Fighting Freedom

AN: This is basically how the story was supposed to go. Why am I updating this now? No idea. (Again)

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Know that feeling when you mess something up, and you turn around and do it again? Like walking into a wall, and then turning around, blinded by pain, and walking right into another wall. That's kind of how I was feeling. Blundered right into a trap, that I didn't even know about until much later, and then I did it again. This time it seemed a little less dangerous, but still. I mean a well lit library versus a huge underground ancient city. Speaking of which, I never did find out why that was there.

I was stuck pointing at Celestia, while Rose and Rarity looked from behind me.

"Ah Silver, so good to see you."

At least we weren't shooting fire balls yet. I put a hand behind my head, trying to think of a quick escape route, but I wasn't finding any options. I considered that I might actually have to stay and commit to this. Crazy right?

"Well I do tend to make people smile."

I spotted the rest of the girls sitting along the couch and on the floor. Celestia stood in the middle of the group facing me, as did the rest. None of them seemed relatively hostile, not even Celestia. In fact I would say the biggest feelings I was getting from Celestia was concern and confusion. So I continued,

"I didn't expect to see you here."

"Well, I've been wanting to talk to you. However I didn't want to just jump on you."

Well she tried that once before and it didn't work. I took a deep breath and calmed myself down. It didn't look like I would have to run anywhere, or start burning down buildings. Although burning down buildings did sound pretty tempting, but maybe that was just the dragon talking.

"I appreciate it I guess. So what's up?"

"Well I'm honestly quite confused, and I was hoping you could clear some things up. Like why there is an ancient city where my lake used to be."

She didn't remember? Or even know about the city? Well that changed things quite a bit. Unless it was all another trap, but getting paranoid wouldn't help me much.

"Umm… Well that's odd."

"A few of my subjects mentioned a large dragon, and Twilight here mentioned you having changed into one. An odd occurrence for a human no doubt. And, no disrespect, but you are quite the odd subject, and I suspect you're involved with this somewhere."

"Well I may have gone exploring down there."

Might as well keep the story as simple as possible. The more details, the harder to believe it would be. Telling the truth might have been the right thing to do, but lying was so much easier.

"I found an ancient book while I was travelling to Canterlot that showed an ancient passage. I went in and found the ancient city. I don't know anything about it. Although it looked like it had been abandoned rather than attacked. I found something there that can apparently control minds. At least it would explain why you can't remember attacking me."

Celestia drew back and said,

"I attacked you?"

"Well kinda, your sister and some guards helped. I defended myself, but the thing turned me into this form here, negating any magic ability I had. I managed to escape with Rarity in tow and got whatever the thing was to safety."

"Is that true?"

Rarity looked between me and the princess, and after a moment, nodded. Celestia took a moment to mull it over and then said,

"If that is indeed true, where is this item?"

I pointed in a random direction,

"Somewhere out there. I'm not really sure it’s there when I'm not there."

Everyone just gave me a blank look and I shrugged,

"That's the best I got."

Celestia shook her head at me, and then Twilight said,

"How could an artifact take over Celestia?"

I'll be honest, Twilight confuses the crap out of me. She is so magically skilled, yet has to have a logical answer for everything. Since when does magic and logic mix? I thought the point of magic was to be unexplainable, but I digress.

"I don't know. Possibly it has been affecting her for the past few centuries, and finally grew strong enough."
I had no idea what I said, but apparently Twilight did. She stopped arguing and I continued,

"By the way, I had previously been having issues with this body, particularly my appetite. However, the bar mare gave me some of this red stuff that apparently you made. I was wondering if you could tell me what it is."
I held up the container of the liquid and both Twilight's and Celestia's face went blank. I looked between the two and said,

"What?"

Twilight replied,

"You didn't drink it did you?"

"Why?"

"Did you?"

"Well yea, and it solved the hunger issue. Actually rabbit food sounds much more appealing now."

Twilight looked at Celestia, and then back at me. Her face showed interest in me, and I was starting to get worried.

"What's wrong with this stuff?"

I eyed the drink warily, now wondering what I had just put in my body. Celestia prodded Twilight who said,

"Well I made it originally for Spike. There's a reason he's different from other dragons. That liquid changes some of the genetic makeup in the body. Makes you less dragon, and more pony."

Uh oh. Wonder what that would do to poor Caramel.

"I didn't realize the bar mare had any left to give. I thought she had only made one."

I nodded and said,

"Alright, so who's genes are replacing the ones I had?"

Twilight looked down and her face grew red and she squeaked,

"Mine."

This time my face went blank. If coming to this world has done anything, its kept me surprised.

"So what, that makes us related?"

She nodded her head a little and said,

"Not exactly. I couldn't change too much otherwise obvious issues occur. To make it simple, I'd say you have 1/5th of my genes."

I scratched my chin and said,

"So does that make us siblings, or does it make you my mother?"

Twilight blanched,

"I'd rather not think about it."

Celestia interrupted us and said,

"Anyways, I find your story hard to believe. I don't want to brag, but I am rather powerful. I would have to see this item, as I doubt any artifact could overcome me."

I raised my finger to argue, but before I could another voice boomed out,

"That's because you're stuck in your own little world. You can't even imagine what else lies outside of your realm. Being stuck for 1000 years can do that."

I knew that voice, but I didn't know why that voice was here. We all turned around to look up the stairs, and Morkar, nose in book, walked down them.

"I, on the other hand, am much more capable."

All the ponies looked around in confusion while I said,

"Wait… what are you doing here?"

He still didn't look up,

"I wanted to ask you a question actually."

"You want info… from me?"

He finally looked up at me and said,

"Not because you accomplished anything let me assure you. I was making sure you were still around."

"Well duh, I'm still around."

He stroked his beard,

"Interesting…"

Morkar turned around and began walking up the stairs. Grey light flashed, and a sparkle followed close behind. Morkar vanished as he teleported out in a fashion that closely resembled Twilight's own teleportation spell.

After a few seconds, every head in the room turned to look at me. Each set of eyes staring me down, looking for answers which I didn't have. After a few seconds Celestia said,

"Ah… who was that?"

I shrugged,

"Mage dude who helped me out a bit."

"Could you explain?"

"Well I found him on accident, I think. He told me about that artifact and the rest is history. He told me he could take care of it, and I got it to him."

"How long has he been here?"

Once again I shrugged,

"No idea. You should really talk to him if you want to know. He's kind of hard to deal with though. I ca…"

Before I could finish, a loud bang went out. Several of the girls screamed, while me and Celestia just looked around quickly. Morkar once again seemed to step in from nowhere. He looked at me again, and scratched his beard.

"Now this is really interesting. There are two of you in one place."

I looked up at him and said,

"Huh?"

"Well at first I assumed the crystal resonated energies it picked up, but after an ioval purge, it should have vanished. Then I though it must have scaled echoes as if infused with thurmagist powers. A quick five point scan ruined that. Then I tried searching for a time shift…"

I held up a hand, not that he could see it, and said,

"Not to interrupt or anything, but what are you talking about?"

"There is ‘the you’ standing in front of me, and there is another ‘you’, in the center of my tower, right where the crystal is located. Well not exactly, but it’s beyond your understanding. Anyways, I had to bring you to the tower out of the world to check up on another theory. I'm actually starting to run out."

The past two times he had opened his mouth, I might have understood two of all the words he said. Celestia and Twilight might have caught more, if they weren't still on step one of who this guy was. The other girls seemed stuck in confusion, obliviousness, or in between. I didn't honestly even know why they were there. It occurred to me that I should spend some time with them, but I couldn't figure out why. I mean mane six duh, but did that really mean anything? Seems like the dream life becomes much more shadowy once you have it.

My name entered the background conversation and brought me back to reality.

"There is a Silver here, and a Silver there. It's really not that complicated."

"I'm asking about you, not him."

"There's only one me, I'm not the issue here."

I watched Celestia bicker pointlessly with Morkar for a bit, before walking up the stairs. I looked out the library window, and to my slight surprise, saw bookshelves outside the window. There was a blueish kind of color stone floor. The books on the shelves ranged from thick and leather bound, to small and paperback. I was glad to see that there was no skin covered ones at least.

I hopped through the window, apparently unseen by anyone. I only slightly jumped when the window to the library sealed itself. It was however kind of creepy because the wall sealed as if it was flesh healing itself.

I was now in a circular room, the walls lined with bookshelves all over. The only thing that wasn't a book in the room, was a large claw. It rose out of the ground, and clutched in its hand, the very core I had set eyes on what seemed like a long time ago.

"Seems smaller than the last time I saw it."

I spoke only to myself, but the room seemed to acknowledge my observation. Almost as if it was recording it down for further analysis. Now that I had time to look at it without getting blown up, it was actually kind of beautiful.

It seemed to pulse with life, little lines ran along the length of the crystal. Like brainwaves moving along, commanding the core to do certain things. An odd comparison, but seemingly the only one that fit. If the core was the brain, then that made the world it inhabited the body. Poetic justice or something like that.

"Almost alive isn't it?"

Morkar was standing right behind me, admiring the crystal. He didn't have a book in hand, and seemed genuinely interested in the thing. He never touched it, or even magicked around with it. What may have been a rare moment in his life.

"I'm surprised you aren't doing something else at the same time."

Morkar turned to look at me and said,

"Actually I'm just an illusion, as are the other… 379 at the moment. I believe the real one is out collecting… well doing work."
I spun around quickly,

"You're managing 379 different you’s at once?"

He shook his head,

"No, no, no…. 379,000 different illusions. Council meetings, war truces, and all other kinds of crap. All part of the job."

My mouth dropped down and I stuttered,

"3..379… thousand?"

"You act like it's hard. Only illusions that trick the world seriously start to drain power. It's just as well that I am the most powerful thing you will ever meet then."

"I'd say that's a bit egotistical, but I can't exactly refute you."

"Our time is up. Don't touch anything, I'll be back shortly. You've been deemed unimportant."

And with that, he phased out. He didn't pop or anything, but it was like he was part of an old TV show. He split unevenly and jaggedly, and he became more pixilated. Then it was like someone turned off the TV he was on, and with that he vanished.
I blew out some hot air and said,

"Unimportant my scales. Maybe once I burn down a few books."

I wasn't serious of course, my temper wasn't that out of control. I looked around, but the only thing interesting in the room was the core. Its shining brilliance marked it as gold amongst a pile of dung. I couldn't help but stare at it. It drew me in, almost beckoning to me. It chanted my name soundlessly, and not some made up name.

It didn't call for Silver, or for Socrates. It didn't even call what my earth name used to be. It called for something deeper, from the beginning of time. My heart began to throb along with the core. I didn't notice any noises, or see the rest of the room. The only thing I could see was my claw reaching for the core.

In an instant there was a flash. The moment my claw touched the crystal there was a flash of light. The crystal escaped the clutches of the ivory claw that had been previously holding it. Pulses of light flew out from the center and a voice shouted out in ecstasy.

"Yesss!"

I stepped back quickly as the core began to spin violently. It went faster and faster, and more and more light flashed. The voice which sounded eerily familiar shouted out again,

"Now while its weak! The breakage of the 72 point seal!"

There was a loud bang behind me, and Morkar came walking in. His pace was faster than normal, and several magicks floated around him. They beeped and flashed different colors, telling him something. Celestia was close behind, along with Rose, Twilight, and Rarity.

"What in the nine circles did you do?!"

Morkar didn't look at me, but it was quite obvious who he was speaking too. He didn't sound worried, or even furious. He just sounded… impatient would be my best guess.

"I have no idea! And nine circles?"

Morkar waved a hand and ignored me. Bright spots of light kept flashing around the core, and if I was quick enough I could have counted them up to 67. 5 more lights started to build around the core, and the core itself grew in size. It kept going until it was as tall as I was, and then stopped, as did the lights around it.

"The last 5 points!"

The lights around the core shattered in a way light shouldn't be able to, and a huge crack appeared in the core. For one longing moment, nothing happened. Then the voice said,

"The silver lance of Inkgrad!"

What happened next would have been unavoidable no matter what I did. The day had already been so hectic I was running on empty.

The core shattered into a million pieces and a figure flew out of it. Before my eyes could even identify what it was, I was being flung against the wall. Pain flowered in my stomach, and I felt gravity pull at me uselessly.

Besides the pain in my stomach, and shouts and gasps filling my ears, everything was normal. My eyes adjusted to the sights in front of me, but my mind had trouble believing it. I was about three feet above the floor, my feet dangling above the floor. A large silver lance had nailed me to the wall, and was being held by the last person I expected to see.

Do you know what a lance looks like? Well it’s pretty big let me tell you that. Knights used to use these on horses after all. Lances make spears look like sticks for firewood. They also happen to weigh quite a bit. So the fact that a normal human was holding one in one hand as if it weighed as much as a mouse was ridiculous enough.

The fact that the human holding the lance was me just added some bonus ridiculousness. The face I had once worn looked up at me, and grinned.

The short brown hair, the closely trimmed beard, the small hooked nose, and even the slightly crooked teeth were all mine. The only difference were the eyes. They burned a bright silver, and looking into them caused a small flair of pain.

I… or he rather let out a laugh. A loud and spaced apart laugh. he threw his head back and roared into the air. Everyone else was dead silent, and I was quickly approaching the first half. The man who was me finally came to his senses and looked at me. In my voice he said,

"Sorry chap, you should watch where you're standing around. Might get speared by an escaping convict doing that."

He let go of the lance, which still kept me against the wall, and looked around. He took in the scared ponies, and the many bookshelves. He took in a large breath and then said,

"Then again, being in the tower allows me too…."

He clenched one hand in a fist, and blinding light formed in it. I saw Morkar throw a shield around himself, and then the light pulsed. The lance seemingly disappeared, as did the wound I had received. I fell to the ground on my ass where I stayed. The core pieced itself back together, and then everything stopped.

The imposter me looked around and said,

"That about clears it up…"

He stopped talking when he looked at me. He saw the confusion in my eyes and he said,

"Crap. You just happen to be an I.S. Well then I apologize for stabbing you. Just know that besides me, you, and the old guy, no one else saw that."

I said nothing, my mind still at the point when the core shattered. Morkar on the other hand said,

"That was a time shift, and a complicated one. There aren't many who can do that without feeling some sort of affect. Who are you?"

The other me gave a once over the room and said,

"Well… This is really old. I've got to be farther out than I've ever been. Anyways, I'd love to stay and chat, but that would cause some issues. Like evil mastermind destroying the world . I'm sure Braxis is already on his way."

Morkar started preparing some sort of energy in his hand, but the other me seemed to not care. Instead he just continued,

"Anyways see you guys later. Oh I guess I should just…"

He turned and looked at the core, which shuddered and then turned to dust.

"A sick jail for a sick man. And I'm sure we'll all meet at some point in the future. Time does pass on no matter what they say. It'll be over in a snap!"

At this, he snapped his fingers and turned to dust as well. Morkar let his magic dissipate, and then gathered up a green sort of energy. A green pulse emitted from it, and covered all the walls.

"Hmm, he seems to be gone. And from your expression, I can tell you don't know a thing about this. I can't say I'm pleased a random intruder just broke out of my tower, but it's not the first time. Can't know everything after all. But now that the core is gone…"

Before he could continue, the entire tower shook. I was thrown flat on the ground, as was everyone else. Even Morkar fell to his knees during the quake. Before I could get back up, a wall of the tower vanished and I could see outside. I almost wished I couldn't see though.

In the plains near Ponyville, there was a large beast roaring down. It was like a Cyclops, but made of molten rock. A large fireball was flung from its mouth, as it tried to burn the small black dots around it. Flashes of light could be seen, but they didn't seem to have any effect.

Behind me Princess Celestia gasped, and then took off out of the tower. She flew incredibly fast towards the beast, to defend her land I assumed. However, before she got there, the beast and black dots faded away. More booms could be heard, although they were distorted. In the next few moments the booms stopped coming.

Morkar shook his head,

"Today just isn't a good day. Unknown invaders, intruders, and no morning tea. I should never skip tea, only bad things come of it. Well, I suppose we better get down there."

Morkar was awfully literal when he said things like that. Because one second I was in the tower with everyone else, and next I was in the center of town in front of the library. Morkar was next to me, but the girls were gone.

"Hey where's…?"

"I sent them back into the library. They won't remember me, or the incident with the tower. The core isn't here, and neither is their immortality. I also warn you that your relationships may change vastly now. However, no time to worry now, let us try and make sense of this madness."

I raised a finger and said,

"You're the magician here right? Isn't that your job?"

"You wish to be as skilled as me? You must learn to solve problems that seem to have no solutions. Now let's see… Mayhaps the library will have some new information."

"Information on what?"

"Hopefully on how this world ran before the core. There was peace here before, similar to the core. Or maybe they originally built the first one here. Let's be on our way."

Before I could comment on this though, we were in front of the library. As we walked inside I once again pointed dumbly at Celestia.

The rest of the elements were there as well, and Rarity waved at me. AJ also nodded in my direction, but the rest seemed confused at my presence. I hadn't really talked to them that much I guess.

Celestia spoke first,

"Ah Silver so good to see you. We were just talking about you."

I sat down on the floor, legs crossed, and Morkar stood next to me. His presence went unacknowledged, noone seemed to look his way, or show any indication they knew he was there.

"Oh?"

Celestia nodded,

"Rarity was explaining everything that happened on your trip. She told me all about how you found that ancient city, and that device inside it. I have some archeologists exploring it now, but I told them to be careful. It's just a good thing the device only affected you, I can't imagine what I would do if everyone in Canterlot was turned into a dragon."

It seemed Rarity had already invented a cover story for me. And it was a much better one than I had come up with. I wasn't too sure how to feel about that, but I went along with it.

"Well I'm not minding it too much so far."

Celestia nodded, and then addressed everyone in the room.

"I have called you all here for something more important though. My soldiers on the borders of Equestria have reported movement. It seems like the other rulers of the land are making odd moves. King Solaire to the south is amassing a large force in his capital, and King Terra to the north has blocked off all trade routes. I can only assume King Borealis to the east is doing something odd as well. I want you all to help discover what is going on. I doubt any of them would try a full assault on our land, but something is amiss. I would go myself, but reports of mysterious vanishings and odd sightings are coming in from all over Equestria I must attend to these, but I don't want to leave this issue unchecked."

She took a good long look at all of us,

"I trust all of you, and that is why I've chosen you for this task. It will be dangerous, but I know you will not fail."

The ponies seemed to be agreeable with this, especially Dash. I myself hadn't thought there were other lands besides Equestria, the more you know I guess. No doubt, this was somehow connected to the core or whatever.

We all nodded our agreement and Celestia said,

"If there are no questions, I must be off immediately. I leave you with a passage one of the scribes found in that ancient city. Twilight, use spike to contact me for any reason you deem necessary. I wish you all a good day."

With those words, Celestia stopped low to leave the room, and closed the door softly behind her. We all sat in silence for a second, before Twilight picked up the small paper Celestia had left. She read aloud,

Of time before

Shall three kings rule

peace and harmony aligned.

A struggle of power,

and the end of death

shall time cease to move.

Over two seas shall one king flee

and to northern heights shall another.

The eastern swamps is where the last shall stop,

all three waiting nevermore.

When she finished, the piece of paper was put down and she said,

"What does that mean?"

Rarity answered first saying,

"It might mean nothing. Possibly a child's poem from long ago?"

Dash backed her up,

"Ya, that didn't even rhyme. It was horrible."

Fluttershy said nothing, and Pinkie said,

"Well maybe it was a prank?"

I also said nothing, preferring to watch instead. Twilight held up a hoof and said,

"Well let's try and do it line by line then."

I wanted to interrupt, but Dash actually did it for me.

"Do we have to do it now? I'm starving."

Pinkie then produced a tray of cupcakes from nowhere and said,

"I brought snacks."

Everyone proceeded to dig in as Twilight said,

"So the first line Of time before is obvious. In the past a long time ago. And the next talks about back when the Three Kings used to rule all. Then they had a power struggle between themselves. I guess that's when the Princesses stopped them and created peace. That would be the end of death I guess. But what does it mean time ceases to move?"

I knew exactly what it meant, but I wasn't going to point it out. Granted Twilight had already solved half the damn thing on her own, even if it wasn't hard. I didn't even see the importance of it.

"Well skipping that one, the next few are obvious. Solaire went over ocean and desert, Terra went to the mountains in the north, and Borealis went east to the swamplands. But how can they be waiting nevermore?"

Rarity put in her two bits by saying,

"Well if it refers to the other line of time not moving, one can hardly wait for time to pass. So if this actually means anything, then the three kings have been waiting, but not."

I added my own two bits saying,

"That made sense."

I could've sworn Fluttershy said something, but Pinkie shouted over her.

"Of course it does silly! You can't wait because that means time is going. So they are doing something else since they can't wait. We need a word for waiting without passing time."

I wanted to put baiting in as a possible one, but I figured they would all get the innuendo too quickly. So again I stayed silent.

Twilight shook her hoof in the air and said,

"That doesn't really matter. What does is that the Princess gave us a task to fill out. What we should do now is figure out how to do it. I think we should split up into groups."

When she finished talking Rarity said,

"Well having been on an adventure myself so soon, I would like a moment to rest. My shop hasn't been open long enough, and what of Sweetie Belle?"

AJ agreed with Rarity there,

"And Ah can't just leave the farm sugarcube. We can't just uproot our lives."

Twilight stamped her front hoof,

"But this is a matter of utmost importance!"

I rose my hand and said,

"I'll do it."

Twilight sighed,

"I know, but you can't go all three places at once."

"No… but I can do them in order. Besides if these kings are up to something, they'll be in contact with each other. If they all get strange visitors at the same time… they might catch on."

Rarity nodded and said,

"He has a point. Besides this way, we can take turns so to speak. Two of us shall accompany him to wherever he goes. Although he may need a disguise himself."

Twilight sighed again, and gave in,

"I guess you girls are right."

I coughed and she corrected herself,

"And guy. I'll contact Celestia of our plans, and ask her about Silver's disguise. I guess that's settled then."

I stood up,

"Great that means I can get some real lunch now."

Morkar who had said nothing the entire time, followed me out of the library. Once outside he turned me around so I faced him.

"Well that was most helpful. It certainly gives us a new direction to look into."

I put a finger to my scaled chin,

"Us? To be honest I'm surprised you didn't know the entire history of this place already."

Morkar shook his head,

"No matter how I appear, I am very much normal. I must learn things the same as everyone else. I have yet to delve into this particular subject. You just happened to have found an ancient library on your previous travels as well. I shall attend to that place, and learn what I can. You shall start heading for one of the kings mentioned in the passage. Where better to learn the history but from the horse's mouth?"

Here he laughed at his own little joke. Once he finished his odd sounding chuckle he said,

"Before I depart I have a few gifts for you. The first is this gemstone. With it I may contact you when I have learned more of this world."

He handed me a beautiful sapphire, cut into a near perfect sphere. The light reflected off of it, and I was instantly mesmerized. I had to fight the urge to shove it in my mouth, and instead put it in my pocket.

"Secondly, since you have demolished the first medium I gave you, I have something better. Against my better judgment I give you The Grey Staff."

Demolished the first? That could explain why I couldn't do magic anymore. Besides the fire thing. Maybe it had happened when I had gone back to the nothingness. Maybe the medium could not go where I and the bracelet could. Regardless of that, I almost had to scoff at what Morkar handed me.

"This is a hockey stick…"

And indeed it was. A grey wooden hockey stick with red symbols carved into one side. It only reached my shoulder, and had grip tape placed in 3 strategic locations. I handled it with half care and half disbelief. Morkar didn't seem to notice my distain though and continued,

"Indeed it is. A very powerful one too. It was simple enough to make, however I think you'll find it very much to your liking. It's very efficient with elemental magic along with being fairly sturdy. Nothing like a good whack to the head to deter an enemy. I also managed to procure the books you had left behind."

Morkar handed me the small weathered journal and the book on elemental magic. I thanked him for the gifts but he held up his hand,

"I have one final offer. I can return you back to your human form, or even turn you into one of these ponies, or even a mix of the two. I would just say that your current form is the strongest. It may have an obvious weakness to water, but those scales will protect you better than any armor. And again, without the core, the immortality once had by the inhabitants will no longer be viable."

I thought upon it for a moment before saying,

"I've finally gotten along with Rose, I think I'll stick with this one thanks. Say, you're being awfully friendly you know. Not even 24 hours ago you were saying how terrible I was."
He looked at me with old eyes,

"Well I have learned many a thing today. I may have misjudged you at first, events today just showed me that mistake. After all the issue of that strange character up and disappearing is still in the air. I may need someone like you soon enough. Better to have you on my side. I really must be going though, I wish you good luck!"

With those last words, he vanished into thin air. No pop or flash of light, he simply just disappeared. Some part of me knew the gifts were bribes, he pretty much admitted it, but I couldn't bring myself to care. I mean the hockey stick was weird, but if I could do magic again who cared? I guess the bribes were working. I looked at the staff and said,

"I don't suppose you'll merge with my bracelet huh?"

I felt something tighten on my horn, and I got the feeling the answer was a no. Almost like the staff was too unique to be absorbed by the bracelet. I just sighed and turned to go back to Rose's.

Before I walked inside the place, I stopped myself on the porch. Morkar's words came back to me, and I actually started to worry a little bit. What if Rose didn't like me anymore I asked myself. I found myself starting to think life would be harder without her around as much.

And then I shook myself. ' Since when am I so worried about girls. Who cares?' I tried to convince myself with such thoughts, but deep down I knew it didn't work. Somewhere along the line I had gotten attached to the ponies here. Even if I hadn't noticed it when it was there. But now that It could be gone, I definitely noticed.

I knocked on the door, and I heard Rose shout for me to hold on. She opened the door and looked me quizzically.

"You don't have to knock Silver. If we've shared a bed, I think we can share a house."

Then again sometimes I just wished she wouldn't be so straight forwards. I didn't say anything for a while and Rose's face started to show concern,

"What's wrong?"

"Oh nothing, just being down I guess. So uh…"

I stopped myself from mentioning anything, not knowing if Rose remembered the tower incident at all. So instead I finished,

"What's up?"

She rolled her eyes at me and said,

"Well I've only been awake for 5 minutes. Not much time to do anything. After our little dress show, we had to skip that meeting. Where were you last night anyways?"

I fished around for an excuse and finally gave up,

"I really don't know."

Rose laughed and walked away from me,

"I didn't know dragons could get drunk. I'm going to shower now, wish to join me?"

Part of me wanted to, especially when just offered. But another part of me resisted, afraid that Rose might just be feeling after affect of a core induced spell. So I eventually just said no, and waited for her to get out. I tried to piece together Rose's timeline while I did so. When she came back, I was sitting on her couch, sharpening my nails.

Once again, she smelled great, and her hair seemed to shimmer just slightly. She sat down with me and said,

"So are you up to get some food?"

My stomach in good old Equestria fashion answered for me.

"I'd be glad to, but we have to talk first."

Rose looked down,

"You're leaving again."

My eyes widened a little at how monotone her answer was.

"Uh, yeah actually. Good call."

Suddenly, Rose turned her head to face me and put her front hooves on my chest, and shoved her face into mine.

"Well I'm going with you this time! I don't care where you're going, I'll follow you wherever you go. You aren't leaving me behind again! I'm not making that mistake again."

I had to think what she said over a few times. Then I wiped the small amount of spittle from my face nonchalantly and said,

"Alright, that's fine by me. What about your flower cart?"

Rose stared at me for a second, surprise across her face.

"Oh… Well… I can just leave it here. You aren't going to try and stop me?"

"Oh no, I know better than that. Besides who am I to deny anyone an adventure?"

Rose simply just stared at me.

"However now that you're part of the adventure party, you have to pick up some slack."

Rose nodded her agreement here.

"I'm gonna need to get a boat or a ride on one to cross the sea, and that's gonna cost money."

Rose laughed and said,

"You don't have any money."

"I've got some, but I don't think it will be enough for there and back again."

"Well I suppose I could help a little, is anyone else going?"

"No idea, I guess we could ask someone to go with us if you want."

Rose eyed me carefully and said,

"Rarity?"

I clicked my tongue in thought,

"She was amiable company the first time around. Even if her travel methods aren't to my liking. However I'll be honest, those dresses were something I wouldn't mind seeing again. However, she was talking about her boutique being closed for too long. And something about Sweetie Bell."

Rose waved a hoof here,

"I'm sure we can convince her to go."

It made me curious that Rose wanted her to go, but I said nothing about it. Rose continued to speak,

"Why are we going to the south though? It's only desert after the ocean."

I smiled then said,

"Well I've got to speak to some kings and learn some history. So why not visit my 'honorary father' first?"

Rose laughed and got up, and I was quick to follow. We chuckled quietly as Rose grabbed a few things and turned off the lights. I grabbed a bag to throw my books in, and put the hockey stick in my left hand. I took one last look around and closed the door behind me.

A wise man/horse/lion or whatever he was once said, "The true reward to an adventure, is a bigger and better one."

I had no idea how true that statement would stand.

~Fin~

AN: I'm sorry but that's where this story will close. Does it end here? Of course not. However, I don't think I'll be around to write the rest of it, nor do I know if anyone will even read this. Mayhaps one day I shall live through this story, and mayhaps not. The stream is an odd place, and who knows where it will take me. I wish you all good look on your future endeavors, and may you find happiness wherever you look.

• Silver Skies, for one last time, signing off.