Legend of Silva's Gate

"I've thought I expressed my intent on keeping the girls in the dark, Luna?" Princess Celestia said curtly to her sister when she appeared by her side shortly after joining her at the hospital. Luna was quiet for a moment, as the two left the elevator that Luna had just teleported into. As they walked down the hallway towards Leo's room, Luna replied to her sister.

"At what cost, Celestia? Becoming distant? Even I could see it in her eyes, Twilight is becoming impatient for an explanation as to what is going on, and so are her friends." Luna replied politely, as she followed Celestia through the Hospital. As Celestia remained silent, Luna chanced a glance at her to gauge her sister's mood. Noticing this, Celestia sighed, finally replying.

"I just want to keep them safe from harm...They've all done so much for Equestria...for the two of us. The last thing those girls deserve is to be dragged into war." Celestia said sadly, as way of explaining her recent behavior. As the two royal mares pushed the door to Leo's room, they noticed him sleeping peacefully. Luna looked to Celestia before they walked in.

"It's not wrong to feel that way, Sister. In fact, it's what makes you such a wonderful leader to Pony kind. But we can't fight this alone. You do recall the prophecy that was left behind, correct Celestia? We've no choice in the matter." Luna spoke to Celestia softly. Only when they noticed Leo pulling himself up off his bed to get a better look at his visitors, did they finally enter the room, closing the door behind them.

/*----------------------------------------------*//n

"Dash, just stop and explain to us wha we're here again? Ah can't understand ya when you're runnin' ahead like that!" Applejack shouted at the cyan mare as they reached the Hospital. Grumbling, she turned to face her friends, some of them visibly exhausted from the constant gallop that Rainbow Dash had held from Twilight's library. Sighing, Rainbow Dash began to explain herself.

"Well, thing is..." she trailed off for a moment, looking down to the ground as she shot nervous glances to her friends. 'They're going to think I'm nuts...too late to stop now though, I guess.' Rainbow Dash thought to herself, before taking a deep breath and looking up at her friends, who were patiently waiting. "Thing is, I think Leo might be that human we saw on the beach."

"B...beg yer pardon?!" Applejack explained in surprise, the rest of the girls mimicking the expression that she wore. "Dash, did you seriously jus'-"

"Yes! I did say it, because it all fits! That human's right side was badly hurt when he landed on the beach. Leo's right side? Badly. Hurt. Human runs into the forest, chasing after the other human, and disappears without a trace. Leo turns up instead, nearly dead, and neglects to give a proper explanation for his presence in the woods, save for an extremely vague 'I have no home' speech. Not to mention, Spitfire mentioned that Leo knew exactly what that robot thing's weakness was, that huge off button on his back. He has knowledge of something that has never been seen in Equestria before, or even the entire planet for that matter." Rainbow Dash concluded, staring at the others intently, waiting for any reply. When Twilight spoke up to end the momentary silence that followed, Rainbow Dash had expected praise for her critical thinking, but she was dismayed by the response.

"Rainbow...those are definitely some interesting and suspicious correlations, but it's all technically speculation. Yes, the human's right side was hurt, and yes, Leo's was as well. But it could very well be coincidence. In fact, I hate to say it, but...it most likely is. Same with the Humans disappearing with as much as a whiff of smoke, and Leo appearing in the woods instead. We can't currently discount that he may have actually BEEN attacked by the Human." Twilight explained to a now annoyed Rainbow Dash, who sighed impatiently and then interrupted her.

"Yeah, yeah. But how can you explain his knowledge of the robot? Spitfire has nothing to gain from lying about it." Rainbow Dash pressured Twilight for an answer, who thought silently for a moment.

"Hmm...well, is it not entirely possible he saw the off button prior to fighting it? From what I hear, it has 'OFF' in the ancient text. If he knows how to decipher ancient text, maybe he figured out what to do?" Twilight suggested. Rainbow Dash was livid. If Twilight was speaking about coincidence and probability, how the heck could she even suggest that Leo had a knowledge of ancient text? Twilight must have picked up on the look present on her face, however, as she amended her suggestion, the alteration not making Rainbow Dash any happier however. "Or it's entirely possible he guessed. We also must remember, we're getting this information second-hoof from a pony who was hit a large piece of metal hurtling at the speed of a train, head first. She could be slightly scrambled from her accident."

"Aw, come on! Spitfire definitely knows what she heard, and she's gone through worse! Some of her training accidents have been pretty brutal, after-all!" Rainbow Dash shouted in annoyance.

"Rainbow Dash, Dear, it wouldn't be too far of a stretch to say that she could be. If what you're saying about her having a number of accidents is true...well, needless to say, her poor brain could be a little jostled." Rarity attempted to add to the conversation, trying to get Rainbow Dash to come around, only to have her get into her face.

"Watch what your say, Rarity. Spitfire isn't going loony!" Rainbow Dash shouted at her. Rarity's nostrils flared at Rainbow Dash's attitude, but after she quickly calmed herself, she explained her logic.

"What I mean to say is, look at what happens when  poor Derpy smacks her head on something during her mail runs. That unlucky girl once delivered me a crate of eggs bound for the cafe. Goodness knows which confused pony got my fabric shipment." Rarity recalled Derpy's crash with a slight cringe.

"Well, seein' as we're here, ah suggest we ask Princess Luna about tha legend's reference to Humans." Applejack suggested, proceeding to walk towards the Hospital, the rest of the girls following her, save for an annoyed Rainbow Dash, who simply stared after them. Fluttershy stopped beside her for a moment, and looked at with an encouraging smile.

"Uhm, Rainbow Dash? I thought they were good theories, if you don't mind me saying." Fluttershy told her in a whisper. Rainbow Dash sighed.

"Yeah...thanks Fluttershy. I guess." she replied, watching the yellow pegasus trot to catch up with the rest of their friends. Rainbow Dash walked after them, moping slightly, thinking to herself. 'They don't understand, it's hard to explain that I know hes human, but...I just know!' she screamed in her head. Hanging her head, she stopped again for a second as an idea presented itself to her, causing her to look up, a blank expression turning into a confident one. 'Okay, those may be the only pieces of proof I can think of right now. I'll just get more! And if that's not good enough for them, I'll just get a confession from Leo!' she declared to herself, now holding her head high with a smug look, and trotted after her friends, her confidence renewed.

/*----------------------------------------------*//n

"These recent events have baffled to greatest minds in all of Equestria. While it is clear that you are concerned with different issues, you are not alone in your state of confusion." Celestia said to Leo, attempting to place Luna and herself on the same level as Leo, so as to garner some trust, which she could tell would be difficult to earn.

"Yeah, you could definitely say that things have climbed pretty high on the DEFCON scale of weird..." Leo chuckled, his statement eliciting confused looks from the Princesses. "...uhm, nevermind." Leo sighed, slumping as he leaned against the wall behind his bed. After a moment of silence, there was a slight dinging from a clock beside his bed, to which Leo slammed his right hoof on a button ontop of it without looking, and then slid out of bed as he suddenly wore a look of content. After he swung the cloak he 'collected' earlier over his back, he turned back. "Alright, well, I'm being released now. So if you two don't mind..." Leo trailed off, as he looked at the Princesses expectantly.

"But you're still...injured! How is it the hospital is releasing you in your current state?" Luna asked, dismayed that the he was being discharged while he bandages clearly still needed daily changing. As Leo simply shrugged his shoulders, his expression showing disinterest, Luna made a mental note to have a discussion of her own with the Doctor.

"Something about being a huge hassle for the hospital. Nurse Dawn looked like she was ready to buck the Doctor in the face after he said that, though, and she sorta dragged him off down the hallway." Leo explained, now glancing back and forth between the two Princesses, who looked back at him with a similar look of expectation. "If you'll excuse me, I have someone I need to track down."

"Ahh, 'someone', and not 'somepony'?" Luna said in a monotone voice. Silently cursing himself for slipping up again, Leo glanced towards the window quickly, trying to gauge if he could survive the landing if he needed to escape. When he looked back, Luna's blank expression had changed into a knowing smile, and Leo could have sworn that her eyes looked like they hungered.

"Leo Silva, we know exactly just who, and what, you are, as well as where you have come from. ease spare us the facade, as it is simply wasting everypony's time." Celestia said to Leo forcefully. Her calm demeanor and pleasant attitude had been picked up on by Leo, but what Leo could only describe as raw power that poured out from her voice caused him to shrink back slightly, mostly due to shock. After taking a moment to think to himself, he decided to follow the large white mare's 'suggestion'.

"Well, I'm sorry about using up your VALUABLE time, but a very dangerous individual is loose on your planet, and I'm damn sure that he'll be the one that led the Hive, the creatures that are threatening Equestria." Leo concluded, giving his statement finality and sitting on his rump and crossing his forelegs. "Course, I doubt he did it on purpose..." Leo added as an afterthought, intriguing the Princesses, who were still antsy to discuss he reason for their visit. Noticing their curiosity, Leo explained. "He sorta hates robots. With a passion. S'Matter of fact, he has some sort of delusion of grandeur that God has tasked him to eliminate them from the universe for the sake of the Human race." Leo finished with a nod, and then brought a hoof to his forehead lightly. "Don't even get me started on the irony, it's overwhelming."

"Well, that certainly makes things interesting. Perhaps he can assist us in forcing out invaders back." Celestia suddenly blurted out, turning herself from Leo's flabbergasted gaze, to look at Luna. "Sister, lets begin organizing the Military-" Celestia had begun before an unintelligible shout came from Leo. She gave a quick wink and smirk to her Luna, who didn't say anything and simply gave her a squint in reply, before she turned to Leo. "Yes, what did you need?"

"Didja not here a word I said? He is dangerous. He'll kill and destroy anyone or anything that gets in his way. Not only that, he would only do for the Humans. If I didn't have evidence to the contrary, I'd say he would be long-gone by now." Leo insinuated. Thinking back, back to the little altercation Angel and he had their last, ill-conceived combat in, Leo recalled what he had said he was going to do. He didn't agree with Angel ideals, of transporting Humans to this planet. Sure, Earth was in quite the sore spot, but nobody deserved to have their home taken away from them. He began to bite his lip, however, as the more he thought about it, the more he found himself noticing a darkness in the pit of his gut pleading for him to let Angel guide the Humans here. They didn't deserve the hell they were suffering from, either.

"Something is pressing heavily on you, Leo. Would you like to share your problem?" Luna offered to him, in what almost sounded like a maternal tone, which caught Leo's attention. As he looked at her for a moment, he recalled an old family mantra. 'The motherly shoulder of the Night will always warmly welcome and shield those who are torn asunder'. As he never understood the mantra, and wasn't entirely sure why the mantra came to mind when he looked at Luna, he shook his head and replied to her.

"Not something I want to alarm you with, but it goes hand-in-hand with how dangerous he is. To be quite honest, your current concern...is spot on. The Hive is definitely the main concern." Leo explained, mostly to himself. 'Angel won't even attempt to call Earth if The Hive is going to attack this planet. He'd most likely wait the attack out, and intervene if needed. Hah, I bet he is at least questioning his decision to twist me into this shape now.' Leo thought to himself with a smirk. As he thought about the second bit of irony of the situation Angel caused, Leo looked at both the Princesses and continued to explain about The Hive.

"Before I continue...does this planet have projectile weaponry at all? Save for bows?" Leo asked. When the Princesses shook their head, Leo sighed. "Well then, I'd hate to break it to you both, but that means this Planet is doomed. I don't even need a computer or calculator to tell you that, at this rate, every creature has a 0% survival rate. Your foe is too far technologically superior. I mean, sure, you two are super powerful, and I'm sure both of you could crush even the largest robot into a tiny cube, but that's just it: there are only two of you. And that works against you in two ways. One, being unable to be in multiple places at once, and two, even on ONE battlefront, the sheer numbers of their forces will be overwhelming." Leo explained, seeing the colors drain from the Princesses faces.

"My, you certainly know how to make a mare's day..." Luna voice strained, and she similarly struggled to chuckle afterwards.

"But you've dealt with these creature before? Surely there is a way to defeat those monsters!" Celestia pleaded with Leo, who looked depressed.

"I have, yeah...and, well. There used to be a way, but it's...gone now." Leo explained, now looking at the floor. "Being in this form...I'm liable to be easily killed. Twelve showed me that a few days ago. Unless I can get this curse removed, There really is no hope. And after all that, I'm still only half the equation." Leo finished quietly.

"We don't have the knowledge to reverse a spell of this caliber. This is ancient magic that hasn't been practiced for centuries, and it's known as the Transmutation School. This spell...was cast by a master of it. Tell me, you said that the dangerous person cast this upon you...where were you both when this occurred?" Luna asked Leo. Looking up from the floor, Leo thought for a moment, before his face became one of concern.

"I...can't remember. The only real thing I can recall is he mentioned something he described as 'pretty' called Nightmare."

"What?! Are you certain you heard correctly?" Celestia shouted at Leo using the Equestrian royal voice, albeit inadvertently, and caused him to recoil slightly again. Not waiting for an apology, Leo kept the conversation rolling along.

"Yeah, he definitely said 'Nightmare'. This 'Nightmare' must be a big bad, eh?" Leo asked, receiving a quiet and strained nod from Luna, who, Leo noted, looked to be trembling. Seeing his confused stare, she quickly excused herself from the room, citing 'a need for water'. Leo looked back to Celestia, his expression conveying his unvoiced questions. After a moment of collecting herself, Celestia explained.

"Long ago, Luna, my wonderful sister, was overtaken by jealousy of how Ponies frolicked during my Day, while her night was feared and ignored. Nightmare, whom Luna and I had dealt with in the past, appeared, and because Luna was weakened by her emotions of the time, Nightmare was able to take control of her, and cast an eternal night, plagued by nightmares. To end it all I...I ended up banishing her to the moon, and there she remained for one thousand years." Celestia told Leo, pausing for a moment to check his reaction for disdain of her actions. Seeing nothing but interest, she pressed on.

"It was only last year, when the 1000 year eve of my Sister's banishment and the Summer Sun Celebration was about to occur, and my star pupil, Twilight Sparkle, was completely aware of the signs of her impending return. However, by that time, everypony in Equestria had grown to view those events from centuries ago to simply be an old mare's tale. Events in Twilight's foalhood showed me that she was to be the one who would break her curse, however, to do so she would need a very special type of magic.

"I sent her to this town, the town of Ponyville, to make some friends, as she had none in Canterlot. As the day pressed on, she met many ponies, and five girls stood out amongst the rest. Once my Sister had escaped later that night, the six of them ventured into the Everfree forest, and after a series of events, they eventually stood before Nightmare Moon, as she called herself at the time. Eventually, they realized that the tools they needed to defeat Nightmare and rescue Luna, the Elements of Harmony, resided in all of them.

"Using the Elements of Harmony, they cast Nightmare from Luna's body, and, what we had previously thought, destroyed her completely. Afterwards, Luna was returned to the castle, to rest and begin catching up on Equestria's history." Celestia finished, and watched Leo for a moment as he processed the large volume of information.

"Can I ask you something, Princess?" Leo suddenly asked her. When she nodded, he continued. "Is there a library I can actually visit? You mentioned a lot of key pieces of information, and I'm getting the vibe that I should know what they are. Not to mention, I just need general information of this place, if I'm going to be stuck here until it gets wiped out." Leo finished gloomily. Looking at Leo, Celestia could hear a number of hooves clicking on the tiles outside in the hallway, and sensed the magical presence of one of them. Smiling, she looked towards Leo.

"Yes, there is. The Librarian would be happy to assist you in finding any information you require. In fact, here she is now." Celestia motioned to the doorway as she sidled away from it, Leo's expectant eyes looking towards it. His expression quickly shifted to one of complete indignation.

"For the love of--!"

/*----------------------------------------------*//n

All of the ponies that were in the hospital room with Princess Celestia had been bickering as they were leaving the hospital, which at the time had annoyed Princesses Celestia extremely. She had heard that Twilight and her friends, and Leo hadn't gotten along at all, but she wasn't prepared for this level of animosity. Princess Luna had reappeared when they entered the Hospital lobby, and had mercilessly teleported away as she heard the commotion, citing the need to 'rally the troops for drills' as an excuse, leaving Celestia to her misery. The constant tense silence as they walked to Twilight's library was beginning to wear on Celestia's last nerve as anger bubbled up in herself, and she began to wonder if she preferred the bickering; at least then, they were communicating.

She sighed again, as she vowed to get back at Luna for what she seriously considered calling treason. Once they finally got to Twilight's library, Celestia let loose one final, drawn out sigh which caused Twilight to stop glaring at Leo and stare at Celestia with concern.

"Alright everypony, I understand that your personalities clash, but Leo needs guidance. His memory loss is expansive, and until he can get a handle on a number of subjects that you all take for granted, I don't feel comfortable in having him wander around the country on his lonesome." Celestia explained to the girls, who nodded begrudgingly, save for Pinkie Pie, who was excited to have a chance to plan a party, and Fluttershy, who was busying being too shy to truely worry about Leo's attitude.

"Seriously, I DON'T need Anypony's help, I--" Leo had begun to argue, but was stopped dead in his tracks when Celestia glared at him.

"You wanted information, yes? Twilight's library will have what you were searching for. If you want that information, then you must agree to being looked after." Princess Celestia gave Leo as an ultimatum. As she was still wearing the same heart-stopping glare, Leo didn't hesitate to nod quickly and silently in agreement. "Good. It's settled then." Celestia replied happily, the calm and peaceful stare that was a common sight returning. "Before I leave you in the hooves of these capable girls, I just want you to know that Luna and I shall begin to research the origins of...your affliction. Once we get some information, we'll send you a letter." Celestia promised, and with the crack of a whip and flash of light, she disappeared. As Leo looked around, anywhere but at the girls, he noticed a building deep in the town that had a slot in it's roof. Perking his interest, and hazarding a guess at what it was, Leo stood up. Even if he was wrong, at least he could become more familiar with his surroundings, if not at least his own new body.

"Right, well then, I'm off to look around town." Leo suddenly announced, heading back into town with an unsteady trot.

"Oooh! Oooh, do you want some company? I could show you Sugarcube corner, and we could get something to eat!" Pinkie Pie asked.

"No." Leo replied quickly, without looking at Pinkie, who suddenly frowned, grumbling about a 'Mr. Grumpypants..'.

"I thought you were looking for information about things?" Twilight asked him, raising her voice slightly so she could be heard. She decided she might as well try to get along with Leo, if not for her own sake, then atleast for Celestia's. Leo turned around, nodding.

"And I'm doing just that. Besides, gives you a chance to clean the library up without interruptions." Leo shouted back. Twilight became confused at this statement, not to mentioned irritated, so she trotted up to him.

"How did you know it was a mess?"

"Oh, just a hunch. I mean, I can't REALLY see you mares coming by my room again to say 'Hello!' after our last 'discussion', which means you came by for info on the robots, which I expected meant you looked through almost every applicable book. Meaning that a high degree of probability that a mess was created exists. I'd even wager you looked through books that had no real connection to the topic as well." Leo explained himself to Twilight. As she was processing the information he had given her, Leo continued to trot his way into town.

"But- wait! The Princess said we had to monitor you!" Twilight exclaimed.

"Yes, she did, but does she honestly expect you all to watch me every waking moment of your lives? I doubt it." Leo replied. As she watched Leo head down the path into town, she turned back, fuming slightly, towards the library, where her friends were waiting.

"Wow, what a jerk. Breaking a promise with Princess Celestia like that the second she leaves..." Rainbow Dash grumbled as she looked over Twilight at the green Stallion in the distance. Twilight shook her head as she approached them.

"Oh, I doubt he is breaking his promise with her, did you see the look on his face when she used 'the voice'? I have to say, though, he certainly IS content with pushing the boundaries of it." Twilight explained, relaying what Leo had told her to her friends.

"My, it sounds like he certainly has a large grasp on logic. Perhaps I was a bit quick to label him as an oaf." Rarity mused, confusing Pinkie Pie slightly.

"An oaf? Does that mean you thought he was stupid?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. Applejack chuckled as she turned to head into the library.

"Girls, ah suspect that even if he can see things at different angles, he probably has a fair share of stupidity that presents itself on occasion."

"Huh? What makes you say that?" Rainbow Dash asked, as she and the others followed Applejack inside.

"Oh, tha main reason bein' hes a Stallion." Applejack finished with a smirk, to which all the girls giggled.

/*----------------------------------------------*//n

As Leo wandered down through the town at the slow pace of a walk (He gave up on keeping a trot after he face-planted in front of a group of fillies, who burst out laughing), he finally found a street that led to the circular building. Upon approaching it, he noticed that it was a store dedicated to astrology, as it featured a series of telescopes displayed in it's main front window. From the angel he was at, he did see a large telescope housed within the build, so at least that was a start. As he approached the building, he noticed price tags underneath the telescopes with various numbers indicating their value, along with what appeared to be the Greek symbol for Beta.

"Can I assist you, somehow, sir..?" A mare of dark blue fur, who didn't look much younger than Leo, asked from the door to the store. As Leo surveyed the store keeper, he noticed a star field plastered onto either side of her rump. As he looked at her, an idea popped into his head. It was a long-shot, but...

"Yes! At least, I hope you can. That opening at the top of the building," Leo motioned, using a hoof to point at the roof, "Is it there for a high-powered telescope?"

"Why, yes! It is! We also take pictures of the sky, in a 360 degree radius. It's not as strong as the Titan Telescope in the Conterlot mountain ranges, but don't go doubting it's capabilities!" The mare explained happily, a pair of specs that Leo hadn't noticed before sliding down her snout slightly as she nodded happily. "Sir, are you an amateur astrologer?" she suddenly asked.

"Yeah, you could definitely say I am. Would it be possible to take a look at some of those photos? I saw some of the events from the past few days in my really cheap telescope, but I couldn't get a decent view..." Leo trailed off, drooping his head to look at the ground, hoping that the mare would take pity and let him look. Something had been nagging him for a while, and he just needed to see what happened, just before reentry. His ploy seemed to work, as the mare nodded quickly. Looking at her, he supposed the search for pity might have been unnecessary, as the store keeper looked happy to share information with a fellow 'astrologer'.

"Yes, yes, of course! Come inside, follow me!" The mare beckoned, and Leo couldn't help but smirk, regardless of how hard he tried. The mare seemed not to take notice, however, as she made no mention of it, even as she looked at him excitedly. It didn't take Leo long to suspect that he was the first person in a while to visit her store, and felt a little bad about not being in the store to purchase anything.

As the mare finally looked forward and led him up a staircase that had a sign saying 'Employees Only', he reminded himself that even if he wanted to purchase anything, he lacked the funds to do so as it was. And as they approached the telescope, he remember the Beta symbols on the price tags, to which he decided to ask about both items. "Say, just out of curiosity, do you rent out use of this telescope? If so, how many...ah...how many..." Leo pretended to be fighting for a word, acting as if it was 'on the tip' of his tongue.

"Bits? Well, uhm, this is the first time anypony has asked about it, but if you were interested, I suppose 15 bits an hour would suffice." The mare offered, which sated Leo's nagging curiosity about the currency's name. And it also offered him the option of taking a peek into the sky at night, to figure out where the heck he was in the galaxy.

Having never heard of a planet like this in any records, Leo suspected he and Angel managed to find themselves in one of the hundreds of thousands of unexplored sectors. Which, even though this made his objective of locating his position extremely difficult, if he coupled that with the knowledge of the direction and angel of his reentry, he probably wouldn't have to spend too much time figuring things out.

'Ah, but you forget about the fact that you spent five long years staring at Angel as you floated through space. That's certainly a long time that things like gravity had to play with you.' The logical part of his brain seemed to tease. Annoyed, Leo wished his brain hadn't thrown that 'what if?' at him. He didn't need anymore problems to worry about, he was already in a tight spot. And that was putting it mildly. Extremely mildly.

"Which area of the sky would you like to take a peek at?" The mare suddenly asked him, causing him to jump slightly.

"Oh, sorry, uhm...Actually, I'd like to take a peek of any photos you have of that huge asteroid coming in." Leo asked.

"Oooh, so you noticed it too, huh? The fact that it didn't burn up, but we're all still here?" The mare asked, suddenly up in Leo's face, making him uncomfortable. Trying to make her move back, Leo nodded slowly. "Yeah, I heard some crazy rumors that a weird, furless, pink pony that stood on two legs grabbed it as if it was nothing, and then walked into the ocean with it! I doubt that's the case, however, as I also heard that both the Princesses were on the beach that night, and they even denied that happening. Why would they simply throw it into the ocean, though?" The mare mused. She was only at it for a moment, however, as she suddenly got into Leo's face again, once again making him uncomfortable.

"But, THAT'S not the real mystery, is it? The real mystery is the asteroid itself, yes? What was it made of that wouldn't let it burn up?" The mare had asked Leo, only to pull back and gasp suddenly. "What...what if it was an alien ship?! Oh, if only the Princesses hadn't tossed it into the sea, the things we could learn from an alien race!"

"Yeah, the things we could learn, for sure!" Leo struggled to smile with his reply. As painfully unaware as she was, the mare was dead on with her suspicion. Having seen the level of technology that this world possessed, save for a few pieces of electrical equipment and other things, Ponies seemed to be (as Leo estimated) around 300 years behind the Human Race. His head hurt when he tried to compare them to Cluster Prime's technological standing.

"Sorry, I'm just rambling, here are the photos! Can't you see? That weird asteroid actually looks somewhat like some sort of artificial construction! Not to mention, there is a much smaller strange shape to the side of it. Any hunches on what it is?" The mare asked, as Leo stared at the image. The picture did have some blurring, but the main issue was how small that he and Angel looked in the ice. He couldn't see much at all in most of the images, which were all pretty similar, until...

"Say, whats this purple shape to the right of the rectangle one?" Leo asked, the mare taking a quick glance at the image, and waved it off with a hoof.

"Not exactly sure, but my business partner and I suspect it was simply a bug that flew in front of the lens at the wrong time." The mare explained. The more Leo stared at it, the more he became intrigued.

"How long was it from this image to when the asteroid made landfall?" Leo asked.

"Oh, not long, I'm afraid. Probably about two minutes. I wasn't able to get a proper shot after that last photo, either. Such a shame..." the mare shook her head sadly. Leo hadn't heeded her any attention once she gave him the info he needed, however, as his brain was working in overdrive.

'If that's a close estimate, that shape's arrival seems to correlate to when Angel suddenly burst the frozen fuel without setting it off. Not to mention, it might explain him flying extremely far with the slightest punch from me.' Leo run the scenario through his head. 'Angel definitely wasn't kidding about being powered up. I can only recall a sudden power surge from him right before the fuel breaking away, and this shape, if it's actually there at the right time...this shape must be this mystical 'Nightmare'.' Leo surmised. If the power that Angel possessed was going to become a regular occurrence, Leo didn't have an ice cube's hope in hell that he'd survive another encounter, Pony OR Robot.

"Could I see some pictures of the same area, but last night, if you have them?" Leo asked the mare, who obliged silently, curious as to what he was hoping to see. As he looked, smack dab in the middle of the image was a number of small green stars. Leo tapped his right hoof on the image and looked at the mare. "Where these stars here before?"

"Hmm...actually...no, no they weren't. My heavens, how did we miss that? What are they? I must take a look tonight!" The mare finished with a tone of finality, after snapping it up from Leo's grasp. As he stared at the image as the mare studied it from a desk, Leo gave a small sigh.

'At least they're a few months away...if this curse can be reversed, I might be able to do SOMETHING...' Leo thought to himself. He looked at the image he left sitting on the desk, and stared at the shape in it again. He wasn't sure what good it would do him at any point, but he decided to see if he could obtain a copy. "Uhm, ma'am, would I be able to have a copy of this photo? The one with the ah...bug? If there is a charge, I'm afraid I'm completely broke..." Leo explained, honestly downtrodden about his financial state. The mare simply laughed and waved her hoof again.

"Don't worry about it, that photo isn't of any importance with that bug on the lens like that. Go ahead and take the original with you." The mare insisted. Leo smiled at the kindness the mare gave him, and he tucked the photo into 'his' cloak. "Is that everything you needed...absolutely everything?" The mare asked him, fluttering her eyelids slightly as she looked at Leo, a slight blush on her cheeks. When he nodded, she sighed slightly, and led him back to the store entrance. "If you need anything when it comes to astrology, you know where to find us!" The mare shouted to Leo as he walked down the steps from the store.

"I'll be sure to come directly to you, ma'am! Thanks again!" Leo thanked her again, waving a hoof at her. As he turned back down the street and decided to return to the library and brave the onslaught of annoyance, he determined that the storekeeper was a good person, regardless of her knack of getting into his face. But he couldn't shake the feeling that when she had asked him if he wanted anything else in the store, she'd been implying about something completely unrelated to astrology...