3

It was the middle of the night, and all of Ponyville had retired for the evening, all happy with their day, even if it did require cleaning up most of the businesses in town after a freak stampede driven by a green-masked maniac tore most of them apart. Yet as every light extinguished within town, one remained. A dimly lit candle in the farthest corner of a small work room that teetered on the edge of between delightfully cluttered and outright messy. Of course, the proprietor of said work room preferred to call it, Organized Chaos.

Speaking of, the proprietor of this certain abode was currently in the middle of closing every door, window, blind, and crack that was present in her work area so that her work could not be seen.

"No distractions," she said as she finished closing up the last of the openings and slipped on a pair of tight black slacks and a button-up, white blouse. With a flash of her horn, her candle extinguished as a desk lamp went on with a *click*, illuminating a sketch board with large pieces of fresh parchment and pieces of charcoal at the ready. "Tonight is too important," she finished as she placed a pair of orange frame glasses firmly on the bridge of her nose and took a seat at her sketch board. "Time to create something... fabulous!"

Rarity quickly grabbed a piece of charcoal and began drawing several differently bent and twisted curves onto her canvas. "It needs to... dazzle!" she said as she took a slash at the board. "Enchant!" she cried as she took a stab at the parchment. "Romance!" a new strike added to the parchment. "And above all, it needs to be absolutely, the BEST. POSSIBLE. THING!" she cried as she added several quick scrawls and loops. Pulling the parchment from the board, she was feeling absolutely ecstatic about it.

"Now for the best part," Rarity said as she took the sketch and pinned it to a wall. She then skipped to a nearby closet as she looked over dozens of mannequin forms. "Hmm, too feminine," she said as she pushed a group of forms aside. "Too short," she said as she cleared another. "Too beefy," she said to a final group, until eventually she found just what she needed, a few tall, slender, black and white forms. Levitating them outside, she gave each form a few good sweeps with her hand to clear away the dust that caked each of them.

"A bit filthy and could use a smidge of tender love and care," she said with a cough, "but exactly like their intended recipient, nature and stature." With her forms in place, she quickly moved to a chest along a wall and shot it with a beam of azure energy. With a flip of the lid, several dozen gems of varying colors and cuts flew from the chest and proceeded to begin floating around the room in a slow cyclone.

"Hmm... Jade? No, far to bright for him," Rarity said as she touched one gemstone, causing them all to fly back into the box. "Azurite? No... No that's too coarse... Topaz? Oh heavens, no. Only Fluttershy would be able to handle wearing those. Which reminds me, I should make an outfit for her one of these days out of the- No! Focus Rarity!" she cried as she tapped the gems away and gave her face a few light pats. "He asked for something strong... AHA!" Rarity quickly tapped away several gems as she left herself with several stones of three separate forms. "A dash of this, a bit of that," she said as the two types of stones she selected started spiraling rapidly around in a vortex, "and the tiniest form of nephrite jade to keep the whole thing together."

Throwing one additional stone into the mix, the mini-cyclone soon disappeared in a bright burst of light, leaving behind a large clean sheet of fabric. Pulling it close to her, Rarity gave her glasses a quick tap. While she wore her glasses to help her see individual stitches, they also had a bit of a magical element to them, instantly magnifying her sight to see the finest details of her work.

"Oh, yes," she mused as she looked over every inch of the fabric, immensely impressed with her conjurement. "This is good!" Wrapping it around herself for good measure, she felt completely satisfied in the material's quality. Levitating the sheet away, she quickly walked over to her regular fabric reels as she thought over what would be appropriate. "Hmm... you... you... and a length of you for good measure," Rarity said as she gestured to a loom of white cloth, a set of black polyester, and a sheet of brown leather. Bringing all her materials together, she pulled out her sewing machine and gave it a good whirl, setting the needle in motion. Pulling out several sets of thread and buttons, she levitated up her new materials, several pairs of scissors, knives, buckles, black markers, and measuring tapes.

"Everypony stand back, for I am in the zone!" she cried as she pushed her hands to signal for space, only to realize that there was no one to direct. "Hmm, perhaps I should stop crafting clothes at such late hours. If this keeps up, I'll end up a crazy old cat lady like Pinkie said. What do you think Opalescence?" the fashionista said as she turned her head to see her half-asleep cat give her owner an unpleased stare for being woken up at such and ungodly hour. "My thoughts exactly," Rarity asserted as she ignored her pet's shamelessly blatant expression of displeasure.

"Well then, as the Prench say, Allons-Y!"

The room soon began to fill with the bright glow of Rarity's magic as all her instruments took on a life of their own. Material was flying, tools were gliding, and pieces were spinning all to forge Rarity's new masterpiece. After a few minutes, her individual elements were ready. Pulling a form forward, she wrapped her creation around the mannequin as it lay immaculate, every stitch and thread in perfect alignment.

"And now for the finishing touches."

Rarity's horn erupted in another burst of magic towards the roof of the boutique, suspending itself in midair. Rarity then put all of her focus and energy into her horn as she thought of the proper incantations she needed.

"And for the big finish!"

With one final push, Rarity shot the mass of magic above her, having it shatter into dozens of bands of light that fell about the room and shot towards the outfit that she had created, the fabric absorbing every drop of magic that it could. After a few seconds, the room was quiet as a light shower of sparkles filled the air. Removing her glasses, Rarity stared proudly at her masterpiece that now began to glow a light blue.

"It's absolutely perfect," she mused as a tear escaped her eye. "Oh, it almost looks too good to give away. But you did make this for him, Rarity," she sighed as she levitated her outfit onto a stage, drawing a curtain to conceal it, "and I'm sure he's going to absolutely love it."

Rarity walked over to her kitchen as she decided that she had earned herself a cup of tea and a blueberry scone. Levitating a kettle over to the sink as it began to fill with purified water, she opened a glass dish on her dining table as she lifted out her pastry. Taking a small bite from it, she looked to her design as she admired her charcoal sketch, loving every detail of it.

"This one is definitely being shelved," she said as she held her pastry in midair with her magic and pulled her sketch down from the wall. "So simple, yet so elegant at the same time," she said as she laid it down on her sketch board and moved to pull a large envelope from underneath her table. As she resurfaced, however, she noticed that the design was... quaint. And while it did serve her ends, there was something about it that just seemed to need just a bit... more.

"I'm sure it would still look just as good if I add a few feathers," she said as she scribbled a set of plumage along the back. "And maybe... just a few ribbons," she said drawing a few loops on the arms. "Oh, and a nice gemstone right there would look absolutely divine!'' she said as she carved a piece onto the torso. "I wonder if I could just carve that as his cutie mark? Oh, but the dear would be awfully embarrassed. Then again, he didn't seem all that concerned about it. Come to think of it, I never did see his mark. Odd though, he was able to see mine clearly, so I should have been able to see his easily," Rarity thought aloud, only to be shaken out of her string of ideas as her thoughts turned to her design sheet.

"Oh, yes, this looks much better!" she cried as she crossed over to the center of her room as she levitated a number of different fabrics, materials, and gemstones out and had them suspend in midair. "I'm sure he will simply adore these designs when he sees them."

And with that, Rarity set off to work as she snipped and stitched and plastered feathers and gems of varying sorts, designing new ensembles into the night, while her first creation lay forgotten along with the warnings of its recipient.

Several hours later, Ponyville was abuzz with activity as people hussled and bussled about with their business, more alive and active on this absolutely perfect day. Meanwhile, I was trapped within a library getting lectured on how to shelve away books.

"...and you have to be especially careful about the books with leather bindings. Those are the ones that need the most care. Did you get all that?" Twilight said as she turned away from the bookcases and towards me. Needless to say she wasn't exactly pleased to see me snoozing while a a notepad dangled in my hand. "ASK!" Twilight cried, causing me to fall out of my seat and onto the floor. "Were you even paying attention?"

"Of cou- of course I was," I said as I wiped a trickle of saliva from my lip.

"Really? Then what did I just say?" Twilight asked.

"Something... about... books?" I said with a grin, to which she just stared disapprovingly at me.

"Of course I would be talking about books. Your job is all about books. All you are meant to do is deal with books," she angrily shouted.

"Well, that's not the only thing I'm supposed to do. If I remember correctly, I also was in charge of a few other items here," I said as I eyed a display case in the corner of the room.

"If I can't trust you with something as important as books, you think I'm going to trust you with the single most important magical artifacts in Equestria?" Twilight asked incredulously.

"I like to offer my attention based on the material I'm dealing with, not building up trust to deal with bigger things," I said simply.

"Well I don't," Twilight said cooly. "And I would appreciate it if you could just stay awake long enough so that I can see you show some reason for me to trust you."

"Listen Sparkle," I said as I sat up in my seat, "it's a perfect day. There's not a cloud in the sky, moderate temperature, everyone is outside, and I'm stuck in here getting lectured on how to put books away, for the past three hours I might add. Do you see why I might be a bit unfocused?" I said.

Twilight sighed as she looked towards me. "You need to learn how to do your job," she insisted.

"I am learning! Just, can't my job involve some work outside of the library along with in it? Please?" I asked as I gave her the biggest puppy dog pout I could. As Twilight continued to stare, she felt her conviction slowly break as I looked absolutely miserable at being there.

"Well... alright..." Twilight said as my expression immediately brightened up, "BUT, only on two conditions. One, you have to deliver these books," she said as she directed my eyes towards a stack of books to her right, "and if you want to leave at all, you're going to have to answer a few questions for me," she finished with a devious grin.

"I can do that," I said as I sat up full in my chair. "So what do you have to ask me?"

"Alright, who was the most important conjurer of the pre-classical era?"

"Star Swirl the Bearded," I answered confidently.

"Who was the one to summon the Flame of Friendship?"

"His protege, Clover the Clever, who you played in the Canterlot Hearth's Warming Eve pageant," I added expertly.

"Well it's good to see you do your homework on your employers," Twilight said with a laugh. "Last one, what is the square root of 7,279,458,938?" Twilight asked, causing my eyes to go small as I tried thinking.

"Um...85,319.74529966671?" I said nervously. This time it was Twilight's turn to turn white as she quickly did a few computations in her head, utterly surprised when she finished.

"That's... correct?" she said nervously as she couldn't believe somepony else could actually pull a figure like that out of their head, and frankly neither could I.

"So...?" I asked carefully as I eyed the stack of books, to which Twilight just rolled her eyes as she levitated them into my arms.

"Addresses are posted on the top of each. Make sure they get delivered before the end of the day," she said as she went off to begin writing in a records book. "We'll continue training you on proper library care when you get back."

"Great!" I cried as I grabbed my bag and dashed for the door.

"And take Spike out with you!" Twilight cried.

"WHAT?!" the young drake said as he emerged from the upstairs nook. "But I've got a three hour bubble-bath scheduled for today!" he insisted.

"Ask will need a guide to lead him around Ponyville, and I could do without another letter from the Mayor about you using up the town's hot water supply," she contradicted. "Besides, it will be good for you two to bond."

"But Twilight..." Spike moaned.

"I don't really need help to begin with Sparkle, it's just books," I said with a bit of an annoyed frown.

"Come on, it'll be good for the both of you!" Twilight said as she goaded Spike, to which he still had his reservations. Quickly realizing that I wasn't going to be leaving without the little complainer, I began looking through the books offered, finding something that would make this a little faster for me.

"Alright Spike, I'll just deliver Rarity her catalogue myself," I said as I opened the door outside. "And in three... two... one..."

"What are you waiting for, Ask?!" Spike cried as he appeared at my side and began pulling on my arm. "We've got deliveries to make!" I rolled my eyes as I looked back to Twilight once more.

"Be back as soon as I can," I said as I pulled the door closed behind me, to which she laughed. "Oh," I added as I pulled the door open once more, "you might want to get some sun yourself. You're looking a bit pale," I said as I slammed the door shut again.

"I am not pale!" Twilight said as she pouted, but quickly became a bit skittish as she looked at how light her arms were. "Hmm, maybe a little sun wouldn't hurt..."

A hop, skip, and a jump later, Spike and I were out and about on the scene as we began making our rounds. "Okay, first person on our list is...," I said as I followed Spike, growing extremely concerned as I pulled the book towards me.

"What's the matter?"

"Um..." I said as I pulled the book as close to my face as humanly possible.

"Come on, just read off the instructions! You can read, can't you?" Spike asked as I gave him a funny expression.

I knew living in Equestria was going to require overcoming several challenges. However, what I didn't realize was that one of those challenges was that I couldn't read a single bit of Equestrian! While some symbols looked like letters in English, others looked backwards, sideways, or stacked letters that made it utterly impossible for me to make heads or tails of the book title, let alone the instructions on where it went to.

"Well?" Spike asked, growing rather annoyed.

"O-Of course I can read," I insisted.

"Okay then, read off the instructions," he demanded once more. Looking back to the book, I shut my eyes as I hoped the situation would disappear, both to preserve my story and to avoid the embarrassment of not being literate. "You know, you kinda need to open your eyes to read!" Spike shouted.

Realizing that things weren't looking good for me, I decided to give in as I opened one eye and looked to the book with fear. However, miraculously enough, I was now able to read off the heading, the text now appearing to me in plain English. Flipping through the book, I saw that this was the case with all the lines, including the note Twilight left for me.

"It's the note on top genius. Now read it!" the drake said with a snort.

"Um... 25 Stirrup Street?" I said cautiously as I read off the note.

"Easy, that's just down here. Come on!" Spike said as he dragged me by my arm.

"Someone's spirited," I said as I quickly followed behind.

"The sooner we get the first ones done, the sooner we get to Carousel Boutique and the sooner I get to see the most beautiful thing in all of Equestria," Spike mused, to which I gagged. Pulling out the other books, I saw that the texts were in English just as the first book had been before, confirming that I could now read them.

"They weren't like this before," I muttered as I focused my gaze on the books letters, hoping to discover some trick I didn't see before.

"Maybe your eyes were playing tricks on you and you can see them clearly now," my subconscious suggested.

"Maybe. But there's a difference between a simple trick and this..." I muttered as I stored my texts and sped after Spike.

Five minutes later, I found myself outside of a small, two-story house. Spike immediately began banging on the door as hard as he could while I took a moment to read over the top of the book.

"Alternate worlds and the extraordinary creatures that live in them?" I read, instantly growing curious. Pulling it open, I flipped to a random page and read off a few lines. "While it may be only theorized, there does exist plausible evidence for the existence of other planes of reality, several that share similarities with our own and others that may have nothing in common with ours at all."

"While many have tried to cross the gaps to these other existences, all have failed in even making visual contact with such worlds. Still, magicians and scientists alike will continue to try to find a method to break the borders that separate us, encouraged by the promise of what may lie beyond what we know. Huh, I can honestly say they aren't missing much," I said as I closed up the book. "Who in Ponyville would want to know about alternate dimensions anyway?"

My answer soon came as a mint-green and white haired woman wearing a white blouse, green vest, and tan pants soon came charging outside, a manic look on her face as her horn flared.

"WHAT?" the mare screamed at Spike, extremely grumpy in being disturbed.

"Um... we have the book you requested?" Spike said, causing the mare's expression to change in the blink of an eye.

"Well why didn't you say so?!" she said as she sneaked past Spike and practically ripped the book out of my hands. "I've been waiting for this one for ages!" Before she left, she took another look at me and her expression brightened once more. "Oh hey! You're the new guy, aren't you?"

"That would be correct. Ask, at your service," I said as I offered a hand forward.

"Pleasure to meet you Ask," the mare said as she took my hand in her own. "I'm Lyra, Lyra Heartstrings."

"Aha, now it makes sense. Human obsessed Lyra now confirmed..."

"Well Miss Heartstrings, if I may be so bold, why exactly do you need a book on other worlds?" At this, Lyra became very quiet as her eyes darted from side to side.

"You really want to know?" she asked quietly.

"Um...yes?" I said carefully. Without another word, she grabbed me by my collar as she forced me and Spike into her home. "What are you-"

"Shh!" Lyra quickly pulled her door shut and pulled a number of locks on her door, trapping the three of us in. "Follow me," she said as she dashed inside. Although not at all convinced that this was a good idea, I followed behind none-the-less.

As I crossed the frame of Lyra's door, my jaw dropped. I found myself inside of a living room that had a fireplace, a coffee table, a couch, and a number of knick-knacks. But the thing that really surprised me were the number of articles, page clippings, and red strings that painted the walls, all with a number of bright highlights.

"Welcome Ask, to the world of cross-dimensional research!" Lyra cried as she raised her hands high into the air and a bright grin filled her face. I didn't know what to say.

"I've seen obsessed, but this... this beats Robin-Slade, Holmes-Moriarty, Master-Doctor obsession," I whispered as I looked around.

"Isn't it amazing!" Lyra cried as she got up in my face. "I know it's mostly theory, but all of this can't be just coincidence! Disappearances through magical portals, objects of impressive technology never before seen, and the appearance of unassimilated people who have no idea of the basics of Equestrian life, it all fits!" Lyra said as she danced in between her strings.

"You're saying all of this connects to... what exactly?" I asked.

"Two words," she said as she got up in my face, "Alternate. Dimensions."

"Pardon?" I asked as my eyes began to grow wide.

"From Equestria's beginnings, there have been signs that we have been visited from beings that aren't of our world, but while certain people have been ignorant enough to think that the explanation was aliens or mutants," she said as she stuck her tongue out, "others have been clever enough to consider the true answer, beings from other dimensions."

"B-But that book you have, it said that there has been no contact with other worlds, right?"

"AHA!" Lyra said happily as she pulled me to the center of the room. "Not true sir! Take a look at this!" Lyra pointed a finger to a single photo that was hung above the mantle of her fireplace, where a majority of the strings happened to link up. "Again, it's just a theory, but I got to thinking. All the theories develop from unnatural behavior, disappearances, and reappearances of people and objects. So, where is the most unnatural place in the world, where the most people have disappeared, the most strange objects have appeared, and is known historically as the most magical place in Equestria?" Lyra said with baited breath as she waited for my answer.

"The Everfree Forest..." I said as I looked at the image before me, depicting the densely packed forest that surrounded the town.

"Specifically here," Lyra said as she offered me a scrap book that had a number of photos of a huge building made entirely of stone. "The ancient castle of the Royal Sisters."

"This is unreal," I breathed.

"Isn't it?!"

"B-But how do you know? Can you explain why?!" I demanded.

"Not yet, but I plan to!" Lyra then pulled out a number of rucksacks, pushing one towards me that was filled to the brim with supplies. "I've got enough for a four man expedition. They're all packed with the essentials: food, water, anything you can think of. All I need now are volunteers! Together, we're going to discover the very secrets that the Everfree Forest has to offer."

I was absolutely giddy about this. I thought it would take months to get some information on how to go home, but within two days, I had already found a lead!

"When do you think you're going to head out? I'd be more than willing to join you!" I said as Lyra's face grew more bright by the second.

"That's fantastic! But just one question," she asked.

"Yeah?" I happily, but quickly grew nervous as Lyra's expression went completely dark.

"Where are you from, Ask?"

"I-I'm sorry?" I said quietly.

"You're a random person that comes into my house and is suddenly interested in cross-dimensional travel. Why? Are you a spy?!" she asked as she gave me a yellow stink-eye.

"Um... n-no?" i said quietly as I found myself backed up to a wall.

"Or maybe..." she said as she came up really close, "are you from an alternate world Ask, if that is your real name?!" she screamed. Before I could say anything in response, the door to the house burst open with a loud bang.

"LYRA!!!" All three of our pupils shrunk as we recognized that call.

"Oh no, not her..." Lyra and I said together, in fear and apprehension respectively. In stormed a pale white woman wearing a yellow sundress. She had dark-blue and pink hair and aqua eyes that were burning with rage that went into shock as she saw Lyra on top of me.

"Oh Lyra, again?" she said in that awful, hideous voice of hers.

"Bon Bon," Lyra said innocently as she immediately passed away from me and presented herself as plainly as she could. "This is-"

"Save it!" Bon Bon said as she stormed up to me and pulled me up to my feet. "I'm so sorry. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," I said quietly as I felt extremely relieved to have her around, despite the fact that I couldn't stand her voice.

Bon Bon was one of the more annoying background ponies on a regular basis, but she had special significance, her ever-changing voice. And, of course, the first time I meet her, she has the most annoying one of her voices, the low, moany one from "Call of the Cutie."

"I am so, so sorry for her doing this to you. She's always causing everypony problems, accusing people of being from alternate worlds just at the simple sign of unnatural behavior, it's terrible!" she said simply.

"Bon Bon, I am a researcher! I need to investigate any lead that I can find!"

"You're a lyre player for the Canterlot Philharmonic Orchestra! A disbanded one at that until you learn to control yourself!"

"But-"

"And another thing, will you please stop testing your pitch spells on me?! I can't stand hearing myself like this!"

"Okay, Okay!" Lyra quickly charged her horn as she shot a green ray of light at Bon Bon's throat. Giving a quick cough, Bon Bon cleared her throat before saying a few words.

"Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers," she said, her voice far more higher and a lot less moany.

"That's better," both Lyra and I said in relief.

"And that explains so much on the show! I wonder if the same thing happens with Spitfire?" my subconscious questioned.

"Better question, why should I care?"

As Bon Bon settled into her regular voice, she gave Lyra a solemn look. "Lyra, when I offered to take you in, you promised me you would work to take care of your problem. But now, you've ruined my entire living room, and I'm getting complaints from people all over town. I swear, one stray candle, and my entire house will go up in flames!" she said.

"Bon Bon, I know it looks bad, but give it some time and after the expedition, I can prove what I'm saying is true!" she insisted.

"I'm sorry, are you two living together?" I asked as I pushed Spike slowly towards the door.

"Old friend since fillyhood," Bon Bon answered quickly.

"That's all I am to you? After all we've been through?" Lyra asked with an offended look.

"Lyra, we are not having this talk while we have company!" Bon Bon hissed.

"Well, best be on our way then! Pleasure meeting you!" I said quickly as I pushed Spike and myself out the front door. Quickly running a good couple of yards away, I finally confronted Spike. "So, that's Lyra Heartstrings?!" I asked as I tried collecting my breath.

"You've heard about her?" Spike asked as he laid down on his back.

"In passing."

"Well, trust me when I say you don't want to get caught up with her. She's convinced that there are other worlds out there, to the point that she's dedicated her life to proving it. If you ask me, it's just a bunch of mumbo-jumbo," he said as he got back up to his feet. "Plus, between you and me," he said as came up to my ear, "I hear that she's convinced that there exists a world where everypony actually is a pony! And that she wishes that she had hooves!" Spike said with a laugh as he walked away.

"Great, so Lyra's a crackpot... There goes my lead home. Still, best not rule out the possibility. Plus, if this place exists, I'm sure that a regular Equestria does somewhere..." I said quietly as I followed closely behind.

"So, where's the next place on to go?" Spike asked.

Looking into my bag, I pulled out a book and read off the note attached to it. "City Hall."

"Easy, we're already here!" Spike said as he raised a hand.

I followed where it led to find that we were in front of the multi-story, red-roofed building that was City Hall. Stuffing the book under my arm, I slowly walked up to the front door and gave it a few knocks.

After a few seconds, a woman with glasses, a pink suit, and an orange mane appeared as she looked at me with an annoyed look. "Can I help you?" she asked snidely.

"Hello, I'm from Golden Oaks Library. I'm here to drop off a book that was requested." I said courteously.

"I'm sorry, but we didn't order any book," she said as she practically slammed the door.

"That was rude... We don't tolerate rude!" I knocked on the door several more times, causing the mare to come out again.

"I told you, we didn't request a book! Now please leave or I'm going to call security!" she cried.

"Look lady," I said as I stuck my foot between the frame of the door and the door itself, "I was told to bring a book to City Hall, and this is City Hall. Now I don't know who, but somepony ordered a book here, and I'm not leaving until someone claims How to Handle Your Unaging Mane- what?" I asked as I looked over the book cover once more, confirming that I had indeed read off the correct title. Quickly putting two and two together, I turned to the mare once more as I wore a look of utter embarrassment. "Mayor Mare please, I think I have something that she wants."

Although further annoyed now, she nonetheless disappeared into the building. A minute later, I was greeted not by the secretary, but a thin, elderly, but strong-willed, woman who wore a tan suit, glasses, and an aquamarine ascot that complimented her gray hair.

"Hello young man, I am Mayor Mare," she said courteously with a fix of her glasses, "to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"An honor to meet you Mayor, my name is Ask. I'm Twilight Sparkle's newest apprentice."

"Ah yes, I remember getting the letter from Princess Celestia two days ago. A pleasure to have you join our fair community," she said with a smile.

"Pleasure's all mine. In any case, I believe your ordered this?" I said as I flashed the book in front of her, to which she awkwardly took it in her hands.

"Yes, thank you for the delivery, but," she stated as she came close to me, "could you avoid spreading around that I requested this particular piece? It's not the most dignified reading material for someone in my position..."

"Duly noted," I said with a handshake.

"Excellent! Well, I bid you two a good day, and don't forget to re-elect Mayor Mare!"

"Huh," I said as the Mayor shut the door on us, "the Mayor's elected here? What would Mayor Mare do if she wasn't Mayor?"

"Beats me," Spike said with a shrug. "Where to next?"

"One-Hundred-and-One Saddle Arabian Delights, going to Sugarcube Corner," I read off as I pulled out another book.

"Perfect timing. Sugarcube Corner is the local bakery and probably the best in Equestria! Well, maybe a close second to Pony Joe's donut shop, but it still is pretty good. Anyway, if you've got a sweet tooth, this is the place to go!" As Spike ran off, I quickly followed behind as he dashed towards the west of town. "It's not the hardest place to find. Just keep heading west until you find-"

"-the giant gingerbread house with people lining up to get inside?" I finished as Spike and I stopped dead in our tracks. Sure enough, before us was the "legendary" Sugarcube Corner, which was now busy with the dozens of people waiting in line to receive their various pastries and meals.

"Lucky guess," Spike said with a pout.

"Rightttt. Anyways, it looks like we won't be getting inside anytime soon, that line's longer than Sylvia's when they add triple rich hot chocolate around Christmas. Man, I could use a cup and a muffin right now..." I muttered as I put a hand to my growling stomach.

"Um... I haven't heard of Sylvia's or Christmas, but it's snack time, and I've got a man on the inside," he said slyly. Quickly running to Sugarcube's backside, Spike led me to a cellar. Quickly knocking five times in a rhythm that I understood to be the "My Little Pony" theme song, the cellar creaked a smidge as a hand in the shape of a mouth emerged out of it.

"What's the password?" the hand-mouth whispered harshly to which Spike got very close as he whispered back,

"Mustaches are cool."

The cellar soon opened to reveal a staircase that lead deep into the dark. Spike quickly ran inside as I stared into the pit before me.

"Bow ties are cool, fezes are cool, even stetsons are cool. Mustaches, especially fake ones, are not cool," I said quietly with an eye roll as I walked into the abyss.

I soon realized that I was growing a bit nervous as I found that I had no light before me. Pulling out my phone and turning on the flashlight, I found that there was nothing other than the stairs for me to illuminate.

"Okay, going into Sugarcube Corner's basement where no lights are on and the only potential person down there is Pinkie Pie. ...This doesn't remind me of anything at all..." I said nervously as I found myself at the bottom of the stairs.

Looking around, I saw a faint red glow on the far side of the room. Going into a stance, I approached the light very carefully as I felt my blood going cold. Before I knew it, I found myself humming, just to put the danger away. Eventually, I found myself right before the red light, prepared to fight my heart out. Fortunately though, it turned out to be a cupcake with a candle that had a red flame... with rainbow icing and a rainbow exterior.

"HI!"

I let out a blood curdling scream as I jumped back and pulled my fists up, swinging at anything that I could find.

"Asky, calm down!"

The lights to the basement went on, revealing several metal shelves stocked to the brim with baking supplies along with Pinkie Pie, who was now eating a rainbow cupcake.

"What's wrong?" Spike asked as he emerged from behind Pinkie, eating a cupcake himself.

"What- How- Rainbow Dash cupcake!" I screamed as I pointed towards the candled cupcake.

"Actually, just a rainbow cupcake," Pinkie said as she put out the candle and pulled a knife from a nearby counter and used it to cut the pastry open for me to see. "Although, now that I think about it, that actually would be a great way to market these!" I pulled myself off the floor as I examined the cupcake close up. All I saw was more brightly colored batter, and certainly no brightly colored Pegasi body parts.

"Pinkie always leaves me some extra food down here. I just find it by the red-flame candles she uses," Spike explained. Pulling the candle forward, I found there were traces of a white powder around the wick.

"Of course, strontium salt causes the flame to go red," I said with a laugh.

"Stronti-wha?" Pinkie asked with furrowed brow.

"Nothing. Anyway, I'm not one for cupcakes, more of a muffin man," I said.

"Oh! Like the rhyme! Do you really live on Drury Lane like Nana Pinkie said?" she asked with a bright smile.

"Uh... no, I live in the library," I said simply. "So, can we go upstairs so I can get some real food?"

"Sure," Pinkie replied as she led me back upstairs. "By the way Asky, that tune you were humming, it reminded me of my Nana Pinkie's "Giggle at the Ghosties" song."

"Really," I said dismissively as I stared back at the basement, quite embarrassed that I ended up leaning on that ridiculous tune.

"Yeah! Why were you singing that?" she asked.

"For reasons that you will never understand Pinkie Pie," I said as I flicked the light off to the basement, praying to Q that it only ever holds bakery supplies. "For reasons you'll never understand..."

"Thank you dears so much for bringing us this recipe book," Mrs. Cake said as she shook our hands.

"We've been wanting to try Saddle Arabian deserts for ages, and this recipe for bucklava seems like a great place to start," Mr. Cake said as he looked up from his cook book.

The cakes were just as the show depicted them. Mrs. Cake was a short and pleasantly plump woman with hair that reminded me of strawberry swirl ice cream. She wore a bright blue dress under a yellow and pink accented apron that was filled with various baking tools. Mr. Cake was a tall and surprisingly skinny man for a baker. He wore brown pants and a yellow shirt along with his apron, peppermint red and white bow tie, and baker's hat.

"Great, but um," I said as I felt my stomach rumble, "is there anyway I could get something to eat?" I asked courteously.

"Oh, well of course Ask," Mr. Cake said as he went off to the store's front counter.

"Any requests?" Mrs. Cake asked.

"The cheapest muffin you have?" I asked with a toothy smile, as I turned out my pockets. "I... don't exactly have any bits to pay with..."

"Oh don't you worry about that," Mrs. Cake said with a smile. "After what you did for Pinkie's friend the day before yesterday, I wouldn't be able to find it in my heart to charge you."

"Heh, right..." I said with a nervous ruffle of my hair. "Well, is it going to take long?"

"It'll take just a few minutes Ask," Mr. Cake said as he poked his head back into the kitchen. "You and Spike are welcome to wait inside of the shop."

"Aw, but we've got books to deliver to Rarity," Spike said with a moan.

"Yeah, and this shop is stocked to the brim with worm and sapphire cupcakes," I said with a whisper in his ear, causing his expression to brighten in a split-second.

"We'll wait!" Spike said as he whizzed past me and into the lobby.

"Very nicely handled," Mrs. Cake said with an approving look.

"What can I say, I have experience dealing with children," I said as I thought of the orange-topped lunkhead I have waiting for me back in Elenoir.

Following Spike out, I looked around the shop with rather wide eyes. Although the number of streamers and flashy decorations helped it as well, Sugarcube Corner's stock looked incredibly appetizing. With varying, candies, sweets, and pastries, it was the perfect trap for children to waste hours away satisfying even the most insatiable sweet tooth. In fact, the building itself looked almost good enough to eat.

"It's preposterous, completely impossible," I said with a shrug. "...And yet I wonder," I whispered as I approached a red and white swirled pillar. Looking around carefully, I saw that I was alone. Getting close to the pillar, I stuck my tongue out and gave it a quick lick as I sampled the taste. "Hmm... dirt, dust, plaster, paint, saliva for some reason, but definitely not peppermint," I said as I gave my tongue a good wipe with my mouth to remove the insidious taste.

"Because if we make the building out of real candy, everypony will end up eating it, duh." Spinning on the spot I stared to find Pinkie looking at me with look that read 'Are you serious?'

"When did you get here?!" I asked.

"After you turned your back when you thought the coast was clear," Pinkie said.

"Well that's not very nice, now is it?" I said with an unhappy look.

"But it was funny to see somepony your age try and eat Sugarcube Corner," Pinkie answered with a little giggle.

"Really? Tell me, do the Cakes not make Sugarcube actually edible because of everypony wanting to eat it, or because you already tried to?" I asked with a dark look.

"No!" Pinkie said with an annoyed look, only for me to raise an eyebrow. "...Gah! You try to eat a house one time, and nopony let's you forget it!" Pinkie cried as she raised her arms to the sky in disgust.

"Yeah, no. They don't."

The two of us turned to find Applejack looking at us, a smug look on her face as she raised her Stetson away from her eyes.

"Well, morning Thunderthighs," I said with a coy smile.

"Mornin' Meathooks," Applejack said as she shot me a toothy grin.

"Thunderthighs? Meathooks? What are you two talking about?" Pinkie asked.

"Nothin' Pinkie, just an inside joke," Applejack said with a wave.

"But I am inside! I'm inside of Sugarcube Corner, the lobby, I'm even inside of Asky's shirt!" Pinkie asserted. Flipping around, I found that Pinkie was now poking out the back of my collar with a sad look.

"How did you get inside my shirt?!" I asked as Pinkie disappeared into my clothes.

"The same way I'm inside Applejack's hat," Pinkie said as she reappeared on top of Applejack's head with her Stetson on hers. Needless to say that I was sincerely disturbed by this lack of logic.

"Pinkie Pie, get off mah head," Applejack said with an annoyed look. Pinkie quickly hopped off of her head with a pirouette as she placed Applejack's hat back on with a dust of her hand. Securing the hat tight to the base of her brow, Applejack returned her attention towards me.

"Um..." I said with a sick expression.

"Somethin' wrong?" Applejack asked.

"You did see that, right?" I said as I pointed at Pinkie.

"Yeah, and?" she asked without a care.

"AND you think that's normal?" I insisted.

"Well, for Pinkie Pie, yeah," she said with a shrug, causing me to slap my face with a groan. "Anyways, y'all willin' ta join us for a bite?"

"Us?" I asked.

"Hey AJ, what's the hold up?!"

I looked past the farm mare to see that Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Spike were standing outside of the shop and were starring through a window.

"Just a sec!" Applejack called.

"Sorry Pinkie, ya mind wrasslin' up some grub?"

"You want me to get you bugs?" Pinkie asked with an alarmed expression.

"No. Grub, food," Applejack explained with a groan.

"Ohhhhhh!" Pinkie exclaimed with a smile. Reaching into her mane, she soon dug out an entire tray of steaming cupcakes and presented them to Applejack while I just stood by and watched horrified.

"Thanks Pinkie, think you can join us?"

"NO!"

The three of us turned to see that the members of the line were now staring daggers at us, Pinkie Pie in particular.

"Eh, heh, heh. I knew I forgot something..." Pinkie said with a nervous giggle.

"That explains the line," I said with an annoyed look. Within a flash, Pinkie disappeared from our side and reappeared from under the cash register counter with an innocent smile.

"Pinkie Pie, y'all are so random," Applejack laughed as she made for the exit. "So, ya comin' or not?" she called back to me.

"I'll go anywhere, so long as I don't have to see Pinkie do stuff like that," I said as I quickly followed her out. Back outside in the light of day, Rainbow quickly zoomed up and pulled the cupcakes out of Applejack's hands as she licked her lips expectantly.

"Finally!" she cried as she picked up a cupcake and swallowed it in a symphony of noisy munches.

"Now hold up Dash, save some fer the rest of us," Applejack said as she pulled the speedster back to her feet.

"She can have mine," I said with a shrug, warranting Fluttershy's attention.

"Oh! Good morning Ask!" Fluttershy said with a small bow and a bright smile. "How are you thi-..." Surprised by her sudden stop, I looked to see that Fluttershy was staring at me with wide eyes as her mouth was slowly falling open and her wings were quivering.

"Something wrong?" I asked, causing her to quickly look away.

"N-Nothing, it's just... your eyes..." she whispered.

"What about them?" I asked.

"They're... they're crimson."

"And yours are aqua, anything else?" I asked.

"I-It's just that, well, I haven't gotten a real good look at them until now," Fluttershy explained.

"Actually, now that she mentions it, your hair's shorter, too," Rainbow said as she patted my head.

"You can blame the spa sisters for that. I was completely cleaned and primmed up by them," I explained.

"Huh, too bad, you looked better with longer hair," Rainbow said.

"Anyways, why should it matter what my eyes look like anyway?" I asked the timid mare, causing her to flinch in fear.

"N-Nothing! It's just... t-they look nice, that's all," Fluttershy said, not even attempting to look at me.

"Oooookay?" I asked.

"Right, well I-I've gotta go!" Fluttershy cried as she darted away.

"Hold it!" I cried as I grabbed the mare by her wing and she began struggling helplessly. "Now you're not leaving until I get some answers. And why are your wings shivering?" I asked as I tugged at her feathers, causing her to cringe with each pull.

"I-I-I just-"

But before I could get a straight answer, I soon found myself being whisked away by my arms as I was pulled into Sugarcube Corner and up a flight of stairs.

"What is going on?" I cried as I tried wiggling my way out of her grip, only to be securely caught as I was plopped down on the floor in a heap.

"Oh Ask, I am so sorry!" I turned towards the speaker to find myself face to face with a frantic Mrs. Cake. "But I'm at the end of my fork and I need your help!"

"Uh... sure?" I answered, figuring whatever I had to would be enough to pay off my meal.

"Oh thank goodness! Now, you said you were good with kids, so this should be a snap for you! They're right over there, just give them the bottles on the window sill!" Mrs. Cake said with a point as she ran back down the stairs.

"They?" Climbing back to my feet, I followed where she pointed to see a large crib. "Oh no..." I groaned. I inched my way towards the crib with covered eyes. With a gulp, I pulled a finger away from my eye and peeked at what lay inside. A tiny, brown-haired boy with tiny pegasus wings stared at me intently with his dark-brown eyes while his little unicorn sister did the same with her teal eyes and a scratch of her orange mane.

"Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake, of course," I said with a groan. "Why would any mother leave her children with a random stranger anyway?" Looking around, I found a pair of bottles chilling in a basin of warm water. "Looks like I need to feed them," I said. Pulling them out, I slowly approached the foals (yeah, that sounds about right).

"Alright, now these two may have caused Pinkie Pie a nebula of trouble, but they shouldn't be a problem for you," I assured myself with a nervous chuckle. I had spent a number of years babysitting for kids around Elenoir, and again, managing Rito had given me plenty of experience dealing with childish behavior. However, I didn't have much experience with babies, and the little experience I did have wasn't too assuring. Still, I lifted Pumpkin cake out of the crib and cradled her in my arms.

Splashing the bottle on my arm, I found it to be at comfortable temperature. "Alright Pumpkin Cake," I said as I carefully held her close and brought her bottle close, "time for num nums."

"Num Nums?"

"...Curse you Panini, you and your love for Chowder for putting that term in my head!" I scolded internally. However, just as the bottle was about to enter Pumpkin's mouth, she soon ended up sucking on my hand as the bottle fell to the ground with a clatter.

"No, no, Pumpkin Cake," I said as I wretched my hand from her mouth, "we do not stick random objects into our mouths, especially given how many chemicals I may still have on these hands," I said while giving my appendage a quick sniff and lick. "Nope, perfectly clean. Blast." She none the less began gumming my other hand, causing me to nearly drop her in recoil. Fortunately, she remained safe as she clung to my hand like a leech.

"Man, am I lucky you don't have teeth," I said as I dropped her back into the crib. Thinking that Pound Cake would be easier to handle, I pulled him up into my arms as I offered him the other bottle. Unfortunately, he just proceeded to knock the bottle out of my hand as he began to pound my arm repeatedly. "Pound Cake," I grumbled as I held the little foal's arms with two fingers, "it is wrong to pound things. Now would you please drink your milk!" As I shoved the bottle at Pound Cake, I found that I was just stabbing empty air. Looking around, I found that Pound Cake was now fluttering over my head as he giggled with glee.

"That may be a problem for Pinkie Pie, but," I said as I crouched low to the ground and jumped high into the air, grabbing the foal in the process and bringing us both back to the ground, "not for an Independent." Pound Cake began laughing happily as he waved his arms around. Placing him back in the crib, I was surprised to find that I was missing one baby unicorn. "Pumpkin Cake?" I called as I looked around the room. I looked everywhere for the filly. Inside of the toy chest, under the crib, even inside of her diaper bag, but to no luck. "Where is that foal!?" I wondered, growing more worried by the second.

"What foal?" a muffled voice around the room.

"Pinkie Pie?" I called as I whipped around the room. "Where are you?"

Suddenly, my bag erupted in a flash as Pinkie Pie came out in a blaze of confetti and streamers. "Right here, Silly Billy!" Pinkie cried with a giggle.

"I... How... Nope, I don't even want to know," I said as I massaged the temples of my head. "Anyways, it's Pumpkin Cake. I can't find her."

"What do you mean? She's right here." Pinkie began digging into her mane as she pulled out random objects, including her party cannon, a ball, an eyepatch, and finally Pumpkin Cake, who was happily gumming a yellow plush toy. "Ta Da!" Pinkie said as she jumped out of my bag with a backflip.

"Hey!" I screamed as I pulled the plush out of Pumpkin Cake's mouth. "Don't touch that!" As I began to wipe the spittle off of the plush, Pinkie was busy juggling Pumpkin and Pound Cake.

"Aww, she was just playing, weren't you Pumpkin-Lumpkin," Pinkie said as she blew raspberries into the filly's belly, causing her to giggle wildly.

"No one plays with my stuff," I asserted as I finished cleaning my Fluttershy and stored her back into my bag.

"Not even this?" Pinkie asked as she pulled out a bronze rod from her mane. "Ooo, what does this button do?" I turned to see that Pinkie had snatched my sonic screwdriver and had now activated it.

"Dee Dee, what did I just say about touching my stuff!" I cried as I swiped the sonic and placed it back in my bag.

"Did you just call me Dee Dee?" Pinkie asked. My eyes derped as I realized what I had said.

"No, no, I said Pinkie, Pinkie," I assured. "And I've gotta watch less Dexter's Laboratory..."

"What's the big deal anyway? Are those magical toys or something?"

"They're not toys. And if you must know, they're mementos from my friends back in Elenoir," I said as I checked to make sure I had the rest of my gear.

"Oh really? What were they like?" Pinkie inquired.

"It doesn't matter, you're never going to meet them," I said as I confirmed I had everything.

"Well why not?" Pinkie pouted.

"Elenoir is really far away," I answered, growing a little depressed at just how far away.

"But you gotta want to talk about them, I love to talk about my friends. Like Twilight and Rarity and Fluttershy and..." As Pinkie continued to rattle on, I picked up a bottle and tried feeding Pound Cake again. Unfortunately, he just continued to try and hit the bottle away. "... and Muriel and Philomena and- do you need some help?" Pinkie asked as she noticed me struggling.

"It's just feeding a foal, I can handle it," I said, only to be bopped in the nose as I got too close.

"That's not the way to feed a baby," Pinkie said with a laugh.

"Oh really? Well if you're the expert how would you do it?" I asked as I rubbed my sore schnoz.

"Like this," Pinkie said as she placed Pumpkin Cake into my arms and took the bottle. "Look Pound Cake," Pinkie said as she shook the bottle excitedly over Pound's head and began to make silly faces.

"Oh come on, that'll never-" I soon found I had to eat my words, because Pound Cake was now happily shaking his fists for bottle, to which Pinkie happily obliged. As the little colt drank soundly, Pinkie gave me a snarky grin.

"See, now you give it a try," Pinkie said as she gave me the second bottle. As I took it in my hand, I looked down to see Pumpkin Cake looking at me with a quizzical look.

"Pinkie Pie, I really don't think-"

"Just give it a shot Asky," Pinkie egged. Taking hard swallow, I muster some courage as I addressed the filly.

"Look Pumpkin Cake," I said as I began shaking the bottle and making different faces. It turned out I need some more acting practice, because Pumpkin Cake's face soon contorted as tears began welling in her eyes. "Oh no, no, no," I pleaded. My wishes went unanswered as Pumpkin Cake soon began wailing loudly, piercing my ears like nails on a chalkboard.

"That's not exactly what I meant," Pinkie said as she placed Pound Cake back into the crib.

"Noted," I said as I tried rocking the foal to sleep, only to have her yell even louder.

"Maybe I can-"

"I can handle it," I said loudly. Pinkie regarded me with a displeased look, but it was soon replaced with a look of revelation as a lightbulb literally materialized over her head.

"That's it!" Pinkie cried.

"What's it?" I squawked. Pinkie didn't respond as she grabbed the lightbulb and ran to a lamp on a cabinet, swapping the bulbs out quickly.

"That's better! That dead bulb was driving me cuckoo for coco puffs!" Pinkie giggled.

"Wonderful, the devastating light situation has been resolved. Now how about this?" I asked as I raised Pumpkin Cake up.

"Oh that's easy," Pinkie said as she zoomed out the room in a flash and returned with a brown sack.

"What is-" Before I could finish, Pinkie flipped the bag over as a shower of flour caked me from head to toe. As I gave a light cough, Pumpkin Cake stopped crying and actually began laughing loudly. Taking advantage of the opportunity, I popped the bottle into her mouth as she began sucking happily. "Yes! Victory!" I cried as I raised a fist in triumph.

"Yup, and all you had to do was get covered in flour!" Pinkie noted, causing me to look over myself and saw I was completely covered in the grain.

"This victory... feels hollow now," I said as my head drooped disappointedly.

"Aww, let me get that," Pinkie said as she pulled up a cleaning rag.

"Pinkie I-"

"Shh," Pinkie said as she patted me on the head. "Just leave it to Aunty Pinkie Pie."

"I'm pretty sure I'm older than you," I said as I pulled lightly away.

"Really? You're nineteen?" she asked.

"Well no I- wait. You mean you're only eighteen?" I asked with an appalled look.

"Well yeah," Pinkie said simply, "I thought it was obvious."

"Wait, then how old are the others?" I asked.

"Well, Rarity's twenty like Twilight and Applejack, and Rainbow's nineteen, just like Fluttershy," Pinkie answered.

"But-but-but you have a full-time job! You're practically an adult!" I said.

"Of course I'm an adult, I've legally been one for three years," Pinkie noted.

"Wait, you're legally an adult at fifteen?" I pondered.

"Boy, for such a smart looking guy, you really don't know much about basic law, do ya?" Pinkie said as she began wiping me down.

"This doesn't make sense," I thought silently.

"Well, think about it. Getting a cutie mark practically establishes what you will be doing with the rest of your life, and the girls got them when they were fillies, most likely around adolescence. Seems fine to call fifteen an appropriate age for adulthood," my subconscious argued.

"I suppose. It also could explain the severe lack of maturity and intelligence of the people here," I said with a grumble. As Pinkie continued to clean me down, she took notice of how I was carefully feeding Pumpkin with a content smile on my face.

"You know, you look pretty adorable right now Asky," Pinkie sighed, causing me blush a bit as my knees buckled.

"I-I don't do adorable," I said as Pinkie dusted a cloud of flour into my nose, causing me to release a minuscule sneeze.

"Aw, you sneeze like a kitten," Pinkie cooed. I turned away as my blush darkened more, not being concealed in the least by the white powder covering my face.

"I do not," I mumbled. "That wasn't anything like Dipper. And since when has my life become one big cartoon?"

"Aw, don't worry Asky. I like adorable things!" Pinkie said happily. This time I felt my whole body go numb.

"W-What do you mean by that!?" I demanded.

"I like adorable things," Pinkie said plainly. "Adorable food, adorable critters, adorable decorations, and adorable people."

"I-duh-wha-what is this anyway?" I demanded as hastily changed the subject. "It feels too heavy to be flour."

"That's because it's Sugarcube Corner's special sugar-flour mix! It's cheaper to order them mixed together, and a lot tastier. Besides, if the treat isn't tasty enough, we can add regular sugar," Pinkie answered.

"Wait, so you make food out of sugar, add more sugar for taste, and then add fruit, chocolate, or glaze which adds even more sugar?" I asked, terrified as I considered the heart attacks I might get from the muffin I ordered.

"Yup!" I didn't know which was worse, the fact that I was going to eat something like that, or that Pinkie had managed to eat ungodly portions of the same food and remained in pristine health.

"I think I'll pass on eating here," I said as Pinkie finished cleaning me off.

"Don't say that Asky, not before you try it," Pinkie said as she covered her hand in sugar-flour and gave it a lick. "Delicious! Try it for yourself!" Before I knew it, Pinkie had stuffed her hand straight into my mouth as she proceeded to coat my tongue. I immediately spit the appendage out of my mouth as I spat to get the taste of party mare off my tongue.

"What are you doing?! Who knows where your hand has been?! It could be filthy!" I cried.

"Giving you a taste of Sugarcube Corner silly," Pinkie said happily. "And my hands aren't filthy, see?" Pinkie said as she presented her hand, it appearing absolutely immaculate.

"Wow," I said as I admired the hand, "it's shiny."

"Told you," Pinkie said proudly. "And besides, doctors say that your mouth is the best way to clean anything."

"That's with baby pacifiers to increase infant immunity," I reprimanded.

"Infant immu-wah?" Pinkie asked.

"Remind me to get you a dictionary," I said with an annoyed look.

"Okie-Dokie-Lokie!" Pinkie said as her eye spotted something that made her gasp loudly. "I missed a spot!"

"What, where?" I asked as looked to see no flour on me.

"Right here!" Pinkie said as she quickly licked my cheek.

To the rest of the world Pinkie had just licked me for a half-second, but for me, it felt like an eternity as a slimy, wet noodle dragged across my face. As I cringed in horror, I felt my knees finally give away and let me fall on my rear.

"Ask?" Pinkie asked, now extremely alarmed at me breathing heavily. "Are you okay?!"

"No Pinkie, I think I'm losing my mind," I said quietly as I tried struggling to my feet.

"Why's that?" Pinkie asked.

"Because in the smallest way, I actually liked that," I said with a hard swallow. "Why'd you do that in the first place? You realize how inappropriate that is?"

"Not really," Pinkie said as she stooped down to my level. "I mean, you're somepony I trust won't take it weird, so I don't see why," she said simply with a shrug.

"You mean you trust me?" I asked as I found myself locked in Pinkie's gaze. I couldn't understand it, but the more she smiled, the more calm I felt. It was as if she was radiating pure goodwill and comfort. Eventually I found that we were now nose to nose with each other as I gazed into her eyes.

"Wait for it," Pinkie whispered. My vision was suddenly clouded as I saw a blinding pink light. Three balloons, alternating between blue and yellow, soon blew into the aurora, a familiar sight I had seen before. "Does that answer your question?" Pinkie asked quietly as she leaned on my forehead.

"Yeah..." I said, remembering my talk with Rarity yesterday and the additional significance of cutie marks here.

"Well then, anything you want to do to me?" Pinkie asked, as she nuzzled into my face. That was all I could take. I quickly pushed Pinkie off as I scrambled to my feet.

"Nope. Nope, nope, nope," I said with finality. "Nothing, nothing at all."

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, you're lying Asky," Pinkie said with an alarmingly sultry tone. "I know exactly what you want to do~"

"Y-You do?" I asked as Pinkie placed her arms on my shoulders.

"Of course," Pinkie said as she gave me a half-lidded stare. "...You want to bake with me here at Sugarcube Corner!" she cried as her eyes opened fully and gave me a wild grin. I suddenly found all control return to me.

"Really?" I asked as I gave an unbelieving look.

"Well duh, why else would you flip out from me stealing your sugar?" Pinkie asked.

"Uh... nothing. You're right," I said as I got back to my feet. Of course it ended this way. What was I thinking? This is innocent, fun-loving, surprisingly clever Pinkie Pie I was dealing with. There was no way that the situation was going to become intense...right?

I quickly threw off any concerns as I looked down to see that Pumpkin Cake had finished her bottle. As I removed the bottle from Pumpkin's mouth, she let out a soft yawn as her eyes drooped. "Hey, let's get these two to bed, huh?" I asked Pinkie, to which she silently agreed.

I laid Pumpkin back in the crib next to Pound Cake. As I repositioned the two, Pinkie soon came up with a pink blanket and a pair of pillows. "Time for your nappy-wappies," Pinkie said as she placed the pillows under each of the twins' heads and began wrapping the two snuggly with the blanket.

"You know," I said as I lightly stroked each of their heads, with them lightly pushing into my hand agreeably, "they're not that bad..."

"They're always cuter when they're sleeping," Pinkie said as she instinctively brought an arm around my shoulder, to which I didn't refuse.

"Yeah, but you still love them even when they give you heck," I said as I returned Pinkie's gesture as the two of us watched the foals drift off into slumber.

"Have a nice nap babies," Pinkie said with a kiss on each of their foreheads.

"Dream of open skies and magic to explore," I said with a smile.

"Well, well, well." Pinkie and I turned to see that Mrs. Cake had sneaked into the room and was now giving us a bright smile.

"Sorry I'm not down at the register Mrs. Cake. Asky needed help with the twins," Pinkie said.

"I didn't need that much help," I snorted. "I got them to go to sleep easy enough."

"After I helped you," Pinkie sang with another bop of my nose.

"Ha ha, you two remind me and Carrot Cake back at that age," Cupcake said dreamily. "If I didn't know better, I could swear that you two were a married couple." I immediately put about a meter of distance between Pinkie and I, allowing her to fall to the ground from lack of support.

"A married couple? Don't be silly Mrs. Cake," Pinkie said as she cartwheeled back to her feet. "I'm way too young to think about that! And get this, Asky's younger than me!"

"I'm still more mature," I refuted.

"In other words, less fun!" Pinkie said as she stuck her tongue out at me.

"Alright Pinkie dear, we've got orders to fill," Mrs. Cake said, evidently catching on to my growing annoyance.

"Okie-Dokie-Lokie! See you downstairs Asky," Pinkie said with a wave.

"Sure thing Pinks," I said with a rub of my eyes. Pinkie suddenly froze in place at what I had said.

"Pinks?" she asked quietly, a repressed smile slowly growing on her face.

"Well if you're going to keep on using that stupid nickname, you're getting one too," I shrugged as I crossed my arms. "Hope you like it." I was suddenly pushed to the floor as Pinkie lunged at me and held me tight at my waist.

"I love it!" Pinkie said happily.

"Great... now... let go!" I screamed as I felt the air and my soul slowly leaving me.

"Okay!" Pinkie cried as she let me go and skipped downstairs. As I gasped for air, Mrs. Cake continued to lightly laugh as she helped walk me down to the kitchen.

"I'm sorry dear," Mrs. Cake said as she lightly patted me on the back, "but you two just looked so good together I just couldn't resist."

"I don't mind you poking fun Mrs. Cake, but I would like to actually have a first date with a girl before I even consider marriage," I gasped.

"Wait, you mean you never-"

"Hey!" The two of us turned to see Spike walk into the room, contently nibbling on a cupcake. "You ready to go yet?"

"Not yet," I shruggd. "The girls leave already?"

"Yeah."

"Darn, I wanted to talk to Fluttershy before she left," I complained as Spike began blowing a small flame on his cupcake, singeing it in several places. "You know, you really gotta be careful with that fire of yours."

"Relax," Spike said as he took another bit out of his cupcake. "I'm perfectly capable of handling my flame." At that point, Spike let out a large burp of green fire that burned the remains of his food to ashes. "I meant to do that!" Spike asserted as he pointed at us, to which I just rolled my eyes.

"Sorry for the wait, but I've got muffins," Mr. Cake called as he walked in with a white paper bag.

"At last," I sighed happily as I took the treat in hand.

"Today's special, triple chocolate with a gooey peanut butter and chocolate center," he said proudly as I opened the bag to find a pastry that made my mouth water at the sight of it.

"Thanks a million, Mr. Cake," I said with a bow.

"Our pleasure, Ask. Anyone who Pinkie considers a hero is welcome to us," Mr. Cake said with a smile.

"Listen, I appreciate it, but please, think nothing of it. I'd rather not have that news going around," I said politely.

"Of course dear," Mrs. Cake said as she walked Spike and I out. "Have a great day."

"Bye Asky!" Pinkie cried from behind the cash register.

"Later Pinks," I said with a careless wave, too caught up with how good the muffin before me looked. "Triple chocolate muffin, you will be mine!" I cried as I lifted the muffin close to my mouth. But before I could take even a single bite, I hear a whizzing sound behind me.

Looking around, I was hit square in my gut by a blonde missile that sent me flying back into a mailbox. I pulled myself up painfully as I saw that the so-called "missile" was a blonde haired girl with fair skin. She was wearing a blue mail carrier outfit and hat around her small frame while a pair of gray wings sprouted out of her back. As the mare pulled her head up, my muffin fell off of her face and into her hands, revealing a pair of golden, crossed eyes.

"*Gasp*! Muffin!" she cried as she began to greedily devour my pastry.

"Ahem!" I said, causing her to look up into my eyes as I gave her a stern look. "You just ate my breakfast."

"O-Oh," she said as she got off of me and looked ashamed at herself. "Sorry about that." As I pulled myself up to my feet, Spike ran up to us.

"Oh my gosh! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Just a bit sore," I said as I dusted myself off.

"Not you," Spike said as he turned to my assailant. "You okay Derpy?"

"Yeah Spike, I'm fine," she assured.

"Thank you, person who I will be taking care of from now on," I said with an annoyed look.

"Well anyway," Spike said as he shot me a displeased look, "this is Derpy Hooves, the local mail mare. Derpy, this is Ask."

"Oh! You're the new guy that came to Ponyville!" Derpy said as she hovered before me.

"Yeah, pleasure to meet you," I said with a faux smile.

"Huh, doesn't sound like Tabitha or Grey. More like BaldDumboRat..."

"Anyway, what happened Derp?" Spike asked.

"Nothing too serious, my wings just happened to lock up on me. I really am sorry about that," she added with a sympathetic look towards me.

"No worries, I'm not dead yet," I said as I stretched my back. "Actually, I think you might have helped me." I reached into my bag as I pulled out another one of Twilight's books. "Muffin's Throughout the Ages, to be placed on the mailbox just outside of Sugarcube Corner."

"Oh goody!" Derpy cried as she grabbed the book out of my hands and placed it into her carrier bag. "Thanks a lot Ask! Tell Twilight I'll return it to her by Thursday!" she cried as she swooped towards the mailbox, collected a bundle of letters from inside it, and flew off.

"She's pretty fast," I said as I watched her fly off.

"Best mailmare in town," Spike assured. "Give or take a few misplaced packages..."

"Huh, Twilight actually loaning out books and Derpy being good at her job. That's two things I thought I wouldn't see here," I muttered.

"Anyways, how many more of those books do we have to deliver?" Spike asked anxiously.

"Um... just two. One to 12 Cleft Street, the other to Carousel Boutique," I said as I walked alongside him.

"Great! Cleft Street is this way," Spike said as he ran east.

"Since when does Spike have this much energy?" I said as I ran after the drake.

After traveling through two roads, I found myself in front of a house that was almost identical to Bon Bon's, save the roof hay being trimmed to form the silhouette of what looked like a boom box. "This looks ominously familiar," I said nervously as I went up and knocked on the door. However, before I could say, "Purple dragons wear pink aprons," the air was suddenly filled with an awful, booming noise that practically destroyed my ears. I let out an ear-splitting scream as I tried my best to block out the noise, but it only continued to slam in my ears.

"DUBSTEP, WHY DID IT HAVE TO BE DUBSTEP?!" I cried as each bass hit was like a needle being shoved into my ears. Quickly kicking the door in, I stormed inside as I tried to locate the source of the noise. Looking from room to room, I found myself inside of a studio filled with changing neon lights and large stereos that tore the paint off the walls. I found an outlet where all the electronics were connected and ripped out the cords, silencing the room as I finally had a moment of peace.

"HEY! WHO KILLED THE WUBS?!" I turned around to find that a woman with electric blue hair, a white horn, and a pair of violet-tinted glasses was looking at me with an outraged look through a glass window. She wore a sleeveless white vest, black tie, white pants, glowing wristbands, and a pair of large, neon blue headphones around her neck.

"Vinyl Scratch," I growled as I looked at the DJ coming out towards me, "I should have known."

"Seriously? What's your deal man!?" Vinyl demanded.

"My problem? I've got sensitive ears, and every time that you, 'drop the bass', my ears begin to bleed!" I said as I massaged my inner lobes.

"Well is that my problem?" Vinyl questioned.

"When you're the one who is blasting your 'wubs' throughout the town, yeah. IT IS!!!" I cried.

"Hey buddy! You better watch what you're saying or else I'm gonna-"

"Vinyl!" Scratch's expression quickly dropped from one of apprehension to one of desperation as she realized who she had just called to her.

"Oh buck me..." Vinyl cried as she took cover behind me.

"What are yo-"

"Vinyl Scratch!" Into the room stormed a furious black-haired cellist. She wore a sleeved white blouse, black slacks that fit her comfortably while leaving little to the imagination, and a pink bow tie. "What have I told you about keeping your music down?!" she cried as she approached the two of us.

"S-Sorry Octy. It's just... you know," Vinyl tried reasoning.

"Yeah, that will really convince her not to kill us," I said in a harsh whisper.

"Scratch," she said as she gripped the bridge of her nose, "it's one thing to put yourself into a fix by not listening to my simple house rules, but it's another to involve someone else as a shield!"

"I know Octy, but I can't help it! When the right jam comes on... I just gotta play it up to max! And if a flankhole wants to get up in my business about it, I'll be happy to use him to save my flank!"

Octavia sighed as she proceeded to pry me out of Vinyl's reach. "I am terribly sorry, sir," she said as she offered me a bow. "Scratch has a tendency to be rather... brash," she said giving Vinyl a dark stare, "when she feels she is backed into a corner."

"It's fine," I assured. "I just have ears that are a tad sensitive, and I just came in to see if I could get the music shut off."

"Yes, but I have to ask, why exactly were you near our property in the first place?" she asked with an unamused look.

"U-Um..." I mumbled as I looked to my bag and pulled out the book that was designated for the address. "Carbon Maestro: The Birth of Pony Empires?" I read off as I offered the book forward, to which Octavia smiled as she took the book in kind.

"Ah, I was wondering when I was going to get that in. Thank you very much, Mister...?"

"Ask, just Ask," I said offering a hand forward.

"Octavia," she said returning my handshake, "pleasure to meet you Mister Ask, and I do apologize once more for Vinyl's actions."

"But Octy I-"

"Not another word!" she commanded, causing Scratch to quickly grow silent.

"We will discuss this when I come back home. In the meantime, I expect that you see to it that this stallion is treated for the discomfort you caused him," she said as she walked off with a slam of the door.

"Aw man!" Vinyl screamed as she fell to her knees. "She's gonna have my flank on a platter for this! Why the heck did you have to come in here and be available to be my shield?"

"Me? Why did you have to blast your music uncontrollably in the first place?" I countered.

"Because I had a love to feel the wubs!" she insisted as she got up in my face.

"Look, I just came to deliver a book, not to get wrestled to become some shield to save your sorry flank!" Vinyl didn't wait for me to say anything else. She grabbed a pair of headphones and threw them at me as I barely dodged. "Are you insane?!" I demanded.

"Shut up flankhole, and get out of my house!" she cried as she picked up a set of records with her magic and began to throw them at me like ninja stars. I continued to dodge as I found a window. Without a second thought, I jumped out the window and rolled onto the ground with a thud. "And stay out!" Vinyl cried as she slammed her window shut.

"Smooth," Spike said as he walked up and pulled me off the ground.

"Yeah, yeah," I grumbled as I dusted myself off once more. "At least there is only one more book left to deliver," I said as I pulled the book out of my bag. "So, where's Carousel Boutique from here?" Although a bit hesitant, Spike soon directed me towards a street a good five blocks away. Eventually the boutique was in sight, carousel horses and all.

I offered the book to Spike, thinking it would be safer for me and all the more rewarding for him if he gave it to Rarity. As Spike knocked on the door, I kept my distance so as not to end up in another hell-raising situation. The door opened up to reveal Rarity, but something seemed off to me. Instead of her usual clean attire and tidy aesthetics, she was wearing slacks and a blouse, her mane was a mess, and her eyes had noticeable bags behind a pair of orange frame glasses.

"Hey Rarity," Spike said dreamily as he literally floated off of the ground at the sight of her. "I brought you the book that you needed."

"Oh, Capes, Drapes, and Clothes for Apes," Rarity read off with a weary smile. "Thank you Spikey Wikey," she said giving the young drake a pinch on his cheek, sending him to cloud nine. As Rarity gave a happy eye roll and was just about to close the door on us, she immediately became completely active when her eyes made contact with me. "ASK!" she cried as she pushed Spike out of the way and latched onto me. "Perfect timing! I've just finished them!"

"Finished wha-!" Rarity didn't waste any more time. She quickly dragged me into the boutique and locked the door behind her.

"Oh, I've been waiting for you for hours now! You see, when you said the word 'armor' I realized just the suit I would need to create for you!" she cried as she pulled forward several draped figures. "Oh, I know you're going to absolutely love these designs once you lay your eyes on them!"

Before she said anything anything else, she looked at me and was shocked at what she saw. "Ask you look absolutely stunning!" she cried as she rushed forward as looked at every feature of me. "Manicured nails," she said as she examined my nails, "bleached teeth," she said pulled my lips apart and saw my teeth sparkle, "cleared eyes," she said as she stared deeply into my completely white sclera, "and your mane!" she said as she rubbed up against me and ran her fingers through my scalp. "Oh, I could just do this for hours," she mused as she fell into my chest, causing me to grow uncomfortable.

"Rarity, would you p-please..." I tried getting out, my vocal chords closing up on me.

"Aloe and Lotus, you two have done a brilliant job once again," she cried as she sunk closer into me, causing me to start sweating.

"R-Rarity..." I tried saying as I felt as though I was going to pass out. I looked down to see what she was doing, but found that she was now not caressing me anymore, but was just using me as a body pillow as she snoozed in my arms. "Rarity?" I asked, returned back to my regular state of mind. I poked her in her forehead, causing her to elicit a snort, but she still continued to slumber.

"Well... aw to heck with it. When am I ever going to get a chance like this again?" I pulled out my phone and took a quick picture of Rarity in my arms. After storing it again, I put my hand to her mane and gave it a quick and painful tug, jolting her out of her sleep.

"Wh- Huh?!" Rarity cried as she looked around her boutique and settled when she saw me. "Oh, Ask! Good to see you!" she said cheerfully. "....Um... why exactly are you here?"

"You said something about those?" I said while pointing towards the array of concealed outfits.

"Oh, yes," she said as she walked over to the forms. "Well, like I said, you gave me the bit of inspiration I needed to pull me out of my rut, and with that, I present to you, these!" Rarity levitated off each of the sheets to reveal several different outfits.

Each was different in their own specific way, from color to add ons. There was a red robe with dozens of feathers adorning its rims, emerald fatigues that had a number of ribbons strewn everywhere, a royal purple jacket that reached past the floor, even a bright outfit that looked to be made of several different pieces of gold metal to give the impression of actual armor. They were all unique in their own way, but they did have one commonality, they were all over-extravagant and beyond what I had wanted.

"Yeesh, I though Rarity created quality clothes and others ruined them for her, not the other way around..."

"Don't you just love them?" Rarity mused with a smile. "They all are breathable, strong, not overly gaudy, and above all, they're fabulous!" I just continued to look from outfit to outfit, unable to say much.

"They're... truly something I haven't seen before," I said with a polite smile.

"Some of them may be a bit small or large. I guessed most of your measurements, but Aloe and Lotus did happen to give me a rather detailed list of your torso, legs, and arms."

"Yeah... they would..." I said nervously as I shuddered at the torment that I had felt yesterday. "So many baths..."

"Well?" Rarity asked.

"Well what?" I asked.

"Aren't you going to try them on?" she egged.

"Of... course," I said with a nervous smile as I pulled the nearest cloak that I could find. Throwing my bag into a curtained area, I went behind another drape as I began stripping. I then slipped into Rarity's outfit and proceeded to parade in front of her.

"Oh, it looks... huh," she stated simply. "Well... huh." I had put on Rarity's red robe to start. While it did fit me comfortably, I found that I was eating feathers with every little movement I made.

"Not as breathable as I had had wanted," I said in between mouthful of plumage.

"Yes..." Rarity said disappointedly. "But I'm sure the next one will be the right fit," she assured as she levitated another form over to me. Disappearing behind the curtain again, I pulled on another outfit as I stepped out. "It's... um..." Rarity once again felt uncomfortable with her outfit. The emerald fatigues were grossly oversized, and on top of that, the ribbons clashed horribly with the tough material.

"I don't think so Rarity," I said as I tried keeping the outfit's top from falling off of me.

"Um... try this one on for size!" she said as she levitated over yet another outfit. Pulling it onto me, I stepped out a third time to submit myself to Rarity's judgement. "I... don't like it," she said as she pulled at the sides of her mane. The royal purple robes were as tight as a vice, and to add insult to injury, I was tripping over the tails that fell to the floor over and over again.

"Rarity, I think this outfit is meant for a mare, a particularly thin and curvy mare," I said as I peeled the robes off of me.

"Flattery will get us nowhere Monsieur," Rarity said with a smile and blush as she levitated another outfit over. "But it is welcome." As I remerged from the curtain for an unbelievable fourth time, Rarity didn't say anything as she wore a horribly pained look. The gold armor she had forged not only was a pain for me to put on, but it offered no room for me to move, and I quickly fell to the floor under the sheer weight of it.

"When I said strong, I didn't mean this strong!" I cried as I pulled the top half of the armor off my body. Rarity dangled several more outfits over my head as she gave me a pleading look, practically begging me to try them on. I just sighed as I grabbed another one. Just like the other suits, nothing worked out to be ideal.

It eventually fell into a pattern: mineral, flaws, snarky remark from both Rarity and myself.

Silver, cuts me as I try to wear it, "I think it's a tad too dull," "I think it's a tad too sharp!"

Yellow topaz, breaks down as I put it on, "Really far too fragile," "There's fragile, and then there's as-weak-as-Fluttershy fragile."

Lead, need I say what's wrong in that choice, "It's shiny!" "IT'S MOTHER-BUCKING LEAD! WHERE DID YOU EVEN GET LEAD?"

Aluminum, too noisy and easily breakable, "I still made this work," "You may be able to make a hat out of macrame and a straw, but you definitely cannot make a coat out of aluminum foil."

Jade, Cobalt, too big, too small, can't move, can't breathe, can't be seen in public with it. Eventually we had come to a point where Rarity offered me a rainbow shirt made out of a dozen different gems.

"Didn't I say specifically that I didn't want gems plastered onto material?" I demanded.

"I swear, I know there is an outfit here for you! I just know it!" Rarity insisted.

"Listen, Rarity, you tried, but it's just not happening today. You've thrown everything at me that you could think of. The only thing that you haven't made me wear is the kitchen sink!" I cried, to which Rarity cooly pushed an actual kitchen sink just by her foot away. "You're tired, I'm tired, and I don't think Twilight's going to appreciate that I left her number one assistant for dead outside. I've got to go."

"But if you could ju-"

"Lady Rarity," I said as I pulled her close and stabilized her in my arms, "we're done here. Now if you could please bring me back my own clothes, I'd greatly appreciate it." Rarity sighed as she rubbed her temples.

"Well I would like to Ask, but..."

I quickly became anxious as Rarity didn't finish her statement.

"Lady Rarity, where are my clothes?"

"Oh Ask... I JUST COULDN'T STAND THEM! I burned them! Burned them and I hold no regrets about it!"

I felt as though something snapped within me as I felt my eyes could burn through Rarity.

"You mean to tell me the only pieces of clothing that I hold are now ashes?!" I screamed to which Rarity turned away.

"I'm sorry!" she cried. I was just about to give her the biggest piece of my mind that I could muster when all of a sudden the door to the boutique burst open.

"Rarity!" The two of us turned to see that Twilight had barged into the boutique and grabbed onto Rarity's arm. "We need your help!"

"Twilight, whatever is the matter?"

"There's been an accident! Lyra's house is on fire!"

"WHAT?!" Rarity and I cried.

"There's no time to explain! We need every hand available and your magic is just one step closer to stoking the flame!" Rarity quickly followed Twilight out as I ran up to follow them.

"Where do you think you're going?" Rarity said as she stopped me in my place.

"I'm going out to help with the fire, what else?!" I demanded.

"Not without some proper clothes you're not!" Rarity asserted.

"You burned my only set of clothes!" I yelled back.

"Rarity! What's the hold up?!" Twilight cried to her friend. Rarity looked at me with a deeply sympathetic look, but she nonetheless left as she whispered a quick apology.

"Well that's just fantastic!" I cried as I pulled off the shirt Rarity made and threw it straight a curtain rod, causing it to fall to the ground with a harsh clatter along with the purple curtain. "My one lead to a way back home, and I'm stuck here without a single thing to wear except my boxers!" I crossed over to the mess I caused and flipped the curtain away away. Grabbing my bag and the shirt, I looked around to see if there was someway I could get up to the roof to move above the crowds unseen. Unfortunately, I didn't find any openings. Just as I was about to lose all confidence, something caught my eye.

Poking just from under the curtain was a glimmer of what appeared to be shiny black leather. Ripping the whole curtain away, I was utterly stunned at what I found. Before me stood another outfit, but this one was radically different than the other ones. It was far more put together, more spirited, and just seemed... right for me. Without another word, I stuffed Rarity's shirt into my bag as I pulled the ensemble off of it's form and began suiting up.

"Well," I said as I looked myself over once in a nearby mirror, "it'll have to do."

On the other side of town, the fire was quickly escalating in size as it continued to consume the house.

"Everypony together now!" Twilight cried. Focusing their magic, the unicorns of Ponyville lifted several buckets of water and threw it onto the fire, dousing a section away.

"That's the way! Keep this up and we'll have this fire out in no time!" Rarity cried.

"Pegasi ready?" Rainbow Dash cried from the skies as she and several other winged humanoids brought dark clouds filled to the brim with water. "Ready... now!" All the Pegasi hopped up and began jumping on their storm clouds, causing showers of water to rain down onto the house and extinguish over half of the flames present. "Alright!" Rainbow cheered.

"Woohoo!" Fluttershy cried.

"Time ta do our part," Applejack said as she and several other Earth Equines stood stationed at several hand pumps with hoses at the ready. "Y'all ready up there fer us Pinkie Pie?" AJ called to her friend who was stationed at the front of the pack.

"Yupper-Rooney! Let 'er rip Applejack!" Applejack and the others began pumping as hard as they could. Water quickly flowed through the hoses as they shot in streams into the house.

"Keep it up everypony! We're almost done!" Mayor Mare cried as she rallied everyone's spirits.

"Alright everpony! Yeah! You've got this!" Spike cheered as he clapped his hands together. However, just as he was doing so, his cheeks began to bulge as he held his mouth closed.

"Oh no, Spike, DON'T!" But it was too late. Spike let out a large burp that surrounded the entire house in a fury of green flames.

"NO!" Twilight cried as she became extremely panicked.

"Everypony together!" Rarity cried. The Unicorns levitated more water, the Pegasi brought over more clouds, and the Earth Equines pumped in more water through their hoses. But try as they might, the flames weren't dying down as easily this time.

"HELP!" Everypony froze at the plea for help. They knew that the house needed to be taken care of, but they didn't know that somepony was still trapped inside.

"No, no, NO!" Spike cried as he realized the horror of what he'd done.

"We've got to break through that fire! Pinkie Pie, focus all the hoses at the door!" the Mayor ordered.

"Yes Ma'am!" Pinkie cried as she and the others aimed at the door and piled on as much water as they could.

"It's no use Twi! Spike's flame isn't dying down fast enough!" Applejack cried.

"What have I done..." Spike moaned as he curled up into a ball and began weeping.

"It's not your fault Spike, you have no control over your fire. Besides, you're just a kid," Twilight said as she tried to comfort the drake.

"But somepony is in danger because of me!" Spike cried. "And no one is able to save them!"

"Twilight, don't you have some magic to take care of this?!" Rainbow cried as she came low to her friend.

"I'm sorry Rainbow, but I don't have any magic tricks that could douse dragon fire!"

"And nothing can," Spike moaned as he fell further. "It'll keep burning until the whole house falls in and snuffs it out."

"Oh no," Fluttershy cried silently as she hovered by.

"So we're just supposed to stand here and let the house burn down along with everypony in it?" Applejack cried.

"I-I don't know..." Twilight cried, causing Spike's eyes to go wide as he realized the depth of what he had done. Without warning, he ran up to the door and began ripping it open in any way he could. "Spike!" Twilight cried as he pulled her assistant away.

"Let me go! I've gotta get in there!" Spike cried as he tried to claw his way out of Twilight's grip.

"Are you crazy!?" Rainbow cried as she helped Twilight keep Spike from escaping. "You'll burn to a crisp in there!"

"It's my fire! I won't burn! I'm the only one who can get in there!" Spike insisted.

"But Spike-"

"Fluttershy! I have to do this!" he screamed with raged, teary eyes. "I'm the only one who can do this! I have to! I HAVE TO!" Spike broke down in tears again as he gave up resisting.

"Spikey Wikey it will be alright," Rarity comforted as she held the drake in her arms, but not even her comforting did anything to help Spike's mood.

"It's all my fault... It's all my fault..." he cried as he burrowed his way into Rarity's bosom. "Somepony... please save them..."

"Hey! You can't be here!" The girls turned to see what was the source of the fracas, but were unable to see much as a dark-blue blur sped past them. Without warning, it crashed into the house and ran straight into the flames.

"What in Tartarus was that?!" Twilight cried. Before anyone could say anything else, the mass quickly returned as it carried a unicorn with green and white hair under it's arm.

"Lyra!" Spike cried as he stumbled out of Twilight's arms and towards the unicorn. As Lyra got to her feet, Spike jumped into her arms as he buried himself into her chest. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" Spike wailed, more than relieved to see that the town eccentric was alright.

"It's okay Spike. I'm alright," Lyra assured as she patted the drake on his back. "Thanks to him."

Lyra and Spike both turned to their mysterious savior. He wore black pants with a black leather belt, a sleeved white shirt, black leather boots, fingerless gloves, a messenger bag on his side, and a tri-belt brought together by a triangle piece that wrapped under his arms and over his right shoulder. But what was most prominent was the deep, sapphire blue button-down coat that hugged his entire form, reaching just bellow his knees and concealing his arms. Most of his body was concealed by clothing, especially his face, which hid in the shadow of the coat's large hood.

"Thank you," Spike said with a snort. He nodded as he began to run off.

"W-Wait!" Lyra cried, causing him to stop in his tracks. "What about the others?"

"Others?!" Spike asked with small eyes.

"Bon Bon a-and-"

"Octavia!" The three onlookers turned to see Vinyl Scratch pushing to get to the front of the pack, scrambling forward as she tried to push towards the house.

"Vinyl calm down," Lyra said as she stopped Scratch from running into the building.

"Don't you tell me to calm down! My best friend is trapped in there!" Vinyl cried as she tried clawing out.

"You'll burn in there!" Lyra insisted.

"I don't care! Just get Octavia out of there!" Vinyl screamed as tears started pouring down her eyes. Lyra turned to her savior as she gave him a solemn look.

"Please, help us," Lyra said as a few tears fell from her eyes. He didn't say anything but looked to Lyra and Scratch, his expression unreadable. He then turned to fire as he ran inside once more.

"Lyra, you just realize you sent someone into a burning building?" Spike cried.

"I-I know Spike, but..." Lyra said as she looked ashamedly to her friend. "I don't know what else to do. A-And he saved me, so... he can do it again... right?"

Now you're probably wondering where I am during all of this, right? Well...

"GRAH!" I tumbled into the burning building as my entrance this time wasn't as graceful as before. The hood to the coat had flipped off, giving me a full view of my situation. Green fire was everywhere, along the walls, the furniture, and especially along Lyra's display in the living room. "The things I do for the Independents," I groaned as I pulled myself off the floor and pulled on my hood again. I may have been willing to risk my neck for Lyra, but I didn't have the same drive with this second rescue. Still, I needed Lyra happy, and to do it, I needed Bon Bon and Octavia. "Hello!? Is anyone in here?!" I called as bits of roof started to fall.

"We're up here!" Bon Bon cried from the stairs.

"Of course, it's always the second floor," I groaned. Quickly running, I stormed up the stairs as I looked around for a looked for the two mares. Eventually I found a sealed room that looked like my best bet. Giving it a few harsh knocks, I called inside to see if anyone was inside. "Is anyone in there!?" I called.

"Two of us! Please help! We're running out of air!" a voice called, who I assumed to be Octavia.

"Is anyone in the way of the door?"

"N-No but-!"

"I'm coming in, just hold on!" I cried as I stood back and brought a foot up.

"No wait don't!" I slammed my foot through the door, causing it to fall in as a flurry of flames shot at me. With a gasp, I shot my arms to my face as the fire and steam poured into me.

"No!" Bon Bon cried as I disappeared in the sea of green. "I'm sorry! I tried to warn you! I tri- wha?!" As the flames cleared away, Bon Bon was shocked to find that I was perfectly fine, not a single scorch mark to be seen on me. As I lowered my hands, I looked myself over to confirm my status. When I found nothing out of place, I looked towards the coat as it seemed to shimmer in the light of the fire.

"What did Rarity make this stuff out of?" I said as I put a hand to it, finding that it was completely cool and smooth to the touch.

"I'm sorry, but can you admire your attire after you save us?!" Octavia cried.

"Right, sorry," I mumbled. Carefully crossing into the room, I found Bon Bon and Octavia stuck behind several fallen support beams. "Just stay put, I'll get you out of there in a second," I said as I placed my hands under the support beam as I began lifting as hard as I could.

"Hurry! We don't know how long that this room is going to hold!" Bon Bon cried. I was making progress with the lift, but before I knew it, the roof started to collapse, specifically a large support beam that was coming right down at my head.

"Look out!" Octavia cried as she pointed skyward.

"Okay, if you're going to yell at me every second of the way, this rescue is going to take a whole lot longer!" I yelled as the beam connected with my head. Instead of outright taking my head off, the beam split in-half as it met my head, causing Octavia and Bon Bon's jaws to drop to the floor. "What?" I demanded.

"Didn't you feel that at all?" Bon Bon asked.

"Feel what?"

"The two-hundred plus pounds of wood that just dropped on your head!" Octavia said as she pointed at my feet. Looking down, I couldn't believe my eyes.

"That fell on me?" I asked, to which they nodded. "On my head?" Another nod. "And split in half, not crushing my skull?" Several nods this time. "The buck is up with this outfit?!" I screamed. I didn't have time to really consider it as more support beams began to fall in front of me, trapping the two mares further. "No!" I cried as I tried pulling the beams again, only this time, I managed to only lift the beams a few inches up. "Damn it! Where's Rito when I need him?!" I cried as I lost my grip.

"You need help! Where's your back-up?!" Bon Bon asked.

"I don't have any. I can handle it," I said as I tried lifting again.

"You need help!" Octavia insisted.

"I can handle this!" I cried as I felt my strength slowly leaving me.

"Please! Get help or we'll all die in here!" the two cried together.

"I DON'T NEED HELP FROM YOU EQUESTRIANS!!!"

My scream had caused me to jerk the beams too quickly, forcing the floor to cave and several other beams to fall. One particular beam still managed to remain attached to a support cable, but soon began swinging towards me at a dangerous rate. Pulling my arms up once more, I managed to avoid seriously damaging myself, but ended up being thrown back through a window. Quickly holding onto the hood, I landed on my back with a hard thump that knocked the wind right out of me.

"The house is coming down! Everypony, pile it on! Fire squad, get in there!" As people started running past me, I began to feel delirious as my vision began to blur. What had gone wrong? I managed to get Lyra out so easily, yet I couldn't get the other two? Granted Lyra was out in the open while Bon Bon and Octavia were trapped, but I should be able to handle this. This was a simple rescue, I'd done it five times in the last three days! How could I fail so badly at this? As the world around me grew dark, I shut my eyes as I allowed my head to fall back. What was it about this time that could have happened?

"It's not about what happened, it's about what didn't happen."

"What?" I uttered into my head.

"You don't even realize it yet, do you? You may have saved Fluttershy, Spike, Applebloom, Granny Smith, and Lyra, but you forget that you didn't do it on your own."

"What the heck are you on about? I single-handedly saved them all."

"Really? Then what about Spike stalling the wolves long enough for you to arrive? What about Morning Glory and Winona helping you save Apple Bloom and let you get to the bull that put Granny Smith in danger in the first place? What about Rarity's clothes that let you save Lyra?"

"That was... I mean... I... That doesn't count!"

"I see that Equestrian examples aren't going to work with you, so how about this?" Before my eyes stood three figures standing over me, each offering me a smile and an outstretched hand.

"You alright Ask? Looks like you could use a hand," a familiar orange-haired boy.

"Let me give you a hand there," a dark-haired girl with blue eyes said with a bright smile.

"Geez, I can't leave you alone for a second, can I? Here?" a black-haired nineteen-year-old said as she gave me a weary smile.

"You starting to understand now?" my subconscious asked. As I stared at the blurry images of my friends, I realized just what had been my success up until this point.

"You really are telling me that I have to-"

"Yup."

"But they're Equestrians! My Little Pony Equestrians! Doesn't that phase you at all?!"

"Tsk. And you call yourself a follower of the Doctor."

"Hey! I give everyone a fair chance!"

"Don't tell me that, tell them." My vision suddenly cleared up, along with my hearing. My ears were bombarded with the screams and shouts that surrounded the area, but nothing was more potent to me than the cries that came from the three mares that materialized before me.

"What the hay happened in there?!" Vinyl demanded as she shook my form.

"Vinyl give him some air!" Lyra said as she pulled the DJ off of me.

"H-Hey Mister, you okay?" Derpy was now the only one looking over me. I quickly scrambled to my feet as I tried to make another dash for the house. Unfortunately, my hopes were just as quickly dashed. The bottom floor to the house had been decimated, with fire pouring out at all sides and rubble blocking ground every entry way. I quickly noticed one way that was free for people to enter through. Ironically, it was the one I had opened, the second-floor window. Without any houses nearby to climb up and the building itself too hot to scale, I was thoroughly trapped on the ground. Plus, even if I could get in, how would I manage to get Bon and Octavia out?

"You know what you need to do, and I suggest you do it quick." I turned back towards the mares that were huddled close together, noticing how scared they were, how ready they were to do something, anything to get their friends out. As I looked to my coat, a plan, as annoying as it would be to me, quickly came together.

"Ah buck it!" I immediately ran towards the mares and slid down to my knees. "You three, you want to get your friends back?"

"W-What?" Vinyl asked.

"I said do ya want ta get your girlfriend out of the fire or not?!" I demanded.

"She's not my-"

"Whatever! Yes or no?!"

"Well duh yes!" Vinyl cried.

"Me too," Lyra said sternly.

"And I want to help too," Derpy said confidently.

"Right, first things first, you two," I said pointing to the unicorns, "can you levitate objects, and if yes, how heavy?"

"About seventy-eighty pounds?" Lyra guessed.

"Have you seen my speakers? Over a hundred pounds easy," Vinyl said.

"Alright, and you," I said pointing at Derpy, "can you lift a lot while flying?"

"Are you kidding? I once lifted an entire piano on my own!" she said proudly.

"You once dropped an entire piano on your own, onto somepony I might add..." I groaned silently.

"What was that?" Derpy asked.

"Nothing," I dismissed. "Alright, I have a plan, but you're going to have to trust me, agreed?" I asked, to which they all nodded happily. "Alright. Unicorns, under my robe, now!" Although a little confused, Lyra and Vinyl quickly grabbed the ends of my robe and pulled them apart. Stuffing themselves inside, they grabbed my tri-belt and pulled the sides of the coat shut. "Alright, Miss Hooves, get me up into the air," I said as I shut the sides of the coat, which surprisingly still felt comfortably snug around my form.

"H-How am I-"

"Grab me underneath my arms, start flapping your wings, and get us airborne!" I shouted, causing her to quickly scrambling over and pull her arms under me. With several mighty flaps, I felt the ground leave my feet as I was lifted several meters into the air.

"Whoa, you're really light Mister," Derpy commented.

"What? But- ...never mind. Can you get us over to that window?" I asked as I pointed to the opening.

"You got it!" Derpy flew over to the window until we were a few feet from the opening.

"Alright Miss Hooves, now throw us!"

"What?! You want to go into the fiery pit?!"

"That's the plan," I said with nervous bravado.

"But-But-But-!"

"Look, just do it before I change my mind!" I screamed. Although a bit wary, Derpy took a deep breath and threw us inside. Just as I expected, the flames merely licked at my coat, leaving us safe as I landed in the bedroom. "You two alright?" I asked as I opened the coat and let the mares out.

"Yeah, what's up with that coat of yours?" Vinyl asked.

"What do you mean?"

"We had complete room to move, it's almost like it was bigger on the inside," Lyra commented.

"What are you-"

"Lyra!?"

The three of us turned to see Bon Bon and Octavia underneath a pile of wood and burning hay.

"Bon Bon!" Lyra cried as she slid to her knees and reached for her housemate.

"Scratch!" Octavia cried happily.

"I'm here Octy!" Vinyl shouted happily.

"We'll get you out of there in just a second!" I cried not as happily. "Scratch, Lyra, time to get to work! Can you get the hay out of the way?"

"On it!"

With a shine of their horns, gold and blue auras soon enveloped the burning stacks of hay, snuffing out their flames as they were levitated into a corner.

"Alright, I'm going to start lifting rubble out of the way. Lift the debris I'm touching to lighten the weight. I'll do the rest, got it?" I asked as I grabbed a support beam, to which they nodded heartily. "On three! One, t-" The house suddenly began to rumble as more rubble began to fall. Time was running out. "New plan! Lyra, lift up the top load, Vinyl, pull down this bottom load! I'm gonna try and slide them out!" I cried.

"Let's spin this!" Vinyl cried as she engulfed her portion of the debris.

"On it!" Lyra cried.

"Alright, on three! On-"

*Rumble*!

"THREE!" Lyra and Vinyl quickly parted the debris, just enough that I could slip inside. Quickly jumping in, I tightened my robe around me as I moved inside, immune to the flames around me. "Miss Octavia and Miss Bon Bon, I believe your chariot is here!" I said as I grabbed their hands and pulled them close.

"Thank you!" Octavia cried as she hugged me close.

"Are they okay!?" Vinyl cried.

"They're fine! I'm sliding them out now!" Feeling my needs more important, I slowly began sliding Bon Bon through the gap as I made sure that no splinters or fire surrounded her. No sooner than I got her out did Lyra drop her aura as the load closed our gap once more.

"Bon Bon!" the lyre player cried as she wrapped her arms around her best friend.

"Oh Lyra, I was so afraid I was going to lose you!"

"Lyra! What about Octy!?"

"And your rescuer!?" I desperately added.

"O-Oh right, let me just-"

*CRACK*!

The floor underneath Octavia and I gave out as the two of us fell into the bottom floor. Octavia screamed as I grabbed onto her. Looking around as quickly as possible, I grabbed onto a broken piece of floorboard as the two of us dangled over a sea of fire.

"OCTAVIA!!!" Vinyl cried.

"Damn it..." I groaned as I felt my grip weakening. As I looked down at Octavia and her frightened face, I pondered over what I could do, what would save us now. That's when my thoughts turned to my coat.

"Vinyl," I called.

"Yeah?!" she cried as she poked her head out in between the debris.

"Can you take her? Can you take Octavia?!"

"I-I think so!" she said.

"Then do it!" I called as I pulled Octavia close to my body. "Grab her with your magic and get yourselves out!"

"But what about you?!"

"I'll be fine! Just get Octavia out!" I screamed.

"But sir-"

"Look," I said as I turned to face the cellist under my hood. "I don't have anything to offer this world, but it would be a damn shame if it lost a cellist as brilliant as you."

"You-You've seen me play?" she asked breathlessly.

"Not the point, only thing I know is that I'll be fine on my own, but you've got to take this chance, do you understand?" I asked. Octavia looked me deep in the eye as she pondered over what she should do.

"...Alright."

"Scratch!" I called once more.

"On it!" As Octavia was soon surrounded in a bright blue glow, she turned to me once more.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"Somepony nopony needs to know about," I said simply.

"Well whoever you are, you have beautiful eyes," she said with a gentle smile, causing my grip to weaken a bit as I felt her words hit me like a ton of bricks, "just like her."

"Of course she's talking about her..." my subconscious groaned. As Octavia was lifted away, I pulled my second hand up and onto the floorboard. I soon heard a storm of feet clatter against the floor, confirming that the group had fled.

"Okay, now," I said as I looked down at the sea of green below me and to the clothes on my back. "This is absolutely insane, but if it works, I swear I won't skip training for a year, I won't insult Trisha for her pony obsession, heck, I'll even give an Equestrian a cutesy-wootsey compliment!" I screamed to the heavens. As the fires continued to surround me and the floorboards began to creak, I took a deep breath as I braced myself for what was to come. "Geronimo..."

The floorboards gave out as the upper floor completely fell in. Grabbing the sides of my robe, I pulled myself and my bag into the garment as I sunk into the sea of flames. Outside, Lyra, Bon Bon, Octavia, and Vinyl were hobbling away with the help of the other residents. However, they soon turned around to see that the house had finally completely collapsed in on itself, crushing everything inside as the fire soon suffocated.

"He... he didn't make it..." Vinyl breathed.

"He gave up his life for me," Octavia said sadly.

"No..." Spike said as watched the mess die down from Twilight's grasp.

"Oh Spike," Twilight said as she looked to the teary-eyed drake.

"Twilight... I..."

"I know," she said as she wrapped her arms around her assistant as he began to cry into her chest. "I know..."

"Well everypony, there's nothing to see here," Mayor Mare sighed as she hung her head low. "Let's get this place cleaned up. Hopefully we can at least find a body..." As everyone began to leave, Spike and the girls stayed behind as Spike tried to make amends with what had happened.

"Oh my poor Spikey Wikey," Rarity said as she grabbed Spike by his shoulder.

"It's alright kid, things happen," Rainbow argued.

"Yeah Spike. I know things may seem bad now, but you gotta learn to turn that frown upside down," Pinkie said as she hugged the drake tight around his neck.

"Look girls, I know you're trying to help, but..." he said despondently as he looked towards the destruction.

"It's been a long and awful day, why don't we all retire for some tea and finger sandwiches?" Rarity suggested. "And maybe little Spikey Wikey could help me make those divine cookies of his?" she added.

"Tea, really?" Rainbow snorted, to which she received a sharp jab from Applejack.

"I think that's a swell idea Rare," AJ said with a smile.

"I agree. Would you like that Spike?" Fluttershy gently asked.

"I... I guess..." he sighed.

"Terrific! Well, to Carousel Boutique ladies!" Rarity said as she grabbed Spike by his hand, causing him to crack the smallest smile. Ten minutes later, the girls were back in the boutique as they all relaxed a bit. "I'll be back in just a minute, I'll just pop the kettle on the stove and-OH!"

"What is it Rarity?" Fluttershy asked as she and the others rushed to her side.

"Why it's... my original," Rarity breathed.

"What are yo-Woah!" Rainbow cried.

"Cool!" Pinkie said.

"Oh my!" Fluttershy sighed happily.

"Well I'll be," Applejack said with an impressed look.

"That's impossible," Twilight said with glee.

"No way..." Spike said as his jaw hit the floor.

Rarity had pulled back a curtain to reveal a sapphire blue coat hanging over a white dress shirt, a pair of black slacks with a tri-belt and waist belt, a pair of black boots, fingerless gloves, all on a black mannequin form.

"H-How is this here?!" Spike asked.

"The better question is why did it end up on that stallion outside? I made this outfit!" Rarity insisted.

"When?" Twilight asked.

"Well last night, I wanted to make a proper outfit for- no!"

"What is it Rare?" Applejack asked.

"That stallion, the one who saved Lyra and the others, do you think that it was-"

"OI!" The girls and Spike turned around to see me walk into the room, still wearing that hideous gem-plastered shirt and holding a sour look. "About time you all showed up here again!"

"M-Monsieur Ask? Where have you been?" Rarity asked.

"Where have I been? You barred me to this boutique, remember?" I asked irritatedly.

"Well I-I-"

"And another thing, I-hello," I said as I noticed the outfit on the stage. "Another one of these?" I said as I examined the clothes. "It's far more put together than the others are, although not exactly TARDIS blue," I said casually. "When did you make this one?"

"It was the first one I made. It actually was meant to be the only one I was going to make for you..." Rarity said sheepishly as a light blush crossed her face.

"Well..." I said painfully as I pulled the mannequin towards me, "might as well give it a try, right?" I asked.

"Y-YES!" Rarity cried as she pushed me and the outfit into the curtained area. "Try! Go! Show us!" With a pull of the curtain, I quickly stripped down and pulled the outfit on. I soon pulled the curtain back to show off my look.

"Well, well, don't you look like a million bits!" Applejack said with a smile.

"It's looks so sparkly!" Pinkie cried.

"Itttt needs to be about 20% cooler, but I say it's pretty good," Rainbow said with a happy shrug.

"How very proper," Twilight said contently.

"How lovely," Fluttershy said with shimmering eyes.

"Oh, this is it!" Rarity said as her smile grew to Cheshire Cat levels. "I should have known my original design was absolutely perfect for you!" I looked myself over in a mirror as I saw every asset of my new clothes.

"Well, it definitely looks nice, and it's far lighter and airy than I expected, but I don't understand, what did you mean when you mentioned 'armor'?" I asked.

"Ah! That is beauty of this coat Monsieur!" Rarity said with a triumphant air. "I made this coat out of the best materials I have, but I also added a tiny bit of my own flair to it," she said mischievously.

"Flair?" I asked.

"Magic!" Rarity said excitedly.

"Now this I'm interested to hear," I said with crossed arms.

"Well, I may not be the most magical unicorn in Equestria, but I do know a magic trick or two," Rarity said triumphantly.

"Care to go into specifics?" I asked as I ran to get my messenger bag and pulled my phone from a pocket.

"What is that thing?" Rainbow whispered as I opened my notes.

"Dunno, but Ask calls it a 'Thingamajig'," Applejack answered.

"Gladly," Rarity said. "To start, all the materials are fresh and quality. The coat in particular is what I am most proud of."

"I noticed it's rather smooth to the touch, what's the material? Satin?"

"Nope, silk!" Rarity said. "Diamond Sapphire silk to be precise," Rarity said proudly, "with a little nephrite jade to add some strength."

"This material has the combined strength of all those gems?" I asked as I looked at the stitching closer.

"Precisely! The entire suit is designed to withstand even the toughest of attacks, while the gem quality makes staining impossible."

"This is incredible, the threads are crystalline and fluid," I said as I examined the stitching.

"Well, it could have used a butterfly stitch instead of a cross stitch..." Fluttershy whispered as she examined the coat.

"A hypothetical question, could this material absorb attacks or even keep out elements like, say, fire?" I asked nonchalantly.

"Normally, no. But this coat is very special. The exterior not only keeps the coat bound strongly together, but it also serves to absorb impacts before they meet the interior. It then distributes and reduces any and all impacts across the wearer to reduce pain. The inside is also completely insulated from the outside, reducing the possibility of conducting electricity while also keeping out all external elements and temperatures."

"That would explain how you were able to handle being hit with that support beam without even a scratch and why the fire didn't hurt you."

"I also would like to add that I managed to charm the inside to a comfortable eighty-one point four degrees along with an oxygen air filter, and that remains constant despite any environment. The hood also serves as a bit of a face guard as well, magically blocking minor debris such as rain or snow from coming into the coat while it is buttoned up and the hood is on, but only minor debris! So you best not experiment with breathing underwater with that coat," Rarity chided cautiously.

"Good, good, anything else?" I asked excitedly as I typed notes away.

"Well there's not much else, just a weightlessness spell, bit of an undetectable-expansion charm on the coat's pockets... or was it on the coat as a whole..." Rarity wondered nervously.

"Undetectable-expansion charm? Can somepony please translate?" Rainbow asked.

"It's bigger on the inside," I said happily as I pulled the coat apart to view the inside lining.

"The rest was just for style, and I must say they do look rather dashing on him," Rarity said with a sultry smile.

"This is incredible!" I said as I spun on the spot.

"I never knew you were so proficient in magic Rarity!" Twilight said proudly.

"Oh Twilight, how do you suppose I maintain such elegance in my attire?" Rarity asked.

"Hey, ya think you can make me a coat like that?" Rainbow asked.

"As much as I would love to Rainbow Dash, the spells needed for this coat are a bit tasking on the body, and I reserve them for only my finest creations. Monsieur Ask had these done on his garments because he specifically asked me to make a strong and airy outfit," Rarity said with a yawn.

"Which brings up an important question, how much is an incredible coat like this gonna cost me?" I asked with a nervous grin.

"Oh absolutely nothing, Darling!" Rarity said with a smile. "Think of it as a late welcome to town present."

"Thank you Rarity!" I cried as I pulled the mare into my arms and hugged her tight.

"I... You're welcome Ask," Rarity said as her face broke into a harsh blush and she lightly began hugging me in return.

"AHEM!" the others cried. Rarity and I separated to see how close we really were, and within a second I backed away while trying to maintain myself.

"*cough* Yes, well... thank you Lady Rarity," I said carefully.

"Think nothing of it Monsieur," Rarity said a bit disappointedly.

"Can I say the big question on everypony's mind?" Spike asked. "How did that coat get here when it was on the stallion who saved Lyra, Bon Bon, and Octavia?!"

"Well young drake, I think that might help," I said as I pointed towards the mannequin. Everyone looked to see that a note appeared on the torso. Pulling it off, Rarity read what it had to say.

"Thanks for the duds, pity we'll never meet again. Well I am happy he's alright, but that's still fairly disappointing," Rarity said with a pout.

"What if he just put it there?" Spike asked while pointing towards me.

"Now, I don't know about you kid, but I don't think this," I said as I pulled out a pen from my bag and scrawled on the note, "is my handwriting, do you?"

"Oh, no..." Spike said as he saw that my scrawl was nothing compared to clean, fluid script that the note was.

"Exactly, now, I believe it's time for a late lunch," I said as I felt my stomach growl violently.

"Agreed," Rarity said as she went into the kitchen. "I do hope you all like tea and finger sandwiches."

"You mean those tiny sandwiches that you need to eat twenty of just to equal eating one?" Pinkie groaned.

"Along with dirty leaf water?" I muttered under my breath. "Ah well, better than nothing." As the lot of us walked towards the next room, there was a sudden knock at the door.

"Now who could that be?" Twilight asked as she crossed over and opened the door to reveal the secretary that Spike and I had seen earlier. "Can I help you?"

"Yes your Highness," the secretary said with a surprisingly chipper smile. "The clean-up team found this in the remains of the fire. There was a candle near some leftover burnt parchment. That appears to be what caused the first fire."

"Bon Bon was right in the end," I said thoughtfully.

"This was also found in perfect condition. It was determined as the cause of the second conflagration." The secretary extended a paper-wrapped object towards Twilight, to which she happily accepted.

"Well, that's very good, but why should I be the one to get it?" Twilight inquired.

"That would be the scroll wrapped around the packaging," the secretary said as she pointed to a piece of parchment.

"That's Princess Celestia's seal," Twilight said as she examined the scroll. "This must be why Spike burped! Thank you Miss," Twilight said with a small bow.

"Anything to help Equestria's newest princess," the secretary said with an abnormally low bow as she left.

"Someone's bucking for a raise..." I said with disdain. "Well, what's inside?"

"I would open it, but this isn't for me," Twilight said. "It's addressed to you."

"To me?"

"See for yourself," Twilight said as she offered the package towards me. "It's written right here on the scroll in black and white." I looked down at the scroll to see a scrawl in ink, but I wasn't able to read it all.

"Great, this again. Twilight, I can't read this."

"But it's written clear as day, 'To Ask'," Twilight said. I sighed as I looked down at the script, but it just continued to remain in Equestrian symbols. However, I was soon surprised at what followed. The text flashed a bright gold as the letters suddenly morphed and changed. As the light disappeared, I found that in it's place were two words written in regal calligraphy.

"To Ask... What the hay?!" I said.

"Ask?"

"GRAH!!!"

I fell to the ground as my body grew a blazing hot, my muscles all contracting at once.

"ASK!" everyone cried as they rushed to my side.

"What's wrong, are you okay?!" Fluttershy asked.

"Can't... move..." I breathed as I felt my bones being crushed. Before I could say anything else, my eyes dilated as my head suddenly began filling with voices and images.

"Objection!... That person is there!... How will I make a man out of you?... All magic comes at a price, Dearie... Good night everybody!... It belongs in a museum... Do you know who the hell I am?!... Hell of a Butler... EXTERMINATE!... Wake up..."

"Ask!" Fluttershy cried.

The boutique rang with the echoes of my blood-curdling scream, my entire body on fire as I soon felt the world around me disappear as everything faded to black.

Just as quickly as it left, the world suddenly rushed back into my sight. I shot up as I tried catching my breath, a cold sweat rushing down the back of my neck. I looked around to see that I was back in the library, now on top of the purple sheets of my bed.

"I've got to get Twilight to change these," I groaned as I twisted my legs over to the side. I turned my head back to see that it was now nightfall, the stars shining overhead. I looked down to my left to see Spike snoring away in his wicker bed, no doubt too tired to be awakened. "I wonder if that bed was once a basket..." I was still a little disoriented, but I managed to get to my feet as I walked around a bit on the upper wing. It was nearly pitch-black, but there seemed to be a small light in the corridor downstairs.

Curious, I jumped silently from the sill and proceeded to tiptoe down. There wasn't much light, but I did find a single candle burning over a podium where a single humanoid alicorn was pouring over a book in her pajamas. "What's she doing up?" I asked as I silently moved behind her and took a look over her shoulder. The book was initially unreadable, but it soon flashed gold as the words translated into English. "Guess I wasn't imagining things after all..." I thought as I began reading off the new text.

"...it is often important to consider that the best course to ruling your subjects is to not enforce your will onto others, but to entice them to want to follow you. By making them think you're not ruling them, you'll be able to rule them all the more effectively What a load of crock..." I muttered silently. Twilight spun on the spot as her horn flared, pulling me off the ground in a purple aura. "Woah, woah, woah! It's me!" I cried while waving my arms, getting her to calm down just enough to notice me.

"Ask," Twilight sighed as she dropped me back on the ground and brought a hand to her heart. "You scared the feathers off of me. Still, it's good to see you awake."

"Yeah about that, how long was I out for?" I asked.

"About eleven hours, when you stopped screaming we brought you back here and called in a doctor. I confirmed that you were breathing, but you weren't moving and your body temperature dropped several degrees. The doctor did say you were stable, but he said you wouldn't awaken for at least a day. I'm actually surprised you're up now."

"I'm known to beat the odds," I said with a small smirk.

"By the way, I like your pajamas."

"WHAT!?" I cried as I looked down to find myself in a pair of brown pajamas. "You let someone take the clothes off of my unconscious body?!"

"Relax, I let a doctor take care of it in private, a MALE doctor, I might add," Twilight assured me.

"Fine, can't really wear those clothes to sleep anyway," I said as I rubbed my temples in stress. "So what happened to my other outfit?"

"Upstairs in the closet, along with your messenger bag. I did however leave this for you," Twilight said as she brought the brown package from this afternoon out from behind her podium. I reached out for it, but she soon recoiled as I came within grabbing distance.

"Relax, I won't be taking another nap this time," I said, sternly, causing her to nod as she finally gave me the package. Pulling the scroll of, I unsealed it and began to read.

"Dear Ask, First and foremost, I would like to thank you for the cider you sent to Luna and I. It was quite delectable, and I do appreciate you confirming my theories that Spike can send packages along with liquids via his flame. The second matter I would like to address is the contents of the package I am sending along. This was found in the throne room today, and I believe that you know just what to do with it." I looked towards the package and pulled the contents apart to find something I thought I wouldn't find here.

"I don't believe it," I said with a growing smile. In my hands lay a black sword with a black-wrapped guard in a black sheath and black leather sword frog. Pulling the sword out, I looked towards the black silver blade to see a lightly engraved name. "Artemis, welcome back," I said fondly as I re-sheathed my blade. "I didn't even know you came along with me."

"That's a katana, isn't it? From Neighpon? And who's Artemis?"

"Long story, but yes, it is a katana. Quick and fluid, just how I like my weapons," I said as I passed my hand over the tool.

"Weapon? What do you use it for?" Twilight asked nervously, causing me to look to her with a small smile.

"Just to learn discipline and self-control," I lied. "A friend of mine recommended me to take it up to meditate myself."

"Who's the friend?" Twilight asked, causing my eyes to gloss over just a bit.

"Why don't we get to the rest of that letter, huh?" I asked as I turned back to the scroll, much to Twilight's disappointment.

"I respectfully return this blade back to you as it is one of your few possessions, but I trust your judgement to only use it when it is appropriate. I hope you are settling in well in Ponyville, and I am delighted to see you already sending in friendship reports. Just remember to only send them in when you actually discover something worthy of being reported. I look forward to your next report, and I wish you and the rest of my subjects all the happiness in the world. Sincerely, Princess Celestia of Equestria." I rolled the scroll and placed it into a pocket.

"So, are you any good with this," Twilight asked as she touched the blade with a look of awe.

"Not as great as you'd think," I said with a shrug as I put the sheath tip to the ground.

"You said I was asleep for about eleven hours, then that means it's...?"

"Twelve-thirty," Twilight said with a shrug.

"And you're still awake?" I asked with a cocked brow.

"Well... I couldn't sleep and I decided it would be more productive to do some reading," Twilight said innocently.

"Why the sudden insomnia?" I asked.

"It's been a few things. Becoming a full princess, my new duties to come, not to mention the hassle this morning's fire caused the town and Spike," Twilight said as she leaned back on her podium. "I'm just glad he didn't have to worry about having buried somepony."

"Yeah, right..." I said quietly.

"I'm just glad Calligraphy classes actually proved useful here."

"I still don't understand though, why would someone steal Rarity's outfit just to return it later?" Twilight wondered.

"Heck if I know, I wasn't even there to see the stallion," I lied.

"Well, just another thing that I'll need to schedule time to look into," Twilight said as she pulled a large binder from a shelf and began analyzing and writing in the book rapidly with a quill.

"Look," I said as I stopped her dead in her tracks, "I'm a night-owl on the best of occasions... okay, on a lot of occasions," I conceded. "But this," I said as I pulled the schedule out of her hands and pointed towards the book she was reading, "this will only stoke your fears and never get you to sleep. You should know this."

"Oh come on Ask, I'm more than capable of-"

"Nope," I asserted as I jumped away and threw the schedule onto a high shelf.

"Nice try Ask, but," Twilight said smugly as she easily levitated the book back down, "I'm also capable of handling y-"

"Nope," I said once more as I flicked her horn, causing her concentration to drop as the planner landed in my hand. "No more scheduling, and no more cheap, lousy books about being a leader."

"But-"

"End of story," I said with finality as I threw the planner to a higher shelf, grabbed her horn, and shut the guidebook and placed it back onto a nearby shelf. "You're not levitating anything and you're not reading anymore trash."

"TRAS-?!"

"Shh!" I hissed as I slapped a hand to her mouth, stoping her from waking Spike upstairs.

"Trash?" she cried silently in retaliation. "This is the best leadership guide Equestria has to offer."

"Yeah, well it's trash," I said bluntly. "Now go to bed."

"No. I-"

"That's it." Twilight yelped as I scooped her into my arms and carried her bridal style back upstairs.

"L-Let go of me!" she demanded as she struggled out of my arms.

"Nope. You're sleeping." Using one hand to carry her, I used the other to pull us both up to our beds as I placed her down on her sheets with finality.

"But I've got so much to do and-"

"You're not working tonight. You've had a long day, and whatever you have to do can wait until tomorrow. Understand?" I asked as I gave her a death stare should she try to escape. Twilight, admittedly intimidated by me, silently pulled her sheets over herself as she nestled in comfortably. "There," I said as I began tucking in her covers. "Now if you're good, I might even read you a story."

"I'm not a foal Ask," Twilight said with an annoyed huff.

"No but if you're going to act like one, I'll treat you like one," I said as I poked her on belly.

"Why are you even doing this anyway?" she said as she swatted my hand away. "You don't know me nearly enough to consider this appropriate."

"It may not be appropriate, but it's right. And you're going to thank me when you live long enough to appreciate not going blind over a manga page."

"Manega page? What the heck are you talking about?" Twilight questioned. I snapped myself back to reality as I looked at a now fuming Twilight, realizing that I had let my habits get the better of me.

"Right, you're... you're not her..." I said slowly as my heart sank a bit, causing Twilight's wings to raise in interest.

"Her?" Twilight asked, now more concerned for me than her work.

"Trisha, my flatmate back in Elenoir," I said dismissively as I turned to a nearby bookshelf.

"I remind you of your old flatmate? How?"

"Same light and passionate, yet still bossy, attitude, same know-it-all spirit, same resistance towards getting a proper amount of sleep," I said candidly, causing Twilight to grow irked while I began lightly laughing. "I wonder how she's doing right now anyway."

"Those comments aside, how does that warrant what you did?" Twilight asked.

"She was a manegaka (Really?), one that had a tendency to spend nights pouring over illustration pages. She usually doesn't get enough sleep trying to meet deadlines. It actually got so bad she needed reading glasses. So, I sometimes have to force her to get some rest, hence the lift and drop with you."

"Well I'm glad Spike is smaller than me, otherwise I would never get anything done," Twilight laughed.

"Or you could try to keep your promise to him and accomplish a little less and leave the night owling to the night owls," I said with an annoyed look.

*Who!*

"Speaking of night owls," Twilight said with a smile. The two of us turned towards the window to see a brown barn owl swoop in as he perched onto Twilight's shoulder. "Evening Owlowiscious," Twilight said as she stroked her pet's beak affectionately.

"Owlowiscious? Your nighttime assistant?" I asked as I lifted my arm up a bit.

"That's right. Owlowiscious, meet my first apprentice, Ask," Twilight said as she turned the bird's sight towards me. For a few moments, Owlowiscious remained perfectly still as he stared at me, utterly immobilized as his beady black eyes continued to peer into my soul. However, he soon fluttered onto my raised arm as he hooted affectionately, apparently having given me his sign of approval. "Well, well, looks like once again, you're able to connect with another one of us relatively easily," Twilight said fondly as I stroked Owlowiscious's wings.

"Which is something I don't quite understand. Twilight, I was a completely random individual that ended up landing in the Canterlot throne room for no apparent reason. You didn't know me at all, but instead of chucking me into a dungeon, you all not only accepted me but gave me a new job? Why?" I asked.

"You want to know the truth?" Twilight asked as she sat up in bed, to which I nodded. "We were all actually terrified of you when you first arrived. I mean, like you said, what happened that day isn't what we would call normal. But then, I just started to notice you."

"Notice me?" I asked.

"You just seemed, unfinished. Before you woke up, we took notice of who you were, what disposition you were putting off, and from what I could tell, it seemed a lot like mine," Twilight said carefully.

"Go on..." I said as my eyes narrowed a bit.

"You were scraped, unkept, wearing thoughtless clothing, and overall, you just didn't seem like you gave much care to what you were, or at the very least, how you presented it to others. It was almost exactly like me before I came to Ponyville. I didn't care about what anypony thought about me, I only cared about my studies. I didn't want anypony else to suffer the same way I did, and the others agreed. So, we decided to give you a chance to explain yourself, and if it turned out we were right, we would try our best to put you down the right path. Plus, you did prove my theory. You saved Fluttershy, and managed to be a pretty efficient apprentice. You showed us that there was some good in you," Twilight answered with a tired smile.

I was having a bit of difficulty processing this, mainly because I didn't want to. Once again, I was regarded as the broken, needed to be fixed creature again, and it didn't help coming from Twilight Sparkle of all people. I just continued to silently stroke Owlowiscious while Twilight took notice of my mood change, understanding what I was going through. "So, this flatmate of yours, was she nice?" Twilight asked, obviously wanting to change the subject.

"Yeah, she was nice," I said quietly as I set Owlowiscious on Twilight's bedpost.

"Well, I've got to go and store that sword before anypony sees it..." As I was just about to jump down, I was suddenly stopped as I saw Twilight's magic engulf me.

"Listen, about that story..." Twilight said carefully.

"Yeah?" I asked as her aura left me.

"Would you still be up for it?" I raised an eyebrow at this, causing her to grow a bit flustered. "To help each other get to sleep, of course," Twilight assured me with a scheming smile. I rolled my eyes as I walked back to her bed and went to a bookshelf.

"What book then?" I sighed.

"That one," Twilight said as she pointed to a relatively large book near the bookshelf's base. As I began pulling it, Twilight quickly whispered something to her owl. Pulling the book, I read off the title as it began to translate for me.

"The Great Equestrian's Guide to Astrophysics? Are you for real?" I asked as a nerve in my temple began pulsating painfully.

"Um, how about I let you decide?" she suggested. I sighed once more as I scanned the bookshelf for something that seemed appropriate, ultimately deeming nothing here appropriate. Using a bit of omniknowledge, I walked over to Owlowiscious as I whispered a few instructions. With a faint hoot, he took off downstairs.

"Where's he going?" Twilight asked innocently

"You'll see." Within a minute, Owlowiscious returned carrying a small leather book and what appeared to be a gray bundle of cloth. Placing the two objects in my hand, Owlowiscious returned to his post as I looked over the new book. "The Casters by Y.K. and T.K. Jowling?" I read.

"The one about the magicians and sorceresses battling to defend the realm of magic from the Dark One and his followers? I love that series," Twilight said fondly.

"Looks like Equestria ripped off Harry Potter..."

"What was that?" Twilight asked.

"Nothing. Well, I wanted an adventure fantasy," I said as I walked over to her.

"It's actually a fantasy adventure," she corrected to my chagrin.

"Anyways, here." I offered the mass of gray cloth to Twilight, who was admittedly confused at what she saw.

"Miss Smartypants?" a surprised Twilight asked as she took her old pony genius doll in her hands. "I told you Ask, I'm not a foal."

"True, but then again, why would want her back from Big Mac if you don't want to be near her?" I asked, causing Twilight to grow silent as she tried to come up with an excuse. "Besides, I find that some people can sleep easier when they have a companion. Now," I said as I thumbed through the book, "where to start?"

"May I?" I handed the book over to Twilight and she quickly turned to a section near the end of the book. "This is my favorite part," Twilight commented as she passed the novel back to me. Leaning on a wall, I began to read.

"As we crossed the shores of Er-"

"Um..."

"What?" I asked the human Alicorn.

"You're not doing the voice," Twilight said.

"What voice?" I asked through clenched teeth.

"Dream Spinner's voice, he's the main character whose memoir is the book," Twilight explained.

"(At least something is different from Jo's book) This is the first time I've read this book, what is he supposed to sound like?" I groaned.

"Deeper, with a Trottingham accent," Twilight said as she nuzzled into bed again. Giving a sigh, I changed my read accordingly.

"As we crossed the shores of Eracall, I walk on knowing that our spirits are slowly dimming with every failure. How long will our journey last? When will we find another talisman? Will the Dark One ever become mortal again? This is depressing," I said as I looked up.

"Keep reading, it's getting good," Twilight said as she hugged Smartypants tightly.

"We weathered the blizzard honorably, but with little food and clothing, this may be our last trek. I should have never brought them into this. When Starswirl left the responsiblity to find and destroy the talismans, he intended that I be the only one to carry the burden. Storm Bracer and Tempest Charmer have suffered so much because of me. Storm had to leave his entire family with an imposter, and Tempest made it so that her family forgot that they had a daughter. This is seriously depressing."

"Stop interrupting. And get closer, I can't hear," Twilight said as she patted the free space at her side. I once again resigned myself to listen to her instructions as I took a seat on her bed. "I can't hear you if you're facing the other way," Twilight chided with a light slap.

"Well how am I supposed to get comfortable?" I asked.

"Pull your legs up," Twilight said as she scooted a bit to the side.

"Listen Sparkle, just because we ended up sleeping in the same bed once doesn't mean-"

"Oh relax, I just want you to be comfortable," she said with lightly rosy cheeks. With a shrug, I pulled my legs over as I reclined on Twilight's pillow.

"Just please don't touch me," I asked.

"Why?"

"Just... don't," I said with a serious look, to which Twilight nodded as she turned to her side and waited expectantly.

"My thoughts were soon disturbed as a pack of windigos materialized before us, no doubt here to stop us in our tracks. Tempest immediately took charge as she fired attack spell after attack spell at them, while Storm proceeded to do what he could by hand. Try as they might, they only served to annoy the beasts even more. The cold before was intolerable, but as the windigos continued to scream, the wind seemed to whip up more and the cold intensified.

"Dream! We need you!" Tempest cried. "You know the spell that can save us. Do it, quickly!" Storm pleaded as the warmth quickly ebbed away.

"C... C-Consum... Consupter..." Try as I might, I couldn't, I tried focusing all that I could, but nothing seemed to work. My magic had failed me.

"Come on Spinner! We need you! Just think of something happy!" Happy? What was there to be happy about? He's trying to summon a patronus..." I whispered.

"Don't stop here," Twilight said as her eyes started to droop, enjoying every word.

""Come on mate! One happy memory! That's all we need!" Focusing once more, I tried summoning my spell as I scratched and pined for a memory strong enough. The first time that I ever performed magic, the day that I preformed my very first feat of prestidigitation, my first day at the academy. Each attempt ended with a pathetic sputter of sparks from my horn as the ice around me began to encase the three of us.

"Come on Dream, we've come so far. We've already destroyed three of them. You can't tell me you're going to give up now," Tempest said as she bore a large smile through her frozen red hair.

"We're still together mate, all of us. And one way or another, that'll always be the case," Storm said as he shot me his signature thumbs up. Tempest and Storm, the ones I had been fighting for. Even in the darkest of times, they were still there for me, despite all the pain. And the Dark One, the magical realm's bane for far too long. He has taken so much from me, killed so many coming after me, enough was enough."

"Don't forget the passion here," Twilight said as she gripped her doll tight and bounced lightly.

"There would be no more deaths, no more bloodshed, no more broken families, no more of Discord's chaos!

"CONSUMPTIS CONCORDIA!"

My horn erupted in a fuchsia blaze that melted me to my very core. As shards of ice and snow flew and scattered about, my inferno shaped into a mighty mare that that charged at the windigos, sending the harpies running. Storm and Tempest soon found themselves freed from their icy prisons as they rushed to my side.

"All together, to end them!" I cried as we aligned our horns together.

"CONSUMPTIS CONCORDIA!"

Storm's dragon and Tempest's Gryphon stood stood at my mare's side, and together the three charged at the windigos, melding into a fiery comet of scarlet that decimated the cryomeisters into dust. The world was silent as the remains of the threat floated along the gentle breeze. The blizzard had quelled and snow had grown soft. The three of us parted silently as we began walking on.

There were no words needed between us. Everything that we needed to say lay in the proud grins that adorned each of our faces. For I realized even in the darkest of times, the coldest of brutality, I would always have their aid, and they would have mine in kind. Starswirl may have wanted me to be the one to take care of the Dark One and the talismans, but maybe I didn't have to do everything on my own after all..."

With the chapter completed, I shut the book and looked towards Owlowiscious. "You brought me this on purpose, didn't you?" I asked, to which he innocently hooted as he stared off to he side. "Mhm, nice try buddy, but better men have tried and failed." As I placed the book to my side, I just barely missed the novel binding beginning to glow once more. "Well Twilight, I hope you enjoyed it. Twilight?"

I turned to my side to see that Twilight was sound asleep. She was silently snoring as she held onto Smartypants with one hand while her other lay on my leg.

"D-Dammit, I told her to not touch me..." I groaned as I lifted her arm away. She silently stirred while a single lock of hair fell onto her horn, but soon pacified as she let out a sigh.

"Thank you Ask..." she mumbled into her sleep. I felt my cheeks slightly burn at that. I looked down at her with lost eyes, unable to really look away. I chanced drawing a finger to her horn and brushed her mane to her side. But instead of leaving, I found myself cupping her cheek, grazing my thumb slightly along.

"Goodnight... adorkable little princess..."

I got up and silently made my way downstairs. As I disappeared down the corridor, I just missed Twilight stir to look at me with surprised eyes. Her plan worked, but she didn't expect it to go this way. She raised Smarypants up and gave her a small, embarrassed smile, her cheeks growing a bit rosier as she drifted back to sleep.

"Well, what was that about then?"

"I survived the fire, I promised I would make a cutesy compliment," I said with a shrug.

"Really?"

I didn't say anymore as I found myself back downstairs, along with my old sword. Feeling my hands shake with it in my palms, I looked towards Twilight's candle. Crouching low, I put the sword along my right hip as I placed my left along the sword hilt. "3...2...1..."

Within a split-second, I drew my blade and cut away the candle's wick, along with its flame. In just as quick a motion, I swung back as the new wick's bottom was reignited.

"Like I said, not as great as you'd think," I said with a satisfied smile as I sheathed my blade. "If only I had you today in the fire, then I couldn't have had to..." My voice trailed off as I considered my revelation. I also noticed that the podium still had some loose pieces of parchment along with a quill and ink we to the side. I bit my lip as I considered what to do, but I nonetheless put Artemis down as I grabbed the quill and some parchment and began writing.

"Dear Celestia, today... today I learned the value of placing faith in others, or more specifically, the value that I already place. Admittedly, I rely on my allies and friends in order to achieve a majority of the things that I do. Were it not for them, I... I wouldn't know where I would be right now. As far as I know, I would have ended up as dog chow a long time ago. I'll be honest, I've never understood why people like you, Twilight, even my friends back home would even try to help me, especially after the work I do breaking every connection anybody tries to form. I hold that life is about exchanges, that we only do things for others to meet our own ends, despite whatever excuse we give. But... after today... I suppose I'll have to amend that. I shouldn't be ashamed to rely upon others, whatever the reasons I may have. Your acquaintance, Ask, apprentice to Princess Twilight Sparkle."

As I rolled up the scroll, I couldn't help but feel as though this lesson hadn't sunk into me fully. I understood that I should rely on others if I need to, but it still felt unfinished, like a piece was still missing. Grabbing Artemis and making my way upstairs, I found the closet Twilight was referring to along with my new clothes on a mannequin. I attached the frog to my new belt, allowing the sword to hang to the side. I dug into my bag as I found my phone. With my two items in hand, I silently walked over to Spike. I looked around as I found one of Twilight's stray feathers. I used it to tickle Spike's nose. With a few short breaths, Spike let out a fiery sneeze. I threw my letter in as it became ash that flew out the window to Canterlot.

As Spike continued to sleep, I turned to Twilight and opened up my phone's camera. "A quick shift here, a focus there, and... picture for Rito is done," I said as I snapped a shot of Twilight. As I looked over it, I couldn't help but feel a bit proud of my work, and I was sure that Rito was going to love it along with all my shots if... no... when I got back.

I placed my phone on my side table as I laid down in my bed. As I was just getting settled under my sheets, I dared one more look towards Twilight. As I stared, my mind grew muddled. "She's just a girl. Worse, she's Twilight Sparkle. She shouldn't matter," I quietly tried to assure myself. But as much as I wanted to convince myself otherwise, my eyes wouldn't rip themselves away from my mentor. I would have probably continued to be watching her were it not for The Casters' binding illuminating again. Pulling my eyes away, I laid back with my hands behind my head, a small migraine forming.

What was going on with me? My strongest belief had been rocked, my body had gone into a fit, and I learned that I was only being helped because I was, for all my purposes, a charity case. And then there were the impossibilities that were bringing my closer to the brink. Why was my mind translating Equestrian? Why was calling Twilight 'adorkable' sickeningly easy? Why was it that I couldn't just tune out these Equestrians? I was losing all control over my life, mind, body, and soul. If things didn't change, if I didn't get back home soon, I didn't know what would happen to me. Turning to my side, I decided that tomorrow would be when I would begin my task, looking for a way home.

"Wait for me guys, and please be safe..."

As I closed my eyes, I just barely missed the book's translation completing, the light dissipating and the binding visible again. The text was still in English, but with one slight alteration to the title that I only wish I had seen much, much earlier.

"The Casters by Yui Kotegawa and Trisha Kane..."

Author's Note

"Unity is strength... when there is teamwork and collaboration, wonderful things can be achieved." - Mattie Stepanek