Fighting Freedom

I woke up when the sun wasn't even up yet. The moonlight was fading from the windows, and the room I was in glistened. I struggled to get up, but ended up on the floor. The couch I had been sleeping on wasn't big enough, and my body was sore.

I stood up and stretched my arms. I groaned as my body woke up completely. Last night seemed forever ago, and the events seemed like a fading dream. I was able to remember that I needed to pack still. Which reminded me that I also needed a pack of some kind. I was doubting that I could find a backpack for myself.

After looking around the room I was able to find a light switch. Light flooded the room, and I blinked a few times. My eyes adjusted and I found the solution to one of my problems. A large sack, most likely meant to carry some sort of vegetable. I 'borrowed' some fabric from Rarity's work shop to make a strap. I slung the bag over my back and turned the lights off again.

I exited the building, which wasn't locked, and headed towards the library. I reached the door and tried the handle. I wasn't really surprised when the door opened with ease. I grabbed the food I had bought yesterday and chucked it all in the pack. I threw the extra set of monk robes, and the modern Earth clothes in as well. I left the mage robes behind as they were a bit heavy. The weather was very nice at the time. Out of the robes I pulled out the book and envelope. I stuck these in the sack as well. I debated on bringing any toiletries, but I decided that rotting teeth weren't really a big deal.

Satisfied with my packing, I left the library. I walked back to Rarity's house and stepped back in. I was surprised to see her waiting for me with saddlebags on her back.

"I heard you moving around downstairs. Are you ready?"

I looked around the room and said,

"What about Sweetie Bell?"

"How do you… oh right. Creepy knowledge thing. She's staying with our parents at the moment."

I shrugged and accepted this. I motioned for her to follow me, and we left the building. Rarity didn't even bother to lock up. I started walking in a direction, but Rarity stopped me.

"You do know Canterlot is in the other direction right?"

I stopped and turned around. I started to follow Rarity as she led me down the correct trail. The sun was just beginning to rise as we started our journey. I tried keeping a conversation going as we walked.

"I won't lie Rarity, I'm surprised you are coming with me. Getting up at the crack of dawn, camping out in the wild, and dragging your stuff with you on a journey."

Rarity huffed at me and said, "Just because I look delicate, doesn't mean I am."

"Well from what I've seen, you would prefer more posh accommodations. Maybe a nice taxi ride to a five star hotel."

"Well like you said, your knowledge of us isn't complete. I might be partial to the nicer things in life, but I can appreciate a good hike. And this might even be fun!"

"Wait, is this the first time you're doing this?"

"Well not the first time. I've done day hikes before. This can't be too bad."

"Crap."

Rarity kicked me with her front hoof and said,

"What? Don't think I can handle it?"

"Nope."

"Now Silver dear is that really fair?"

"Yep."

Rarity huffed at me and bent her head down. The trail was windy, and quite bland. There wasn't a lot of trees in sight. The land was mostly just grasslands through hills. A nice hike, if it didn’t go on for miles. We hadn't gone too far when Rarity stopped me.

"We should take a quick rest."

"We've only gone a few miles."

"Please?"

She gave me her pony eyes and I just shrugged. I set the pack down on the grass and sat down. I wasn't tired at all, but I was willing to sit down. Rarity began digging through her saddlebags and pulled out a piece of fruit.

"You're already hungry? Makes me wonder how you keep that shape."

Rarity just glared at me and took a bite of the apple. We had gone just a few steps off the trail, just in case someone decided to run down it. While Rarity stuffed her face, I laid down on the grass. I closed my eyes and listened to Rarity chew.

"You could've just eaten some grass couldn't you have?"

"I could have, but this tastes so good."

"Again my statement about your shape stands."

I was hit with an apple core and I chuckled. I picked myself up off the ground and looked around. I could see for quite a distance, even the town was in sight. I stood back up and threw the pack on. Rarity got up as well and said,

"Just a few more minutes."

"If we keep taking stops like this, then it'll be a three day trip, not two."

"Would that be such a bad thing?"

"For me? No. However, I think soon you will think so."

"So rude. Can't you have faith in me?"

"I could, but I don't."

Rarity huffed at me, but she magicked her saddlebags back on. They seemed like they could hardly carry anything, but she had spent some time looking through them. We continued on our trek for a little bit. We walked talking about nothing in particular. Rarity was just telling me about dresses she had designed for famous ponies. I was listening, but not paying attention. I would nod and offer my opinion when asked. It was actually kind of interesting if I'm honest. Rarity knew her work, and she described it in vivid detail.

"And then Fancy Pants told me he wanted me to design his tux for the gala! Of course I accepted, and started on several designs right away."

"Anything promising?"

"I've been debating between two designs, but I'm not sure which one to go with."

"May I advise going with the good looking one?"

Rarity huffed at me. She had been doing that a lot since we started walking. On the first day of travel, nothing interesting really happened. We just swapped pointless stories as we traveled. Rarity made us stop at least once every hour. By the third stop, I knew something was up with the bags.

"You did bring a tent right?"

"Of course I did dear."

"Then where is it? It doesn't look like those saddlebags could carry one."

"Looks can be deceiving Silver. You should know that."

"I need a reminder every once in a while."

In text, travel would seem very boring. I can't describe every single detail, and even if I could it would be a lot about grass. Me and Rarity did talk for most of the trip, but not a lot of it was important. However, going through it myself was fun. Just talking to Rarity as we walked down the trail was a simple enjoyment.

The sun was low in the sky and Rarity was incessantly nagging. I decided that stopping for the day would be prudent. We managed to find a nice little water pool to stop by. I told Rarity if she would set up the tent, I would attempt to make something delicious. I gathered some water in a bowl Rarity provided for me. Then I realized I had no way to start a fire. Cold soup didn't really sound that good. Then again I wasn't sure if fruit would make a good soup. Never know unless you try right?

While Rarity was distracted, I took a look into my magic book. I was only going to try to get a small flame going, what could go wrong? As I said before, fire magic was commonly rooted from breath. I took a few deep breaths and narrowed my eyes. I put my hands together in a cup, and concentrated. My hands began to heat up, and to my satisfaction a small flame appeared in my hands.

"YES!"

Rarity poked her head out and said, "What is it darling?"

I dropped the flame in surprise and watched it fall. It was heading for the grass and would probably cause a ridiculous fire. The fire spurted in mid air and an intense heat filled the air. The little ball of fire hit my pants, but instead of catching fire, a hole appeared in them. I was pretty sure I knew what was going to happen, but it still hurt. The fire wrapped around my leg and seared the shit out of it. I cried out in pain, not even able to formulate words. I dropped to the ground, my nerves in too much pain for me to move at all. Strangely enough, it felt like my stomach was on fire as well. Almost as if every time I was in pain, my body took more internal damage.

Rarity of course cam running, but there wasn't much to be done. I eventually managed to rip the pant leg off to avoid the contact with the leg. I did that weird thing were you put your hands around the wound, but you don't touch it. Eventually the pain subsided enough for me to concentrate again.

The first words out of my mouth were, "I should've seen that coming SO hard."

Rarity looked at me confused at first and then said,

"How did this happen?"

"I tried playing with fire, and I got burned."

"How did you start a fire?"

"Magic."

"You can do magic? I thought humans couldn't do magic."

"Not without a medium. I just so happen to have one. This necklace right here."

Rarity huffed at me and said, "You can tell me all about it while I sort you out. I'm not very good with healing spells, but I might be able to do something."

I tried to stand up, but my leg wasn't really up to supporting me that well. I was about to ask Rarity with a hoof, when the necklace glowed. It fell off my neck and onto the ground. It was now back in its large wooden staff form. I picked it up and glared at it.

"I bet you think this is hilarious."

The staff grew warm in my hands. I just glared at it some more.

"Ahem."

Rarity was staring at me curiously. I shrugged and limped after her. She led me back to the tent, which wasn't very impressive. It was basically a square blue tarp. There was a flap in front for an entrance. There weren't even windows on the thing. It was tiny too, probably wouldn't even be able to fit me. Rarity walked inside and I limped after her. My jaw dropped when I got inside.

I had just walked into a freaking mansion. A large hall with two sets of stairs going up greeted me. There was a door in between them, and several lined the room. The place was beautifully furnished, with oak and maple wood being the biggest contributors. Rarity had to grab me and pull me towards where ever we were going.

"But… what?"

Rarity smiled at me and said, "Magic."

"This isn't camping, and hiking. This is living large on the go, if that's even possible."

"This is perfectly acceptable camping. You thought I wasn't going to bathe for a few days?"

I would've argued some more if my leg wasn't still in pain. I was led to the living room kind of deal with a large fireplace. I laid down on one of the couches, and propped my leg up with a stool. Rarity walked away, and then returned with a bowl of water and a rag. She soaked the rag and said,

"This might sting a bit."

It stung a bit. She wrapped the towel around my leg and I hissed. When I was as comfortable as I could be Rarity suggested some dinner.

"Why didn't you tell me you had this mansion in a tent. And why don't you live in this thing instead of the boutique?"

Rarity handed me a salad bowl which I looked down at with distain. It was better than hot food though.

"I wanted to see what you would come up with. I didn't know you would hurt yourself. And while this tent is very pleasing on the inside, it is a horrible drab on the outside."

"So you don't live in an awesome house, because it looks bad on the outside?"

Rarity just pushed the bowl towards my face, "I don't really want a big house."

I tried to say something else, but Rarity stuffed my face with salad. She laughed at my disapproving glare. I chewed on the food slowly and swallowed loudly. Rarity patted me on the head and ate some herself.

A little later she asked, "So how can you do magic?"

I pointed at the staff and said,

"That nice artifact happens to be a medium that can interact with the energies of the world."

I decided not to explain the entire wizard tower thing just yet. I'd rather do it once, and only once. I didn't understand it completely myself. When she asked about the book I just said I got it from Twilight. A cover story wasn't that har to come up with. We finished eating and Rarity got off the couch.

"I'm going to take a dip in the pool."

I spat out the food in my mouth.

"This thing has a pool!?"

"And you're not going in it. Not with that leg. I wish I could do more darling, but I'm no Twilight."

I crossed my arms and stuck my tongue out at her. She laughed at me as she walked away. I finished the salad off and laid my head back. It was boring just sitting there in front of an empty fire place. When Rarity still hadn't come back from her dip after half an hour, I got up to wander. I limped around the mansion, getting lost on my way. I walked through a conservatory, which honestly scared the crap out of me. I wandered into a room that had a pool table set up in the middle.

"How do ponies even play pool?"

It was kind of a mini adventure exploring the mansion. Room after room of random stuff. Lots of bedrooms, a very fancy kitchen, and a dining room. I hadn't even been upstairs yet. I made it to the back of the mansion and was faced with two doors. I took the one on the left first and walked into a room with a hot tub in the center.

Rarity was in the tub with a towel wrapped around her waist and around her head. I instinctively covered my eyes and said,

"Sorry!"

Rarity laughed at me and then said,

"What are you doing up?

I smacked myself on the head thinking 'Oh right ponies' and hobbled up to the tub.

"I got bored of waiting for you, and I see you've been spending your time wisely."

Rarity sighed and lifted herself out of the tub.

"Fine I'm done now. I'll join you back in the living room in a few."

I shrugged,

"You didn't have to get out. I was just wondering what happened to you."

I left her to dry off and found my way back to the living room. I balanced my leg on the stool again and took a look at it. It wasn't a very bad burn, but it still stung a little. When it had burned me the first time it had hurt like anything, but I guess magic fire doesn't leave bad burns.

Rarity came back into the room a bit later, looking the same as always. If I was in a philosophical mood, I would contemplate how that represented how the world itself never actually changes. I was in more of a popcorn mood though. I didn't see that happening anytime soon though.

She laid down on the couch next to me. Neither of us said anything for a little bit. We just laid there, staring at the empty fireplace. I wasn't about to try and light the fire though. I was drifting off when Rarity said,

"How is your leg?"

"Better."

"Does it hurt?"

"Never seen a burn before?"

"Actually no."

"Really? Guess everypony is just really careful around fire. That's good, keep it up."

"I'll try."

"You can leave whenever, I'm ready to drop off."

She huffed at me and got off the couch. Her tail brushed against my burned leg and I hissed at her. She muttered an apology and walked out of the room. She was probably going to a master bedroom or something, with a big fluffy bed. Which sounded tempting, but not worth the travel. Rarity's hoofsteps disappeared and I began to fall asleep.

I woke up the next morning to a warm weight on my chest. For one second I thought Rose had followed me all the way out here. I looked down, and saw that a bundle of blankets were on my chest, and a plate of hot mash. I was never really sure what hot mash was, but I assumed it was potato based. Either that, or this wasn't mash.

There were no windows in the mansion, which was the only thing it was really lacking. Then again, years of living in a basement had gotten me used to having no windows. People used to say that I lived in a prison, and I would tell them the sky is just another set of bars. It sounded smart anyways, and that's the most important thing.

Rarity walked into the room with her usual entrance sing-song voice.

"Good morning! I made us some breakfast. Do you like it?"

I looked at the mash, which was lacking a utensil and said,

"If I could eat it, I would let you know. I'm not just going to dip my face in."

Spoons levitated in after Rarity and she raised an eyebrow at me.

"I wasn't expecting you to."

I grabbed the spoon out of midair and dipped it into the food. I stuck some of the gruel in my mouth, and wasn't impressed. It didn't taste like nothing, but it was quite bland. I reluctantly ate the entire thing without complaining. Rarity was eating hers with great care. I swear she was getting an equal amount in every spoon full.

I finished the meal and put the bowl down. I threw the blankets on the floor and took a look at my leg. It wasn't as red as was it yesterday, but there was an interesting scar. It looked just like a flame, half ball with wavy spiky lines above. The area around the scar was pulsating a light red.

"Another day and it'll only be a faint scar."

Rarity got another wet rag and applied it to my leg. I hissed just as the towel did. Steam rose up from the towel and I stared at in surprise.

Rarity just kept applying pressure and said,

"Just a side effect. The energy around you is remembering the magic that touched you."

I just nodded slowly, "Uh… huh. So what time is it?"

"Around noon I think."

I stood up and said, "Noon? Why we've wasted half the day away. We need to double time it if we want to make it to the mountain."

Rarity just ignored me and didn't move.

"You're not going anywhere on that leg. We can camp out another day here."

"One this isn't camping. Two my leg barely even hurts."

"We should wait until it's all better don't you think? Can't be too careful you know. Besides we aren't in a hurry to get there are we?"

"I suppose not."

More like I hope not. I wasn't feeling like I was in immediate danger. I hadn't been told a certain time restraint anyways.

"So what am I supposed to do for an entire day?"

"Do you know what rest is dear? Just relax and let Rarity take care of you."

I sighed and sat back down. I crossed my arms over my chest and huffed. Couldn't even just watch TV while I waited. Rarity got off the couch and walked away from me.

"Where you going?"

"To freshen up."

"But you already look like you usually do."

She didn't respond and she disappeared from view. I sat back for a few minutes, but she didn't return. I got up and left the mansion tent. The sun blinded me as I stepped outside. I raised a hand to cover my eyes, and stared at the pool. I sat down in front of the water and for a while and just observed. Eventually, almost without thinking, I made a ball of water float around me. It was entertaining to watch, and it felt good to swirl it around. I was starting to get dizzy after it went around so many times. I pulled out my book and started to read some more.

It was hard to keep the water moving while reading, and I dropped it several times. I was testing my concentration while focusing on other things. I had dropped the fire because Rarity had distracted me. Not saying it's her fault of course, but it was something I wanted to avoid in the future.

I was trying to figure out why the air wouldn't work with me. The book wasn't very helpful though. Just more crap about being above and free. I had half a mind to free the ink from its parchment. Fire had seemed to work, even if I did burn myself. Hadn't really tried throwing rocks around though. Maybe I was trying it wrong. Water was something I could see while controlling it, and doing movements I could see seemed to work.

I let the water splash on the ground and put my hands together. If I couldn't see the air moving around, then maybe physical motions were pointless. I called my mind and concentrated on making a breeze. By that, I mean I thought about literally just pushing the air against me. I felt a small tingle, but not the breeze I had been hoping for. Excited by even this small amount of success, I kept trying this method. The more I pushed, the less successful I seemed to be. I tried being nice and asking the air to make a breeze, but that got even less of a response. If I was crazy I would say the air laughed at me.

I tried pushing less, and that's when I got some better results. It seemed the more lazily I went about doing something, the more effective it was. It's hard to explain, but I'll try. It didn't actually take physical movement, so I was free to move around as much as I wanted without affecting the magic. It barely took concentration either, unlike controlling water. It was weird doing it, and honestly I much preferred water.

At the moment I couldn't really try out much with it, as I had already injured my leg once. Imagine flying up in the air, and then not having a way to stop the fall. Right now, playing it safe was the better idea. Maybe when there was someone who could catch me I would experiment more. All I really managed to do was blow wind around. After only a bit of playing around, Rarity came out to join me.

"What are you doing out here? I looked everywhere in there for you."

"I'm sitting by my element so to speak."

"Your element…?"

"Like yours is generosity, mine is apparently water."

"That doesn't really make sense."

"A demonstration then?"

Rarity nodded at me and sat down on the ground with her front hooves in front of her. I got up off the ground, and looked at the staff.

"Well you're going to get in the way."

The staff slipped out of my grip and knocked me on the head. As long as I was touching the medium the magic seemed to work. However, if I wanted to do anything advanced, I would need both hands free. The staff glowed and shrunk back into bracelet form. I felt kind of silly when it slinked around me, heading back to my arm. I was wearing pants that had half of one pant leg ripped off. My scar from the burn was quite visible, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to cover it just yet. It looked pretty cool, but its location was a bit awkward.

I took off the loose shirt, one because it was getting hot, two because I thought it might get in the way. The bracelet reached its destination and stopped glowing. I moved my arm around a little bit to make sure it wasn't going to fall off.

"Anytime darling."

I turned and glared at Rarity, after doing so I positioned myself in front of the pool. It was about 5 feet wide, and probably 3 feet deep. I hadn't really done much in the idea of artsy magic, but might as well try. I began drawing a thick stream from the pool and kept it going up. When the pool was emptied I brought the stream back down and formed a loop. Rarity was slow clapping for me, as if she wasn't impressed.

I flipped the loop so it was horizontal, and began expanding it vertically. It formed a large tube that was very thin. I began taking a thin tread from the top until I had a very long string of water. Using this sting I formed a ball of water that wasn't completely solid. I compacted the ball and the clenched my fists. The ball froze into ice and Rarity began clapping seriously.

I looked at her while holding my hands out if I was holding the ball of ice.

"I'm not finished yet."

She stopped clapping (clopping?) and put her hooves down on the ground in front of her again.

I looked back at the ball and concentrated. I flung my hands behind me and the ball shattered. Bunches of small icicles flew out, but I stopped them after a short distance. I let the ice glitter in the sun for a few seconds. Then I took a deep breath and concentrated on the heat that was exhaled from my breath. The ice melted to my satisfaction, and I made the water rain back into the pool. I put my hands down, turned to Rarity, and bowed.

She clopped her hooves together quickly saying,

"Bravo! Bravo!"

I sat back down and the bracelet fell to the ground, reverting back to staff form. I gave Rarity a smug look and said,

"I know, I'm good."

Rarity hit me with a hoof, "You're quite the rain dancer."

I gave her an annoyed look, and splashed her with some water. Her mane flopped to her face and she huffed at me. She just glared at me for a few seconds until I said,

"I prefer the term mage, and you're quite the wet pony."

Rarity tackled me and her wet hair soaked me. I held her away from me as she said,

"I'll make you pay for that."

I pushed her off of me and got up again. I limped back into the tent shouting behind me,

"Crazy ponies are on the loose! Run for your lives!"

I made it back to the couch and fell onto it. Rarity came in after me and jumped on top of me. We were both laughing hard as she tried to get at me. My arms were just a bit too large for her though. I let her fall on top of me, and I let out a breath of air when she made contact. She pulled herself off of me and looked down at me. I looked back up at her for a moment and then said,

"This could be awkward."

"It could be."

She continued to look down at me, but eventually her face broke out in a smile. She laughed and I pushed her to the ground.

"Geroff me woman."

She huffed as she picked herself up from the ground.

"I didn't know you were so rough. I thought you were a gentleman."

"Only in the presence of a lady."

She huffed again and I laughed at her as she went to fix her hair. I was silenced by a couch pillow magically thrown at my face. I peeled it off and chuckled as I put it behind my head. My best guess put the time at 4 or 5. I had spent quite some time outside. I reached for my pack and pulled out a piece of bread. I peeled it apart and looked through the rest of my food. There wasn't really anything to make a suitable sandwich. I threw it all back into the pack in disappointment.

I took out the modern clothes and went back outside. A quick soak in the water and a bit of soap, thanks to Rarity, and I hung them up to dry. I was going to wear those the next day during travel. Might not be my style, but it wouldn't touch the burn.

I went back inside and heard Rarity singing. She wasn't really singing a song, more of a tune. I wandered around and into the kitchen. She was standing in front of a bowl and was swirling a spoon. She brought it up to her mouth and tasted whatever was inside. She licked her lips and put the spoon back in.

"That's bad hygiene that is."

She gave me a sour look and said,

"You don't have to eat any."

"Oh you were cooking for me?"

"Well I was going to eat as well."

"Nonsense, ponies don't eat."

"I'm sorry?"

"I don't know. So what's for grub?"

Grub was some sort of flower based paste that was spread on bread. Not really sure what it was, but it was spicy. I drank quite a bit of water while eating. I was never really one for spicy foods, but this tasted fine. Rarity apparently had taste buds of steel or something. She didn't take a drink once, or even flinch.

We finished eating and cleaned up the dishes. After doing so, I returned back to the living room. My leg seemed to have given up on holding me. I was having to lean on my staff a lot more, and I was feeling tired. I sat down on the couch and put my leg up on the stool. Rarity came in shortly after and joined me on the couch. I stared at the empty fire place and said,

"Want to light a fire?"

"Not the best idea with that burn. Not for another day at least. It might react to the fire."

I sighed and laid back into the couch. I closed my eyes and put my hand on Rarity's head.

"Just to be clear, we're just friends."

I heard Rarity huff and say, "As if I would be interested in you that way."

"Well you did say you went the other way…"

"I was joking…"

"Oh you don't joke about things like that. Maybe you me and Rose could…"

"Oh shut it you pig."

She knew I was joking, but she made her voice all serious and lightly smacked me with a hoof. I laughed, but it was faint. I was starting to fade away into the night. I felt the couch move and heard Rarity walk away.

What felt like only hours later I heard Rarity moving around again. She called out to me and said,

"If you would like to get to the mountain by tonight, then I suggest you get up dear."

I picked myself up and took a look at my leg. The mark had faded away, but was still slightly visible. I got up, grabbed my pack, and left the tent. I picked up my clothes from the line and changed. There was a slight breeze which felt amazing. I threw my ripped pants and shirt into the pack with the rest of the stuff. I turned around to see Rarity taking down the tent with magic, her saddlebags full of whatever else she had brought.

"How does the mansion stay intact when you take it down?"

Rarity didn't even bother looking at me as the tent filled the bag it had come in.

"Magic."

"Fair 'nuff."

We walked back to the trail together and continued our journey. She talked about more of her radical designs as we traveled. When she asked about my life, I told her anything that would come to mind. The jobs I had weren't interesting like hers, but my school years were much better. We walked for a long time, but Rarity still had us stopping every hour at least once. She told me about how she had come to live in Ponyville and become friends with everypony.

Like I said, travel in text is rather boring. So I'll just skip to the end shall I? The sun was still in the sky, and my guess was 5 p.m. for the time. Canterlot had always been in view, but only the castle. The rest of the city was in or on the cliff out of sight. Maybe a valley in the cliffs that was hidden from view. The path to the city winded up the cliff and away from the castle. Eventually the path disappeared behind the cliffs.

The castle itself was almost directly above us, but still high up. Where the path to the cliff started was amazing, Equestria seemed to have so many beautiful natural sights. The castle was above a lake that expanded outwards and ended at a sandy beach in front of us. Sadly there wasn't a waterfall to finish it off.

Rarity set up the tent on the grass next to the lake. I almost wanted to stay an extra day just to enjoy it fully. I still had a few hours of sun left though. I took a deep breath, enjoying the freshness of the air. The lake seemed to be calling out to me, not in a magical way though, just in a 'come enjoy me way'.

I threw my pack on the ground and walked out to the water. I dipped my feet in which by now had built up calluses everywhere. It felt good to relax them. I was lucky though, the trail had been very soft. Not rough gravel, but oddly squishy dirt. I didn't sink in, but it felt good. Deciding that it was a good as time as any to get wet, I stripped myself of shirt and pants. Clad only in boxers, I wadded out in the water.

Rarity came out and saw me splashing around.

"Rarity, you should join me. The water feels… well I'd say amazing, but it's very cold."

"I'd really rather not dear."

"Suit yourself."

My staff had once again become a bracelet, and I was hoping I wouldn't need it anytime soon. I rather like not having to lean on something. While I was swimming I got a great idea. This water was very deep, the deepest I had been in yet. It was time to try more advanced magic. The first would be something very fun. I lifted my hands up, and water started to rise. It rose around me in a circle, and below me it started to solidify. I was lifted out of the water on a small pillar of ice. I didn't think I would be able to rise up to the castle, and even if I did, the ice might collapse.

I made a small diving board out of ice towards the middle of the lake. I was only about 4 feet above the water. I took a breath and then jumped off. A running start would have been difficult to manage, with ice and all. I landed in the water and it splashed above, the ice pillar splashed down as well. I looked back at the beach to see Rarity in a chair with sunglasses on.

"What are you doing?"

She picked her head up and looked at me.

"What does it look like?"

"Well I'd say tanning, but that doesn't work… does it?"

She lowered her sunglasses to get a better look at me.

"I'm enjoying the sun, you wouldn't understand the complexity of what the sun does for my complexion."

She laid her head back down, ending the discussion.

"I'm sure I wouldn't." I muttered.

I continued swimming around for awhile, but I was starting to get bored. Seeing that Rarity was either asleep, or secretly a statue, I got an idea. I began waving my arms in a circle, and the water behind me began building up. I was trying to do it quietly, but that was difficult. Eventually I had a large wave built up behind me, and I threw my hands forward. The wave carried me to the shore, and right before we hit Rarity looked up. Her sunglasses fell off, and her mouth dropped open. She let out a short scream, and then the water hit.

I hit the ground with a thump, and got a mouthful of sand. I was coughing and laughing as the water receded back into the lake. I was on my hands and knees, laughing and wiping away the sand from my face. I heard several small thumps and I looked to my side. Rarity was trotting towards me, anger written all over her face. I was always a man of logic, and I was able to deduce that running would be a good option.

I picked myself up, and took off. Rarity began galloping after me, screaming her head off.

"Of all the most foul things to do… I'll make you pay!"

I could hardly breath, and the want to laugh wasn't helping. My body was aching, and I couldn't keep going. I fell to the ground and rolled myself over. I was breathing hard, and laughing between breaths. When Rarity got to me I said,

"Don't… worry… I hear… sand is good… for complexion."

I couldn't even finish a sentence I was laughing so hard. Rarity looked down at me with pure malice. She levitated some sand in the air and grinned at me.

I held my hands up and said,

"Now now, no need to get violent. I'm sure we can solve this with some tea."

She ignored my words, and sand covered me completely. Only my head and feet weren't covered. I tried to move, but the sand kept me down. Rarity walked around me saying,

"Well dear, it seems you're at my mercy."

Without my arms, I couldn't move water, and I doubted a small breeze would help out.

"I could do whatever I wanted."

"Correction, you can do whatever you want with my head and feet. In order to get at the rest of me, you would have to move some sand. That would remove some of the weight, meaning I might be able to get up."

She gave me a huff and sat down on my chest.

"You just don't want me to have any fun."

"If you want to have fun, we could find you a nice mare in Canterlot."

She threw some sand at my face, which thankfully missed. Rarity was really a surprise I must admit. Before now, I would never have expected her to be so… wild. It made me think, maybe the show really wasn't that knowledgeable. This Rarity wasn't really the Rarity from the show, she was different. I might as well throw my opinions about everyone out the window. They were formed with incomplete knowledge, and that wouldn't do me any good. I wasn't in the show, I was in a world that just looked like it. The ponies here who weren't in the show, were just as real as the normal person.

Rarity poked me and said,

"I said, are you hungry?"

My stomach responded for me, and Rarity laughed a little. She got up and walked towards the tent.

"A little help?"

She turned to look at me and said,

"Maybe when I'm done with dinner."

However, she magicked enough sand off of me for me to get up. I had sand in places I really didn't want sand in. I picked up my clothes from the grass and went inside the tent. Rarity was once again singing in the kitchen, and I asked for directions to the bathroom. She pointed me in the right direction, and I took a long cleansing shower.

I joined her for food, feeling much better. The swim had been fun, but it had taken up the rest of the sunlight. Not like it really mattered though, the mansion inside had no windows. I ate some sort of soup, which reminds me, fruit does make a pretty good soup. When we had finished, we went our separate ways. Instead of sleeping on the couch this time, I wandered into one of the many bedrooms, and fell onto a bed. It wasn't quite big enough to fit me, but if I scrunched it worked well enough. I fell asleep in that awkward position, and the night passed quickly.

I woke up without interference the next morning. I got out of bed and wandered back to the living room. I debated on throwing on the extra set of monk robes, but I wanted to keep the shorts on, the burn might still have been a bit sensitive. I grabbed the pack and threw it over my shoulder, just as Rarity came down. She had her saddlebags ready, and she was all ready as well.

"Oh good, you're up. Ready as well. I'm surprised."

Rarity just gave me her trademark huff, and walked outside the tent. I followed her out and she took the tent down with magic.

"No breakfast today?"

Rarity shook her head. I reached into my pack and pulled out some bread, and began munching as we headed for the beginning of the mountain trail. The trail itself claimed to only be 2 miles, but a lot of the trail was going up. Going up isn't a lot of fun, gravity is using your pack against you. That doesn't mean going down is any better though, gravity is trying to make you fall using your pack. Basically the best trail, is a flat one.

Rarity was making us take a lot more stops on the trail, but I wasn't too worried. We would probably arrive in the city in the afternoon at this pace. I also made us take several stops on the way up, but not to rest. We would reach a point where you could see far out, and I would soak it all in. Like making a mental map in my head, for future use.

We had just started again from one of our rests, when we ran into some ponies going down. There was two of them, one was a black earth pony wearing a turban, and the other was a grey pegasus wearing a turban. They were quite a bit up the road and I said,

"I didn't realize ponies wore turbans."

Rarity said, "We usually don't, at least not fashionably. Only ponies from the far west wear them for some reason."

I scratched my chin, which interestingly enough, no hair had grown since it had been cut. Didn't look like I was going to get an awesome beard again. We continued walking, but when we got close the two ponies stood in front of us.

I waved at them and said, "'Lo there travelers. Mind if we get by, we're in a bit of a hurry."

The two ponies didn't move, but the earth pony said,

"Interesting creature aren't ya? No matter, just hand over your packs, and nothing bad happens."

Getting robbed again? I guess my luck had just gone sour. I looked at the bracelet on my arm, willing it to turn into a weapon, or at least a staff. The pegasus spread his wing, and something at the tips glinted in the sun. Lightweight knives at the tip of each feather, effective, but must have made flying a bit difficult.

This was different from the kids who wanted the apples. They had been grinning and laughing at each other. They had been eager, marking them as novices. These two weren't smiling, and were deadly serious. The pegasus didn't move his wings at all, he didn't play with his weapon. It made me assume he was rather skilled with his unique knife set. The earth pony just stood in front of me, not even in a stance. I could tell he was ready to take me down if necessary.

I wasn't about to give up my stuff though, and I doubted Rarity wanted to lose hers. I stood slightly in front of her and steadied myself. Those knives were starting to look really sharp though, then Rarity walked out from behind me, and past the two. They didn't even try and stop her, they just kept looking ahead. They weren't frozen, I could see them breathing. Rarity motioned for me to follow her, and I cautiously did. The two ignored me as well, and I slinked past them. When I was past them the earth pony suddenly said,

"Their running, after them!"

The two took off down the trail, leaving us alone. They disappeared around the corner and I turned to look at Rarity. She was smiling smugly and I said,

"What just happened?"

She continued to walk up the trail,

"Just a bit of illusion magic. I'm quite gifted in the art. You might say it's my element."

I looked back, and then ran to catch up with her.

"So what exactly did you do?"

"I just made them think we were standing there, and then ran away. They ignored the real us, because they were to focused on what they thought was us."

I smacked her on the back and said, "Nice moves. The battle not fought is the greatest victory, mind over matter, and all that other stuff. You've surprised me once again."

She glared at me when I smacked her.

"And hopefully I'll keep doing it. I've told you already that I'm not delicate."

"But I enjoy pretending that you are."

"Well just remember that I don't need protecting."

"No one really needs protecting. It's just that others want to protect you, for whatever reason. Now that's enough arguing I think."

She said nothing, and we walked in silence the rest of the way. We rounded one last corner, and we had arrived. Great gold gates in the middle of a white wall spanned the hole in the cliff wall. I was right, the city itself was on a plateau in the middle of the circular cliff wall. Odd that the castle was outside of such natural protections. I couldn't see beyond the gates, even though they were open. No guards were around the walls either. I guess not having war for awhile makes them feel safe. We walked through the gates and into the city.

Canterlot was a very big city. Large buildings everywhere, most made of stone. Market stalls also lined the streets that went through the city. They sold all kinds of trinkets, probably for tourists. Ponies were walking around everywhere, but I didn't see any guards.

The city was separated from the castle by a bridge, and a large hole in the cliff. The castle was standing on its own separate cliff that was barely attached to the rest. The bridge was definitely more for design than any actual function. Pearly white with a gold railing. The castle itself was very large. The main part was large enough, but several large towers were connected to it as well.

While I was doing some sightseeing, I lost Rarity. I wasn't too worried though, I would find her again. I was examining the stalls when a voice called out from behind me.

"You there, human!"

I turned around to see a pair of Royal guards advancing on me.

"Don't move, you're coming to the castle with us."

I won't lie, I've been in trouble before. I took one look at the guards, whose faces were all serious business, and then I ran in the other direction.

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