Runaway

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3

Chapter 1

Mom, Dad, Caeli, Terra, Ignis:

I guess you already know that I’m gone. Please don’t see this as me trying to protect you all. I just want answers from the ponies that live in Equestria. I need to find out if they know about Gallopolli, and if so, why haven’t they done anything about an alicorn living here like myself? Especially if they want to kill me and anypony involved with me and magic. Please, don’t try to follow me, I need to do this on my own. If you want to move, that’s fine, but I think you’re safe where you’re at now. I don’t think Nexus can find you here.

If I make it to Equestria and the ponies there are welcoming....then I’ll try to start a new life there, because what I have here...I can’t live like this. I shouldn’t live like this. Hiding and being afraid....there’s nothing for me here. I’ll see you all again, I promise.

Velux

Velux’s horn stopped glowing as he set the quill down. The alicorn picked up his note with his mouth and set it down on the table by the door. Velux then levitated his saddlebags filled with supplies onto his back. He also sheathed his father’s dagger at his side, Velux hoped that he wouldn’t have to use it, but it was better to have some sort of defense. He took one last look at his family, all of them asleep, all of them earth ponies. Why? Velux was an alicorn, how could he be their son? Velux knew, deep down, that they weren’t his real family, not by blood.

No, it shouldn’t matter if he wasn’t related to them. He had been raised by them since he had been born, and that made them his family. Nothing, not even learning about his real parents, would change that. Velux opened the door to their home silently and stepped outside. He looked towards the Everfree Forest, the only way to Equestria besides the guarded roads and the mountains, none of which were practical ways to get to Equestria as the guards on the roads would be looking for him and the mountains were too dangerous for Velux. He had never learned to fly, the most he could do was glide a few feet off the ground. Nopony had ever been through the Everfree Forest so it should be relatively unguarded.

It was the supposed inhabitants of the forest that concerned Velux. Manticores, cockatrices, and who knows what else? Velux took a deep breath, determined to reach his destination and began to set off toward the forest, not wanting to look back at his home, his family.

“Velux?”

Velux’s stomach lurched, he froze on the spot before he could even get more than a few feet away from his home. Slowly, he turned around to see his sister, Terra, staring at him. Terra was nearly identical to her twin sister Caeli, her light tan coat matched Caeli’s; her emerald colored mane was usually held together by a single bow. Terra stared at Velux with her orange eyes,

“What are you doing?”

Velux sighed, and started to walk back towards Terra.

“You didn’t see my note?” Velux asked.

“I read it,” said Terra, pawing the ground with her hoof, “I don’t understand why you won’t take us with you.”

Velux looked down to the ground.

“Because... I need to know if it’s safe first. I need to do this alone.” Velux said, “Besides, it’s too dangerous to move all of us at the same time, we’d never make it to Equestria.”

Terra’s tone shifted, she sounded more angry, more accusing.

“So you’re just going to leave us here? You know that Nexus is still going to try to kill us, even if you’re gone! Just going away isn’t going to change that!”

Velux’s ears dropped, he had always been close to Terra. To hear her be this angry at him was unsettling.

“I know...” Velux admitted “But it’ll be easier for me to make it to Equestria if I’m on my own. I can be more discreet and I can find a safe passage. I’m sorry, really I am, but I just need to do this alone.”

Terra sighed, “I guess I can’t change your mind, can I?”

“No.”

“Then go. Wherever you go, it can’t be much worse than here.”

Velux stared at Terra, surprised at her willingness to let her brother go. Finally, Velux was able to speak.

“You didn’t see me?”

“No,” said Terra, smiling, “I didn’t.”

Velux hugged Terra, and she hugged back. Now that Velux’s departure had been hindered, he almost didn’t want to go, to not have to say goodbye to Terra in person, to go back to bed and talk things over with everypony else in the morning.

No, it was easier like this, Terra might be willing to let him go but the others might not. Especially his mother and Caeli. Finally, Velux and Terra broke apart.

“Goodbye, Terra.” Velux said.

“Goodbye,” Terra said, her lip trembling, “Stay safe.”

“I will,” said Velux, finally turning away from Terra and walking slowly towards the Everfree Forest, towards Equestria.

As Velux neared the bottom of the hill that his home sat upon, he thought he heard Terra start to sob; but when Velux looked back at his house, the door was closed.

***

Velux pulled his cloak from his saddlebags and put it on before approaching the Everfree Forest. His mother had made it for him so he could conceal himself whenever he needed to go to a public place. It covered his wings pretty well, but his horn was still barely visible. Still, from a distance, he would look like an ordinary traveler. That was what Velux wanted, distance from any of the soldier ponies Nexus might have sent to guard the Everfree Forest. Of course, the most preferable way to get into the forest was not to be seen at all.

As Velux got closer he started to see movement. Whether they were Nexus ponies, or ponies at all, was still unclear. As Velux started to move farther away from the anomaly, though, he began to hear voices.

“....don’t know why we’re stationed here. He’d never try to go through the forest, it’s too dangerous.” a stallion said, bored and frustrated.

“If Liordani says that we have to guard this place, we have to guard it.” said another stallion, “The kid’s not stupid, he knows that we have the roads heavily guarded, and nopony would be crazy enough to try to scale those mountains.”

Damn, Velux thought. He knew Liordani’s name; he was a big supporter of Nexus, and the only kind of authority Velux had heard of within the organization. His father used to serve with him in the guard shortly before Velux had been born. There was no time to think of that though; the voices were close. He was surprised he hadn’t been caught already.

As Velux started to slowly walk away from the voices he stepped on a twig. The crack would’ve been loud enough to wake the whole forest. Velux stopped, nearly cursing at himself out loud.

“What was that?” the first Nexus pony said.

“Probably just an animal.” the second pony said in a stressed voice, as if his companion had done this many times before.

“No, there’s somepony there. I know it!” the first pony said. “Hello? Is anypony there?”

The soldier pony started walking towards the spot where Velux remained hidden behind a tree. For a moment Velux considered running as far away as he can from the Nexus ponies. But he realized that would lead to a chase that would set off alarms all over Gallopolli. Slowly Velux pulled his father’s dagger from it’s sheath with his mouth. He felt slightly queasy at the thought of what he was about to do, but he didn’t see any viable alternative.

As the soldier neared his hiding spot, Velux held his breath. Fortunately, it was dark in the forest and the soldier could barely see in front of him.

“Hell-” the soldier pony didn’t have time to finish his sentence, Velux leapt from his hiding spot, dagger in mouth, and drove it into soldier pony’s chest. Velux covered the pony’s mouth with his hoof to muffle his screams.

“What was that, Bones? You catch that rabbit yet?” the second pony chuckled to himself, oblivious to the fact that his friend was now dying.

Velux’s hoof stiffled a choke as the Nexus pony’s blood began to seep from the wound and trickled into Velux’s mouth. Velux pulled the dagger out, hoof still covering the pony’s mouth and stabbed him again where his heart was. His hoof stiffled another scream from the dying pony. Finally, after a few moments of struggling, the Nexus pony closed his eyes and lay still.

Velux slowly removed his hoof from the pony’s mouth and let go of the the dagger still embedded in his chest. He dragged his body behind a fallen tree a short distance from the struggle, doing all he could to keep himself from gagging. Velux pulled his dagger from the pony’s chest, sheathed it and began to run deeper into the forest, keeping his hoof falls from being too loud.

He finally stopped running when he had reached a clearing to catch his breath. Velux tasted blood; another pony’s blood. Velux retched as he took a quick drink from his canteen and spit out the vile substance. As Velux stared at the small puddle, he began to realize what had just occurred. He had just killed somepony! He had never done such a thing before! Even if he would’ve killed him if he had the chance, he couldn’t get the muffled screams out his head.....the image of his dead body stuffed out of sight behind the tree....

Velux retched again and doubled over, he nearly vomited, but held it down. The now dead Nexus pony’s companion would surely begin searching for him and discover the body...

He had to keep moving. Taking a minute to compose himself, Velux stood up and began to head deeper into the forest.

It only took a few minutes for Velux to realize that he was lost. He had been so shaken, so frightened of his murderous act that he completely forgot to follow the road that was said to lead to Equestria. Though nopony from Gallopolli had ever crossed the Everfree Forest and lived to tell the tale. Velux fought through the thick forest, sharp branches cutting through his coat. Everytime he had heard the slightest sound, Velux froze and stared blankly into the dark forest, waiting to hear the roar of some horrible monster coming to tear him to shreds, before moving on.

After what seemed like hours of futile struggling, the branches became less thick, less menacing. Velux finally cleared the branches and found himself on a road. It was a worn and what seemed to be a less traveled road, but it was the only navigation Velux had. Checking to see that nothing had been lost in his struggle against the forest, Velux followed the road in the opposite direction from where he came from at a trot.

It was only a short while before Velux found himself at the edge of a cliff, an old wooden bridge leading to a ruined castle. This was obviously not the way to Equestria, Velux thought that he should head back and try to see if he can connect to the main road, but something about the ruins made him curious. Velux tentatively crossed the bridge, looking down the whole way to make sure that he didn’t step on any loose boards. When he was free of the bridge, Velux set off toward the castle.

***

There wasn’t anything special about the hall he had entered, the ceiling had been collapsed and debris from the ceiling was scattered across the floor. Vines and branches from the forest had begun to creep through the shattered windows and wrap themselves around anything they could reach. Though something in the center of the hall did intrigue Velux, six stone outcroppings surrounding a large central one. The outcroppings looked as if there were supposed to be globes set on them, but they were gone. Velux deduced that whatever was supposed to be there had been taken when the castle was abandoned or destroyed.

As Velux approached the stone outcroppings he noticed an inscription on the central part.

The Elements of Harmony

To be placed here in memory of Nightmare Moon’s

banishment by Princess Celestia’s wielding of the

Elements

Velux barely had time to ponder what the inscription meant before something wrapped itself around his neck and pull him to the floor. Velux looked over his shoulder, half-choking, and saw that he had been lassoed.

“Haha! You got him! Pull him in! Liordani will want to see this!” said the Nexus pony standing next to the pony who lassoed Velux.

Velux fought and struggled but could not get his neck free of the rope. It was only constricting his breathing further, and it appeared that he had no choice but to go along with the unfortunate situation.

As Velux was pulled in to the Nexus ponies, another set of ropes was tied around his hooves. A few of the Nexus ponies kicked him as he was pulled out of the castle ruins and back outside. Velux looked up again and saw a tall, muscular earth pony. He had a tan coat and his mane was shaved off, and on his face was a look of pure contempt for the alicorn laying before him.

“Thought you could try to slip away in the night, didn’t you?” said the earth pony, who Velux assumed to be Liordani, “You haven’t done a very good job, your murder rang alarm bells all throughout Nexus. I think that will be enough for a hanging, in addition to being a filthy magic pony.”

“Your men would’ve killed me anyway!” Velux retorted, “I had no choice!”

“But who would believe you?” Liordani replied.

Velux opened his mouth to respond, but said nothing. He was right. Who in Gallopolli, a land where magic ponies are considered to be criminals, would believe him?

“Come on, let’s get him in the cage and back to Gallopolli.” Liordani ordered his troops.

Velux received another kick and was then dragged across the bridge in a single file line. A large cage drawn by two Nexus ponies waited on the other side of the bridge. The rope around Velux’s midsection was taken off before he was thrown into the cage where it was slammed shut and locked.

“Let’s go,” said Liordani, “and no talking to the prisoner.”

The ponies drawing the cage started to trot down the road back towards Gallopolli. The cage bumped and shook on the rough road and Velux bounced around in the cage, unable to move with his bonds still secured tightly to his hooves.

“Great job, Velux,” Velux thought to himself, “You leave a perfectly safe home, kill somepony, and get captured all within a few hours. Some alicorn you are.”

Velux wanted nothing more than to be out of this cage and back home with his family. Then he wouldn’t be in this mess, trapped and being led to his death. As the cage bumped on a particularly large rock, Velux flipped over onto his back and his father’s knife fell out of his saddlebags and onto the floor of the cage.

For a few moments, Velux simply stared at it, unable to believe his luck. Liordani and his colts forgot to remove his saddlebags, or they had simply thought that he had lost his knife or had no weapon at all. Looking outside the cage to make sure that nopony was looking, Velux managed to lift the knife with magic and into his mouth. Velux started to cut away at his bonds, his knife in his mouth. Every now and then, he would stop and make sure that nopony noticed that he was freeing himself.

When the last of the rope was cut free, Velux remained in his submissive position. It would be a mistake to get up when he was supposed to be tied up. None of it mattered anyway, Velux was free of the ropes, but not of the cage. He was still as trapped as before, completely at the mercy of Nexus. Velux thought that he might as well make a run for it when they opened the cage next and hope for the best. It was his best, and only, plan at the moment.

“Hold up, I think I heard something.” said Liordani suddenly, “You. Go check it out.”

Curious, Velux looked outside his cage and watched as a soldier pony pass the cage and move into the forest. It was deathly quiet on the road, nopony made a single sound as they waited for the Nexus pony’s report. After a few minutes of silence, there was a rustling from the forest and the soldier pony stepped back out onto the road.

“There’s nothing th-”

A great roar seemed to shake the trees of the forest as a large creature came out of the forest and swiped the soldier pony into the air with it’s paw. The pony flew over Velux’s cage and landed a few feet away, dead. Another roar came from behind their procession, and a few of the Nexus ponies yelled and drew their swords to combat the threat.

“Go! Get the prisoner out of here! We’ll catch up!” shouted Liordani to the ponies pulling Velux’s cage.

The ponies did not need to be told twice. The cage lurched as they set off down the road, more roars came out from all around them. Whatever the creatures were, there was an entire pack of them. As they turned a corner onto the side of a small cliff, another roar came out from above them and the creature crashed on top of the cage.

A claw ripped through the hole of the cage and started to swipe at the air, hoping to kill its prey. Velux picked up his knife and drove it into the paw, the creature gave another roar and the paw retreated. Then, another great crash hit the cage on its right side, sending them tumbling down the cliff. Velux flew around the cage, smashing into the walls and the cage rolled down the cliff at an alarming speed. The cage gave another great lurch, and Velux’s head banged into the bars, knocking him unconcious.

Velux blinked blood out of his eyes as he woke. He hurt all over, every part of his body felt as if it had been beaten with a hammer. Velux slowly got up and felt his head, it was wet with blood, but it felt like only a small scratch. His luck still holding, Velux examined his surroundings. The door to his cage had burst open in the crash and Velux climbed out.

The cage had been flipped over, and the creatures nowhere in sight. The two ponies who had drawn his cage were getting up on their hooves, heavily bruised with gashes all around their bodies. The Nexus ponies looked around and saw Velux standing outside of the cage.

“You little bastard.” said one pony as they advanced on Velux.

Velux desperately looked around for his knife and saw it lying a few feet away from the destroyed cage. He lunged for it, picked it up and turned to his attackers, ready to fight for his life.

“When we get a hold of you...” the pony growled as they drew their swords in their mouths.

Suddenly, a scorpion’s tail pierced the neck of the pony that was making threats. He stopped in his tracks, foam coming out of his mouth, the tail withdrew, and the pony fell to the ground. The creatures who had been attacking them had now revealed itself, it was not a scorpion, but a manticore. It’s lion’s body strong and large, with sinister wings at its side. The other soldier pony yelled and turned away from Velux toward the manticore.

Velux finally saw his opportunity to escape and ran away from the wreckage, giving no thought to the pony now fighting the manticore alone. Velux heard the pony scream and his body flew over his head and landed in front of him, Velux leaped over the body and continued to ran as fast as his legs could carry him. He mentally kicked himself for never learning how to fly.

The manticore had managed to catch up to Velux and swiped his side with its paw. Velux screamed as he fell off to the side, a gash in his torso. Velux was only starting to get up when the manticore lunged again at his head, Velux tried to jump out of the way, but it was too late.

The paw struck him straight in his horn. A sharp pain lanced through it, more intense than he had felt the whole night, or any other, really. Velux saw a large piece of his horn fly off and land yards away from him. Velux raced to the broken piece of his horn and picked it up with his mouth. He didn’t know why he did it, maybe there would be a way to re-attach it. The manticore still pursuing him, Velux ran deeper into the forest, hoping to lose him in the thick trees. He saw a hollowed out tree that could accommodate his size and leaped inside. The manticore’s paw reached inside and clawed at him. Raising his knife again, Velux stabbed the paw. The manticore yelped then looked inside the tree, his large eye visible.

Velux thrust the blade into the manticore’s eye, hoping that this would be the killing blow. The manticore did not die, but instead roared, clutching his bleeding eye and ran off into the forest. Cautiously, Velux came out of the tree and looked around. No more manticores, he was finally safe. A sharp, burning pain came from his side and Velux realized that he was wounded with a broken horn and once again lost in the Everfree Forest. Velux examined his wounds from the manticore and saw that in addition to his own blood, there was some sort of sickly green pus oozing as well. He knew not what it was, but he could only assume that there must have been some kind of toxin on the manticore’s claws. Still his head wound was not poisoned, and so Velux retrieved a bandage from his saddlebags and wrapped it around his head to stop the bleeding. He also did this to the poisoned wound, if only to stop the bleeding.

Looking around, Velux could not see the cliff from which his cage had fallen nor the wreckage. He wouldn’t dare to try to climb back up, he was too hurt, and he was sure that Liordani and his followers would be searching the roads, if they managed to survive the manticore attack.

It was nearing dawn, and Velux was stumbling through the forest, losing blood and consciousness. He’d escaped Nexus and the manticores, but if he did not recieve medical attention then he would bleed out in the middle of the forest or succumb to the effects of the manticore’s poison. He turned a corner and saw a small hut hidden away inside the trees, smoke flowing out of the chimney and odd chanting coming from inside.

Velux, using the last of his strength and nearly crawling, started toward the hut. Whether they were friend or foe he didn’t know, nor did he much care. Velux managed to make it to the front door of the hut and raised his hoof with the intent of pushing the door open, but only succeeding in knocking lamely against the door a single time. The chanting stopped, and he heard hoofsteps approaching the door. Velux’s vision blurred, and everything went black as he fell onto his throbbing side.

Chapter 2

Velux’s eyes slowly opened as he woke up.

His eyelids felt as if they weighed half a ton, and every fiber of his being ached from his ordeal. Still, he was alive at the very least. Velux looked around the hut in which he had arrived at. It was a small home with a single room and a small bed in which Velux lay.

Velux tried to get up, but the pain was so severe it made him gasp out and lay back down. He wondered who lived here, and was reminded of how thankful he should be. Whoever lived here saw that he had been through some sort of calamity and had put a roof over his head in which to recover.

There was nopony in the hut at the moment, Velux was just starting to wonder where they were when the door to the meager home opened.

She was no pony, Velux could see that. Though she could’ve passed for one if it weren’t for the stripes along her body. She wore odd rings around her neck and her leg, with a large ring pierced around her ear. She was carrying an assortment of plants in a basket on her back.

The strange pony looked at Velux and smiled.

“Ah, the alicorn is awake I see. The one I found unconscious at the base of my tree..."

Velux took in the pony’s odd appearance and could think of nothing else to say to her.

“What are you?” Velux felt embarrassed asking the rude question, but the pony still smiled.

“I am a zebra from a distant land, as you can see, I have saved you from Death’s hand.”

Velux examined the fresh bandages across his head and his side.

“Thank you.” Velux said.

“Welcome, you most certainly are.” the zebra smiled.

The zebra walked over to a cupboard by Velux’s sick bed and pulled out a large cauldron, she dragged it with her mouth over to a makeshift kettle, poured water inside the cauldron, and lit a fire beneath it. Velux watched the zebra as she tended to the cauldron, occasionally placing the plants from the basket inside, humming the entire time. Velux finally brought himself to ask more questions.

“What’s your name?”

“Zecora,” the zebra replied, “and what is your name, young alicorn? For it would be wise for me to know who this stranger is and where he was born.”

“My name is Velux.” Velux answered, “I came from Gallopolli. Have you ever heard of it?”

For the first time, Zecora frowned.

“Indeed, I have been to that terrible place,” she said sadly, “it is unfortunate that you come from a land where the ponies there despise your race.”

There was a moments silence as Zecora shifted her focus to the cauldron in front of her. Then, Velux spoke up again.

“What about Equestria? Have you been there? Is it far from here?”

“Yes, I have been there, it is not far from here.” Zecora said looking up from the cauldron. “Have you fled from those horrible Gallopollian earth ponies, the ones who despise magic? It is most tragic.”

“Yeah... didn’t go so well, I guess.” Velux said, “I ran into some trouble on my way here.”

“But you have escaped. Though I see, a part of your horn they have scraped.”

Velux gave a small gasp, and clutched a hoof to his horn, reminded of the events of his escape from Nexus.

“Do you have a mirror?” Velux asked Zecora.

Zecora went over to her cupboard again and held up a small mirror for Velux to inspect the damage done to his horn. Nearly a half of it was now gone, the remaining part hidden away in Velux’s saddlebags. Velux wondered if his days of using magic were over, he never actually used magic much but the thought of never being able to do it again unnerved him.

“Who did this to you?” Zecora asked.

“A manticore.” said Velux, lying back down on the bed.

“The one who poisoned you?”

“Yeah... I don’t suppose you did anything about that either, huh?”

“Yes,” Zecora replied, placing the mirror back in the cupboard and going back to her cauldron, “you were lucky that you arrived here so soon.”

“So... am I gonna be alright?” Velux asked.

“Feel better soon, you easily will. Easy you must take it, otherwise you’ll never make it. A herbal brew, I am making you, help you recover, you will discover.”

Velux, now relieved, just realized how hungry he was. He hadn’t had a meal in however many days he had been left unconscious in Zecora’s care. He didn’t have to wait long, after a few minutes and some mumbling by Zecora, she brought him his soup, which Velux began to eat eagerly. It wasn’t the best tasting stuff, but Velux began to feel more alert and energized and most of the pain went away.

“Jeez, that has some kick...” Velux complemented, “What is this stuff?”

“My homeland it comes from, from generation to generation it has been passed on.”

“Do you have a recipe or anything?” Velux said. “If I knew how to make it, it would be pretty useful.”

“Perhaps one day, I may.” Zecora said.

Velux slowly got up from the bed and stretched, his bones cracking.

“How long was I out?” Velux asked.

“The days I counted two, but I see you have come through.” Zecora answered.

Velux’s stomach flipped, he suddenly felt more hungry than he had been before. He opened his saddlebags that lay by the bed, pulled out a sandwich and began to eat again. Zecora tended to the small home while Velux ate. When he had finished, Velux shouldered his saddlebags and walked over to Zecora, who had finished cleaning the cauldron and was placing it back inside the cupboard.

“I need to get into Equestria. Can you take me there? You said it wasn’t far.”

Zecora closed the cupboard and thought for a moment.

“Ponyville is quite near, you could make it there, do not fear.”

“Okay then,” Velux said, “when can we go?”

“We can start, when you are ready to depart.”

* * *

The journey to the end of the Everfree Forest went by without incident. Though Velux constantly looked over his shoulder Zecora lead the way, expecting manticores or Nexus to come bursting through the trees. Velux had removed his bandages along the way, his wounds healed to minor scratches and bruises under Zecora’s care. His horn, however, was the only thing left unhealed.

Velux was thinking of possible ways to repair his horn when Zecora threw out her hoof to stop him.

“Beware! Those leaves of blue are not a joke!” Zecora said cryptically.

Velux looked down and saw that he had almost walked into a field of small, blue stalks.

“What is it?” asked Velux, leaning forward.

“Poison joke.” answered Zecora, stopping Velux again, “It is much like poison oak, but it’s effects, are like a joke!”

Velux inspected the plants again, trying not to touch them; he had never seen any plant like this in Gallopolli. It seemed almost magical. Had the earth ponies of Gallopolli wiped out every trace of magic? It seemed far-fetched and extreme, but Velux wouldn’t put it past them.

“A year ago, ponies six, were affected by this plants enchants, but superstition was their mission, from Ponyville they kept me, the truth they could not see.”

Zecora giggled. Though Velux didn’t know what was so amusing, Zecora seemed like a nice zebra, why would anypony try to keep her away?

“You’re not welcome in Ponyville?” Velux asked, concerned. He didn’t want to have to do anymore sneaking.

“Enter, I can.” Zecora said, “The ponies in Ponyville, because of fear they did not let me in, until those ponies six, I helped to fix and their trust I gained, entrance to Ponyville I obtained, gathering supplies has been much less of a pain.”

Velux sighed out in relief, maybe the ponies of Equestria wouldn’t be so bad after all. If they were willing to accept a zebra, they should welcome an alicorn.

It was only a few minutes before they had reached the edge of the forest, and Velux could finally see that it was dusk. Off in the distance, Velux could see a small town, with a path leading from it to where Velux and Zecora were standing.

“This is where we part, brave alicorn.” Zecora said suddenly, “Down that roadway, leads to Ponyville, follow it, and reach it you will.”

“I don’t think I should be considered as brave. . .” Velux said, surprised at Zecora’s compliment, despite having only met him for a few hours.

“Bravery I see, it will come to thee.” said Zecora, using her cyptic tone again, “Good luck, Velux.”

“Yeah. . . thank you. You know, for saving me.” Velux said, still stunned.

Zecora turned and walked back into the Everfree Forest. Velux watcher her until she disappeared into the darkness, then turned towards Ponyville, casting his hood over his head.

* * *

The sun had set by the time Velux entered Ponyville.

There was nopony out in the streets of the small, slightly idyllic town. The roofs of the buildings in the town were thatched with hay. The town square was where Velux went first, normally the ponies who lived in Ponyville would gather here to share news of the day, but there was nopony visible. Still, there were signs of life inside of the homes. There were the faint sounds of music, chatting, and laughter amongst the ponies inside.

Velux didn’t want to just walk up to somepony’s home and ask to be invited inside. He knew that probably wouldn’t go well. Instead, he wandered around the town square and noticed an advertisement on the walls of the town square building.

Come one, come all!

To the annual Summer Sun Celebration, to be held in Town Square, Ponyville!

Come and watch as our beloved Princess Celestia raises the sun on the longest day of the year in honor the Elements of Harmony, who defeated the evil Nightmare Moon one year ago!

Velux re-read the notice a few times over, remembering the reference to the Elements of Harmony in the castle ruins just a few nights ago. Parts of what he read on the inscription inside and the notice didn’t add up. According to the inscription at the ruins, Nightmare Moon was defeated a thousand years ago. What puzzled Velux more, though, was the part about Princess Celestia and raising the sun. What did that mean?

The clock on the town square building chimed, the music inside the houses stopped, and one by one, the doors to the separate homes around Ponyville opened. Velux saw earth ponies, pegasus ponies, and unicorns interacting in a friendly manner, something quite alien to the alicorn. All of them seemed to be excited for the Summer Sun Celebration and were just as chatty as they were inside their homes.

Velux hid in the alleyway between the town hall and the neighboring home, but not before some ponies called out “Hey Zecora!” and “Come to see the sun rise, Zecora?” to him as they went by, unable to see the alicorn beneath the hood.

When all of the ponies entered, and the the rest of Ponyville was quiet, Velux decided that it was time to join in on the festivities and reveal himself. When he entered the town hall, all of the ponies were still talking to one another. Some excited to see the sun rise firsthand, others speculating on what it would look like as this was their first time. Velux hung back behind the crowd and by the door, unable to comprehend why the sun rising would be so special. Yes, the sunrise was beautiful, Velux had always watched it when he found himself staying up all night, but that was a far as it went. Why would there be a celebration for the longest day of the year? Perhaps the sun had some sort of religious significance among the ponies of Equestria. . .

Velux was so concentrated on his thoughts, that he had barely noticed a white-haired earth pony enter the stage at the back of the room with a fanfare accompanying her.

“Fillies and gentlecolts!” the pony said, and all attention was diverted to her, “as mayor of Ponyville, it is my great pleasure to once again announce the beginning of the Summer Sun Celebration!”

The pony crowd cheered and stomped their hooves. Velux remained silent, drinking in every word by the mayor.

“Our town will once again receive the honor to witness the magic of the sunrise firsthand, and celebrate the longest day of the year!” the mayor continued, “and now, it is my great honor to introduce to you not only our most beloved ruler of the land, but the six brave ponies who wielded the Elements of Harmony to defeat Nightmare Moon and save us from eternal night one year ago to this day! The good, the wise, the bringer of harmony to all of Equestria. . . Princess Celestia and the Elements of Harmony!”

The fanfare erupted again, and the curtains on the balcony above the mayor drew back and revealed a tall, alicorn mare and two earth ponies, two unicorns, and two pegasi next to her. The crowd cheered and stamped their hooves again, and Velux could only stare. The princess was full grown, her mane and tail flowing. Her presence seemed to change the atmosphere of the room, demanding power and authority but also giving off a sense of kindness. Velux’s answer to the question of other alicorns was answered, he turned his attention to the wielders of the Elements of Harmony.

Five of the six ponies wore golden necklaces around their necks, each detailing pictures of a gem, an apple, a lighting bolt, a flower, and a balloon.

A white unicorn wore the necklace bearing the gem. She was very pretty, and some of the other stallions among the crowd seemed to agree. She looked positively thrilled to be the center of attention along with the princess and the ponies beside her.

The orange earth pony wearing the necklace with the apple seemed the most out of place. Velux couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow when he saw the cowboy hat resting on top of her head. She, too, looked happy to be there, but was more humble than the white unicorn beside her.

Velux’s first impression of the pegasus pony wearing the lightning bolt necklace was that she was (and there was no other way to put it) cool. Even with her rainbow colored mane and tail, she still managed to look her part. Though she looked arrogant and overconfident.

The yellow pegasus pony wearing the butterfly necklace smiled at first, but then shrunk and seemed to want nothing more than to sink into the ground, unnoticed. Still, she kept her small smile to show that she was proud to be with her friends and to be honored in such a way.

The pink earth pony with the balloon necklace seemed to be more excited and happy than all of the other ponies in the room combined. She looked to unable to contain herself and was lightly bouncing up and down, the biggest smile Velux had ever seen on her face.

Finally, sixth pony, a purple unicorn standing right beside the princess, looked to be proudest of them all. Unlike the other ponies, she wore a tiara with the image of a star on top of it. When they first appeared, the unicorn looked up at the princess with a look of utmost admiration, and gave her a wink, and to Velux’s surprise, the princess winked back.

As the crowd cheered and hoof-stomped and gave their praises to the ones who had rid them of eternal night, Princess Celestia raised a single hoof to silence the crowd. The did so at once, and the princess spoke.

“My little ponies, it is wonderful to see you all so happy and excited to welcome myself, and these six courageous ponies to once again welcome the longest day of the year!”

The crowd applauded once again, and when they had stopped, the princess continued.

“It was an unfortunate single year ago that my sister, Princess Luna, escaped from her lunar prison and returned as Nightmare Moon, set to bring eternal night to Equestria forever. Though many of you have resented the fact that I have allowed her to return home and resume her duties of raising the moon every night, I want you to know that it is within Princess Luna’s best interests to keep you all safe and happy, just as I have these past thousand years. So, as you can see, I have decided to once again bring the Summer Sun Celebration to Ponyville. To compensate you on your deprivement of harmony one year ago.”

The pony spectators cheered again, and once again fell silent as the princess raised a hoof.

“Though, your kindness and praise does not belong to me for the defeat of Nightmare Moon.” Princess Celestia continued, “It belongs to these six ponies, who, through their perseverance and friendship, discovered the Elements of Harmony and used them to defeat Nightmare Moon and return Princess Luna to us.”

The six ponies beside the princess each gave small blushes as the citizens of Ponyville gave their praises and thankfulness. Then, everypony fell silent as the Princess used her powerful, full grown wings to fly into the air. Her horn glowed and the sun rose and shone through the windows of the town hall and illuminated the inside, and like many times before, the crowd cheered.

Velux was dumbfounded. Did the princess just. . . no. She couldn’t have, it was impossible. It was coincidence. Pure coincidence.

“Rest assured, my little ponies,” the princess announced as she landed on the balcony once more, “there will be nothing to fear from this new day!”

This was it, Velux realized. It was now or never. If he did not make his presence known, then the princess would leave, no doubt surrounded by her guards, and his chance may be forever lost.

Taking his cloak off, the brilliant sunrise shining fully into the town hall, Velux said, “I certainly hope not. There are some of us who would actually enjoy that.”

The town hall fell silent, the stomping of hooves ceased, and every head turned toward him. Velux gulped once and stepped forward towards the center of the town hall, the crowd parting his way and every eye in the room upon him.

Chapter 3

Velux stood in the middle of the town square hall, frozen. Whisperings and murmurs broke out from the ponies surrounding him, asking questions to each other.

“Where did he come from?”

“I thought he was Zecora. . .”

“What happened to his horn? It’s broken!”

“Forget that! He’s an alicorn!”

Velux ignored them, his eyes connecting with Princess Celestia. There was little emotion in her eyes, no anger or frustration. On the contrary, she looked curious.

“Twilight,” the princess said, turning to the purple unicorn, “take your friends back behind the hall, you’ll meet our new arrival there.”

Twilight nodded then, motioning to her friends, left the balcony. Each of the six ponies gave Velux one last look before disappearing from view, quizzical looks on their faces. Celestia then turned to Velux and motioned out the door. Velux took his queue to leave and turned away from the princess and out the door, stuffing his cloak in his saddlebags as he went.

The brightness of the morning sun beat upon Velux’s eyes as the door swung shut behind him, Velux could hear the discussion about him amongst the ponies inside. He knew that Celestia wanted him to join the Elements of Harmony where she had sent them. Sitting down on the steps of town hall, he wondered how six ponies could be the Elements if they were supposedly honored in some castle ruins hundreds of years old. What puzzled Velux more was that here was Celestia, who, according to the inscription, used the Elements previously against Nightmare Moon. Though the mayor had said that Nightmare Moon was defeated a year ago, long after the inscription describing her defeat had been erected.

In the fantasy stories Velux had read as a foal, alicorns were described as having longer lives than the average pony. Though he had never imagined that they could actually live over a thousand years. A sick feeling settled itself in the pit of Velux’s stomach, if alicorns lived up to a millennium, then it was logical to assume that the same would happen to Velux.

If I don’t end up dead before that, Velux thought darkly. He had never imagined that he could live for so long; now that he really thought about it, he had never really thought of how long he would truly live.

Renewed with more questions than before, Velux gave a long sigh and headed back around the town hall to be greeted by the six ponies waiting for him.

Velux turned the corner around the building and saw the six ponies who had been ushered out by the princess moments ago. They were still wearing their jewelry and talking in hushed voices. When they had seen Velux, their chatter slowly died and they all gave him the same looks they had given him when he had revealed himself. The pink earth pony positively beamed at him, and Velux couldn’t help but smile back. The purple pony named Twilight opened her mouth to say something when Princess Celestia came through the back door, unescorted.

“To the library, Twilight. I sent Spike a letter.” said the princess.

Twilight gave another nod and began to lead the ponies through Ponyville. The ponies gathered in town hall began to file out of town hall and head towards the hills, a picnic area set upon the hill. The pink earth pony gave a small sigh, disappointed in not being able to join immediately in the festivities. The other ponies, including the princess, shot Velux looks over their shoulders, who had deliberately lagged behind the company. Velux wished that they would all stop doing that, giving him looks as if he were going to suddenly attack.

No, Velux told himself, they’re right to be nervous. I’m an alicorn who just came out of nowhere, unannounced. I’ll make sure to let them know I mean no harm.

Not a word was uttered as the eight ponies reached a large tree which had been carved out into a quaint little library and home, a telescope set on a balcony to study the stars at night. Velux was reminded briefly of Zecora’s home in the Everfree Forest; though, admittedly less creepy. Twilight opened the door to the tree-home and held it open for the other ponies to go inside, Celestia leading the way. Books upon books lined the shelves of the library, their bookcases nearly reaching the ceiling, a ladder leaned on the nearest bookshelf to reach the more difficult to reach tomes. Parchment and quills littered the desks around the library, some documents and letters left unfinished, or crumpled and neglected to be placed in the trash. As Twilight shut the door behind them, footsteps sounded down the steps leading up to the bedroom above.

“Twilight! Is that you?”, a childlike voice said, “The princess said that you were gonna be coming here with...”

The creature who had called for Twilight stopped at the foot of the steps. He was a shade of green and purple, and for a moment, Velux was unsure as to exactly what he was. Then, seeing the spiked tail, the spines running down his back, Velux realized that the creature was a dragon. A very young dragon, to be more exact, he bore no wings, and he certainly didn’t hold the intimidation and fear that a full grown dragon would posses. This must have been the “Spike” that the princess had mentioned earlier.

Spike had stopped mid-sentence upon seeing Velux, who had placed himself near the front of the company of eight. Then, Spike did something Velux had never expected from anypony; he bowed. Twilight rolled her eyes.

“There’s no need for that, Spike. He’s not royalty, at least. . .” Twilight said, turning to Celestia, “I don’t think he is.”

“No, he isn’t.” the princess replied. Spike seemed to relax, and stood up straight again, flushing.

“Perhaps we should start by having you introduce yourself.” Celestia continued, addressing Velux. Velux gave a slight pause and finally spoke up again.

“Um. . .hey, my name is Velux.” Velux said, suddenly nervous.

“That’s a funny name!” the pink earth pony exclaimed, talking so fast that Velux had trouble keeping up, “I’m Pinkie Pie! Oh, I’m gonna need you to write down your name, I need to put it on the banners for your welcoming party! Ooo Ooo, Twilight! Could you please please pretty please let me have the party here! Oh please, this place is perfect!”

“My welcoming what?” Velux asked.

“I think it’s a very elegant name.” the white unicorn put in, ignoring Pinkie’s pleas to throw a party in a library. The unicorn spoke with an air of nobility, “foreign, yes, but elegant in a way. Oh, I forgot to introduce myself! How rude of me, I am Rarity.”

“Howdy there, partner!”, said the orange earth pony, tipping her hat, “Name’s Applejack.”

“And I’m Rainbow Dash!” exclaimed the rainbow pegasus, who had been unable to resist the urge to float a few feet off the ground, flipping her mane.

“Nice to meet you all.” Velux responded politely, then he noticed that one pony did not introduce herself yet. The yellow pegasus pony had somehow managed to become nearly invisible amongst her friends; she had reduced herself to such a small size that she looked like a filly.

“And you are. . .?” Velux asked softly, trying not to appear more intimidating than he might have been.

“Um. . .” the pegasus paused, then said something that might’ve been her name, if not for the mumbling. She took a small step back towards Twilight.

“What was that?” Velux asked again, once again feeling embarrassed. He felt as if he were intruding on something personal, something private.

The pegasus mumbled again, further retreating to Twilight.

“Oh for crying out loud. . .” Rainbow Dash muttered, “Fluttershy, her name is Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy gave a small squeak and a nod, unable to say another word, mumbled or otherwise. Applejack shot Rainbow a dirty look.

“Oh,” Velux said, glad that this small situation was over, “okay, pleased to meet you, Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy squeaked and nodded again.

“Now that we are all properly introduced,” Celestia said suddenly, “perhaps you can tell us where you’re from?”

“Gallopolli.” answered Velux.

All of the ponies, including Spike, looked quite oblivious, as if they had never heard of Gallopolli before in their lives. Except for Twilight and Celestia, who appeared to have heard of Velux’s homeland before. Twilight chuckled a bit, an act that confused Velux.

“Gallopolli is completely uninhabitable.” she said, “Has been for hundreds of years, I read about it in a geography book, it was supposedly destroyed by an volcanic eruption. There’s nothing there except for ash and dust. How could you have possibly have lived there?”

When Twilight had finished her small history lesson, she gave the princess an admiring look, hoping for her to confirm her story and divulge where Velux had really come from. Celestia giving Velux a small nod of understanding was not what she had expected.

“Velux did come from Gallopolli, Twilight.” said Celestia, making Twilight’s ears droop and putting a look of confusion on her face, “Gallopolli is not uninhabitable, it never has been. Those books you read, they’re ancient and inconsistent. Nopony could figure out the whole truth, so they put together what they could and put them in the geography books. Nopony since has even bothered to go and confirm if the books were true. Though I believe that Velux can rectify those mistakes.”

Everypony’s attention was once again diverted to Velux, eager to hear about this lost land shrouded in secrecy. Velux gave a deep breath and began to describe the atrocities that the citizens of Gallopolli had committed, their immense hatred and fear towards magical ponies and their relentless hunt to rid all traces of magic in their land. Velux recounted his life of pursuit from Nexus, his family sacrificing their peaceful lives so that they could protect him. He told them how his family were earth ponies, therefore the could not possibly be his family by blood. Velux ended his story with his capture and escape from Nexus in the Everfree forest, the damage to his horn, and his nursing to health by the zebra Zecora.

Nopony said a word as Velux told his story, though he was sure they would have plenty of questions. Even the bouncy Pinkie Pie had settled down to listen to him, the bashful Fluttershy had sat up straighter, a curious look in her eyes. When Velux had finished, there was a moment of silence while everypony drank in what Velux had said. Finally, Rainbow Dash spoke up.

“Wow. . . just. . . wow. . .”

“Ya got that right partner,” Applejack said, “Why, I woulda never thought that there’d be a place like that. . .”

“A country that hates and kills magic ponies?” Twilight said, her hoof had been covering her mouth throughout most of the story, “But. . . all ponies have some trace of magic in them, even earth ponies! Look at our cutie marks! They aren’t just there when we’re born!”

“A what?” Velux snorted, “What’s a cutie mark?”

The six ponies, including Spike, looked absolutely stunned, and each gave a small gasp.

“You mean. . . you mean you don’t have one?” Applejack asked.

“I don’t think I’d know what it is even if I had one.” Velux replied.

“The markings on our flanks!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed. Velux then finally saw the overlooked detail on the ponies in Equestria. Everypony each had a symbol on their flanks, he had been so distracted with what had been going on that he didn’t pay any attention to them at first. Celestia’s cutie mark had been the sun, and the rest of the ponies had cutie marks that matched the jewelry they had been wearing. Velux looked back at his own flank and saw nothing, no symbol, no picture, nothing.

“What are they for?” Velux asked.

“A cutie mark only appears when a pony find that certain talent that makes them special.” Rarity recited, “everypony gets one eventually, it’s supposed to help you find out what you’re supposed to do for your life.”

“But I’ve never seen anypony in Gallopolli having anything like that!” Velux, “were they so extremist as to wipe out cutie marks from future generations?”

“I don’t think so.” Twilight said, “You’re obviously not related to any of the earth ponies there. So I don’t see how they somehow erased cutie marks from your generation. I guess you just haven’t found your special talent.”

Velux wasn’t sure if Twilight’s words had alleviated his concerns, or made them worse. What, if anything, was he supposed to do? What would his cutie mark be if he ever recieved one?

“Still,” Twilight began to add, “based on what you described, Gallopolli seems like an awful place.”

“It isn’t all bad.” Velux retorted, “We have plenty of food and space to expand. It’s a very pretty country to stop and look at as well. Like the capital, Crystalmare, it’s-”

“I think we can all hear about Crystalmare eventually.” Celestia interrupted, “For now, I should go to the feast, I suspect many ponies are wondering where we’ve gone. The rest of you should come as well.”

Celestia stood to leave, as did everpony else.

“Not you, Velux.” Celestia added quickly as Velux began to leave, “You need to stay here, I don’t want everypony to think that I’m too welcoming to strangers, especially an alicorn they have never heard of.”

“What if I want to go to the feast?” Velux objected, “this whole Summer Sun Celebration sounds fascinating.”

“Try to see this from their perspective,” Celestia said “This is one of the most important holidays of the year for Equestria, and this small town was looking forward to celebrating it without interuption. Your arrival here is going to be big news, and you’ll be getting a lot of attention. I’d prefer to keep you out of everything; it will give me time to quell any rumors that may pop up about you.”

“I. . .fine.” Velux gave in, “but I don’t want to be cooped up here for days. I still have more questions for you.”

“Don’t worry, Velux,” Celestia assured, opening the door to the library, “I’ll be in touch, but until then, stay here until I can sort things out.” Celestia then stepped over the threshold and disappeared off towards the feast.

As the other ponies and Spike began to file out the door, Twilight paused.

“That isn’t the only reason you wanted to go to the feast, was it Velux.”

Velux glanced back at his saddlebags, sighed. Finally, slowly he answered. “I’m starving. I haven’t eaten in. . . I don’t even know how long.”

“Well all you had to do was say so,” Twilight said. “Applejack!” she called, back outside the door. Applejack came trotting back into the library.

“What’s up?” she asked.

“Could you bring some food back for Velux when you’re done?” Twilight requested.

“I sure can,” Applejack answered, then turning to Velux she said, “Just give me a chance to talk to Applebloom and Big Mac and I’ll bring a little something back for you to sample.”

“Alright.” Velux said, relieved. “Thank you very much.”

* * *

Velux had plenty of time to peruse the library’s contents while he waited for Applejack. He picked out books at random, opening them and scanning what information they held inside. Velux was never much of an avid reader, but he figured that he might as well learn what of Equestria he could while he was here. Books containing small stories for foals and fillies (Velux ignored these), textbooks detailing the history of Equestria and it’s settlements (Velux skimmed through these, they were so thick), down to dusty, nearly destroyed scrolls containing arcane secrets (would he ever use magic again?).

Velux’s stomach was growling irritably when the library door opened and Applejack was finally back, pushing a small cart. Applejack bucked the cart once, and it popped open revealing the pies, cakes, and other assorted goods that were inside. Velux marked the place in the book (“Healing Arts for Nurses”) where he had been and trotted over to the cart, eager to see what Applejack had brought for him.

“Sorry it took me so long.” Applejack apologized, “Applebloom wouldn’t stop asking me questions about you and I had to have Big Mac watch over her.”

“That’s fine.” Velux said, “Who are Applebloom and Big Mac?”

“Oh, Applebloom is my little sis and Big Mac is my brother.” Applejack smiled, “Applebloom is just a little filly, doesn’t even have her cutie mark yet, she’s always trying to find out what her special talent is, but she usually gets into trouble doing it. Now, Big Mac is a mite different, he’s more quiet, but he helps me out lots at apple bucking.”

“You buck apples?” Velux asked, “That’s a tough job, is it just you and Big Mac?”

“Yep,” Applejack said proudly, “the whole orchard, an’ we still get enough done for some leisure time, but once Applebloom is old enough, she can help us get the job done mighty fast.”

“Still, it’s amazing that you two can handle an entire orchard.” Velux said.

“Well, we don’t really think about it much.” Applejack said, “We just work till the sun goes down or till the entire orchard is bucked. Now, enough of that, what would ya like? Apple pie? Apple fritter? Apple tarts? Apple dumplings? Apple crisp. . .”

The list went on, every item on Applejack’s cart were laden with just about every kind of food with apples as you can think of. There were even some things that Velux thought nopony that was sane would put apples in, but it all seemed so delicious, he didn’t know what to pick. . .

“Ummm. . . how about an apple pie?” Velux picked at random as Applejack finished listing off all the apple assorted foods on the cart.

“Sure thing!” Applejack said, setting down the pie for Velux, and grabbing an apple crisp for herself.

It was some of the most delicious pie Velux had ever tasted. His father had made some pretty great pies, but nothing like this! He found that he couldn’t stop eating once he started, Applejack finished her apple crisp and looked on incredulously.

“Golly,” Applejack said as Velux finally rose from the crumb filled plate, “I’ve never seen anypony eat an apple pie so fast!”

“Sorry,” said Velux, wiping his mouth, “that was just. . .incredible. Did that come from your orchards?”

“They sure did.” Applejack replied, “Nearly every apple in Ponyville comes from Sweet Apple Acres.”

“Well, you must do some good work there to make all these.” Velux complimented.

“Why, thank you kindly.” Applejack said. She paused before pursuing further. “You know I think you shoulda went to the feast. Princess shouldnta kept y’all couped up in here.”

“You heard the princess,” Velux said, “I’m not supposed to be out in public now; everypony will get nervous.”

“Funny, wasn’t anypony lookin’ scared at all last time I checked.” Applejack said, “They all just looked a fair bit curious, y’know?”

“What did the princess do?”

“She mostly pretended that nothing happened, I guess she didn’t wanna deal with everypony.”

“Yeah, I guess. . .” Velux trailed off.

“So, it’s really true?” Applejack asked suddenly, “There’s really a country that hates all the pony folk here?”

“Why? You think it’s a story?” Velux said.

“Sorry,” Applejack said quickly, “it’s just a mite much to take in.”

“I can imagine.”

“So. . .you’re family is all still there? Ya just left them there?” Applejack asked.

“Had to.” Velux said firmly, not without remorse. “There was no way we were all going to make it at once. Besides, you heard what I said, Nexus nearly killed me back there. Imagine what might have happened if I did decide to bring them all with me.”

“I can’t imagine doing that to my family.” Applejack said thoughtfully, a few moments of silence followed, then “What are they like? Your family, I mean.”

“Well,” Velux started, “there’s six of us, including me. My father, Ixxus, was in the service. He taught me and my brother how to defend ourselves, something that came in pretty useful back there. He was rather paranoid, really, always moving us from place to place. Nopony ever came and found us, but it didn’t stop him. It was all for our safety, I suppose, so I guess I can’t complain much.”

“Well that just sounds right awful,” Applejack said. “How was it? All that runnin’ around, I mean. Mighty lonesome, I’d reckon.”

“Well, not entirely,” Velux explained. “Gallopolli may hate magical ponies, but you’d find some who were sympathetic to us... or at least, ones that weren’t quite genocidal. I do remember some giving me some nasty looks though, but they wouldn’t dare say anything in front of my dad.”

“Anyway, that’s my dad. Now, my brother Ignis was really competitive. We always had some dumb little contest going; hoof-wrestling, eating contests, whatever we could fight each other on. Very playful, but he had a short fuse. He would get into fights with the villagers and nearly blow our cover. Thankfully he was smart as well, and managed to keep us out of too much trouble.”

“My mother, Constance, well. . . she was always kind of stressed. She had trouble moving from place to place, always fearing for our lives; and she couldn’t work on what she wanted to do.”

“What did she want to do?” Applejack asked.

“My mom always wanted to be a playwright” Velux answered, “She had these wonderful ideas for plays, but she never wrote them down. She never blamed me for her problems, though, not once. She never gave any indication that she did, she treated me like I really was her son. I really appreciated that, it’s bad enough you got an entire country hating you.”

“My sisters, Caeli and Terra, are twins. They’re completely different, though. Caeli was always the wild one, striving to be like one of the colts. Competing with Ignis and I, she’s actually pretty good. She’s beat us more than enough times to take take her seriously. She’s got a soft spot, though, I guess she gets it from Terra.”

“What’s Terra like?” Applejack asked.

“Terra’s more like me, I guess.” Velux continued, “She’s a bit more quiet, but she tries to be like Caeli. Personally, I think she’s fine the way she is, she always has Caeli to talk to about. . .well, anything really. But she also like to talk to me about personal things, one-on-one. I don’t know, we just sort of. . .bonded, but it’s nothing like her and Caeli. They do almost everything together, whatever Terra falls behind in, Caeli picks up the slack. They way they talk to each other, you’d think that they’re telepathic.”

Velux paused, indicating that he was done with his description of his family.

“Golly, Velux.” said an incredulous Applejack, “I’ve barely even talked about my folks, and you go on ahead and tell me all about them.”

“Sorry,” Velux said, “I didn’t mean to go off like that.”

“Do ya miss them?”

“Yeah, I do. . .” Velux sighed.

“ ‘Aint ya gonna go back for them?”

“One day, I will.” Velux replied “I just need to. . .establish myself here. Does that make sense? I want them to have a home to come to, not just refugees moving from there to here. Hey. . .” Velux trailed off again, an idea manifesting itself in his head. Then the door to the library suddenly opened and Twilight Sparkle strode in, carrying a sleeping Spike on her back.

“Feast’s over.” Twilight announced, “Spike ate himself to sleep. Can you believe that?”

Both Applejack and Velux shook their heads, smiling at the comical sight of the baby dragon sucking his claws while he slept.

“I’m gonna put him to bed real quick.” Twilight said, heading for the stairs to the bedroom above, “The others went home. And Applejack, Big Mac says that you should head back to the farm as soon as possible. I guess he didn’t want to handle Applebloom by himself anymore.”

Twilight giggled then disappeared up the stairs, leaving Applejack and Velux alone again.

“Well, I’d best be heading back now.” Applejack said, getting up off her haunches, “I reckon I’ll be seeing you around, Velux.”

“Yeah, nice talking to you.” Velux said. Applejack raised a hoof in farewell and left the library. Suddenly remembering what Velux wanted to do, he quickly called after her.

“Hey, Applejack!”

Applejack turned around, having barely left the library.

“Yeah?”

“You said before that you and Big Mac could get things done at the farm faster with somepony else, right?”

“Well, it couldn’t hurt to have an extra worker or two. . .” Applejack said thoughtfully.

“Well, maybe I could help out,” Velux offered, “I’ve done my fair share of hard work, and I think I could really help out, give you guys less to work with. I’d also like to save up some bits, try to get a home somewhere to bring my family to.”

Applejack tapped her hoof on her chin in thought, considering Velux’s offer.

“Well. . . alright. But I gotta watch over you, make sure that you really can buck a hard day’s work.”

“Trust me, I have a strong buck.” Velux said, remembering an instance where he nearly knocked Ignis’s teeth out from play-fighting.

“Alright,” Applejack said, offering her hoof, “Deal.”

“Deal.” Velux echoed, shaking her hoof.

“I’ll send Big Mac along to come git ya tomorrow.” Applejack said, “See ya.”

“Bye.” Velux said, turning back into the library. Inside he found Twilight, having put Spike into bed, reading a book. Twilight’s concentration broke when Velux shut the door.

“Oh hi,” she said, looking up from the book, “I was just doing some research. I talked to the princess earlier, she said that you’re going to have to stay in the extra bedroom here for now.” Velux nodded and sat down on the nearest cushion.

“What were you researching?” Velux asked.

“Well, I’m trying to find a solution to your horn.” Twilight replied, her purple eyes darting side to side along the pages, “But I can’t find anything now.”

“Something might turn up.” Velux said hopefully, he was never a big magic user, but the thought of never doing it again unsettled him, “I still have the broken piece.”

“That might help later on,” Twilight said, “Velux, can I ask you for a favor?”

“What is it?”

“Could you try lifting this ink bottle with magic, please?” Twilight requested.

Velux had not expected to be asked to use magic again in such a short time. He hesitated.

“It’s all right, Velux.” Twilight said, “I’ve been studying magic since I was a filly, I’m one of Princess Celestia’s most trusted students. You’re in safe hooves, trust me.”

“If you say so. . .” Velux said, turning his attention to the ink bottle sitting at Twilight’s desk. He reached for the magical presence he felt everytime he used magic, focusing all of his energy on lifting the ink bottle. He felt the magical presence begin to form around his horn then. . . nothing. Suddenly, a sharp, stabbing pain coursed it’s way through Velux’s crippled horn. He clutched both of his front hooves to his horn, falling to the floor, rolling and yelling in pain. The pain was white-hot, it was worse than when it had been cut by the manticore. He had never felt so much pain in his life.

Velux could faintly hear Twilight cry out in shock and fear, and Velux desperately worked to let go of the magical presence now hurting him, killing him. . .

As suddenly as it began, the pain stopped. Velux felt the magic retreat back into his body and all was well again. Groaning, Velux slowly stood up, his legs nearly buckling. He looked up into Twilight’s horrified face.

“What happened?” Velux said slowly.

“I. . . don’t know.” Twilight said.

“I thought you said I was in safe hooves.” Velux said grumpily.

“You were!” Twilight said quickly, “I had to force you to stop using magic using my own. It was out of control and you weren’t stopping and. . .”

“Okay, I’m sorry.” Velux said. He looked at the ink bottle he was supposed to be moving and saw that it had been tipped over, it’s contents spilling onto empty rolls of parchment. Though it wasn’t just the ink bottle that had moved. Twilight’s chair, parchment, and some books had been knocked over as if a strong wind flew through the window.

“Well,” Velux added, “at least I moved it. Amongst other things.”

“Yes, but look at what it did. You sent everything flying, you were going crazy.” Twilight said, frightened.

“Well, that settles it. No more magic.” Velux said.

“But you can’t just stop!” Twilight exclaimed, “What’s an alicorn without magic?”

“Well what do you expect me to do about it?” Velux snapped, “I just nearly died trying to do something I could have done a few days ago without breaking a sweat!”

“I don’t know. . .” Twilight said, “There has to be some way. I’ll include this in my report to the princess, maybe she’ll know what to do.”

“Yeah, the sooner I get some answers, the better.” Velux said, throwing himself back onto the cushion. The day went by without further incident, Velux helped Twilight clean up the mess he had made and soon Twilight pored herself over medical books, history books, anything that might indicate how to treat a broken horn. Velux occasionally attempted to assist her, but he soon discovered that it was best to leave the studious unicorn alone while she worked.

Finally, after the sun had set and a quick meal was prepared by Spike and eaten, Twilight showed Velux the guest room and went back to her late-night studies. Velux settled into the small room and propped himself onto the bed, the days events repeating itself in his head. After a sudden reminder that he may have to wake up early in the morning to work at Applejack’s orchard, Velux lay his head onto the pillow and drifted off to the first bit of good sleep he had in a while.