noticed a sky-blue pegasus with a multicolored mane laying in front of her between a pile of scree. She immediately recognize her as Rainbow Dash, Element of Loyalty.

At least the mystery of the holes in the ceiling is solved, judging the sudden appearance of this guest.

The uninvented vandal rose from the ground, shaking off remains from the ceiling. “Oh horse apples, screwed up that barrel roll again.”

It took the pegasus a moment to notice that there were others with her. “Hey, what are you doing here? This place is not a very save place to be!”

Luna looked at the filly with annoyed features residing in her face. “It sure wouldn't be if it not were for Pegasus crashing through the roof.”

The winged Pony rubbed her neck in embarrassment. “Yeah, the wind up here is pretty wild, but that makes it just so much more awesome to practice in it! But hey! You still haven't answered my question! What are you doing here?” Rainbow Dash looked at the princess intensively as if she was some sort of culprit.

“I am the new inmate of this lovely accommodation and you just rocket through its roof like a boulder.” The pegasus face turned into an expression of surprise and disbelieve.

“You serious, of that old, broken down place? Applejack told me that this thing stood empty even when she was born. Kinda crazy of you to rent this sinking barge”

Luna kept her cool and continued their little conversation.

“It was broken down, and yes, I am serious and,” Luna gave her a mischievous stare “you still rocked through the roof, messing my work up.” Dash observed the pieces of wood scattered around here rubbing her neck once more.

“Heh, sorry 'bout that,” she said with a impish grin.

Luna groaned in response, clearly in desperation. “You really don't know were I'm going with this, are you?”

The multicolored pony shifted slightly around. “Uuuhm, no?”

Princess Luna rubbed one of her temples at this responds, desperately trying to ignore the naivety of the pony in front of her. “With this, I mean, you will help us to fix the roof. Was that clear enough for you, young lady?”

Rainbow Dash stepped back in protest after Luna's demand. “No way man! When I do this I'm gonna' miss the real wild wind, and I mean REAL wild wind, that is going to come up any moment now!”

“Bad Luck, I say.” Now it was Luna's turn to smirk at the sight of the groaning filly that hung her head low with a frown.

The pegasus raised her head again and trotted over to the rubble she created, getting a little anger out of it by kicking before picking it.

“Who are you guys anyway?” Rainbow Dash asked while clearing the floor.

A smile spread across Luna's muzzle. She was already prepared for this question. “My name is Twinkle Silverlight and this is my son, Bright Silverlight.”

A sudden stutter could be heard from behind her. “Your So-”

Lunas made sure to keep the prince's mouth shut with her telepathy while still smiling at the Rainbow pony.

“Son? I can't really see the resemblance between you two.” That pony is quite a pain.

The moon princess just stared at her annoyed, still with a smile on her face, though .

“He always looked more like his father. Now please, I believe we have other business we should be taking care of now, don't we?.” Rainbow Dash gave both one more suspicious glimpse but shrugged it off and went back to clean the floor. Luna allowed herself a silent sigh of relief, happy about that this straining discussion was finally over. But, of course, she now had to teach Blueblood about the schemes of her being his mother for a while which will be just as tedious.

Mother... Now she really felt old.

Blueblood got dragged off by Luna into a near corner so that this troublesome Pegasus was out of earshot.

He was furious about her behavior. What has gotten to her? She must have lost her mind on the way here. First he gets dragged of to some hillbilly backyard village, secondly gets insulted by a devious mistake of nature, thirdly is shoved into a icky construction that is supposed to resemble a house, fourthly gets lectured by his insane aunt and now fifthly is told to play the son of her.

What came over her to think that he would participate in such a ridiculous play? What for should they hide their identities from the common folk anyway? Shouldn't they show themselves so that their subjects could see in awe what the rulers of the country do for them? Let their unclean bodies be bathed in the his and Luna's presence. Walk between them even though it is an unpleasant experience?

She couldn't be serious, she HAD to be joking, and he wanted to know at once why she said such ludicrous words.

“Aunt Luna, I want to-” “It is mother for now 'Bright',” the princess interrupted him “and I dearly insist that you will call me that and yourself the name I gave you for now on till I say otherwise.”

Her words deeply hurt his ego. How can she demand from him to change his name, his royal indication, to fool the minor folk.

“This request of yours is absolute absurd. I will tell aunt Celestia that you-” “I do not request, Bright, I command,” she once more interrupted him with an way more sharper pitch in her voice “and if you not do as I say, I swear I will break your horn from your head and shove it somewhere very unpleasant and I will not care what your aunt in Canterlot will have to say about this, do you understand me boy?!”

A hoof pointed in his face and a stare of pure death into his eyes. Even if she now was smaller than him she still stayed the same frighting pony as ever. He knew the only thing that could save him now was just to nod in agreement with her.

“Good.” Her facial features loosed a bit but still stayed horrific.

“I now want you to help us fix the roof and create some nice furniture. I will show you how and you will do it, understood?” He looked into her eyes as if he thought she has lost the last glimpse of her mind. And that she did indeed.

Him fulfill the work of a simpleton? He was made to represent, to rule even, not to make chairs and tables out of third class- no, fourth class wood. How can she even evolve the thought of such a nonsensical idea. There is no w-

A sudden magical assault pulling on his ear forced him over to the pile of wood the blue intruder was stacking.

“So, for starters, I want you to just focus your magic on the wood without doing anything with it so I can fix the roof by controlling your magic. Because it is your magic that I control you will exactly feel mentally what I am doing and if you take note of everything I'll do you will be able to repair the next hole on your own, understood?”

A cocky puff vent from the prince. He learned from the best so of course he understood. It was an old trick teachers used to show foals how spells work. She only forgot that the caster had to open his magic to others by setting ones mind loose. That way it was an easy thing to invade the head of another, reading the mind or with enough skill, take over it. Of course he had all faith in his lovely aunt that she would never do such a thing, but the thought of somepony else infiltrating his most private sanctum was still unpleasant. And the way of her to treat him like a little foal was just-

He just now noticed how Luna was watching him with furious eyes, as if she was ready to strangle him at any moment.

Wincing, he did as she said, focusing his magic on the wood and did as she NOT said, loosing his mind. He felt something come in contact his magic, continuing to creep up the leyline he created and a sudden cold touch in his brain told him that Luna finished her link to him. The components he was focusing on started to move without his permission up to the hole in the ceiling and shifted back to their original position. Simple enough. But then his aunt wove a spell he never heard of before.

She connected the wood together by not using the nails but growing it back together. Blueblood started to panic. Spells of resurrection were known for being very wasteful in their use. So much in fact, that one could die by overdoing it.

Panic rose inside of him. He wanted her to stop immediately. He didn't know how much it would desiccate him, but he absolutely did not wanted to figure it out. Blueblood tried to contact her somehow, send her a mental message that SHE IS MAD. Energy flowed out of him rapidly. There was no way that he could survive the whole process! He did not wanted to die! Oh Celes-

A flash of pain flew through his brain, interrupting his from desperation evolved thoughts. When he looked up, he saw that his aunt was already finished and the pain was probably a scold for him for not paying attention. The spell drained an average amount of his supplies, far away from a loss big enough to kill a pony, what confused him greatly.

Looking up at the place a hole used to be, he noticed that the gap was gone and only a spot that went perfectly with the rest of the ceiling remained. When finished with observing his work, he glared at the princess in a very displeased way.

“You could have warned me before conjuring a spell of that kind! This could have went horribly wrong! I may have died-” Luna scolded him again, but this time by using her hoof.

“Shut up, Bright. There's no way a spell of that level could have killed anypony. I hope you know how to use it next time without me?” Rubbing his head he just nodded at her.

“Good.” She raised her voice to get the attention of the blue filly that was still with them. “I'm going to see Fid. Maybe he has some more supplies we can fix the roof with. You two stay here and get to know each other a little better.”

Blueblood inhaled in order to ready a attack of disapproval, but his aunt stopped him by staring at his face in the most deadly way.

“You could tell her about us, you know, where we come from, what we are doing here. It will be most interesting to her,” she almost whispered those last words with a deadly hiss.

He knew what she meant with this. HE had to come up with lies to fool the rascal some more. It was her idea to begin with! Why did HE now had to continue to knit the rope of untruth?

Again, he just slowly nodded. She smiled, but still staring at him intensively until she left. When there would be a contest to discover the true embodiment of fear, the princess of the moon definitely would be one of the leading competitor.

Nervously he looked over to the rainbow colored pain. What should he tell her? Nothing came into his mind. For the love of Celestia, he was one of the elite of Equestria! There is nothing he can't do, and lying to a hick should be no problem to him!

With new won courage, he faced her, ready for any questions she would have. The rascal looked at him incurious, but started to ask questions anyway.

“Soooooo, where do you guys come from anyway?” The prince raised his head in proudness.

“Why from Canterlot of course.” He threw a hoof in front of his face when he realized what he just did. For the sake of...! He already failed! Ooooh, the revenge of aunt Luna will be ruthless!

“Canterlot, huh? Heh, could have guessed that much on my own.” He stared at her in confusion. “What do you mean by that?”

The pony giggled. “Well, you look snobby like everypony else over there.”

On his face grew slowly a frown. What does she mean by snobby? That is the most rude thing to- He suddenly notice that the rascal just had saved him! That they are from Canterlot does not mean they are of royalty! He sighed off the pressure that had stacked up in his body and once again readied himself for questions from the rude pony.

An awkward silence grew over the room. Why did she not asked anything else? Is she waiting for him to- Oh, maybe she is! Blueblood cleared his throat and began to speak.

“Who are you?” The rascal's face brightened up in a cocky way all of the sudden and she began to hover over the ground, assuming a position of boldness.

“Just Rainbow Dash, the most awesome pegasus around who is going to be the number one flier of all in Equestria!” This rascal has quite the backbone, doesn't she?

Unimpressed, the prince countered. “So is crashing into roof's one of the number one's special demonstrations?”

The sky-blue pony now assumed a lot more aggressive position, as if she wanted to jump at Blueblood any moment like a wild animal. “Hey, I was just practicing! There's is nothing wrong with accidentally crashing into somepony's roof once!”

Blueblood raised an brow and stared up at the ventilation friendly ceiling and then with a frown back at her. In respond the rascal just rubbed her neck in shame.

“Weeeell, crashing once or twice is okay, I guess?” Blueblood continued to stare at her, cracking a sneer.

This is more fun than I thought. “Once or twice? Alone with this roof you probably already broke some records,” he laughed. He haven't felt this amused since, well, ever!. The intruder puffed herself up.

“Hey! Cut me a break. I said I was going to be the greatest flier in Equestria and I will be! This is just a, uhm...” She seemed to struggle to find the right words. These village ponies really are simpletons.

“...nuisance?” Blueblood finished. “Exactly! Just a nuisance!” Prince Blueblood shook his head in desperation. Civil nuisance would be exact... Hah! He made another joke!

After that discussion ended another awkward silence filled the room. The prince began to slowly lose his patience. It was her time to ask. What was she waiting for? The only thing she did was shift around bored, and after a while she also began to whistle an awful tune. Finally, after five minutes or so, she opened her muzzle again. Thank you, Celestia, he was about to lose his manners.

“So, who is this Fid guy? Your father or something?” Blueblood eyes widened in shock by her implication.

“Father?! I would assume a new name if this discourteous ruffian would be a parent of mine!” The pegasus looked at him confused after his statement.

“Ooookay, so what is he then?” Blueblood just now noticed that he again was about to blow their cover. He had to think of something fast!

What could this Fid character be? Remember visual facts about that metallic forehead could only help him to find the perfect role for him. Of what he could tell of his facial features he must have been around his age, even if he acted like a grumpy old stallion. Also, he had to be related with him and aunt Luna, otherwise him moving in with them made little sense.

Maybe make him his brother? Pfff, to make him ruin his reputation? No, he had to be something else... What did he look like? If he remembered correctly his coat was deep blue and his mane greyish-brown. He could be his...

“He is my cousin!” he blurted out, taking Rainbow Dash by surprise.

“Erm, cousin?” “Yes! Maternal, of course.” She appeared to bought his lie. Success, haha!

“Alright, so, why did he moved in with you?”

His mind went blank. He is his cousin, yes, but this still isn't a good explanation of why Fid did in fact moved in with his aunt and cousin. He needed an idea in this instant or else...!

“Well he, uhm , you see...” He was doomed! He couldn't come up with anything. The only thing he could do was to stare in horror how the face of the rascal grew more and more impatient.

“Yeeeeeah?” Oh please, think of something Blueblood! In his mind the picture of his aunt staring at him with her fear inducing eyes materialized, already showing his future demise.

“...you see, his, erm...” That stare that could inflict death upon a simple royal like him! She would torture him till the early end of his life! It was such a precious one, but now he had failed to save it! Oh Celestia, he didn't wanted to... “...die!”

Blueblood stood silent for a moment before realizing what he just did. He was losing his cool, he had to calm! When focusing his eyes again at the rascal that stood before him, he noticed that she appeared to be shocked.

“Whoa, who died?” she almost screamed. After taking a few deep breathes to soothe his head he frowned at her respond.

I said die, not who di- Hold on, who died? Who died, indeed! Mischievous thoughts crossed his mind. He had not to die if he killed somepony else, figure of speech, of course.

“Yes, his parents, you see, they died and ever since then he lived with us.” Her mouth gape in shock, more than enough to tell Blueblood that he saved his coat. An light grin of gratification allowed itself on his muzzle and he observed his success in the face of simpleton in front of him.

“Wow, man, I'm sorry, I didn't know.” And how sorry she looked, hah!

“Do not feel bad, it is as it is.” The rascal shifted uncomfortably as if the conversation had become too inconvenient for her, a message that she would be silent for now. The prince congratulated himself once more mentally for his amazing work. All he had to do now was to wait patiently for his aunt... What took her so long anyway?
Once Luna left Blueblood and Rainbow Dash behind her, she exhaled her build up stress through her mouth. All she could do now was to hope that Blueblood wouldn't entirely fail at his given task.

But of course he will, she thought, this boy is as useless and nerve racking as weed to say it nicely.

Luna touched the front of her head and shook it with her hoof, shocked of herself. What came over her to even think something like this of somepony else?

She began to inhale new oxygen into her body, deeply, cooling her internals with the chilly air. It made her forget all her concerns, all her fears. She exhaled and inhaled another cone of fresh air, remembering that autumn was coming, her sisters favorite season and who could deny it her?

The trees changed their color from a fresh green into a mixture of brown, yellow and red, scattering all over the ground, turning themselves into an artwork the most skilled artists could not catch on a mere piece of paper. She imagined that her next cone of air was the cold wind itself breezing through her lungs, entirely blowing away any burden that still hung on her internal trees.

Finally, she seemed to have calmed down. Now she wondered what she should do next. Ah, right! She wanted to get material for her little workers. But no, this could wait. She decided that it was best to now choose which room would hold what purpose starting with the one she stood in. Luna explored quickly that said hall was a corridor that connected almost every room in the ground floor.

She counted four doors, one behind, one on the right and two in front of her. There was another one though, blocked by her view as the corridor made left from her a tilt to the right, also leading to stairs that led to the first floor. She knew that the door to her right held a cubby and the door right in front of her led to a corridor as well.

That said corridor did also held the only connection to the room Fid already occupied which she assumed to be the largest one in the entire house, though she couldn't check as she did not wanted to disturb him and Twilight just yet.

The next room just left of the first door before was probably the kitchen since she remembered seeing an oven in there. It probably also was supposed to serve as the dining room, given the cozy size. She continued down the corridor reaching the last door.

Inside she was greeted with an over average sized room. When she looked through one of the smashed windows the stunning view of the fields between here and the Unicorn Range were in plane sight. She sadly had no time to enjoy the view, but she kept in mind to maybe install a porch, what would make this the perfect living room. Now it was time to explore the upper quarters.

Before she could even consider her intentions a loud noise of wood breaking could be heard from where Fid and Twilight must have been. She trotted immediately towards the noise through the corridors, almost breaking through the doors. She feared that she accidentally missed a couple of planks with her restoration spell and that now somepony had fallen through the floor.
Wait, that didn't made sense. She could have sworn that there was nowhere stairs leading into a basement, so what could have the noise possibly been?

After she reached the last door and opened it she saw Fid lying on the floor with a gray, straw blonde maned pegasus on top of him and Twilight staring in surprise through the backdoor, but what got her real attention was the hole right next to it. So that explains the broken windows...
She felt her stress practically shooting itself back into her brain, nullifying all of her earlier efforts. Instead of screaming in frustration, she instead walked over to the cursing Fid and helped him up, by hoof, as she hadn't forgotten about his condition. Afterward she focused all her attention at the pegasus, still lying on the ground. She didn't felt like helping her up right now.

“Who are you?” Luna asked, trying not to sound too tense... and exhausted.

The gray pony clumsy leaped herself back onto her hoofs and saluted in front of Luna in the most awkward way, enchanted in its ways by her crossed eyes.

“My names Ditzy Doo, but everypony calls me Derpy!” The princess was surprised by her nickname. Derpy? Does she not know what it indicates?...

The princess came to the solution that the best idea was to just ignore it and figure out about this second flying vandal. “And what is your business here?”

Ditzy, or... Derpy, quickly reached back into her saddlebag Luna just now noticed and took, quite literally, a mouthful of letters out of it, showing them into Lunas face.

“Mphail!” “Those are not mine,” Luna quickly conclude without even looking over them. She did not awaited any mail whatsoever, and besides that, nopony even knew that they lived here, or actually were ABOUT to live here. Even if her sister would send them messages per mail she would most definitely NOT use the public mail service.

After hearing this, the straw head lowered her face and looked very down all of the sudden. “But- but I delivered mail here since I began working at the Post Office and you always wanted your mail.” Luna was taken back when she noticed tears forming in her eyes after the pegasus faced her again.

“Why don't you want your mail anymore?” she finished sobbing.

The princess did not know what to do. What has gotten into this pony?

“Hey Derpy,” the voice of Twilight Sparkle suddenly sounded in Lunas ears and she noticed her closing in from behind the strange pony. “why don't you continue with your delivering and come back here for when you're done? I am sure the lady just forgot that she expects mail and remembers it this evening,” she said in a cooing tone. “You can check on Sugarcube Corner next. They probably are baking some muffins right now!”

At the sound of that last statement the ears of the pegasus perked up and she quickly speed off towards the exit while yelling “Yay, Muffins!”. After... that, Twilight trotted next to Luna.

“I am so sorry princess! Derpy is our Mailmare, but unfortunately she often mixes up the places and ends up delivering it to the wrong ponies.”

Luna sighed at this but waved her arm in dismiss. “I understand, and please, call me Twinkle from now on.” Twilight nodded, signs of relief on her face. “Of course, princ- I mean Twinkle.”

“So what makes me that then?” The ruff voice of Fid got Lunas attention. She had almost forgot about him being here, even though she had helped him up just a minute ago.

“I don't know yet,” she answered, “but hopefully will when Blueblood finally starts looking what all the ruckus was about.” The engineers face turned to shock when he realized what she meant by that

“Do you mean...?” Luna nodded. “Yes, he will figure out a back story for you.”

The blue colt muttered up a barricade of words before starting properly somewhere mid-sentence to raise his voice. “,are you mad?! That blockhead wouldn't even be taken by a fourth-class acting group. How exactly did you imagine that HE could come up with something like a false back story?”

Luna felt her anger crawling up her throat and residing in her head. No, she would not loose control. “I assure you that he has my full confidence in this matter.”

Fid just shook his his head in disbelieve. “Oh, I am sure you do. Seriously princess, did you just hear yourself?”

Luna could almost feel the vein on her had grow. “For the love of- Shut up Fid! I won't let you take me for a fool! I know what I said and I stand for it, so take your insults to somepony else!” she shouted at him, to exhausted to hold her anger back.

Fid frowned at her for a while, but than just sighed and walked of with his head shaking. The sudden hoof of Twilight Sparkle on her shoulder made the princess flinch a little.

“Are you alright, princess?” she asked, clearly in concern.

Luna blew out the rest of her pent up stress in her head through her nostrils before answering. “I am fine. I just... I just need to rest and think for a while. You wouldn’t know a place to do so, Twilight Sparkle?”

Twilight shook her head in sorry. “Only way downhill and on the other side of town.”

Luna sighed in despair, not only because of her need for rest, but also because of the arrival of yet another hitch: Blueblood. Thankfully, though oddly, he was alone.

“What has happened here?” se said more annoyed than concerned.

“An unimportant incident. But more important,” Luna already braced herself for Bluebloods answer before finishing the sentence “where is our little friend of earlier? I doubt she did not wanted to check for herself of what has occurred here. And besides that, what took you so long anyway?” she added lastly.

The prince shuffled, a bit of shame becoming visible on his face. “I got... lost. Anyway, the rascal chose to continue her work without the interference of any troubles, so she could go back to do whatever those countryponies do.”

So far, so good, the princess thought to herself. But now came the question she feared the most to ask. “So, what did you tell her about us? I assume she had plenty of questions.”

He practically beamed when she finished, much to her surprise. Maybe this won't be too bad after all.

“Of course, of course, sweet aunt!” “Mother,” Luna corrected him. “Whatever,” he snarled. “You see, our original residence lay in Canterlot, but we moved here!” Simple enough. But something bothered her.

“Hold on, did you tell her 'why' we moved here?” The princes' confidence visibly lowered as he stuttered the answer. “Well, no, but to my defense I need to say that she didn't ask!”

Fair enough, guess she expected as much of Blueblood to drop the theme of moving and instead bored her with some irrelevant knowledge an infant should be informed abo-

“Oh, and that freaks parents over there are dead.”

...What? Luna almost thought Blueblood had said something absolutely ludicrous, like... No no no no, she probably is just hearing things in her exhaustion, so she just asked him to repeat himself with a simple 'hmm?'.

The white stallion apparently was taken aback from her sudden friendly behavior and hesitated with his answer.

“Uhm... his,” he pointed over to Fid who suddenly seemed rather interested in the conversation the two were having as Blueblood stretched the very last words of his sentence carefully, “parents are... dead?...”

“WHAT?!” The princess almost exploded with anger putting her face as close to Bluebloods as her current size allowed. “Have you completely lost your mind?!”

The prince slowly backed up terrified, but Luna followed him like a furious predator.

“You can't just go around that someponies parents are, or overall that somepony, is dead! I never thought too high off you Blueblood, but this went too far!” Luna stared him down into submission until her assault got interrupted by laughing Fid next to her.

“Well, Blueblood, I need to give it to you, for a moron you are pretty impressive in the insulting department,” he chuckled. Luna couldn't believe her ears, why was he amused by this?

“How can you be fine with this? I demand to know!” Fid just shrugged

“I never knew my parents anyway, so might as well kill them, hm?” Hhe finished with a grin. Luna shook her head in disbelieve.

“I- I go to bed” she hang her head in defeat and turned to leave. “We don't have anything like that yet.”

“The floor will be fine,” she said without even looking at him, whoever said it. Those young colts will be the end of her.

Chapter 3: Extreme Afternoon Measures

The following days flew by rather quickly. Celestias student apparently had some connections she pulled to give them furniture. Also did the princess of the moon show off some off her magic by magically engineering some of her own, to others probably beautiful pieces of work, yet to him a mere stool to sit on.

Speaking of skills, she as well, from the looks of it, decided to play a sort of 'mother' role in this risible idea of a family, showing some of her... lacking abilities. Especially in the cooking department. On top of that, alone in the one week they know live in this house, he already had to repair the oven three times, the stove five times and who knows how often the whole kitchenware while simultaneously installing a heating system and repai- no, replace the busted water supply.

That they were capable of accomplishing this in a week was a miracle, considering that the workforce existed of a bossy Alicorn, a complete moron, an sociopathic cripple, a spoiled bookworm and a multicolored narcissist.

Fid beheld his new room. Nothing special, just his work and a bed stood in here. Finally, after a week of a test to his nerves he could continue his work, starting... “Crash!”

Oh for the love of... Turning, Fid laid his eyes upon the grey idiot who broke his exoskeleton the first day he stood in this house, laying in a mountain if his precious, well, actually failed, work.

Stumbling, she emerged from the rubble and quickly reached into her saddlebags with her mouth, proudly presenting him a letter!

“Mphail!” Fid surveyed her warily. “Are you sure it is mine?” The idiot saluted at that.

“Absholuphly! Iph sphudied ephry oneh opf mah rouths sho Ih won'ph repheat mah miphtake oph lapht wheek!” she assured, while still gnawing away on his letter.

Fid simply took the piece of (now moist) paper out of her mouth and discovered with a quick glimpse that it was indeed addressed to this house, specifically at him. Noticing that the idiot still grinned at him, he simply waved his hoof.

“You can go now, and next time use the damn mailbox, not the wall!” With another salute, she left the room, slamming through his door. He really need to reinforce this houses' husk...

Now that he was alone, Fid examined his letter. No address, name or anything of the sender, just a letter with his address and name. It even lacked a stamp. How did this...? No matter, he already knew who send it and she has her ways. He ripped it open and started to read the content.

Dear Fid,
I know that you are a pony of little words, so I will keep this short and leave out any courtesies. I also do realize that you thought, probably still think and will continue to think that it was absolutely unnecessary to send you to Ponyvile, but trust me that it truly was the only place you can find the pony that can help you discover your questions about yourself.
Visit the Town Hall tomorrow during the afternoon and ask for a pony called Merry Mare. You will be doubtful, but you need to trust me Fid, as hard it may be for you, that she will find a way.
Celestia.

Fid crumbled the letter and threw it into his... bin? Yeah, that can be a bin, and grunted annoyed.

Probably just one of her idiotic ideas. He had the urge to touch one of his temples when a sudden storm of thoughts flew through his mind.

“Why does she even care that much...” was his conclusion. He stared at his new bin, seeing the letter within. After exhaling a heavy sigh, which sounded more like a groan, he started making arrangements for tomorrow. Merry Mare... He thought.
What kind of name is Merry Mare?

Finally back here, huh? Merry and her luggage stood in front of the train she just left, viewing Ponyvile. Has it really been five years since she left for her psychology studies? She threw her hoof in her face for that sudden attack of nostalgia. Stop it, Merry! You sound like your mother...

Speaking of the devil, wasn't she supposed to welcome her? Yes, she was, or should, or... Just look for her, Merry!

She made her way towards the Town Hall, the place she should probably find her, if things haven't changed, that is. And if they did, she could just ask there were she would find her mother! No mistakes made with this decision!

Hopefully she won't get lost on her way. Bah, the town shouldn't have changed after that short period of time! Then again, whole city’s changed after less years... But not Ponyvile, right?

Oh, who was she kidding, nopony would probably recognize her, mainly because she herself didn't even remember half of these ponies she past by! To be honest, none of them looked familiar... Oh dear, was she in the right pl-

A bolt of pain that went through her jaw made her notice that she just ran right against the front door of the Town Hall. Flushed, she panicky looked around, checking if anypony has seen her, before entering the building itself.

Inside, she was thankful to see that the counter still was there, though with a different receptionist. A white mare with a black mane that looked through a mountain of paper through her glasses. So far so good. Now she only had to ask the lady for her mother.

“Excuse me?” The Mare phased out of her work and looked up from her paperwork. “Yes, how can I help you?”

Overworked, judging her eye circles, the voice of her tone also indicates that she is not too happy with her job. Not enough payment, or is it just the lack of appreciation? Something that would be discovered in just a couple of minutes. How boring...

Marry woke up from her daydreaming, hopefully fast enough to not make her seem awkward.

“Uhm, yes yes, could you please tell me where to find Mrs. Mare?” The Mare strained her eyelids by closing them shortly and began to look over what appeared to be a guestbook.

“I'm sorry, but Mrs. Mare does not expect any company at the moment.” she said bluntly.

Oh? Did she get promoted? Her job, at least as she remembered, was not 'that' important. Well, lets just play a little mind trick on her.

“Not even her own daughter?” The receptionist looked visibly surprised.

“Daughter? You don't really... Oh!” she began to giggle without reason. Something must've slipped back into her mind. Perhaps of her mother? A funny similarity probably. Wait, did she and her mother had a silly similarity?!

“Sure, on that note, I think it will be alright. Head upstairs to the second floor. She should be in the third room on the right.” Merry thanked the giggling mare and followed her instructions, furiously trying to think of the reason she started to laugh.

Do they have the same manestyle? Doubtful. Similar voices? No, the receptionist would have noticed that earlier. Hair color? Maybe, but still, that would have not amused her THAT much.

Just like that she already stood in front of the door her mother worked behind. Time to meet her parent in pony again, time to tell her all about her studies and most importantly: Time to figure out this silly similarity!

She knocked the door, and somepony reacted beyond.

“Come in,” a mare sighed. That was the voice of her mother alright.

Merry opened the door, stepped inside and saw yet another mare buried into a lot of paperwork. She looked the same as ever: Grayish, amber coat, glasses and- Dear Celestia, what happened to her mane? Her hear looked at least twenty years older than the last time she saw her. It appears like age REALLY hits you fast...

“Who is it?” her mother mumbled uninterested, obviously annoyed of the unannounced company.

Merry answered carefully. “...Mom?”

The mare suddenly reached up behind her paperwork and practically beamed when she noticed who stood in the room.

“Merry!” she exclaimed, “Oh, my dear, how long has it been?”

“Five years,” Merry grinned slightly. “Already? My, how the time flies.”

She stood up from behind her desk and grabbed Merry on her way out. “Come on, you probably have a lot of things to tell me.”

Her mother took Merry for a walk through town that ended in the, as she said, best café in town. After both ordered a simple drink, her mother was incapable of hiding her curiosity any longer.

“So, Merry, how has it been? Any new friends, hobbies, maybe even a coltfriend?” she winked.

Merry blushed at her last question, obviously bewildered. “I wrote you every week, I think you should already know everything about my studies.”

Her Mother sighed, understanding. “I know, I know, dear. It's just that I haven't seen your face for such a long time. You look so much more grown now.”

Again, Merry blushed. “Come on, I won't have changed that much...”

Finally, their drinks arrived. A cool refresh, exactly what she needed now. Her mother just giggled at her answer while observing the liquid inside her glass, looking rather melancholy all of the sudden.

“Yes, maybe it's just a mother seeing her child finally coming of age.” All she could do was to blush again.

“Anyway,” her mother raised her head, looking straight at her. “when do you want to start working as a psychologist anyway?”

Merry was a bit perplexed from her sudden change of subject, but pulled herself back together quickly. Same as ever...

“Psychotherapist actually and, well, I haven't thought about that yet. First, I need a room and the proper furniture to work with.”

“Oh, don't you worry about that,” her mother assured. “We have just the perfect room for you in the Town Hall. And it's good too that you just arrived. Ponyville is really in the need for a Psychotherapist.”

Merry cringed a bit inside. A whole town full of ponies with boring problems she had to listen to, nothing exotic. But she shouldn't complain, her mother just gave her a job without any intricacies. She should take this opportunity with her hooves.

“Well, in that case, I guess I can start right away. Wait,” A sudden realization came over Merry. “you can't just let one of the rooms in the Town Hall be occupied by your daughter, or?”

Her mother chuckled at her concerns. “Oh silly, I doubt there will be too many complains. I'm the Mayor after all.”

Merry spilled her drink. All over the table. “You're the Mayor of this Ponyvile?”

“Yes, dear. Haven't you read my letters?” “Guess I have skipped that part.” Didn't that just explain so much?

Almost clear sky, a bit windy and a steady temperature of fifteen degrees. The perfect autumn day for a walk outside.

Splendid. Luna looked out her porch in her new living room. In the last couple of days she and her companions were capable of turning this heap of rubbish into a nice home. Well, almost all of her companions.

Blueblood, she should have seen it coming, used every opportunity he could get to welsh from any work whatsoever, but insisted to have the biggest room on the first floor. She, of course, like a fool let him have it, just to shut this jabbering mouth of his.

But today, she had no more of this. Today, she will bring him onto the right path to learn discipline, benevolence and rationality. Hopefully...

The door opened behind her and in came her nephew. Excellent timing.

“Aunt Luna, my heater won't work again, that Fid is nowhere to be found and I'm freezing my hooves off!” Luna frowned, still looking out of the window. Please, let it work.

“'Twinkle', or 'mother', 'Bright',” she corrected, “and it's also a good thing that you're here.”

Grunting, her nephew closed in. “And why, may I ask.”

She sighed. Oh please, let it work.

“Follow me, we're going to the other side of town.” “Wait, why?” The prince stroke while stumbling behind her. “You'll see,” she just answered while leaving the room.

After stepping out the house, she checked if Blueblood still pursued her. Luckily, though noticeably upset, he did. Let's hope that he won't go missing when we arrive...

They were having actually a nice evening walk through Ponyville after leaving. She met new ponies all recognizing her as the new inhabitant of the 'lone house on the hill', as they liked to call it.

Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash must've told a good chunk of ponies about them, gladly, since it made things not only easier, but also fleshes in there cover of being just simple ponies. They even met the mayor of town near a café, welcoming and offering them a drink. Sadly, she had to decline, because she still had to convey her 'son', who, thankfully, just kept quiet the entire time.

Later than expected they arrived at her designated destination far off Ponyville, behind a small hill, makings spotting them here difficult. She was pleased to see that her appointment already made preparations.

A group of Manikins and a loaded weapon rack stood thoughtful placed right next to a ring on the ground, marked by small planks that got rammed into the ground, forming a little arena. And in the middle of the said ring stood her appointment, fighting an invisible foe in a wild, yet beautiful dance, dealing deadly blows against his opponent, even if he was imaginary.

She watched him in silence until he delivered the final strike, sheathing his weapon back into his holster afterward.

“Who is this?” Blueblood suddenly asked, apparently reaching his limit of patience.

“My name is Sacred Shield, young prince,” the sallow stallion answered, turning around. When he stood in front of them, he knelt down before her.

“My princess.” She nodded in recognition. “You may rise.”

She turned her attention towards the slightly confused prince. “Bright, as you probably have heard, this is Sacred Shield, former captain of the Canterlot Royal Guard and your new trainer.” The white stallion openly showed his reluctance on his face.

“Trainer?!” he exclaimed less than thrilled. “A trainer for what?”

“Armed to armed combat with the kind of weapon that will fit you the best,” Sacred said while shoving a gray flick of hair out of his face, taking Luna the burden of answering the obvious.

She hummed in agreement. “I hope you won't have too much problems with him, Sacred, he is a very unruly bullhead.”

Sacred Shield moved around the prince, scrutinizing him from every angle. “Don't worry, princess. I was able to drill even the worst scum of the streets. I doubt I will fail at a spoiled brat.”

Luna nodded. “I wouldn't expect less from you.”

“Just hold on for a second!” Blueblood suddenly screamed at both of them. “I did not accept to any of this sort! I am not going to be a student of some old scruff to learn the art of a barbarian! I'm going home now.”

The prince made indications of leaving, though the princess stopped him before he could even lift one of his hooves by stomping one of hers on the ground.

“You will be the student of Sacred Shield, Blueblood! I had more than enough of your nonsense, it is time that you learn some responsibility. You will come here five days a week, you will train proper, you will behave and you WILL LIKE IT.” Her last words were in a tone harsh enough to even impress the veteran next to her.

“I'm going to do some errands now,” the princess announced more than clear,”I will see you tonight for dinner, and I hope you will be exhausted. If not, I won’t see any reason in giving you anything to eat.”

With that said, she retreated from the Training grounds and left her nephew and Sacred Shield behind her. Please, please, let it work...

So this is the Town Hall? Fid stood in the middle of the place Celestia assigned him to, regarding the building from the inside. A ceiling, walls and a counter. Nothing too special, to be true actually really unimpressive. Simple, he liked it.

Anyway, he was here to meet somepony, and not to not admire the arts of engineering from some hayseeds, wasn't he? Might as well get this over with.

He walked up to the counter and got the attention of the busy looking mare behind it by coughing slightly. She looked up from her paperwork, a bit bewildered.

When she noticed Fid she adjusted her glasses and sat up straight. “Hello, how can I help you?”

“I'm looking for a Merry Mare. I got a appointment.” The receptionist was clearly puzzled by his statement.

“But she just moved in yesterday...” she muttered while searching through her papers.

Fid raised his brow, now the one put to wonder. “I'm sorry?”

The mare looked halfway back up at him, distracted by her search in the chaos. After a few seconds of search she scratched her neck and finally answered him.

“It's nothing. Just go through this floor,” she pointed to her right, “and take the last door. See if I care about her lack of announcing her appointments...” she mumbled those last words almost silent enough for Fid not overhearing them. He rolled his eyes at her 'agony' and instead of wasting even more time, headed for the door.

After he reached the damn thing, he opened it and found a amber mare with a uncombed, pink mane standing on a stepladder inside. Well, she stood on it, because when she heard him entering, he startled her and she plummeted to the ground, getting buried by the books she was placing onto a shelf.

“Who the- What the- Don't you have ever heard of knocking the door?” she cried while emerging from the pile.

After she salvaged her glasses and was capable of noticing Fid, her irritated face suddenly changed drastically into a more interested tone.

“Merry Mare?” Fid assumed.

The mare broke free from a sort of trance. “Oh, Yes yes, that's me! How do you know my name?”

“I... heard about you,” he said hesitatingly, not sure how else to answer that question. Merry appeared to be quite surprised by that.

“Really? I only just started today... But whatever!” she almost was quivering with anticipation. “Meaning that you heard about me means you are here for a consultation-hour.”

She lead him over to a couch and only now he realized what the hay was going on here: A psychotherapist. Of all the things, Celestia, of all the things...

He needed to massage his temples badly and he had more than enough time and a couch to do it on.

“So, what's the reason your here...?”

“Fid,” he groaned while lying down on the couch, “and the reason,” he adjusted his position on the couch, ”is Amnesia.”

A squeal of delight emitted from his new headshrinker. Oh sweet hooves, don't fail my temples now...

Nothing wanted to work, nothing! She tried everything with her new catch: Relaxing, hypnosis, questions about relatives, questions about friends, questions about everything! Here she was with probably the only interesting looking pony in this whole town and she was about to let this opportunity slip right between her hooves. There has to be something...

“Sorry, Ms. Mare, but looks like this turned out like I predicted it would.” She started to panic. He was about to leave and nothing wanted to come into her mind, there had to be something. Wait, there was something... Oh no! Nonononono, she has sworn to herself to never use that stuff again, the side effects are way too dangerous-

“Good day.” Screw it.

“W-wait!” She hold Fid by one of his shoulders who, in respond, stopped and looked at her expecting.

“There is still one thing that we could try...” Doubt made itself visible in his eyes.

“Really? And what should that be?” She tried to calm herself by inhaling a cone of air.

“A simple talk and a drink.” Her patient made a face that just underlined how dumb this sounded.

“Trust me on this one,” she reassured him.”Just sit down over there and I will fetch us some drinks.”
She walked over to her drawer she just filled yesterday with some of her stuff, including a bunch of plastic cups, her water bottle standing on top and it... A small box filled with powdered Daydreamer.

A cute name for this heavy drug. It could launch anypony in mere seconds into the world of dreams without having them really sleep, making them appear to be talking in their dreams, if overdosed even acting them out. She gulped.

It also had the wacky feature of tasting like- ”I hope you like kiwi!”

“Whatever,” the pony grumbled. She took two cups, filled them with water, and opened the box carefully, not wanting to have any of it getting blown away by her movements. She slowly tilted a small amount of the white powder, not even the content of a thimble, and tried her best to mix it up.

Just before indicating any suspicion, she walked over to her patient and gave him the drugged cup who took it with disbelieve painting his body, and after a friendly gesture of her nodding her head a bit, he drank all of the content, much to her surprise. That went... easier then she expected.

“So, what now?” he asked impatiently.

“Just try to relax, get comfortable,” she soothed in respond.

“I don't want to calm!” he bellowed, bugged by her attempts of easing him. “I want to go home and continue... my...”

He moaned as a sudden fatigue overcame him. His eyelids fell even closer together then they already did, his movements slowed down and he slumped back into his chair. It worked!

Now she only had to ask him questions and hopefully get responses. Hopefully... Or she drugged him for nothing. She gulped again.

“Now Fid, why don't you tell me about your past. How about we start with your childhood? Please, tell me, can you remember any significant events that occurred to you when you were young?”

His head tottered around while he was thinking about her question. “Something... significant?...” he gabbled like a drunk. “Child....hood?...Childhood...”

Dream 1: To find Poise

Won't be able to walk anymore someday, he said, won't be able to use his wings, he said, probably won't get very old... Oh, I heard them talk, I knew what was wrong with me. I'll show them, show them all...

I sat in the basement of Canterlot, somewhere, like always when I wanted to be alone. It's not like somepony would stumble across me anyway. I worked at my first great invention: A exoskeleton for my legs. When I shove this in their faces after it's finished, they will have quite the surprise. A surprise telling them how wrong they are!

Suddenly, a nut sprang off. Oh great, come back here you little... When I was reaching out for the damn thing my whole invention fell apart. Again. I began to cry. Who was I kidding? I was born to be a cripple and there was nothing I could do about it. Celestia with her stupid sympathy would take care of me for the rest of my life, trying to play my mother the few times she actually has time for me, even though she is not. Oh yes, I also knew that I'm a orphan, Tinker told me, told me after I presented him my first try in engineering. He just said it was useless trash, told me that I should stop calling him dad...

I kicked my invention out of desperation, scattering parts around. I hated them, I hated everyone. All of them with their false stares of pity, thinking that I can't take care of myself. And the worst part about it was that they were probably right... Why did I even continue? Every time I tried to prove them wrong I got hit twice as hard back by the truth. And if I somehow actually achieved it, would they even care? No... No they wouldn't. They would just shrug it off as if they just lost some dumb bet. I... I thought about just ending it sometimes... Ending it all. But I couldn't. No, I refused to use the cowards way, the liars way.

I took deep breaths and began to recollect the parts I scattered. But when I walked over to the bolt that started this whole fiasco, I suddenly noticed one of the many doors here standing open. Strange, usually every door down here is locked tight. Should I...? Yes, I should. I mean, when do you ever get a chance like this? I took a glance behind it, seeing a long corridor littered with torches burning in the purest flames I've ever seen. After I looked back at my broken invention one more time, I gathered all my courage and entered.

The corridor was long, very, very long. Probably about ten minutes of walking long, at my speed, at least, and it did never make a curve. Where the hay did this lead? Finally, at the end of the damn thing I reached a giant, sphere-like room. How did this fit beneath the castle? For real now, it was almost as roomy as the throne room! On the walls giant bookcases towered over me, filled with, well books, but each as thick and wide as a grown up! In the middle of the giant room a black and white tiled circle adorned the floor, on which a pony stoo- Oh snap, Celestia!

I panicky looked for a hiding spot, and found one between two giant volumes. Luckily, she was too distracted to notice my clumsy attempts of climbing into the bookcase with looking at the ceiling and... crying? Why was she crying? Looking up myself, I couldn't see anything in particular except the giant stone ceiling.

The period of what felt like a aeon passed before Celestia finally decided to abandon the room and let me move my limbs again. When I shook my hurting legs back to live again, I myself walked into the middle of the room. Maybe you could only see something if you stood in the strange, colorless area? When I entered the garnished floor, the black and white tiles suddenly assumed their opposite color rapidly in succession. Looking up, before my eyes I saw something that changed me, changed the way I thought and looked at things...

Chapter 4: Evening Coincidences

His eyelids flew open, the increased inflow of light blinding him.

Where was he? What was that just a second ago? Heavy, uncontrolled breaths filled Fids lungs as his heartbeats raged through his body. Equestria, Ponyville, Town Hall. He remembered.

He remembered that he went here on Celestias behalf. But he also remembered that he was in Canterlot just a second ago, as a kid! Was it a dream? He never really slept well, but that was something else! Was that kid him, was it memory? It looked like him, it acted like him, it was where he always resided, it tinkered on the exoskeleton he is wearing, but it surely didn't feel like him. He couldn't explain it. That kid just felt so... wrong. This whole... memory felt so wrong.

But why? It was nothing spectacular, just stuff he could have guessed himself. Celestia and Tinker as bad parent figures? Sure. That would explain his grudge he had for those two and why Celestia has this abnormal compassion for him that she always tries to hide. But that room... What the hay was up with that room? A ton of books, a crying Celestia, those freaking tiles, what was that?

Fid looked around and noticed that the psychotherapist was still there, scribbling away at a notebook. How did she woke those damn memories within him? How? She looked and acted just like any other young mare, how could somepony likes this do something like that? He shook his head in vain.

“Fid?” she suddenly broke the silence. He looked into her face. “What?”

“Ah, good, you're awake.” A sigh of relief escaped her. “I think we accomplished more than enough for today. How about we call it a day?” His face still showed disbelieve towards her, but after a while he just sunk his head.

“Why not...” With a smile she stood up and lead him to the door.

“How about we meet again on Thursday, same time?” she offered before he was about to step through the door.

“Fine...” Fid muttered as he left.

Once leaving the Town Hall, he only now noticed how incredible sick he felt. The sun burned in his eyes like lit matches getting stung into them, every noise emitted around him came in blurred and his stomach was turning so bad he feared it was about to implode. He just had to reach his house and get some rest, away from those streets before accidentally colliding with some-

“Oof!” Of course... Maybe if he just walks along, whoever he bumped into will-

“Fid? What a coincidence! I was just about to visit you!” It's Twilight Sparkle, great... He couldn't make her out entirely, but how high were the chances that a purple blur was not her? And what was that about visiting him?

“And why?” he asked, wary not to throw up. Please just let it be a stupid 'getting to know ponies' idea of her so he can quickly fob her off.

“Well,” she started, “since you look like that you're pretty good with machinery, I wondered if you could fix my Leyline detector. That thing has been bugging out now for quite a while and nopony could figure out why.” Fixing a Leyline detector? Shouldn't take too long, at least not as long as getting rid of her otherwise.

“Fine,” he agreed, much to Twilights pleasure.

“But under one condition.” Pain shot through his stomach and his throat clenched, trying its best to not let any matter escape.

“I need to use your bathroom...”

One painful oral ejection later, he found himself in Ms. Sparkles house, thankfully not blurry anymore, which apparently also served as the towns library, and a tree...

“Are you feeling better?” Twilight Sparkle waited for him inside the... Living room? It was kinda hard to tell for him. She poured two cups of tea and offered him one.

“Here, that should help your stomach.” He rolled his eyes at her try in nursing him, but something to drink sounded like a good idea right now. He downed the cup, threw it over his shoulders (the lack of a shattering porcelain made him guess that it got caught) and pursued the problem.

“So, where is that Leyline detector?” He wanted this to be over as soon as possible, there were a lot of things on his mind he had to think about and that student of Celestia was already getting on his nerves with her obvious actions.

Though annoyed by his straight behavior, she shortly after magically levitated a compass-like object and moved it towards him. Not the newest, but a advanced model, he noticed upon holding it.

Whenever coming in contact with a Leyline, just like when a compass is held in a magnetic field, the needle inside would deflect and showcase its currents direction. With this model, the strength and assumed length were also displayed. A really handy device for somepony wanting to open a portal or communicate over longer distances. It appeared to be completely functional though.

He surveyed the machine thoughtfully. “I don't see a problem with it,” was his final verdict.

Twilight sighed vexed. “That's what everypony else said as well. But I'm serious, sometimes the thing just randomly hits out for no reason. Test it yourself, walk around the house for a bit and you see what I mean.”

Annoyed, he convinced himself to just play along and figure out her unimportant, from the looks of it, never existing, problem. He began to trot through the tree and indeed, the needle strangely hit out multiple times, always showcasing the same Magic-strength-points, but never the same direction whenever doing so. The areas where it showed results where too small for natural lines and the sheer amount of them alone made this an impossible scenario. So either it is broken, or...

He hold the detector in one of the areas of effect and moved it back and forth. No change. Then he followed it until he reached a wall, where the needle all of the sudden made a curve. Bingo.

“Ms. Sparkle, did you happen to have experimented with any protection or bounding spells lately?”

Twilight stared at him in confusion. “No?”

Fid continued to follow the stream with the detector.

“Then I rather have to call you a liar or somepony lately left something personal in your house.” He pursued the Leyline to a door.

“You see, the reason why your Leyline detector constantly hits out for apparently no reason is because a focused Leyline, the kinda one you create by casting a spell, flows through your house.” Behind the door were steps, leading into a basement.

“The stronger the spell, the thicker the Leyline, the harder for it to pass through solid objects.” He took the steps down the basement. “

What happened here was, an object and a caster are in a constant bond, too strong to slip and too weak to force itself through your walls, and therefore bounced off them several times until it hit a surface weak enough to pass through.” He stopped in front of a box. Twilight stepped right next to him, impressed by his precision of finding the source.

“Wow, I never would have guessed it was something that simple.” She giggled at her finally solved bother.

Fid glared at the detectors measurements of the lines strength. A number of four hundred Magic-strength-points was NOT something simple. “Would you open the box?”

“Sure, there is nothing but junk in there anyway.” Once open, a bunch of blankets and board games came into his view, but also a cyan gem the size of his hoof.

He whistled in regard as he immediately recognized it for what it was. “This must be one of the biggest Magi-gems I've ever seen. Where did you get this?”

Twilight looked at him in disbelieve. “I- A pony called Trixie lost it when she said her farewells. I noticed it to late and didn't know where she went, so I decided to take care of it until she returns. But hold on!”
Her tone became more serious now. “How do you know that thing is a Magi-gem? Look at the size, it's huge!”

“Because that 'thing' emits a tremendous amount of Magic, and that is also point two, it 'emits' magic. If it would be a normal gem it couldn't do that. And before you ask why you then didn't accidentally drew any magic by touching it, the gem is obviously bounded to a owner, making any unintended try of obtaining some of its power invalid.” After some unsuccessful attempts of countering Fid, she finally admitted defeat and lowered her head towards the gem, amazed by their discovery. Fid looked back at the Leyline detector.

“Take the Magi-gem and follow me outside.” He commanded the Unicorn. She obeyed, to impressed by stone to ask why she had to take hold of it. Once outside, Fid hold the detector next to the gem to find out the destination of its magic.

“About northeast...” he muttered. “Any mayor city that way?” Celestias student deliberated about the question.

“Well, Canterlot.” Fid shook his head. “Too close.” “Manehatten?” He shook his head again. “No, no, way too far away.”

Twilight thought for another minute before remembering another place. “How about Hollow Shades?”

Fid looked at her puzzled. “Hollow what?” he tried to repeat her. “Hollow Shades.” she corrected him. “It's a small town located in between the two.”

Fid calculated the rough distance between the Cities. “Yeah, that could actually work out.”

The Unicorn besides him beamed with anticipation. “So! What are we waiting for? Hollow Shades it is then!”

His eyes locked onto her, startled by her abrupt outburst.

“What?” was the only word that slid into his mind. Celestias student nudged her elbow into his thigh.

“Don't give me that now! We figured this out together, so we're gonna investigate this together!” And only now he suddenly realized that he stepped right into her trap.

He may can imagine that the student of Celestia would deny that what they found is not a Magi-gem, just because of its unbelievable size, but being not capable of figuring this, as she said herself, simple problem of her Leyline detector out herself was something he should've question earlier. If his head just wasn't still on fire he may had noticed this out before it was too late.

He groaned, what turned into a whine and back into a groan. “...Fine...” he gave up. Obviously he failed too hard now to save himself somehow.

“Just... Just give me a day or two in order to recover and study that gem.” Not wanting to push him and happy with her 'progress', she agreed, placed the stone into his duffel bag and told him she couldn't wait for their little adventure. He rubbed his temples, but it was no good, the combined pain of his troubled mind, anger and own stupidity could not be banished from his head. He was right when he said that he's probably going to hate this place...

“Get back up boy, you got more than enough time for slacking of later!”

Face first flung into the dirt by an old crock. Him! This 'training' is the biggest humiliation he ever endured. What happens is, Sacred Shield gives him a weapon, says hit me, parries all of his hits with a stick when he tries, then punishes him with a single counter that usually flings him in the mud.

He picked himself up from the ground, looking over his abused coat. Absolutely ruined! But because of the pain in his limbs and exhaustion he was lacking the strength of complaining.

“Here!” The old stallion threw yet another weapon at him. Too drained of his stamina, he was incapable of reacting fast enough to catch the weapon with his magic. Instead, it hit his hip, bringing him to fall again. Yet again rising from the ground he had enough. No more of this nonsense!

“No!” The old man didn't even bother to stop in his track as he reentered the 'arena'.

“Pick up your weapon,” he simply ordered. Blueblood drew a sudden bulge of energy from somewhere. Who did he thought stood in front of him?

“No! I will not continue this violent nonsense! I'm dirty, my mane is ruffled, my whole body hurts and I think one of my teeth is loose! This is an unacceptable display to treat royalty! I should let you get banned from our country! But for now, ending your 'training' forever will satisfy my needs.”

The old fool simply shook his head at his demands. And rather than to bend to his will, he opened the snarling mouth of his. “A pathetic weakling like you will not give me orders.” A mischievous grin formed on the old stallions face. The nerve!

“Why, I don't even think you are really of royalty. Probably just a bastard the princess took pity on!” Pure anger pumped into his head. Of course he was of full blooded royalty, how could he even think of something ludicrous like this.

“And to tell the truth, the section of Top Mare that includes your designed costumes makes the nineties look like top tier.” Enough! He can take the spineless insults, he can take the false imputations, but nopony, nopony, says that the nineties looked better than anything, especially his own hard work!

He picked up the object this fool assaulted him with just a second ago and began to rain down attacks at the surprised captain, who had a hard time blocking them all. “Nopony. Insults. My. ATTIRE!”

Unfortunately, after about half a minute of him plunging his weapon upon Sacred, the former captain successfully disarmed him, and yet again, lunged him into the dirt. This can not be! Defeated by a pawn, again and again? Great shame overcame him. He failed his name, his title, his art... He crawled together into a ball, wanting to cry, but not capable, because... because...

“Looks like we finally found something.” Blueblood looked up to his tormentor, who seemed to smile, but more in relief than in amusement. Whatever did he mean? As if Sacred saw the question written on his face, he helped Blueblood back up while clarifying himself.

“A mace. A blunt weapon for a blunt personality, I guess,” he chuckled. “Sorry,” he apologized after noticing Bluebloods frown. “and sorry for those other insults, but I had to see you with your blood pumping. And to my surprise, you actually have a wild side.”

Blueblood grew unsure. Him having a wild side? Sacred picked up the weapon and again, threw it towards Blueblood. This time prepared however, he caught it, and this time, examined what he was even bombarded with. A flanged mace, he recalled this thing being worn by his guards. To be true, they had a certain grace, but he always thought the elegance of a sword fit best on his personal escort. But when choosing a weapon for himself?

Holding a mace, in particular this one, was a symbol of power, wasn't it? Yes, he began to like the idea of using this weapon. In fact, he loved it! The old man does know his weaponry, he must say! With this he will clarify to all of Equestria his superior status! Everypony shall bow in fear and respect to his mighty weapon!

Without even noticing nor remembering how, he saw a familiar spot in the dirt tickling on his nose. He took it all back. The idea of swinging a mace, or any weapon, was a horrible notion... And why did that crook even knew about his article in Top Mare?!

Finally some piece and quiet. Finally some time for herself!

Luna roamed the market of Ponyville, Buying things here, looking at stuff there. The shopmare of the strawberry stand greeted her, she began a smalltalk with a random blue and pink maned pony, got a compliment from one of the clerk at the jewelery stand. She enjoyed this... simple way of living. No tasks, no duties. Just her and the fresh air of freedom...

She awoke herself from her ridiculous dream of calmness in her life. She had a task: Figuring out about that boy, Fid. And what has she done the last week? Nothing. Instead she focused in furnishing an old shack and discipline Blueblood. In fact, what was she still doing here? Taking a stroll and buying food for her own good? She was the princess of the moon, one of the rulers of this country! So she should act like one and begin to fulfill her duties! Hold on, speaking of her duties and moon...

She looked skyward, noticing in shock that the sun was about to set behind the horizon. It was time for her to rise her moon, how could she forget?! One more reason for her to go home as fast as possible. Picking up haste, she began to trot towards her house, pushing aside random individuals.
How hasn't she noticed that she already was here for over an hour? Oooh, why does time always fly so fast when enjoying life. Seriously, she shall contact Celestia about this nuisance if they couldn't change the flow of time somehow!

When she came near the exit, thankfully the mob dissolve and she only had to roam past ponies who had the same goal as she did, considering the time. She was almost out of the market, just a couple of hoofsteps further...

“Oh, Mrs. Silverlight!” Curses! Trying to hide her stress, she turned towards the pony that called for her.

“Oh, Mayor! What a coincidence!” Great, she couldn't just shake of the Mayor of the town, now could she? The one thing she only could do was to hope that this will only take a moment.

“Please, call me Manage.” Luna blinked dumbfounded. “Alright... Manage.” Luna was a bit confused. Why this sudden demand for lack of courtesies?

“See Twinkle, I'm allowed to say Twinkle, am I?” She should shake her head just to bring this conversation to an end, but... she nodded.

“Good!” The Mayor grinned cheerfully. “I wanted to ask you if you and me, both of us, could go out for a drink or something.”

...What? Before she could even reconsider the offer the Mayor already continued. “You see, I know that it can be hard to find new friends when moving to a new place, especially when living on the very edge of town. So I, as Mayor, decided that it would be best to befriend you, showcasing just what kind of a wonderful place Ponyville is!”

Luna furrowed her eyebrows. This can't be the only reason she wants to know her better... At least she hoped so. But, even when considering that she was not completely honest, having friends in this place surely won't be a bad thing. Of course, it would complicate things even more, but also stabilize other, she guessed. Besides, she was running out of time, so accepting should bring this conversation to an fast conclusion.

“I would gladly do so!” she answered with fake enthusiasm. “Great!” the Mayor beamed with satisfaction.

“How about this Saturday around noon at the place we have met earlier then?” It was autumn, so she would have raised her moon by then already. “Sounds good!” What was she getting herself into?

“Splendid!” Mrs. Mare exclaimed. “Until then!”

They both waved goodbye and departed. Finally, Luna could hurry back home, hopefully in time or this night will be missing its watcher for a while...

Chapter 1: Carriage Ride of the Hotheads

This got to be a joke.

After Celestia left three days ago, he got some of the working staff of the castle in order to load the cart she prepared for him. Of course there were mistakes, questions, disagreements and so on and so on. Long story short, somepony got hurt because they mishandled, as in drop, a bucket loaded with unstable, fully charged Magi-gems what resulted, obviously, in a ´small´ explosion. Celestia though was able to bring them back to work after they heavily insulted him for being mad. Morons...

Now that he stood in front of the castle gates he had the sudden urge to break someponies muzzle. Of all the ponies, seriously, of ALL the ponies that could participate on this trip, did it had to be that foolish, idiotic, moronic, incompetent imbecile Blueblood? It may had been a year since he met him the first and last time, but this face he never could forget.

Back then, he was sent to repair his... he can't even remember what it was, but after an hour of complains about his look, smell, way of walking, talking and whatnot he gave up and hoofed his face in. And now he had to live together with this insult to a normal thinking creature for a undetermined time.

Oh, and apparently Princess Luna also joined the fun. What is this, the quest of the social distorted in the search of socialization? His head began to hurt and he tried in vain to reduce the pain by massaging his temples.

In his desperation, Fid tried to change the topic in his mind by looking at the carriage they would have to travel with. It was a simple carriage, nothing special to it, perfect for occupying a small town. That also meant that it unfortunately only had one room. He damned himself for his stupidity to not just crumble into the cart his tools and engines were loaded in. But now it already was on its way towards Ponyville...
From the corner of his eyes he noticed that the princess of the moon suddenly stood right next to him, eyes fixated on his left side.

"What had happen to thee wing?"Nice to meet you too...

Fid took a quick glance over his left flank, noticing that he actually had put on his latest model of his Steel-wing. Though far from looking like a real one, it held mayor resemblances, like the limbs and even a metallic feathering. Two leather belts that connected on his right most back held it in the right place and also distributed the weight over his body entire body.

Together with an Magic extractor that he had placed in a duffel bag that hang on the other side of the belt, some cables so it got provided with energy and a lot of nerve sensors stitched into his deformed wing, he was able to use it for things like bend iron into the right place, lift heavy objects or frighten ponies with the sharp edges of the metallic feathers, which wasn't a negative point, at least in his eyes. It was still a prototype though, so its movements were a bit sluggish and the heavy weight made flying impossible. For now.

He raised his face towards hers and answered. "Got a disabled wing, with this I can at least use it a bit."

The princess just nodded in appreciation, continuing her gawking what made him raise an eyebrow at her odd behavior. Somepony just staring at him with whatever expression wasn't really bothersome anymore, since he was used to it, but the way the princess looked at it with such an excitement and the fact that she was one of the rulers of Equestria made the scene look a ´bit´ too awkward. Also, he could have sworn to hear a pony complain about that some cushions were awfully uncomfortable.

"Oh, exactly! Thee, uhm, I mean you must be this engineer my sister told me about," she suddenly blurted out of the blue after noticing her behavior, but strangely still in a really sorted tone, which was able to catch Fid of guard.

"Yes, exactly..." his facial features moved back into neutrality as he continued. "Guess you don´t have to introduce yourself."

"Hm? Yes, yes," the princess quickly answered, again lost in the circuits of his wing.

Fid sighed heavily. This is getting ridiculous. He walked towards the carriage, the astounded princess on his tail. After a last blink towards the raging hayhead and another deep sigh he climbed inside the third-class transportation module, trying to get as comfortable as possible.
These cushions really are horrible!

Absolute unacceptable, UN-AC-CE-PTABLE. He should have figured it out as soon as aunt Celestia contacted him about this. An high class holiday together with aunt Luna and another individual. High class indeed- for a dirty Diamond Dog, that is. This carriage was filthy and smelly, the colorization of brown was long outdated and the cushions, oh by the sun, don´t let him start about the cushions.

The only thing even more awful-looking in the carriage beside the carriage itself was this third passenger. He looked terrible! Messy mane, dirty fur, stinging smell of oil that emit from him, a obnoxious purr that came out of his bag and a horrendous taste of fashion. The robot look was and will never be famous.

He was not capable to grasp how aunt Celestia could invite somepony- no, SOMETHING likes this along with him on a holiday trip. And aunt Luna? She was just to fixated on this failure of fashion, asking him questions that it answered only in short terms, sometimes not at all! What a rude way to confront a princess! And could this purring bag of his go to the bounds of Tartarus already?! He couldn´t bear it anymore, he had to shut up this thing up!

"You, robot horse," the being raised his muzzle towards his, looking over some notebook it was writing in just now.

"Turn off this horrible noise, now!" he commanded.

The ponies face hardened into a frown. "No," it answered aggressively.

Blueblood opened his eyes in shock. What did it just say?

He himself frowned now, speaking louder "I said now!"

The pony simply raised an eyebrow, unfazed by his command.

"Sorry pretty princess, didn't know you were deaf, so I say it clear, just for you. No!" the voice of the pony raised, making Blueblood back up a bit.

What a preposterous insult! This filthy creature needed an lessons in respect! Blueblood started to focus his magic on him. A simple transformation in order to show who is the more superior should be enough for now. What would be the most fitting thing for something like him? A snake? A pig? Nononono, a smelly dog like he already acted and looked like would be perfect!...
…
Nothing...

Blueblood blinked in surprise. What happened? He began to cast the spell again, trying other smaller and bigger spells as well, but nothing seem to work. Any amount of magic he tried to focus on this thing would just disappear, leaving him a bit emptier without any results.

With this discovery he suddenly remembered. He met this mistake once before when it was supposed to simply repair his night lamp... It took a whole month of magical care before the bruise was gone, A WHOLE MONTH!

"YOU!" he exclaimed furious, pointing a hoof at the hooligan.

"No! I will not tolerate this! Stop this carriage immediately and throw this madpony out!"

Luna turned her gaze to Blueblood , taken by surprise by his sudden outburst."Blueblood, please cal-"

"Is the carter even listening? Do NOT ignore me you intolerant servant!" he cut her off, annoying the Princess of the Moon.

"Blueblood, be-" "Aunt Celestia must have lost her mind! Once I returned I will make clear to her-"

"BE STILL!" the carriage boomed so hard under the voice of the princess that one would fear that it was about to fall apart.

Blueblood curled himself into ball, desperately searching for a object to hide behind to avoid the glowing stare of his aunt. Even that blue pony stared at her in shock, appearing to be almost at the edge of an heart attack. His aunt sighed, visibly annoyed and retreaded back onto her cushion. The white stallion frowned, placing himself back on his cushion too. This is going to be a nightmare...

Luna watched out of the window without focusing at anything in particular, lost in thoughts. After Bluebloods outrage she was finally able to stop bothering Fid, the boy Celestia told her about , though her thoughts where still all about him.

She let a soft sigh escape her lips. When Celestia contacted her about this trip she thought right away that it was one of her attempts of showing her how her subjects nowadays live and act, like she needed to be treated like a dumb foal. Her sister, of course, denied it, like always, but this time she had this glimpse she haven´t seen on her for over two millennium, a glimpse that was enough to convince her, and now she understood why she was here...

The pony that sat right next to her made her worry. He was not like any other pony she ever encountered her entire life. It were not the with metal reinforced limbs of his, but something else, something unexplainable.

At first, she hadn't even realized it, but after Bluebloods failed magical assaults she noticed how his magic just flew right through his body and then send of... somewhere. She failed to sense where the magic went and doubted that she would ever succeed in tracking it down since the strange condition of his body made too very difficult. She was not able to grasp anything inside his body's void like behavior.

She couldn't even imagine how his life must have been like, because his own magic, all of it, probably was gone as well. Luna doubted that he ever was able to proper approach anypony, despite the fact that unicorns should feel uncomfortable around him. In his current state he shouldn't be able to even create a mental connection with his parents. Beside the lack of social skills, the absence of magic inside him greatly influenced his physical form, she did not need to assume this fact...

Still... Her earlier interaction with him showed her that his emotions were not as damped as they should be. Also, the fact that he apparently cared about himself in a great manner, as shown of his inventions, denied the fact that his magic was completely gone.

Studying his empty like presence further, she noticed yet something else that was out of place about him. Somewhere in the area of his head she could feel, almost unnoticeable, magic. The nature of his body made it hard to guess how strong this magical 'bubble' was. She doubted that it was the place where his body sent the absorbed magic, she would have been able to track down a distance of this short length, but she was sure that the magical bubble must be the reason why he still had a somewhat healthy amount of emotions, no other explanation that jumped into her mind made more sense.

Her head began to ache from her mental exploration inside the colts body, forcing her to stop the assault for now. More questions ran through her head afterward. Why was he like this? Was he born this way or cursed in some manner? No, that last point made no sense. No being in Equestria could create a spell of such nature, even she nor Celestia, at least of her knowledge. And even if she could, why by her moon should she even think about dooming this pony in such a cruel way?
She now was certain that her sister wanted her to figure out how to help this boy, figure out what she could not.

A sudden yawn fled her throat without permission, causing her face to blush, though undiscovered by anypony since the two young stallions where distracted by a little notebook and probably thoughts of revenge. She gave herself a sigh of relieve. This long carriage ride even bored the princess of the moon. She remembered that she still had to figure out a proper disguise so she could go unnoticed between her subjects. It would be quite inconvenient for one of the rulers just roaming about a small village, wouldn't it?

The sight of the brooding prince gave her suddenly the perfect idea...