Pulse

-=Pulse=-

A My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic Tale

-=Part 5:  *“I'll have you know I am quite good at cards.”*

Star Sign was woken up by a light prodding on her side. It almost felt like someone was poking her with a stick. “Ow! What...” she blinked awake to see a giant fuzzy blob in front of her.

“Ms. Sign, Spike is here to see you! It's been such a long time since I have seen him! He is really big now! He almost didn't recognize me at first and almost set me on fire! However once he told me that he was looking for you I told him where you were!” Spiderbro excitedly started jumping, making loud thumping noises. “He's not as cute as he was before...”

“M'up” she mumbled to the spider before realizing that Spike was here. Spike was here! She raced down the stairs with the massive tarantula following her.

She skidded to a halt when she saw the lard dragon. Before when she was younger, his gigantic frame intimidated her. Luckily Twilight had him when he was a baby dragon so he wasn't feral; apparently he wasn't even full height yet still! “Hello Star Sign.” he spoke with a deep voice that suited quite a beast.

“Hello Spike, is everything alright? Are the princesses okay? I was going to send a letter soon but I do think I am getting closer to the truth in where Keeper went! I feel it in my horn!” she rapidly told him.

Spike laughed and held up a hand. “Star it's fine. We don't know what it is, but we know it's flammable. The gas snuffs the flames before we can get it away from the castle however and it seems to almost double in strength every single time we try. It's taken over the entire shield and to save power, the princesses have recalled everypony to the main castle grounds and left the town to be covered. We have maybe a week before the princesses' power fades and the shields fail.”

“Are you certain they can last that long?” Star Sign questioned with worry.

“Cadance herself held a shield up in the Crystal Empire against King Sombra for quite some time, and we also have Luna and Celestia helping as well...” Spike looked back at the black smoke ball that was Canterlot.

“Have the airships made any progress?” Star asked hopefully.

“They refuse to take any action because it would take an unneeded toll on the shields help up by the Princesses. It's just...”

Spiderbro actually spoke up this time “But what is it?”

Spike looked with concern to Spider “It's just that the smoke... ponies think it is alive and so does the College... but...”

“You think it's being controlled by somepony and that's why it seems so intent on taking Canterlot?” Star asked.

“Yes! The smoke is too thick for most ponies but I swear I see a small silhouette of a pony walking through the smog sometimes.”

Star Sign contemplated this. “I agree with you. Your eyes are better than a pony's and you haven't been wrong before on these things. We will get to the bottom of this. It's just that I'm close, really close. Spider here says that Keeper didn't look much older from when he met him to the day he went missing, is that true?”

Spike thought for a little bit. “That is correct. He claims that humans age as they grow older but he didn't. We had multiple theories on it but we couldn't isolate a single one for sure. He liked to think that since he cheated death in a separate time-line, he didn't age in this one. He didn't really explain it well but he was satisfied with saying that he was locked in his appearance until he died.”

Star listened to Spike and thought hard on what he said. Maybe Keeper cheated death once and now was immortal? No. Immortal or not he was injured multiple times in his travels, even in the history where he was taking part in he was wounded more than once. True Immortal beings didn't bleed or have any physical requirements to sustain themselves. Maybe he was like like the Princesses and that Celestia and Luna could only be killed through injury and not from age? Maybe he was a new form of undead? Necromancy still had many holes and wasn't explored as well as other magic schools.

“You think he is still alive.” Spike asked directly. This wasn't a question and it was more of a statement to just hear the answer regardless.

“I am absolutely sure. I have no idea how, why or where, but I know for certain that he must be in some way, shape or form.”

He got up off his feet and spread his massive wings. “I'll get somepony to write a letter for me and I'll send it to Celestia promptly. Your hunches haven't been wrong whenever we have had a problem. I'll leave you in Spiderbro's care.”

She paused for a second while Spider danced happily at the news of guarding something other than the keep. “You know Spider?”

“Read more of Keeper's Journals, it come up somewhere. I forget where. Have a good day and good luck!”

He roared and flapped his wings, creating small dust clouds that were promptly pushed away. He yelled “The way to the Pegasus Landing is blocked by rubble, get Spiderbro to bring you there!” and he flew off.

A skittering came up beside Star Sign and almost scared her to death to see a smiling spider mouth and eight eyes looking into her own. “Apple? We can go whenever you wish.” Spider said as he lifted a spider-silk bag filled with apples and some other plants.

A spider butler was going to take some getting used to.

She decided to go after reading a bit more of Keeper's Journal. Besides, she would need to build up some courage before even considering accepting the offer of riding a giant spider.

---///---

“You let WHAT into our house?” an English-sounding voice resonated through the house.

Octavia seemed to have come home a little bit earlier than was expected. Then again the news of a strange beast living in your basement would fly across Equestria. I am quite certain that if Octavia was a Pegasus she would have put Rainbow Dash's incredible speed to the test. Needless to say, Vinyl Scratch left my door open the night before and I woke up to someone yelling from the living room. We actually had a long night making a present for Octavia too to soften the news.

“Look Octavia, he had jut come from an excruciatingly painful trip from his home to Equestria. He was declared alright by the Princess herself! You think I was just going to let him crash on the streets?” Vinyl defended me.

There was a slight pause, “So? You could have let it just sleep in the Apple family's barn or something. That cowgirl would take absolutely anything in, or the Pegasus that lives near Everfree. There is no need to let him in our house.”

“It is a HE by the way, and before you go off and judging him remember that he came from another dimension. You should see what he has in his head! All the music from an entire civilization is stored in there. He's been helping me out with my music so much ever since he got here! Apart from that, he is a really nice human too. I can't believe you would just act so harshly!”

I had started up the stairs and tossed my army jacket over my bare chest. My shirt was still dirty and I didn't want it to be the first thing Octavia saw. An alien arriving with a torn up and slightly bloody shirt, great first impression. My thoughts were cut off by some more yelling. “Oh I am sure he has such great music! I am quite certain that he must enjoy something that you have made, only something that hasn't heard real music before must like the drivel you pump out of your basement every night. Did that silly device ever work?” Octavia finished and the room went silent.

Oh no. Not on my fucking watch.

I stepped through the threshold of the living room. “Why hello. Someone was talking about me and I got this urge to just come upstairs to see who it was.” Octavia turned and her grey coat almost turned pale white. “It seems like someone was a snooty little bitch and said some very cross things.”

I turned to Vinyl, who looked on the verge of tears at hearing her best friend and room-mate yell out such things about her.. “Should I go full Keeper on her?” to which she looked up at me and weakly nodded.

I stood with a flourish. “Well Octavia Melody it would be quite the pleasure to meet you. However it must be said that for a pony of such great taste you have shown it in poor favour. Now as a pony like you would know, music comes in all sorts of types and sounds and just because you don't like it doesn't mean you can just yell at her for it. Oh and thinking about it, why is your cutie mark a treble clef when you play a cello and a double bass? That is a thought right there and yes I come from a place where we have written music. Now you have taken musical theory wherever you learned music right?” Octavia weakly nodded, “Well then you can tell me what music is in the simplest forms right?”

She mumbled out a reply. She must have went to the washroom recently because she looked like she was going to piss herself. “I'm sorry I didn't hear you. I'm not going to eat you and Celestia would just shoot me to the moon if I hurt a pony, so just speak like an adult and stop cowering like a filly!”

“Music is simply a sequence of sounds in the air, vibrations that are interpreted by our ears within a certain note range.” Octavia was still shocked but decided to add “of course that is all disputed on it being pleasant to the ear.”

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and music in in the mind of those who hear it. Remember that someone had to invent the piano and they were probably ridiculed for it.” I turned to Vinyl, who still looked fucking miserable.

“Now this pony is your best friend and you just cut into her deep. She has literally poured hours into her work and you just ridiculed it because you just didn't like it. Now I do understand that you have been stressed out from work with a symphony band or something and you just got word that some beast is living in your house so tensions are high. So please, did you really mean all those things you said to Vinyl?”

There was a good pause before Octavia broke down herself with a “Noooooooo!”. I stood to the side so Octavia could move to Vinyl and put her arm around her. She spent the next fifteen minutes just telling her how sorry she was. They seemed to be making things up from my point of view. I actually had no idea how females made up. Guys usually end off with 'I'm an asshole, are we good?' to our apologies. “Now Vinyl, you got something to say to her?”

Vinyl actually perked up a bit. “I do! Keeper and I worked hard to transfer it onto a record but it turned out pretty well. The device actually works too Tavi! Keeper decided to give you some of the music from his world that he thought you would like.” She took the disc out from behind the chair she was sitting on and gave her a wrapped record case.

She ripped the paper surrounding it and looked at the cover “'Roots: A Classical Upbringing by Keeper'. Wait, is this really from your world?” She looked amazed at the fact that we could have made a vinyl record and that it was from my head. The fact that she just tore into her friend and promptly received a gift was blowing her away too.

Octavia still seemed to be in shock over the emotional moments we all had. Vinyl helped her out to put the record in Octavia's record player and I sat back to watch her reaction. “This first piece was made by one of the most influential musicians of all time. He is known worldwide and even those who don't know his music know of his name. This piece is called Eine Kleine Nachtmusik Allegro by a gentleman named Mozart, and is one of the regal pieces in this selection from my opinion.”

Octavia went through many emotions over the course of the next six minutes. She went from bracing to the worst, to curiosity, though analyzing, and lastly: genuine appreciation. Soon enough the strings faded and Vinyl went out to pick up some snacks. It was probably best that she had left the room too just to get the earlier conversation out of her mind.

I went through a lot more songs with her before Vinyl came back from Sugarcube Corner. I gave her Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata and Symphony Number 5 to which she went almost insane over in the good way. I let her experience William Tell Overture from Rossini which to my amusement always reminded me of horses. I let her get chills with Toccata And Fugue In D Minor from Bach. That was only a sample of what I had to offer her as well. You listen to a lot of classical music over your lifetime without knowing it.

“Now can I formally introduce myself.?” I said after she finished enjoying Bolero from Ravel.

“Please do, I apologize thoroughly for my behaviour earlier.” she said with a nod as Vinyl came in through the door with a bag hopefully filled with goodies.

I stood up and bowed and held out my hand. “I am Keeper. I hail from another dimension and a planet called Earth. My passion is to collect information however I am tasked to keep most of my information to myself. I am pleased to meet you.”

She took my hand in her hoof and shook it. “I am Octavia Melody, I am a cellist in the Equestrian Royal Symphony. I am also pleased to have your company.”

“Now this is totally how I hoped it would go on when you two first saw each other! Here have these. They are cinnamon buns. Someone happened to have shown the Cakes a new recipe and they are really good!” She shot me a very obvious look to me as she said 'someone' instead of 'somepony' which Octavia picked up on but made no comment.

“I had one yesterday, I absolutely love them.” I commented as I bit into the bun. Mrs. Cake probably made it since it seemed toned down a little on the sugar.

After some more talk and music the record finally ended and Vinyl flipped the vinyl. We made good conversation and Octavia warmed up to me pretty well. I did apologize for getting into their lives and I promised I would interfere as little as an alien could. I did get a small job from Octavia though! She needed help periodically changing the strings on her cello and I was happy to assist, especially if it came with some Bits. Fuck yeah fingers!

I excused myself and told them I was going to go for my walk, then go to Rarity's to pick up some clothes and then spend a bit longer at Twilight's. The said their goodbyes and I hoped that they would spend the time together to make up. Vinyl was improving her style quite a bit and we agreed that every night I would critique her music as well as give her a new track to enjoy. I ran through my mind to figure out what tracks I could bring in that Octavia and Vinyl would enjoy. There were a few tunes that were turned acoustic as well.

Eventually I got back to the cave on the lake where I last saw Chrysalis. I stepped through the mouth of the cave and called out for 'Chris'. She stepped out from behind a pillar and nodded. “About time you showed up. I was wondering if you got shredded by a bunch of leaves instead of sticks this time.” She greeted me like this and I didn't know if it was sarcastic or not.

“I see the time spent apart really appealed to your nature Chrysalis.” I gave her a mock bow. “How is the other one?” I asked as we walked to the back of the cave.

The changeling that was left with her was still unconscious. However she looked like she would make it with more love. It was such a weird thing to consider, healing someone literally with the power of love or friendship. “Positive energy actually.” Chrysalis corrected me.

“So love isn't what you primarily feed off of?” I asked.

She shook her head and sat down again. “We feed off of positive energy. It just so happens that love is the purest and most potent form of positive energy.”

I considered that for a bit. “I have heard that changelings also drain the actual life energy from their victim. I really don't have a better choice of words.”

She sighed deeply. “It's okay, I understand. The thing is that you literally give yourself into love. So when you are in a relationship you thrive off your partner's love and there is a positive balance of energy. When a changeling takes over the role of someone in the relationship to feed, there is only a one-way flow of love and that is why people get all depressed and weary before the changeling leaves.”

Made sense to me in the context of this universe. We discussed more on the matter and I learned a bit more from the way changelings behave. She said there wasn't too many cases where the changeling could just last on one pony for a long time with no side effects because the changeling also had to love the person back. Another deciding factor that was undocumented was if the victim knew that the pony in front of them was a changeling and still pursued the relationship anyways.

“The reason you don't know simply being because the changeling would leave the hive or would be dead. So you wouldn't be informed?” I suggested.

She agreed and we continued the conversation. “I actually have to wonder. Do changelings have to study a subject or do you have magic to assist in your identity theft?” I queried.

“We can look into the minds of the victims. We are also proficient at memory-loss spells and sleep spells.  We actually try to find ponies who aren't in relationships. Taking over an existing love is always tricky because you usually have to keep the other pony alive if you want to get away with it.”

I relaxed against a pillar. “You killed a few ponies in your time?” I knew the answer but I wanted to hear it. It wouldn't bother me at all.

She tried to read my body language but I guess it was too exotic for her. “Yes, is that going to be a problem with you?”

I waved her off. “Don't worry about it. Can I ask another personal question?”

She tilted her head ever so slightly. It was almost adorable if it wasn't for the fact it was Chrysalis in front of me and she still was a threat. “Depends, what is it?”

“Why haven't you either killed me yet, or looked into my memories to find out if you can have leverage over me?” I asked bluntly.

“Well when you saved my life that was good payment on the whole 'don't kill the human' thing. Now that I have had time to think about it I wouldn't kill you because Celestia would hunt whoever did it mercilessly.” We both laughed a bit at that which made her give me a 'you liked that joke?' look. “Also, the reason why I haven't looked into your mind is because I don't know what I will see. Believe it or not I don't go popping in and out of people's heads for fun. I once checked a pony's head about fifty years ago and came across the most sickening fantasies about one's waste that should not be repeated, nor performed.”

Oh, scat. Not my ticket. “Plus I might not be able to comprehend what your universe is and die of brain failure or something.” She finished off that point on that note. “Since I can't take a peek until I know it is safe, want to pass some time talking about it? You being here is giving me some energy by the way, thanks again for that.”

I waved off her concern again and we talked about my place a bit. It was getting really easy for me now. It seemed like if I ever needed a topic for a conversation I could just point out an object and comment on the similarities between the pony version and human versions. We actually spent a good long while on ancient stories and fantasy creatures. Since a few of them existed in this world and the fact that I was talking to a changeling was neat. It was a fun conversation to say the least.

After about an hour I wished her a good day and gave her a hug goodbye. It was also strange doing that. It wasn't a 'I hope that I can see you again!' hug but a 'Here's some food!' hug. She did ask me if I would visit tomorrow. I said I would, but I asked if she was ready to travel back to the Badlands soon. She told me was wasn't fit to travel yet and wasn't leaving anywhere without her last changeling. She added that even though she looked great on the outside, she still felt messed up on the inside.

“Does she have a name?” I asked the Queen.

“I have no idea. I want to know.” she said back.

She was definitely not completely evil. Sure there was the whole capability for murder and she did try to take over the kingdom's main couple. However she actually wanted to just get home and start anew. I figured that I was being used and that was the third reason why she didn't kill me yet. As long as I didn't feel like I had nothing left in my heart I guessed I'd be okay.

Walking back to Ponyville was uneventful. I did see a rainbow streak fly by me and I was able to turn fast enough to see Rainbow Dash fly towards the forest. There were some storm clouds on the horizon coming off of Everfree. I guessed that there isn't a rainstorm scheduled in Ponyville today. From the amount of specks in the sky flying with the clouds I would assume loads more pegasi were working to keep the rain away. I was so strange to know that through all of our technological advances, we couldn't do what these ponies could sometimes.

I started humming a song I had a fleeting memory of as I walked back to Ponyville and marched on to Carousel Boutique. Upon seeing the structure for the first time I wondered if I was making the right decision. This place looked incredibly feminine and I didn't even know if Rarity made clothes for stallions. Then I remembered that the town's mare to stallion ratio was four to one. It was perfectly reasonable and practical to have it appeal to females. It was getting kind of hot so I took off my jacket. I never would have considered going topless in my world, but it didn't seem like a douche-like thing to do here. The sun felt nice on my chest and it felt pretty good to not have a shirt on.

Knocking on the door I was greeted by a small white pony. “Hey I'm here to get some clothes made by Rarity.”

She stared at me for a few seconds, “Sis! The strange thing from the place is here!” she yelled out “Why do you need so much clothes? It must be super hot with that jacket.”

“Ancient taboos on nudity I'm afraid. I only will go shirtless if I am in public.”

“Okay! Well hopefully Rarity won't bore you to death!” Sweetie Belle skipped away back to whatever she was doing.

The sound of hooves sounded through the large and impressive fashion boutique. “What are you talking about Sweetie Belle?” a white pony asked “Oh Keeper! How are you this afternoon?”

I bowed a little “I'm doing quite fine thank you.” I continued to make small talk with her but I used slightly longer words and acted slightly more dignified than I did with other people or ponies. “Now if you don't mind, I would like a new shirt if that's okay.”

“Why but of course! Would you mind if I took all your measurements since... well I don't want to impose but I would assume you would be coming to me and only me for clothing?” Rarity asked as she levitated a few measuring tapes and a notepad.

I agreed and said that she could pretty much have her way with me. Then I quickly reworded it and acted all awkward about it for a few seconds before I asked what she wanted me to do. I was considerably taller than her so I knelt down to help her take measurements for my upper body and arms. At this point I had taken off my shirt and pointed out muscles that I needed to use such as my biceps. This way she wouldn't make any of my clothing too restrictive and I wouldn't rip it accidentally. “You say military or like styles is in fashion for males where you come from?” she asked while doing actual small measurements of my fingers.

“Yeah amongst other things. However a man in uniform is something most people respect. Shows courage, honour and confidence. Most males aspire to want to have all three so a solid bet is military-based clothing that looks similar but isn't the same. Though there are many fashions depending on the situation I never have been let down by looking dignified.” I told her.

Yeah, I worked in retail for Hudson's Bay. You want to look decent as a guy? Crisp and clean with a bit of laid-back attitude, guaranteed seconds looks by people if you got a somewhat semi-built body to match. Of course, never go for fedoras, that age was long-since passed.

“Oh I do so agree. Many ponies don't want to go the extra length to look a little bit more sophisticated in my opinion. A little bit of extra time never hurt anypony. I bet even with enough work Rainbow Dash would look decent.”

“You did a good job on her dress in my opinion.” I told her, which I realized my mistake as she looked at me with some shock. “You know how I told you that your world was in a book in my world? Book had pictures and many people did renditions on what they thought it would look like. Needless to say it came up similar didn't it?”

“Well I say you are always full of surprises aren't you Keeper? Now if you would be so kind and remove your other clothing?”

That was a long pause for me as I worked up to find the right words. “You want the clean version or the blunt version?”

“I'm a professional dear, you can be frank with me.” she said reassuringly.

“I know how you ponies are really great at hiding your genitalia with your tails and such but I don't have anything like that. Us human males don't have sheathes at all so I'm wearing boxers to cover it up. Plus our society has this thing against nakedness. Oh and I kinda get excited easily and you being all close around my junk might get me a little heated.” I didn't stumble much during the whole explanation. Bonus points for Damien.

She immediately blushed when she realized what I meant. She took an almost motherly tone to reassure me. “Well I just want to say that it wouldn't be the first time somepony had got excited while I worked. I just need to take as many measurements as I can because your body type is so different. I assure you that if anything on your end happens I won't be taking one extra measurement. Just take off what you are comfortable with and we can go from there okay?”

I agreed and I stripped down to my tight-fitting black boxers. Now I really never had any experience with a stranger being this close to my crotch without anything sexy going on. Usually when a female's head was this close to my dick it was because she was gonna blow me – think of something else. As awkward as it was having my bulge all up in Rarity's face for a few seconds, she acted completely professional and I didn't notice her taking any peeks at me. Part of me was disappointed, and the other part wondered if I even stacked up against a normal stallion. Big Mac was obviously out of the competition, but I was above average for a human and -

“That is all I need! Thanks Keeper, now I am the only one in Equestria that gets to make you perfectly-tailored clothing!” she was all excited. “Now just list some materials and we can go over some sketches...” she wandered through her rolls of fabric looking around.

I did get her to only work on some shirts even though she wanted something more elaborate. I promised her that when a special event came around she could tweak my fashion to a more pony-like stance. Until then she actually made and stitched a few cotton shirts and two button-down tops. It only took two hours and that seemed short in my mind. They fit perfectly without stretching and were extremely comfortable. Clothing situation all accounted for I started to take bits out of my jacket. “Oh no need to bother darling. It was good enough to get new information and ideas! Plus the materials I used weren't expensive, not that you aren't worth it! Just come back again okay and tell everyone you shopped from my store okay? I'll have some pants done by the end of the week.”

Element of Generosity indeed.

I bid her farewell and left a few bits on a table near the door before I left. If anything she could get a lunch or something for all the hard work she did. I made my way over to Twilight's Treebrary and knocked on the door. However upon knocking on it, the door swung open.

Books were everywhere on the floor and stacked almost to the ceiling. Parchment was laying here and there across a table. There wasn't any motion until I saw Spike pop out from one of the towers. “Twi! Keeper’s here. You owe me five bits.”

I felt motion and a wave in the air to my left but I thought it was my imagination. Twilight blipped into existence beside me with a small crack that sent a few of my hairs on end. “Hello Keeper! I am sorry about the mess but I wanted to cross reference most of what you taught me about the human world and I got carried away. I wanted to have this clean and presentable enough for you before you came here but... well you can see for yourself.”

“No problem, do you have a list of what you were able to come up with?” I asked as I found the small chair I sat in yesterday and tried to make myself comfortable in the pile of books.

“Oh this isn't going to work out. Come up to my room instead, I have a spare bed you can at least sit on.” Twilight motioned me to follow her as she used her magic to move a few stacks of books away from us.

“Bedroom before the first date? Fast move.” I joked as I got into her room.

“What? No!” she exclaimed almost insulted yet blushing heavily. “Are you serious? I'm not into... stuff... of that nature. Is that how humans form relationships?”

I waved off her concern for me advancing on her. “It was just a joke. Most of the time you date multiple times before you... well before you have sex. Usually depending on the lifestyle. Different for every person and couple. Though there are some social situations where two people... look you just want me to explain now? It's gonna come up sooner or later.”

She somewhat embarrassingly agreed and I told her I would keep details of sex acts away from the conversation. I did want to know how dating worked around here too. “I don't know. I haven't been on any dates but I have read up on what one would do during a date. Plus I know how it generally works so we should be able to compare easily.”

That was the basis of this afternoon. I actually learned a lot from her. Most of the ponies in town were female, outnumbering males five to one. Most males that did grow up were mostly brought into the army, hence the population imbalance. After a long time, gender roles were mostly reversed in dating. Mares would ask stallions out, pay for everything and gain the stallion's interests to keep the relationship going.

Shit was complicated yo. I would ask Rarity but then everypony would know that I asked and I didn't want repercussions from an innocent question.

“Hey Keeper, you have a special some...human at home?” she asked with a tilt on her head and asking in a quite innocent tone.

“It's 'somebody' instead of 'somehuman' Twilight. Nah, I didn't have a girlfriend when I fell into Equestria. So I got nobody home expecting me but...” I started to speak but choked.

It hit me right then and there. Right fucking in front of Twilight I realized that my entire family is going through mourning my death. Here I was in Equestria just having the time of my life when my Mom was burying my body. Was there even a body? I started to feel sick. Oh why did I have to think? Why couldn't I have left that alone? “Everything okay Keeper?” a seemingly distant voice spoke out beside me.

I considered for a good ten seconds of silence that I should keep it all for myself. I usually did keep most of my problems to myself, especially after moving out of my house. However this was too heavy and it all came crashing down all at once. I was not doing okay right now and I couldn't fight it at all.

“Don't keep everything to yourself. You can tell me. Honest.” she said with complete sincerity and concern to what I was feeling.

I cried like a bitch.

“No I'm not fucking okay. I died! My family thinks I am dead. I am just sitting here realizing this now. It hurts so bad and I've never felt something this bad that it's tearing me apart. So many thoughts are running through my head too. Is my mom okay? Is my father going to drink himself to sleep tonight? Will my step-dad even care? Did I even leave a body or did I take that with me to Equestria? Is all that they could find of me a water-soaked Blackberry?!” I had stood up at this point and started pacing her small room.

“I'm just having the time of my fucking life and my parents...” I fell to my knees. Yes it was cliche, yes it was overplayed in sad little films and yes it felt right. “My whole family just lost me.”

Twilight just came up to me and nuzzled the side of my face before giving me a hug. “I'm not good at this and to be honest I've read almost nothing on how to comfort somepony, let alone a human.”

I just leaned into her a bit as she continued. “What I do know is this Keeper: you do have a home here. Sure it's a completely different dimension but as they say, home is where the heart is. Even though I have this entire library, I don't have all the answers. However, with enough time I know you will be able to be happy here okay?”

She was right, but I was already in enough of a depression to go straight to the 'ignore all advice' phase. One thing is for certain though and it was that I absolutely hated feeling like shit. I tried getting my mind out of this hole I dug myself into. I knew it was selfish but I wasn't going to let myself be sad over something I couldn't change.

I felt like I was making some progress and I thought what could distract me enough. Twilight was still hugging me. Even though it was somewhat of an awkward hug from the side with her front legs, it was still comforting to have another being just staying there. Now it wasn't like I could distract myself with sex, I haven't been in Equestria that long to go for ponies. I think. “Twilight... this is going to sound odd, but can I pet you?”

She broke the hug and looked at me funny. “Pet? Like a dog?”

Well this usually went better in stories. “More like run my fingers through your mane. You could call it an experiment on pony and human interactions or something. All I know is that my brain is telling me it's a good idea and I don't want to impose.”

“Purely for human-pony interaction studies right?” she said with a curious-but-apprehensive tone before I nodded back to her.

So I sat down on the floor against the wall of the Treebrary and she laid down beside me, laying her head on my leg. I started to run my fingers through her mane and she gave a slight humming noise of satisfaction. “Well, those fingers do feel nice I have to admit.” Twilight complimented.

“Thanks, what gave you the lap idea?”

She adjusted herself and paused as if to consider her words. “Not to bring up the last thirty minutes but you were mentioning about how a few times your old dog used to rest with his head on your lap. I figured it would be a nice thing to mimic something familiar in order to help you feel better.”

“Well it's working for me. Is it doing anything for you?” I asked her as I scratched here and there as I pretty much played with her hair and avoided touching her horn. If stories have taught me anything, it was never stroke a unicorn's horn.

“I have to say that the initial intentions of the experiment have become mutually enjoyable and further studies are going to be required in order to classify the full effects.” She said as she took a deep breath and relaxed.

That was pretty much as deep as it got. Again I was sort of expecting something to happen with this almost obvious setting and vulnerability but I was happy with how things went. Twilight seemed a bit more mature than in the show, but than again it was a television show for kids. Some differences weren't going to be obvious right? Maybe some friendship lessons involved a hug or two. In any case I started to feel better.

After that it was a simple visit. I spoke and Twilight listened instead of recorded. I told her about Canada and the distinct memories I had about the weather and the country's landscape. I spoke about how my father and I used to go camping when I was younger. We used to stay up and listen to the wolf howls in Algonquin park every summer. My mother would take me to the sugar shacks in Ontario and we'd eat pancakes and have maple syrup made from the sap running from the trees. I had an extra appreciation for the night after looking at the moon reflect it's light off the freshly-fallen snow. I even once climbed a mountain after moving to British Columbia and it was the hardest physical thing I had ever done.

She didn't need to write this down. Equestria had mountains, camping grounds and snow. Equestria had animals, including wolves; even if they were made of sticks. She was right, Equestria could be my home if I only made it so in my heart. I decided then and there I would find some means to make a house and become a citizen rather than a stranger. I had a goal now.

Oh and somehow deal with this Chrysalis thing. Also I had to boost Vinyl's music. I then had to get a job to compliment these paid studies with Twilight.

I waved goodbye a few minutes later and headed back home. I felt a hell of a lot better than when I broke down in front of Twilight that was for sure. I continued on my way before I noticed two ponies struggling over lifting something. I went a bit closer and noticed an earth pony stallion and a unicorn mare trying to attach a fairly large sign over what seemed to be a tavern. I checked out the sign and it was one of those old-fashioned shield-shaped hanging signs that had a painting of a wooden mug with wings. Burnt into the wood were the words “Flying Tankard”, which I presumed was the name of the tavern.

The sign looked extremely heavy for a pony though. “I swear Flask, you made this perfectly too heavy for my magic to lift this as well as loop the rings to the supports.” The unicorn was light green with a darker green mane. She had a basic leaf on her flank for a cutie mark.

“It isn't my fault your magic isn't strong enough for this Leafy!” he said grumpily as he pointed to his door. This pony was a dark brown with a dirty gold mane and his cutie mark was a golden drop on an iron ingot.“It's only a few nights before I open and I want to make sure that absolutely everything is done as soon as possible!”

“Can I help you guys?” I offered.

The earth pony didn't turn around to see me. “Unless you are a unicorn you are wasting my time buddy.”

The unicorn immediately recognized who I was. “Iron Flask, you might want to. It's Keeper.”

“You mean that pink thing that has been-” he cut himself off when her turned around to look up at me. “Oh, you are certainly tall aren't you?”

“Tall and strong, what's the problem? Got a heavy sign?”

“Yeah, and this filly hasn't put enough time into learning how to lift heavy things to help me.” he teased.

Leaf, as it were, huffed. “Well that is what you get for marrying a unicorn who can grow the magic ingredients for your alcohol you lazy pig! I don't do heavy lifting at all!”

He panicked a little for apparently offending his wife too much in front of somebody. “I'm just kidding honey! Sure you might not be able to life this sign, but you always pull through with everything we go through okay? I'm just tired and frustrated and I'm sorry. Your strength is why I married you!”

“Oh so it wasn't because – and I quote – 'she has a flank that one could spank for days on end' like I hear you telling your friends?” she poked back at him.

“It is one of the main reasons.” he smiled at her and she broke and smiled back at him. “Now as for you Keeper. Can you help a retired pony achieve his dream of getting back to work? I need this sign up.”

I agreed to help and I lifted the sign above my head. It was fairly heavy but I didn't have to wait long as Leaf used her magic to attach the sign to an overhanging support. The sign swung lightly in the summer breeze as we all checked it to make sure it wouldn't fall.

“Thanks so much for your help Keeper, I'm Leaf Heart by the way. This is my good-for-nothing husband Iron Flask.”

I shook both of their hooves. “Excuse me Leaf? I distinctly remember being the smith for the Royal Guard for twenty years before I wanted to open the Flying Tankard.”

“As much as I love seeing such a cute couple banter, I do have to get home.” I said to excuse myself.

“I owe you a drink and my thanks Keeper. Come by in a few days and I'll see that you are well taken care of. I do have a few things that need to be done if you need the bits. C'mere Leafy.” Flask said as he gave his wife a loving nuzzle.

I left them to their moment as I walked home. Yay, helping ponies. Leaving myself to my thoughts, I returned home to find Vinyl and Octavia waiting for me before they started on dinner. I helped out with preparing our dinner salad. Preparing it with a light vinaigrette and some daises – to which I insisted I didn't eat – we sat down. I had also made a small portion of scrambled eggs that I slid into my salad as some protein. All in all, not a bad night. We relaxed by the fire in the den afterwards and I half-heatedly listened in on the mares' conversation about some pony somewhere. I relaxed in the biggest armchair that they had in there.

It was nice, almost normal in a way considering my situation.

I finished my evening with creating music with Vinyl. She was picking up more of the basics of what her music would eventually form into. We started to become quite a good team in the studio. Whenever she wanted to get an example of fast tempo music, I'd go under her device and show her. I would also wear the helmet for the she needed a more mellow track for pauses and low-energy spaces. I have to say, I didn't actually know much about being a DJ or a producer. What I did know is that it was good to be nice and heavy then pull it back for a little while for people to catch their breath before blasting them again. Well it made sense to me anyways and Vinyl agreed.

“Now this is a little number from an artist called Zedd and this song was really popular when I was... sent here. This is called  'Clarity'. I want you to specifically listen to how the voice is brought up by the music and vise-versa. It's a good harmony between the two.” I said as I slipped on the helmet.

She picked it up all quickly. She'd always smile and say “Thanks dude!” or the like every time I came up from going under and giving her pieces of my world. It was nice actually doing something rather than eating, sleeping and working back on Earth.

It was soon late in the evening and we retired for the night. I closed my eyes and fell against the couch and relaxed as Vinyl started to leave. I felt a light kiss on my cheek. “What was that for?” I asked as a small tingle went down my spine. A pleasant one at that too.

“Well I decided since you were so awesome when you defended me this morning, you needed some thanks. Isn't that what a lady does when a stallion defends her honour?” she joked.

I kept my eyes closed and smiled. “Sounds like something Rarity would say. Well I wonder what I'll get if I ever had to save you from real peril instead of a high-class mare.” I teased.

“Well play your cards right and someday you might know. Night dude.” she said as she left.

“I'll have you know I am quite good at cards. Night Vinyl.” I replied and bid her goodbye.

“Well we will see, Lyra is really good at poker...” her voice faded as I fell asleep.

A small noise startled me in the night and I snapped awake. It was strange, wasn't this room soundproofed? I adjusted myself and my pants and tossed on one of Rarity's shirts. I also thought I had noticed a small wave in the air but I cast it off. The red LED lights from Vinyl's instruments lit up the room and I easily found the door.

I walked up to the kitchen and opened up a cupboard for a mug for some water or something. I remembered I wasn't in my apartment and cursed a little as I opened up more cabinet doors to find a goddamn cup. Why wasn't it over the sink? That made sense! Wait, Octavia was an earth pony, they were probably on the lower cupboards. God I must sound like a thief right now rummaging through their stuff.

I was broken out of my very serious inner monologue by a sharp knocking on the door. It was a very uniform and confident knock too. It also felt like it was about one in the morning. In the name of everything holy and not, who the fuck was knocking on my door at one in the morning? Was it my door? Oh well. I more or less shambled to the door and opened it up.

Oh. Hello Luna.

It was definitely her alright. She was a little bit smaller than me but she almost radiated magic like an oven making heat. Her hair sparkled in the moonlight so well that I swear they were actual stars and her coat was absolutely magnificent. At least what I knew about pony coats anyways,“We would like to have a word with thee.” she said with conviction and confidence that only a princess could know.

Looking at her actually wasn't a huge shock to my system. Perhaps I was more used to this than I thought I was or maybe it was because it was one in the goddamn morning and I kinda wanted to sleep. “Mind if we walk and talk? I gotta get my coat. I don't want to wake up Vinyl or Octavia this late at night.” Needless to say she didn't look impressed at my light sassy tone.

I grabbed my army jacket from the dining room and walked out the front door, closing it as quietly as possible. I turned to Luna and noticed that she didn't have any guards with her. “Where are your bat-pony guards?”

“We have given the order for the Lunar Guard to stand back. Thou not need to be concerned about what we do with our security. We assure thee that thou will easily be dealt with if thou proves thine-self to be untrustworthy.” She seemed kind of pissed. “Does thou know who we are?”

We had reached the square and I took a seat on the bench there. “You are Luna, princess of the night and sister to Celestia. You were turned into Nightmare Moon and was cast out and imprisoned by your own sister in-the-slash-or-on the moon. When the Nightmare was removed from you, you returned to the state that you were in when you were ensnared resulting in why Celestia is taller than you. Good enough?”

She was shocked for a split second and I almost missed it. I got up and continued to walk with Luna through the quiet city. “Why thou certainly know a lot about us. Thou does forget their presence with a princess and should be addressing us as such.”

“Thou is forgetting that thee has been keeping me up at a late hour on the third night of my arrival into Equestria after my death.” I turned to her and bowed slightly. “Forgive my tone though, I get sassy when sleepy. My world only has one major monarchy left and I am just not used to the formality of a princess. I'm just going to mess it up anyways.”

“It is understandable” she replied.

“You can drop the Royal We as well if you wish. I know you can speak in modern tongue and it is going to make this conversation so much easier.”

“Very much agreed upon.” she said “Twilight always did say that practice makes perfect”. She probably also agreed because it wasn't intimidating me at all. I was going to appear in your dreams but I figured that it would be favourable to meet you face to face first.”

We talked quite a bit afterwards. I did repeat and clarify a few things from what I have told Celestia and Twilight but she was attentive for all of it. She didn't even seem shocked at all when I told her about war or violence. Being bonded with the Nightmare or whatever it was must have exposed her to the more unconventional and violent thoughts that we as a human race would find normal. Where ponies would think of turning the cheek, we would probably think of punches. She didn't like religion though, and I supposed a goddess who was almost worshipped with her sister wouldn't like other belief systems.

I was almost passing out at what I thought to be four in the morning. I literally told her with “I'm going to pass out Luna.”

“No need to worry Keeper. Here, let me try something.” She instructed me to face her and try my hardest to to move much.

Her horn touched my chest lightly and I had a rush of energy spread from my core to the tips of my fingers. It felt like I had slept ten hours and woke up with a cup of espresso. I felt like I had enough energy for the week, let alone the day!

“Wow! Thanks! I guess that evens us out. Totally forgiven for the keeping me up. I guess that I should call you Princess since I no longer have an excuse?” I asked jokingly.

“Oh I wouldn't worry. I have it on good authority you'd just mess it up anyways.” she smiled back at me. “Besides, I find your unfamiliarity and informal speech quite relaxing. It's as if I am taking to an equal rather than somepony trying to win my favour. You would just keep calling me Luna anyways. You knew I would feel this way wouldn't you?”

I decided to keep it simple and honest. “Some things I know and some things I have a very good feeling about. Sometimes I'm off and sometimes I kind of wish I was. It makes it hard. I sometimes think 'will my actions change the destiny of a pony'? I get headaches thinking about it. I'd like to think I know a lot about this world, but at the same time I feel like I know almost nothing. Every answer I have is met with two more questions. Sometimes I just can't comprehend the answers at all, especially where magic is concerned.”

“Maybe that's the grand objective, to keep finding answers to the questions that matter. If you knew all the answers then life would be boring. It's like a story where the hero simply has everything at his disposal. It makes for bad storytelling.”

“And if the answers don't lead me to something I like?”

“You keep it up and continue on your way knowing that it may help in the future. You must find darkness sometimes before... you see the light. When one finds the truth, you cannot go back.” she finished that thought.

Well that certainly got me to thinking of Plato's Allegory of the Cave. Everything you know is a shadow of what it truly is. Nothing is true, everything is permitted.

“May I ask you something personal Luna?”

“Sure Keeper, you may as much as I have the right to tell you nothing.”

Cheeky princess. “Why are you being nice to me? You aren't like other ponies and you certainly have... seen shadows. You would be more mistrusting than other ponies. You could have just asked your questions and left. Why spend your night with me?”

“You are most certainly correct on how I could have conducted my questioning Keeper. However I do have more free time than my sister. More ponies favour the light of the sun rather than the calm of the night. My sister has more concerns than I do on time-management.”

That was an attempt at a subject change. “I think there are more than enough who favour the night over the day. Isn't the bat pony their own race?”

“You are correct, and you would be one of the very few to bring that up. How did you come across that knowledge?”

“I'm Keeper. And if ponies keep on using that 'it's magic' excuse for everything I'm using the Keeper excuse. Anyways I also prefer the night sometimes. Heck when I was on Earth I'd stay up late and not wake until noon. However my sleep rhythm was messed up to normal when I got here I guess. If that makes sense. Now you avoided my question. Why didn't you just get what you want and leave?”

She looked at me and realized that she would need to leave before I let it go. She actually rolled her eyes and huffed. “You remind me of myself.”

Well that is not what I was thinking. “In what way Luna?”

“You are in a world you don't fully understand, liked by ponies who have no reason to like you. You are accepted by them regardless of your past actions or beliefs. Ponies want to know who you are and the ones that don't will avoid you enough that it doesn't matter.”

She took another deep breath to speak. “However you won't reveal too much about yourself and your thoughts because you fear that you would lose your friends if they knew everything about you. Those little dark notions and acts that would be very unfavourable for ponies to think of are just common thoughts to you. That little bit just makes you different than the rest and you try to fit in as much as you can because you like to be liked.” Needless to say it sounded a bit too 'dark and edgy' but she was literally the embodiment of a Nightmare at one point, she could have some edges.

“Of course, sometimes acts have to be in the dark. Being darker isn't evil at all if you are doing what needs to be right.”

She looked at me with kindness and familiarity, as if she realized that someone actually 'got it'. “You speak true, may I ask you a question?”

“You may, as much as I have the right to tell you nothing.” She looked at me with almost a playful smile before looking up.

“I will not bear judgement upon thee, but do you prefer the sun or the moon?”

I stopped to consider it myself for a little while which is always a mistake around females. “That is a very big pause you have there Keeper Do you mares on your world appreciate that silence?”

“Simply because I wanted to word out the reasoning behind it so you don't have to ask me why.” I replied. “I prefer the moon. Ponies may look up at the sun and be happy, but when I think of it, I really do complain about the sun a lot. Ponies must say all the time that the sun makes them too hot, it's too bright, it's not making the rain dry up quick enough and all sorts of complaints.

“Who complains about the moon? Nobody. Everyone loves the moon. Sure they may fear the night and everything that might lurk in the shadows. The moon is the biggest source of light at night and makes the darkness go away when the sun isn't here.” I smiled at her as she tried not to look at me for some reason. It was obvious. “So I prefer your moon over your sister's sun. Besides, the moon is accompanied by so many wonderful lights, makes the sun look greedy by comparison.”

Luna smiled before shaking her head of whatever thoughts she had. “That was really well thought out Keeper. Regretfully however, I must cut our conversation. I actually don't want to, you do know how to keep a mare interested in your stories. Would you care to speak again if our schedules permit?”

“It would be an honour.” I said as I bowed and she did so back to me. She did it as if we were equals. I hesitated to tell her one last thing as she started to raise her wings to take off. “Luna. My old name is Damien, I chose a new name when my world changed. Your sister knows it and I figured you should as well. Nobody else knows.”

She paused and smiled at me similar to how her sister did when she was happy. “My old name is Selene, I made a new name when I changed my world. My sister knows it and I figured you should as well. Nobody else knows.” She winked and took off. “Call her Tia next time you see her.”

I smiled as she flew away. Of course, the Greek moon goddess Selene. I wouldn't be surprised if European translations of My Little Pony actually referred to her as Selene or something. Wasn't there something about Luna being called “Lulu” though? I waved hello to some ponies who were getting up early to do their jobs early in the morning as I walked home. If Celestia was a stallion would her name be Helios? I was going to ask Twilight about it but I decided to keep it to myself. Though I could use it as a reference to both of the sisters using chariots. I should ask Luna first though since it was history of my species, but tell her that I wouldn't reveal her secret to anyone.

Besides, I'm Keeper. Keeping secrets is what I do.

---///---

“Was I in that one?” Spider asked.

Star Sign shook her head, “Not yet though I certainly hope it comes up. I would like to know about your past too Spider.”

“Aww it's okay, my past isn't all too important! I was an itty bitty spider and now I'm a fully grown spider! I think so, at least for my species I am... I don't know.” He skittered along the floor in deep thought. “I am larger than any spider in my species, but there are a few more spiders in the forest that are even bigger than I am! They are mean though, but not as smart. They don't taste very good either...”

Star shuddered at the thought. “What about you cutie? What about you growing up?” He asked.

Star hesitated a second before speaking. It was Spider, Keeper's pet who was at least either trained to keep secrets or just inherently good at it. It should be fine. “I don't remember anything about my childhood up to a point.”

“Really?” Spider sounded absolutely amazed. “You don't? Why?!”

She shifted her hooves and looked away from Spider, but eight eyes were still all on her. “My parents died in a fire when I was young. Princess Celestia herself dragged me out by magic as I tried to get out from the burning building. I had my cutie mark at the time but I can't even remember how I got it.”

“That is the saddest thing I have ever heard in over a hundred years!” Spider looked like it was almost crying.

“It was also weird how Celestia handled it as well. At first I wasn't allowed to leave the castle at all after I was healed and she watched over me constantly. She would test me with my magic here and there and would make progress notes or something. Eventually she opened her doors and let me live in Ponyville as her student. It really amazed me because I was nothing like her student Twilight Sparkle but I was almost living in the same way! Minus a baby dragon of course. Instead of me watching over Spike, it always seemed like Spike was watching over me like a big brother.

“Eventually I made some friends and I continued to study magic as well as send reports on the progress I was making and to see if I remembered anything.” She stopped Spider from speaking over her. “I never did remember a thing before the fire. Celestia thinks that it is some magical psychological response to seeing my parents die. Makes it so I don't remember seeing them die. However we can't figure out why I can't remember the rest...”

Star yelped as she was picked up by Spider's hairy arms. “That has to be the most heart-breaking thing I have ever heard! Especially coming from a pony who is soooooooo cccuuutttteeeee”. He finished the last part with a high-pitched crying.

This was one of the few times in her life where Star Sign actually considered the well-being of her sanity.

She was released by the hug and tried her best to stop her legs from shaking. “It... it's f-fine I had a l-l-long time to come to terms with it!” she shuddered and turned from him as fast as she could.

It took her a few moments to calm down. “Okay, now how are we going to get up to the Pegasus Landing?”

Spider took some of his silky string and tied it around his neck like a harness. “By riding on me!”

She was extremely unsure of the idea considering how freaked out she was by the hug. “Is there... any other way?”

He skittered about in thought. “No unless you can sprout wings! Don't worry cutie, Keeper used to ride on top of me and he is heavy. I'm sure you will do just fine!”

Spiderbro spun some webs and wrapped them around his waist so she could lean back onto his abdomen. He bent down as low as he could “Come on! The sooner we get there the more you can look around!”

She swallowed what little saliva was in her mouth before tentatively stepping onto the massive arachnid. “Keeper, you better be worth this...”