The Crown and The Sword

   Infinity awoke with a mind-splitting headache and a searing pain in his back. He was having a hard time focusing on the surroundings he was in, for the exception  that he was in a bed, but he knew it wasn't his bed. His vision was a blur as he looked around the room, noticing different shapes of colors.

   Then one particular blob caught his eye. A lavender form with some white and brown, not to mention navy and slight pink among the colors the made this blob. Infinity leaned in closer, the proximity causing his vision to clear. It was Twilight Sparkle, sitting in a chair, her head buried in her arms off to the side of the bed. Infinity tried to hit up, but his body started to ache in protest, causing him to groan.

   Twilight started to wake at hearing Infinity groaning, lifting her head sleepily, and looking towards the source of the noise. She immediately latched herself to the pegasus in a hug. The hug causing him to groan out even worse than he already was.

"Twilight, I appreciate the hug n' all... but I'm still sore from... whatever hit me..." Infinity was patting her back, trying to get her to let go.

"Sorry." Twilight had her ears down as she retracted back to her seat next to the bed. "I'm just excited to see you alive and awake is all."

"Yeah, well, 18 tons of machinery is worse. Really would put you in a coma if it doesn't kill ya." Infinity was rubbing his shoulder as he popped his back a bit. "What was I hit with, by the way?"

"Tourist carriage." Twilight stated blankly as she watched Infinity.

"You're mane looks like a mess. Kinda cute." Infinity pointed out when he scooted back, propping himself up on the headboard of the bed.

   Twilight blushed lightly before quickly fixing her mane, running her hand down the front and to her bangs several times. Infinity chuckled lightly before bringing his own hand up to sweep back his brown mane, so it was up and out of his eyes. At that exact moment, the doctor came in looking at his check board, he could have looked like a scientist with that lab coat if it weren't for the scrubs he was wearing at the time.

He then looked up and smiled warmly at Infinity. "Nice to see that you're up, we thought you might be out for atleast several more hours."

"I guess I should be thanking you for patching me up then, Doc?" Infinity asked.

"You're quite welcome, I would advise you to not use your wings for a good month or two. The force of that carriage broke them in several places, including the bases."

"Ah.. great..." Infinity slumped a bit.

"I'm sure that that time will pass with its own pace considering your wonderful marefirend here brought you as quick as she could.

Both ears perked up at hearing that, Twilight blushing darker now.

"But she isn't my-" Infinity was cut off.

"Well, I'm sure you two would like some time together now that you're awake. On top of that, I have other patients to attend to!" The doctor was off with a jolly smile.

Infinity turned to Twilight with a smirk "Marefriend, huh?"

"I may have lied a bit to have them let me stay.." Twilight responded with a sheepish smile.

"And what story did you give them?" Infinity asked with his smirk still present

"I told them that you don't have any family left, and that you consider me the only one of your family because of how long we've been together." Twilight explained herself.

"And how long would that be?"

"Five... years...?"

"We've gone five years and I haven't proposed?!" Infinity gasped playfully. "What has this world come to where a guy dates a girl for five years and doesn't propose?"

Twilight giggled "Oh stop it you."

"Why? I like it when I can make someone smile. Makes me feel good about myself." Infinity had his own smile now.

"You kind of sound like Pinkie Pie now."

"Do I?"

   They both burst out into laughter, lasting a good some odd minutes, wiping away forming tears once it slowly died down. That's when they started to stare, not at eachother, but at eachother's  eyes.That moment was short lived when Twilight decided to get up from her seat.

"I.. should be going... gotta make sure Spike didn't get into anything..." Twilight stammered a bit as she started for the door. "Want me to come by tomorrow and check on you?"

"That sounds... nice"

   As Twilight was heading out, the doctor was heading back in.

"How long was I out, Doc?" Infinity asked upon instant notice of the doctor.

"All of yesterday and only the morning of today. But I'm here to make sure you're body might be healing nicely, even if your wings may take longer."

   Twilight, however, started into a brisk walk upon exiting the library. Ever since he shared that memory with her, she could see something. A longing to not be alone anymore. As if he wanted to find somepony we could be with, peacefully. A longing to no longer worry about himself anymore, but another. Twilight felt that Infinity saw something in her, but who would want a bookworm? Most of all, why did she even climb into the chair to not feel alone with him?

   Twilight found the library just as she left it, tidied up. Spike was found sleeping in, not uncommon for him anyway. She quickly retreated upstairs. Her blanket was still drooped over her chair, since she spent the night at the hospital, and into the bathroom to do some freshening up. Which really meant shower, brush teeth, get new clothes on.

   Of course, she did have somethings to do today that she wanted done. Which included waking spike up.

"... and we're done!" The doctor said gleefully.

   Infinity was relieved, he didn't expect the doctor to even ask him to try and walk, but he tried anyway. A small mess was made of the room, mainly just the corner he was instructed to walk to. Infinity was more focused on getting something to eat, he was starving. Well, why wouldn't he be? He was knocked unconscious the rest of yesterday and part of today, just the morning. He would've guessed that these 'check-ups' would be daily, but what did he know? He only knew how to cross dimensions and his magic.

The nurse walked in with a tray and placed it on his lap.

"Thanks." Infinity said joyfully, finally getting some sort of food, even if it was hospital food.

"Anytime hun." She responded with a wink, and was off to attend to her other duties.

   On the tray was a plate of some kind of green goop, it wasn't solid, but neither was it liquid. What accompanied this food was a smaller plate of Jell-O... maybe? And apple slices, one of the more.. appealing things on the tray. Infinity picked up the plastic spork and took up some of that goop, and sniffed it a bit. What kind of food is this where it doesn't have a smell? He shrugged, putting the sporkful in his mouth.

"Hey.." Infinity said to noone in particular, ".. this isn't half bad. Tastes like a vegetable drink only in a somewhat solid!"

  Infinity continued to eat his lunch slowly, staring out the window towards the sunny exterior. That's when an thought came to him. He was going to need something to do when Twilight wasn't here. If only he had some sort of machine that uses light to produce a red dot. Yes... perfect entertainment.

"Mr. Plane." The nurse was back, poking her head in the doorway.

"Yes?" Infinity asked, still staring out the window.

"You have a visitor. She says she knows you." The nurse responded.

Infinity just looked at the doorway. "Um... send them in... I guess?"

The nurse nodded and left the doorway, the next thing he wasn't expecting. A bouncing pink mare with a rolling confetti cannon was the least of his worries. As for her attire, a baby blue skirt that stopped mid-thigh along with a plain, yellow tee. Near the bottom of said skirt, were three balloons, two matched the skirt, one matched the tee, but they all had a pink outline so the blue wouldn't blend in with the skirt. Her fur, he'd never forget when this mare pinned him against the wall, her mane was a different story, always poofy and moved with her bouncing. She had her eyes closed as she skipped on in.

"You're not going to slam me against a wall again, are you?" Infinity groaned aloud.

"Of course not silly! Why would I endanger a fifth dimensional being?" The oink mare responded gleefully.

"Wait, what?" Infinity was looking at this mare now.

"I've known what you looked like since the beginning of this story!" She giggled at her own statement.

"Don't tell me.... a fourth wall breaker..." Infinity was rubbing his closed eyes with one hand. "And what's with the cannon?!"

"Wow, the writer must've made you clueless, this is a party cannon silly! It allows me to decorate for a party in mere seconds!" She seemed like she could bound off the walls at any moment.

"Great... a hyperactive fourth wall breaker. Girl, you have taken the cake for most amusing one." Infinity was clapping, for once, something amazed him. "Why is it that every fourth wall breaker I encounter always knows what I look like?"

He looked off into the distance, as if staring at someone, the mare decided to lean in to see what he was looking at.

  Meanwhile, on the other side of a computer screen.

"Dammit! You guys aren't involving me any further into this story!" The writer looked behind him. "As for you all, get back in the story! Not here, not ever!"

"Wow.... he seems reeeeeaaallly pissed!"

Infinity just nodded, and quickly turned his gaze to the mare. "Who are you anyway?"

"Ohmigosh! I totally forgot to tell my name AAAAAND welcome you to Equestria! You are a very hard stallion to find, youknowthat?" The pink one was talking a mile a minute, it seemed at some parts anyway. "I'M Pinkie Pie!"

Pinkie pulled the string on her Party Cannon, it was aimed at Infinity and blew confetti, streamers, and cake?

"AND WELCOME TO EQUESTRIA! SpecificallyPonyville,anicelittletownthat'shomeawayfromhome!"

Infinity didn't know which was worse; the fact that the cake's icing came off and onto his apple slices, or that she was yelling in his ear.

"Uhm... thanks?" Infinity wasn't sure how to react exactly. He was more worried about his slices.

"Huh, I guess I should work on keeping the icing on the cake!" Pinkie giggled, seeing the joke in the statement.

   She quickly picked up one of the covered slices and ate it down quickly. Infinity just looked at Pinkie before picking one up and taking a bite out of it. Eh, at least it was better than the vegetable goop.

"Besides..." Infinity chomped on another apple, "Twilight was the first to welcome me, but yours was a little less.... well, more of enjoyable than hers."

"Aw fiddlesticks! How'd she greet you?" Pinkie got into his face, by now, Infinity wasn't caring, just wanted to eat.

"Flying objects." Infinity replied, offering the pink mare another slice.

"Wow... some sort of entrance you must have made to have her throw stuff at you." Pinkie sat down, taking the slice.

"As far as I know, I don't blame her. I practically came crashing down from the sky, broke her window, and landed in her bedroom. I'm just glad she was wrapped in a towel..." Infinity looked at himself.

"She was.." Pinkie gasped, somehow leaning the whole chair back, her voice now in a whisper, "... in the nude?"

"At least she was covered by a damned towel!" The he shrugged, smiling to himself. "Now look at us.... we seem like we've been friends forever even though I know she's being a great host, not that she wasn't after throwing shit at me. I feel that if she had to, she'd protect me, and for her, I'd do the same."

"Sounds like someone's in loooooove!" Pinkie cooed jokingly, causing Infinity to crack up a bit.

"Maybe so... but what do I know about love? I've been alone ever since Edge found me."

   That's when the room fell silent, Pinkie just stared at the pegasus form next to her. She felt like she should say something, but what would she say? Infinity's smile didn't waver after his statement. For once, he truly felt happy in his life, being in this world of colored ponies, it gave hims a sense of peace.

"You know, I didn't think that Rainbow Dash girl could pack on helluva kick." Infinity broke the silence. About damn time too.

   Twilight was well on her way to find Rainbow Dash somewhere in Ponyville. And what better place to look? Why the clouds of course! Seems as how good ol' Rainbow here loves to take naps in the skies. Especially on clouds, who wouldn't want to sleep on a cloud?

"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight called out to a cloud with a multi-colored tail.

   Rainbow just poked her head over the edge of the cloud, an unamused look on her face.

"Whaddya want Egghead? You're interrupting my nap."

"Infinity got put in the hospital yesterday and I-"

"Hah! Serves him right!" Rainbow blurted out.

"Rainbow!" Twilight gasped. "You shouldn't be saying that somepony you don't know!"

"Why? It's not like most stallions are softies anyway, they'd much rather run around and rut any mare willing to let them!"

"Even I know that's not true Rainbow."

"OH yeah? Then what has that stallion done for you? Hmmmm?" Rainbow eyed her friend down below.

"Well... he makes me smile.. and.."

"Pfft.." Rainbow seemed unimpressed

"And.. AND he made me breakfast. TWICE!"

"Isn't that Spike's job since you can't cook decently?"

Twilight had a light blush after hearing Rainbow's statement."H-he insisted, and besides, it's not ALL of Spike's responsibility!"

"Yeah, because he's there." Rainbow brushed off.

"Ok then, Rainbow, what have stallions done for you?" Twilight crossed her arms

Rainbow hesitated, something she never did unless she was caught off guard. "T-th-that's not important!"

"It is if you weren't so concerned about me being around Infinity!" Twilight retorted back.

"Don't you have some books to be reading?" Rainbow shot from the top of her cloud.

"You are really hard headed sometimes!" Twilight fumed before stomping off in the other direction.

  Rainbow was hiding something, but what?

   A week later, Infinity was finally out of the hospital, but his wings were wrapped on bandages against his back. His week was peppered with occasional visits from the energetic Pinkie Pie and sometimes Twilight Sparkle to check up on him, a good thing too. He actually spent most of his days either sleeping, or staring up at the ceiling, if he wasn't eating.

   But he finally got to be let out and finally go back to the library, there might come a time when he will call it home, but Infinity doesn't think that he'll be staying any longer than needed to. He couldn't help but shake a feeling though. He was far too busy as it was anyway, making music inside his head that got out through his lips and vocal cords. Most of it was heavy bass noises.

   Infinity got many looks from passerby's as he walked down the street, not that he cared anyway. He was more concerned with getting back to Twilight's and probably getting some rest in that comfy chair she owns, that hospital bed felt like a wooden board. Finally, the library was coming into view and Infinity couldn't help but pick up his pace.

   When he reached the door however, it was slightly ajar. This started to make him suspicious as he peered through the crack of the door. Darkness. Darkness was that could be seen inside. Infinity pushed the door open slightly more and stepped inside.

"Twilight?" Infinity called out.

No answer.

"Hello?" The door slammed shut behind him.

More Darkness, he was sure that there were supposed to be windows in the library part of this tree, and they didn't have covers.

"Nothing some magelights can't fix" He stated bluntly, his hand aglow.

   Infinity threw a small orb of light to the far end of the room, and two others for each side. He didn't forget about himself as he summoned another small orb to follow him. Infinity slowly made his way across a mess of books. It seemed like they were scattered from the shelves and all over the floor below.

"Twilight?" Infinity called out again.

"Infinity!" Spike's voice yelled through something. "Th-there's something in the library! I-it knocked out Twilight and trapped us up here! You gotta do something!"

"Of course I have to do something.... if it knocked out Twilight...." Infinity stopped, one of his magelights vanished from his peripheral. "Spike! What was Twilight doing earlier today?!"

"She was working on some kind of spell today....She found this small book in the seat you usually sleep in." Spike tried to recall as he went. "And that thing suddenly appeared and it just knocked her out!"

"Shit, she got a hold of my spellbook! There's only one spell that could've caused this...." The other magelight vanished.

    They weren't wearing off either, they could last longer than a mere minute. It was something far worse, something he'd only summon when the need arose. Infinity slowly turned around and came face to face with what seemed like Twilight, but completely black with pale yellow eyes.

"Shadow Elemental!" Infinity managed to to get out before being grabbed and slammed against the wall blocking the stairs.

The elemental just hissed at him.

"Well... someone has a pretty face, don't they?" Infinity chuckled before presenting his palms and letting loose a force powerful enough to sweep the thing off its feet and into the darkness.

   Infinity took the initiative and fish around in his pockets for something. The elemental charged. Dodge. Force Push. The tactic was somewhat reliable as the elemental charged, but was difficult to do any dodging while fishing his pockets and the books scattered all over the place. Infinity missed his chance to push the creature back and got hit with a forearm across his muzzle. The blow sent him off to the right and skidding against the ground into the rounded wall.

"Dammit! Where are you, you stupid piece of-" Infinity was interrupted by the elemental's snarling as it loomed over him.

"Shit...."

   Infinity was grabbed by his ankles and swung around, his back hitting the wall and his wings. The elemental swung him around to hit the wall again, but Infinity managed to break free and force the being back into the darkness just when the magelight by him went out.

"It's one thing to attack me... but it's a whole other concept to be attacking my friends." Infinity was speaking low as he got up.

   With a snap of his fingers, a crystal, well, what looked to be a crystal, in his hands. The elemental was growling now.

"Oh, you know what this is, don't you?" Infinity asked sarcastically as possible, conjuring another magelight, revealing the piece of ice. "Then you wouldn't happen to know what would happen if I pumped it full of light, would you?"

   The elemental let out a high-pitched shriek as it charged Infinity again. Reacting quickly as it came into view, Infinity grabbed its throat, and slammed it to the ground. It shrieked again, only causing Infinity to wince as he put a hoof on its chest. He stood tall raising the ice crystal to the magelight, his hand getting encased in a white aura before slowly transiting the light to the ice piece, causing it to glow brighter and brighter by the second. Infinity covered his eyes to block himself from the brightening light he held in his hand. All he could hear was the fading shriek of the elemental as it was banished back where it came from.

"Infinity?" He heard Spike again, but still slightly muffled. "What just happened?"

"Banishment, Spike, banishment.I sent that prick back where it came from." Infinity looked around the room, the only thing he didn't get rid of was the barricade.

  Time to fix that.

"Spike, you may want to stand back. This might be a bit blinding at first." Infinity instructed, approaching the door.

   In one swift movement, Infinity shove the ice crystal into the barricade. the veins in his arm lighting up along with the ice. The barricade cracking with light as chips started to come off. Infinity could feel himself getting weary, using this much magic in one day would exhaust him of all his energy.

   Just then, the barricade started to collapse in on itself, falling in chunks from the top to around the ice. When it was fully gone, he found Spike at the top of the steps, staring down towards the bottom with a sort of worried look. Infinity poked his head in and smiled at the dragon before ascending the steps to find Twilight, and as Spike said. Unconscious.

"There's quite a mess downstairs." Infinity turned his head to Spike, a slight smile across his face. "I'll help you when I get her to bed."