The First Steps of the Rest of Your Life

Chapters

Chapter 2: New Day, New Town
Chapter 3: Breakfast Conversation
Chapter 4: House Call
Chapter 5: Dam It
Chapter 7: A Normal Day
Chapter 8: Down on the Farm
Chapter 9: The CMC
Chapter 10: Magic
Chapter 13: Blue Breeze
Chapter 14: When Red Flows
Chapter 15: Aftermath
Chapter 16: On the Road (in the Sky) Again
Chapter 18: Heart of the Storm
Chapter 19: Homeward Bound
Chapter 20: Reward
Chapter 21: New and Old
Chapter 22: Moonlit Walk
Chapter 23: Back to Normal it Seems
Chapter 24: Down and Dirty
Chapter 25: Sunday
Chapter 26 Ways to Liven up Monday
Chapter 27 What Comes Out
Q and A Special!
Chapter 28: Truth and Reconciliation
Chapter 29 Preparations
Chapter 30: Parents
Chapter 31: Houseguest
Chapter 32: Tension
Chapter 33: Atom's Side
Chapter 35: A Thump in the Night
Chapter 36: Morning After
Chapter 37: To Canterlot
Chapter 38: Clubbing
Chapter 40: Pursuit
Chapter 41: Infiltration
Chapter 42: Liberation
Chapter 43: Fire Dancing
Chapter 45: Reflections and Revelations
Chapter 46: Concerns
Chapter 47: Midnight Magic
Chapter 48: Assemble the Team
Chapter 49: Changes
Chapter 51: The Project
Chapter 53: Crystal Formation
Chapter 54: Crystal Gathering
Chapter 55: Crystal Purification
Chapter 56: Crystal Evaluation
Chapter 57: Crystal Magic
Chapter 58: Guests
Chapter 59: Meetings and Talks
Chapter 60: New Groups
Chapter 62: Confrontations
Chapter 63: What to do
Chapter 64: Welcome
Chapter 65: New Objectives
Chapter 66: Adaptations
Chapter 68: The other searchers
Chapter 69: New Friends
Chapter 71: Water Fight
Chapter 72: Parents: Take Two
Chapter 73: Days and Nights
Chapter 74: Mountain Battle
Chapter 75: Wounds
Chapter 76: In The Woods
Chapter 77: Adjusting to the New
Chapter 78: Final Shard
Chapter 1: Arrival
Chapter 6: Volt
Chapter 11: To The Lake
Chapter 12: Gather the Troops
Chapter 17: An Enemy Revealed
Chapter 34: Navy Shadow
Chapter 39: Questioning
Chapter 44: Debriefing
Chapter 50: Double Date
Chapter 52: Escalation, Explanation, and Evaluation
Chapter 61: Reveals
Chapter 67: What is to come
Chapter 70: At The Spa
The Decision
Quick Question

Chapter 2: New Day, New Town

***Day 2, Saturday, morning***

GAH! Sweet Celestia, the sun! It burns! Oh right, duh. Still though, not the most fun thing to wake up to sometimes. I almost prefer my alarm clock, but then again it and I have a love-hate relationship. I love it for getting me up but it's methods do not result in me becoming anymore of a morning pony. I swear I bought the one alarm clock that's designed to invade your dreams to wake you up no matter how deep you are sleeping. It's also one of those high pitched ones you can't really get mad at either, I don't know why that is, I can get perfectly mad at other alarm clocks that are like buzzers to the brain, mine just is somehow immune to it. I should probably find that thing today... no hurry, I'm going to enjoy waking up on my own for the first few days, at least until I get that job.

I feel like I was wandering for a moment there.. meh not a morning pony anyway. Let's go see what I can find to get myself awake.

I wander out into the hallway to the top of the stairs.

Ah yes stairs, we meet again and I know you are plotting against me with your coordination requirements, you shall not prevail! Ok I really need to get my brain warmed up, I'm talking to inanimate objects with my mind.

As I make my way down the stairs I hear swishing followed by thumps, guess that means Hydro's up. Checking the fridge I remember something important but almost wish I didn't: this is a new house, the fridge isn't full unless we put something in it, and we have nothing.

*Sigh* I probably should have seen this coming. Guess we're going old school wake up today: a glass of cold water and a mental pep talk... and by pep talk I mean standing here drinking until I can get myself to think at least one thought that qualifies as normal for me.

Whilst I do this Hydro comes downstairs, even though he definitely qualifies are more of a morning pony than I do, we both agree that morning is not our best time.

I raise my glass to the earth pony in greeting, "Morning Hydro, I've got good news and I've got obvious but still disappointing news."

He quirks an eyebrow, "What's the bad news?"

I motion to the fridge, "We've got zilch in the food area."

He appears unfazed, "What's the good news then?"

I shrug, "Simple, I'm going to go get food later and I'm taking requests. Anything in particular you want later while I'm out?"

He shakes his head, "Just the normal stuff should be fine, oh but if you see an apple place grab me a couple. I've been craving those lately."

I add it to the list of groceries I had started making, "Got it. So I guess you'll be heading to see that dam of yours?"

At this point he's grabbed a glass of water too, since it's pretty much all we have right now. "Yeah, probably grab something on the way there."

I look at him questioningly, "You already know where it is?"

"Dude it's a dam, it's kinda hard to miss. I saw it on our way into town yesterday."

I nod absentmindedly as I realize the truth in his statement, "Ah, that makes sense."

He motions a hoof towards me, "So what about you?"

I glance around at the boxes as I respond, "I figured I'd unpack all the general stuff and then move our personal boxes to our rooms. It shouldn't be that time consuming, after that I'll walk around and try to find the vet clinic while I'm out for supplies."

"What makes you think it won't take long?"

I reply with what I like to call the 'cop out' answer, "Magic."

"Right." He rolls his eyes.

After what was truly an impressive conversation, at least by our before breakfast standards, Hydro gets cleaned up then heads into town. I conclude that I might as well get this done, faster I do this the faster I can get started on that legendary length grocery list I have now. I power up the old unicorn standby spell: levitation. I don’t really pay attention since this spell is pretty much second nature to us so let’s just say: before I start the house looks like a warehouse, during the spell it looks like some kind of tornado is inside, which there kind of is, and afterward I'm done, everything is in its proper place.

I quickly grab my saddlebags and head out the door.

Ok one step outside I already know something about this town: it is freaking colorful, in Canterlot you mostly get white, gold, and if you’re lucky a bit of blue, this place is a rainbow… as is that blur up there… wow, I really need some food. I’m seeing rainbows flying around on their own.

Almost on instinct, I begin using my magic to trace the familiar runes of a spell I invented myself onto the bottoms of my hooves. After a few moments, the arcane circles the runes compose are complete, and I guide my magic into them. The results become apparent as I begin leisurely making my way into town, to a passerby it would appear as if I am skating regardless of the surface I am traversing. The spell I used, I call Res. It is a spell meant to, essentially, manipulate surface tension via various means, to achieve a variety of effects. These effects range from lessening the tension to allow my current mode of easy moving, to being able to increase tension so that I am able to walk up walls and onto ceilings. The most common way I use it is for when I need to travel faster than walking, because smooth skating is far preferable to me than running or jogging, especially when it costs the same amount of energy.

As I make my way towards what looks like the area for food sales I notice a few more things about the town. For one thing the ratios are different, more mares than stallions, and all three races are pretty evenly matched here. Everyone seems friendly too, judging by all the groups talking around the square. No real big food stores though, it appears most goods are sold at carts.

Alright, let's get started.

I end Res and start making my way among the various product stands. I grab a bit of everything: veggies, flowers from a trio of very titter-happy mares, fruits including some very nice apples from a mare in a Stetson, and even met a very nice cow. I manage to strike a deal with her for a few gallons of milk every few days from the dairy cows of the town. She was a bit curious as to how many ponies I was supplying with the milk, but after letting her know that 70% of it was just for me and the rest for my roommate, she seemed to think it was hilarious and gladly agreed. I am glad I am a unicorn though, otherwise I would have needed at least three saddlebags for all the supplies I bought.

I think that’s everything, to the house!

***

A short time later as I put away the supplies, I idly wonder to myself about what Hydro is up to. I don't particularly think anything has happened to him, but it is my tendency to worry about those closest to me. I soon write off my worries in lieu of making a tomato and daisy sandwich because I’m about five minutes away from eating a chunk of the lawn with no regrets.

Sandwich, I thank you for being delicious, but you knew this was coming.

I mull over my next move while basking in the comfortable feeling of a full stomach.

Alright now that business is done its time for pleasure, no wait switch that, time for business. I recall seeing something I assume to be the veterinary clinic while I was out but by then I was preoccupied with not dropping any of the groceries. Ah well, here we go again.

I gather my things and start heading out once more. As I turn back to the street after locking the door, my vision is completely taken up by something blue. I jump back away from whatever is in my face, turns out it’s a pair of blue eyes attached to a very pink pony. I gulp nervously.

Ok remain calm, let’s just see what she wants.

I try to steady my voice after my little scare from her unexpected appearance, “U-umm, may I help you?”

The mare in front of me simply stares at me. Slowly she edges closer and closer to me. I begin thinking to myself about how she is starting to creep me out. Suddenly, like she heard my thoughts, the mare stops edging her face closer to mine and sprints down the road faster than I thought earth ponies could go.

I have no idea what just happened, and to be honest I’m not sure I want to. Shake it off, ok I’m just gonna... yeah … to the clinic I guess. Wow that mare pretty much killed my brain right there.

The clinic visit turns out to be, well not very interesting I guess, but it is very nice. I start making my way back to the house when I notice my roommate across the street and make my way over to him.

I hail him as I approach, “Hey Hydro where have you been all day?”

He turns his head and smile st me in greeting, “After the dam trip I just wandered around town a bit, they have some weird buildings here.”

I tilt my head to the side, “What do you mean?”

“I saw this one home that was inside a tree. Another was a gingerbread house.”

I nod at the information, “Hmm, probably easier to get around then with all these unique landmarks.”

His face deadpans, “Really? I tell you about a life size gingerbread house and you think of how it makes it easier to get around?”

I shrug, “What? Don’t get me wrong, it is interesting, I just figure maybe it’s a funhouse or something so it’s not like I’ll ever use it for anything other than a landmark.”

Hydro facehoofs. “I know you’re logical about these things but that can be a major buzz kill sometimes.”

“Sorry. Hmm what’s this?” We had been walking and talking on our way home but there is an envelope on the mat when we get here. I read the note aloud, “Dear new residents, please come to Sugarcube Corner at 6:00 for one last piece of business for you to join our town." I turn to Hydro, "I thought you said that paperwork we did was all of it.”

He looks confused as well, “I thought it was, maybe we missed one or they forgot to give it to us.”

I sigh in exasperation, “I can’t believe this, I hope it wasn’t anything too bad.”

He waves off my worry, “Don’t worry about it, I’m sure it just one we forgot to sign or something.”

“I hope you’re right. Hey where is Sugarcube Corner anyway?”

He thinks for a moment, “I'm think it’s that ginger bread house I was telling you about.”

I voice my thoughts on this, “Seems a little weird to do something official in what is essentially a dessert home..." I shrug it off, "You did say this town was weird, let’s drop off our bags and get this done.”

***

Hydro leads us to the aforementioned gingerbread house, “Here we are, hope this is the right place, all the lights are out.”

“Probably just the windows covered or something Hydro, let’s at least try the door." I try the door, "It's open.”

Hydro mutters as we walk into the pitch black interior, “So much for the covered windows idea, I can’t see anything.”

“Maybe I can find a light some-”

SURPRISE!

“GAH!”

*crash*

What the hay was that!?! Who are all these ponies!?! Why am I on the ceiling!?! Oh wait that last one’s my fault. I might be getting too good at casting Res if I’m doing it on reflex to stick to ceilings now. But still, what is going on!?!

Just then the pink mare from earlier bounces up from the crowd with probably the biggest smile I have ever seen. Hydro’s just down there facehoofing, yeah he’s helpful. The mare starts talking weirdly fast and if I had not been already watching her I would have missed half of it before I even registered she was talking.

“Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie and this is your surprise ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party! We must have really surprised you if you forgot that the floor is for walking, not the ceiling. Don’t you know? Ceilings are for lights and streamers not ponies. Unless you’re a pegasus but then you wouldn’t be walking on the ceiling you’d just be flying …”

Wow this girl can talk, although looking around I’m not exactly comfortable with the amount of attention I’m getting on the ceiling like this. Better let myself down.

I lessen Res so I detach from the ceiling and fall tot he floor, orienting myself like a cat so that I land on my hooves. She’s still talking the whole time though and I tune in once I land to hear her last few words.

“… and that’s why oatmeal doesn’t make good cannon ammo.”

Wait what?

Pinkie jumps right back into her rapid communication, “Since you're new in town, that means you don't know anypony yet, which means you don't have any friends here. Hey, I know! I'll introduce you to all my friends!”

She follows this statement by grabbing Hydro’s hoof and dragging him somewhere, I have about a millisecond of relief before he grabs mine to go along for the ride.

I don’t want to go with the crazy one! She breaks my brain! Maybe I’ll learn to translate what she does so I can remain sane, perhaps these friends can help with that.

What follows in mostly a blur as Pinkie drags Hydro and I around to what seems to be every pony in the building. She halts at each group long enough to rapidly spout out each of their names before we are off to the next group. Eventually, we stop in front of a group of five mares with Pinkie walking over to make it six. As Hydro and I gather ourselves, my usual thoughts on meeting new ponies set in.

I’m not good at parties, what do I do here? Do I speak first? What words do I use? Which one do I look at? Must try to keep straight face while mind is made up.

As my mind races to contort itself to my 'meeting new ponies mindset,' outwardly I make sure I appear normal by brushing myself off from being dragged over. Of course while I’m trying to get my head straight Mr. Socially Adept over here just dives straight in.

Hydro simply turns to the perky mare, “So Pinkie Pie these are your friends?”

“Yep, this is Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle, and Fluttershy.” She says this while pointing to the respective pony, though I have to strain to see the last one.

“Nice to meet you all, name’s Hydro Pump. Now I’m sure I’ll see you all at another time so I’m gonna let my friend here have his turn.” He turns to me and pats me on the back as if he hadn't just thrown me into the metaphorical pool to see if I could swim, “Don’t worry, there’s six of them here, even you can’t mess this up.” He chuckles as he walked off to mingle on his own terms.

This of course makes all the girls turn to me.

Damn you Hydro. Just damn you.

The sudden spotlight of attention that focuses on me cements in my mind my usual introduction tactics.

I straighten myself up and give a slight bow to the group as I make sure to be as polite as possible, “Hello, my name’s Rhino, it’s very nice to meet all of you." As they make their various short acknowledgements I turn the conversation to them, mostly to get it off me, "Umm... so, what do you girls do here in town?”

Pinkie answers first, “I work here at Sugarcube Corner! I’d tell you more but I have to go make sure everypony’s having fun! See you later Rhino.” She zooms off after that.

I let out a breath I didn’t know I held when she had started talking. “Umm I’m not trying to insult her or anypony else but is Pinkie always…”

The one called Rainbow Dash answers, her voice exuding confidence and a slight tinge or boredom. “That’s just Pinkie being Pinkie, don’t worry too much about it, you get used to it." She puts a hoof to her chest in a proud pose, "You've probably already heard of me, everypony knows I'm the fastest flyer in Equestria!" Something on the other side of the room catches her eye before I can respond, causing her to adopt a worried face, "Uh oh, Pinkie’s giving the snack table looks again, nice meeting you but I gotta go make sure she leaves some snacks for me- I mean everypony else.” She flies off after Pinkie.

I simply blink at the rapid exit of the two mares from the group. I choose to maintain my silence until one of the remaining girls breaks the silence.

The white unicorn looks after the two mares that had run off with a small sigh, “Those two just race off every chance they get, well dear, as Pinkie said earlier my name is Rarity and I would like to officially welcome you to our little town. I run Carousel Boutique, so if you ever find yourself in need of a new ensemble or anything of that nature, be sure to drop by.” Her eyes have that aloof tone to them that one can see in most of upper Canterlot but not on the usual accompanying level of poshness that I am accustomed to.

I tilt my head towards her as her manner of speaking makes me believe that she considers herself proper, thus I treat her as such, “I’ll be sure to do that Miss Rarity.”

Note to self, at later date ask about fedoras.

She smiles lightly at my response, “I do appreciate the manners, however, simply Rarity will do just fine.”

I nod my head in acknowledgement as something Pinkie had said registers in my mind.

I turn towards the purple unicorn mare, “Pinkie said your name was Twilight Sparkle correct? Would you be the same Twilight Sparkle of Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns?”

She nods, “Yes I am, though now I run the library here in Ponyville.”

Excellent, I have been looking for some new books to read. I have a feeling I’ll be seeing her within the next few days.

The slightly familiar stetson wearing mare tips her hat at me as she introduces herself, “Ah'm Applejack. Ya’ll met me earlier when ya bought those apples from mah stand, Ah was wondering who ya were then but cause of the line behind ya Ah didn’t get a chance to ask. Ah run Sweet Apple Acres over on the other side of town with the rest of my family, if ya'll ever need apples, feel free to come one by.”

“Thanks again for those apples Applejack, I haven’t had the pleasure of eatin' one yet but I reckon tomorrow I’ll be hooked on em.” I cringe to myself at my slip into her accent, a result of a tendency of mine to mimic the manner of those I am speaking to. While normally I appreciate it as it makes conversation easier, when talking to many ponies at once however, the changing way I speak sometimes raises questions and unfortunately also occasionally causes offense.

To my relief, my inconsistency goes unnoticed as I continue down the line of ponies. I approach the yellow pegasus Pinkie introduced as Fluttershy, noting that she hasn’t said a word this whole time. I keep my voice soft as I ask, “Umm may I ask what you do Fluttershy?”

She hides behind her mane to avoid eye contact as she answers shortly and quietly, “I… I take care of the animals.”

I perk up a bit at this. “Oh are you a vet as well? I didn’t see you at the clinic when I dropped by today.”

She comes out from behind her mane as it looks like something clicks in her head, “Y-you’re a vet? Umm maybe you could come by my house soon? One of my animals is sick and I’m doing all I can but he doesn’t seem to be getting better...” Her eyes widen for a moment before she half retreats back under her mane, "If that's okay."

I offer a reassuring tone, “Certainly, I haven’t started officially working at the clinic yet so I’ll stop by tomorrow, alright?”

She nods but remains in her mane, “Thank you.”

“It’s no problem.”

Wow her name is appropriate, but she seems really easy to get along with. I hope I can help with whatever problem this animal of hers is having.

Just then Pinkie rolls a large cake over while Hydro tags along behind her.

Pinkie looks like she is about to explode from excitement, “Alright since you two are the guests of honor you get the first pieces of cake!”

I look at the cake, it’s a simple two layered rectangular cake with mine and Hydro’s cutie marks on it. Surprisingly, it appears she got the runes correct on mine, well, as correct as one can make frosting squiggles.

Wait we just got here last night and she only saw me a few hours ago, how did she get this good of a look at my mark? I guess it’s like her friends said, it’s just her being her, ok ignoring it then. Cake time!Weird or not, I think I’m gonna like this place.

Chapter 3: Breakfast Conversation

***Day 3, Sunday, morning***

Hmm, to sleep or not to sleep… fairly certain this is the third time I’ve had this conversation this morning and judging by the fact that I can’t remember who won the others I guess it’s time for an intervention before sleep goes three for three.

I open the one eye I have that’s not buried in the mattress and get my bearings. I’m still not quite used to waking up in this room yet, but it’s slowly getting that familiar feel to it. I roll my way out the bed, which when you’re still shaking off probably the biggest sugar-filled blur of your life but is apparently a regular thing in this town, results in face planting on the floor.

Ow. Floor, you were supposed to be the neutral party in this argument, stop siding with sleep! Hmm? What’s that smell…

I make my way downstairs to see one of my top ten most beautiful sites in the morning: breakfast. Scrambled eggs to be exact, with Chef Hydro just taking them off the burner.

He turns to me as I announce my presense with a question, “So what’s the occasion for this?”

He turns back to the eggs, “Simple, I was hungry and it’s not too much work to throw in a few more eggs to make sure you got up.”

I fix myself a plate of eggs along with a glass of milk and sit on one end of the couch, “Well thanks.”

He notices the way I flopped down on the couch, “You alright?”

I blink slowly and yawn, “Yeah, still waking up a bit from that party last night. Oh one thing though, did I hallucinate that gator swimming in the punch you got me because of the sugar or was that real?”

We both munch on the eggs as Hydro swallows before replying, “That was actually all real, turns out he’s Pinkie's pet. I swear he didn’t blink the whole time I was making you drink the punch before I showed you he was swimming in the bowl.”

I put on an unamused tone, “Thanks for that by the way. As for the blinking thing, that’s actually normal for small alligators.”

The earth pony shivers a moment, “Still creepy.”

I shrug and take a drink of milk, “Fair enough, on a different subject though how did the dam go yesterday?”

He begins, “Well, first of all I got the job.”

I turn to him questioningly, “Just like that? What about interviewing, paperwork, and all the other necessary but mind-numbing preambles for a position?”

Hydro simply continues eating, “The interview happened yesterday when I was there, it was just like a normal conversation, as for the paperwork… I had that sent to me back in Canterlot before graduation.”

I chuckle lightly, “Wow, sounds like you basically just showed up and went ‘Alright I’m here, what needs doing?’.”

He nods, “Pretty much, it’s mostly upkeep and improvements to what’s already there but the first thing he’s having me do is check all the turbines for damage from a break in the dam they had a few months back.”

I raise an intrigued eyebrow, “Wouldn’t we have heard if an entire town flooded because of a broken dam?”

My friend shakes his head, “It didn’t get that far, some unicorn repaired the cracks in the wall, but the internal damage stayed the way it was.”

I put a hoof to my chin in thought before returning to my breakfast, “So what you’re saying is the presentation was impressive but the performance itself left a lot to be desired, good thing they hired you then. You have a lot of experience with those situations.”

He reflexively reflects the good-natured jab, “Buck you bro, so how did your trip to the clinic go?”

I pick up my empty plate and work my way into he kitchen as I answer, “Well it’s not official yet, but I’m fairly certain I’m hired. The place is really understaffed, and I mean extremely understaffed. All they have is the receptionist and one vet. They were skeptical at first but once I showed them my credentials you’d think it’s was Hearth’s Warming all over again, frankly I think they were just happy to have another doctor on staff.”

He remarks as he enters the kitchen as well, “Oh yeah, I forgot that you’re now technically Dr. Rhino.”

I slow down for a moment as the thought hits me, “Still not used to that, it’s fine for professionalism and all but in normal conversation it just sounds weird.”

He smirks, “Whatever you say Doc.”

“Please don’t do that. Anyways Dr. Goodall gave me all the paperwork to fill out, then we’ll just discuss hours and I’m all set.”

He nods his approval, “That seems like a pretty good deal to me.”

I glance at the large stack of paper next to my bag, “Oh relatively I guess it is, but filling out the paperwork is like writing a novel.”

His teasing tone makes itself known, “Well I suppose after reading all those books to get this far it’s good for you to start giving back by writing your own.”

I roll my eyes and laugh sarcastically, “Haha, I just hope I can help them with the flow of patients. But if I ever need help with that I suppose I could always ask you for help on dealing with flow.”

“Now look who has jokes. So tell me about this receptionist.”

I sigh to myself, “Seriously? You’re really going there?”

He nods and says in a joking tone, “Cmon new town, new gals, I’ve got to start somewhere.”

I mentally go over my brief time at the clinic and try to recall what happened, “Umm her name’s Manila, she’s got a pale peach coat, and light blue mane…”

His tone betrays his impatience“Come on dude, how hot was she?”

I shake my head in slight exasperation, “I don’t know! I didn’t pay attention to that! Normal I guess.”

My red friend follows me in shaking his head in his own exasperation, “Ugh, see this is why you’ve only had that one marefriend in high school.”

I respond with a neutral tone, “I prefer quality over quantity, besides in this town if I spent my time chasing every mare I’d never have time for anything else with how many there are.”

He concedes, “Alright fair enough.”

“Anything else? It seems to me you’re asking all this because you’re bored till you start working.”

He smiles in a way that says he is not ashamed of his reasons, “You know it, I’ll probably try doing a little tinkering later but I don’t really have anything in mind to work on yet.”

I respond with one of our old jokes, “I’m still waiting on that robot army.”

Hydro waves me off, “I’ll get to it, you wanted laser eyes right?”

Sarcastically, I answer, “No I wanted laser nostrils, of course I wanted laser eyes!”

My sarcasm has no effect, “Didn’t you have to go somewhere today?”

I nod, “Yeah, I’m dropping by Fluttershy’s to check on one of her animals. I should probably get going actually.”

He smirks and lightly punches me in the shoulder, “Getchu some.”

I lightly push back, “Shut up.”

I look around and nod approvingly at the clean kitchen before heading back to the living room. I grab my saddlebag with my magic along with my key and head out along the path Fluttershy told me about.

At least with her living all the way out here by herself I won’t have any trouble with trying to tell her house from all the others. You know I am in a really good mood today. The sun is shining, I had a nice breakfast, I’ve got a good job lined up, I’m going to see a pretty mare… where did that come from? I suppose it’s true but let’s keep that under wraps for now, don’t want to seem creepy. Whatever, I’m in way too good a mood to worry right now. Today is gonna be good. Hey is that Rainbow Dash yelling over there? Looks important.

I trot over to hear the end of what I guess was a public service announcement or something.

“… and that’s why we’re gonna have a little bit of rain this evening, just giving you guys a heads up.” She flies away after saying this.

Rain? Odd, but a little rain never hurt anypony. Today is still gonna be great.

Author's Note

There’s no way the universe is taking that lying down. He asked for it now.

Chapter 4: House Call

***Day 3, Sunday***

Well I guess I’ll just try and avoid the rain if I can, and if I can’t it’s just a little water, nothing to worry myself over.

I fire up Res and start leisurely working my way over to Fluttershy’s.

Hmmm something’s missing… I know! Let’s see what I have in the mental music files to give me a rhythm for the trip. *click*

We’re no strangers to love.
You know the rules, and so do I.

*click* … Alright, mental music files are temporarily corrupted. Backup plan: don’t focus on anything in particular and just enjoy the trip. I’m amazed at how different the scenery is just from going five minutes in a new direction. I’m guessing this must be the park area considering the benches and gentle paths. Wonder why nopony is here? Doesn’t really matter I suppose. I think Fluttershy said her home was about 5-10 minutes away from the far edge of the park... in the other direction...

The trip is uneventful and I eventually see a house upon a hill coming up.

Guessing that’s the place, wow she really went for the natural look didn’t she?

I see plenty of birds flitting in and out of their homes in the area, from my view in front I could also just barely see some burrows on the edge of the stream below the bridge at the base of the hill as well as the edge of a yard out back from which I could hear what sounds like even more animals.

She really wasn’t kidding when she said she takes care of animals was she?

I walk up to the front door. The animals don’t seem to pay me too much more than a casual glance of curiosity when I walk by. I knock three times on the door and settle in to wait for an answer.

Alright, I’m here as a practitioner so I guess it’s time to get my professional attitude on… done, let’s see how I can help.

As I gather myself I hear a soft clop of hooves approach from the other side of the door. The top half of the door cracks open and I see Fluttershy’s eye peek out to check who it is, before opening up when she realizes it’s me.

Security conscious. I can appreciate that, though it seems less necessary here than it was in Canterlot.

I put on my professional voice as I greet her, “Good morning Fluttershy, I’m here about the problem one of your pets was having. Is this a good time?”

She is still half hiding behind her mane as she responds, “O-oh yes, please come in.”

I nod curtly, “Thank you.”

I wipe my hooves on the mat as she opens the door. Her house retains the theme of nature, but with the comforts of a modern home. It provides an interesting balancing act.

She leads me over to a small wriggling blanket on the couch. “He’s right here, though the pains started up again so he’s not feeling well right now. Can you do anything?”

I lift up the blanket to find a small ball of fur I identify as a black squirrel, from the webs connecting its front and back limbs it appears to be a flying squirrel as well. He’s currently curled up in a defensive ball.

Pain appears to be resonating from chest or abdominal region. Before I do anything else, best to see if I can get him some relief, should provide some insight as to where it hurts as well.

One spell they teach you in school is a sort of combination painkiller and nerve scanner spell. It uses magic to sense the areas in the body with most stress on the nerves and once located you can use the magic to produce a “cushion” for those nerves. This dulls the pain down to general discomfort in the area, but requires a constant flow of magic to maintain. On a small being such as this squirrel it shouldn’t drain much magic. I perform the spell and find that the area with the most stimulated nerves is around the stomach and dull them appropriately. The patient’s body eases up a bit as the pain fades.

Fluttershy notices the glow on my horn and the squirrel’s relief. “Was that it? Is he going to be okay?”

I continue looking over the patient as I answer, “It’s nothing life-threatening; however what I’m doing to him right now is a temporary solution. What can you tell me about what he’s been going through?”

She hums thoughtfully, “Oh, umm, well it started a few days ago, at first I thought it was just a tummy ache so I gave him a little soup and it went away, but it keeps coming back.”

I repeat the gist back to her to make sure I got it right, “So it goes away from normal remedies, but it doesn’t stay away?”

She nods her head in affirmation, “Yes.”

I glance around the room as I make a recommendation, “Hmm, do you have any ginger root lying around?”

She tilts her head curiously, “Yes, why?”

I reply simply, “I would like you to grab a piece to let him eat to settle his stomach while I try and find the cause.”

She perks up at having a direct solution to her pet's pain, “Oh, okay.”

She seems relieved that we are getting somewhere with him, I’m glad, I don’t like seeing ponies worry.

Fluttershy returns from the kitchen with a small root of ginger. She approaches the squirrel, who has uncurled a little more by now. She gently talk it into nibbling on the root, after which he seems to like it and grabs it from her and sits there eating the rest of it.

I try to keep her informed as to what I am doing, “Alright, I’ll maintain my spell for about 10 more minutes, by then the ginger should have kicked in.”

We wait that long just watching the squirrel to make sure he ate the ginger. I ask Fluttershy if he has a name but apparently she doesn’t name animals that aren’t hers specifically, and he is one of the ones that she simply takes care of until she finds him a good home.

She asks with hopeful eyes when the time is up, “So is he cured now?”

I nod, “He should be, though we need to find out what keeps the pain coming back. Now, if you would, please tell me about his diet.”

She pets the squirrel lightly as she responds, “It’s nothing special really, he has his own bowl of pre-shelled mix nuts like all my other squirrels do. Each of them has preferences for particular mixes but other than that they are all the same. But he was eating those a long time before this started.”

“Hmmm, can you show me these nuts?”

She nods, “Umm sure, over here.”

She leads me over to a cabinet in what looks like her pantry. She opens the door and I see a number of bowls filled with, what a surprise, nuts.

I gesture to the cabinet at large, “Which one is his?”

She points to one.

Seems like a normal bowl of nuts to me, hmm? What are these flakes?

“Fluttershy," I ask, "do you season any of these nuts?”

She shakes her head quickly, “Oh no, the squirrels like them the way they are, I don’t put anything on them.”

This certainly looks like a spice of some kind… maybe…

I look up and see a few flakes coming from the bottom of a drawer above the bowl.

Ahah! Wait how does she even get up there? Oh right, pegasus.

“What do you keep in that drawer there?” I ask, pointing at the drawer in question.

“Oh that’s where I keep my bag of Tartarus powder. One of my friends recently got a pet phoenix and I heard sprinkling this on their food during the molting stage of their first few rebirths helps them get through them easier by increasing the heat produced by their bodies to keep their metabolisms up near the end of the cycle.”

Impressive knowledge.

I turn to the pegasus, “Would you mind if I took a look at it?”

She motions at me, “Go ahead.”

I start pulling the drawer out with my magic, unfortunately what I figured was just a slight rip in a bag turned out to be that…and a drawer bottom that apparently somehow became disconnected from the rest of the drawer…meaning all I did was pull said bag over what was now a hole…meaning I had time for one last thought…

This is gonna suck…

*sizzle*

…AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! RIGHT IN MY BUCKING EYES! IT FEELS LIKE A FREAKING TORCH IS BEING JAMMED STRAIGHT INTO MY FREAKING EYES! WHAT THE HAY!

Whilst that maelstrom of panic and pain is hooting through my head, on the outside I strain to stay still while I bite my lip to make sure I don’t shout and scare Fluttershy… it’s reeeeeeaaaaally hard. Pretty difficult to try and restrain myself from bashing my face against the wall too because that is looking more and more enticing by the second as the urge to end the pain grows exponentially.

*squelch*

Ok, still in pain but slightly less now… what is this thing on my face? Is this a washcloth? Who-Fluttershy. At least I can think slightly coherent thoughts now. Still blind though.

My voice is strained as I ask, “Fluttershy *twitch* do you have a water hose?”

I hear her respond from in front of me, “Yes I have one out back.”

The pain is still coming in quick waves as I ask, “Can you, ahh, point me towards it please?”

I hear a quiet gasp from where I assume she is, "You’re in no condition to walk around, you can barely see!”

With that statement she grabs my hoof and leads me what feels like outside to the hose.

You know, despite the pain, I could probably get used to this.

Her voice comes from the side of me this time, “What do you need me to do?”

I remove the washcloth with a hoof but keep my eyes closed, “Just… point it at my eyes and let me know when to open them.”

A moment passes before she responds, “Ok, open them.”

*gushing sounds*

Cold! Also up my nose! Whatever! Worth it as long as it washes this damn stuff out my eyes!

I cough a few times as I try to open my eyes again.

It’s a miracle, I can see. Wow, judging by the reflection in that puddle right there, I could give some seriously evil looks right now. Every artery in my eyes is inflamed more than I have ever seen.

Still trying to clear the water out of my nose I cough one more time, “Thanks Fluttershy.”

The blur that sharpens into the form of the mare looks concerned, “Are you sure you’re ok?”

I blink a few times to try and clear my vision, “Eyes are a bit irritated but since I can still see it should be fine. Let’s go back inside and get back to why I’m here shall we?”

We head inside and see the squirrel looking at us with a look that says ‘What was all that about?’ At least he’s feeling better. I give him a once over with magic.

Seems to be in perfect health now. Wait what about all that powder on the floor-

I look up and see Fluttershy finishing cleaning up the bit of powder on the floor.

Wow she works fast. Ok explanation time.

I adopt my professional air again, which I had lost due to extreme pain, and deliver my official diagnosis, “Fluttershy I can, relatively speaking, safely say that your little friend here should be fine from now on.”

Her eyes almost sparkle with glee, “Really?”

I nod, “Yes, you were doing everything right in treating his aches, it appears they were caused by a trickle of that Tartarus powder on his nuts. Being meant for phoenixes, I’m not surprised he reacted so badly to it.”

She smiles brightly, “Oh that’s great news, I was getting really worried about him." Her voice quiets back down quickly as she asks, "Umm how much do I owe you?”

What is she-oh.

I smile gently at her, “I don’t know what you’re talking about Fluttershy, I’m just a friend who came to visit, recommended a food, and accidentally made a mess.” I smile at her.

She giggles in return.

You know that is the most adorable sound I have ever heard, and I don’t think that’s just the adrenalin talking. Well wouldn’t want to overstay my welcome, I can already see the future awkward silence.

I walk towards the door and open it only to see it pouring rain out.

Ok, heavy rain than I expected. Still no big d-

*BOOOOOOM*

Lightning… that could be a problem. Little known fact: out of all the races, unicorns are the most susceptible to lightning. It’s not just the horn thing either, magic that flows in the horn also tends to attract lightning. Spells are like a magnet for it if you’re outside. Hence why I only start to get worried during storms if I'm outside.

Fluttershy appears next to me at the door and looks outside. Guess she snuck up on me, not surprising considering how quiet she is.

She observes the storm and looks at me with astonishment, “You can’t go out in this storm!”

I answer in a confused tone, “I thought Rainbow Dash said they were only going to get 'a little rain'.”

“That’s her way of saying a storm. Anything else she calls a drizzle.”

Great, another mare that needs a translator.

I sigh to myself, “Now how am I supposed to get home?”

Her reply is almost inaudible, “Umm, well, you could stay here for the night. I mean… if you want.”

I cough lightly and turn away from her in embarrassment as I try to politely decline, “W-w-well I mean, I, I wouldn’t want to be a burden and we just met yesterday and-“

Crap, I’m conflicted here! On one hoof I kind of want to stay, but I mean it’s not exactly appropriate and I don’t want to bother her and how bad could it b-

*boom*

Ok, I can take a hint. I think it’s time to stop ignoring the warnings… Ok I guess I’m staying. I hope she’s alright with that.

I speak quietly, still trying not to make eye contact, “I guess I could sleep on the couch or something…”

Her replay surprises me, “I’m sure he would like that.”

I look at her questioningly, “Huh?”

A strange feeling causes me to look down and see my little patient from earlier has been snuggling up to my leg giving me the puppy dog look while I’ve been standing here .

My gaze softens and a smile grows on my muzzle at the display, “Heh, cute.”

“I’ll go grab some blankets.”

She goes upstairs while I go back to the couch with the squirrel bounding behind me.

Still a few hours left in the day, I think I still have that paper work in my bag, guess I can go ahead and get that out of the way.

Fluttershy comes back downstairs with a few blankets and sets them on the arm of the couch while I get out the forms and pull up the coffee table.

“What’s that?” she asks curiously.

I wave a hoof over the mass of paper, “Forms for my employment at the clinic.”

She nods understandingly, “Oh alright, Angel and I are going to go upstairs for the night then.”

I reply with a slightly confused tone, “Angel?”

I look up to see a small white rabbit on her head that looks like he just woke up. He’s giving me a slightly suspicion filled stare. He looks next to me at the squirrel and jumps down in front of him. They make various motions and small animal sounds at each other and Angel seems to be a bit friendlier as he jumps in front of me and holds out a paw.

Guess helping his friend gave me some points in his eyes.

I hold out my hoof and Angel brohoofs me.

Approval gained.

He hops back to Fluttershy who had just been watching this whole time.

She giggles again, “Wow, Angel doesn’t usually like it when strangers come over.”

I let out a small chuckle as well, “I guess I’m not a stranger now.”

She just smiles softly, walks back upstairs, and turns off the hall light. I smile to myself and spend the next 2 hours finishing my paper work. I finish up with a satisfied feeling and a tired yawn and settle down on the couch for the night. Before I fall asleep I feel the squirrel snuggle up against my chest.

Good night little buddy.

Chapter 5: Dam It

***Day 4, morning***

Power sleeping, when you sleep so hard you erase any dreams you may have had because they are scared off by the sheer intensity of your unconsciousness. Time itself skips forward because the thought of you sleeping makes it defy the laws of physics in fear. And ponies that normally can barely get a coherent thought in the morning are prone to making epic sounding speeches in their heads the instant they wake up.

I chuckle at my own thoughts as I open my eyes to see a mysterious ball of fur on my chest. Said mysterious ball proceeds to yawn and reveal that it was in fact the squirrel from yesterday and not mysterious at all other than a curious pattern of white fur on its face stretching in two lines from the bridge of his nose, over his eyes, and to the bases of his ears.

I smile at the little creature, “Well good morning to you too.”

He perks up his ears at my voice and proceeds to jump off my chest so I can roll off the couch without squishing him. I stretch my back a bit, but while I’m doing this I notice the squirrel imitate me by doing the same for his.

Ok getting harder to imagine myself leaving you here. You little manipulator you.

I perk my ears up at the sound of a clink from the kitchen. I walk over to the doorway to see Fluttershy making breakfast, though making might be an overstatement for cereal.

I offer a friendly greeting to her, “Good morning Fluttershy.”

She looks up in surprise, “Oh, good morning Rhino, I thought I heard your hoofsteps in the living room.”

I look at the food, “So you’re having a bit of cereal then?”

Way to point out the obvious there, self.

She backs behind her mane again, “Yes, but umm I could make you something else if you want…”

I wave off her offer, “Fluttershy, it’s fine. I like cereal. It’s a classic, easy to make breakfast.”

Fluttershy and I sit down and enjoy a quiet breakfast. The squirrel simply curls up next to me while I eat. We finish up soon enough and volunteer to wash the dishes. And by volunteer I mean insist because she’s been doing a lot and I am feeling like a bit of a moocher. After I finish washing I decide to speak to Fluttershy about something that I have been rolling around in my head for a bit now.

“Fluttershy?” I begin.

She looks up at me, “Yes?”

I motion to the squirrel, “You said this little guy didn’t have a home correct? Well, what would it take for me to adopt him?” His ears stand straight up at this and I can see him quivering a little.

She positively beams, “You want to adopt him? Oh that’s wonderful! I know he’ll be a wonderful pet. As for what it would take though, really all you have to do is name him.”

Name him huh? Hmmm…

I take a look at his coloring and try a name I think might suit him, “How about… Specter.”

The squirrel explodes with enough energy to give Pinkie Pie a run for her money while he runs between my legs and around the room. He stops exactly in front me and simply looks at me, waiting.

Ok that little performance would have cemented this even if I hadn’t already decided I was going to keep him. Time to make it official.

I lean down to his level.

“Well Specter, looks like you’re coming to live with me.”

Instead of the second wave of energy I expected, he simply climbs up my muzzle and parks himself on my head just above my horn. He fits quite nicely and actually blends in with my mane a little.

I could see myself messing with a few ponies who didn’t know about him.

Fluttershy just stands there with a big smile on her face as Specter gets comfortable.

I turn to face her as I ask, “Anything special I should know about taking care of him?”

She shakes her head while maintaining a small smile, “No, just the normal things: feed him, make sure he gets exercise, and give him love.”

Sounds easy enough.

I roll my eyes up to look at my passenger, “Alright then, I guess I’ll get going then, have to get Specter here settled into his new place.”

“Oh don’t forget this,” She flies into the other room and comes back with a small cushion bed and blanket. I take them from her with magic and put them in my bag.

I nod to her, “Thanks again Fluttershy.”

“It’s no problem,” she opens the door for me, “you two have fun now.”

“Yes ma’am.” I salute while chuckling. As I walk down the path Specter and I turn and give Fluttershy a wave as she closes her door while waving back.

Specter and I start on the road back home, him hanging on my head looking around while I simply zone out a bit as I often do on walks by myself. We approach the house some time later and I walk inside.

I look back up to my new friend, “Alright Specs, why don’t you take a look around while I get something to drink?”

He scampers off to, I assume, explore the house. I grab a glass of milk from the fridge.

Ahh, that’s the stuff. Don’t know why someponies find the need for coffee, this works just as well for me. Wonder where Hydro’s at? Well, we have been here a few days, I suppose he’s working. Hmm not much for me to do today, I should drop off these papers at the clinic but after that… I know! I’ll pay Hydro a surprise visit, maybe have lunch over there.

With this I stand up and rinse out my glass. I’m the only one that uses this particular one so I don’t worry too much about washing it every time. I grab my bags and start heading towards the door.

I call out to the house, “Come on Specter, we’re heading out to see a friend!”

He comes gliding down the stairs and lands neatly on my head with what looks like a smirk on his face.

I remark as I step out the door, “Excellent job sticking the landing.”

I lock the door and head my way into town. I drop off the papers with Manila at the clinic and she tells me to drop by tomorrow to discuss hours and get started working. On my way to the dam I find a peculiar stand that I didn’t see yesterday, it seems to sell peanut butter and jelly. The stallion running it seems nice enough but is maybe a little too enthusiastic about one of his products. I buy a jar of peanut butter and one of strawberry jelly. As I walk away I wonder how much of a craving some ponies in this town have for jelly, after all, why else would he have those pony sized jars behind all the others?

Specter and I make our way over to the dam, me Resing there because turns out the dam is quite a bit of a walk away, and Specs just enjoying the breeze from the trip. I just know he’s gonna glide back down any hill on the return trip too. I find the path leading to the entrance down near the river and walk in to find Hydro pushing machinery into a pile. I look around and see a few other piles to complement the initial one.

I announce my presence with a greeting, “Hey Hydro, how’s work?

His ears perk up at my voice, “Hmm? Oh hey Rhino, didn’t expect to see you here.”

I shrug, “I had nothing else to do so I figured I might as well bring some lunch, maybe hear a little more about what you do here.”

He nods appreciatively, “Thanks for that. So, you didn’t come home last night, take my advice and get you some? Give me the deats.”

He knows damn well nothing happened... although, this does give a time for the perfect comeback.

I reach into my bag with my magic, pull out one particular jar, and ask the all-important question:

“You jelly?”

His jaw drops.

Hah, thank you jelly pony.

Hydro shakes his head after a moment and laughs. “Okay, I gotta admit, that was good.”

I chuckle with him, “Thought that would get you, nothing happened though. I just got caught there by the storm.”

He huffs lightly, “Well that’s boring.”

I ignore his disappointment, “I actually got a little something out of it so I think it was well worth it.”

He tilts his head, “What did you get?”

I look up to my mane, “Say hello Specter.”

Specs pops his head out of my mane and Hydro jumps a little.

Two for two, I’m on a roll.

I gesture back and forth between the two, “Hydro, meet Specter, my new pet flying squirrel.”

He looks over the small rodent, “Wow, that’s really cool. I always knew you were a little nuts.”

Damn, should have seen that one coming. At least it’s out of the way now.

“Touche, so what’s with the piles?”

He points to one pile “That one is all the broken parts and rusted out pipes from that break they had.” He points to another pile which the only difference is my eyes is that it’s slightly shinier than the first pile. “That one is the new turbine blades, generators, and other things of that nature that I have to install.” He points to the last large pile. “I have no clue what this one is, it was here when I got here.”

I see another smaller pile off to the side. “What’s this smaller pile of crap over here?”

His deadpan voice answers, “… Those are my tools.”

“…”

I change the subject, “So when’s you’re lunch break?”

He shrugs, “Pretty much whenever I want, break room’s over there. I’ll meet you in a sec while I finish a few things.”

He’s just adding to the piles isn’t he?

I walk over to the relatively plain break room. Standard stuff really, table, fridge, clock, sink. Only interesting thing is some lights up on the wall that aren’t lit up. I make myself a sandwich while I wait for Hydro. I give Specter a few bits that were mostly peanut butter. When I’m almost done one of the lights start flashing, a yellow one to be precise. No alarm sounds though so I guess it’s probably not that bad. I finish my sandwich and Hydro walks in not really noticing the light.

I gesture to the light, “Umm Hydro, quick question: is that light flashing up there a bad thing?”

He regards the light, “Hmm? I have no idea.”

That… does not inspire confidence.

I respond with a slightly worried tone, “Well, maybe we should see what it means?”

He nods, “Yeah, there’s a list in the control room, follow me.”

We walk over to another room down the hall filled with a plethora of buttons, levers, and screens. Hydro looks over at a list on the wall while I stand here getting more and more anxious. Finally he turns back to me.

I ask quickly, “So, what’s it mean, what’s happening?”

“Oh nothing, it’s just time to pull this lever.” He pulls a rather normal looking lever on the console.

I give him a disbelieving look, “Really? A lever? That’s it?”

He nods, “Yeah, it’s just time to lower the water gates for the day. Take a look.”

I glance at the list, more out of curiosity than anything, when a particular item on the list catches my eye: ‘In case of fire or pressure emergency, water can be vented into main work area by pressing the large green button’

Can it now? Hmm… me thinks some revenge might be needed one day.

I ask, knowing what the answer will probably be, “Hey Hydro mind if I test out this button over here?”

He answers in what sounds like an automatic response, “Don’t touch anything Rhino.”

I keep up the charade of want, “Oh come now, what could happen?” I sidle a little closer to the mystical button.

He rolls his eyes, “Just come on.” He walks out of the room.

I give the button what could be described as an evil look of contemplation as I walk after Hydro.

Someday button, someday you shall be of great use to me, and that day will be glorious!

Hydro and I walk back to the main area with the piles.

He talks to me over his shoulder as he heads back to one of the piles, “Alright dude, I have to get back to work now, thanks for the jelly and stuff.”

“Bring it home with you today once your shift is over.”

He waves back to me, “Can d-“

"HI GUYS!"

We both jump into the air as Pinkie pops out of the tool pile.

What the hay? When did Pinkie get here? How did Pinkie get here? Ugh. Just roll with it, maybe she was hiding.

I just look at her trying not to stare because of my confusion. “Umm hi Pinkie.”

The party pony spouts quickly, “I just wanted to give you your invitations for the party this afternoon!”

She hoofs us two envelopes from the pile of them in the basket on her head.

I raise an eyebrow at her. “Umm Pinkie didn’t we just have a party? How is there another one already?”

She waves me off, “Silly, it’s never too soon for another party. There’s actually another new pony coming into town and since I missed you guys on the first day you came here I’m making sure to be ready for when this stallion gets here today. See you at the party!”

She waves goodbye and disappears down into the pile of tools.

Wait a second.

I go over and spread the tools out a bit so I can see the floor.

There’s nothing here… but-but where did she... how did she… great first she confuses me with her words now her actions do the same. I think I’m just going to have to mentally accept anything that filly does or else I’ll go insane from it all.

Hydro spoke up. “Please tell me there’s a trap door under there I just didn’t notice earlier.”

I look back at him and shake my head.

He looks genuinely scared.

Author's Note

Pinkie physics, we can never figure them out, but the question is do we truly believe we can handle it if we ever do?

Chapter 7: A Normal Day

***Day 5, Tuesday, morning***

*beep beep beep beep beep beep*

*click*

Well, there’s my signal that things are gaining a semblance of normalcy. Why did I even set that thing anyway? It’s my first day on the job but I could have slept in later if it was just that…it was something yellow…Fluttershy? A nice thought, but not the correct one at this time… it was more of a golden yellow…hmm…Oh I remember! This morning, I’m making waffles!

I make my way out of my bed and narrowly avoid running head first into the bookshelf where Specter is sleeping, due to the fact that not exactly stable on my hooves in the first few minutes I’m awake. I make my way down the stairs and dig around for the waffle mix. It's just the usual add water kind, but they're better than frozen at least. I break out the waffle iron and soon the smell of the golden delicacy wakes up the other two occupants of the house. A short time later finds Hydro and I sitting at the table with our waffles with Specter sitting on top of the table next to me.

Hydro looks up from his waffle for a moment, “You know you’re spoiling him right?” He nods in Specter’s direction.

I look over at Specter and his pecan mini waffle I made for him, “I know.”

Hydro rolls his eyes. “So how did you know Blueberry was my favorite waffle?”

I shrug, “Just a guess.”

“Good to see our weird mental link coming in handy.”

“Limited and spontaneous usage but it has never been a bad thing.”

He nods, “True that.”

Not much else of note happens at the house this morning, finish eating, clean dishes, clean self, grab stuff, and go to the clinic. It’s when I get to the clinic that things get interesting.

I walk through the front door and see Manila putting some files away while grabbing a few more. I clear my throat to get her attention.

Her ears stand up at the noise as she looks up sharply, but soon grows a smile on her face, “Oh good morning Doctor!”

I raise an eyebrow at her while maintaining a friendly smile, “Ms. Manila I thought we discussed this? As long as there are no patients around I prefer to keep it casual.”

She giggles, “Oh alright, well then, I ask that you do the same for me then.”

I nod, “Fair enough, now then, is the paperwork in order?”

She pats the stack of papers on the welcome desk, “Yes, I’ll call Dr. Goodall and we can all sit down and discuss the final details of you working here.”

“Excellent.”

Dr. Goodall arrives from the back in short order and she and I exchange greetings while Manila grabs a schedule and clipboard. However, something stops us before we can get down to business.

Dr. Goodall glances toward my bag and freezes for a moment, “Hey, why is your bag moving?”

“Hmm?” I look at my bag and something does indeed seem to be moving inside of it.

I bet I know who that is.

I open my bag and, low and behold, Specter is in there looking up at me. He climbs out and up my foreleg to his spot on my head. Once he gets comfortable I look back at Dr. Goodall and Manila who were just sitting there looking at Specs.

Well, nothing I can do about it now, might as well play it off as casual and hope for the best.

I gesture to the squirrel, “Dr. Goodall, Manila, I’d like you to meet Specter, my pet flying squirrel.”

They simply stare for what seems like ages until Manila makes the first move.

And by first move I mean she exploded. “OH MY GOSH HE’S SO CUTE! Can I hold him please?”

I recoil from her outburst but nod affirmatively, “Alright Manila but be careful.”

Specter looks down at me and he and I have an unspoken discussion about that decision.

‘Do I have to?’

‘You did sneak to work with me, besides she’s nice it won’t be bad.’

Specter climbs down and he and Manila play around a bit while Dr. Goodall and I watch.

I scratch the back of my head with a hoof as I remark to the other doctor, “Sorry about this Dr. Goodall, I didn’t think he’d try to come to work with me, though in hind sight he is very attached to me so I probably should have.”

She simply smiles while watching the two play, “Oh, don’t worry about it, my sister has always loved playing with animals.”

I look at her quizzically, “Manila’s your sister?”

She raises an eyebrow at me, “Didn’t you notice the similarities?”

“I probably would have eventually.” Unless I’m looking for it normally it tends to take me a while to recognize these things.

We watch for about five more minutes until we remember what we were doing before Specter was introduced. We then call Manila back over and Specter perches himself back on my head to watch. We talk at length about hours and eventually decide that since there were two of us now we could afford to work shorter shifts with me working the morning shift until a little after noon, Dr. Goodall coming in around noon and staying for the evening shift, and Manila arriving at around midmorning and staying till about midevening. Apparently this was better for everypony as we could work shorter shifts while actually extending business hours and having two doctors during the noon overlap when most patients tended to come in. It’s true Dr. Goodall and I would have to run the place ourselves in the early morning or late evening respectively, but Manila said ponies rarely come in then anyway. Then comes a last bit of surprise business from Dr. Goodall.

She looks at me seriously, “Now Rhino, about Specter…”

Uh oh.

“I would like it if you would bring him to work with you.”

What?

My eyes widen in surprise, “Really?”

She smiles at my expression, “Don’t look so surprised, he's quite the well behaved one and the clinic could always use a mascot for our image. That, and he seems like the type of critter that would find ways to tag along with you to work whether he has permission or not.”

All incredibly valid points… that and I’m the kind of pony who probably wouldn’t even get mad at him for tagging along since I’ve already got a soft spot for him… Wow, I’m a bit of a pushover about some things aren’t I? At least I stand my ground for the serious stuff.

I look up at Specter who seems to be paying more attention since he heard his name. “Well Specter what do you think? Want to keep me company here at work?”

In response he simply jumped from my head to Dr. Goodall’s to Manila’s and back to mine.

I continue looking at him with a straight face, “I’ll take that as a yes.”

We spend a few more minutes finalizing the details before Dr. Goodall heads home until she needs to come back in later in the day. Manila proceeds to give me a tour, Specter running up and down my back the whole time. Once that’s done I put on the classic white coat and settle in for my shift while Specter heads up front with Manila to fulfill his new duties as mascot.

That’s what they want me to think anyway, I know those two just want to play.

The shift goes by fairly fast, a few flea medicine refills, and the classic stomach upset by sugar. Some ponies just forget sometimes that pets can’t stand as many sweets as we can. Dr. Goodall comes back at noon, I get a chuckle out of her by calling her ma’am, followed by a short little speech from her explaining how no pony is technically the boss here so calling her ma’am only makes her feel old. A short time and two daisy-and-tomato sandwiches for lunch later and my first day on the job is a success.

As I walk out the door with Specter in his usual spot I see two familiar unicorns headed my way, Rarity and Voltage Surge to be exact, though Volt seems to just be tagging along while Rarity has that “mare on a mission” look.

The white mare hails me as soon as she spots me, “Rhino, there you are darling!”

I tilt my head slightly in greeting, “Hello Rarity, were you coming the clinic?”

“In a manner of speaking, I heard from Mr. Surge that you worked here and I came to ask if you and he could retrieve Hydro from the dam and then if you could all come meet me at Carousel Boutique.” She points to an elegant building at the end of the street.

I nod, “Certainly Rarity, but might I ask why the sudden invitation?”

She gives a ladylike giggle, “Why that would ruin the surprise! Suffice to say I had a fabulous idea and it requires all of you to be present.”

I accept that answer, “Very well, I look forward to seeing what you have in store.”

“Ta-taa for now then.” She trots back towards the boutique.

Volt and I simply look at each other, shrug, then head out towards the dam with me leading the way as Volt has not been there yet. I decide to break the silence as we trot.

“So, any thoughts as to why she’s so excited?”

Volt answers with a casual air, “I have no idea, she caught me as I was coming back from the mayor’s office after discussing Ponyville’s electrical system. She pretty much rushed me then asked if I knew where you worked. You can guess the rest.”

I suppose I never specifically told Rarity where I work, still she seemed to manage alright.

Volt and I make our way to the dam just chatting while I’m fairly certain Specter fell asleep on my head. I slowly get more comfortable with Volt, he seems like a nice guy and fairly laid back, though he is a bit talkative when he gets on a topic he knows a lot about. We arrive at the entrance to the dam and Volt proceeds to knock, wait 2 seconds, then kick open the door, startling Hydro who was working on something, causing a bolt to ping off and fly towards us. Volt ducks, and I catch it with my magic which he could have probably done too if he had thought of it.

Wish I would have known he was going to try that, I would have warned him against it seeing as kicking down the door to somepony’s work is generally considered rude and, in this case with all the machinery around, stupid and dangerous.

Some irritated words by Hydro, followed by some apologetic ones from Volt, and we were able to explain why we were there. Well, I explained while Volt was observing the aspects of the dam and Hydro was watching him mumbling forebodingly. Hydro finishes up a few essentials and all of us set off.

A brisk walk later finds us all arriving at the apparently famous Carousel Boutique.

Certainly lives up to its namesake I suppose.

We walk in to see Rarity sipping tea while reading a fashion magazine, waiting for us I would guess. She looks up as she hears the door and her eyes light up as we come in and take a look around.

She smiles at the sight of us, “Wonderful! You’re all here.”

Curious, I decide to ask the question on our minds, “So what’s this about Rarity?”

She sets her magazine down as she walks over to us, “Well, seeing as you three gentlecolts are new in town, I thought I’d give each of you a gift of your choice to be custom made by me, no charge.”

Generous.

She continues, “Seeing as you are from out of town though, if anypony from Ponyville or otherwise asks you where you received your new ensembles, be sure to point them my direction alright darlings?”

Generous but business savvy, I’m okay with this.

“Sounds like a win for everypony.” I respond.

“I’ve got nothing against free.” Hydro seems to like it as well.

“Awesome.” Volt agrees too.

Rarity levitates a pair of red glasses onto her face as well as bringing over a few large sheets of planning paper, “Glad to see all of you so agreeable, now the question is, what does each of you want?”

Well, I did say I was going to come here for this anyway…

I pose a question, “Do you do hats Rarity?”

She nods, “I certainly do.”

“Well then, I would like a fedora if that’s alright.”

Hydro thinks for a moment, “I’d like a Stetson like Applejack’s except black.”

Volt looks at us, “So we’re going hats then? Ok, I want a fez!”

…Really?

Rarity looks at Volt with a skeptical face, “A…fez? Are you sure?”

He nods his head eagerly, “Of course! Fezzes are cool.”

Her hesitation is only momentary as she begins to sketch something on her sheets, “Very well, let me get a quick head measurement for each of you and they shall be done momentarily.”

She measures Volt and Hydro, though when she gets to me she receives a bit of a scare when her tape measure wakes up Specter, whom she hasn’t met yet.

“Oh my apologies Rarity, this is Specter,” I said, gesturing at the squirrel in question.

She looks at him a little worriedly, “Oh… umm… well I certainly did not expect something like him to be in your mane. I just hope he and Opal get along.”

“Opal?”

She explains, “Opalessence, my cat. She mostly keeps to herself but she can be a bit… mean spirited to some… and tends to come in right as I’m finishing one of my projects but ignores me afterwards.”

Sounds like your typical full-of-themselves cat. I suppose the whole feline and rodent thing may cause problems but I’ll make sure it won’t go too bad.

She holds up a hoof, “For example let me put the last few feathers on this headdress here.”

She was starting work on what I would assume to be our hats in the time we were talking so that fact that she simply picks up another project to finish simultaneously says wonders about her multitasking skills. Sure enough though, as soon as she starts working on one of those huge feathery hats some mares seem so fond of, a white Persian cat walks in and starts pawing at Rarity for attention.

I lean down toward it, “I take it you’re Opalessence then?”

The cat gives me a flat stare, “Meow”

I continue speaking to it, “Well now Opal, why don’t you come over here with us so Rarity can finish her little project?”

Opal gave me a look that clearly said ‘Because I don’t want to.’

“Now, now Opal this isn’t about you, this is about Rarity’s giant hat.”

Another look, ‘This better be worth my time’

Rarity looks over at us while Opal is walking our way, “Thank you darling, the hats should be finished in a moment now.”

“Take your time.” I reply as Opal winds her way around mine and Hydro’s legs. She hisses and takes a few swipes in Volts direction, so I guess he doesn’t make the cut.

Things get tense for a moment when Specter climbs down to my back to see what this new furry thing around my legs was. Opal just glares at him for a moment before slowly showing her teeth.

Okay I’m stopping this before it goes any further.

I turn to Opal and give her one of my serious glares, essentially saying ‘You will do nothing to harm him, or else.’ I figure she might put up a little resistance but she backs off and simply looks away from Specs.

I guess she’s not too used to ponies actually bothering to look her in the eye and tell her what’s what with no room for interpretation.

We sit around a few more minutes, Opal mostly hanging around Hydro but coming over to me a few times as well. The few times Volt tries to play with Opal almost earn him a nose to match his ear. Finally we hear Rarity call us over to see the finished work.

All of us love them.

Volt puts on his fez, a traditional red one with golden tassel, and goes to the mirror.

Still wondering about his taste in headwear but to each his own, maybe it’s an acquired taste.

Hydro flips on the black Stetson and loves it.

It really does seem to suit him, though the mental image of him working in that still brings a chuckle.

Finally I don my new black fedora with red ribbon just above the brim.

Wow, I look good, this will probably match my suit at home too now that I think about it.

I turn to Specter, “What do you think buddy?”

Specter gives me a thumbs up. Though I notice Rarity looking at him in the corner of my eye.

She speaks slowly, as if she is doing some serious thinking, “Rhino, might I have that hat back a moment?”

“Uh, sure Rarity,” I levitate it over to her while goes back to her work area.

Huh, wonder what that was about.

I look back at the other two who are still looking in the mirrors, Opal had wandered off. After about 30 seconds Rarity comes back in with a smile on her face.

“Here you are darling,” She levitates the fedora onto my head, “And here’s a little something for you Specter,” she levitates a mini version of my fedora onto Specter. “There, you all look marvelous!”

I straighten my hat with my magic, “Thank you Rarity, you do amazing work you know that?”

“Oh you,” She waves a hoof.

I look back at Specter in his new hat, he seems to like it a lot, he holds his head higher and everything.

Fedoras, now approved by squirrels.

I tip my hat to the unicorn mare, “Alright Rarity I guess we’ll be going then, it was very nice talking to you and thanks for the gifts!”

We all head out the door and start walking away from the boutique wearing our new duds.

Hmm… I have an idea. Time for one of my rare spur of the moment things.

I remark to the others, “Hey guys I have an idea…”

Hydro gets a quip in, “Thanks for letting us know, now mind telling us what it is?”

I roll my eyes at him, “How about you two head back to the house, I’ll go grab some things, and tonight I treat you to my famous lasagna?”

Volt looks at Hydro, “Is it really that good?”

Hydro gives him a flat stare, “If it was a dessert you would give up pie for life to eat it.”

“Woah.”

Aww shucks, thanks Hydro.

I split off from the two and start up Res, with a little extra on the inside of my hat to keep it from blowing off. I head into town and pick up a few extra tomatoes, some noodles, and some spices I had neglected to get the other day because I was worried more about quick meals than cooking.

I arrive home and find Hydro and Volt discussing possible ways to improve the town’s hydroelectric system with each of them contributing their own expertise, meaning Hydro talks about ways to produce the energy and Volt talks about how to apply it. Specter headed up to bed. About two hours later sees us all eating my lasagna, and loving every second of it. Volt actually acknowledges that if it were a dessert the lasagna would be damn close to making him give up pie, but not quite. We talk a bit afterwards, Hydro somehow recruiting Volt into grilling me about Fluttershy leading to a red face on my part and falling off chairs laughing on theirs. Later, Volt heads back to his apartment and I settle down in bed to read a little before sleep while Hydro goes to fiddle with some machinery on his workbench.

And all is right with the world. Then Specter farts himself awake and totally breaks the mood.

Chapter 8: Down on the Farm

***Day 6, just after noon***

Well nothing really exciting so far today, only thing really notable so far is that I finished the book I brought to the clinic for when we get down time so I had some time to talk a little more to Manila about the overall business aspect of the clinic. I talked to her about it due to a little idea that’s been nagging at the back of my mind but I’m still working out the details. Still find it funny how she’s Dr. Goodall’s sister, though the more I think about it they are fairly similar in color and speech, Manila’s a bit perkier though… Mane and Manila Goodall… never knew why some parents decide to stick their children with the same last name while some don’t give last names at all; maybe they think it promotes family ties or something. Ah well, time to start wrapping up here I guess.

I start grabbing all my belongings with the addition of a stethoscope Manila gave me.

Still not sure why Manila gave this to me, though I would guess it’s an inside joke or initiation judging by how much giggling she and Mane did when I mentioned it. The only thing I’ve noticed about it is that this is one of those scopes that seems to ALWAYS be cold when you use it. Maybe it has some kind of cooling spell on it… probably not seeing as both Mane and Manila are earth ponies but if it is true… I wonder if I could use this as some sort of cold version of a joy buzzer… I should run this by Pinkie when I see her next, she’ll probably love this idea! Probably test it on Hydro first.

While I ramble on in my head, I finish packing up and head out front to pick up Specter and say my goodbyes to the mares. I find Specter on the desk sleeping with his fedora over his eyes; it doesn’t take up much space so I just keep it in my bag so he can get it when he wants it. I wake him up and wave to Manila and Mane as I walk out the door while Specs glides onto my back and crawls up to his usual spot. As I walk out the door, today I am hailed by a familiar yellow pegasus conversing to another one I don’t know yet who is grey with a blonde mane and golden eyes.

First unicorns yesterday then pegasi today, wonder if tomorrow I’ll meet earth ponies after work…

The grey mare's wings keep shuffling as if eager to take off, “Well, thanks for finding it for me Fluttershy, I gotta get it delivered ASAP!”

The shy mare smiles, “It was no trouble, I’m just glad I was able to help.”

The blonde maned pegasus nods happily and flies off as I walk up to Fluttershy.

“So who was that?” I say as I look up after the flying pegasus.

Fluttershy continues watching the grey mare depart, “Oh that was Ditzy Doo, the mailmare, she accidentally mixed in a letter for some other pony in my mail this morning, so I brought it with me so I could return it.”

I nod understandingly, “That was very nice of you, and this little incident does explain why I haven’t seen the mailpony yet, not used to having to look up for them. So why did you wave me over, not that I’m complaining, just curious.”

“Oh, well,” she looks down for a moment, “I was on my way over to Applejack’s to see about her dog Winona and I was wondering if… maybe…” she trails off after this.

I think I see where she’s going with this… maybe just a little teasing though, the blush is too cute to pass up sometimes.

I raise an eyebrow at her, “Fluttershy, where you going to asking me to come with you?”

She blushes and looks down, “Well, I mean… if that’s alright.”

Cute, alright, enough teasing.

I smile, “Of course it’s alright." I gesture forward with a hoof, "Shall we then?”

She nods and we head out, her blush still a little present but slowly fading. We walk by Sugarcube Corner and through the plaza on our way out of town, not saying much just walking along. It’s only as we cross the bridge to head along the path past the acres that Fluttershy actually breaks the silence.

Her quiet voice not so much breaks the silence as gently coaxes it away, “So, umm, how’s Specter been doing?”

“Hmm, Specter how would you say you’re doing?” I ask as I look up at him.

Fluttershy smiles a bit as Specs jumps over and rubs against the back of her neck then jumps back to me. She gets a confused look on her face as after a moment. “Umm, what’s that on his head?”

I look back to see he has his hat on again. “Oh that’s a little something Rarity made for him, she originally made one for me then once she met him she made him one to match.”

She giggles, “Hmm, I wonder if I could convince Rarity to make more pet clothes…” She looks up thoughtfully for a moment as she says this.

I know she means well, but I got a little bit of a shiver when she said that. I foresee a sailor suit Angel.

Fluttershy and I continue down the long path past the seemingly endless sea of apple trees. I’m fairly certain I’m going to dream of apples tonight if this continues. We eventually see a large farmhouse/barn in the distance. We arrive at the door and Fluttershy knocks… after a few minutes I knock for her then step back since her knocks barely register if you’re not listening for them. A few moments later a familiar Stetson wearing mare answers the door.

Applejack smiles at her friend, “Howdy Fluttershy! Oh, ya brought Rhino too?”

The shy pegasus nods, “Yes, I thought he might be able to help. Umm, if that's okay.”

I try to explain my presence, “I’m just here as a second opinion, Fluttershy is the one you called so she’ll be takin’ the lead.”

Accent kicking in again, fine by me, ahm interested in seein what Fluttershy can do.

The cowpony walks back into the house and beckons us to follow, “Ya’ll come on in, Ah’ve got Winona in the main room here.”

Applejack escorts us through the house to the “main room” where I see a collie I assume is Winona laying down in the middle of the floor with a small yellow filly with a red mane and pink bow petting her. Frankly the dog seems fine to me but looks can be deceiving. I stay back as Fluttershy approaches the dog who continues to wag her tail through the checkup. As Fluttershy works she also asks a few questions.

The animal pony continues to work as she asks, “Has she been acting different lately?”

Applejack shakes her head, “Not much but a few things here n' there, she’s eatin’ less, gets tired mighty quick now too. It’s nothin’ too bad, just seems a might odd.”

Fluttershy gets up from Winona and Applejack approaches her, “So? Is there something wrong with her?”

“Well, I think I know what is going on with her but umm…” Fluttershy looks over to me, “I would like a second opinion.” She smiles a bit.

Ah can already tell Ah am going to be hard pressed to ever resist that smile.

I walk over to Winona and she just wags her tail a little faster as I pet her a moment while I cast the nerve scanning spell and do an all over scan.

Hmm… nothin' seems wrong- hello what do we have here? Well, didn’t expect that but at least I definitely know what’s up now.

I have a smile on my face as I walk over to Fluttershy and Applejack, the latter of whom seems to be getting a bit impatient as she asks, “Well, are ya gonna tell me what’s wrong with her?”

I try to calm the farm pony, “Sorry Applejack, ah believe Fluttershy deserves the honor of deliverin’ this news.” I look over at Fluttershy who hasn’t stopped smiling yet.

She takes a breath, “Applejack you’ll be happy to know there’s nothing wrong with Winona… she’s pregnant.” Fluttershy is positively beaming at the end of that sentence.

The entire room goes silent while that news sinks in.

Applejack seems a little stunned. “Wha..how..er… how far along is she?”

Fluttershy gives her opinion, “Oh not long, these symptoms start fairly early.”

I put in my two bits, “Judgin’ by the puppies heart development, ah figure it happened round a week ago.”

Applejack just stood there a moment when the little filly decides to speak for the first time since we arrived here, “Applejack can I talk now?”

The still stunned stetson pony nods absentmindedly, “Go ahead Applebloom.”

This is going to be bad isn’t it?

The little one takes a deep breath and… “Puppies! Winona’s gonna have puppies! Do you think they’ll be here soon? How many do you think she’ll have? We’re gonna have puppies runnin’ all over the farm! Oh Applejack can we keep one, please please please please please, pleeeeeeaaaaaase?”

Pinkie would be proud.

Fluttershy and I had stepped back a bit when Applebloom had taken her breath before that little… rant. Good thing too.

The filly starts up again, a little less this time, but still more than I would think somepony her size could, “Hey mister what’s your name, what was that spell you cast on Winona, how are you almost as tall as Big Macintosh, why do you talk like us, are you Fluttershy’s coltfriend?”

“Applebloom!” Applejack seems to be getting riled up by the constant flow of words, at least it gives me a second to breathe.

Fluttershy and I are pretty much beat red at that last question as I try to stutter an answer, “Umm, it … we… er.”

I don’t know how to answer that last question! I mean it’s not like I haven’t thought about it but we’re not there yet but if I say the wrong thing I might be screwing myself over for the future but I don’t want to lie and say we are – GAH!

*knock knock knock*

Thank Celestia! A distraction! Quick grab onto it and hang on for dear life!

“Oh, that must be the rest of the Crusaders!” Applebloom says as she walks to answer the door.

Who are the Crusaders? And why does Applejack look really worried all of the sudden?

Chapter 9: The CMC

***Day 6, midafternoon***

Applebloom walks back into the room accompanied by a white unicorn filly with a half pink half purple mane and an orange pegasus filly with a pinkish-purple mane, fuchsia I think. Applebloom leads the other two to Winona while telling them about what happened.

“…and then Fluttershy and the green colt said Winona was gonna have puppies!”

“PUPPIES!?!” The other two shout simultaneously.

The three fillies walk over to Winona and pet her while all talking at once so I couldn’t really understand what they were saying. Think of it like a constant high-pitched jabbering sound with the occasional squeal of delight.

Ok, cute as that is… not sure what to do in this situation. Strangely enough, Fluttershy seems a bit less apprehensive than Applejack, did not see that coming. Wait they stopped talking…and are looking at me… and why are Applejack and Fluttershy just standing there with smiles on their faces… I'm getting a bad feeling about this...

The three fillies advance as one with very worrying looks on their faces. They slowed down a moment before shouting, “CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS MYSTERY PONY CATCHERS YAY!!!”

Ow, a bit loud. What do they mean by- uh oh. Well, I’m not gonna make it easy for them.

I glance upwards at my mane, “Hey Specs a little help here?” Specs looks down at the approaching fillies for a moment before diving into my bag and coming out a few moments later carrying the stethoscope with the “shield,” as I call the metal end, held in one hand using it as, coincidentally enough, a shield. He takes a defensive posture in front of me and narrows his eyes at the fillies.

And now I make my escape!

I start to make my way to the door when I realize something and turn to Applejack, “Applejack, would ya mind if I left my saddlebag here by the door till me and the girls there get back?”

She nods, “Feel free, better hurry though, Ah don’t think that squirrel a yers is gonna hold em off fer long.”

A high pitched voice comes from the other room, “AHH! Why's it so cold?!”

I set my bag down and look over at the Crusaders and Specter.

She’s got a point, even with the Legendary Stethoscope of Frost, Specter is still outnumbered by three fillies each of whom are bigger than him. Just hold them off for 30 seconds little buddy.

I walk out the door and stop about 30 hooves from the door and take a look around to get an idea of what I’ll be dealing with. Just as I finish my inspection the three fillies burst out the door and onto the porch pausing for a moment to lock onto where I am. Fluttershy and Applejack follow them with Specter on Fluttershy’s head looking like he’s proud of how long he lasted against such odds. I focus back on the three fillies who look ready to charge.

I give them a playful smile, “Well girls, I congratulate you on getting past Specter but the question is: do you think you have what it takes to catch me?”

What can I say? Kids are fun.

I power on Res to get ready for the chase. The familiar slight floating sensation covers my hooves just as the orange filly points at me.

“Get him girls.”

Cue the chase music!

And the chase is on. I move backwards and shift my weight to rotate around as the fillies start running at me. I make my way through the orchards at a steady pace making sure the fillies never fall behind. I have to give them a chance otherwise it’s no fun for anypony. We work our way through the apple orchards with me always keeping the barn in sight so I don’t get lost, which is a distinct possibility because all these trees look the same! Eventually the three start splitting up to try and cut me off, their attempts get closer but not close enough. I skate past the barn a few times, after one of which the orange filly comes around on a scooter which drastically increases her speed. She starts letting the other two herd me while she makes high speed runs at me, meaning I have to dodge now. This goes on for about ten minutes until the scooter riding filly circles around in front of me as we near the barn again. The other two are behind me and split up to surround me. I back up against a nearby tree as they close in.

They’re better than I thought… let’s see them counter this!

Just as it looks like they’re ready to pounce on me I mentally alter Res and start walking backwards up the tree I backed into until I’m up in the leafy branches looking down at the group. They all have their mouths open, looks like they weren’t expecting that. The white one gets an indignant look on her face for a split second.

“Oh, come on!” She exclaims while gesturing at me with one hoof.

I chuckle at the look on her face while they all sit there looking up at me for a minute. They give me one last look as they walk around the barn.

Looks like I win.

I climb down the tree and walk back towards the door to the house to get my stuff and see what Fluttershy and Applejack were up to this whole time. I see them sitting on the porch and start making a beeline towards them.

I hope those fillies aren’t too sore about me getting away from them, maybe I’ll let them win next time-OOF!

*thump*

(Stop the music)

I get blindsided by the very fillies I was thinking of and end up lying on my side on the ground while they’re all standing on my body with triumphant looks on their faces. I put on my dramatic defeat face.

“I have been caught! I submit to you and your superior tactics! You win.”

“Yeah!” The three fillies simultaneously exclaim as they high hoof.

“Alright you three, you caught ‘im let ‘im up now.” Applejack says as she and Fluttershy walk over to our pony pile.

I wave off the farm pony's request, “Believe it or not I’m actually quite comfy right here." I look up to the victors, "So then my little wranglers, what will ya do now that ya caught me?”

Applebloom answers while scratching the back of her head with a hoof, “Well, ummm, Ah don’t know, what do ya do once you catch a pony?”

The white one and the orange one just shrug.

I offer a suggestion, “Might I go ahead and ask something while you three are decidin’? I figured out Applebloom’s name but would ya mind tellin me yours?” I nod at the two ones I don't know yet.

The pegasus filly proudly answers, “I’m Scootaloo.”

The little unicorn goes next, “And I’m Sweetie Belle.”

Applebloom pops into the conversation again. “She’s Rarity’s sister.”

I nod at the information.

Applebloom puts a hoof to her chin in thought, “Huh, ya know now that Ah think about it ya never did answer any of mah questions.”

I shift slightly to remain comfortable in the dirt, “Well Ah’ll tell you what, as a prize fer catchin’ me, how bout I do my darndest to answer any questions you have?”

Applejack buts in, “Ah got one!”

I shake my head at her, “Now now, I’m only answerin questions from these three right now.”

Applejack walks over to Applebloom and whispers into her ear. Good old loopholes. Bloom turns back to me, “How come ya keep changin’ the way ya talk? Ya talk like me and Applejack most of the time but Ah heard ya talk like everypony else in town a few times too.”

I shrug, “Just a quirk of mine, Ah tend to talk with the accent of whoever Ah’m talkin to, it takes a sec to kick in and it also tends to linger but Ah don’t mean nothing by it. Over time it’ll probably get less noticeable but it’ll still be there.”

The Apple filly hums, “Hmm, ok, oh what’s yer name?”

I do a slight wave with a hoof, “Rhino, at your service, Ah’m a doctor down at the veterinary clinic in town.”

She nods in confirmation, “Guess that’s how ya knew what was makin Winona act all weird. Alright one last question, how are you so tall? Ya’ll are just about as tall as mah brother and he’s one of the biggest stallions in Ponyville.”

I shrug again, “Just ended up that way, Ah’m taller than both mah parents so Ah’d guess somepony back in mah family was tall and Ah just got the luck of the draw.”

Sweetie Belle spoke up, “Oh I have a question! How did you do that skating spell and that other one you used to walk up the tree?”

I answer while getting back to my normal way of speaking, “Well actually they’re the same spell, it’s actually a little something I made myself I call Res for short.”

She tilts her head with a curious expression, “What’s it short for?”

“Resistance Entropy System.”

She blinks and stays silent a moment before responding, “…I’m going to stick with Res. But hey, you think maybe I could ask you a little more about it, like tomorrow or something?”

I ponder this before answering, “I was thinking about going to the library after work tomorrow, so you could always meet me there after school.”

“Okay!”

She seems really excited, it’s sweet but I feel there’s going to be something else she’s going to ask as well.

I turn my eyes towards the horizon, “Well the sun’s starting to go down so I guess Fluttershy and I should start heading in the direction of town. You girls feel like joining us?”

Scootaloo answers, “Yeah sure-woah!”

At “sure” I levitated the three fillies off me and stood back up, setting Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo on my back and Applebloom next to Applejack as quickly as I could. It’s generally considered bad manners to levitate somepony without their permission for an extended period of time. I grab the scooter and my bag with my magic as we walk closer to the house. The girls say goodbye to each other while Fluttershy tells Applejack that we’ll be stopping by again in a month to check on Winona.

The walk back was fairly uneventful, Scootaloo apparently decided she had questions though mostly they were about how fast I could go using Res. When I tell her that I could probably go pretty fast if I tried she seemed excited, but when I told her if I really needed to save that much time I’d just do a series of Blinks there she got all disappointed and I heard her grumble to herself that teleporting was cheating or something. Anyway, Fluttershy and I got the girls dropped off at their respective dwellings and we enjoyed some friendly banter as I escorted her home. The rest of the evening went by without a hitch, barring a few small explosions from Hydro’s room but you get used to those.

***Meanwhile, in Cloudsdale***

The silence of a weather factory is shattered by raised voices behind closed doors.

"Gone?! What do you mean it's gone?!"

"Just what I said sir, it appears to have forced it way through the wall, taking most of the wall with it."

"How? The only way it should be able to move is if somepony moved it."

"That's the thing sir, nopony has been near that room since we put it in there... we think it escaped on it's own."

"It can think for itself now... Celestia help us..."

Author's Note

Wow there was a lot of accent action in this chapter, my brain keeps switching on me now so I have got to go read something where Applejack doesn’t talk much or something. As always, comments are encouraged.

Chapter 10: Magic

***Day 7, just after noon***

Man I needed this trip to the library, side project or not I get bored if I don’t have something to do and at work the options are very limited. Though, thanks to that little incident where Specter was sparring with Manila with the stethoscope I’m fairly certain of what I want to get him as a costume for Nightmare Night once it comes around. All hail the squirrel knight, wonder if he’ll make himself a fortress at the house while I’m out...

I chuckle as I walk my way over to the treehouse/library, an impressive feat for those two to even be considered to be the same entity. I knock on the door since it is technically Twilight’s house. Of course, one doesn’t usually expect small bipedal reptiles to answer doors, but rumors had been going around Canterlot while I was in school about Twilight’s assistant so it wasn’t as much of a shock as it could have been.

The little reptile looks at me with a bored face, “Hey, can I help you?”

I nod, “Um, yes, I was wondering if I could browse for some books.”

“Come on in, and for future reference, you don’t need to knock if you come for the library.” He says as he opens the door and goes back up the stairs.

I walk in to see a familiar librarian reading a book, imagine that, and taking some notes over at a desk.

The tales of her studiousness appear to not have been exaggerated. Must be a dream for her to live in a library of her own. She doesn’t seem to be too into her book so I would assume I can let her know I’m here without startling her.

I keep my voice low so I don't surprise her, “Twilight?”

She looks up, “Hmm? Oh, hello Rhino. What brings you here?”

I gesture towards the bookshelves with my head, “I was hoping to check out some books and was wondering if you had a basic directory for where the different book types are.”

She rattles off the different types and genres of books like it was ingrained into her head… Does she sort these herself or does she just read them that much? I suppose both are possible. I thank her and work my way to the fiction section since I don’t have any particular subjects interesting me in non-fiction at the moment.

I spend the next hour browsing through the books, coming away with a very good hall of novels such as Bastion, Chrono Trigger, and the Fable trilogy. I ask Twilight what I need to do to check these out and she just asks me to walk over to the large official looking desk near the wall. She takes the books from me and writes down my name and the books on what look like three separate checklists.

A little overkill on redundancy there Twilight.

Sweetie Belle walks in about a minute later after Twilight has gone back to… whatever it was she was doing, the girl’s focused I’ll give her that. Sweetie Belle looks around to see if anypony else is around before she motions me to the other side of the room from Twilight. As we got there I lay myself down on the floor to get comfortable as Sweetie does the same about five hooves in front of me facing me.

I let a moment of silence pass before asking the big question, “So, Sweetie Belle, you said yesterday you wanted to ask me something about my Res spell?” Though I wonder why she couldn’t ask this in front of her friends.

The little unicorn scuffs her hoof against the floor and drags it in small circles avoiding eye contact, “Well, actually… it’s kind of embarrassing but, I mean, I’ve asked other ponies but they haven’t helped much… and you seemed nice and I thought maybe you could help.”

Beating around the bush a bit. “I’d be happy to help, but first you need to tell me what you need help with.”

She takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly, “I need help… with my magic.”

I take a moment to process this, “Ah, you said you’ve asked other ponies?”

She nods, “I asked Miss Cherilee but she said she didn’t know much about using magic only the basics that she had to teach students, Rarity tried to help but I don’t think her magic and mine work exactly the same plus she kept referencing to sewing and fashion and that just confused me. I tried asking Twilight too but she gave me a stack of books, none of which really made sense or helped.” She’s looking down and twirling her hoof in a circle on the ground again as she finishes talking.

Sounds like all these attempts are starting to get to her.

I wait for her to make eye contact before I ask, “So why me?”

“Well, you’re nice, you’re a unicorn, and when you said you made Res on your own I thought that might mean you know a lot about magic. I understand if you don’t want to.”

Heh, reminds me of giving advice to my little unicorn cousins back home whenever they were first starting to use their magic. Oh did they get into some trouble… still convinced that tree they made walk off didn’t get put back exactly where it was originally.

I smile reassuringly at her, “I’d be honored to help you out Sweetie Belle, but be sure to tell Rarity so she doesn’t get worried or anything.”

She perks right up, “Ok! Umm so what do we do first? I told the girls I’d meet them at the clubhouse later so I’ve got a little time right now.”

I cast an appraising eye, “Hmm, well, what spells can you do so far?”

She's back to looking down again, “To be honest, the only thing I can really do right now is shoot a few sparks out if I really concentrate.”

I nod, “Alright, let’s just start from the beginning then.”

I tell Sweetie Belle about how the different pony races sense the world around them best. I had talks with Hydro about this before and he had explained to me that earth ponies can sense things through their hooves that the other races couldn’t, the same goes for pegasi and their wings, and for unicorns, we sense with our horns. Most ponies simply do this sensing on a subconscious level, or only when meditating or in similar states of quiet. Unicorns have to know this early on but it soon becomes a reflex. The farther away something is the harder it is to sense, if it’s moving it’s harder to sense as well, but that’s what the other sense like sight are for. Each unicorn can perceive the world through their horn differently than other unicorns can, normally those with similar cutie marks will be closest to each other but none seem to be exactly the same. Being able to sense the world around you is the first step to using magic.

“Alright Sweetie Belle,” I float a piece of paper over from a desk and set it between us, “what I want you to do is to try and grab this piece of paper with your magic, you don’t have to do anything with it, I just want to see if you can sense it with your magic and envelop it in your aura. Don’t try to make it happen, just close your eyes and try to feel the paper and simply touch it with your magic.”

“Ok.” She closes her eyes. I can see a very faint glow from her horn as she senses around her. “I think I see it.” Her horn glows a little brighter, similar to a unicorn preparing to levitate something. “I think I have it!”

I look down and notice something, “ Sweetie Belle…”

“It’s hard to hold on to!” Brighter.

“Sweetie Belle.”

“I can do it!” Brighter.

Her actions cause my voice to change to a nasally version, “Sweetie Belle.”

She opens her eyes at the voice change and looks at me, “Huh?”

I motion down at what her magic is currently holding, “Do me a favor and let go of my nose.”

“Oh!” She blushes a little as she ends the magic.

“Much better,” I rub my nose a little, “Well your aim needs a little work, but you can definitely do the basic sensing and my nose shows that you can cover things with your magical aura.”

She beams, “Wow, that’s more than I’ve ever been able to do before! Thank you!” She looks at the clock on the wall. “Oh I should probably get going, I can’t wait to tell the girls. Bye Rhino, can’t wait for next time!” She runs out the door.

Cute kid, glad I’m able to help her. Heh, I almost feel like a magic tutor, but she just needs a little guidance nothing too big. I find it’s better for them discover their own way of interpreting and using magic.

While I’m lost in my thoughts Twilight walks over to me, “She was right you know, you seem to know a lot about magic, is it your special talent like mine?”

“Not exactly, from what I’ve heard, your talent is magic itself including an enormous amount of it and a talent for learning great varieties of it. My talent lies in precision and ingenuity as well as an increased effect of my emotions on me. I don’t have your raw power, but I can use one spell in different ways if I know enough about it.” I normally wouldn’t give that much of an explanation but I’m still in an explanatory mood after helping Sweetie Belle.

“Hmmm, oh, speaking of magic I was wondering if maybe you and the others would want to help me with a new spell I’ve been learning.” She gets a bit of an excited look on her face when she starts talking about this new spell of hers.

I raise an eyebrow at her, “And by 'the others' you mean…”

She clarifies, “Hydro and Voltage, I already sent Spike out to fetch the girls so they should be here soon.”

Must have been while I was teaching Sweetie, I was kind of in the zone there. Oh well, guess it’s a helping kind of day.

I get up and stretch my back a bit. “Alright so you said you wanted Volt and Hydro?”

“Yes-”

*CRASH*

A loud crash comes from the other side of Twilight’s door, interrupting her.

I look at Twilight then walk over to the door and open it to find a slightly singed Volt lying in a heap on the doorstep. I call back over my shoulder, “Twilight! I got Volt. Mind if he comes in?”

I levitate him in and set him on the floor where he sits up and groans as he rubs his head. I ask the all-important question: “So… what happened?”

He chuckles lightly, “Well, suffice to say I now know which of the underground wires is the high voltage one.”

I shake my head at him, “You’re lucky you have that natural electrical resistance you told me about the other night, otherwise you’d be in the hospital right now.”

Twilight asks him what he was doing, apparently he was investigating the towns power system again. Guess there’s quite a few parts to take a look at. She asks him a few more questions as I remember I’m supposed to be going to get Hydro.

I look towards the librarian, “Hey Twilight, do you mind watching Volt while I go fetch Hydro?”

She smiles, “No problem.”

I turn and open the door to find Hydro about 20 yards away headed for the library.

Mission complete, and I didn’t even have to go anywhere.

Hydro stops in front of me with an annoyed look, “Did Volt just land near here?”

“Umm yeah, he’s inside.” I say, gesturing towards the unicorn in question.

Hydro and I walk back inside, him going up to Volt, “Mind telling me why half of the systems in my dam suddenly overloaded?” He asks glaring at Volt.

Volt just looks at Hydro sheepishly while Hydro just narrows his eyes at him.

Ok time to break this up before it goes anywhere violent.

I speak to them to get their attention, “Actually it’s good you two are here, I was actually going to come fetch the two of you for Twilight here. She wanted our help with a new spell.”

She nods in agreement, “Correct, but I’d like to wait until the girls get here to explain-”

*knock, knock, knock*

I turn to the door, again, and open it to find five familiar mares and a dragon at the door.

Well, isn’t this just all kinds of convenient.

I turn back to Twilight and raise an eyebrow at her. She giggles a little, “Well I guess we can get started then.”

In short order Twilight has us sit in a circle on some cushions she provided and has explained to us that she will be trying a simple spell to skim our surface thoughts and project them for others to hear. Spike opts out at this point and heads upstairs. She asked us all here to get a good sample size and variety of participants. She also won’t tell us who she’ll be scanning next so we, as participants, don’t anticipate it too much.

I think test subjects might be a more accurate word but kudos to her on tact, I’m sure this will be interesting at the very least.

She starts off with Rainbow Dash, her horn and the target pegasus glow a moment before we hear the flier's thoughts as if someone clicked a button to turn on speakers in her head.

*Click*“No way this spell will work, I could be training for the Wonderbolts right now! I was thinking if I could somehow combine my Bucaneer Blaze with the Sonic Rainboom maybe I could-” *click*

Twilight looks over at Rainbow who only just notices that her mind got read, “No way it could work huh?”

“Eh heheh…” Rainbow rubs the back of her head.

Applejack is next.

*click* “Gotta make sure the APPLES from the south orchard get harvested soon, also make sure those APPLE fritters get made, make sure APPLEbloom doesn’t sleep in before school, les’ see what else... APPLE buckin, APPLE bakin, APPLE shakin-” *click*

Hydro quips in, “Got apples on the brain there Applejack?”

Applejack rolls her eyes as Rarity gets to go next.

*click* “and then maybe a bit of orange to go with the mane, ugh, it’s so hard to think of good designs for suits, they don’t leave much to work with at all! Now maybe if I can get Voltage Surge into a nice sundress I can-”*click*

Pinkie takes this one, “Ooh, I think you’d look really pretty in a sundress Volty!”

This gets a good laugh out of the group while Twilight aims at Fluttershy.

*click* “I mean he is good with animals but I don’t know if he feels that way and if he doesn’t then what do I do… Ok Fluttershy just focus on something else, oh I can’t forget to buy some fresh seeds for Elizabeak and -” *click*

Everypony just stares at Fluttershy in silence.

Was she talking about me-

My thought is cut off after Twilight chooses Pinkie as the next target.

*click* (The sound of the party cannon is heard with the sounds of eating in the background) *click*

Twilight gives Pinkie a look, “Ok let’s try that again.”

*click*“eatsleepmakefriendspartyeatsleepmakefriendspartyeatsleepmakefriendspartyeatsleepmakefriendsparty” *click*

*click* (We hear this) *click*

*click* “And so I was thinking instead of having Applejack come in here in chapter 15 we instead have Rainbow Dash show up and save Applejack’s appearance for chapter 17 when-” *click*

Ok, nopony is sure what to think while Twilight fires up the spell at Volt next.

*click* “Wow, this town has some good looking librarians, and why do I like purple more now. Wait a minute they can hear me, wait a minute I can hear me! Umm, this has been a weekly test of the Equestrian Radio system, we now return you to our regular programming of smooth jazz-” *click*

Volt breaks the silence that follows, “Well, this is awkward.”

Hydro hits him on the back of the head breaking the tension, “And now it’s not.”

Apparently Twilight took that as Hydro volunteering.

*click* “(the sound of water flowing is heard in the background) totally deserved that… gotta reboot the systems… set up some precautions… acquire apples… power draw is too high to sustain… where did I leave my wrench…” *click*

I make a comment, “Having a little trouble focusing there? Always knew you were a bit wishy washy.”

Volt gets in on it too, “With all that water in there, bet he has a lot of wet dreams.”

The entire room facehoofs.

Guess that leaves me.

*click* (This is what they hear) *click*

Twilight looks over to me, “Music?”

I shrug, “Believe it or not that’s actually pretty accurate, I tend to hear music in my head all the time even if it’s in the background. Everything else just tends to be images and feelings. Take another look, try a different spot or something.”

*click* A cacophony of voices from my own to any of the others comes through, all of them unintelligible from being simultaneous.*click*

I scratch the back of my head with a hoof, "Sorry, I was thinking of the possibilities."

Pinkie jumps up, “Oh! Twilight, Twilight! Next time we go on a trip you should cast that spell on Rhino so we can have music!”

I deadpan a response, “So, I’m essentially a really good radio that takes requests… I’m surprisingly okay with this.”

The whole room chuckles again.

Twilight delivers her findings, “Well this spell seems to work, though it’s amazing how different everypony’s mind is. I don’t think I’ll be using this spell that often except maybe for Pinkie’s idea of having Rhino be our radio.”

After putting away the cushions we all start to work our way back to our respective homes. I almost forget my bag but I go back and grab it, while I’m there I see Twilight looking at the slightly ashy spot where Volt was sitting earlier.

Guessing she’s wondering how she’s going to clean that up… or maybe she’s thinking of something else…

Chapter 13: Blue Breeze

Before this chapter begins it’s time to get a disclaimer/plug out of the way. *Ahem* I do not own the character of Blue Breeze, he is the creation of the account Blue Breeze. If you wish to use Blue Breeze, then contact said account. That said, go read his stories! His main one, Continuing the Dream, as well as its prequel, The Mark of Blue Breeze, its prequel/spinoff, Those Awkward Teen Years, and its silly spinoff, Cooking with the Author and OC. Do it. Go read the main one at least.

***Saturday, Day 9, after noon***

“This is the place.” Twilight says, looking at the address again to be sure.

In front of us is, actually a normal house. Pretty much what you’d expect, white, two stories, made of clouds. It took us a bit to find it though. Apparently anything larger than a 3-4 pony balloon has to be parked at an air dock, which are in the upper areas of Cloudsdale while the residential area that was our destination was more in the middle areas. This left us with two options: either take some out of the way bridges to the lower levels, or do some cloud jumping. After I was outvoted we ended up following through with the latter option.

I don’t care what Rainbow or Hydro say, it is completely reasonable to not want to jump off what is essentially a floating cliff, not matter how fluffy it is. At least Pinkie seems to be having fun, what with the clouds giving her about 5 seconds of hang time with every hop, almost feels like she’s just not going to come down one of these times.

We stroll up to the door and Twilight knocks. After a moment the door is answered by a mare with a blue coat, wave white mane, and teal eyes. We had elected Twilight to be our spokesmare earlier.

“May I help you?” The blue mare asks, giving our group a once over.

“Hello, is this the home of Blue Breeze?” Twilight says, getting straight to the point.

“Yes, may I ask what you want with my son?”

“We need his help with something.” We had decided earlier that it would be best to be vague with everypony not directly on the mission in order to keep things simple.

“Alright then,” she looks over her shoulder and says loudly but cheerily, “Blue! There are some ponies at the door that need your help with something!” She stands in the door a moment longer before heading back into the house while her spot is taken by a stallion that looks the same age as the rest of us.

Blue is, as one might think, blue. The pegasus sports the look of unshorn fetlocks, revealing his light greyish hooves beneath. His mane and tail are both solid bright yellow with the mane being in a well kept style not out of place at a school and the tail being a medium length natural look. His eyes are a startling red and his cutie mark is that of a tornado.

“Blue Breeze?”

“Yes, you said you needed my help?”

“Correct, is there somewhere we can talk?”

“Well, there’s quite a few of you… here follow me.” He looks over his shoulder, “Mom, I’m going out for a bit!”

“Stay safe honey! And if you take a fancy to any of those mares I want to talk to her first!”

A short walk found us at a secluded cloud park, apparently they have those. Pretty much think of your normal park, except whiter and fluffier. One explanation and some supporting documentation by the mighty purple one later, and we had Blue’s attention.

He seems to understand so far, “So you guys need my knowledge of Everfree weather to fight Fluffers.”

Everyone besides Twilight and Blue is pretty much half asleep by now since Twilight got a little bit detailed with the story and fluffy clouds are very comfortable. But what Blue says next starts waking us up.

“Well that might be a bit of a problem.”

We all perk up and give him a questioning look.

“Now don’t get me wrong, I’d like to help, but I’ll need my notes.”

Guessing it’s a little more complicated than that.

AJ asks what we’re all thinking, “Ain’t they just at yer house?”

“In a manner of speaking, but not the house you are thinking of. You see there’s a reason I’m living with my parents despite being out of college.”

Pinkie hops up to him, “Is it because your mom makes awesome cookies?!?”

“Well, no, originally I was living in one of the cheaper apartments on the lower areas while I had a house set up for me in Ponyville to be closer to the forest.”

“Something happen?” Hydro asks.

“Yes, about 2 weeks ago a gang called the Wraiths moved into the area and started claiming it as their own. Unfortunately I didn’t know about this because I only went there to sleep really. I found out about them one night when they broke into my home. I was able to hold them off a little but there were way to many of them to fight so I ended up flying out the window to get away. I left everything behind, but the only thing of real importance was my journal full of my notes.”

“Well what are we waiting for let’s go get them!” the rainbow pegasus of the group exclaims, starting to fly off just before AJ grabs her tail to keep her in place.

“Woah there Rainbow, let’s try and get a plan before we go.”

Blue looks a little worried, “You guys don’t have to help if you don’t want to.”

Twilight answers for us, “We need both you and the notes Blue, so anypony got any ideas?”

Blue is very helpful in this area, “From what I’ve heard around town, the Wraiths have the place my apartments at as their base, they tend to do most of their activities at night, that and the darkness that naturally comes with it, means that a night raid is probably our best bet to get the notes.”

I finally speak up a little, “Seems straight forward enough as long as we are careful.”

***Night Falls***

We arrive at the lower part of the residential districts and start making our way towards Blue’s old place. The atmosphere is bleak, no ponies can be seen and buildings appear to have been wrecked partially. Small smoke stacks can be seen coming from alleys in some spots. Most of the group seems to be coping well at the start, Fluttershy being the noticeable exception trying to keep herself as small as possible and in the center of the group. I am personally attempting to keep a relatively calm facade whilst kind of freaking out a little.

I do not like this, I do not like this one bit. Not only is this an unfamiliar place, it’s also night, there’s hardly anypony around, and it’s inhabited by a violent gang. I do not like this. Okay okay focus, make sure to keep an eye out for threats.

I try to keep my mind relatively under control as we pass a few buildings whose windows are all broken and a few others that have some graffiti on them. The others seem to be getting a little less comfortable now, Rarity is starting to notice how filthy it is, Pinkie is actually a little subdued, and the oppressive atmosphere is starting to get to the rest of them. I find myself able to keep a little calmer for some reason by looking at Fluttershy.

I suppose having others panic has always been a way to keep my mind off my own panic while I try to keep them calm.

I try to keep the yellow pegasus calm as we enter the building Blue’s apartment is housed in. I find it a bit strange that we haven’t seen a single pony yet but I’m trying to look a gift horse in the mouth. As we make our way up the steps we find ourselves trying to be extra quiet as every sound seems to echo while we are in here. We reach the door to the apartment and freeze trying to hear anything. Thirty seconds of complete silence pass by, and the lack of sound seems to creep us out even more than the presence of sound would.

We sneak into the apartment and Blue starts looking around for his journal. I was about to close the door when I hear a low sound of triumph from Blue. We all head over to him as he picks up a small green journal with his mouth, sets it on the floor, and opens it to verify what it is. He looks up at us and smiles before putting the book into his bag. When we turn around though we get a nasty surprise.

Standing between us and the door are seven pegasi stallions all wearing dark jackets and red streaks across their eyes. All of them leering at us with smiles on their faces. The one in the middle speaks up.

“Well, well, what do we have here?”

Chapter 14: When Red Flows

Alright, fair warning now: this chapter will be graphic, whether it’s your interpretation of graphic or not, it is definitely graphic compared to the rest of this story. There will be violence, probably graphic. Just saying, if it’s not your thing… there will be some parts you might want to skip. Well, let’s relieve some cliff hanger tension shall we?

***Saturday, Day 9, After Dark***

I knew this was going too smoothly, shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up. These guys look like really bad news.

The leader looks over our group after his question to nopony in particular. His eyes light up when they rest on Blue Breeze.

“Look here boys, it’s the one that got away.” He and his cohorts give a chuckle, “Don’t think you’re getting away again, we’re ready for your little punches this time.” Each of them shifts their weight to where the jackets open enough to give us all glimpses of the knife each of them had in a sheath on their side as they all chuckle again.

I take a few subtle steps toward Blue and whisper out of the corner of my mouth, “Blue, you fought these guys last time right? Anything we should expect?”

He whispers back, “I don’t know, last time I only had to hold off three of them and none of them were armed, I have no idea what to expect.”

Hydro had been listening in, “Well that’s just great.”

The leader suddenly raises his hoof and the thugs immediately shut up.

That does not bode well.

“Now then, all of you will be coming with us.” He fondles his knife handle with a wing while he says this.

Volt speaks up, though I kind of wish he didn’t, “And what if we say no?”

The leader’s eyes narrow and his creepy smile grows a little wider. “I don’t recall asking.” He draws his knife with a wing and thrusts it in our direction, “GET THEM!”

As the leader shouts two more pegasi dressed like the other thugs crash through the windows and draw their own weapons trying to flank us.

The fight begins.

Each of us besides Fluttershy ends up taking on one of the thugs, the leader not easily discernible amongst the rest.

(The following fights all happen at the same time)

Hydro and Applejack fight with similar styles of using bucking for offense. The only difference being that Hydro delivers a few punches and that Applejack’s bucks seem to have more of an impact than his. Both of them suffer a few cuts, the most noticeable being a slash down Hydro’s side and a cut across Applejack’s cheek that continued upwards to take a nick off her hat. In the end both of their opponents end up staying down after getting bucked in the chest a few times but they still look conscious.

Blue Breeze is having a close and personal fight with his opponent, his foe wielding his knife and himself using his bare hooves. Blue’s technique is easily noticeable in his form and strikes, and a strange blur can be seen around his hooves when he pulls them back sometimes. These strikes seem to have particularly large amounts of force behind them as you can feel the wind shooting away from his opponent when they connect. Blue delivers the deciding blow after his thug takes a stab for his face and misses, Blue taking his hoof and using it to flip his opponent onto the floor as a counter.

Rarity is doing some kind of martial arts thing that doesn’t contact much but keeps her opponent on the defensive anyways. This goes on for a bit until he gets annoyed and makes a horizontal slash which ends up missing her throat but catching a bit of her mane and cutting it off. She simply stands there a moment before hitting him in the jaw with an uppercut, leaving him sitting dazed against the wall.

Rainbow Dash is having an aerial battle with her thug, she attacks with sudden dashes while zooming around him. He holds her off with his knife for a time but eventually her speed lets her conclude the fight by diving underneath him and bucking him into the ceiling after which he falls face first into the floor.

Volt is in the middle of a blade fight with his foe, though his opponent uses his knife as a street fighter would while Volt uses a conductor rod he had in his bag as a fencer would. Volt also seems to have used his magic to put a charge into the rod seeing as every time it makes contact with the thug or his weapon it causes the thug to jump as what looks like a quick jolt flows through him. The thug decides to go for a surprise punch that winds Volt but as he raises the knife Volt simply jabs the rod into the thug’s gut hard, leaving him twitching on the ground.

Pinkie Pie is bouncing all around her opponent who seems to be unable to hit the springy mare. Every time he tries she simply bounces away, onto his head, or just reverses her direction in mid-air. He seals his fat by letting himself get angry and just yelling at her to stay still so he can stab her. Her mane deflates for a moment as she stays still for a moment before she gets an angry look on her face and suddenly gut checks him across the room after which her mane poofs back up.

Twilight, who I assume would have had many plans for this if she knew about it ahead of time, seemed to have trouble thinking when she is repeatedly almost stabbed by the one she is facing. She finds her stride after a moment of backing off and simply charges up her horn for a moment and blasts him.

I was more towards the middle of the room than the others so I had a little more time to see my opponent coming, and thus actually got the first move which was to yank his knife out of his grasp with levitation and point it back at him. I hold him off for a bit but it’s difficult to try not to hurt somepony too bad when you’re wielding a knife. Unfortunately my only prior experience with knives is in the kitchen and this is pretty much my first real fight so when he dodges around it I couldn’t get it in front of him fast enough to prevent myself getting punched in the chest. At this point I was slightly stunned from the pain and so when I saw him getting ready for a follow up blow I quickly cast my altered levitation spell, which instead of simply lifting things is broken down into force which I am then able to control and direct, and telekinetically punched him in the side of the head a few times until he stopped coming my way.

Just when all our opponents were dealt with we hear a sharp yell, “NOPONY MOVE OR THE YELLOW ONE GETS IT!” We turn to see a tenth thug holding a knife to Fluttershy’s throat and applying pressure.

While we freeze trying to figure out how to help her, the rest of the thugs recover and tackle us from behind while the one holding Fluttershy tosses them some ropes and magic nullifying rings. They start limping around and tying us up in pairs, myself being on my own due to the odd number. As they are finishing tying me up instead of putting on the ring my thug instead kicks me towards the part of the room where they are holding the yellow pegasus. As he laughs I see a few tears fall from Fluttershy’s face and it’s because of these tears that I start trying to ignore the pain and think of a way out of this. Unfortunately the leader sees her tears too but has a different reaction. He walks up to her and grazes his hoof across her cheek saying, “Crying won’t get you anywhere little one,” he pulls out his knife slowly, “We’re gonna have plenty of fun with you.”

Time seems to slow down as he gets in closer to her and images flood my brain.

A dark room, a flash of light illuminating a scene of a yellow pegasus bruised and beaten lying on a bed crying…

Another flash, a floor with a trail of blood and soft yellow feathers leading to a pair of severed wings…

No flash this time, nothing but a scream and quiet sobbing I recognize as hers…

The image of the leaders face, laughing…

The bed again, this time with the addition of a dark shape approaching her as she tries to back away…

The floor, a wingless Fluttershy is backing away from a silhouette wielding a cleaver…

The scream, cut off suddenly…

The face, laughing always laughing…

Tears…

Blood…

Screaming…

Laughing…

A limp form, thrown carelessly into the mud, not moving, not breathing, rain pours down onto it as those responsible simply walk away…

NO!

I see the scene in front of me, all the horrible things that can happen. That what I have seen can easily come to pass…

NO!

I see him, in front of her, he wishes to harm her…

I WILL NOT LET YOU TOUCH HER!

I am vaguely aware of the blue stripe of my mane in front of my face turning red, as time starts to go back to normal and I focus my rage on those in front of me. I cast my altered levitation spell again, only this time… with devastating precision.

I focus the force on the joints where the wings meet the back on the pegasi holding Fluttershy and the leader. They make a satisfying CRACK as blood oozes from the bases of the now useless appendages. The images of his laughing face and her crying one continue to flood my mind as I send a pointed wave of force towards my bonds and keep it going into the legs of the thug beside me, I didn’t put enough behind it to sever bone, but flesh is another story. As the blood flows rivers out of his lower legs I rush the leader and his cohort to make sure they get away from her. As I toss the leader into his minion and they skid across the floor I see Fluttershy curl up into a ball against the wall.

They shall suffer for making her like this!

My vision is blocked by the forms of Blue who was fighting the closest thugs to him while the rest of them stare at the bleeding one and Hydro, who was untying the rest of our group. I ignore them and keep looking for the leader; I spot him stumbling towards the door alongside the one who had held Fluttershy. As I attempt to Blink over to them one of the thugs regains enough sense to charge me, a moment later the cracks of his ribs show his first-hoof knowledge of what it feels like to have yourself crushed between a telekinetic wall and a real one. As I look back past the blurs of combat I see the leader almost to the door.

You won’t get away from me!

I Blink directly to the doorway blocking his path. He looks up at me with hate in his eyes and throws his minion to block me. I don’t have time for him so I simply magically grab the broken end of his wings and shove them into the sockets causing his to black out from the pain as I move towards my target.

The leader’s eyes widen as I approach, he grabs a knife with one of his forehooves and holds it shakily in front of him. I stop for a moment before grinning at the idea he has given me. I snatch the knife away with my magic, turn it around, and pin his left wing to the wall with it. He screams, but he has not felt anything yet of what I plan to do to him.

*SNAP*

His rear left leg falls limp.

*CRACK*

His left foreleg spurts a bit of blood on me as it too is shattered. I sit for a moment as he is supported on his left side by a pinned broken wing.

Better slow down a bit, for him to die would be a mercy, and he deserves no such mercy. What to do, I could crack the other limbs… perhaps remove an eye… pull until the pinned wing comes off? Yes that one sounds good.

I see him shedding tears as I grip his body with magic once more and I chuckle to him, repeating his earlier words, “Crying won’t get you anywhere.” His eyes widen as I slowly apply more force pulling him away from his pinned wing-

*SLAM*

A red blur tackles me from the side onto the floor, as I attempt to rise to continue a dark blue one adds his weight causing me to be unable to rise.

The red blur yells, “Rhino what are you doing!”

I reply in an equally loud tone, “He deserves nothing less for trying to hurt her!”

“She’s okay look!” My head is forced to look over to where a shuddering but unhurt Fluttershy is standing with the other girls. Some of them are comforting her while others like Twilight, Rainbow, and Applejack are staring at me.

She’s okay…

My breathing starts to slow down and my mind clears, in the corner of my eye I see my stripe returning to its usual blue. I feel… drained, both magically and emotionally. The two blurs that I now recognize as Hydro and Blue slowly get off me and I stand up. We all look at each other in silence for a moment before a pattern of quickly flashing lights is seen outside of the window. We quickly make our way downstairs and had just gotten out the back when the police busted in from the other side of the building.

We make our way back to our airship, Blue accompanying us. Not a word was said the entire walk back. We head below decks to the cabins, each of taking our own. Without a thought I lay down on my bed, but I know sleep will not come easily.

Chapter 15: Aftermath

***Sunday, Day 10, just past midnight***

**In the ship, in the hallway leading to the cabins**

*3rd person*

Hydro makes his way to his room, Rhino was the first to go to bed and the others weren’t far behind. Blue took the spare room. Hydro is the last one awake.

“Hydro?”

Or not.

Hydro turns to see a familiar yellow pegasus looking like she was steeling herself up for something. “Fluttershy?” he replies.

She scuffs the ground for a moment before taking a deep breath and starting to speak, “I... umm… I wanted to ask you about Rhino… if that’s okay…”

Hydro flinches slightly, “Is it about what happened in that apartment?”

She nods, “It just… it didn’t seem like him, and he didn’t say a word after it happened. Since you’ve known him for a while… I was wondering if maybe you could tell me what happened and if he’ll be okay.”

Hydro thinks about how to answer for a moment before replying, “I’m pretty sure I know what happened, some things about Rhino are pretty easy to read if you know what to look for. But I can’t really tell you exactly what happened and the only thing I could tell you about it I would need his permission for.”

Fluttershy looks down at the ground, “Oh…”

Hydro continues, “As for whether he’ll be alright… actually I think you could help there.”

She picks her head up, “What do you mean?”

“Fluttershy, I think it would be good for both of you, if you were to go talk to him.”

Her pupils shrink a little, “But… you’re his friend and…”

“Fluttershy, you’re his friend too, and I think you are better qualified than me to help him right now.”

“Why?”

“That’s another thing you need to ask him.” Hydro turns toward his room. “You’ll do just fine,” he says half to himself and half to her.

Fluttershy stands in the same spot in the hall, thinking.

**Rhino’s room**

*1st person*

I guess I finally understand what Mom and Dad talked about when they said some nights they couldn’t sleep because their minds wouldn’t shut up. I’m trying my hardest to sleep, but every time I do… the thoughts just come forward. What did happen, what could have happened, what might happen now. All these scenarios flood my mind when I try to clear it. I’m doing my best to not brood on it… I know I usually get over things in time or at least learn not to think too hard about it… but I feel like I’m fighting myself.

A gentle knock and the quiet sound of the door opening cause my ears to perk up. A familiar aqua eye looks in before seeing that I’m awake and the rest of the yellow pegasus walks in. I sit up a bit as she closes the door behind her and looks at me.

“Rhino… I wanted to ask you some things… about what happened…”

“What did you want to know?”

“Well, I only saw a little so I guess… what happened to you?” She seems genuinely concerned.

I think about how to say this, “I… got angry.”

“Rhino,” she has a tone that suggests that answer wasn’t good enough, “That seemed more than just getting angry, you seemed intent on hurting them, it was almost like you lost control of yourself…why?” She sits on the edge of the bed.

I have to make her understand *breath* okay, all out in the open.

“Because I care.” She stiffens slightly at this, “Just seeing you with that knife against you was painful enough, but when I saw him going towards you and you crying as he came closer… it was too much." I close my eyes and put a hoof up to my temple. "I saw all the things they could and probably would have done to you and… I couldn’t let them hurt you. The very thought of you crying hurt, but the thought of what might have happened… pushed me over the edge. I saw them as the sources of both physical and emotional pain for you, for that I wanted to make them pay." I let out a sigh. "I care about you, and so I did what I thought I had to in order to keep them from ever even thinking about hurting you again. I’m not really a violent pony, I actually try and avoid most conflict, but… I only regret how far I would have taken it, but I do not regret my intent. I will protect those I care about, and I care a lot about you.”

She stays silent for about a minute, probably one of the longest minutes of my life. I only hope she won’t hate me for what I did.

“I… understand.”

What?

She continues, shakily at first but stronger as she continues, “I don’t like the thought of anypony being hurt, especially if my friends are the one being hurt or hurting others, but… I understand why you did it. I’m glad you regret how far it might have gone and actually, I want to thank you for saving me from those stallions. I really do appreciate it.” She starts to blush a bit, “And maybe… well, maybe… I care about you too.”

My eyes widen at her words.

She… likes me too? Even after… well, one thing for it then.

“Fluttershy… you think after this mission is over, we could hang out some time? Maybe have dinner?”

She smiles that wonderful smile of hers, “I’d like that.” She starts to head for the door and turns when she gets there, “Good night.”

“Good night, and Fluttershy?”

She pauses a moment.

“Thanks for asking.”

She just smiles softly walks out.

As I lay back down to try and sleep again I notice my thoughts have calmed significantly. I’ll still have them floating in my head for a bit, but for now… I think I can at least sleep easy.

***

A knocking at my door along with Hydro’s voice wakes me up, “Come on Rhino, time for breakfast.”

I rouse myself out of bed after that long night, the memories of what happened before I went to sleep bring a smile to my face, but the thought of what the others reactions might be fills me with dread again. I try to keep a neutral expression on as I grab some eggs and hash browns from the breakfast buffet, the boxes of which I can still see in Rainbow Dash and Blue Breeze’s saddlebags. We all eat in silence for a bit until Blue decides to break the silence for better or worse.

“So, since I’m the new guy, I have to ask: does that little incident that happened last night happen a lot?”

The girls and Volt shake their heads.

Rainbow slams her hooves into the table with an angry expression, “What the hay was that anyway?! What you did to those ponies…” She trails off as if she doesn’t want to repeat it.

Hydro intervenes, “Now hold on-“

AJ interrupts, “We ain’t holdin’ fer nothin’, we wanna know if what happened last night is a normal thing!”

The other girls besides Fluttershy make their various forms of agreement, though less aggressive than Rainbow or Applejack.

As I sink lower and lower in my seat Hydro looks at me, silently asking for permission. I nod to give him the go ahead.

He begins “Alright, you want to know? I’ll tell you. First is this a common thing for him? Absolutely not. Quite the opposite in fact, I get angry fairly easily, especially compared to Rhino here. Mostly he’ll just get slightly irritated and just calm himself down in his head or laugh it off. But when he does get really mad, well you saw. Things have to get very bad for that to happen though, I’ve known Rhino for almost ten years now and it’s only happened one other time.”

“It was actually back in high school a little after we first met. He was coming out of his last class getting ready to head home when one of the school bullies confronted him after school. Rhino tried to just keep his head down and walk away like he usually does but then the bully started pushing him and going on about his mother. Now, Rhino tended to tune others out when they start insulting him but this was the first time they had gone after her. He stood there a bit trying to take it but after a particular comment about his mom being a whore… well, his stripe turned red. This being the first time this happened to him, it didn’t last long, and he didn’t have quite the magical precision he does now so all that really happened was the bully getting slammed into the ground a few times before Rhino realized what he was doing and ran off. Rhino didn’t get into trouble because this particular bully was known to both parents and faculty alike. But he didn’t mess with Rhino anymore after that.”

The group sits there absorbing this new information for a bit. A bit more silence ensues but, to me at least, it seems a bit more oppressive than the last one. I get slowly more and more uncomfortable until I feel a weight leaning on my right side. I look down to see Fluttershy with her eyes closed leaning up against me with a blush. The group notices this and it seems to relax some of them a little until Rarity realizes the implications.

“Fluttershy darling, does this mean you and he are…” Fluttershy nods her head and Rarity lets out a high pitched squeal of excitement which set off a chain reaction.

Pinkie starts talking about having a party to celebrate while Twilight asks how it happened, both of these reactions resulting in blushes from Fluttershy and myself. Applejack stares a moment before simply nods with a slight smile as if saying if Fluttershy forgave me then so did she. I could have sworn I saw a slight frown on Rainbow’s face before she turned to Pinkie so I couldn’t see her face anymore.

The guys walk up to me as Rarity drags Fluttershy toward her to talk some more. Volt speaks first with a smirk, “So is that really all it takes to get a mare? Beat the snot out of some thugs? Shoot, somepony point me to the next nearest gang.”

Hydro smacks him in the back of the head for his comment. I just smile and say thanks to Hydro for everything he did.

Blue just shakes his head and chuckles, “I’m getting that same feeling I got my first day of high school, right before a pony threw a pie at the principal and the principal returned fire with a textbook. I think things are going to be very interesting hanging around all of you.”

We all get a laugh out of that.

Twilight, once again the voice of focus, brings us back down to Equestria with an important question: “Blue Breeze, now that we retrieved your notes, will you help us against Fluffers?”

Blue nods his head once, “Yes.”

Chapter 16: On the Road (in the Sky) Again

***Monday, Day 11, Morning***

Well, after that exciting breakfast yesterday, I’d say the rest of the day went by pretty fast. After we ate, we ended up heading back to Blue’s place, where apparently his mom, who we found out was named Raindrop, was a little worried because he hadn’t said he was going to be out all night. Of course, I say “a little” because “glared at him for thirty seconds before crushing him in a hug telling him she was worried and for good reason because we all came back with a nice collection of bruises and scratches” takes too long to say. Well, there are far worse things than a protective mother.

Speaking of that, I have to hoof it to Fluttershy for unintentionally getting us out of having to explain our injuries by leaning up against me on the couch. When Raindrop saw this she immediately told Blue to get a move on trying to get a date with one of the other mares seeing as one was already taken. Blue promptly buried his face in his hooves trying and failing to hide how red his face got as the rest of us tried to figure out whether she was kidding or not. Luckily for Blue, even more family showed up at this point: both his father, Thundercloud, a pegasus with yellow coat, black mane and tail, and thundercloud cutie mark, and his little sister, Soft Hail, a white coated pegasus with blue and white mane and hailing cloud cutie mark, returned from a father-daughter lunch they were having and provided yet another distraction. We hung around for a while at Rain and Thunder’s insistence and ended up being talked into dinner as well, all and all they seemed like a very caring family… it was very sweet to behold. And then came time to leave.

I suppose they didn’t take the news that Blue would be coming with us to fight Fluffers too badly, all things considered. Thunder looked proud, Raindrop did too but with a healthy dose of protective worry, and Soft Hail, who we learned prefers to be called Hail or Haily, laughed her head off at the name of our foe, all completely understandable reactions. Some packing, goodbye hugs, and mom tears which were stemmed after she was told that Blue would right back home after we were done, and we were off to the airship for another night’s sleep and an early morning launch.

And thus one finds myself and the rest of the guys eating breakfast while the girls were out on deck having gotten up earlier than us, Rainbow begrudgingly so, while I do a review of all of yesterday’s events in what amounts to a 30 second high speed slide show in my brain.

“… and that’s what in my notes.” Blue finished his explanation.

I summarize to make sure I got it right, “So essentially your notes are your personal documentation on the variety of weather forming clouds originating from the Everfree, along with the relative characteristics of each so that we can gain an advantage that we did not have previously in regards to more effective means to confront our objective.”

“Seems legit.” Volt concurs.

We talk a few more minutes until Volt says something that gets our attention.

“Oh by the way guys, something weird happened this morning.”

“What happened?” We all respond.

“This morning Rarity made a comment about my stripe color in my mane and how another color might look better.”

We all raise a questioning eyebrow at him motioning him to go on.

“And I actually considered it for a moment.” He finished.

Our eyes slowly open wider as I recall something.

“Actually, I found myself thinking of ways to make my room look nicer when I woke up this morning.”

Now the focus switches to me just before Hydro talks.

“I almost styled my mane with gel this morning, and we aren’t even going to be anywhere except the ship today.”

We all turn to Blue, whose head is hung low as he too recalls something.

“… I spent half an hour in the bathroom preening my wings this morning… and they were fine before I started.”

Uh oh. Most of these are fine once in a while… but all together…

Hydro breaks it to us, “Boys, I think we need an intervention.”

Blue continues, “A stallionliness intervention.”

I pick it up, “We must reinforce our stallionly ways!”

Volt concludes, “Before it is too late.”

We all put on our thinking faces trying to think of what to do about this predicament, and then it hits us…

“Times for a guys day!”

YEEAAAAAHH! We chest bump.

***

“I still say we should do flaming bungee jumping!” Volt shouts over a sudden gust of wind.

I reply back, “For the last time Volt, NO! I’m not doing anything lethal! Now throw the thing so I can take my shot.”

The other guys and I were having a skeet shooting session. We had Blue take a quick trip groundside to pick up a generous supply of rocks, now we were taking turns throwing them and having another guy try and hit them with another rock fired from a slingshot Hydro had whipped up. Luckily we were flying around the border of the Everfree forest so we didn’t have to worry about hitting anypony.

*Clack* I hit the target.

I go into friendly banter mode. “I thought you were gonna give me some tough ones?”

“Step aside,” Volt gets behind the slingshot while I head towards the throwing rocks.

He pulls the band back, “Do it.”

I toss the rock… and he misses with a look of shock on his face.

“I’m Rhino and today this is my favorite spot on the airship!” I point towards the spot I’m standing at.

“Hey, it’s windy up here.”

No excuses Volt. “We’re on an airship, that’s pretty much implied.”

***

I watch as the other guys toss a lemon around in a creative version of hot potato, myself having been eliminated in the first round. They toss it back and forth leisurely until finally Hydro catches it… and it explodes into lemon chunks in his face.

*Sploosh!*

“AAAAAAAAAAH! My eyes!”

Now you know how I felt.

I hoof him a cool wet rag as Blue and Volt toss the last lemon back and forth as fast as they can.

I chat with Hydro a bit as the other two go at it, “So how long do you think they have?”

He still has the rag over his eyes as he answers, “From what I can hear, I give it thirty seconds, once Volt charges those lemons they get pretty damn volatile.”

Thirty seconds pass rather uneventfully until…

*Sploosh!*

I turn to Hydro as I magic another rag over to the latest victim, “Good estimate.”

***

Hydro facehoofs at the idea Volt had come up with for our next stallionly thing.

“Really, a most stallionly beard contest? Granted it is very stallionly, but don’t you at least want to have a chance?”

Volt raises a skeptical eyebrow, “What are you talking about? It doesn’t look like you can grow a noticeably better beard than me.”

Hydro looks at Volt with a deadpan look, “I wasn’t talking about me, I was talking about Rhino!” He points a hoof at the bottom half of my face which is noticeably darker than the top half and is starting to have a nice layer of black hairs poking out past my coat.

Blue objects, “Oh come on, you must have had a head start. When was the last time you trimmed that off?”

I let myself have a smug look as I am well aware of my facial hair potential, “Honestly two days ago.”

Hydro gives them a look, “There’s no way you guys can win, I can grow a decent one given time but Rhino can have a full goatee in about a week.”

Blue looks at me, “I don’t know how you can stand that, I hate how itchy mine gets.”

Volt looks as well, “Actually did you not bring your trimmer for that?”

I shrug but lay back with my forelegs behind my head, “Frankly it only gets itchy for the fifth and sixth days, after that it gets soft. As for my trimmer… I actually left it at home. I just felt like since we were going on a mission and all it might be funny to come home with a rugged look.”

***

“Come on Hydro you can do it!”

“Don’t let him beat you Blue go!”

Volt and I cheer on Blue and Hydro in the final round of our brief hoofwrestling competition. I frankly knew I was going to lose to Hydro but Blue was putting up a pretty good fight. Volt had gone up against Blue and lost, but the match for third had been called due to both the other contestants getting impatient and Volt and I getting bored when neither of us seemed to be winning.

Blue had Hydro a little less than halfway down when suddenly he let up slightly and Hydro used his lapse to pull a quick reversal and slam Blue’s hoof into the table.

“Woo!”

Elsewhere on the ship a certain orange mare held her hoof out as a grumbling rainbow maned mare hoofed her ten bits.

***

“Alright boys, let’s see who can do the best at picking up mares.” Blue announced.

I raise a hoof but Hydro cuts off what I’m about to say.

“Rhino, you’re exempt from this one seeing as you’re the only one with a marefriend.”

I shrug and go grab a chair and glass of milk to watch the fun.

Suffice to say thanks to a one minute time limit everything went hilariously wrong. Volt tried to inpress Twilight with some electric magic but only ended up shocking both of them, Twilight giving him a glare for that. Blue did little mini air current show with his hooves for Dash but she ended up getting fidgety having to sit there and watch so she told him to do it full scale, when he took off she walked off. I think relatively Hydro did the best but only because Applejack was smiling as she was laughing her hat off at his casual flexing performance.

And this is why real courting takes time, and why this little “see who can do it the best thing” is mainly used as a way to troll your friends.

***

Our last act of stallionliness was a combination one. The guys and I had set up an iron fire pit on the deck and were now sitting around it as night fell talking about various combat techniques as the temperature dropped. We had covered my frequently used spells, Blue interesting ability to have a bit of control over wind around his hooves resulting in easier flying through oncoming winds and stronger punches, Volt’s various electrical shenanigans including the whole “stun baton fencing thing” and something he calls “Lightning Charge” which is essentially him tackling something while being charged with large amounts of electricity, and Hydro’s strength and hobby of making various gizmos when he gets bored. The others tell him he could make something to help him fight but he says he mostly builds productive things. We talk a bit more until the cold seems to be finally starting to get to Hydro.

“Celestia damn it it’s freezing out here!” He shivers a bit.

“It’s just a little cool Hydro, nothing big.” Blue sits there looking comfortable.

“I think I’m with Hydro on this one,” Volt says as he moves closer to the fire.

I just shrug at the weather that I personally find quite comfortable.

“Hey Rhino how come you aren’t bothered by this? Most pegasi have some natural cold resistance but you seem just fine with it too.” Blue looks at me curiously as the other two compare how much of their bodies have gone numb.

“It’s pretty simple actually, I have a thicker coat than the average pony. Thus I can trap more heat. Hydro there is pretty skinny and thus doesn’t have much body fat, and as such is more susceptible to cold. Volt’s reaction seems fairly normal considering the wind was blowing on his back and making the fire bend away from him.”

Hydro shakes a hoof at me in mock anger, “Dam you and your fluffiness Rhino!”

We all have a good natured chuckle at that.

“Mind if we join you boys?”

We turn around to see all of the mares standing there looking at us. We nod and they sit with us around the fire as Pinkie pulls out smore ingredients. A short time later finds us all eating treats and having a good time, Hydro and the other guys are sitting next to the mares they attempted to flirt with earlier and the girls let them know there are no hard feelings for what happened, and Fluttershy and I huddled against each other. I sigh contently at the scene before me.

Stallionliness is nice and all but we all know we’d be a whole lot worse off without these mares… and for me, one in particular. I open my eye at the yellow pegasus curled up next to me and smile.

Chapter 18: Heart of the Storm

***Wednesday, Day 12, Morning***

It’s amazing how much of a difference one layer makes isn’t it? From the layer of blankets that pushes you towards that optimum temperature, the second layer that makes a cake, and now, the layer of clouds that reveals our final objective.

I sip my glass of milk on deck as I let my mind wander a bit as I gaze upon Fluffers in the morning light. No longer the overwhelming presence he was yesterday, today he simply looks like a large ball of clouds in the sky. But it is the details that hint at the potential. The color of the cloud is almost pitch black, no lightning can be seen but the rumblings of its accompanying thunder can be heard from the bowels of the sphere. Wind is no longer constantly flowing out, instead not coming is bursts… I would surmise he has more control over this portion of himself, this will be interesting.

Volt and a few of the others walk out as I finish my glass, Volt seeming well enough to try to break the tension.

“Well, I don’t know about you guys but to me Fluffers seems like a bit of a blow hard. That whole big show yesterday and today… nothing.”

A few chuckles are heard as I ask them the important question, “So, how are we going to do this?”

“I think I can help with that,” Hydro says as he walks out of the cabin with one of his knowing smirks.

He leads us back inside where a strange machine is one the table. Hydro gestures at it, “Ponies, meet the ball.” That sums it up quite nicely, the machine in question is a metallic sphere that goes up to about our knees if it were on the floor. Grooves in its shell suggest it is meant to unfold into something more. Hydro goes on to explain in broad terms: he built this during the night after yesterday’s fight thinking we’d need an edge today, Volt was called in this morning to ensure the small power supply needed would not fail, and from what I gathered it appears this little invention is meant to draw power from the lightning in the storm, gather it, then release it all at once in order to literally blow Fluffers apart to where he can never regenerate himself. Only one problem, it needs to be set up in the center of the core for it to ensure everything goes right.

Couldn’t just make it to where we could toss it at him could you Hydro? Have to place it.

As the one with the most success at penetrating the clouds, Blue volunteers to carry the ball to the core. He takes off after a quick swig of orange juice from the fridge with the ball in the crook of his foreleg. A cone of wind forms around him as he closes in on Fluffers, who has decided to wake up judging from the sudden spike of wind coming from him as well. Blue literally drills into the side of Fluffers when he makes contact and starts working way in. Worryingly a short ways in Blue starts losing speed fast. Just as he is almost halfway to the core a flash of lightning strikes him directly, the flash making it too bright for us to see where he got hit, but he stopped flapping.

Almost immediately the wind picked up again, this time throwing Blue and the ball out of the whole he created and back towards us. We barely have enough time to move one of the mattresses from yesterday’s landing pads into position before he crashes into it. Unfortunately his momentum wasn’t totally killed by the mattress so he ends up lazily flipping off the end onto his snout. While we caught Blue, Volt had caught the ball. We all crowd around the dark blue pegasus as he lays there with his wings convulsing from the current lingering in his body.

Once they die down Dash leans down to Blue’s face, “Hey Blue, are you okay?”

He mumbles a bit before we can understand him, “… No… that’s my chimicherrychonga…” He lunges out with his forelegs and grabs Dash in a hug.

We all just stare for a moment as Dash almost instantly blushes and starts punching Blue to get him to let go. A hook to his muzzle wakes him up enough for him to grab it in pain, thus releasing Dash and giving the rest of us a bit of a laugh seeing as how he’s fine if he can live through that little beating.

We all laugh for a bit before getting focused on the main question.

Twillight sums it up, “How are we going to get a pony to the core?”

Blue continues having regained most of his mental faculties, “Whoever we send has to be able to dodge or take a whole lot of lightning bolts…”

His statement sends the same thought through all of us as we slowly turn towards our resident lightning unicorn.

Volt chuckles nervously as he sweatdrops, “Eheh… well… I guess somepony has to do it…”

Hydro is the one to point out the obvious, “As much as I love this idea, how would we get him up there?”

Pinkie starts bouncing up and down with her hoof in the air, “Oh, oh! Pick me! Pick me!”

I point to her like a teacher calling on a student.

She stops bouncing for a moment as she answers, “I have an idea…”

***

“Explain to me why you had this cannon again,” Volt says, his front half hanging out of said cannon.

Pinkie replies, “Simple, this is my Doozy Party Cannon. I use it for fireworks or those bigger than normal parties where I need to set up outside for all the guests.”

Well that explains why it’s three times as long as I am tall, but NOT where she’s been keeping it.

Hydro hoofs Volt the ball then starts pacing in front of him, “Now Volt, just to review. We are going to be firing you from this cannon into that ball of raw weather fury over there with nothing to hold onto but this small ball which you will be forced to let go of once you get to the center. On the way there you will have zero visibility, and will most likely be constantly struck by lightning after a certain point… you may feel a slight tingling sensation. But I just want you to know, you cannot give up. Literally, you’re being shot from a cannon into the air, not much you can do to stop that once it starts. You will know the core as in all likely hood it is a space filled with either blisteringly strong winds or maybe even a ball of pure electric energy, either way it is not going to be pleasant. Once you drop the ball at this location you shall need to get out fast, whether this is by falling or just continuing across the cloud I’ll leave up to you. And one last thing, if you feel you’re heart stop, by all means feel free to keep going. It’s probably just the excess electricity and should wear off… probably. Ah good, I see you’re wide-eyed with anticipation, that’s the spirit!”

Volt clutches the ball to him as Hydro pushes him down into the cannon.

I stare at the red earth pony, “Hydro, you are fired from all future motivational speaking.”

Hydro simply shrugs and shoves the end of the barrel towards Fluffers.

A few words of encouragement from us and Pinkie starts to take aim at the whole Blue had made in Fluffers. She looks back at us once, we nod and she punches the launch button.

Streamers fly out behind Volt as he is rocketed through the air towards Fluffers at a speed Rainbow Dash would be proud of. Like Blue, Volt forms a cone, but this one happens once he gets into the cloud and is made of electricity. No offense to the pegasus but I think Volt is winning in the impressive cone contest right now. Lightning can be seen flashing from inside Fluffers at about 5 strikes a second. We all get worried as the seconds pass when suddenly one final flash lights up the inside of Fluffers before going dark. Nothing happens for the ten longest seconds of our lives.

Suddenly we see Volt’s limp form fall out of the bottom of the cloud as we hear a hum start to build up originating from inside Fluffers. Twilight notices him first and teleports him onto the mattress we had set up for Blue’s landing. He’s quite badly singed but he’s breathing. Twilight keeps an eye on Volt as the rest of us turn back to Fluffers, the hum having grown exponentially into what sounds almost like a primal roar of rage coming from Fluffers. The very surface of the cloud sphere seems to boil and random spike of cloud either shoot into or away from the center. Just when the sound is about to become unbearable-

Time seems to stop for a moment as the cloud freezes-

*KABOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

A massive ball of lightning erupts from the center of the cloud, rending the cloud itself into smaller and smaller pieces in the face of an expanding sphere of energy born from within. The ball itself stop expanding but a wave of lighter energy also shoots out finishing off the remaining clouds as it washes over the area around it including us. We all close our eyes until the rumbling from the explosion calms down.

Once we open our eyes we look where Fluffers used to be, the only remnant of his existence is a small charred crater directly underneath where the core was and a slightly messier area of the forest where we had fought yesterday. I turn to the rest of the group and stifle a chuckle.

All of our manes are now sticking straight out from the static of that shockwave. As the girls and guys look around we all burst into laughter at how ridiculous we look now, Rarity’s laughter seems almost like she’s about to cry. The sun shines down on our happy little group, our mission finally complete.

Mission Complete!

Chapter 19: Homeward Bound

***Thursday, Day 13, Noon***

Well if it isn’t Cloudsdale, or as I like to think of it: The Fluffy City. Seems like we were here only a few days ago, oh wait, we were. At least the trip back was pretty relaxed. I swear though, without the whole “threat to the nation” this time around I had a hay of a time trying to convince Hydro to stop complaining how slow the airship is. Still not sure what is so wrong with it, yes it’s a little slow, but it’s comfortable! It’s almost a flying house! Still, at least he maintained his silence once Pinkie mentioned something about that flying bicycle of hers… come to think of it, that does actually worry me a little… I’m sure it won’t be that bad. The rest of us mostly lounged around trying not to aggravate any of our wounds, luckily all most of us have are cuts, bruises, and the occasional burn. Nothing some quality time with the first aid kit can’t put on the fast track to healing. Volt seemed to get the worst of it… but being a pony cannon ball shot into what amounts to almost pure electricity, one is expected not to come out unscathed. He had us worried for a bit when he woke up… seeing as his eye balls were smoking and it hurt to blink. Luckily a convenient bucket of water to the face, courtesy of Hydro, and he was at least to get past that particular side effect. Unfortunately the rest of his burns aren’t quite so effortless to get rid of… he’ll be fine of course, but for now with the amount of aloe and bandages he looks like a mummy for Nightmare Night. Anyways, here we are back at Blue’s house, bracing for shock and awe from family members when they answer the door in three… two… one…

“BLUE! What in Equestria happened to all of you! Come inside and sit down right now!” Raindrop says the instant she opens the door.

We all head inside and take our various seats while Raindrop’s protective mother instincts run their course. While she was double checking all of Blue’s bandages, Thundercloud and Hail walk out of the adjacent room to see what all the fuss is about. Suffice to say, their reactions really only create even more of a fuss, in a good way though.

“So Blue, with this many scratches I’m assuming it was a good battle then?” Thunder says, gesturing at our injuries as Raindrop is checking on Blue’s wings.

We let Blue tell the tale of our fight against Fluffers. It was interesting for me to be able to mostly tune out Blue and just watch his family’s reactions to the various parts of the story. The looks of wonder at the drawn out battle against the initial clouds. The big mom hug at Blue’s attempt for the core and the resulting injuries. Haily’s giggling at the thought of us launching Volt out of a cannon as a serious plan of action. The vision of all three of them on the edge of their seats at the silence when Volt was launched into the core and silence loomed. And of course, throwing their hooves in the air and cheering for the explosion.

Everypony loves explosions, I’m sure even Fluttershy likes fireworks. And if she can enjoy an explosion, anypony can.

Haily offers her professional opinion of our little adventure, “So let me get this straight, all that time, injuries, and you still haven’t made progress with any of these mares?”

Like mother like daughter.

Volt defends Blue, “Hey he did get to hug Rainbow Dash here for a bit… of course he thought she was a tasty dessert at the time…”

Blue sits straight trying to maintain some semblance of dignity while Haily facehoofs, “Typical Blue, more concerned with food… I suppose it’s at least a little improvement, just try not to go hitting on lunch today.”

Just as Haily finishes this sentence Rain brings out some sandwiches for all of us. As we all pick up our tributes to sliced bread I notice Blue adjusting his hold on his, “Blue, stop fondling your sandwich, it only likes you as a friend.”

Half of the ponies in the room choked for a bit as all of us tried to bust out laughing at Blue’s face after that one.

"Damn, and I wanted to invite it to bed."

And now the half of the room that wasn't choking fell out of their seats onto the floor.

After calming down a bit we refrain from embarrassing Blue for a time… if only so we can finish eating. Probably a good thing we had that laugh, seeing the bittersweet news Blue has for his family afterwards.

“Mom, Dad, I just wanted to let you know… I’m moving out.”

Rain gets a little quiet while Thunder tries to make it a little more light-hearted, “You know Blue, that doesn’t have the same impact as it did the first time you moved out.” This gets a little giggle out of Rain.

Well, I suppose he is already mostly packed. From what he told us he doesn’t have much more to take. Admittedly I have grown fond of Blue, he’s a good guy, and what kind of friends would we be if we hadn’t offered him a ride when he told us this news last night?

Things are quiet for a time as we help Blue gather up the last few things, once we get the last box, then comes the worst part… good bye. Rain gives Blue a hug, kissing him on his cheek as she does so, and manages to embarrass him even now… she really is a good mom. Thunder gives Blue the guy hug where you embrace with one foreleg instead of both to make it more casual and dignifying. Finally it comes down to Haily.

Haily walks up to Blue and looks up into his eyes. She moves forward and gives him one of those hugs that you can’t really describe, the kind of hug you can only give to a beloved sibling, one that you can never replace. She looks up at him, “I’ll miss you Blue… you better come visit us!”

Must… focus on sweetness of moment and not sadness…

Blue assures her he will come back to visit as the rest of us head out the door with the boxes. After a minute he comes out and we all head back to the airship. I offer to help Blue with a relatively small box he had pulled out from under his bed because it seemed like one of those ones filled with books or something seeing as how heavy it is. He declines rather quickly and tries to change the subject. On the way back we all start getting into the spirit of the last part of our trip away from home.

Time to get our reward in Canterlot.

Chapter 20: Reward

***Thursday, Day 13, afternoon***

“We’re coming in too fast! This thing is falling apart!”

“It’ll hold.”

“We’re not gonna make it!”

“We’ll make it.”

“Pull up! Pull up!”

*CRASH*

“You did that on purpose, didn’t you?” Blue asks sardonically.

The rest of the group groans as we pick ourselves up from the landing made by our rainbow-maned pilot. The inside of the cabin where we took shelter looking like a tornado hit it and us feeling like it.

While the rest of us are recovering, the female pegasus in question lowers the gangplank down to the grassy landing area below us and calls over her shoulder, “Hey, I got us here and in the right spot didn’t I?”

In one piece would have been a nice bonus…

Once the group and I get to the stability of the ground, I turn and take a look at the ship to see the damage. The ship itself seems mostly intact, well the top half anyway. The bottom half was mostly scraped but the four hoof deep trench it was sitting in was probably the most pressing issue. The others notice this and we have one of those moments where we are all thinking the same thing as we look over at her simultaneously raising our eyebrows at the grounded vehicle.

Rainbow puts her hooves up defensively, “Hey, you guys were trusted with the ship same as I was, you’re just as responsible for this as I am.”

Oh really?

I put on stereotypical Canterlot voice and say with a completely straight face, “Miss Dash, I’m afraid you are mistaken. Fluttershy and I are simply bystanders who happened to stumble across your… less than graceful touchdown. The consequences of this landing rest completely upon your shoulders.”

Everypony simply stares at me as I stare into the space behind Rainbow until I can’t take it anymore and let a smirk cross my face. I quickly lose my serious face and start chuckling to myself with the others who are laughing more at Rainbow’s astonished face than my performance. We laugh for a short time, then go grab all of our personal items.

As we head out for the castle a short walk away from our “parking” spot, we notice the local upper class ponies giving us some odd looks, or rather, an odd lack of looks.

Blue notices the latest pony to glance at us, hold his nose up then walk away and asks, “How come they’re avoiding looking at us?”

I take a moment to think about it and answer, “Judging from when I lived here, I’d say they are disgusted by the fact that we stroll around town daring to not care that we look like we just came back from a fight and carrying luggage like we can’t afford a taxi. The very upper class that we are walking through now tends to be very… biased, against those who do not meet their standards. I find it best to take a page out of their book, and ignore them.”

Volt gets a thoughtful look on his face before sticking his nose up so far in the air that he can’t see where he is going, then saying, “Well then, let us be off down the street, or avenue, if you will. Also if one of you ruffians would be so kind as to tell me before I run into something as I am clearly too important to need to look for myself.”

That gets a much better round of chuckles than my performance did.

Gotta love mocking nobles, most are too stuck up to even acknowledge that you’re doing it.

We continue on our way to meet Princess Celestia, Volt continuing to mock the nobles on the way with more “if you will” statements. While funny at first these get old fairly quickly, which we try to stress to him yet he continues nonetheless.

As we arrive at the main wall of the castle Volt takes one last jibe at the populace, “Well then here we are at the giant stone building, or castle, if you will.” He ducks the punch Hydro throws his way. “Hah! You mis-“

*Pow*

I look over at Volt who is now rubbing his now sore cheek, “Volt, you have to learn to be on the lookout for follow-ups, both physical and verbal.” Hydro smirks as he removes a piece of cloth that came off Volt when he smacked him.

We let Twilight, as the one with most prior castle experiences, do the talking with the guards. Soon enough we find ourselves passing through the golden doors to the throne room. Inside, Princess Celestia sits on her throne and the other, which I assume to be Princess Luna’s, is unoccupied. The girls all calmly walk toward the Princess as the guys and I make our way more slowly, the slight hesitance in our steps showing our nervousness at meeting one of our rulers.

As the girls finish greeting the princess and the guys and I are still bowing, we here her speak, “Rise my little ponies.” We do so. “So, tell me what happened.”

We each end up narrating a part of the tale to her highness as we give her the more abridged version of the story we had told Blue’s parents. As we reach the end of the tale, a side of her mouth twitches in amusement when we recount how the final master plan was to simply blow Fluffers up, followed by a full smile showing how pleased she was.

She straightens up from the more relaxed posture she had during the story and beams down at us as she speaks again, “Well done everypony, without all of you, Fluffers would have only grown in strength. Your actions have saved many ponies their homes and possibly their lives.” She clears her throat softly. “*Ahem* Now, given the short notice of both the mission and its conclusion, I hope you all understand why we can’t have a full ceremony to celebrate.” We all nod our heads in agreement.

To be perfectly honest I prefer the small gathering.

Princess Celestia turns to one of her guards near the door, “Atom, please go retrieve the reward for these ponies.” The guard, Atom, leaves the room and comes back in about a minute carrying some bags on his back. As he approaches us I start to hear the sound of clinking coming from the bags in question. Atom sets them on the floor to Celestia’s right, salutes, and goes back to his post.

The Princess starts talking in what sounds like her official voice, “I, Princess Celestia, hereby grant the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony, as well as the ponies Rhino, Hydro Pump, Voltage Surge, and Blue Breeze, a reward of 1,500 bits each, plus expenses, for aiding Equestria by defeating the threat known as Fluffers.” She levitates a bag onto each of our backs.

We all bow our heads again as she continues in a more playful tone, “Oh and one more thing, in each of your bags there are train tickets back to Ponyville, the train leaves in approximately… 15 minutes. My apologies for the slight rush but you arrived sooner than I expected so we got you the earliest train.”

What!? That’s barely enough time to get there if we run!

The others have similar looks of shock on their faces as our next move sinks in.

***

Fifteen minutes and an entire city later we find ourselves catching our breath in our seats as the train pulls out of the station. We had barely made it after saying our hasty goodbyes to a chuckling Princess of the Day and running across town carrying our things. Luckily, it seems not many ponies have to go to Ponyville on Thursday afternoons so we had the car to ourselves.

As we sit around in the seats near each other, Blue poses a question, “So, what’s Ponyville like anyway? I really only decided to live there for the closeness to the Everfree.”

Blue had unknowingly unleashed the pink one, “Oh, oh, it’s my favorite town! I mean sure Canterlot has the castle and all those fancy ponies, but Ponyville has lots of things like Sweet Apple Acres, Quills and Sofa, the library…” Pinkie lists off a list of places that would have humbled a tour guide. “… and then there’s Sugarcube Corner where-GASP! You’re going to be new in town!”

Blue, who had slowly edged away from Pinkie like the rest of us though to a further degree, asks, “What about it?”

Pinkie just stares at him, “You’ll see…” She then grabs her bag and bounces a few seats down and starts digging into it for Celestia knows what, but I could have sworn I heard a trombone at one point.

Everypony except Blue shrugs off Pinkie’s behavior, he then leans towards us and asks, “Ok, so can you guys tell me what Ponyville is like?”

I summarize, “Basically: nice small town full of nice ponies with enough surprises to keep life interesting.”

Hydro and Volt nod in agreement.

We sit there and chat a bit until Rarity pops her head over the seat at us, “Oh by the way darlings, I meant to ask, did you have any plans for your reward money?”

All us guys look at each other before turning to her and saying simultaneously, “Rent.”

Our unintentionally coordinated response gains another group chuckle as we zip off towards home.

It'll be good to finally be back.

Chapter 21: New and Old

***Thursday, Day 13, late afternoon / early evening***

The train ride home was fairly uneventful, or at least nopony informed me of any eventful things that happened after I fell asleep for the ride home. It’s just one of those things, ever since I was little if I am even remotely tired and in a moving vehicle while not talking or otherwise keeping myself occupied I drop off to sleep pretty quickly. I think mom used to fly me around when I was a foal to put me asleep, that probably explains it. Regardless, as soon as we arrived, Pinkie ran off and told us to head over to Blue’s house and she’d meet us there. Blue still has no clue what he’s in for.

The group and I walk up to Blue’s house after a casually paced stroll through town while Blue slowly remembered where his house was. The place is pretty much the same as the one Hydro and I are living in right now: 2 stories, small front and back yards, similar architecture to those around it but with enough differences to where it can be easily told apart, and it has that “yet to be lived in” feel ours did until we turned it into a warehouse that first night.

Blue fishes out his key from his saddlebags and unlocks the door-

“SURPRISE!”

-and is immediately bowled over by our favorite pink blur.

Blue lays one the ground staring up at Pinkie until he manages to find his voice, “How did you get here before us?!”

Pinkie cocks her head to one side at his question, “I walked silly!”

This answer did nothing to Blue’s confused countenance, but a few renditions of the usual “That’s just Pinkie being Pinkie” and we were all inside Blue’s house for another famous Pinkie Pie Party, though this one being simply for the group seeing as Pinkie apparently only had time to set up a fully functional party in the 10 minutes it took us to walk here.

Pinkie, of course, was the music master, “Alright everypony, let’s get this party started!” She drops a record on the player and the music starts flowing.

Hit it!

We all stare at Pinkie’s choice of song, she takes the record off the phonograph and looks at the label, then back at us, “Woopsie, wrong song!” She literally dives into a bag next to the player and comes back up with what I assume to be a different record. As she places it on the player she comments to us, “This is actually a special song a DJ made for me one day as payment for his cupcake order over at the bakery. He said he liked my voice.”

The song starts to play.

Wow, it’s pretty much all Pinkie’s voice. Still, I like it.

As the music continues, the dance floor is taken by Pinkie, Twilight, Volt, and surprisingly enough Fluttershy. As I mentally record the song for future happy walking music, I notice Blue, Rainbow, and Hydro over in the corner having what looks like a very animated conversation judging by the various hoof motions made. I grab myself a cup of punch and go over to another spot where Rarity and Applejack seem to be having a more relaxed talk than the others.

Rarity smiles as I walk up, “Ahh Rhino, excellent timing, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about something…” she trails off and her smile starts to worry me a bit.

My own smile starts reflecting my growing nervousness, “Umm, alright… what did you want to talk about?”

“I heard from my sister that you helped her out with her magic earlier that day when Twilight was trying her thought projection spell. She seemed very happy with the progress she made.”

Oh is that all? I hope she’s not offended that I taught her sister after she tried to.

I relax my smile a slight bit, “I remember that, did you have some concerns or something?”

Her smile goes out of its creepy stage and back to genuine happiness, “Not at all darling, in fact I was wondering… if you might be willing to make some arrangements for some future lessons?”

I raise an eyebrow at her, “You haven’t tried a magic tutor before now?”

Her smile changes again, but this time to sheepish, “Well, normally these things simply take time, but the poor dear does seem to be more and more bothered by it, and since you had such success with her in a spur of the moment lesson, I was wondering if you might be willing to assist her in… giving her a kick start down the magical path so to speak.”

“Well… sure Rarity. I’d be happy to help.”

And the smile gets turned up all the way to beaming, “Fabulous! We’ll talk later about the details!”

The rest of the party goes by smoothly with the usual party activities: eating, talking, laughing, dancing, or in my case bobbing your head and refusing to dance due to complete lack of skills and a tendency for anxiety spikes when even attempting it. There were fun little games as well, including one particular round of Volt trying to burst open a piñata and unintentionally getting revenge on Hydro for all the smacks to his head via a sloppily aimed swing of the stick. Though from the single words, traps, that I heard from Hydro’s grumbling afterwards, he’ll be remembering this for a bit.

After a while the party starts winding down, most of the others seem to be going strong, but I notice Fluttershy looking like she is ready to leave judging by the increasing looks she has been giving the door.

She gives it another look as I walk over to her and gently ask, “Fluttershy, are you alright?”

She whips her head back around at my voice and focuses on me before looking slightly at the ground and responding, “Oh, umm… yes, I’m fine, I’m just worried about Angel. We were gone for so long and I miss him. So I was thinking maybe I should head home to see him…”

Her statement starts a similar train of thought in my own head, my eyes slowly widening as I speak, “Hmm, now that I think about it, Specs is probably missing me too… I mean I only had him for about a week before we left and now we were gone for almost that same amount of time… Wow, I feel really guilty now.”

Fluttershy looks down a little more as I mention Specter.

Oh great, now I went and made her miss her pet even more with my talk about my own. Quick! How to fix this… oh there’s an idea. And I like the ways I could build off this scenario if it goes well.

I focus back on the gentle pegasus, “Fluttershy, would you mind too terribly if I escorted you home? This way we can both go see our pets quicker.” Well there are other reasons too, but this is the one I’m making my case with, I like to think of every other reason as a bonus.

Fluttershy lifts her head, revealing a slight blush but she smiles and nods nonetheless.

We both head over to Pinkie since it would be rude to leave with telling anypony else. I decide to be the one to let her know.

I tap pinkie on the shoulder. As she turns to me I explain the situation, “Pinkie, I hope you don’t mind, but Fluttershy and I are going to head out to pick up our pets from her place alright? The party was great, we just want to get going.”

The pink party mistress herself seems just fine with our plans, “Okie Dokie Lokie! Oh before you two go, here!” She hoofs us a basket of leftovers from the party snack table, because apparently she has these prepared before anypony even tells her they're leaving, “Just in case you get hungry.”

She bounces off as I magic the basket onto my back along with my saddlebags while Fluttershy grabs hers from a corner. Everypony else seems busy right now so we simply quietly make our exit, figuring Pinkie will probably get the word out soon enough.

***

**3rd person**

Pinkie bounces up to Hydro and Applejack sticking her head very close to the two conversing ponies, “Hi AJ, hi Hydro, what are you two talking about?”

The orange and red ponies pull back a bit before Applejack responds, “Oh, me and Hydro here are just talkin’ bout some plans we got for helping out both the farm and dam. What are you up to sugarcube?”

“Oh nothing, just finished seeing Rhino and Fluttershy off, they seem really cute together you know?”

Pinkie’s voice carries over to the other ponies at the party and they all walk over to confirm what she said.

Rarity asks the main question, “So they just left? For no reason?”

Pinkie shakes her head, “Not for no reason silly, they went to go see Specter and Angel over at Fluttershy’s.”

Blue raises a skeptical eyebrow, “You really think they left the party early to go see their pets?”

Hydro, knowing Rhino the best, gives his two bits, “Actually yes, that seems like a good enough reason for them to leave… I’m not saying it’s the only reason, but it definitely sounds like one of them.”

The silence and variety of looks on all of their faces betray the thoughts, both founded and unfounded running through their minds. Most of them either end up with a blush or a chuckle; all except Rainbow Dash who ends up with a scowl.

She takes a glance at the clock before saying quickly, “Oh hey, look at the time, well I guess I better go home and get some sleep, night guys!” She zooms out of the doorway after her sudden farewell, leaving her rainbow trail in her wake.

Blue looks at the door the pegasus just exited through with a thoughtful look on his face and says to himself, “Hmm, maybe I should follow her and make sure she doesn’t do anything rash…”

Suddenly Pinkie walks out of the kitchen carrying a steaming tray, “Who wants chimicherrychongas?”

“… I’m sure she’ll be fine.”

Chapter 22: Moonlit Walk

***Thursday, Day 13, After Sunset***

Fluttershy is starting to freak herself out a bit as we near her house, her pace unconsciously increasing, “Oh, I hope Angel isn’t too cross with me about getting home so late.”

I continue to play the role of comforter, “Fluttershy, I’m sure both Angel and Specter will just be happy to see us.” I smile at her to try and calm her as we reach the door.

Fluttershy calms down enough to unlock her door and we step inside. The room is dark as we close the door behind us, but as soon as it shuts the lights flick on like one of Pinkie’s parties and we each find ourselves tackle hugged, or as close to tackle hugged as one can be by a small furry animal. I focus on my favorite black squirrel currently attached to my leg gripping it like he never wants to let go again.

I pry him off my leg as I lay down on the floor to get on an even level with him, as I do so he switches from hugging to nuzzling my face, “Hey Specs, I missed you too,” I chuckle a little as he backs up a short distance and looks me in the eye with his own, his face making me scoop him up in a hug. We sat there for a second just enjoying being around each other again before I set him down and he immediately climbs up to his favorite spot on my head.

I think I missed him more than I realized. Don’t worry buddy, I’m not leaving for a while.

I look over at Fluttershy and Angel, the bunny curled up against her while she smiles down at him in a motherly way. She looks up at Specs and I and says, “You know, we really should spend some time with them to make up for being gone so long.”

Ok, deep breath Rhino… and… go.

I look her in the eyes as I respond, “On that note Fluttershy, I seem to recall saying that I was going to take you somewhere once we got back. Well, what would you say to a moonlit stroll and picnic with our little friends here to accompany us?”

Fluttershy’s eyes widen slightly and her face glows with the warmth of a slight blush at my question. She gently breaks into a smile and nods her head, and then the both of us look back at our two smaller companions who gaze at us with curious expressions.

Fluttershy answers the unsaid question, sitting down and tapping her front hooves together as she explains, “Well Angel, you see, Rhino and I are,” the blush comes back for a second, “…umm well, dating.”

Angel freezes for a moment before adopting a stern expression and marching towards me, motioning me down to his level with a paw. I oblige and find myself fixed with a stare I honestly thought I’d never see coming from a bunny. One of those “I am searching your eyes for any intentions I do not approve of and should I find them you will be very sorry” stares. The tension in the room rose as the moment dragged on, neither of us blinking or looking away. Finally, Angel pats me on the head and jumps onto Fluttershy’s as I shake off the slight zone out I had gone into during that little incident.

Fluttershy lets out a quiet giggle as I focus, “Looks like you passed.” Her soft smile graces her face at the result.

Admirable effort Angel, but the fact that you are a bunny tends to take away from any intimidation factor you may try to invoke. Still though, message received.

I smile back, opening the door and holding it open, “Well then, shall we?”

***Meanwhile, flying towards Fluttershy’s place***

One certainly never expects to see a rainbow at night, whether one is looking for it or not. One also never expects a rainbow to mutter to itself as it streaks across the sky. Yet, both of these unlikely things can be seen due to a certain pegasus making a beeline for her longtime friend’s house.

The speed at which she flew causes most of her words to be snatched away, but if anypony was able to keep up with her, what little they would have heard would have convinced them not to, “… only known him for two weeks… must be planning something… after that freak out in Cloudsdale… no way he’s doing anything to MY friend…”

Rainbow Dash starts angling downward towards Fluttershy’s house when the door opens and the animal loving pegasus herself walks out the door followed by Rhino. Angling herself back upwards, the cyan pegasus alights on a nearby cloud to watch, the smile on the yellow pony’s face making her not want to deal with the green unicorn in front of her friend, but nothing would make her leave them alone together right now.

She resolves to watch them closely, and at the first sign of anything suspicious, she would take him down.

***Rhino***

Fluttershy and I make our way along the path to the lake, the object of Luna’s charge lighting our path. Both Specter and Angel ride along on our heads, making their respective sounds towards each other in what I expect to be a conversation. Seeing as the two were the more vocal of our foursome, in their own ways, most of Fluttershy and I’s conversation ended up being about them. We swapped stories and we walked, Fluttershy telling me about Angel’s actions, and I telling her about Specter’s attachment to me leading to him scaring ponies whenever he pops out of my mane that he blends in so well with.

The way she tells it, Angel almost seems to act like a child. Supporting her at times, but being firm on other things, and of course being unreasonable and rebelling at other times.

We reach the lake soon enough, and settle down on a blanket Pinkie had packed into the basket, though why she put a blanket into a leftovers basket we could only guess at. We sit and snack lightly on the sweets as our pets indulge themselves on the culinary confections to mirroring states of sugar induced unconsciousness.

As I gently pick Specter up with my magic and set him down on my back, Fluttershy does the same for Angel, I comment to her, “You know, despite what caused it, I really am glad we did this,” I motion around us to show that I speak of our entire situation.

She still hasn’t lost that beautiful smile on her face, “Yes… I feel the same way. Oh and, umm, thank you again for what you did.”

My own smile becomes forced for a moment as that snap in the rundown building comes back to me, but I calm down any gloomy thoughts by trying to focus on what we have right now, “Like I said, I would never let them or any pony else, hurt you.” A cloud moves from in front of the moon, illuminating her silhouette in its silver glow forestalling any other words I might have had for a moment as I stare at her. To me, she looked simply stunning as the moonlight dances off her mane and coat, a picture both gentle and radiant.

She looks to the ground nervously and for a moment I worried I weirded her out by with staring before she speaks, “I’m sorry if I’m not very good on this date, I’ve never really had one before.”

I let this sink in for a moment before I respond, “The way I see it, if both of us are happy, then what else does there need to be? We’ve hung out before, now we are just acting a little closer,” I take a little risk with my next line, “And I for one, think any stallion would be lucky to know, let alone date you.”

She blushes and smiles again, leading me to think no matter how cheesy that line might have been, the intent was received well.

***Up in the night sky***

Rainbow Dash had buried herself in a cloud once she had started following the two ponies, her magenta eyes the only visible part of her. While her protective loyalty to her friend kept her following them, there was one thing she hadn’t counted on:

She was bored.

She had originally thought it would be as simple as charging off to Fluttershy’s and confronting Rhino about his plans with her, but that had flown out the window when both of them had walked out. Now she’d spent the last unknown amount of time simply watching the two talk! Rhino hadn’t even done anything suspicious yet, even that time when she had moved around all he did was stare at Fluttershy.

Her thoughts slowly started to take a less paranoid turn when she snapped back into focus at the movement of the two ponies below packing up and heading back down the path. The rainbow stalker slowly pushed half of each wing outside of the cloud and began smoothly flying after them.

***Rhino***

After we had talked a bit more over at the lake, a glance at my watch and the world’s most adorable yawn from the yellow flyer prompted me to pack up and escort her home. As we reached her residence with our still sleeping pets on our backs, I open the door and she walks inside and turns around as I wait outside of the doorway.

I start the traditional goodbyes of relationships, “Well, Fluttershy, thank you for a lovely walk.”

She smiles back at me, something I will never tire of, “Thank you for taking me, I had a great time.”

“I guess I’ll see you around? Hope we can do this again sometime.”

She blushes again, “Oh yes, definitely,” she stops and starts looking like she’s working herself up to something. Just as I’m about to ask her if she okay, she steps forward and I feel the soft sensation of her lips on my cheek accompanied by a small smell of strawberries from her mane.

Her cheeks are burning red and I stand their shell shocked with a goofy smile on my face as she whispers goodnight and heads inside.

***Sky***

Rainbow Dash sits up as her prey finally reaches Fluttershy’s house and her friend goes inside. She rubs the sleep out of her eyes to keep herself from falling asleep, and gazes back down at the small sound of the door closing. The speed pegasus launches herself towards her target at breakneck speeds, not planning on anything letting him get away this time. As she nears her target’s back she reaches her hooves out in front of her to grab him-

Only to have her hooves grasp thin air as he disappears, leaving her stunned for the split second it took her run into the tree directly on the other side of him.

*crash*

Shaking her head clear after her brief attempt at the sport of extreme tree hugging, Rainbow Dash pounds her hooves once into the dirt in frustration at the unicorn’s escape.

“You may have gotten away this time, but I won’t let it happen again!”

Chapter 23: Back to Normal it Seems

***Friday, Day 14***

Well work was pretty interesting today. Got some major headway on that little secret project of mine… I suppose I have Specter to thank for that in a slightly roundabout way. *Sigh* Trying to keep something mostly to yourself with your pet getting things for you so nopony will notice doesn’t work if said pet finds a radio and starts to play theme music when he’s sneaking. Impressive or not, having the Mission Impossible theme playing when you’re sneaking files out of a room doesn’t really help your goal. Ugh, had some excessive explaining to do after that little fiasco. Luckily Manila and Mane actually wanted in on my plan. Can’t believe I missed those little details Manila pointed out. Ah well, less sneaking around now that all three of us in the office know about it. Yes, I think everything will start going along nicely now…

As I’m walking out of work, I get one of those twinges Hydro and I get sometimes due to our weird “mental link,” think of it as an oddly clear thought popping into your head from out of nowhere that you simply find yourself listening to more often than not because it makes sense to you.

I have a sudden urge to see what Hydro is up to at the dam, I think he’s got something interesting up there right now.

As I approach the dam having dropped off Specter at home, I look around me to see that I am now accompanied by Blue, Volt, and Fluttershy.

I’m not even sure why these three are here… wow I must have zoned out big time. Ok let’s see if I can remember... Blue wanted to see where Hydro works, Volt was bored, and I think I actually asked Fluttershy if she wanted to come along… well I suppose there are worse reasons to tag along with somepony. Let’s see what that mental alert was all about.

As Blue and Volt walk into the dam and I hold the door open for Fluttershy I can see Hydro on the other side of the room with his back to us. I take the time to look around the interior of the dam as we make our way over to him.

Looks like he’s making real progress here, no more rusty parts, no leaks that I can see. I do sort of miss the piles but maybe he just moved them somewhere else I don’t know about.

Hydro’s ears perk up as we approach him, he turns around, “Oh hey guys!” He looks pointedly at me, “Looks like the timing on the link is back up to speed, I was just thinking about coming to get you, Rhino.”

I smirk as Blue cocks his head to one side and says, “Wait, you’re telling me Rhino here just got a sense that he needed to be here? Can you two read each other’s minds or something? Hydro quick, what word is Rhino thinking of?”

I shake my head at Blue, “Blue it doesn’t work like-“

“Cheesepuffs.”

I stare at Hydro’s outburst before looking back at Blue, “Nevermind, he’s right.” Cue Hydro’s smug face and Blue’s mystified face.

Fluttershy, strangely enough, is the one to break the silence, “Umm Hydro, what’s that behind you?” She points her hoof at a glass box Hydro is standing in front of.

Hydro looks behind himself, “Oh this is what I actually wanted to show you.” He takes a few steps to the side so we have a clear view of the box, “Everypony, meet Schmoopy.”

Schmoopy?

Schmoopy, as it turns out, is in the glass box which I can now recognize as an aquarium. The creature itself is an eel. He, at least I’m currently assuming it’s a he, is about the width of a carrot and twice the length of one. His coloring is mostly dark blue with a single yellow stripe going down the length of his body on each side.

An eel… okay definitely did not see this coming but it does qualify as interesting.

As the rest of us absorb the appearance of Schmoopy, Volt walks up to the glass and looks closer at him, “Huh, so what do you plan on doing him? And where did he even come from?” Volt raises a hoof and taps on the glass.

Schmoopy looks irritated at the tapping and swims up to the surface of the tank. He then pops his head out and promptly hits Volt in the face with a jet of water. The rest of us crack up at this while Hydro claims proudly, “Well after that, I’m keeping him!”

We spend the next 20 minutes walking around the dam just looking at nothing in particular while Hydro tells us Schmoopy’s origin story. The short version is that Hydro was checking the tanks this morning after our week away and found Schmoopy in one of them. He was swept in by accident and was grateful to Hydro for getting him out. As Hydro wraps up the story we all hear the door to the dam open again and turn towards it.

In strolls our local purple librarian with a smile on her face and what looks like a checklist in her bag, “Hello everypony!”

Hydro answers for us as he wipes his hooves off an a rag sine he had started working again a few minutes ago, “Hey Twilight, what brings you here?”

“I saw Volt heading up here with all of you and I was wondering if he would come with me so we can check on his bandages.”

Volt walks over, “Hmm? What about me? Sorry I wasn’t paying attention.”

Twilight looks to him, “Volt, I need you to come with me so I can examine you.”

*pop*

Immediately after she says that the lights all flare for a seconds before the bulbs burst, leaving us in pitch black darkness.

“Ah!”

We all shout in surprise at the sudden lack of sight. Along with the sounds of movement all around the room, I feel somepony huddle against me, the strawberry scent and quiet breathing letting me know who it is.

Thank you reflex to grab onto the nearest source of comfort when scared, your contribution to relationships throughout time is immeasurable.

I wrap one foreleg around the quivering pegasus next to me as I stand still and let everypony else in the room run into each other. After about 2 minutes of this, Hydro raises a very good point.

“Hey, if we have three unicorns in here… how come none of you have just lit up your horns so we can see?”

You could hear the three simultaneous facehooves throughout the room.

Wow, I feel like an idiot now. I blame the completely welcome distraction that is my marefriend.

A dim purple glow illuminates the room as Twilight grants us enough light to not run into anypony. A moment later a loud click echoes through the building as lights come back on while Hydro walks away from a small panel in the wall.

A quick glance reveals Twilight still near where she was when the lights when out, Blue and Volt though are definitely not how we left them. The two other males in the room are hugging each other with their eyes closed as the rest of us watch. They each crack their eyes open after a moment and look around, their eyes meeting in the middle after a moment. Both of them simply stay there in shock before kicking off towards opposite sides of them room brushing off the parts of themselves that had been touching the other pony.

An awkward chuckle comes from Twilight who seems to be handling this well, “Alright Volt, let’s go get your bandages checked and you can hug Blue all you want later.” She continues chuckling as she leads Volt out of the dam, his blush visible even through his bandages on his face.

Hydro and I turn our heads to Blue, Fluttershy still huddled next to me looking at the door the unicorns just exited through. Blue simply scratches the back of his head before muttering something about unpacking and dashing out the door.

Gotta love those awkward moments in the dark, I’m betting those two hate the reflex I was thanking earlier. Hmm note to self: make closet joke next time I talk to Blue.

The three of us that are left chat a little more about our new little blue friend in the tank, Fluttershy and I deciding to leave after not too long since Hydro was still working. But we did leave him with the thought of how he was going to get his new pet home. Fluttershy and I make our way back down to town, I nuzzle her as we split off to our separate houses; she to go home to feed Angel, and I to go home and make dinner/lounge around.

Hydro arrives home a few hours later as I’m reading on the couch, the answer to our transportation question seen on his back. He had constructed what appears to be a sort of aquarium belt for Schmoopy to be in whenever Hydro is going to and from work. He had taken a clear pipe and put it in a loop around his body just behind where a saddlebag strap sits. Simple enough but when I mentioned that ponies might find it odd with him having an eel in his belt he retorted by reminding me that I tend to walk around with a squirrel on my head. We laugh for a bit and settle down for the night, though a final comment by him makes me think things might be interesting in the future.

“You know it occurs to me this is the first thing I’ve invented for day to day life since we’ve moved here… I’m gonna have to work on that.”

***

Luna’s orb casts it dim light over the small alleyway behind the houses. I pull my cloak tighter around my form as I hear the sounds of approaching hooves. A similarly cloaked form materializes out of the darkness a moment later and approaches me.

It speaks, “I was told you were with the subject for a brief time earlier… any problems?”

I shake my head, “No, the subject is still unaware of our plan, and I aim to keep it that way until it is time.”

“Good, I received word, if all goes well we should be ready within the next few days. About that possible issue I mentioned earlier…”

“It doesn’t appear that will be a problem. Proceed to the next phase.”

Chapter 24: Down and Dirty

***Saturday, Day 15, morning***

*Door closing*

Huh? What was that… must have been Hydro leaving.

I crack open one eye to look at my clock.

7:30… on a Saturday… curse you Hydro, how dare you interfere with my plans to sleep late…

I work my way out of my bed and look over at Specter’s bed on the shelf. He sits there staring at me with a look that says ‘You may be getting up, but I’m going back to sleep.’ With that brief unspoken statement he promptly curls up and goes back to sleep as I try to wake myself up enough to successfully walk down the hall without hitting anything.

One breakfast of biscuits, jelly, and the last of the milk later, and I was ready for the next part of my day, restocking the groceries.

Wait, I feel like something is missing…

I feel a familiar weight on my head as Specs forces me to hold up my promise to spend more time with him.

Ok, now I’m ready.

Some Resing around town with a squirrel perched on my head later. (How’s that for a time skip?)

Ok last thing on the list, milk. Hmm should probably up it to three gallons at a time now… I think they said their based at the Acres.

I Blink my way over to the dairy barn at Applejack’s farm and spot some of the bovine in question.

Ok, now for the difficult part, which one of these is the one I was talking to last time about my order? Without as many distinguishing colors as ponies have, cows are harder to tell apart for me.

I eventually found Daisy Joe, the acting spokescow for the herd, and got myself all set up after enduring some light jabs that I must have a baby at home to keep going through all this milk. I told the ladies they better hope my kids like this stuff as much as I do, because if that’s the case I’ll probably have to make this trip 2-3 times a week! I chuckle to myself as I start down the path.

Nice ladies… hmm?

I squint my eyes at some colorful blurs moving around down in some of the apple fields as I head back. Recognizing a few of them, I head closer to see Hydro, Applejack, and a red stallion as tall as me but much more muscular. A yellow blur running around the trees proves the presence of a certain Apple filly as well.

Hydro notices me and waves as I get closer, “Hey, Rhino! What are you doing here?”

I stare at him with the easily noticeable gallons of milk in my bag.

Apparently it registers to him after a moment, “Oh right, stupid question.”

I roll my eyes at him as I turn to the orange one of the group, “Good morning Applejack.”

She smiles back, “Morning Rhino, oh where are my manners? This here is my brother, Big Macintosh.” She pats the large red earth pony on the side.

Same height as me or not this guy is huge!

We shake hooves, “Nice to meet you,” I say.

“Eeyup.”

Applejack puts a foreleg over her eyes and sighs, “Sorry about that, Big Mac doesn’t talk much.”

I shrug. Fine by me, I’ve never been one for forcing casual conversation.

I look at what looks like a trench behind the three ponies, “So what are you three up to anyways?”

Hydro goes on to explain how he’s setting the orchard up with a new irrigation system. The logistics are something along the lines of installing every other row of the orchard with mini sprinklers for the tree will save time on watering and lead to more time for other farm chores. It will also save them money on clouds for those days when they don’t have time to water the trees by hoof. They were working with a small section of the field as a trial, but before anything else can be done, first you have to dig the trenches for the pipes.

Makes sense, seems they’ve got it all figured out.

Hydro looks at me, “Hey why don’t you help us out with this?”

Well, I’d like to but I have these groceries and well…

Applejack looks toward from over where she was appraising the hole, “We could really use yer help.”

… And now there’s no way I can say no without feeling guilty, thanks Applejack…

“Umm, sure!”

Hydro looks to me like he knew it was going to come to this, “Nice, alright, why don’t you go drop Specter and the groceries off at the house and while you’re in town,” he hoofs me an envelope, “drop this off at town hall so we can get approval for a large scale irrigation system when the time comes. Come back here after that and we’ll be all set to finish up this section.”

***

A while later I find myself back with the reinforcements of Twilight, Volt, and Blue.

How did this happen again?! Ok let me think, Twilight saw me coming out of town hall and I ended up telling her about the work over here and she got weirdly excited about helping organize the efforts for the installation. Blue was flying over and heard us talking and asked whether he could tag along to ask the Apples about a job since he really needed a source of income, he said the opportunity to show them he was a good worker would help too. What was Volt’s reason… oh I remember:

Volt looks at me with his still fairly bandaged body, “Apparently when librarians know princesses, they have enough pull with the government to force you not to work when you’re injured even if you really want to.”

I nod sagely, “Indeed, librarians are mysterious and powerful beings.”

With all of us here it should go faster. Twilight is put in charge of keeping us on track, Volt being her assistant in the matter, Applejack and Big Macintosh are laying the pipes in the already dug out parts of the trench, and Hydro, myself, and Blue are handed shovels to dig.

If I’m going to sit here and shovel dirt today, I’m going to have some fun with it.

Hydro points me to a spot to start, “Ok Rhino, start over there and Blue and I will meet you back here from our side.”

I salute with the shovel in my magical grasp, “Roger that, oh sultan of soil.”

He raises an eyebrow before heading off with Blue. We toil for a bit before digging to the designated spot.

I look towards Hydro, “What next, duke of dirt?”

I get my next orders and get Blue assisting me this time, of course things are no fun if they go smoothly.

I shout over to Hydro, “Hey earl of earth! Can I get your opinion on this tree root?”

Hydro walks over and gives it a look, confers with Applejack, and comes back to us, “Just go around it.”

I start digging, “As you command, lord of loam.” Hydro goes back to his hole.

I think I saw a smirk that time.

The day continues like this for a while as I come up with new titles, each time I feel myself wearing away at him more and more.

“Governor of grit.”

“Baron of brown.”

“Monarch of mud.”

Eventually Applejack calls us in for a drink to refresh ourselves. Hydro calls out to Blue and I since we are the farthest away.

I yell back, “Acknowledged oh queen of questionably clean!”

As I walk up to the refreshing lemonade, Hydro gives me the eye, “Are you done with the titles yet?”

I swirl my glass a moment searching for ones I hadn’t thought of yet, “Yeah, I think that’s all I have for now.”

Hydro finishes his lemonade and sets it back down on the table with a thud, “Good.” He looks over at Twilight, “But just in case, Twilight, would you mind casting that little mind spell of yours on Rhino so we have some music to listen to?”

Twilight looks up from a blueprint she was scanning, “Oh sure, no problem.” Her horn glows and I hear the music in my head project for everypony around to hear as they work.

Click.

Hah! You can’t escape it Hydro.

Work for a good while to the tune, the beat keeping us all working at a steady pace until we shovel the last bit of earth onto the now filled back trenches signaling the day’s work ended. Applejack brings us out a basket full of cool apples which taste amazing after working all day despite the fact we were surrounded by them for the entirety of said day.

We all sit there munching and cooling off, Hydro explaining that the system won’t be up few at least a week since he had to get things all set up on the dam’s end of things. Applejack nods and Big Mac gives his single word approval as well. We eat for a little longer until our ears perk up at a strange scraping sound. We all look to the source to see the shovels all slowly dragging themselves blades first towards an unsuspecting Volt’s backside. The movements were smooth as if they were drawn to him.

As the shovels reach Volt they lay their blades flat onto his thighs, causing him to look back and notice them. He promptly stands up and tries to shake them off but they simply swing back and forth still attached to his hips by their blades.

We all bust out laughing as I remark, “Volt, I know times are tough since you can’t work right now, but surely you can afford to make yourself a dress out of something other than farm tools?”

The resulting increase in laughter was probably heard even back in town.

Blue was the first to get his merriment under control as he finished an apple and looked after the orange provider of it, “Applejack, I’ve been meaning to ask, do you have any paying jobs I could do here on the farm?”

Applejack gives him an apologetic look, “Sorry sugarcube, but harvest season ain’t here yet so we don’t have much to do other than general upkeep. Ya’ll might try to weather office though.”

Blue perks up at this, “That’s a great idea!” He zooms off the find the office before it closes.

We stare at his empty seat a moment before shovel dress over there remarks, “Did he just ditch us?”

I give him a blank look, “That depends, was that pun intentional?”

“Umm, no?”

“Then yes he ditched us.”

“What would you have said if I said yes?”

I swallow a bite of apple, “I wouldn’t have said anything, I would have watched Hydro bop you with one of those shovels.”

Even Volt laughs as we all unwind after a long day.

Chapter 25: Sunday

***Sunday, Day 16, Morning***

ZZzzz….

*Knock, knock, knock*

My one eye not buried in my pillow cracks open at the intruding sound of somepony at the door, the rest of my body warming up for the daily grind of basic motor and mental functions.

Ugh, I keep telling them, I am not a morning pony, I am a night owl! Who dares disturb my slumber?!

I groggily make my way downstairs as Specter snoozes on in his bed. I arrive at the door and open to find a familiar fashionista behind it.

She looks at me with a bright smile on her face, “Good morning Rhino! Lovely day isn’t it?”

I look at her and slowly blink as I try and get my mind warmed up enough to come up with a response after my rude awakening, I finally find one, “Good morning Rarity…” I decide to cut to the chase, subtlety not being one of my first traits to show itself in the mornings, “did you need something?”

She nods, “You remember our little talk about you continuing Sweetie Belle’s magic lessons?”

“I do.”

“Well, I was thinking we make them a little more scheduled, say every Sunday? This way we can plan around them if need be.”

“That sounds like a good idea.”

She tilts her head to the side slightly as her smile falters, “Are you alright dear? You seem… not entirely here.”

If you are expecting exhilarating conversation before I have my morning milk, you will be severely disappointed.

I stifle a yawn as I reply, “Still waking up a bit, sorry if it comes off as rude.”

She perks back up, “Oh, well in that case, I’ll leave you to your morning then, come by the boutique later for Sweetie’s lesson alright?”

I wave to her as she heads off, calling after her, “See you then!”

One of these days I am going to find a way to sleep late, and it will be glorious. But for now… to the fridge!

***

I head out to the library with my usual passenger in his favorite spot. When we arrive I open the door to find Twilight, Volt, and a white pony with pink mane and tail who I assume to be a nurse judging by her hat. I walk in just as Twilight was asking a question.

“So what do you think Nurse Redheart?”

The nurse pony replies, “As far as I can tell Twilight, he can take off the majority of the bandages now and otherwise he’s fine.”

Volt is lying down on the couch, “Are we done with the needles?”

Twilight notices me as I shut the door, “Oh hello Rhino!”

“Good morning Twilight, everything alright?”

“From what we can tell, yes. According to what Nurse Redheart and I have found, while he’s in relatively good shape, Volt has gained a bit of a power boost from that incident with Fluffers.”

Lightning pony plus lightning equals stronger lightning pony… seems legit.

Redheart packs up her bag while I unpack the books from mine into the returns box, “Well, if that’s everything Twilight, I need to get back to the hospital.”

Twilight opens the door for her, “Thanks again for checking up on Volt!”

I decide to make conversation while browsing some new books, “So what was that you said about a power boost?”

She levitates a thick stack of papers over to herself and takes one out to look at, “Well, from what I’ve gathered,” Volt groans at the word ‘gathered’ “The excess lightning Volt was struck with served to increase his overall magical potential. Unfortunately his body isn’t quite used to the new amount of magic in him so it has been manifesting a few side effects… yesterday’s incident with the shovels being a prime example of a slight magnetic side effect that seems to come and go, and another one being that he seems to carry a static charge more often now as well. We’ve also surmised that certain mood spikes can cause an accompanying magical spike since his power is unstable while his body adjusts to the increase. But given time, this will allow him to do more than he could before he was struck by the lightning.”

Volt raises an eyebrow at her and said sarcastically, “What, am I going to be able to shoot lightning out of my horn or something?”

Twilight answers without a hint of sarcasm, “Its definitely possible.”

Volt blinked, not expecting that answer, “Oh… any more shocking future developments I should be aware of?”

I got enough of Twilight’s attention to borrow a few more books as she answered, “Hmmm, I don’t think there should be much else, just the spikes and small side effects like I said.” She puts a hoof to her chin to thought for a moment, “There is one thing I want to check though.” She walks over to Volt.

Volt looks at Twilight as she approaches, though his eyes widen quickly as she keeps getting closer. Finally she is only a few inches from his face as she stares intently at his horn, his eyes bulge for a moment before the lights flare and pop. Leaving us all in darkness.

Huh, déjà vu.

I decide to make my exit, “Well I see you two are busy so I’ll just be going now.” I start sidling my way over to the crack of light I can see around the door. I hear some scrabbling as I open and shut the door behind me followed by a shout from what sounded like the purple librarian “It’s not what you think- Hey! Watch where you’re poking that thing!”

Yeah, don’t want to know, leaving now.

***

I made my way over to the boutique, the warm sun having put Specter to sleep on my head a few minutes ago, my mind relaxing a bit too as I pretty much put myself on auto pilot for the trip to the boutique. As I leisurely made my way through town, a particular sight causes enough of a stir in my head to make me pay attention.

Is that… Applejack and Hydro?

I make my way over to the two ponies who are sitting at table in a little café enjoying what looks to be a light lunch. I slow down a bit since I don’t want to interrupt anything, but a quick wave over from Hydro gets me there without much delay.

I look between the two before addressing what I felt to be the important question, “So, is this what I think it is?”

Applejack just smirks while taking a sip of her drink, “Eeyup.”

Hydro chuckles and explains, “Well after that bit of work yesterday I felt it would be a good time to ask, and you know I’ve never been quite as hesitant about asking as you have.”

I glance over at the apple pony, “Well, I suppose she is your type. Congratulations then you two.” I turn to leave, “I’ll go ahead and get back on my way so you two can enjoy yourselves.”

As I leave Applejack speaks up, “One thing before you go sugarcube.” I turn back to her. “Ah meant to mention this yesterday but forgot. Ya might want to watch out for Dash, she was acting mighty strange after you and Fluttershy left Blue’s party the other night. She can be a little protective of Fluttershy, so just watch yerself.”

I digest this new information as I reply, “Thanks for the warning, I’ll keep that in mind.”

She tips her hat at me as I head towards the boutique again.

Hmm, this could be trouble. I’m sure if we can just talk about this we’ll be fine… but I don’t think it’ll go quite that smoothly.

***

As I walked home later I reflected on my time in the fashionista’s abode.

The boutique ended up being a very enjoyable affair. Sweetie Belle’s lesson went fairly smoothly, we focused more on control this time… a choice made doubly certain by the second horn I almost obtained when she put a little too much effort when trying to hold a pencil. Suffice to say we switched to tossing yarn balls after that, aided in distracting Opal from what she saw as stealing her toys by a surprise Fluttershy.

From what I overheard while supervising Specter, who was helping Sweetie Bell’s magical reaction time by diving at her from various parts of the store, Fluttershy had come by to repair a dress, though for some reason Rarity looked over at me whenever she found out. Meh, not worrying about it. Anyways, Fluttershy had to leave but I saw her off at the door with a quick nuzzle about the time Specter spooked Rarity after she walked in between him and Sweetie and thus became the victim of an unwanted face glomp. I think my ears are still ringing a little from that shriek.

Still overall, I think a very successful and much more fun lesson than last time, plus Sweetie’s question about sensing auras gives me a great topic for next time. Still, I can’t help feeling as though something happened that I missed…

*** (Just after Fluttershy left the boutique while Rhino was still teaching)***

A rainbow blur lands in front of a butter-yellow pegasus who was on her way home.

“Oh, hello Rainbow Dash. Did you need something?”

“Fluttershy, we need to talk.”

Chapter 26 Ways to Liven up Monday

***Monday, Day 16, morning***

**Mane Street, 3rd person**

A sugar filled mass of pink leisurely makes her way through town humming a tune to herself, well, as leisurely as one can be when bouncing. She makes her way to a corner of the market square and stops, looking around for something, or perhaps somepony.

Spotting her quarry, she yells out, “Rainbow Dash! There you are!”

Her shout startles the rainbow-maned pegasus on the nearby cloud, but when Dash looks toward the source of the sound, the pink pony is missing. Rainbow scratches the back of her head with the back of a hoof before turning around and finding herself face to face with Pinkie.

“Gah!” Rainbow jumps back a few hooflengths on her cloud to give herself some space, and can see that her pink friend is standing on a rooftop next to her cloud.

Pinkie simply smiles at her friend before starting to babble, “I was wondering where you were Dashie! I thought you were gonna be late for our prank day! Oh this is going to be so great, I’ve already got all the supplies like pies and water guns and whoopee cushions and –”

Rainbow shoves her hoof in her excitable friend’s mouth while she continues to talk around it. When it’s clear Pinkie isn’t going to be stopping anytime soon Dash talks over her, “Actually Pinkie, I needed to talk to you about that, I’ve got to take care of some things today so I can’t go pranking with you today, you understand right?”

The earth pony nods, “Don’t worry Dashie I understand, but just so you don’t feel left out,” Pinkie pulls a present out from behind her back, “here you go!” She places the present on the edge of the roof towards the cloud pony and bounces off across the rooftops.

Dash follows the bouncing sugar fueled pony before simply shrugging and turning to her box. She takes off the bow and rips off the paper before peering inside… and receiving a toothless alligator to the face for her trouble. She rears back and starts trying to pry the offender off her muzzle before a set of pink hooves removes the reptile, the owner of the hooves smiling back at Rainbow.

Pinkie giggles at her friend, “It’s amazing what they hide in boxes these days, huh Dashie?” With that, the pink pony once again bounces off while Rainbow Dash applies liberal amounts of cloud to her face trying to wipe off the alligator drool.

**Volt**

Voltage Surge strolls down the road with a smile on his face showing his glee at finally having his bandages off and being able to feel the wind on his face again. He makes his way in no particular direction, simply enjoying the day. A sudden rustling noise catches his attention, but when he looks toward the sound, all he sees is a hay bale next to a market stall. Blinking, he simply keeps walking until he hears the sound again, this time from the other side of him. He turns to see a hay bale sitting in the mouth of an alleyway, but a look back shows the first hay bale missing from beside the stall.

Volt puts a hoof to his chin, “Hmmm.” His eye lingers on the bale as he once again starts on his way. As soon as he hears the rustling he jumps around pointing at the alley, “Ahah!” His triumphant cry falls short as he realizes he is pointing at nothing. He scratches his head before simply shrugging and turning back around… to get a nose full of hay.

Volt jumps back pawing at his nose and snorting hay, giving the bale in front of him a wary eye. Once his nose is clear, Volt cautiously approaches the bale, walking slowly and silently even though he is in the middle of the street in broad daylight. He nears the bale and leans closer trying to figure out what it is-

“BOO!”

“Woah!”

Volt falls onto his back at the sudden giggling pink face popping out of the hay. Volt lays there with a stunned expression on his face before chuckling himself at how bad she got him. Pinkie climbs out of the hay and helps Volt up, the two chatting away as she does so. Suddenly the two nod at each other and walk off.

**Hydro**

“Ok a little to the left now Volty.”

*squeak*

“Now a little to the right.”

*squeak*

“Maybe a smidgameter more to the left…”

“Pinkie!” Volt exclaims, having spent the last 10 minutes making minute adjustments to the aim of the cannon.

“Perfect!” The Pink pony exclaims, jumping to her position next to Volt behind the cannon. “And now, we wait.”

The blue unicorn and pink earth pony snicker as they see the target approach the danger zone. Hydro is having a one sided conversation with Schmoopy, who is swimming in his specially designed belt, when he is hailed from down the street.

“Hey, Hydro!”

Hydro stops and looks toward the voice calling him-

*BOOM*

*Splat*

-and receives a high speed pie to the face for his trouble. The force of the pie sending him back a few feet as he shakes his head trying to figure out what just happened. The sound of laughter and his hoof clearing the filling from his eyes soon tells him the whole story.

As the two blue and pink ponies walk up to him, Hydro gives them the stink eye for a moment before grinning and licking some of the pie off his face. “You two are lucky I like apple pie,” he says licking another spot off his face.

**Blue**

Blue wings his way through the skies above Ponyville, coming down for spurts of low flying while still going high enough every once in a while to continue his practice of learning all the main areas of the town and the skies above them. After applying at the weather center, Blue was given the job and Rainbow was his new boss. His current assignment was to learn the sky so he could help with the small shower they had scheduled for early tomorrow morning.

He dives down again and works his way through the streets at about roof height, simply lost in his thoughts-

*Gush*

“What the?”

-until he is knocked off balance by a powerful stream of water and almost runs into a tree. He hears laughing and looks down to see Hydro, Volt, and Pinkie, Hydro is wearing a water container on his side, Volt is touching his glowing horn to the container, and Pinkie is currently aiming it up at him. Blue swoops down shakes himself off, showering all of them in the process.

Hydro simply smirks at Blue, “So tell me Blue, did you feel a tingle when you were hit?”

Blue raises on eyebrow at him, “No, why?”

Hydro frowns slightly and turns back to Volt, “You were charging the water right? I thought you guys said electricity was super effective against flying types.”

Pinkie and Volt simply shrug.

Blue looks in between all of them, “So what’s with all this anyway?” The trio explains their pranking, at the end Blue smirks, “I know who to get next then.”

**Rhino **

The newly formed quartet of pranksters surveys their latest pranking mechanism.

Hydro gives it a nod, “I like it, simple but complex.”

Volt continues, “A little more spread out gratification…”

Pinkie takes it up, “…but this is going to be great to watch!”

Blue wraps it up, “And it ends with something nopony would ever see coming.”

The four high hoof before spotting their prey walking away from his job and them.

Volt looks at them, “So how do we get him over here?”

Blue gives him a deadpan look, “Easy,” he yells over at Rhino, “Hey Rhino, come here a second!”

Rhino turns and, seeing his friends, starting heading their way.

Pinkie starts giggling to herself as Rhino approaches, Hydro shushing her so she doesn’t give the game away. Rhino walks to closer to them and opens his mouth to greet them-

-only to have the ground give way under his hoof so he falls in their disguised pit trap. A second later he flies back out having bounced off the trampoline, and then lands in their perfectly placed landing cushion-

“COLD!”

-made of snow.

The three stallions and one mare all roll on the ground laughing at their perfectly executed prank while Rhino tries to get all the snow off himself to get rid of the spikes of cold currently covering him. After a minute he warms back up and the others have calmed down.

Rhino looks at the others chuckling, “Very well done you four, I never saw it coming,” his chuckles get a little deeper, “of course you probably didn’t see this coming either.”

*Splat, splat, splat, splat*

Each of the pranksters is hit with a snowball to the face, eyes breaking through their new snow masks to see Rhino holding another snowball in his magical grip, along with Specter holding one on top of his head. The foursome looks at each other before scooping some ammo out of the spare snow they had Blue bring just in case.

Pinkie points out to Rhino holding her snowball, “Charge!”

***Later that night***

A cloaked figure is flinging rocks up to a window on its target house, small rocks though, only meant to get somepony’s attention. A few more rocks are thrown before a familiar green unicorn pokes his head out of the window.

“I trust you have a good reason for this?” he questions the cloaked shape.

The figure replies, bringing a small box from within its cloak as it does so, “The best reason of all.” The figure tosses the box up to the window.

The green unicorn catches the box in his magic, tilting it to feel the contents shifting inside before turning back to the cloak covered visitor, “Is this the last part we needed?”

“Yes, everything else is ready, when did you want the plan to commence?”

“Why wait any longer? We do this tomorrow.”

***That same night in Canterlot***

A guard knocks on the door to his commander’s office.

“Come in.”

The guard enters to see his commander as he thought he would, at his desk working through the tedious but necessary evil of paperwork. The commander looks up as the door closes.

“Something you needed Sergeant?”

“Yes sir, I had something you need to see,” the guard draws a folder out from under his wing and hoofs it to the commander.

“What is this?”

“It’s about Atomic Vortex, sir.”

Chapter 27 What Comes Out

***Tuesday, Day 17, morning***

“So what was that about last night?” Hydro asks me over breakfast.

I raise an eyebrow at him, “What do you mean ‘that’?”

He gives me a serious look, “I heard some rocks hitting your window last night, they woke me up from a nice sleep.”

Right, I forget sometimes how light of a sleeper Hydro is, from what he told me he’ll get woken up by the neighbor’s dog sneezing inside its own house… then there’s me who used to be able to get a good night’s sleep even with two large dogs barking right outside my window.

“You heard that huh?” I turn back to my food, “Sorry about waking you up, hope you got back to sleep fine.”

Hydro gives me a look, “I did, but you didn’t actually answer the question about why somepony was throwing rocks at the window.”

I finish eating and bring my dishes to the sink as I reply in a playful tone, “No, I suppose I didn’t.”

“Are you going to?”

“Eventually.”

“…”

“Tell you what, if you really want to know what it was about, meet me at the clinic say… around eleven, by then everypony else should have arrived and I’ll explain it to all of you.”

Hydro crosses his forelegs over his chest, “Now how are you going to make sure everypony gets there AND get to work on time?”

I smile, “I’m making some invitation arrangements with the mistress of parties herself, I’m sure she’ll be happy to get them to everypony before it’s time.”

“Pinkie huh,” Hydro gets up and starts packing for work himself, “Well before you go and get yourself a nice dose of crazy from spending time with her, I need to ask you something about your magic.”

Huh, he never asks about my magic aside from the usual “what are you working on” questions.

“What do you want to know?”

“Do you think you can cast a spell to break apart water molecules?”

“…Random… but maybe, not on the spot but with some preparation I suppose I could do it on a small scale…”

“Small scale works fine.”

“Might I ask what this spell would be for?”

Hydro smirks at me, “You might ask, but I won’t tell.”

I give him a flat look, “This is payback for me holding out on you earlier isn’t it?”

“Maybe.”

*Sigh* “Fair enough, I do look forward to seeing what you need a random spell for.”

“The same as I look forward to seeing why you need ponies throwing rocks at our windows in the middle of the night.”

Touche.

**At the clinic**

I put on my white coat as I walk to the front of the clinic from my office to see everypony else chatting as they wait. I nod to Manila and she pulls out the files as Mane walks in yawning slightly from having to get here earlier than she’s used to. Everypony notices me and quiets down as I clear my throat.

I smile at the group as Mane and Manila shiver with anticipation, “Good morning everypony, I suppose you’re all wondering why I had Pinkie call you here today…”

Blue interrupts, “Why so serious Rhino? We’re all friends here.”

I chuckle a bit with the others as I realize how uptight I’m acting, “Alright I suppose I can tone it down a bit, but still this is at least slightly professional,”

Volt cuts in, “Says the guy with a squirrel on his head,”

I ignore him and turn towards my favorite pegasus, “Now Fluttershy, I have a question to ask you: How would you like to work here at the clinic? I’ve seen your skills with the animals and I think you’d fit right in.”

She smiles softly, “Oh I’d love to,” her smile falters a bit and she scuffs the ground with a hoof, “but I can’t, I don’t have a high enough degree.”

Exactly as I hoped she’d say.

“Now that is where a little idea I had comes in.” I gesture to my coworkers, “The others and I talked it over and we were wondering if you might join us as our first veterinary nurse.”

She cocks her head to one side, “I’ve… never heard of that job before.”

Manila raises her voice so the others can hear her, “That’s because your coltfriend there pretty much invented it himself!”

I try to keep a straight face even though I know very well I’m blushing as Mane continues where her sister left off, “We found him going through the files one day and asked what he was up to, he explained about this little surprise he had for you and once we saw the details we knew we had to help for both you and the clinic.”

I pick up the speech having gotten my voice back after Manila’s little praise, “See Fluttershy, essentially what we will be doing, is paying you to continue doing what you already do. You would be the pony we have on call for quick fixes and house calls, anything bigger and you simply send them to us here at the clinic. In return, we keep you constantly supplied with the basics such as bandages, disinfectants, and treats, as well as a steady paycheck. Oh and one more thing, you don’t need a doctorate, simply experience, which I’m sure everypony here can attest that you have.”

Hydro raises a hoof as Fluttershy stands there soaking in what we told her, “So two quick questions: Why are the rest of us here, and how does this explain why you had somepony meet you last night?”

Blue smirks, “Having some back alley meetings there Rhino?”

I roll my eyes at them, “For why the rest of you are here, wait a moment and I’ll tell you, as for the meetings-“

“That was me actually,” Manila interjected, “A few times when I was out on my nightly walks I would meet Rhino and tell him how progress was going on the project since telling him at work might have had somepony walk in and ruin the surprise. Plus it made me feel like I was in one of those spy movies! Sneaking around, covert meetings, it was so much fun! Manila, pony of espionage!” She claps her hooves in excitement.

The whole room goes silent for a moment until Hydro addresses the awkward silence, “…Okaaaaay… So most of that was convenience, what about the whole throwing rocks thing last night?”

Manila blushes slightly, “Oh sorry, did I wake you?”

I answer, “He’s a light sleeper, don’t worry about it.” Manila still ducks her head slightly as I turn back to Fluttershy, “And that actually brings me back to a little something extra I got, Manila got them to me when they arrived last night,” I pull out the small box from inside my saddlebags and open it to reveal two colorless gems, each of them with a single rune carved into their largest flat surface and the gems themselves appear as if mirror images of each other. I hear a gasp and look up to see Rarity with a wide eyed gaze and a hoof over her mouth. “I take it you know what these are then Rarity?”

She points with the hoof she was using to cover her mouth, “Those are Gemini gems!”

Twilight’s eyes light up at the name, “Gemini gems?!”

Blue looks between the two unicorn mares, “Okay, now so the rest of us can get excited too, mind explaining?”

Twilight goes into lecture mode, “Gemini gems are essentially twin gems that are the mirror image of each other, the gems are always colorless and not found very often. When they are found, their unique internal structures grant them the ability to resonate with each other. Unicorns have devised a spell to harness this innate resonance and use it to reflect what one gem sees into the other gem, and vice versa. This can allow for long distance simultaneous communication between the two gems. Each set can only communicate with the two gems within said set, and extended communication is out of the question, at maximum you have a few minutes at a time and they can’t be used again immediately afterwards.”

Blue gives her a look, “And the short version is…?”

Twilight rolls her eyes, “If you have one, and another pony has another, you can see them and talk to them through it, but only for a short time.”

Volt looks at me, “So why would a vet nurse need these?”

I set the box back in my bag as I explain, “Well, unless we get really swamped here at the clinic, Fluttershy could actually spend her shift at her house if she wanted to. These gems allow her to do that, but we could still be able to contact her whenever we needed her to go see somepony, or she needed to contact us about any emergency. That’s the official use for them anyway, unofficially, since I put up half the price, we can use them how we wish as long as we leave enough charge for work.”

I look back at the yellow pegasus, “So like I asked earlier, how would you like to work with us here at the clinic?”

Fluttershy beamed at me and walked up to me, “Like I said earlier… I’d love to.” I felt her soft lips against mine as she darted in for a quick kiss before darting behind her mane and peeking out with a face now thoroughly blushing, matching my own perfectly.

Wow… well this certainly turned out much better than I expected.

I thought I heard a huff but it was drowned out by the sounds of Fluttershy and I’s respective sexes dragging us off to opposite sides of the room to chat. I could hear much giggling and congratulations for the job from the mares as the guys started up.

Hydro began, “Well that explained a lot, but be honest with me Rhino.”

I cock my head to the side slightly, “About what?”

“You just did this whole thing so you could see Fluttershy in a nurse outfit didn’t you?”

Hmm…

I reply, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Sure you don’t.”

Blue playfully takes a jab as well, “Is this what you have to do to get Ponyville mares? Beat down thugs then get the mare her dream job? I can handle the first one but the second is a bit of a stretch.”

We laugh for at that until the sound of stomping hooves interrupts us and we look up to see the end of a rainbow tail make its way out of the front door. Feeling something is wrong, I ask Specter to go play with Manila for a second while I go after Dash, Fluttershy beating me out the door with a look that spoke of the same intentions. I hear Fluttershy calling out to Rainbow who stops after a short distance and turns around.

I look at Rainbow who is looking increasingly agitated, “Is something the matter Dash?”

Her eyes narrow as she looks at me, her volume rising with every word, “Oh like you don’t know, you’re what’s the matter!” She points an accusing hoof at me.

What did I do?

Fluttershy darts in front of me, her stance more aggressive than I’ve ever seen her be before, “Rainbow Dash! You have no right to say that to him!”

Rainbow’s wings flare as she responds, “I have every right to say that to him! After what he did in Cloudsdale to those pegasi, who’s to say he won’t snap one day and do the same to you! And the first thing he does when we get back is to take you off alone with him?! He’s using you Fluttershy! All that stuff about it being to protect you, hah! All that nice stuff he’s been doing, an act! He’s just waiting until he can-“

“NO!”

I stare wide eyed at Fluttershy’s defiant yell, which to a normal pony would be about the voice one switches to in order to make sure one was heard clearly, but to the soft spoken pegasus was the equivalent of shouting someone down.

She continues in a voice still louder than her normal one, but not quite yelling anymore, “You don’t you what you’re talking about. You listen to me, he is not using me! You know why he did what he did to those ponies, and you also know how torn up he was about it!”

“He was just-“

“And that night we got back? He was escorting me home, and picking up his pet! Afterwards, he was a perfect gentle colt and took me on a great first date!”

“But the other day when I talked to you-“

“I thought you were just protecting me like you sometimes did in flight school so I thanked you for it, but like I told you then Rhino has been nothing but wonderful to me! You do not treat him like this when he has done nothing to deserve it!” I could see small tears falling on the ground from Fluttershy as Rainbow became more and more cowed with each word spoken. “You made it clear what you think of him, but you’re wrong. He’s not using me, he genuinely cares about me. *sniff* I’m happy with him, and I will not let anypony take that away from me!” Fluttershy softly stomps a hoof, but from Raindbow’s flinch, you’d think Fluttershy cracked the very ground with that stomp.

Rainbow backs off a few paces before turning and flying off at top speed while Fluttershy simply hangs her head and lets more tears out. I slowly walk up to her and put a hoof around her shoulders as she turn and cries into my chest.

**At the clinic**

Hydro walks back in with stunned look on his face, the others crowd around him asking what happened. He simply shakes his head before replying, “I think Fluttershy just chewed out Rainbow Dash…”

At the others questioning gazes Hydro tells them all of what he saw, Rarity summing it all up, “I guess that assertiveness training she took did stick a little, it sounds like it tore the poor dear up to use it on a friend though… *sigh* I think Rainbow will leave them alone now but… I’m not sure exactly how else she’ll react to this.”

Q and A Special!

Alright, we’ll just be going in order by character to keep it simple, if the next time I do a Q and A I get more questions… then I’ll do something along the lines of Coal’s ones where he would make it almost like an interview, but for this first one let’s keep it to the basics.

Rhino:

How did you and Hydro meet?

Believe it or not, high school band. I played trombone, he played trumpet, we just had a conversation one day and really hit it off. We talked some more and found we had similar interests, so really, just a normal “met him at school” story. We’ve been best friends ever since.

Do you know any other spells besides Res and Blink?

Well yes, I also know levitation and the nerve sensing and dampening spell I used on Specter. Generally speaking though, I sometimes do research into spells that I think are interesting, but mostly I’ll break down spells I already know into their basic components and use them from there. For example, did you know I actually use a modified version of levitation as a magical knife so I don’t have to use a real one then wash it? To me, it’s not about the number of spells you know, it’s about using what you already know to accomplish the greatest number of things. Hmm, I actually have been wondering if I should learn a new type of spell lately, just not sure what to do…

Do you ever fear Specs will plot with Angel to get revenge on you?

Why would he do that? I take him pretty much everywhere I go, I’ve never done anything bad to him, he has to no reason to plot revenge of any kind on me. Angel really doesn’t have a reason either, the only thing he might be sore about is me dating Fluttershy, but we came to an understanding about that.

Hydro:

How is it living with Rhino?

Not too bad... except on the nights he snores I'm not sure how half of Equestria sleeps when he gets to snoring.

Why are you such a colossal douchebag?

I'm really not I just don't trust people too easy and volt has a way of majorly getting on my nerves at times.

What is the hardest part of working at the dam?

Well when the capacitors aren't over loading, The turbines are greased and in balance, the lake has enough water in it for the whole place to keep running, Volt isn't messing with the power grid causing circuits to fry again, and I'm not having to do any external repairs, It's keeping the damn fridge stocked I mean seriously you wouldn't think it's that big of a deal but I swear someone breaks in at night and eats all my food because I come back and someone's eaten an entire jar of jelly and all the drinks are gone -.-

Volt:

How has life been since coming to Ponyville?

A little less crazy than college, here all that’s happened is I’ve been launched into a cloud and gained the ability to shoot lightning out of my horn… in college most situations involved me being blown up partially, being thrown off balconies, and I once worked as a part time electrician for a pimp.

Would it be possible for you to leave a “present” outside Hydro’s bedroom?

Let me get my Big Book of Things to Replace Quotation Mark Words With, let me go to the presents section, ummmmmm, now I pick a random answer… Sweet Celestia you sick bastard! Where would I even get a dead body of a goat, a tome of necromancy, and the hairbrush of Princess Celestia? I don’t know where you get these sick fetishes Atom, but please keep them to yourself.

How was it to be a magnet for a while?

I was strangely attracted to the idea, but soon I realized it and I were polar opposites *Random frying pan come out of nowhere and hits Volt upside the head*

Blue:

How has life in Ponyville differed from what you originally expected?

Hmm, well, I’m used to crazy stuff happening, but I’m not even at the Everfree yet and things are already insane what with Rhino and all of his friends. So I guess it’s just more wild than what I was expecting.

How did it feel being scared of a cloud?

Scared? I wasnt scared! How dare you, sir!

What is your favorite thing about Ponyville so far (besides the Everfree)?

I like the cozy feel of it. I liked the cloud buildings in Cloudsdale and all, but I like the feel of Ponyville a lot more. It’s just got a real friendly and homey vibe to it.

Author:

What were some of your biggest inspirations to start writing?
What made you want to start writing after spending so much time commenting and reading?
What inspired you to write?

I’m just gonna tackle all of these at once. Let’s see, I can’t really set into perspective what the biggest inspirations were, so I’ll just mention some that come to mind. I’ve always been a reader, passed 10 million words read on fimfiction recently, and have also enjoyed seeing what I read in my head. When this is put into reading fanfics, it really helps one enjoy the story, but there’s always that small thought at the back of your mind saying what you would do in that situation. But I really had no interest in writing a Human in Equestria fic, so I just ignored it. I began seeing more and more OC’s in stories such as Three of Me, and actually decided to expand upon my own that I had been just tossing around in my head for a bit, Rhino. I ended up submitting him to a story because it seemed like it would be fun to see him in a story, sort of makes him… I don’t know it’s just really satisfying in some way. Anyways, I then found Continuing the Dream, it’s author, Blue Breeze, actually contacted me when I favorite it which really made him stand apart from other authors for me since I normally only comment occasionally but that’s all. I ended up talking with him and at one point… I was tossing ideas to him for his story and after about the thirtieth item on the list, he asked why I didn’t just write my own fic if I had so many ideas. I thought about it, and I realized I probably could write if I put my mind to it and just wrote about something I was comfortable with writing that would also be fun. But I was still a little worried about it so told myself if I reached a certain number of words read I would give it a shot… suffice to say after reading many hundreds of thousands of words in one week, I realized I had plenty of time on my hands to write if I was reading this much. So I decided to give it a shot, and base the characters off myself and my friend, since our conversations generally end up ending unintentionally entertaining anyway. The rest you can see, I’m much better at writing now than when I started, and I look forward to writing even more.

How did you come up with Fluffers?

I was talking to my friends about wondering what I was going to do for my first arc and one of them pitched a nanobot cloud idea at me, I asked him if I could use it, he said yes, I made some changes to make it more Equestria plausible, added looks, behavior, and wallah! Fluffers.

What made you choose to give Rhino a flying squirrel as a pet?

Well, I always thought squirrels were cool in real life, their very smart and seem like they’d be a fun pet if you could actually tame one. Behold Equestria! Where the pets are smarter, and any animal that was wild is taken care of by a pegasus. I was thinking about possible pets for my OC and I thought about squirrels… make the squirrel black, make it a flying squirrel, give him a small introductory story and a name, Specter was born and seems like a few ponies like him so I think he was very successful.

Why did you make Rhino a unicorn?

Well, I was talking to some of my brony friends and of course the question comes up: What breed of pony would you be if you were in Equestria? Well, I looked at general personalities and what I liked about each race, and everything just pointed to unicorn. Magic for one, can’t see a way to go wrong with that. I also tried to base the OC on me in some areas since it’s easier to write about my own personality traits than made up ones. I’m not really sure actually, just seems right you know? I couldn’t see me as anything else. (Strangely enough, of my two best friends and myself, each of us would be a different breed of pony, amazing how well that works out huh?)

Chapter 28: Truth and Reconciliation

***Wednesday, Day 25, morning***

Well last week certainly was… eventful. At least at first it was, I finally get to give my marefriend the end results of my little project, only to have Rainbow Dash explode at me, followed by the Fluttershy equivalent, essentially a poof, of exploding back at her. At least Fluttershy calmed down pretty quick and we were able to all go to that lunch I planned for us. I'm still a bit worried about Flutters, but I’m a little worried about Dash too. Her accusations were a bit extreme, but she seemed very distraught at the end of it all… still the rest of the girls said it would be best to give her time so I guess I’ll just put it out of mind for now. It has been a week, perhaps she is in a better mood.

The rattling of the activating Gemini gem on my shelf punctuates the end of my reflection of recent events. I levitate the gem over to me to see Fluttershy’s unsure eyes on its largest face.

“Umm Rhino? I’m sorry if I woke you up but am I using this gem right?”

I chuckle as I respond, “I was already awake Fluttershy, and you’re doing great. I’ll see you at work in a bit to get you stocked up on supplies alright?”

She smiles softly in the adorable way she does, “See you then.”

I toss the gem into my bag as I walk out of my room and into the hallway-

*Bonk*

-and run nose first into… something.

What the hay? What did I hit?

I put my hoof out in front of me and tap it against whatever invisible thing I ran into, I look at it and tap it a few more times before it hits me.

Oh it’s glass… huh, now why are random glass panes in the middle of the hallway?

I gently move the pane out of my way and follow the light reflections off them down the hall. As I get about halfway I hear a small *tink* behind me, a look back shows Specter got the same surprise I did when he left my room. He shakes his head before finding the hole I made and quickly catching up to me and climbing onto his usual spot, looking down into my eyes with a look that says ‘If we’re gonna start having random invisible walls in the house, I’m gonna stay up here so you hit them first.’ I shake my head at him before making my way to Hydro’s room where I can hear some glass being shifted before the stallion in question comes out and notices us.

As I motion towards the glass leaning against the hallway walls Hydro gets an amused smirk on his face, “You ran into it didn’t you?”

I give him a not-so-amused face in response, “Well excuse me for not thinking of searching for hidden walls in my own house. What are you doing with all this glass anyway?”

“Well I couldn't just keep Schmoopy in either the belt or his small bowl forever could I? So I’m making him an aquarium.” He gestures to the box of various decorative underwater items behind him.

“You couldn’t just buy one could you?”

“Not with what I wanted to do with it.”

“And that would be…?”

“You’ll see once it’s finished later today.”

I rub my eyes with a hoof and sigh lightly, “Alright, can you at least tell me why you need the sledgehammer?” I point to the tool in question leaning up against the wall behind him.

He gives me yet another smirk, “You’ll see.”

“Frankly, the more you say that the more worried I’m getting, I’m not sure I want to know anymore.”

***In the skies above Ponyville, noonish***

Blue Breeze was winging his way through the skies on his rounds to make sure all was right with the weather. That was his official reason anyway. Unofficially he was on the lookout not for rogue weather, but for Rainbow Dash. The others may think that Dash needed to be alone, but he also knew sometimes ponies just needed somepony to listen, and Dash’s tendency to mope on clouds makes the list of those who could find her, let alone get up to her, awfully short.

Blue notices a cloud over the park, to most other ponies it’s just a cloud, but to his eye he could see said cloud was moving in slow circles, not something clouds do on their own. He flies over to the cloud to find the spectrum pony herself flopped onto it with a thousand yard stare and slowly beating wings. He alights next to her, barely making a dip in the cloud as he waits.

She finally speaks after a long silence, not looking up as she does, “What do you want Blue?”

Blue speaks to the back of Dash’s head since it’s all he can see, “Just dropping by to see how you’re doing.”

The bitterness in her voice is almost tangible, “I’m great. My oldest friend yelled and even started crying because of me, probably hates me by now too. I’m just fantastic.”

Blue closes his eyes and shakes his head, “First of all, I can tell you Fluttershy doesn’t hate you. She said so at lunch yesterday, she was actually worried about you.”

Rainbow huffs, still facing away from Blue, “Figures… not even sure why I said what I did,” She sits up and turns to Blue with a slightly suspicious look in her eye, “why am I even telling you anything? Why do you care?”

Blue shrugs, “Just thought you might appreciate an unbiased listener if you needed to get anything off your chest.”

“Whatever…” Rainbow huffs again, but lighter this time, “I don’t know Blue, I’m not even sure where I would start.”

Blue smiles lightly, “Well how about we skip the whole “Tell me about your childhood” bit and just focus on what you said and why you said it hmm?”

“I guess… I don’t know, I guess that stuff that happened with Cloudsdale shook me up a little worse than I thought it did. Fluttershy was right, I did understand why he did it but… it scared me. To think that he would have ripped that guy’s wings off and maybe even done more… and then for her to just start dating him after that? I guess it seemed almost too good after what happened.”

“You seemed to be fine with it when we were fighting Fluffers and afterwards before we got to Ponyville.”

Rainbow shakes her head, “We were fighting for Equestria again, it’s easy to just lose yourself in those thoughts. Once we got back though, every time I saw them together I’d be reminded of what happened… I suppose I still want to help her but he’s her first coltfriend, yet to see those images every time I see them… it was driving me nuts! I confronted her about my worries about him and she pretty much laughed it off saying she was fine, then he goes and gets her this new job… it’s all changing so fast and so well after what happened, I guess I freaked I wouldn’t be able to keep up and keep her safe when whatever happens to screw this up happens.”

Blue taps a hoof to his chin before responding, “Sounds like you just need to be happy.”

She gives him a deadpan look, “Really? That’s your advice? “Be Happy”?”

“Think about it, everypony else got over what happened by being happy for those two. Take that away and most of your worries are gone, and as for the rest… from what I’ve heard you usually aren’t afraid of anything.”

“Yeah, what’s your point?”

“Seems to me instead of worrying about the future, you should think of it as a challenge, not as something to worry about losing to.”

“Huh…”

“So let’s make sure you got this: your oldest friend finally found herself a colt.”

“Yeah…”

“You’re happy for her.”

“Yeah.”

“You aren’t going to let what happened stop you from being happy for her.”

“Yeah!”

“You aren’t going to worry about the future, you are going to face it head on!”

“YEAH!”

“You are going to meet me at the café for a lunch date in ten minutes!”

Rainbow thrusts her hoof into the air, “YEAH!” Her eyes widen as she realizes what she said, “Wait, what?”

Blue has a cheeky grin on his face as he flies off at top speed calling back over his shoulder, “See you in ten minutes!”

Rainbow stands there on the cloud for a moment before chasing after Blue, “Hey! Get back here!”

***On the road to Rhino’s house, afternoon***

Well that was an unexpected end to today, can’t believe Rainbow Dash came and apologized to Fluttershy on our way out of work! Of course this lead to more apologies and mutual forgiveness from both parties but all in all it gave me a warm feeling to know those two made up so quickly before things got to fester. I was probably more shocked that Rainbow apologized to me, at least the lighthearted threat at the end should I ever hurt Fluttershy was because her heart was in the right place. Plus the kiss I got from Fluttershy for having to listen to it wasn’t bad either…

I arrive at the house and stop to check the mail as I head inside, a particular envelope catches my eye and I slit it open and start to read.

My face must have given me away because Hydro came in and immediately asked, “What’s up?”

I continue reading as I reply, “I got a letter…”

He rolls his eyes, “I see that, but what’s wrong?”

I look up at him, “It’s from my parents… they’re coming to see me the day after tomorrow…”

***Canterlot, night***

*KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK*

The loud knocking on his door wakes the sleeping pegasus up rudely. He stumbles to the door and opens it to find two royal guards.

The pegasus tries to wake himself up as the one on the right speaks, “Atomic Vortex?”

“That’s me.” The pegasus replies.

“We need you to come with us.”

“Can’t this wait until morning? Woah!” The pegasus finds himself lifted on each side by the two guards as they carry him out.

“As I said, you’re coming with us.”

Chapter 29 Preparations

***Thursday, Day 26, morning***

I relax on the couch sipping my glass of milk as my mind starts warming itself up for the day ahead. I enjoy the rapidly dwindling calm as it is replaced by the knowledge of all the things I need to get done today. I might have wound myself up a bit too much by the time I finished my glass…

Doors, windows, floors, trim, dust, sweep, mop, sinks, mirrors, tub, trash, put away dishes, pick up various scattered item, stock up on food, decide and prepare for meal tomorrow…

Hydro walks downstairs just as I compose my thoughts long enough to not drive myself crazier than Pinkie Pie if she were told she was in charge of planning a party for the entirety of Equestria. I further mollify myself until we finish eating, when I decide to go ahead and get the first part out of the way.

I clear my throat slightly, “So Hydro, as you know my parents are coming to town tomorrow…”

He answers casually with a slightly curious tone, “Yeah…”

“And I need you to do a little favor for me while I prepare for them.”

He raises an eyebrow at me, “Sure what do you need help with?”

I adopt a slightly airy tone, “Well… I need you to leave, and not come back for a good portion of today.”

“You’re kicking me out?”

I chuckle slightly, “Well, not the way I wanted to put it but for today… essentially yes.”

“You sure bro? I could help you with whatever it is you’re doing around here-“

“I appreciate the thought but I’d like to just go ahead and be alone while I do everything that needs to be done.” The list flashes through my head again as I say this.

“Well what about your work-“

“Already contacted Fluttershy to tell Mane and Manilla I won’t be coming in for two days, no worries. But speaking of which,” I start pushing him towards the door, “don’t you have work to get to? Oh you’d better be going.”

He plants his hooves to halt my efforts to push him, “I can just explain tomorrow why I didn’t come in today.”

Ok, hay with it, tried to ask nicely, time for the fall back plan.

I chuckle nervously again, “I’m afraid I must insist that you simply leave this all to me,” I glance at the clock and let out a fake gasp, “Well look at the time, tell you what, for being nice enough to offer to help me how about I get you halfway to work?”

As my horn starts to glow Hydro’s eyes widen, “You wouldn’t-“

*Flash*

“-dare…” Hydro looks around after the flash to find himself near the farm house of Sweet Apple Acres. He sighs heavily before grumbling to himself, “…Could’ve at least let me grab my stuff before he teleported me.” Right as Hydro finishes his grumbling he sees another flash above him as the familiar weight of his saddlebags thumps onto his back as a small slip of paper floats down to land on his muzzle.

He lifts the paper off his nose to read its simple message, “Happy now?”

His slight annoyance dissolves as he chuckles, “Cheeky bastard…”

“Mind tellin’ us what that was all about?”

Hydro jumps slightly before recognizing the voice of his marefriend and turning to see her accompanied by Blue Breeze and Rainbow Dash hovering overhead.

He smiles at them, “I’m not interrupting anything am I?”

Blue shakes his head, “Nah, just getting Applejack’s weather orders-“

Rainbow cuts in, “-When you just popped onto the yard in front of the house from out of nowhere!” She crosses her forelegs while still hovering, “So like AJ said, what’s up with that?”

Hydro shrugs nonchalantly, “Eh, Rhino wanted some alone time before his parents get here tomorrow.”

Blue smirks, “Well at least he’s getting that out of the way before they get here.”

Hydro rolls his eyes, “No nothing like that, he’s mostly just making sure the house is picked up and clean, probably planning to cook too. Suffice to say he really wanted to take care of it himself.” He pulls his aviators out of his bag and puts them on as he hugs Applejack before heading out towards the dam, calling back over his shoulder, “I’ll see you guys later!”

The three other ponies say good bye as Hydro walks off, all of them still watching his retreating form as Rainbow breaks the silence.

“So who’s gonna be the one to tell Pinkie that she needs to plan a party for some visitors?”

“Well it ain’t gonna be me RD, Ah did it last time, plus Ah got work to do ‘round the farm.”

Rainbow looks at the farm pony, “Well I don’t want to do it either!” Both mares slowly turn small smiles in Blue’s direction.

Blue opens his mouth and raises a hoof to object before simply sighing in defeat and nodding.

Rainbow Dash laughs to herself as she pats Blue on the back, “Don’t worry Blue, since you’re doing this, I think I’ll give you a ten second head start the next time we race to see who pays for lunch, alright?”

***Ponyville Spa***

“…and then I recommended she try a lighter blue ribbon in her mane and she loved it!”

Rarity and Fluttershy enjoy their usual Thursday get together, the two currently getting mud baths as Rarity talked about some of the more fabulous tales from the this week’s issue of the life of Ponyville’s premier fashionista. Fluttershy merely listening attentively and utter small adorable noises of approval at the times they were needed.

As Rarity begins to weave her next yarn about the art of dressmaking, her robe that was sitting folded next to her suddenly jumps up with the pink party mistress herself wearing it as well as her usual beaming smile.

“Hi girls!”

Both relaxing mares jump slightly but less so than other ponies would have due to their close bond with the party pony.

Rarity raises a cucumber off her eye to appraise her robe’s occupant, “Hello Pinkie, may I ask why you decided to… pop in?”

The pink pony bounces as she responds, “Oh, I’m just dropping by to give you girls your invitations to the party tomorrow!” She dips her head into the pocket of the robe and pulls out two slips of paper that Rarity levitates over to them since their hooves are currently submerged. “Alright, I’ll see you girls there!”

As Pinkie begins to walk out the door Rarity calls after her, “Pinkie!”

Pinkie stops and looks back, “Yes Rarity?”

“Be a dear and leave my robe for me?”

Pinkie looks down at her current outfit, “Whoops, sorry about that. But if you ever want to borrow my pink fluffy robe let me know and we’ll trade ok?”

Rarity’s answer trails off as Pinkie walks out of the spa, “Err, yes I’ll do that…”

A soft voice comes from beside her, “Rarity? What do the invitations say the party is for?”

Rarity looks back at her spa buddy to realize the pieces of paper have simply been hovering around the unicorn’s head instead of being read. She brings one down and scans it before translating, “Well well, it appears dear Rhino’s parents will be coming into town tomorrow and Pinkie decided to throw them a small party with our little group while they are here.” She peeks over the paper at Fluttershy, “Though I must say darling, meeting your coltfriend’s parents so soon? I suppose it’s never too early to make a good impression, are you going to be alright with this?”

“I do want to meet them… I just hope they like me…”

Rarity reaches over and puts a foreleg around her friend, “Fluttershy, I think they’re going to love you.”

***Rhino and Hydro’s house, later***

Phew, all done… finally…

I smile as I realize I’ve completed everything I could think of that needed doing before my parents arrived in the morning. I put away all of the supplies just as I hear the lock turn in the door signaling Hydro’s return.

I rub a hoof on the back of my head as I greet him, “Hey, look sorry about this morning… stressed out a little, but it’s all good now.”

Hydro pulls out a small pink envelope before tossing it to me while he laughs to himself, “Don’t worry about it, it actually had a bit of a repercussion as you can see.” He gestures to the envelope.

I pull out the card and read it quickly…

“A party?”

Chapter 30: Parents

***Friday, Day 27, morning***

**Ponyville Train Station**

*A train whistle sounds close by*

It’s about time it got here.

I close my book and get off the bench I was reading on while waiting. The colorful train slows down as it comes into the station, finally coming to a stop with a gush of air announcing its official arrival. I stand my ground as the tide of colorful equines exiting the train flows around me while keeping my eyes open for two in particular. A small smile grows on my face as I spot them chatting as they get off the train and wave them over to me.

Mom gets to me first, exclaiming, “Rhino! There’s my big colt!” She grabs me in a hug and kisses my cheek as I lean down to reciprocate it.

My mother’s name is Mist Scribe. She is a bright red pegasus of small build that stands about a head shorter than me with a straight mane and tail, both dark brown, golden eyes, and a stack of books as a cutie mark.

As I pull back after Mom’s hug I turn to Dad and give him one as well as he greets me, “It’s good to see you Rhino.”

My father’s name is Bio Blaze. He is a dark blue unicorn of a more muscular build than myself that stands about half a head shorter than me with grey mane, tail, and mustache, the same chocolate brown eyes as myself, and a flaming biohazard symbol cutie mark.

As I pull back after the hug I feel shifting in my mane as Specter wakes up and pokes his head out, making my mom giggle at him as he stares down at her with curious eyes. He climbs down off my head to the ground in front me as I make introductions.

I gesture to my little friend, “Mom, Dad, this is Specter.”

Mom leans down and coos at Specs, “Aww, aren’t you a cute one?” Specs scuffs his foot on the ground a bit in response.

Dad walks forward and scratches Specs lightly behind the ears, remarking, “Bet you could be a lot of trouble if you wanted to…”

I chuckle as Specs climbs back up onto my head after the attention. “How about we head back to the house so you can drop off your things before I show you around?”

Dad smiles and nods, “Sounds good.”

As we arrive at the house, I am immediately thankful that Hydro had finished the work he was doing on his wall the day before. It turns out he was putting in a full sized tank for Schmoopy. Slightly nervous, I give my parents a quick tour around and it gets the parental seal of approval despite being fairly sparsely furnished, but both of them write it off because it’s essentially a “fresh out of college bachelor pad” at the moment. Afterwards on our way to the dam to see Hydro, I bring them to the clinic to meet Mane and Manilla whom they asked in essence, “Is our son giving you any trouble?” While they were laughing at that, I decided to take a quick trip my office after that to let my red face cool down and also make sure there was nothing urgent while my parents and coworkers finished up in the front. After that we chat for a bit as we head up to the dam, walking in on the slightly odd sight of Hydro hunched over some plans he has lain in front of Schmoopy’s tank here at the dam while asking the eel for his opinion of said plans.

I alert Hydro to our presence to forestall any further oddness, “Hey Hydro.”

His ears perk up at my voice as he turns, “Oh hey Rhino-“ He notices my parents behind me, “hey Mist, hey Mr. Blaze.”

Right, I forgot he calls Dad that since they haven’t actually met in person many times, seeing as how Hydro and I met when I was living with Mom.

Mom smiles brightly and gives Hydro a hug, “Hey Hydro, how’s my other son?”

Heh, I still like how she calls him her other son since he came over so much.

Hydro chuckles as he returns the hug, “I’m doing fine.”

Dad and Hydro brohoof as Dad looks at Schmoopy, “So it looks like both of you found pets despite being here less than a month.”

Hydro just shrugs, “Just kind of happened really.”

Hydro ends up taking my parents on a small tour of the dam including the control room, within which I become reacquainted with a certain button that I’m sure I’ll have a use for later.

It’s not the right time, I’ll probably only be able to push this once so I need to save it for an opportune moment… like when there are less witnesses and more scapegoats.

We end up chatting and having a light lunch with Hydro before waving goodbye as we start the fair trek back to town. On our way back though we get surprised by my favorite pegasus hailing us from above.

Fluttershy is breathing heavier than usual as she lands, as though she’s been flying around for a time, “There you are Rhino."

I smile at her, “Hey Fluttershy.”

Mom perks up from behind me, causing the yellow pegasus the utter a small squeak and hide behind her mane, “Rhino… who is this?”

Well… I suppose they were going to find out eventually…

I walk up to Fluttershy’s side and turn around facing my parents and put a foreleg around her, “Mom, Dad, this is Fluttershy, my marefriend. Fluttershy, this is Mist Scribe and Bio Blaze, my parents.” I gesture to each pony in question with my other foreleg as I speak.

I can feel Fluttershy shake slightly as she continues to hide behind her mane as she greets them quietly, “Umm… Hello.”

Mom and Dad seemed stunned for a moment before they both break out in huge smiles looking at the two of us.

Mom looks between Fluttershy and myself before settling on the pegasus, saying while smiling, “So you’re the one my boy chose hmm?” Fluttershy stiffens as Mom grabs her in a hug before she relaxes a little, “Welcome to the family, Fluttershy!”

I raise my eyebrow at this statement even as I feel my face start to burn from embarrassment, “Mom we just started officially dating a little over two weeks ago, don’t you think it’s a little soon for that?”

Mom releases Fluttershy, who seems a little more relaxed but is still partially behind her mane, and waves my words off with a hoof, “Oh I’m sure it won’t be too long before we’re hearing wedding bells and tiny hooves.”

Both mine and my marefriend’s faces turn a brilliant red at those implications as Dad walks up and claps me on the back with a similar smile on his face, “That’s my boy, looks like all that waiting you did paid off huh? I’m happy for the both of you.” He ruffles my mane a bit before walking back to where Mom was standing.

Change of subject time!

I look to my blushing marefriend whose face is slowly losing its redness, “So Fluttershy, were you looking for me or something?”

She perks up slightly at my question, “Oh umm, yes. I was actually looking for you to bring you and your parents to the party Pinkie set up for them.”

Mom, as definitely the most vocal of the group, replies, “Oh, you all didn’t have to go through the trouble of throwing a party, we’re only here for the day after all.”

If anything, what would have been trouble is STOPPING Pinkie from throwing the party.

I turn to my parents, “It’s at that life sized gingerbread house we passed earlier.”

Dad nods, “Well alright then, might as well enjoy it. Let’s get going!”

I stand off to the side as he and Mom walk ahead of us, before looking at Fluttershy and bowing while gesturing after them, “Shall we?”

She giggles and nods as we set off after them, I curl my tail lightly around hers as we walk and receive a nuzzle in return.

The party ends up being a thankfully small affair, only the girls, Blue, Volt, myself, and Hydro were invited. Initially the group besides those who already knew are a bit surprised that Mom is a pegasus, but they pretty much shrug it off and go on as usual. Since they are only here for a short time Mom and Dad have most of the questions directed at them. The girls end up getting most of the basic information on them: that Mom works as a clinic receptionist and Dad as the Chief of the Hazardous Materials division of the Canterlot Fire Department, that I am an only child, and then they even somehow get them to tell some stories of my childhood which manages to still bring embarrassed chuckles from me despite doing my best to tune out the conversation at that point.

Some surprises are found as well. Turns out Blue and Mom had met before now when she had a job as the librarian at his high school in Cloudsdale. Of course then came the other surprise of my parents finding out about us being sent on the whole “Fluffers” quest… that took some explaining about why I didn’t tell them about it, but frankly it just slipped my mind before now that they didn’t know. Mom and Dad were both proud but Mom still lightly chided me about doing such dangerous things… I’m glad I didn’t tell them about the incident with the gang. Of course this also lead to their realization that they were talking with the Element Bearers and that Hydro, Blue, and I were dating them… and we were back to good natured teasing.

Later on finds Hydro and myself seeing off my parents at the station later that evening, hugs, kisses, and farewells are given as the train pulls up and unloads the current passengers to take on new ones. Hydro and I wave after them as the train pulls away, turning to head back home until a cough from behind us causes us to turn back around.

In front of us are two royal pegasus guards that we had seen on the train. They currently have a black pegasus with a two tone green mane in between them.

The one on the right speaks up, “Dr. Rhino and Mr. Hydro Pump?”

Hydro and I look at each other and back at the guards, “Yes?”

Chapter 31: Houseguest

***Saturday, Day 28, Morning***

I wake up to a slight tickle in my nose, soon identified by my slowly opening eyes as Specter curled up against me, tail in my face. A small snort of air on the offending furry appendage is enough to start stirring my little friend from his snooze and getting myself started as well. I yawn widely, start getting up, and mentally brace myself for what will definitely be a… different morning.

I can still barely believe this is happening, it’s just so out there.

As I get to the bottom of the stairs I see Hydro already awake in the kitchen with a thoughtful look on his face. I nod to him and receive one in return as we simply sit in silence for a moment thinking about our… situation. Deciding it’s best to go ahead and get this started, we head down the hall to the guest bedroom.

The same room whose door is currently locked and chained closed due to its occupant.

I tense up as Hydro removes the chains and unlocks the door, readying myself for anything. The door opens to reveal a black pegasus with two tone green mane and tail, green combat jacket, green eyes, and a silver infinity symbol with a sword through it cutie mark. The mane is the classic mohawk-like style, while the tail is also the classic short style like Volt has.

Atomic Vortex

**Flashback, the night before, train station**

The one on the right speaks up, “Dr. Rhino and Mr. Hydro Pump?”

Hydro and I look at each other and back at the guards, “Yes?”

Wonder what this could be about…

The guard continues, “Your assistance is requested with a matter of a… sensitive nature.”

I adopt a slightly contemplative but still confused look as I ask, “What do you need help with?”

“Given your involvement in resolving the dangerous weather anomaly recently, you two were seen as the best candidates for this given the circumstances.”

“Not to be rude sirs, but you still haven’t actually told us what you need.”

The one on the left took up speaking, “We need you to house Mr. Vortex here,” here nudges the black pegasus next to him who continues just looking at the ground, “for a few days.”

Hydro raises an eyebrow, “Is that it? Why would you need us to watch him?”

“Because he’s a criminal.”

My eye’s narrow slightly, “So why us, why not simply put him in jail?”

“Because of the nature of his crimes, grand theft from the Royal Treasury and assault on the royal guards who were protecting it. He has yet to be tried in court, and as such, many would try to get to him in Canterlot to pursue their own justice, despite the evidence already against him, Ponyville was deemed far enough to keep away those who might want to get to him, but close enough to retrieve him from when the time comes. You two were thought of simply because of the fact that both of you live here and were proved trustworthy, after all,” he seemed to almost sneer with the last part, “surely two stallions such as yourselves, should be able to handle one disarmed former royal guard, such as Atomic Vortex here?”

Convenience and circumstance… something’s off about this but I’m not sure what yet…

Hydro and I take positions on either side of the black pegasus as the two guards start flying back to Canterlot before we can get another word in. Our minds still reeling from this sudden turn of events.

Hydro looks at me while motioning towards the rapidly disappearing guards. “Can they really just dump this guy on us?”

I look back at our newly acquired charge before responding, “To be honest I don’t know, they’re the royal guard, I’m not exactly sure what’s in their authority and what’s not, I guess we just deal with it for now.”

Hydro grumbles, “Fine, but I’m chaining his door.”

**End Flashback**

Atomic Vortex, who we learned prefers to be called Atom, looks up as we open his door, but shows no signs of attacking. From when I talked with him on the way home, he seems alright, but one can never be too sure I suppose, and it never hurts to be cautious.

Atom eats a bowl of cereal I fixed up for him as Hydro lays down the ground rules.

He looks the pegasus in the eye as he speaks, “Alright Atom, here’s the deal: Rhino and I have errands to do this morning, but there’s no way we’re leaving you alone in the house, so you’re coming with us. While we’re out, you either behave, or you get hurt. Simple as that.” Atom nods in response and we head out.

Our errands go fairly smoothly, Hydro and I would take shifts, one of us standing next to Atom while the other would go do what needed to be done around town, coincidentally this leads to all of the townsfolk thinking that Atom is simply a friend that we’re showing around town. Strangely enough none of our friends find us either, though that is probably a good thing seeing as they would be the only ones who might actually call us out on the unintentional bluff we had been running.

As we head back to the house I start to get an uneasy feeling in my stomach that things went perhaps too smoothly…

We open the door the house and-

SURPRISE!!!

Chapter 32: Tension

***Saturday, Day 28, noonish***

SURPRISE!

“Gah!”

The shout by the six mares and two stallions in our living room causes Hydro, Atom, and myself to all jump back in shock, eyes wide and hearts frantic. After processing what happened we three make our way into the living room where it appears a full scale Pinkie Pie Party is ready to go. After a few seconds of getting to look around, I feel light hooftap on my back and turn around to meet the smiling face of the pink party mistress herself.

She looks back and forth between myself and Hydro, who has also been turned around towards her, “How come you guys didn’t tell me you were having a friend come into town today?” She focuses on me and pokes my snout with an accusing hoof that seems to be both serious and yet cheerful. “And you Rhino, this is the second time this week you’ve had ponies come into town and I had to hear it from somepony else despite the fact that you know full well that I throw parties for everypony!” She pokes my nose a few more times to illustrate her point.

Well excuse me for having other things on my mind than welcome parties when these visits happen, this is why I like notice when ponies come over. Otherwise I get in a rush or just plain forget things.

I look down and rub my nose as I respond, “Sorry Pinks, I’ll try and keep that in mind for the next one. But you know-” I look up to see Pinkie has wandered off and is currently talking excitedly to Atom while the other girls, Volt, and Blue chat.

Hydro and I look at each other before focusing back on our charge currently being shown the snack table by the cotton candy mare.

I keep an eye on Atom as I speak to my friend, “Seems we have a bit of a snag already.”

Hydro eyes Atom as well, “Any suggestions on how to play this?”

“Hanging next to him as we have been this morning would draw too much attention. I’d like to delay them finding out why he’s here, at least until I can find a way to word it to minimize the chances somepony overreacts. I suggest we simply go about how we normally would, but just keep an eye on him. To be honest, I’m surprised he hasn’t tried anything given what we were told about him, little as it was.”

“I still say you’re too trusting, but at least I know you’re also paranoid so you won’t let your guard down for a while… Fine, we do this subtly, we will have to tell the girls eventually though, did you want to tell the guys now?”

“That would just get them in trouble too when the mares learn of it, no one but us for now.” I sigh and look over to Hydro “You know, you have a say in this too, you don’t need me to make all the decisions.”

He maintains his vigil on the dark pegasus, “I know, but you seem to already have a plan and unless I think of a better one, that’s what we’ll go with. I’ll just stay on guard in case anything happens.”

For a time, things go well. Everypony seems to be having a good time, the small number of guests meaning every time the hostess calls for new snacks or a game it keeps prolonged conversations with Atom from happening, thus keeping inevitable questions about his past from coming up. Even with things going so well though, I still feel tense, and despite my best efforts apparently enough ponies noticed my short answers and distracted actions to start the metaphorical ragdoll falling down the stairs in the form of a certain apple farmer.

“Who wants some good ol’ hard cider?”

Those words instantly froze my mind, cleared whatever funk I may have worked myself into, and brought my one-sided conversation with Rarity to screeching halt. I feel my gaze harden as I see the tell-tale mugs and small booze barrel now on the table next to the punch.

I make sure my voice is easily heard by the household as I respond to the general call, “No.” All faces turn towards my louder than intended response. Steeling myself against the sudden attention, I continue. “Applejack, no alcohol.”

“Aw c’mon now, this here’s a celebration! And what’s a few drinks among friends?”

Loosened tongues, raised voices, violent tendencies, vomiting, hangovers, general idiocy... the list goes on. Let’s find a way to say that without being a flank.

I take a deep breath to stop myself from saying anything in a way I’ll regret, “Applejack, I have particularly intense views against alcohol and refuse to see it consumed in my home. Given you are under my roof, I ask that you please respect my wishes in this matter.”

“Sure Ah can’t tempt ya with a mug?” She wiggles the mug in question in what I assume is supposed to be a tempting fashion.

“Applejack, I’ve got over 15 years of being stubborn about this particular subject, given that having some place to call my own only gives me even more sway in its enforcement… it’s not happening.”

Atom decides to put his two cents in, “I don’t see what’s so bad about a bit of cider.”

I turn to him, getting slightly irritated, “Atom, I suggest you stay out of things that don’t concern you.”

Applejack’s good natured smirk turns into a frown, “Hey now, just cause yer mad about the cider, that’s no way to talk to yer friends!”

I snap back, “Who said he was our friend!”

I hear Twilight’s voice from behind me, “Wait, if he isn’t your friend, then who is he?”

Ugh, me and my big mouth.

Chapter 33: Atom's Side

***Saturday, Day 28, afternoon***

I mentally berate myself for my aggravated slip of the tongue as I turn around to see the expectant faces of the party goers who are now expecting answers. I try to think of the best way to say what needs to be said as I begin, “Um… well, you see…” I see Hydro giving me a take-the-plunge look and resign myself to the consequences whatever they may be. “Why don’t we all sit down, Atom in the chair.”

Everypony starts to look for spots to settle down at while Hydro walks up to me and lightly whacks me in the back of the head saying, “You gotta stop letting tension get to you, too late now I suppose. You ready?”

I rub the back of my head a second before sighing, “Doesn’t really matter if I’m ready or not,” I turn around and walk away from the rest of the ponies, “I’ll be out in a second, I need a drink.”

A voice calls from the other room, “Ah knew it!”

I call back to the voice, “Not that kind of drink, Applejack!” I head to the kitchen and drink a quick half glass of milk before heading back to the living room.

The various members of our group find themselves some comfortable spots, myself in my usual spot on the end of the couch, Fluttershy right next to me, Pinkie Pie next to her, Volt sitting on the other end of the couch, Twilight and Rarity sitting in a pair on some cushions, while Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Blue, and Hydro sit in a group on the floor leaning against various things near them, and finally Atom sits in the chair betwixt Hydro and myself forming a nice little story circle for us.

Rarity breaks the brief silence, “So dears, would you mind telling us-”

“What the hay is going on here?!” Rainbow finishes.

Rarity gives Dash a look before continuing, “Yes… that.”

I look to Hydro before looking back at the group, “To be honest… it’s still a bit surreal for us too. It’s like I’m taking one of the runes for my arcane circles, drawing it around somepony’s hooves and telling them to not move or it will go wrong with no details other than that. Just has that uninformed feeling of being out of the loop.”

Blue has a slightly confused look on his face, “Not sure I understand the metaphor, but I get the laypony terms. Still, probably best if you start from the beginning.”

Hydro starts recounting our encounter with the guards the previous night, me taking over every now and then to give my thoughts or observations. We explained about what they told us was Atom’s situation, as well as why they brought him here, and to us specifically, though even as we recount it we both realize how much, or should I say how little, we really knew and how much we just sort of assumed with just how fast everything had happened. Still I decided to see if we could shed a little light on certain aspects of the tale via another source.

I turn towards the black pegasus, “You know Atom, you really haven’t said much this whole time…”

He shrugs and answers in what I can only describe as a defeated voice, “Don’t see much of a point really.”

I decide to pursue anyway, “It’s always helpful to hear all sides of a story. Why not share yours?”

He sighs, and then begins speaking. “I was a royal guard for Princess Celestia, I remember all of you from the day you came back all battered from your fight with the cloud. It was the Sunday after that. I went out drinking with the guys a little post-shift fun, nothing really out of the ordinary. Everything gets blurry for a bit, probably drank too much, it happens sometimes. The next thing I remember… is the next morning waking up with more bits than I left with,” he shrugs, “I figured maybe I won them in a drinking contest, would explain why I had a bigger migraine than usual. I ended up leaving the bits in my apartment until my next payday, figured I’d just drop it all off at once and save a trip. Things went back to the usual up until Wednesday night when suddenly to guards from another unit arrived at my home and dragged my flank to a holding cell. When a captain came in the next day he started berating me about supposed crimes I committed like assault on fellow guards and stealing from the treasury. When I told him there was no way I did any of that he pulled out my bag from my apartment and showed me the bits in it, he showed me how they all had the treasury’s seal on them, marking them for use only by royalty or for national projects. There was no way I would have been able to get those unless I took them from the treasury… they’re the only ones marked like that. But I know I would never assault my fellow guards, or steal from the treasury! I don’t need to! I make a decent living. Then he told me there was a witness to the assault… and adding that to the bits found in my bag… it wasn’t looking good. I mean… with all that against me it’s really only a matter of time, and I don’t actually remember that night so I guess it’s possible I did it… I just don’t know, it doesn’t sound like me, but all of that… it… I really don’t think there’s any other explanation... The way I see it, they shoved me on you guys to get rid of me until the trial starts.”

Wow…

Atom looks up at our stunned faces then slowly gets up saying, “I think I’m gonna turn in early,” and heading back to the guest room, leaving us all to our thoughts.

As the groups start to whisper amongst themselves I feel the light tap of a yellow pegasus on my shoulder draw my attention. I look over to her with a questioning look to see her own contemplative one, “Yes, Shy?”

She motions me to the other side of the room and I follow her to the decidedly less crowded half of the room. She still seems to be in thought so I break the ice, “What do you think about,” I gesture widely with my hoof, “all this?”

She answers slowly, as if thinking about every word, “I… I don’t know. They said he was a criminal and he even said he might be but… he just seems so sad, and I don’t think he’s a bad pony.”

I nod slowly as I answer, “Yeah, to be honest… something just seems off about this whole thing to me, it sounds like he got too drunk and did something stupid, but surely this wouldn’t be the first time something like this happened, so why go through all this? Honestly I think the comment about the cider was the first thing I’ve heard him say since we met him… I don’t know, but I agree, he doesn’t seem bad to me.”

**3rd person**

*Applejack and Rainbow Dash*

“I’m telling you AJ, he’s bad news!”

“Look RD, Ah know things look bad, but didn’t ya’ll just get over assumin’ a stallion was bad?”

“Hey that was me being paranoid! This guy’s a criminal, you’re the pony lie detector shouldn’t you be just as sure about this as I am?”

“That’s just it sugarcube, everythin’ he told us was the truth, but that includes the part where he said he didn’t know whether he did it or not. Now Ah ain’t sayin’ I think he’s innocent, but Ah ain’t gonna say he did it neither.”

“But-”

“Don’t ya’ll worry RD, just cause Ah ain’t sure about him, don’t mean I won’t get him if he tries anythin’.”

*Blue Breeze and Pinkie Pie*

“Pinkie, what do you think about this Atom guy?”

“I think he needs another party! I mean he just had a party and he was still so sad so maybe he needs something else… but if you’re talking about all those guards saying he did all those bad things, I don’t think he did it. He doesn’t seem like a meany mean meanerson to me!”

“Me neither, I’ve always been one to give ponies the benefit of the doubt and like he you said, he doesn’t seem the type.”

“Plus look at that face, he doesn’t seem evil, all those evil things we fought had crazy eyes and his are normal.”

“Umm… sure…”

*Twilight Sparkle and Rarity*

“I can’t believe those guards would just up and expect our friends to harbor some… brute!”

“I don’t like it any more than you do Rarity, we don’t really know anything about this stallion, he could be very dangerous.”

“Could be, they said he already assaulted royal guards!”

“I know, I know, but the trial didn’t come up yet so we just have to live with him being under house arrest for now, just be careful Rarity.”

“I completely agree my dear, who knows what thoughts the mind of a criminal harbors…”

*Hydro Pump and Voltage Surge*

“What do you think of all this, Hydro?”

“*Sigh* I don’t know Volt… too much information, not a whole lot of it really useful.”

“Yeah, I’m kinda on the fence myself, I’m all for second chances, but this is some big stuff he’s accused of and it’s not like it’s completely unsupported. I don’t know, I’ll sleep on it, then decide.”

“That sounds like the best idea I’ve heard all day.”

**1st person**

*Rhino*

After that rather… drastic change from the perky party we originally had, every pony helps clean up and soon begins heading their respective ways home. After they leave I head back in and help Hydro with the last few bits of cleaning up, neither of us really saying anything because there was nothing else to really say. Eventually we finish up and the fatigue from the draining day starts to make me debate getting an early start to sleep as well.

*Knock, knock, knock*

Chapter 35: A Thump in the Night

***Sunday, Day 29, 12:02 AM***

I groggily open my eyes, only to question why I bothered considering it’s the middle of the night and there’s not much to see. I lie in my bed not moving while I puzzle out my current situation.

Wha…? Why am I awake? Did I hear something?

I perk my ears up to try and see if I hear anything, but all that greets me is the usual nighttime sounds: crickets, the rhythmic breathing of Specter against my chest, and of course, silence.

Huh… odd… I usually don’t wake up randomly like this…

I mentally shrug before closing my eyes and starting to tone down my mental activity so I can go back to sleep.

Guess it was nothi-

*thump*

My eyes shoot open as I hear a noise I know shouldn’t be heard in my home at night. Specter jolts up as well, instantly directing his head towards the door, body tensed. Alarm bells form a low buzz in my head as I get out of bed as quietly as possible so as not to alert whatever is making the noise to my presence. When Specter tries to follow me I gesture for him to stay as I make my way out into the hall.

As my eyes adjust to the gloom of the darkened house I see Hydro coming out of his room as well, the confused look on his face telling me he wasn’t the source of the noise; a fact that only heightens my worry. We meet each other’s eyes and make our way quietly downstairs where the noise had originated from. We reach the bottom of the stairs at perk our ears up to try and find the source of the noise as we quietly go around the house, Hydro checking the living room and kitchen while I check all the windows to see if they were open or broken, as well as double checking that the doors were still locked.

As I head back to the bottom of the stairs to meet up with Hydro, I see him coming back from the laundry room. I raise an eyebrow at him but he simply shakes his head. A slight shuffling noise causes the both of us to turn towards the one place we haven’t checked yet.

Atom’s room.

We both head towards the door to the guest room, not sure what to expect. As Hydro goes to grab the chain on the door to start undoing it, I tap him on the shoulder and mouth for him to do it slowly so as not to make any noise.

Although our silence soon becomes a moot point as the shuffling noises start fresh, this time louder, and punctuated at the end by another thump, followed by a low voice that definitely wasn’t Atom’s.

The voice has that tone of victory as it speaks, “…can’t believe they didn’t just convict you, they had to have a trial… at least they told me where to find you…” a chuckle follows, and not a pleasant one, “Well, it won’t matter soon, will it? Oh stop struggling. Goodbye, Mr. Vortex.”

The tone is his voice sends chills down my spine as Hydro finishes undoing the chains, locking eyes with me to see if I was thinking what he was thinking.

I was.

We bust through the door making as much noise as possible, startling what we now see to be a pegasus with a whole body cloak and hood crouched over Atom, who is lying face down with a rope tightening around his neck. The momentary distraction allows Hydro to tackle the hooded pony off of Atom, while I get the rope off Atom’s neck. As I help Atom up, an exclamation from Hydro makes me jerk my head up to see him back off from the intruder, who is now sporting knives attached to the insides of his sleeves and is swinging them to get Hydro to back off.

“Who are you?!” I demand of the hooded pony.

He turns enough in my direction for me to see a smile under his hood and answers, “Somepony you should have never seen; now you will die, the same as that pathetic excuse for a guard.”

With that statement he launches himself off his back hooves and uses his wings to propel himself towards Hydro, the nearest target, knives outstretched for a quick end. I quickly grab his hooves with magic and point them to the side, Hydro taking the opening and punching the hooded pony is his so far unseen nose. As the assassin backs off a moment a dark blur next to me tackles him, revealing itself to be Atom, probably a little sore from his near death experience because of this pony, and proceeds to grapple with the pony close range. As Hydro and I approach to subdue the intruder, he manages to push Atom off him, spin to slash a shallow cut on Atom’s chest, the continue the rotation to deliver a literally flying roundhouse kick to Atom, sending him flying into me and both of us out into the hallway, crashing through one of Hydro’s spare glass panes that was leaning against the wall in the hall.

All I see is black after being tossed into glass and smashed into a wall by the body of another pony. As I slowly beg my ears to stop ringing from the up-close sound of glass shattering and my vision to come back to me, I try to get to my hooves one leg at a time. As the muffled sounds work themselves into the telltale sounds of an ongoing scuffle, my vision clears up enough for me to find myself lying down on my side with my back against the wall and a shard of glass embedded in the floor an inch from my face.

I stare at the shard a moment while my mind catches up, it’s shape strangely fascinating for me. It looks as though it came from the corner of the pane, the end up in the air showing the still intact corner and one edge, while the other side of the shard has a chunk out of the top while below that is a steep curved line down causing the entire shard to come to a point currently sticking in the floor. I contemplate its shape that reminds me almost of a dagger, but that thought causes me to remember the knives of the assassin, and with that the rushing thoughts that we were still fighting for our lives.

The thoughts send an adrenalin surge through my body as I force myself to my hooves looking up to see Hydro dodge a knife lunge and buck the knife causing it to snap off and fly into the wall, sticking there much like the shard. This distracts the assassin long enough for me to get the idea to try and simply levitate and hold him with my magic. My eyes widen in shock though as when I try to cover him in my magical grip, it just slides off of his cloak and hood like a pony on a frozen lake. As Atom tackles the pony to grapple him on the ground again I think we’ve got him, until a groan from Atom reveals the assassin on his hind legs with a chokehold on the green-maned pegasus and his free hoof pointing the one knife he has left at Hydro.

All four of us breathe heavily, Atom with more difficulty than the rest, while we look on in the forced stalemate, even the assassin not looking quite so cocky. None of us move, the assassin’s stance telling us his intentions should we attempt it. Of course, his earlier proclamation that he was going to kill us all makes it not a matter of if, but of when, one of us shall move. As my eyes gaze around trying to find something we can use, the moon reflects off the glass shard still embedded in the floor.

I keep my magic low to keep my horn’s glow dim to avoid drawing attention to what I am doing. Slowly sensing to find the shard behind me and getting ready to act. I play it over in my head a few times to make sure there won’t be any mistakes.

When the hooded pony’s eyes flick back towards Hydro, I act. I grab the end of the shard where the corner used to be in my magic and pull it out of the floor. Without letting its momentum die, I swing it around me lying parallel to the floor and just above it. I rotate it as I bring it around, to where the curved edge was facing our attacker.

I slash it across his right hind leg’s pastern.

The combined weight of his whole body along with Atom’s put onto his now injured hind leg causes his leg to give out. He falls forward with a pained shout, his hold on Atom meaning he thrust out his other hoof to catch himself, the hoof with the knife. The still extended knife blade sinks in the floor while Atom, still in the assassin’s grip, turns his fortune around by now holding on to the attacker’s fore leg and effectively keeping him pinned from beneath.

Hydro and I use the intruder’s temporary immobilization to jump in and restrain him while letting atom out of his grip. A moment later and we have Atom holding the attacker’s hooves behind him.

All of us try and get our breathing back to normal as I talk to the attacker, “Who sent you?”

He simply looks back at me, smirking, “Heheheh, you really think you’ve won don’t you?”

Atom remarks from behind him, “Sure looks that way to me.”

“Heheh, then you might want to take off the glasses-argh!”

Atom puts him back down after pulling the assassin’s leg at an angle, “They’re shades.”

The attacker stops smiling for a moment before just smirking again, “You’re all dead ponies you know that? Every one of you, and all those you care about. You interfered with us, and we know who you are. You’re dead!”

Hydro looks at the assassin coldly, “Seems to me you’re the only one who knows we did anything, and I don’t see you escaping anytime soon.”

“Then perhaps you’re as blind as your shades wearing friend there.” He shifts slightly.

*click*

A small click from his belt makes us all look at it.

*POOF*

A cloud of smoke erupts from the belt causing us all to back off, coughing and rubbing our eyes. Atom’s grip loosens and I hear the attacker limp over to the broken window where he had entered had. I open my eyes long enough to see a dark outline looking back at us before jumping out the window and starting to fly off. Still coughing, I run to the window to see the blurry shape winging its way back towards Canterlot.

Hydro, Atom, and I make our way to the smoke-free living room to clear our lungs and eyes. As our coughing dies down, we each take a look at each other, Hydro and I settling on looking at Atom.

I grimly smile at him, “Thanks for the help Atom.”

He returns the smile, “Hey, you guys helped me first. That guy had would have had me if you hadn’t busted in.”

Hydro looks at me, “Well, I think I’ve heard enough to make my decision on this whole situation with Atom’s arrest, you Rhino?”

The assassin's threat to us and those we care about echoes in my mind as I answer, “Oh yeah, get some sleep boys. In a few hours, we’re heading to Canterlot.”

Chapter 36: Morning After

***Sunday, Day 29, 7:30 AM***

Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuggggghhhh, definitely not one of my better sleeps…

I groggily open my eyes after a morning of restless sleep after last night’s excitement. My body goes on autopilot into the hall and downstairs while my mind just has that fuzzy feeling. As I arrive in the kitchen, I absentmindedly fix myself a glass of milk and wonder where Hydro is. A dark shape outside one of the windows catches my eye, but a glance reveals its red color and the location of my friend.

I walk outside to find the house’s resident earth pony engineer doing what can only be described as a patrol around the house. He walks at a normal pace but his eyes give him away as they seem to be constantly roving around for potential danger. All in all, he reminds me of the guards I remember from the more upper class and less public areas of Canterlot.

The fact that he’s carrying his sledgehammer he used on the wall remodeling strapped to his back probably has something to do with the guard feeling too.

I wait until he turns around in his patrol to wave him over before asking him the question Specter, whom I just realized was on my head, and myself were wondering, “What are you doing?”

He looked around once before replying, “Patrolling.”

I suppose obvious question deserves obvious answer…

I decide to try and clarify, “You got up this morning and decided to patrol because of last night?”

“No, I couldn’t sleep so I’ve been patrolling SINCE last night.”

I take a sip of my milk in understanding, “I see, and where might Atom be?”

Hydro raises an eyebrow at me, “Pacing back and forth from the living room to his room, how did you not see him on your way out here?”

To be honest, I’m not sure how I got out here, all I know is I was in there and now I’m here and I’m pretty certain I didn’t Blink out here.

I shrug, “Zoned out while walking I guess.”

“I’d say you’re still zoned out, considering you still haven’t put that down.”

I look down at my drink, “Why would I put it down? I’m still drinking it.”

“Not that. That,” he points to a spot on my right side.

I rotate my head to look at my side and see the shard of glass from last night levitating next to me covered by my aura of magic, the “handle” pointed forwards.

“Huh, didn’t even realize I had that.”

“I figured that.”

I look at the shard a moment longer before shrugging and continuing to hold it since I have nowhere else to put it until I go back inside.

“Guess I’ll go see how Atom’s doing, you need anything?”

Hydro shakes his head before turning around and continuing his watch as I head back inside the house. As I walk inside I see Atom looking particularly restless as he makes his way into the living room before turning around and going back towards the guest room. He seems extremely irritated as he goes back and forth in his endless loop.

I set the shard down near my saddlebags as I remark, “Looks like none of us slept well last night, how are you holding up?”

The black pegasus has a grimace on his face as he responds, “Considering I almost died last night and there’s nothing I can do right now… bloody fantastic.”

Yeah, definitely restless and irritated, nothing much I can do about that now though until we leave.

“So, how did that guy get in last night anyway?”

Atom stops pacing for a moment as he turns to face me, “Far as I can tell he just came through the window. I only really woke up when the wind blew through it and woke me, just in time to see him standing above me.” He shakes his head before continuing, “I don’t think he expected me to wake up, so I managed to get a few hits in, but as you guys saw, he still got the better of me in the end.”

I try and look on the bright side, “Well, at least we arrived when we did.”

He smiles briefly, “Yeah, thanks again for that.”

“No problem, we’re all in this together now.” I turn to the kitchen, “You need anything?”

“Nah, just gonna try and work off some energy.” He goes back to pacing as I walk into the kitchen.

I spend the next 15 minutes making and enjoying a nice egg sandwich. As I clean up afterwards I hear Atom’s voice coming from the other room.

“… come back later.”

Sounds like a conversation but I don’t hear the other side…

“Miss, I’m afraid you need to leave. Now.”

I walk into the living room to see who Atom is talking to, only to see my favorite yellow pegasus backing up against the wall as Atom walks toward her. He grabs her foreleg with his own, causing her to utter a cry… and that I cannot allow.

As a spike of anger floods my mind I Blink myself instantaneously across the room and in between the two, shielding Fluttershy from Atom’s sight. Both jump slightly at my sudden appearance, Atom recovering and then confronting me, obviously riled up.

“She needs to leave, now!”

I stare at him with cold eyes, my voice reflecting my displeasure at his actions, “And so you deem it your job to throw my marefriend out of my house?”

He looks slightly taken aback at my statement regarding who she was to me before continuing, “We can’t have everypony knowing about the situation!”

I work to keep my voice calm as I respond, but my voice still hardens, “Atom, you’re upset. I suggest you go calm down before you make another mistake that I assure you, I shall make you regret.”

Atom huffs before going out front where Hydro is, leaving Fluttershy and I to ourselves.

I turn to her still shivering form and ask softly, “Are you alright?”

She sniffs softly before slowly standing back up from where she had crouched down, “Y-yes… he just s-scared me.”

I feel my heart ache at her fear as I pull her into a hug, “I’m sorry about that, he’s under a lot of stress right now, but that doesn’t excuse him grabbing you. But enough about that, did you need me?”

Fluttershy squeezes lightly before letting go and answering, “Oh, ummm, well I was w-wondering if maybe you’d like to do something together today since it’s been a while since our last date.” She smiles hopefully.

I think carefully before answering, “Fluttershy, as much as I would love to spend the day with you, I can’t today.” I notice her crestfallen face and speak a little more earnestly, “But I do agree it’s been too long since our last date, how about we start making sure we spend time together every week at least, even if it’s something as small as dinner?”

She perks up at my offer, “I-I’d like that.”

My smile mirrors hers, “There’s the happy marefriend I remember.”

“Maybe we can do something tomorrow?”

I decide she deserves to know, not everything, but some things, “Maybe, I’m not sure when we’ll be back tomorrow though.”

She looks at me curiously, “Back? You’re going somewhere?”

I nod, “Hydro and I are going with Atom back to Canterlot to see if we can help him out. We’ll be rounding up Volt and Blue in a second and after that we’ll be going.”

“Alright…” She blushes slightly before straightening up and kissing my lips. “Promise you’ll be careful?”

“I promise.”

I walk Fluttershy out the door, giving Atom a look conveying my unspoken warning to him as he stands next to Hydro. After happily agreeing to watch Specter while I’m out of town, Fluttershy goes her way while I let Hydro know that I’m off to find Volt and to wait until Navy gets here to go look for Blue. I then cast Res on my hooves and start working my way towards Volt’s apartment.

***3rd person, Hydro and Atom***

Atom watches as Rhino goes off on his errand as he remarks to Hydro, “So like I said, I know now that I was being a bit of a jerk, but Rhino just seemed to lose all his trust for me due to that one mistake.”

Hydro stays silent a moment before looking out over the town, “Believe it or not Atom, it was nothing personal. Let me tell you a little story. One night when Rhino and I were hanging out, I got him to a point where he was comfortable enough to talk more than he usually does, but tired enough to not know when to shut up. That night he made it very clear to me, that when he got a marefriend, he would not let anypony hurt her. He told me that even if it was me, his best friend, that did it, he would not hesitate to beat me within an inch of my life. I told him that if he did that to me, I’d have probably deserved it. He responded by saying should the reverse happen and he hurt my marefriend, I was free to do the same to him. Rhino has always been the protective type, for a variety of reasons. From what happened last night, he probably still trusts you, just maybe not around her for a bit. Apologize, and it’ll be fine.”

The two sit for a moment just watching the town and thinking their thoughts.

***1st person, Rhino***

After an unsuccessful trip to locate Volt at his apartment, I find myself heading towards Golden Oaks library on the word of the resident party pony. I open the door to find the most casual scene I have seen in a good while. Volt and Twilight are both lying down in different parts of the library reading, while the rest of the library is so quiet I swear I can hear a dragon snoring in the upper floor.

The sheer casualness of the scene throws off my mindset for a moment, “Hey Volt… what are you doing?”

Volt looks up at me with a small spark in his eye as he answers excitedly, “Oh, Twilight invited me to check out the new book on integrated circuits she got, pretty interesting read so far.”

“I see…” I shake my head a little to get myself back on track, “never mind about that, I need you to come with me.”

Volt looks at me curiously, “Why, what’s wrong?”

I try to stay vague as I answer, “I need your help with something involving Atom.”

“Why, what’s up with Atom?”

“It involves us helping him.”

Twilight jerks her head out of her book at that statement, “Why would you want to help a criminal?”

I correct her, “First off, suspected criminal, and second, you do not know the full story.”

Twilight remains adamant, “I know enough, I know that the princess believes in the Canterlot judicial system and they have all but convicted him.”

Ugh, I don’t have time for a logic battle today.

I turn to the electric unicorn, “Volt, please just come on.”

Volt raises a hoof to his chin in thought, “I don’t know, this seems kind of shady.”

I try to persuade him, “Volt, please, I can’t explain right now, but I need you to trust me until I can explain it.”

Twilight, seeming still irritable on the subject of Atom, interjects, “You need to stop pressuring him into going with you; he can stay here if he wants!”

Volt looks to me, “If I knew more information I could probably make a better decision.”

Hmmm, idea.

I toss out what seems to be a compromise, “How’s this then, you come back with me and I’ll explain in a moment, if you don’t agree with what we’re doing, you can come back.”

Volt smiles, “That seems pretty reasonable.”

Twilight throws her hooves in the air, exasperated, “How is that reasonable? If anything that sounds even more suspicious!”

I turn to twilight and ask in a pleading voice, “Twilight, please, there are times when you need to trust your friends when they know something you don’t, surely you or your friends have been in that position?”

***3rd person***

Twilight opens her mouth to reply, only to shut it a moment later, look down, and put a hoof to her chin in thought. After a few moments she looks up with a softer expression, only to find herself alone in the library.

Twilight looks at the spots where her friends were in disbelief, “But, I didn’t hear the door open… wait….” Twilight’s eyes widen, “Rhino teleported them out while I was distracted!?”

As Twilight grumbles to herself, her distracted mind let’s go of the book she had been holding while she was reading it before this all started. As the book hits the floor pages first, it slides down to reveal another, smaller book inside it. While the book on the outside was a well-used copy of “The Astronomical Astronomer’s Almanac of all Things Astronomy,” the book inside was titled “The Egghead’s guide to Romance Vol. 1.”

Chapter 37: To Canterlot

***Sunday, Day 29, just before noon***

Volt and I appear behind a building about a block away from the library due to my quick Blinking us out of the there. I blink rapidly a moment from the higher power drain of casting the spell on myself and another instead of just me, while Volt seems to have a bit more of an adverse reaction to the spell if his stumbling face first into the wall is any evidence.

Volt shakes his head a moment while his eyes roll in their sockets before turning to me with a slightly dazed look on his face, holding a hoof to his head, “Ugh, what was that? It felt like I was being pushed through a tube… a very very trippy tube.”

I’m tempted to warn him against trying to decipher the things seen in the corner of one’s eye when one is in mid-teleport, as such things have been tried before and have only been successful in driving those who tried it insane via either lack of success, or, in the rare case, success only to be driven mad by what they learned, but ultimately decide to take the less complicated way to explain it to him, “You get used to it.”

Volt shakes his head while looking around before focusing back on me, “That was nothing like Twilight’s teleport, and we’re not even halfway there.”

Everypony’s a critic.

“That’s because my version is not a normal teleport. Also, I could have gotten us there with a series of them, but judging by how shook up you were by this first one, it was probably a good idea to stick to one. Having two ponies appear out of thin air is bad enough; you don’t need two ponies and projectile vomit hitting whoever happens to be nearby.”

Volt appears to think about this for a moment before replying, “Fair enough. Well, if she’s not too mad at you, maybe you could ask Twilight for tips.”

I mentally flinch at how I ran out on Twilight mid conversation, “Well, I can apologize later; besides, I don’t think she’ll be too mad.”

*** 3rd person, Twilight Sparkle***

The lavender unicorn in question, realizing that pursuing a teleporting prey is a fool’s errand, instead focuses her irritated energy into more… practical applications.

As various books fly around the library, all surrounded by the magical aura of the librarian, the mare can be heard muttering under her breath, some words identifiable amid the grumbling, “Running out on me… purposefully avoiding questions… stupid Rhino and his stupid distracting friendship questions… messed up my plan…”

As the librarian took out her frustration by angrily rearranging the books with a fervor that would have terrified them had they the capacity for thought, one book remained steadily in front of her. Twilight continues her annoyed mutters while looking into her newest fascinating read: “Equestria’s Great Collection of Angry Words and Phrases.”

***1st person, Rhino***

Volt simply looks at me before shrugging at my answer to his concern about potential female fury, “I guess so.”

The two of us start making our way towards mine and Hydro’s house as I address the second part of his earlier statement, “And as for asking her for tips… it doesn’t work that way.”

“And why doesn’t it work that way?”

“As much as I’d love to go into it, the answer to that actually gets a bit complicated and considering current circumstances we don’t really have time to discuss it right now… but suffice to say, it’s a rune thing.”

With that statement, Volt and I make our way to my house in relative silence. We arrive and the lack of hammer-wielding guardsponies allows us to head inside without a hitch. Inside we find that Hydro had acquired Blue since I had left, and that Navy had indeed showed up this morning as he said he would. I leave Volt with the pegasi for a moment to explain to Hydro what took me so long.

His response is to simply chuckle and mumble under his breath, “Totally cock blocked him.”

I ignore this mutter in light of informing the three so far out of the loop ponies of the group about the situation, trying to word this as delicately as possible, “Alright, half of you know why we are here.” I gesture to Atom, Hydro, and myself, “and the rest of you are probably wondering what is going on. Well, it’s like this… I assume everypony slept well last night? Well, suffice to say things were not so peaceful within this household, as shown by the broken window and the nice collection of bruises we seemed to have garnered overnight…”

Hydro clears his throat to silence my nervous rambling and tries it his way, “Here’s the deal: an assassin dropped by last night, we stopped him from killing Atom, he swore death on us, our friends, and family then escaped. So we are going to Canterlot.”

The silence was so thick you could make it into a winter blanket.

Volt breaks the silence, “So… why are we going to Canterlot?”

I answer, “Because the assassin was after Atom, there’s almost no way all the suspicious parts in his story, combined with this, can be a coincidence. There is something going on here and now we are a part of it. We can’t just go to one of the Princesses because Atom was set up too well, at least some guards are in on this. Thus we have to be careful of those we trust. We are going to Canterlot because they wouldn’t expect such a quick response from us, we get there, and we follow leads, starting with Navy’s friend that overheard the guards that dropped Atom off with us. We keep our heads down, work fast, and we might get out of this before things get bad.”

Blue nods his head affirmatively, “They said they were going to come for us, I’m all for a plan that has us getting them first.”

Volt thinks for a moment, “Stay home and get assassinated, or go on infiltration mission that may or may not work and will likely have us go against members of the royal guard… I guess I’m in too.”

Navy simply has a relaxed smile on his face, “Hey, I was just hoping to convince you guys Atom wasn’t guilty, this is way better than I hoped.”

All of us reach in a hoof and lay them on top of each other, eyeing the others of our circle. We nod to each other, signifying our commitment to the mission.

***

We all head back to our respective dwellings to gather supplies before meeting back up at the train station. In the end though, the only ones who bring anything are myself, with first aid supplies, Volt with his conductor rods, and Navy with the bag he had brought with him from Canterlot. We board the 1 o’clock train to Canterlot and manage to snag a cabin to ourselves since we are some of the only passengers. As the we hear the call for anypony who has yet to board, and feel the rumble of the train stirring into life, a pony in a train engineer’s hat walks into our cabin from the front of the train.

The coal dust covered stallion tips his hat slightly as he begins saying, “Good afternoon everypony, just wanted to let you know, my name’s Off Track and I’ll be your train driver for this little journey of ours. I’m just making my rounds to see if anypony has any questions as we get up to speed on our way to Canterlot.”

Navy asks him with a curious tone, “Why are you called Off Track?”

Blue looks at Navy with a smug look, “Probably because it’s his name.”

Our group and the driver chuckles for a moment before the train pony responds, “Well, aside from the fact that it’s my name, I’m also called Off Track because I can get easily distracted… or maybe it was because I sometimes go off the rails… I can never remember.” The stallion finishes his little reveal with a wide grin to match our now wide eyes.

The stallion tips his hat and walks back towards the engine as the rest of us look at each other and gulp.

***

A few minutes of silence pass after our rather… unique driver’s announcement. The train rumbling providing great background noise until we eventually decide to break the silence with a little catching up.

Volt begins our little questions and story session with a query directed at our local weather pony, “So Blue, how are things going with Rainbow Dash?”

The blue pegasus thinks a moment before answering, “Pretty good I’d say, she’s been trying to get me into better shape…”

*Flashback*

“Come on Blue! Just a few more!”

Blue grunts in exertion as he repeats the cycle he been going at for the last… he doesn’t know how long it’s been. As he rises to go at it again, his body gives in and he flops over onto his side, panting into the cloudy surface he was standing on a moment ago.

Blue pants out his surrender to Rainbow Dash, “Do… I… at least… get a… consolation prize?”

The spectrum maned mare shakes her head as she hovers above the exhausted pony, “Sorry Blue, we had a deal. You had to match my 250 reps of flying to that cloud and back to this one to win 10 seconds of making out. Just 200 doesn’t get you anything,” she puts a hoof to her chin in thought for a moment, “but you did do better than yesterday… so I guess that means you are getting better as my workout partner.”

Blue raises a shaky hoof in the air for the slight triumph before letting it flop to the cloud again, “What if… I do 100 more… in a few minutes… before we call it a day?”

Rainbow smiles, “That’s the spirit Blue! And like I said earlier, you get to pick the challenge tomorrow.”

Blue smiles back, letting out a small chuckle, “Sounds good… heh… I guess I’m just a bit…. ‘winded’ at the moment.”

“HAH!”

Both pegasi look over the edge of the cloud to see a particular pun-loving electric unicorn smiling his approval at the pun.

*End Flashback*

Hydro chuckles good naturedly before his eyes widen as he realizes something, “We’re gonna have to deal with both of you making puns now aren’t we?

Blue and Volt look at each other grinning, Blue decides to answer for them, “Don’t worry Hydro, that nasty lack of puns you’ve had to deal with will soon be water under the bridge.”

As Hydro groans from the impending pun onslaught in his future, I decide to try and take his mind off things, “So, speaking of mares, how are things with you and Applejack, Hydro?”

Hydro cracks a grin, “Let’s just say… I’ve had a lot of apple pie recently.”

*Flashback*

Hydro Pump and Big Macintosh sit across from each other at the Apple family table.

“So let me get this straight: in order to gain your approval, which I need because I am dating your sister, you want me to beat you in an apple pie eating contest, despite the fact that you have eaten them all of your life and thus have a serious advantage over me.?”

“Eeyup.”

“Well, I guess it could have been worse.”

Granny Smith and Applejack walk in, each with a stack of pies on their respective backs which they set on the table before the two stallions.

Granny smith raises the dinner triangle, “Alright boys, *ding* eat up!”

*End Flashback*

“So how’d that go for you?” I ask.

Hydro shrugs, “Oh I lost by a mile, but it turns out the point wasn’t to win; it was to see if I’d try to accomplish something that was essentially impossible. Plus it turns out the irrigation system has been helping out a lot in the areas we’ve set it up in, so I got some bonus points there.”

I nod, “Well that’s good. I was wondering how it was going since you two dating kind of came out of nowhere.”

Hydro asks a question this time, “So Volt, how are things going with Twilight?”

Volt sighs, “Things are going nowhere because they never started, I’m pretty sure I’m friend zoned.”

I try to look at how that might have happened, “Well, what makes you say that?”

“Well, I thought I had an opening when she was taking care of me after I got hurt during the Fluffers incident, but she said she was taking care of me because she thought it was her responsibility as the leader of that little adventure. I’ve actually been to her house a lot, but it’s been for friend stuff… she gets a weirdly large number of electrical failures at her place, I guess maybe Spike snips wires with his claws accidentally sometimes because they were very cleanly cut… she also tends to invite me over to read… and there was that time I found a book at my apartment that I don’t remember borrowing but was due the next day so I returned it anyway… just a lot of friendly hanging out I guess.”

That… does not sound that friend zoned to me…

The rest of the train ride goes by smoothly with some more idle chatter until we pull up in Canterlot and start making our way to Navy’s place, which he volunteered as our… base of operations of sorts. It turns out Navy’s place is in one of the lower areas of Canterlot known for cheap housing. We arrive at a dingy little apartment complex and take it all in as Navy guides us to his and lets us in. When we ask why an author lives in a place like this Navy simply says it’s the best he can afford right now and grumbles something about his publisher. We shrug it off since he was nice enough to let us stay here, plus the Canterlot housing market is definitely more expensive than Ponyville’s.

Navy tells us that we’ll be heading to meet his friend later in the day, so we settle in for the wait. Volt heads out saying he was going to buy something he had been looking for, while Blue asks Navy if he can make a sandwich. Hydro, Atom, and I decide to catch up the sleep we missed with some nice naps, Atom on the couch while Hydro and I find some comfortable spots on the floor.

A tap on the shoulder wakes me up a few hours later to find the others awake and Navy above me.

“It’s time.”

Chapter 38: Clubbing

***Sunday, Day 29, just after sunset***

Navy leads our little group through the darkened streets of Canterlot to his mysterious friend. I tune out the rest of the group as I glance around, slight paranoia about being in an area I don’t know well, at night especially, causing me to be on the lookout for threats. My ears twitch and I let out a slight breath of relief as I hear Navy announce our arrival, only to sharply take that breath back as the details of our destination make themselves known to me.

It is a relatively non-descript building, hardly noticeable and barely identifiable if not for the bright neon sign boldly shoving the name “Blur” to all passersby. The dull outside proves to be due to all the effort being put into the inside as two mares stumble their way out the doors giggling madly while revealing an interior of darkness, flashing colored lights, and above all a bass that rattled the streets until the door closed to muffle the sound to an occasional barely noticeable thump.

Oh Luna, it’s a nightclub!

Our group makes its way towards the building as I go slower and slower until I stand about twenty feet from the door while the others are about to go in. My heart races and my pupils shrink as my mind screams at me to get away from the building while my friends notice my absence and make their way back to me.

Navy cocks his head to one side as I continue staring at Blur, “Rhino, you coming?”

I jerkily shake my head side to side.

Hydro looks back at the building then to me as he speaks, “I just thought about it, but this is pretty much the kind of place he tends to avoid like the plague.”

Atom probably raises an eyebrow but I can’t tell behind his shades, “Why’s that? Music, dancing, drinks, what’s not to like? Seems like a fun place.”

I rattle off the list of reasons why I decidedly do NOT think this is fun, “Music at levels that assault the eardrums and cause deafness later in life, alcohol to lower decency and common sense while fueling the random dancing of rubbing up against strangers on a crowded floor all adding up to an adrenalin rush so high that anypony is only a small bump away from having a random pony beat the hay out of you for no reason, and a crowded setting giving the image of a soon to be out of control frenzy of ponies that anyone would be hard set to stop should they get crazier than they already are.”

The group goes silent for a moment after my little rant before Navy speaks up, “Well, I’m not the biggest fan of these kinds of places either but this is where we need to meet my friend, and surely it’s not as bad as all that?”

Volt adds in, “Yeah, I love the music, plus all the lights and colors remind me of being electrocuted!”

I gulp to myself as Hydro says matter-of-factly, “Rhino, we need to go in there, so you either stay out here by yourself or you go in and bite the bit until we leave.”

Like that’s much of a choice if I don’t want to stay out here and get mugged…

I gulp again before responding, “Ok, but can I at least hang near some of you so I don’t completely panic?”

Atom replies, “Well, I was gonna hit the bar and Hydro was gonna come with me so I think we’re out.”

Navy smiles apologetically, “Sorry, I have to go wait for my friend to finish work so I can come get you guys when she’s ready.”

Volt smiles, but reassuringly, “Article 27 of the Bro Code: If you need to stick with bros, then bros will stick with you. I don’t really drink and Baltimare being a party college gives me a little resistance to this kind of thing, I’ve got your back.”

Blue nods, “Yeah, suffice to say due to something that happened when I was younger I don’t drink either, I’ll join you, Volt.”

I calm down slightly knowing I’ll have some things to base myself around in that place so I don’t go insane, “Thanks you two… just warning you though… I’m probably going to be very twitchy the whole time we’re in there.”

Blue and Volt shrug at my comment and the rest of us head towards the door to Blur while Navy heads inside before us. As the simultaneous assault on my eyes and ears begins, I try to scout out what could relatively be described as the “quiet” part of the establishment. Navy comes back before we even move from the door and lets us know that we still have about 15 minutes to kill before we can see his friend, he then dives back into the sea of ponies and is soon lost to sight. Hydro and Atom stay true to their word and proceed to the bar to kill some time while the three of us that are left head to a likely table I had spotted in a corner away from both the dance floor and the bar.

The music still drowning us in its presence results in us having to speak a little louder than normal for us to hear each other, as I find out when I have to try several times to get Blue’s attention hoping my questions will evoke a response that will distract me from our surroundings and my paranoid glances at anyone who looks to be heading our way, “So, what was it that happened to you when you were younger when you mentioned it earlier?”

Blue, after finally hearing me, answers with the air of it’s-no-big-deal, “Oh that, well, let’s just say I woke up hanging upside down from a ceiling fan with the words "BUCK ME" on the side of my flanks after I got involved with a small amount of weed. Kinda stayed away from anything like drugs after that.”

I give him an understanding smile as my paranoid eyes see a young unicorn waitress saunter up to our table, holding a notepad in her magic, “Can I get you boys anything?”

I shake my head as I respond, “Nothing for me thank you.”

If I don’t drink anything, I can’t be slipped anything.

“Just some water please,” the blue pegasus orders.

“And for you~?” She says, smiling coyly at Volt.

“Just some soda water please.”

She winks as she trots off, “Alright, be right back.”

She returns about 5 minutes later with the two glasses for Blue and Volt, handing them to their respective ponies, while I still keep a lookout for anyone approaching our table, “Anything else for you boys?”

Volt answers for us, “That’ll be it thanks.”

She nods, scribbling in her notebook, ripping out a page, and floating it over in front of the electric unicorn, “There you go.”

He eyes the page a moment before turning back to her, “Is this the bill or your street address?”

She winks at him, “My address.”

“Oh,” he says, floating the page back over to her, “No problem, easy mistake. Now how much do I owe?”

She frowns slightly before telling him the cost and him getting the bits from his saddlebag to give to her. She pockets the money before huffing in exasperation as she walks back to her station.

About 5 minutes after the waitress leaves, my still paranoid eyes spot Navy with Atom and Hydro in tow heading towards us. He lets us know that we can see his friend now, so Volt and Blue finish their drinks and we all follow the dark blue pegasus through a door off to the side of the stage stating “Employees Only”. As the door closes behind us, the music is muffled to a dull rhythm much as it was outside. We make our way down the hallway behind the door and towards another door with a musical note on it.

Navy knocks on the door and a mare’s voice answers, “Who is it?”

Navy rolls his eyes, “The Ghost Writer, who else would it be?”

“Well hurry up and phase through the door then Ghosty.”

Navy chuckles as he opens the door, letting us follow him into what I would describe as a dressing room, but is about 3 times too big to be called that. As we enter we see a white unicorn mare with an unruly two tone dark and ice blue mane putting some records back in their sleeves before she turns around. When she faces us, we see that she has a pair of purple shades over her eyes and a rather large grin on her face.

She greets us in a very casual voice, “Sup Navy, feels like we just talked 5 minutes ago, oh wait, we did.” She turns to the rest of us, “Hey everypony, name’s Vinyl Scratch, resident mistress of the musical night.”

Navy translates, “She’s the DJ.” The rest of us let out a simultaneous ‘Oh’ and he introduces us, “Vinyl, meet Blue Breeze, Hydro Pump, Voltage Surge, Rhino, and Atom, whom I already told you about.”

She nods her head at each of our names, almost like she’s head banging to a song, “Cool, nice to meet you all.” She turns to Atom, “So your Atom huh? Heard a lot about you, now what’s this Navy tells me about a conspiracy that got you arrested?”

We briefly explain to her the situation.

She whistles, “Sounds rough, well looks I might be able to help you. Like Navy said, couple of guards got wasted here one night a bit too close to the DJ stage. I won’t bore you with the details because frankly I’m bored just thinking about ‘em, but here’s the gist of it: these guys were laughing it up over Green Shade’s situation and one of ‘em how they knew the evidence was enough to convict him. The other guy says “that’s why we made sure there was a witness” now I am the farthest thing from a lawyer but you don’t make sure there’s a witness unless you either knew what was gonna happen, or you got someone to pretend to be a witness. From what I overheard between songs, the witness to your supposed one pony assault on the treasury is a mare called Silver Tongue.”

We perk up at finally having a lead to follow as I ask, “So where do we find her?”

Vinyl levitates a slip of paper from her bag and waves it in front of her face, “Let’s just say, her name may be Silver Tongue, but she gets to be a bit of a blabbermouth when she gets a few drinks. I asked around and a bartender friend of mine knew where she lived thanks to her hitting on some stallions in his place.” Atom goes to grab the paper but Vinyl pulls it back, “Ah ah ah, not so fast. The only way you get this is if I come with you.”

Blue raises an eyebrow, “Why would you want to come with us?”

Her smile sharpens to be not so pleasant, “Simple, my coltfriend in the Royal Guard was also complaining about some stuff he was accused of at work. Nothing as bad as what they said you did, but enough to keep suspicion on him. I haven’t seen him since he told me that. It’s a long shot, but if the same thing is happening to you, then I want to know if little Miss Silver can tell me anything.” Her smile softens again, “I miss that lug of mine, and my roommate having her coltfriend around all the time only makes it worse. At least Octy cooled it a little once I told her…” We stare at her a moment as she gets lost in thought before shaking her head and continuing, “So, I’m coming with, agreed?”

Navy nods his head, “Deal. Let’s go.”

Chapter 40: Pursuit

***Sunday, Day 29, night***

As I exit Silver Tongue’s house I see the others halfway down the street, hopefully chasing the watcher from the roof. I Blink a few times in quick succession to catch up to the group and start Res skating once I get close to them. As I join the group, I can barely see a dark blur turn a corner ahead of us, running full speed and maintaining a respectable distance. The next few corners all follow the same pattern, we move as fast as we can but we only ever seem to be able to catch the merest glimpse of our newest quarry.

Hydro, having more stamina than the rest of us, remarks as we run, “So why aren’t any of you flying or magicking your way closer to this guy?”

Blue answers for the flyers of the group, “Narrow streets don’t exactly make for easy flight path changes, this guy makes one quick turn into an alley and we would lose him.”

I answer for myself since I have no idea how Volt would “magic” his way closer, “We barely have an eye on this guy now, if I try Blinking closer and I’ll have a hard time keeping track of him to know where to Blink next. Probably end up just coming back to you guys asking where he went.”

Hydro grunts in acknowledgement, “Just making sure there wasn’t an easy way we were overlooking.”

We continue the pursuit for a few more minutes before the street straightens out and we see the silhouette of our target enter an open door to a warehouse before closing it behind him. A slight roaring can be heard as we approach the building, revealing itself to be the Canterlot waterfall just beyond the warehouse.

As we continue running, or Resing in my case, I notice an open window just under to roof above the door and remark to the others, “There’s a window up there. Atom, you and I will go in that way, the rest of you find a side entrance.”

“Hey, I’ll come with you,” Volt interjects.

I sigh mentally, “Fine, I’ll Blink you up or something once I get to the window.”

Hydro, Blue, and Navy break off at a slant from Atom, Volt, and I, who are still heading straight for the door. I see Atom spread his wings out of the corner of my eye as I make the adjustments to Res and start running up the side of the building as we reach the wall. A rhythmic tapping reaches my ears as I look to my side curiously and see Volt mimicking my wall running.

He smiles cheekily at me and whispers, “Magnet hooves.”

I smile back at him as we reach the window and jump inside. A long pole leaning up against the wall near the window provides a narrow ramp for me to switch Res back to skating mode and glide down, listening to the slight grinding of hooves on metal of Volt following me in our little impromptu parkour session.

Atom alights next to us as we reach the bottom, when I turn to Volt and say quietly, “Magnet hooves? Last I checked you were having control issues with your magic thanks to that whole Fluffers thing, did that clear up?”

“I’ve been working on it. I’ve really got the hang of this now!” He sticks a hoof to the pipe again to emphasize his point.

The hoof however, doesn’t seem to want to come off as Volt continues to tug at it. He then plants his other forehoof on the pipe to gain more leverage, but it still won’t come off… and now his other hoof is stuck. He then for some reason decides to plant both his rear hooves near his front ones and attempts to push off the pipe with all his strength… only to sag and gasp for air as he now hangs under the bottom of the pipe as if somepony had tied his hooves together around it.

I facehoof at the electric unicorn as I lean the pipe down from against the wall onto the floor. I hear the dark pegasus muttering to himself and ask, “What was that Atom?”

He speaks up as I try to dislodge Volt, “I said I wish I had my sword, as much as I did in that incident we had at your house… I do better with a weapon in hoof than just punching and kicking, and that sword was special to me, it was the first thing they took from me when I was arrested.”

I get an idea as I sit there making no progress on dislodging Volt, “Well, we need to get moving and it’s dangerous to go alone… take this,” I levitate a section of the pole I had unscrewed with Volt still attached to it over to Atom, “You said you prefer weapons, I call it the Staff of Shock and Ow.”

Atom grabs the end of the pole and swings it once, “What am I supposed to do with this?”

“Well, I can’t get him off and we need to bring him with us anyway. Think of it as a legendary weapon with… +3 shock damage or something.”

The source of said shock damage remarks from his perch, “Pssh, I’m at least a +4.”

Atom, Volt, and I start making our way through the dark warehouse trying to find either our friends or the guy we chased in here. We don’t have to be super stealthy due to the waterfall, but we still make sure to stay behind the boxes and pipes until we can see the coast is clear.

As we reach an area where the boxes had been moved out of, Atom stops and turns to me, gesturing with the Staff around us, “I don’t like this… we should have seen somepony by now, it feels like a trap.”

*Flash!* I cover my eyes with a hoof as lights come on above us illuminating about 25 ponies of various races and genders with varying slapdash sets of equipment, some pieces looking like royal guard armor, surrounding us with smirks on their faces.

I remark to the pegasus next to me, “For the record, in the future, feel free to enlighten me as to any instinctual feelings you have at a slightly earlier point in the mission.”

What follows is a fast paced blur for me. The ponies converge on us, Atom assuming a combat stance, using his wings to balance himself so that he doesn’t fall onto his face when he swings Volt using both forehooves. I Blink to a spot outside of the main melee to get some breathing room and focus on doing what I can to keep them from swarming Atom and myself, sticking some to the floor, making others slip, and in some cases delivering a few levitation punches to the unicorns I see charging spells.

I have no idea how long this goes before I feel myself held down by multiple telekinetic fields, an enemy pegasus taking the opportunity to charge me and landing a good hit to my chest. I yell from the pain as he rears back for another, and just as he is about the strike I see a blue blur ram into him and toss him into one of the unicorns holding me. I feel the other unicorn get distracted as her field weakens slightly, allowing me to focus a downward telekinetic punch to the top of her head, causing her head to crack against the ground, knocking her unconscious.

I look up to see Atom attempting to fend off our numerous assailants with the help of Navy and the blur from the before, identified as Blue Breeze. Seeing them get slowly backed into the far wall, I blink over to help them try to push back, but it is no use. There are too many of them and they overwhelm us, causing us to back further and further until we are against the wall. As they close in, my thoughts turn to our missing earth pony friend.

“Sneak sneak.”

My pupils shrink as everypony hears those words echo through the warehouse, the words striking memories in my mind and causing a reflex response.

I shout to the others as a roaring begins, “HIT THE DECK!”

I grab the nearest pony to me, which happened to be Blue, and force him and myself down below the sill of the window we are up against; bracing for what I know is coming. Before Blue has a chance to respond, a roar like that of the waterfall outside grows evermore and I look up to see our opponents frozen in fear of the oncoming wave from the other side of the warehouse, washing away everything in its path. The last thing I see before shutting my eyes and bracing myself again, are boxes swatted away like flies as the roaring overtakes everything else just as the wave hits with an incredible force like I’ve never felt before. My body feels as though it is being compressed against the wall as the water flows into and over me, the window we were under having shattered instantly.

I don’t know how long it lasts, but eventually the force starts to abide and I feel air on the top of my mane. As the water drains away I open my eyes slowly as my body groans from the abuse, thankful that I had a wall to brace against. I turn to Blue to see him in a similar state, shaken but otherwise okay. Beyond him I see our other two pegasi groaning under another window, their coats soaked to the bone along with those of the two thugs remaining in the warehouse, the rest probably having been washed outside. I hear a clang as a familiar pipe falls from the window above Atom and Navy, having lain perpendicular to the window and thus having not been swept out. Its unicorn passenger had been dislodged and was starting to stand. I pop a few joints as I stand to see a solitary red earth pony walking towards us, his hoofsteps splashing water up with every step.

The red hoof of my best friend appears in front of my face to help me stand, its owner speaking to me, “Glad you remembered what to do. You okay?”

I groan a second before the pain starts to fade, “I’m fine, thanks for that. Extreme as it was, it was definitely preferable to what they would have done to us.”

Blue looks at Hydro, still slightly in shock at what happened, “How did you even do that?”

“I saw you guys were in trouble so I kicked a few key pipes I found.”

The others make their ways over to us, Volt hearing Hydro’s statement, “Did you see them in a dream?”

Hydro raises a hoof warningly, “If you make a wet dream joke…”

The unicorn chuckles, “Nah, sounds more like a pipe dream to me.”

Hydro groans as the rest of us laugh and look around. Atom, noticing something about one of the few guards remaining, speaks up, “Volt, could you levitate that guy over here?”

Volt shakes his head, “Sorry, I’m shorted out right now because of the water, so no magic for a bit. On the bright side though, I’m not stuck to the pole anymore.”

Atom goes to bring the guard over to us as I address this new development, “I didn’t know your magic could short out, Volt.”

He shrugs, “Electricity magic. It’ll come back here in a bit once I dry off, no worries.”

Atom drops the thug in front of us and starts messing with something on the guy’s front hoof, “I think once this guy wakes up we can see more of what’s going on.”

Navy raises an eyebrow, “What makes you think this guy knows anything?”

Atom leans back up with what looks like a sword hilt and attaches it to his hoof with practiced ease and a genuine smile on his face, “Because this guy had my sword, and you could only get this from the armory where they confiscated it.”

Blue starts messing with the unconscious stallion’s armor as well, “Well, as long as we are looting all the drops from our enemies,” he comes back up with what look like metal guards for the front part of pegasi wings, “I think I’ll take these, don’t want to pass up some free protection to keep my wings from getting injured with all the fighting we’ve been doing… that and they look really cool.”

I shake my head slightly while smiling, “Don’t see those often, gotta be uncommon rarity at least.”

Volt puts on a fake hurt face, “What no loot for the rest of us?”

Navy flinches as he starts splashing some of the water on the floor into the thug’s face, “Information seems like a good reward for now.”

The stallion groans as he starts coming to, but as he opens his eyes to see us standing over him, we can see that he’s really only half there, still dazed from being slammed into a wall by the wave.

He coughs out some water as he laughs softly, “*cough* Heheh, you think you’ve won? *cough* You boys don’t know who you’re dealing with. You think you’re untouchable, but we’ve already won, soon, our guards will be sent to replace you and that other one we got sent to the dungeon. *cough* With him already so high up, there won’t be any way for you to stop us… Hail, Tor- *cough*” The stallion coughs one last time before falling back into unconsciousness.

Atom snorts at this news, “Looks like this is bigger than we thought, but we have our new place to go now, and what sounds like a friend.” He looks around at the ruined warehouse, “Let’s go.”

“Umm, yeah about that.”

We look to see Navy who had spoken, one wing hanging to a side and a back hoof held up as if in pain.

He speaks again, his voice strained, “Sorry, I don’t think I’ll be much help to you guys now, my wing got either sprained or dislocated from hitting the wall, and I think my leg might be cracked.”

I grab a splint and gauze strips from my saddle bag as I approach Navy, “Mind if I take a look?”

I determine that his wing is sprained pretty badly and that his leg is indeed cracked. I strap his wing to keep it as his side and get a nice splint on his leg to keep it from getting worse along with some nice antibiotic cream on it.

Navy looks up at us, “I should be able to get to a hospital fine, you guys go on ahead while they don’t know how much we’re onto them.” Without waiting for an answer he starts his way out the door and towards the main part of Canterlot.

As we realize we are now down another one, we five remaining ponies look at each other before looking out the window towards our new destination: the castle, and its dungeons.

Chapter 41: Infiltration

***Monday, Day 30, just after midnight***

*click*

My ears perk up at the sound of the unlocking door and its accompanying whispers.

“Alright, we’re in.”

The small door in the outer castle wall emits no sound from its well-oiled hinges as it swings open to allow the others inside.

“What took you guys so long?”

The others jump as my voice startles them. All of them looking at me wide-eyed as Hydro voices the obvious question, “What the, how did you get in here before us?”

I give them all a deadpan look as I lay comfortably inside the bush I had been relaxing in for the last few minutes, my coat making it almost impossible to tell I’m there, “Hey, I tried to call out when you guys rushed off to find the best way to break into the gate when we first spotted it. You do realize that although they have a barrier above the walls for pegasi… the same precautions aren’t as all-encompassing for unicorns?”

Atom shakes his head in disbelief, “No way, all doors in the castle are enchanted to allow only certain magic to work on them.”

I continue giving them a deadpan look as I stand up, “Yes, which is why I simply Blinked past the door, negating that particular defense. I would have done the same for the rest of you, but you had to go run off before I could tell you this.”

Sheepish looks go all around before Blue speaks up, “Well, anyway, we’re in. Which way to the dungeons, Atom?”

A hoof pointing in the desired direction and we are off once again. Progress is the usual pace of stealth missions, slow but steady… which means somepony is going to get bored eventually.

“Hey, I have a question.”

Blue glances at Volt, “Really?”

The electric unicorn nods, “Why are we sneaking?”

Blue gives him a snarky look, “So we don’t get caught.”

“What would we be caught doing? Walking in the garden?”

I put in my two bits as I think about what Volt is saying, “Actually now that I think about it… only the interior of the castle is off-limits…”

Volt nods, “Exactly, so why don’t we cut out the sneaking and only sneak once we get to the places we aren’t supposed to be?”

As one of my earlier reasons for sneaking pops into my head I respond to Volt, “Because Atom here is supposed to be under house arrest in Ponyville. Not sure exactly how much trouble we are going to be in if they recognize him, but I’d honestly rather just avoid them knowing we were here at all.”

He counters, “But wouldn’t the chances of them bothering to recognize him in our group be slim? And wouldn’t those chances be significantly increased by the fact that we are sneaking, thus making us instantly suspicious to anypony who actually does manage to spot us, and making it more likely they take more than a passing glance?”

An unfamiliar voice behind us answers, “I’d say that’s about right.”

I glance at the other unicorn of the group, “When we get back to Ponyville, you and I are having a discussion about baiting the universe.”

Our group turns around to see an orange pegasus mare with fiery red and orange mane and flaming lightning bolt cutie mark. She has what I would describe as an “explain yourself” face.

Atom, instead of the reaction I expected, smiles at the mare, “Spitfire? Long time no see.”

Blue shakes his head with a confused look on his face, “THE Spitfire?”

The fiery mare has not changed her expression despite the responses of some of our group, “So, mind telling me why you are here, when apparently you’re supposed to be in Ponyville?”

Atom walks her away from us a short distance before whispering hurriedly to her, presumably about what we have been, and are currently, up to. The two pegasi come back with Spitfire looking not quite convinced, which does not bode well for us. Suddenly, she grabs one of Hydro’s ears and drags him away from the rest of the group slightly farther away than she and Atom went. Judging by her posture and aggressive stance, she seems to be grilling him about something. After Hydro sinks down slightly at her aggression, their conversation seems to calm her down and the two return to us.

Atom cocks an eyebrow at her, “What was that about?”

For the first time, she smiles, “Had to confirm your story. No way could you guys parrot out something that crazy, so accurately, without hearing what I asked the other one, unless it’s true. Plus, you guys aren’t the only ones that had a few reservations about some of the things going on around here.”

Blue perks up, “Why are you here and how did you spot us anyway?”

She shrugs, “The Wonderbolts have a little barracks set up here in between season since we are technically part of the military. I was doing a little night flying to relax a bit and try to get some sleep when I saw you guys a few minutes ago. Like your friend here said, trying to be stealthy, and failing, only makes you look suspicious.”

I try to be as tactful as I can with my next statement, “And in regards to why we were sneaking?”

“If you’re asking whether I’m going to stop you… the answer is no. In fact, I think I’ll help you guys since all of what you discovered definitely has me suspicious too now.”

I raise a skeptical eyebrow, “Just like that? You’ll help us?”

She shrugs again, “Atom and I grew up together, and last I checked I owed him one. Friends should stick together right?”

Atom nods, “Right, come on, let’s go free some ponies, clear my name, and maybe beat down a bad guy or two.”

The addition of our newest member to our little investigation team proved to be very useful. When it finally came time for us to get into the castle proper, her bright coloring got her noticed before the rest of us, and because of her Wonderbolt status we got in on her word of “They’re with me.” Then we had to fall right back to sneaking, granted not nearly as much cover of either the material or darkness sense since we were inside a castle. So it’s mostly just checking around corners and making sure not to stay in one place too long. We arrive outside one set of many large ornamental doors and Atom holds a hoof up to halt us.

He looks at me, “Rhino, what time is it?”

I check my watch, “About 1 in the morning, why?”

He smiles, “Perfect, the guard changed should be happening in a moment.”

Hydro makes a remark, “You know, I have a bit of respect for the guard here in the castle. If I stood in the same spot all day, I think I’d go crazy.”

The doors to the room in front of us open as we take cover behind the usual wealthy luxury item of overly large vases. Two pegasi guards walk out, looking like they are glad for the end of their shift. One of them has what looks like a platter on his back.

The first guard looks at the other one with a look of exasperation as he speaks, “Do not do this.”

The second one looks to the first, “Are you kidding me?” He nods his head towards the platter on his back, “Look at the variety!”

They walk right by us as they continue, “This is some manure.”

“You know how I get when I’m around assorted cheeses… HELP ME!”

“The only way to help you is to eat all the cheeses before you do.”

The second guard gets an excited look on his face, “Yeah, I know, let’s make this a bucking competition!”

“Alright, but you need to control yourself.”

As they turn the corner we hear the platter guard’s reply, “Buck you, I’m always in control!”

Hydro looks after the guards, “I suddenly have less respect for guards.”

Atom rubs the back of his head sheepishly, “Hey, that’s the dining room, you try standing still all day not being allowed to eat anything or to have a lunch break, and then being given your choice of one food item to bring home at the end of the day and see how long you stay sane.”

“Alright, fair point.”

We walk through the dining room and soon find ourselves in a corridor heading downward. The smooth walls soon make way to stone walls, and less and less decorative items make their presences known. We soon reach a door near at the end of the hallway, creaking it open to see a single guard sitting behind his desk near the archway leading to the cells. A quick whispered discussion and a hoof to the back of his head sees us heading down the hallway of mysteriously empty cells. We search for a time before Atom suggests checking the high security cells, seeing as these were more holding cells than anything else. A few minutes later and we are in a classic dungeon, chains on the walls and all.

We peek into them as quietly as we can. Every other cell has a pony, some seem like guards while others seem like citizens. None of them seem like criminals. As we reach one of the last cells, a gold pegasus with yellow and white main groans and opens an eye to see us looking at his cell.

He speaks, “Atom?”

“Glare?”

Chapter 42: Liberation

***Monday, Day 30, just past midnight***

“Glare? What are you doing here?” Atom asks as he starts trying to undo the shackles on the yellow stallion.

A small spark of hope appears in the chained pony’s eyes as our shade-wearing friend continues to try and free him, “Officially speaking, I’m AWOL. Unofficially, I got tossed down here for voicing suspicions I had about mysterious guard disappearances and the random charges against me. I’ve been down here for a little over two weeks now.”

Atom continues to struggle with the chains for a moment before throwing them to the floor and explosively growling, “Gah! Hay with this!” He flares his wings to balance as he grabs the green sword hilt he had reclaimed from the warehouse thugs. He holds the hilt in front of him as we the sound of wind moving around. Suddenly a stream of said wind erupts out of the hilt and travels for a few hooflengths before sharply turning and returning back to the hilt. The stream of air trailing from the hilt is now formed in the shape of a pointed infinity symbol blade. Atom looks at the shackled guard and growls, “Don’t move,” before bringing the sword down on the chains, severing them in a single slice.

Spitfire helps Glare onto his hooves as the rest of us stare at the strange elemental weapon our friend wields. I’m the first to break the silence as I ask, “Atom… what is that?”

“This,” he holds up the blade vertically, “is Whispering Breeze. A special weapon passed down through my family.”

I take a step forward to get a better look at the artifact, mumbling half to myself and half to the others, “Fascinating… I’ve never seen this particular combination of runes before… a variant of the crystallization rune to semi solidify the wind, even a series of runes here to define its shape…” I shake my head, reminding myself that this isn’t the time. I focus on Atom as all of us make our way out of the cell and start freeing the other ponies who are also in the same predicament, “Atom, would you mind if I took a look at your sword hilt when this is all over?”

He slashes more chains as he answers, “To look at the markings? I thought most of those were decorative.”

I help a unicorn mare to her hooves and out of her cell, “Not at all, the majority of markings on items, such as yours, are the blueprints for their enchantments. Most ponies simply don’t know their meanings and thus they assume they are merely aesthetic.”

“You’re not going to experiment on it or anything, are you?”

“I’m just going to record its runes and patterns. While I may use those in some other experiments I’m thinking of, I will not use the sword itself in any experiment.”

We finish freeing all the ponies and look over the group now gathered outside in the hall their cells were attached to. Overall, they look like a pitiable bunch, seven in all, not counting Glare. Three of them look to be guards judging by their alert stances similar to Glare’s and Atom’s. The other four look to be civilians or staff, and all of them, guard or not, look malnourished and more than a few bruises are in evidence. The guard’s eyes radiate of rising defiance to their treatment while the civilians show fear of further atrocities. Beyond every eye though, lies fatigue both mental and physical.

I voice my thoughts in a shocked voice at the view before me, “Why would they do this? It’s not like they’re just taking guards, why take normal ponies? What is the point of all this?”

A voice from a cell we thought empty answers, “Their actions are not as mysterious as you believe. While not the main purpose, theirs is a secretive group, and that can only be maintained if witnesses are not heard.”

My ears perk up at the voice, one that sounds not only like that of an older stallion, but also the voice of a young grandfather who is wise to the ways of the world. I look into the cell and notice a series of chains all meeting in the center of the room in a pile. Poking out of the top of this pile is a small foxlike face, its large eyes orange while most of its face is covered in a dark red fur as well as a grey beard on its chin. Resting around its neck is a thick collar, sitting on top of the pile of chains wrapped around its body to an extent as only its head is visible.

I open the door and approach the creature, “I’m sorry sir, we didn’t mean to forget to free you. I guess we assumed only ponies would be down here.”

He speaks again, his voice deeper than I would have thought given his small stature, “Assuming is fine for trying to decide the best course of action. The trick is to not let it blind you to what you may not have known before.”

Wise words indeed.

I look at the large knot of chains around him, “This is going to take a while to get off you…”

“I believe I can get myself out of this mess, if you would be so kind as to get this collar off me.”

I look at the collar and notice the runes on it.

It looks to be a suppressor of some kind… typically for these types of items there should be a release spot… there!

I prod the spot in question and the necklace snaps open and tumbles off the neck of the small creature.

He smiles and cracks his neck, “You might want to stand back.”

He takes a deep breath before blowing hard onto his bonds. To my surprise, he doesn’t breathe air onto them, but instead, he breathes fire! In a matter of moments the stream of fire causes the chains to glow and then melt, falling off of him the same way the collar did. His body is revealed to be about three fourths the length of one of my legs and, similar to his face, is foxlike as well, though there are differences. His form seems to be more bipedal, his tail is not the usual fox brush, but is instead a consistent decrease in thickness as it goes away from his body. His fur maintains the dark red color of his face, the gray patches matching his beard can be seen on the both the tip of his tale and on the underside of his stomach. Perhaps the most surprising thing though, is the pair of red bat wings on his back that he stretches and begins to flap to bring himself up to my eye level and follow me out of his cell.

The others look silently at the newest liberated creature as he follows me out of the cell and I attempt to introduce him, “Everypony, this is… I’m sorry, with trying to free you I forgot to ask your name.”

He continues hovering and does a slight bow, “Allow me to introduce myself then. I am Ambassador Iroh, Greybeard of the nimbats.”

I quirk an eyebrow, “I’ve never heard of a nimbat before.”

“Then perhaps we can speak once this situation is over, now, I assume you ponies are searching for whoever is behind, among other things, the wrongful imprisonment of myself and the others here?”

We nod.

“Then I believe I can already repay you for getting me out of there. The stallion you want, the one in charge of all of this, is Lieutenant Torchlight of your own guard forces.”

Atom scoffs, “That paper-pushing pony? I don’t believe it.”

“How do you know he is behind all this?” Blue asks.

“The best way, from his own mouth. I overheard a particular conversation regarding the guards that had ‘disappeared’ and those that would follow. Being my size and having flight capability, ponies tend to sometimes not notice I am there, as you saw for yourselves. If you wish to stop all of this, then your best bet is to go after him yourselves. While I would not normally suggest fighting somepony who has infiltrated as high up as he has, having myself as a witness on your behalf should suffice to keep you out of trouble as long as you stop him.”

“Not to interrupt, but I feel like we need to get these guys taken care of first,” Spitfire notes as she gestures to the other prisoners, “Some of these ponies are in bad shape and there is no way I’m letting them get caught while you guys are fighting the jerk who started all of this. I’m gonna take them to the hospital.”

Glare speaks up, “Well, I’m not going. I was the last to be put in here, so I can still help in some ways at least.”

Spitfire nods while starting to escort the ponies out into the main area of the castle on their way out. As she follows the last one to exit she turns towards us, or more specifically, one of us, “Hey Atom… kick his flank.”

Atom salutes the Wonderbolt as she leaves before turning to the rest of us, “Let’s go get this guy.”

Our group sets off through the castle, our resident Nimbat Ambassador flying ahead of us leading the way. We wind through the castle not saying a word, all of us concentrating on the final fight ahead of us. We finally reach a corridor with only one door at its very end. Iroh stops us here before turning to us.

“Torchlight will be in his office down there, do not underestimate him. He may have gotten to his position from an entirely bureaucratic path; he has used his position to remove his physical weakness by way of his armor. I’ll give you what help I can.” He closes his eyes for a moment before opening his mouth to reveal an orange glow that surrounds Atom, Volt, Hydro, Blue, and I. “This is a fire resistance charm. You will need it to fight him. It won’t make you immune to fire, but it will reduce what it does to you.”

“What about me?” Glare asks, noticing he didn’t get the charm.

“You my boy, are coming with me. As much as I know you hate to admit it, you are not at your best after 2 weeks in a cell. The best we can do right now is to seek out one of the princesses, likely Luna given the time, and see to it that she gets here in case things go badly, or at least to become aware of everything that has transpired.”

Glare looks like he is about to argue, but sighs and nods his head instead.

Iroh turns back to us, “Good luck to you ponies. Defeat Torchlight, so all that he has done, might be finally rectified.”

The two leave us with those parting words as we make our way down the corridor to the large door holding our final target. We pause outside the door, looking at each other, before Atom grits his teeth, draws his sword, and kicks in the door.

Inside is a large office, complete with bookshelves, windows on one wall, even a large rug in the center of the floor, and of course, the large wooden desk with an armored unicorn standing behind it. His armor is dark blue with gold trim and is much more covering than standard guard armor. It is more like plate armor than anything else, covering all but his eyes, orange tail, and light blue horn. His eyes widen in surprise at our entrance before narrowing at the black pegasus in our group.

“Vortex, I’m surprised to see you, alive at least.”

Atom’s wings flare in anger at the unicorn that has been the source of all his problems, “So you did send that assassin after us! Why?! Why are you doing this? Why me?”

Torchlight chuckles unpleasantly, “You? It was never about you. You are simply the latest in a long line of guards we have gotten rid of, Vortex. Though your presence here does prove my thoughts about you being more troublesome than most. Yet, here you are in front of me, saving me the trouble of having you sent to that hack town to have you killed quietly.”

Atom stares hard at Torchlight, his voice defiant and unrelenting, “I won’t be dying anytime soon Torchlight! This ends now!” Atom mutters to the rest of us, “Don’t worry guys, I’ve got this guy.”

The surprise easily registers on our faces along with uneasiness as I answer, “Atom, are you sure? Iroh told us not to underestimate this guy.”

“Considering I’m one of the best swordsponies in the guard and he’s a paperwork pony with armor, he shouldn’t underestimate me either.”

The large armored unicorn laughs once again, “Very well Vortex. Come!”

With his gaze fiercely locked on his opponent, Atom twirls his sword in hoof with increasing speed. Papers fly into the air and books slide out of their shelves as a hurricane of a rage and betrayal stirs in the room. It was if Atom’s anger was forming a great storm to intimidate his unmoving foe. Yet he has little notice of the chaos that brews around him. The combatants act as if there were only two ponies in the room at that moment and unfortunately the armored antagonist felt not the winds that brutalized everything in the area. Not like the rest of us by the door, having to shield our eyes in order to keep an eye on the two fighters.

In a split second Atom charges the statue of an opponent and raises his blade above his head holding it in both his hooves. The blade of wind comes down with great force only to hit only hit air and the stone floor. Torchlight had dodged his attack and is now a few feet away from Atom, but made no attempt at a counter attack. Atom takes advantage of his inaction and follows up with a diagonal slice only to end up missing again.

This time the armored lieutenant makes his move and strikes out at Atom with his fore hoof. Atom in the nick of time manages to side step the hoof as it hits the ground creating cracks on the solid stone. Distracted by the surprisingly powerful impact Atom pays no heed to the hoof of Torchlight as it strikes him in the abdomen, launching him back a few feet. Barely shrugging off the staggering blow Atom once again charges his opponent with a horizontal slice. To his and every pony else’s surprise his attack is stopped by a smug looking Torchlight with Atom’s blade wielding hoof held in his grip. The Lieutenant throws his opponent across the room into one of the bookshelves resulting in a loud crash.

The black and green Pegasus stumbles out of the broken shelves with his blade barely held in his grip. With a deep breath he roars and charges back at the armored unicorn with a fury of slashes hoping to land a hit. Torchlight moves quickly, dodging Atom’s sloppy blade work with only a little bit of caution. With a flare of his wings Atom dashes forward and swings his sword in a desperate lunge attack and scratches Torchlight’s armor. This causes the Lieutenant to make a hasty retreat to the far side of the room. Atom, not ready to let up on his assault, once again lunges forward with is blade ready for another strike.

“Enough of this” booms the unicorn’s voice.

Torchlight’s horn glows bright blue and a ball of blue fire the size of a bowling ball flares into existence. This ball of fire is followed by two more, then four more, until eventually around thirty of the fire balls inhabit the room. Atom slows and looks at the display in sheer awe at the unexpected display of magic, stuttering, “How?” Seeing this, the pyromaniac unicorn launches a fire ball at the dumbfounded Pegasus. Regaining his focus immediately, Atom leaps backwards barely dodging the fire ball as it explodes on the ground. He looks up only to see another one already halfway to him. Atom swings his blade and cuts though the fire ball causing it to disperse, but the intense heat also causes his blade to waver. To his dismay two more fire balls are already on the move toward him with increasing speed and accuracy. He tries moving out of the way only to find that these were following him and getting closer every second.

In desperation, Atom swings his blade at the two balls of fire only for his weapon to completely fizzle out after taking both the hits. With his focus on the victory over the two balls of combustion Atom fails to notice a third ball had approached him from his blind spot and immediately impact against the Pegasus. With a yell of pain Atom tumbles across the room and hits the stone wall with his blade a few feet away from his body.

“To think it only took five fireballs to defeat you Vortex.” Torchlight said smugly as the fire balls he had previously used come back into existence one at a time.

“Atom!” I yell as the rest of us crowd around him.

The pegasus opens his eyes with a groan as he tries to stand, “I… might not have this.”

We sigh in relief at our friend’s lack of serious injury, turning and facing our armored foe while in our own battle stances.

Blue says to both Atom and Torchlight, “That’s what friends are for, Atom, having your back when you’re down.”

Hydro finishes the statement, “And taking down the one who put you there.”

Chapter 43: Fire Dancing

***Monday, Day 30, around 2 hours past midnight***

Thirty.

No less than thirty blue balls of fire levitate above and around the mountain of metal that is Lieutenant Torchlight. While the rest of the room is lit by normal means, the area around our foe is tinted a flickering blue, illuminating the surprise in his eyes at our defiance.

His voice betrays both his shock and amusement as Atom works his way to his hooves behind us, “You’re kidding.”

He simply stares at all of us as we prepare. Blue adjusts the wing guards he had pilfered from the warehouse fight and stretches his wings. Atom redeploys his wind blade and shakes off the fuzziness from his recent beat down. Hydro cracks his neck and huffs. I gather my magic to aid Hydro while keeping an eye on Torchlight. Finally, I feel Volt gather his magic for something, though I’m not sure what.

Suddenly, as if somepony blew a whistle, the three non-unicorns charge into battle. Blue and Atom take wing almost immediately as I support Hydro by increasing his speed with Res to essentially make him an angry battering ram. Torchlight sends clouds of fireballs at each of the three immediate threats to him, the clouds making Blue and Atom veer off their intended collision courses. Hydro however, simply grits his teeth and pushes himself faster as he dodges underneath the balls, their explosions framing his form as he hits the metal-clad pony with the kind of thump a train would be proud of.

The impact forces the officer back only a few hooflengths as he focuses again on his fireballs, which had reignited in the air, and begins pounding them into the back of the red earth pony. My eyes fill with worry for my friend, even with Iroh’s enchantment shielding us from most of the damage, I still smell burnt hair from what was still getting through. Through the muffled sounds of the fireballs hitting my friend, a sharp clang is heard as a familiar blue blur cruises next to our foe, landing a solid blow on the back of his armored head with one of the wing guards, a few of the incendiary projectiles hitting their master as they attempt to follow the pegasus. A surge of magic from my right attracts my attention for a moment as Volt releases the energy he built up into a lightning bolt he shoots at our foe, only to have it come closer to hitting Blue, who had to turn sharply to avoid it.

Blue glares at Volt, shaking a hoof as he continues to dodge fire, “Watch it!”

The jarring voice of Hydro makes me focus again, as my mind had become spread out as I tried to keep an eye on everything, “Rhino, brace!”

I make the switch from lessening friction to help his speed, to increasing it to improve his footing as I see Hydro and Torchlight now locked hoof in hoof, each trying to overpower the other. It seems to be even for a moment before the lieutenant begins to gain the upper hoof and force Hydro to the ground with narrowed eyes and widening grin.

“Hey!”

Torchlight’s head flicks towards the source of the shout, a certain black pegasus flying full speed towards him, blade outstretched. Locked into combat with the earth pony, the enemy unicorn has no room to dodge as Atom scores a direct hit on one of his side plates, gauging a deep hole across it and making Torchlight howl with pain. In the moment after he howls, the armored pony draws back a hoof, and forces it straight into the jaw of Hydro, tossing the earth pony back half way across the room and onto his side.

As I rush to my friend, the others fall back for a quick breath as torchlight reignites his spent fireballs.

Wait.

Twenty seven.

Torchlight isn’t winded like we are, and yet my count shows that some of his fireballs didn’t come back. My eyes widen as I realize what Iroh meant when he said Torchlight had removed his weaknesses with the armor.

I turn to the others, “Guys! The armor doesn’t just make him stronger; it makes his magic stronger too! It’s got to be enchanted on the inside. The more of it you remove, the weaker he gets!”

Volt begins powering up his magic again, “Well, let’s try this then!”

An aura matching the one around Volt’s horn surrounds Torchlight’s boots as he immediately starts trying to lift them, but fails.

Volt smiles at his success, “Magnetize.”

The others take the opportunity of our immobile enemy to charge once again, this time with purpose. Seeing the others coming towards him, the foe starts working his way out of the field of magic immobilizing him. With his spell failing to contain Torchlight for long, Volt’s horn glows again and the field barrows down to only encompass a single boot which is now stuck fast. Our friends almost upon him, the armored pony avoids the charge for a moment by jumping out of the way, leaving his boot stuck to the floor.

Twenty four.

Volt cancels his magic and Hydro kicks the boot off to the side of the room while Blue and Atom double team Torchlight. The enemy seems focused on avoiding the sword-wielding pony more than anything else, and as such leaves himself open to multiple hoofs to the snout from our hoof-to-hoof pegasus. As I continue assisting Hydro with his speed to both dodge fireballs and make the occasional charge at our foe, I feel Volt charging up another shot next to me. A moment later, another lightning bolt shoots out, but its aim proves to be just as volatile as the first as it sail less than a few inches from Hydro’s face.

Both Hydro and Torchlight shout out in anger, “Alright, that is it!”

As Hydro heads towards Volt, Torchlight takes all of his two dozen remaining fireballs and aims them at each of us, myself included. As the blue flames start to fill my vision, I quickly Blink myself off to the side in order to avoid them. A second later I find myself on my side as a few had lagged behind the others and thus had enough time to turn, lock onto my new position, and give me a few new singe marks on my fur.

I need to get my reflexes up, I get blindsided far too often… perhaps…. Wait no, ponder and theorize new technique later, fight for my life now.

I get myself up to see Hydro standing up on his hindlegs with Volt tucked under the crook of one of his forelegs. Hydro aims Volt’s horn at the armored pony regenerating his fireballs while Blue and Atom stir against the now scorched walls with a small amount of smoke coming from them. Hydro lines up Volt with Torchlight before suddenly punching the electric unicorn in the gut, causing the pony in question to yelp and fire a bolt of electricity. The force fired bolt hits true on one of our foe’s shoulder guards. The enemy unicorn flinches from the shock and impact as the piece of armor sparks electricity and falls off.

Twenty one.

Volt looks up at his wielder, disgruntled, “What the hay! You just dropped me down to half magic!”

Hydro is already lining up another shot as he responds, “So how many shots left?”

Volt looks worried as he responds, “Like, four before I go comatose.”

“So four then.”

Hydro quickly unloads three more shots into our foe, taking out the armor on both his hindlegs and getting a shot on his chest plate, but the chest plate proves to be sturdier than the other pieces as only the leg armor falls off.

Fifteen.

“Insignificant whelps!” Torchlight screams as he bucks a piece of armor into the face of Atom, who was once again attempting to slash the now only half armored pony, and another piece into Hydro’s face. Both armor segments meet their marks with resounding clangs and groans of pain. Blue meanwhile, recovered enough from his light toasting to find himself next to the discarded boot from earlier. A thoughtful look crosses the blue pony’s face before he takes the boot and puts it on one of his forehooves charges towards torchlight and pulls it back for a punch.

I hear a loud intake of wind from Blue’s direction before an absolutely massive burst of wind shoots out of the boot, propelling its wearer into the wall behind him, its target into the opposing wall with a crunch, and everypony else in the room onto their respective rumps from the sheer force of the blast. Hydro, Volt, and I end up in a pile, due to me having tried to ensure they were okay after Volt’s drastic magic depletion and Hydro’s metal to the face. As I extract myself from the pile to see two new craters in the surprisingly thick walls, I see Torchlight already making his way out of his own crater, his armor on his back crushed and sliding off. I mutter to Volt to distract the pyromaniac so I can tend to Blue.

Twelve.

As I rush over to help our friend out of his crater, I hear Volt taunting Torchlight to keep him busy, “Hey Matchstick!” I look and see Volt levitating multiple books, “Think fast!” The books fly straight towards Torchlights face before bursting into ashes as he intercepts them with some of his remaining fireballs. As the pyro pony makes his way towards our lightning one, Volt draws one of his conductor rods from his saddle bag and levitates it in between himself and the incoming foe. Volt smiles as he takes a few practice swings, “Finally, a range I can’t fail at!” As Volt’s horn brightens to charge the rod with electricity, a fizzle suddenly comes from the rod… just before it explodes as it overloads. Volt stares at the broken rod in his magical grip, “Well, buck.”

I turn back and help Blue to his hooves before hearing a sickening thud and turning to see Torchlight pinning Volt up against a wall with his remaining armored leg in his throat.

“I’m going to do the world a favor and pop that annoying little head right off your body!”

Volt coughs, “Well, y-”

The pyro pony punches the electric one before he can complete whatever he is about to say. As Torchlight pushes into Volt’s throat the rest of us try to reach them, but our foe’s focus seems to have skyrocketed as he is able to fend us off with his reaming fireballs so we cannot approach them.

As Volt’s gurgles get weaker, Torchlight asks, “Any last words?”

Volt smirks weakly, “System… shock.”

The electric unicorn’s eyes roll back in his head as his horn and body glow for a moment before arcs of electricity appear all over him and travel quickly down the metal of the hoof crushing his windpipe. The resulting sizzling sound is quickly drowned out by the screams of the unicorn of the pair that was not used to high intensity electricity. The armor on the leg pinning Volt let’s off a small explosion as it blasts itself off its user, leaving the fire unicorn in the center of the room breathing heavily with only a chest plate and helmet left of his armor.

Nine.

The electric unicorn lies with his eyes closed, still on the ground where he slid down after his assailant was thrown off him. Torchlight approaches the helpless unicorn, muttering, “Still breathing? Let’s fix that.”

As the Lieutenant raises his hoof to crush my friend, I realize that I have been too held back in this fight, and decide that I would not stand on the sidelines while my friends got hurt any longer. I quickly Blink in between the two other unicorns and unleash a massive portion of my magical energy at once, all of it directed into a telekinetic force aimed in an uppercut directly to Torchlight’s cracked chest plate. The massive force launches the pyro into the air in a slow flip as the other began their assaults. Blue, having recovered enough from his crash, flies upwards towards the ceiling, spinning like a corkscrew, and flips over to slam into the flying unicorn and launch him straight back down. Before he impacts the ground, Torchlight chest is met by the force of Hydro’s strongest buck as he now gets launched across the room. Finally, Atom stands waiting with his sword at the ready as Torchlight flies towards him, stunned. The fallen knight readies his weapon, pulling back for one last strike. As his foe comes within range, Atom performs a single powerful downward slash on the now fully cracked chest plate. Torchlight’s armor shatters as his body flies over Atom and into the closed door we originally entered in.

Three.

The rest of us walk over, myself with Volt unconscious on my back, and stand at Atom’s side as we look at the beaten and broken stallion that caused so much trouble. Torchlight struggles to rise, muttering to himself and getting progressively louder as he rants, “I cannot be defeated… the Forgemaster said this armor would make me able to defeat anypony… it was all going so well… you were supposed to die! All the others who we replaced before you were simply done away with one way or another, but you… you had to come here… you had to ruin all of my work! Heheh, at least I still have my helmet… I can still kill you all and go through with my plan… and those stupid princesses will never know…”

“Oh won’t we?” growls a particular Princess of the Night who had slowly opened the door behind Torchlight after he had thumped into it. She lowers her horn and shoots a dark blue beam at the helmet on the unicorn’s head, shattering it.

Zero.

With the final piece of his armor gone, the now obviously small stallion begins muttering crazily to himself as he backs away from everypony in the room, “No, no… this is all a dream, there’s no way a group of pathetic stallions and a weak excuse for a princess could ever defeat me… not after all I went through… heheh, I wake up any minute now… send somepony else after Vortex, will have to kill all those in the dungeon too…”

All of us look at the unicorn in disgust as Atom turns to Luna with a small amount of anger in his voice, “Princess, can I please beat him some more?”

The princess shakes her head, “Nay, it would be most unlawful of us to allow you to fight under our watch.” Suddenly the princess jerks her head up and walks over to a book that remained in one piece but had fallen off one of the shelves, “Oh, we have not read this tome. We are afraid we might be distracted for a few moments and will be unable to react to anything that might be happening while our back is turned.”

Atom grins evilly at Torchlight, who gulps.

Chapter 45: Reflections and Revelations

***Monday, Day 30, dawn***
**Train bound for Ponyville**

I lounge in a window seat against the back wall of the car, a short distance away from the others. They are all chatting with each other or, in Volt’s case, use excessive facial expressions and hoof motions. Once again we seem to have the compartment to ourselves, which is fine by me. I absentmindedly glance out the window at the blur of the passing countryside before letting out a deep breath, leaning back, and just letting my mind wander for a bit.

Life… unpredictable doesn’t seem to do it justice sometimes. Here we are, not three days ago we were roped into looking after somepony in trouble with the law, and yet we return now from a midnight trip in Canterlot during which we flooded a warehouse, infiltrated a castle, freed prisoners, defeated a pony planning on undermining everything about the law in the city, and strangest of all… I went to a nightclub.

Friends…

They are certainly proven to make life more interesting… so many variables… and even now, we come away from this with a new friend. I wonder where Atom is going to stay… I suppose the guest room is still free, as long as he doesn’t give Fluttershy so much as a wrong look again.

I shake my head to clear the negative thoughts.

He’ll be fine. He was stressed when he did that. Still, it will be nice when things get back to normal… heh, whatever the loose definition of that is.

The sound of flapping wings causes me to swivel my head to see Iroh heading my way. He lands on the back of my seat and perches there, looking at me as I turn my gaze back to nothing in particular.

My attention turns back to him as he remarks, “Unfocused gazes such as yours usually show a mind in thought. Is there something troubling you?”

I lightly let out a few chuckles, “No, thank you for asking, but if anything, I would say this is the first time in the last few days that nothing’s been troubling me. It’s a welcome regression.”

Iroh nods, glancing at the others, “Interesting days for an interesting group. I know I promised to tell you about myself and others like me,” he gestures with a paw to the others, “but, would you mind if I asked about your friends?”

I mull this over in my head, “I’d be happy to share, though to be honest, I’m not certain precisely what information you’re looking for.”

He shrugs, “Whatever you feel you know about them, I might get a different side if I was to ask each of them, but for now, I simply wish to know your thoughts on them.”

I put a hoof to my chin as I mentally sift through the information I have about my friends, “I suppose… I’ll start in the reverse order of when we met.”

My gaze falls on our newest member, his green shades hiding his eyes, but his smile still bringing ease to those who are speaking to him.

“I don’t know much about Atom, relatively speaking at least. Atomic Vortex, former royal guard. His was definitely the oddest meeting out of all of them. A random pony assigned to our care that led to the crazy adventure where we met you. His guard days are behind him now, but I hope his new status as a Private Investigator shall still keep him content. He can be headstrong at times and seems to have a small temper, but he has proven he is willing to accept help from his friends. Due to his former occupation, I would hazard a guess that he has seen more combat than the rest of us. His swordsponyship is the best I have seen, and his blade itself is fascinating with its elemental enchantment. I look forward to learning more about both the sword and the pony.”

I turn towards the other pegasus of the group, laughing, with a smile on his face not bothered by what we had been through, “Blue Breeze, current holder of a weather pony job underneath his recently announced marefriend, Rainbow Dash. He is fascinated by the weather of the Everfree Forest and endeavors to learn more about it. He can be a smartflank at times and his love of puns is reflected only by his love of chimicherrychongas. He knows when it’s time to be serious, but he also seems to know when a little humor can help moral. He is a good friend, and like Atom, became part of our group by a trial by fire, though his was more weather than fire. He has the ability to focus his pegasus magic into the wind around his hooves, combined with his hoof-to-hoof combat training, allows him to hit with no small amount of force. Like Atom, I look forward to learning more about him in the days to come.”

The unicorn in our group besides me is up next, “Voltage Surge, resident electrical engineer, he insists on not being called an electrician, and the only one of the group we’ve met in a normal way since I came to Ponyville. He, Hydro, and I bonded because we were at a similar time in our lives: fresh out of college, in a new place, and looking to see what life had for us. He is a… mixture I would say. He will joke around, make puns until you are left begging him to stop, and yet I’ve had one or two conversations with him that has been quite productive as he does share a mind of quite logical thinking. After all, the work he’s doing with the town’s electrical system has only improved it from what I hear, though he is mostly diagnosing at the moment. His magic is an oddity, I don’t believe that I’ve seen him use anything that wasn’t electricity based, and even his levitation has that electrical essence to its magic if you sense for it. He can be trying to some of the others at time but he will stop if you ask him to. He appears to know fencing of some sort, though from the fight we had, it is obvious he is trying to actively use his magic in combat as well, even if his aim does need work. Overall, I think he’s great for cheering others up, whether at his own expense or not. He seems to always be in a good mood no matter what happens, and I for one, wish him happiness if only for all the stuff he seems to be a victim of.”

Lastly I turn to my earth pony friend, “Hydro and I have been friends for years. Ever since we met, we have always had each other’s back, even if our support was given over distance. He now works in the town dam, making sure all stays right. You would think from his name that he is fascinated with water, but this is not the entire case, his fascination is also what he can do with water. He is an inventor, though he may not look it. I have no doubt that in the free time he must have, among the supplies at the dam, that he has been working on some project or another. I’ve heard him working on things in his room, but he usually does small things there and big things elsewhere. He knows his machines like I know my magic. He is straightforward when you get to know him, but this does not mean he is simple. He can be irritable sometimes though. He and Volt seem slightly antagonistic to each other, but I feel that it mostly stems from the fact that Volt likes to talk, and Hydro sometimes doesn’t feel like listening. Water and electricity never did produce subtle mixes. He is currently dating Applejack, resident owner of Sweet Apple Acres, their relationship seemed to come out of nowhere but they seem alike in how straightforward they are, so maybe what we don’t hear is just how normal it is. Overall, what more can I say? He’s the one of the few ponies I trust to have my back from all we’ve been through.”

I turn to the curious nimbat, “That’s just a general overview, but I feel it does them justice for a spur of the moment talk.”

The nimbat keeps his eyes on me, eyes which I notice don’t actually have a white sclera, the pupil and iris are just one solid color that fades into the black that makes up the rest of his eye. The strange eyes continue to look at me as he asks, “What about you then?”

“You want me to describe myself?” I ask.

His webbed wings shuffle a bit on his back as he responds, “You seem to be both an observer and a thinker, I’m curious to see what you have observed about yourself.”

I try not to think too deeply about the question and simply answer in a manner similar to my descriptions of the others, “Umm, alright. My name is Rhino and I am a veterinarian at the clinic in Ponyville. My talent lies not in animals though, but in magical precision and innovation, usually through runes. They are like a second language to me, a sentence of runes forms a spell, and the way they are used fascinates me. I use my talent as a hobby, usually trying to replicate the results of spells, but in my own way, seeing as contemporary magic doesn’t work well for me. I have invented a few spells, though only one is completely original and the others are more adaptations of existing ones. I am currently in a relationship with Fluttershy, the most beautiful and kind mare I have ever met, whose talent with animals easily outstrips my own, which comes simply from being quiet and gentle with them. She can communicate with them on a level I have never seen, where as I simply enjoy them and use my knowledge of them to heal them. I… don’t like fighting or confrontation in general. I feel, that maybe I can do more to help in situations like what happened with Torchlight, it’s something I plan on looking into soon. I worry though, about losing control of myself, it has only happened a few times… but it was not pleasant, for me or anypony else. However, I will protect those I care about, no matter my reservations. I feel, I would do better as an evasive fighter than a defensive one… but like I said, it’s something I’m going to devote some thought to.”

Iroh looks at me as I finish speaking, causing me to avert my gaze and shift slightly downward in my seat. I hear him chuckle though as he begins, “A very interesting group indeed. I wouldn’t worry too much about fighting, you will discover your own style, at your own pace, and it seems to me, it will be for the all right reasons.”

I smile, “Thank you. *sigh* Thankfully, this whole thing blew over in the end without us getting into too much trouble.”

***

We’re in trouble.

A group of mares waiting for you as you get off the train might seem like a source of comfort, but the eyes of the six familiar mares seem to be more accusatory than anything else as their eyes find our singed and tired forms. Volt decides to take one for the team by being the first one off the train. As a particularly miffed Twilight approaches him, the other mares go to their respective stallions, while Rarity and Pinkie observe Atom who is looking all around with the new perspective of not being a suspected criminal in town this time.

Volt raises a hoof to greet the angry purple pony with his damaged voice, “Hey Twi-“

The librarian cuts him off, her voice loudly cutting off any attempts at speech by the other ponies present, “What is wrong with you?!”

Volt’s smile fades into confusion, “Wha-“

“You can barely speak-“

“Bu-“

“Your eye and throat are swollen and bruised-“

“Well-“

“Your coat is burnt in patches-“

“That-“

“And to top it all off, I receive a random letter from Princess Celestia this morning, telling me to gather my friends and meet you at the train station, because in less than a day at Canterlot, all of you managed to get into a fight with a crime boss!”

Twilights stops her ranting a moment to catch her breath before continuing, “What in Equestria would make you go and do something like this?!”

Volt gives Twilight a wary eye, “Why do you care so much?”

The purple unicorn sputters a moment as her face takes on a frustrated expression even as her cheeks become redder than tomatoes, “I-I... this isn’t... y-you... I don’t- Ugh!” She lets out a frustrated groan before turning tail and running off towards her library, her saddlebags jostling as she runs.

The rest of us stare in stunned silence as Volt runs after her shouting her name.

**3rd person, Volt and Twilight**

Volt’s weak shouts echo as he calls to the unicorn mare he’s pursuing, “Twilight, wait!”

The magic student continues running, her head down and eyes hidden.

“Twilight… slow down!”

Still the mare runs.

As they near her home Volt’s final raspy shout comes, “Twilight, please talk to me!”

Finally, the mare slows down in sight of her door, but still about 20 hooves from it. Her back remains to the stallion as he gasps for air through his damaged throat, worse now after his shouting. The stallion goes to speak again when he hears something, a sniff. Looking at the ground in front of the purple unicorn, Volt is shocked to see a few tear stains in the dirt.

Volt’s face shifts into one of concern as he gently asks, “Twilight… what’s wrong?”

Twilight turns to him but says nothing, her eyes remaining hidden due to her downward tilting head.

“Twi… is this about me running out on you before this?” Volt reaches back to his saddlebags and pulls out a book with his mouth. Twilight pulls it out of his mouth with her magic and looks at it as he continues, “I bought that for you while we were in Canterlot before everything happened. I thought it might help make up for me rudely leaving the library. I’m sorry for whatever I did that made you cry.”

The librarian silently looks at the book before slipping it into her bag and turning to the electric stallion, finding her voice and revealing a slight undertone of shame in it, “You get back from a dangerous mission… and the first thing I do is berate you before running off without giving you a chance to speak… Yet, when you do talk, the first thing you do is apologize and give me a gift? Why?”

Volt takes a chance to smile, “Well, that’s what friends do right?” His smile fades as uncertainty enters his voice, “That is… if you still want to be friends…”

A small drizzle of rain start to fall on the two as Twilight goes silent again, her eyes still hidden. After a moment, she mutters something under her breath.

Volt perks his ears up, “What was that?”

The rain increases to soft patter as she mumbles again, but this time the words “friends” can be distinguished at the end.

Volt looks at her, a slightly sad look on his face, “I’m sorry Twilight, I don’t understand.”

Suddenly, Twilight steps forward and thrusts her lips onto his. His eyes widen before slowly becoming half-lidded as they kiss. A moment later she steps back, a small blush evident on both their faces as the light rain continues to wet their coats and manes.

Her voice rings out clear as she repeats herself, “I said, what if I want to be more than friends?”

Her face becomes worried for a moment as Volt stares ahead, his mind racing, but her smile returns as does his. He steps forward and gently kisses her back, causing her to have the same reaction as he did when she pulled it on him. The two part lips, but their heads remain leaning against one another.

They both have small smiles on their faces as Volt comments quietly, “I guess it doesn’t take more than one volt to make sparks fly.”

The unicorn mare giggles as the two begin to laugh, letting all the built up tension run off like the rain that continues coming down upon them.

As their laughing subsides, Volt looks up for a moment before returning his gaze to the mare in front of him, “I do have a question though, why does it only seem to be raining on us?”

The two unicorns look up again at the raincloud above them, just in time to see a pair of bluish-grey heads poke themselves over the edge of the cloud, one of the heads has a light blue mane with a bow, while the other’s is a messy mane of the same blue, but with white mixed in as well. Both the pegasi mares see the couple below looking up at them and wink before flying off the cloud and beginning to push it away.

The soaking unicorn couple laughs again at their situation as Twilight adopts a large smile, before grabbing one a Volt’s ears with her magic and dragging him into her house while remarking, "Now I get to be the responsible marefriend who berates you for injuring yourself without thinking what I would think."

Twilight drags Volt into the library and sets him on the couch before retrieving a book, browsing it while humming happily to herself, shutting it, and approaching Volt. She sits right next to Volt as she lays her horn flat on his throat.

Volt blushes fiercely and whispers, “Twilight, what are you doing?!”

“Just hold still.” She says softly as her horn starts to glow. After a moment she backs away, “Go ahead and say something.”

“Something –hey, my voice is better!” He says with a slightly less raspy voice.

Her ears fall slightly, “Aww, it didn’t make you recover fully… I guess I still need to work on my restoration magic. But I did notice something else. Hold still again.” Volt’s body remains completely still as Twilight approaches him again, this time touching her horn to his as it glows. When she steps away her expression is one of worry as she speaks, “Volt… I don’t sense you have any magic at all right now.”

Volt scratches the back of his head with a hoof, “Yeah… I think I used too much of it in the fight… Rhino called it ‘magical exhaustion’… all I know is that I used too much at once and that tends to knock you out.”

Twilight’s eyes widen in alarm, “What?! Volt, you didn’t use too much, you used ALL OF IT! Don’t you know what could happen? You’ll only be without magic for a few days now, but if you do this too much it can weaken your overall magical storage, cause severe migraines, and in some rare cases, regular draining of all your magic can cause you to go into a coma… or worse!”

“I… didn’t know that.”

“How do you not know this? This is basic level unicorn safety information.”

Volt scuffs a hoof on the couch, “To be honest Twilight, I’m not a very good unicorn. My magic... really it’s just glorified electricity. I don’t have much control over it since the accident and even before that it would sometimes get away from me. Both my parents were earth ponies… so I never really had a unicorn’s education.”

Twilights ears fold back again, “Oh…” she slowly begins to smile again, “Well, luckily for you, you have me to teach you. Who better to teach you about magic than the Element of Magic herself? It can be some fun… alone time.”

Volt nods, his small smile coming back, “That *yawn* sounds good Twilight.” His eyes start to close for a moment before he shakes himself awake.

“Oh, you must still be tired. It’s important for your magic to come back that you get enough sleep, so why don’t you get some rest, alright?” She opens the door with her magic as she finishes speaking.

“Sure,” Volt gets off the couch and lands a quick kiss on twilight’s cheek as he passes her, “I’ll see you later, Twilight.”

The unicorn mare rubs the spot on her cheek that was kissed as she closes the door. Mentally thanking herself for having the idea to put that magical mark around Volt when she touched his horn. The mark would give all mares who saw him the feeling that he was taken, and all unicorns would instantly be able to tell, “Property of Twilight Sparkle.”

All art made by me.

Chapter 46: Concerns

***Monday, Day 30, dawn***
**Back at the train station**

After Twilight runs off and Volt follows her, the rest of us simply stare for a moment before Applejack breaks the silence.

“Umm… should we go after ‘em?”

Rarity adopts a knowing smile while gazing in the direction the two unicorns had taken and lets out a ladylike giggle, “Oh, I’m certain they’ll have it all worked out in due time. I for one look forward to hearing about it.”

A minute of silence and confused glances amongst the rest of our group follow the fashionista’s vague statement. The group collectively decides to shrug it off and head our own ways for now. Blue, Hydro, and I are dragged off by our respective marefriends, almost literally in some cases, while Atom heads to mine, Hydro’s, and now temporarily his, home. Iroh goes with Atom while Pinkie and Rarity mention that they need to get to work and trot, or in Pinkie’s case bounce, towards their abodes.

As Fluttershy and I make our way towards her cottage, there is silence similar to what was at the train station, but to me it’s more of a comfortable silence instead of an awkward/confused. I yawn quietly as we approach her cottage, but shake my head lightly to keep myself awake. Instead of heading inside, she leads me over to a tree in her yard and we settle ourselves down underneath it, both of us simply sitting close but not touching.

My ears perk up as she begins to speak, her voice quiet as it ever is, “Rhino… you worry me.”

My ears fold back in guilt as I try to keep my voice cheerful, “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to make you worry… is it the singes on my side and the bruise on my chest?”

She closes her eyes and shakes her head slowly, “Rhino, it’s not just that, it’s everything… When you told me you were going to help out Atom in Canterlot I thought you were just going to talk to somepony, but then Twilight comes to all of us this morning and tells us about your fight with some crime boss! Even before that, when I tried to check in on you with the Gemini gem, all I could see was the shelf you put it on because you didn't take it with you... I had no idea what you were doing or if you were hurt or...” By the trailing end of her statement her eyes are staring into mine, not accusingly, but sadly, and that probably hurts me more than anything else.

I look down, unable to stand the guilt from those eyes any longer, “I could never have known we would have done anything like this… even if I had… I can think of no possible way to make up for how much you probably went through worrying…”

Everything just escalated so quickly… in the span of one night… *sigh* I have to make this right… but how-

My mental moroseness is interrupted by the soft pressure of two hooves on my sides and a head on my chest. I hesitate for a moment, not expecting this, but return the hug to show my appreciation.

I look down and see her eyes closed as she hugs me, “I don’t want to see you hurt.”

The guilt slowly recedes and is replaced by the warmth of knowing somepony cares, “Seems like both of us feel that way about the other.” I lightly nuzzle the top of her head as I continue, “If it helps you feel any better: I am looking forward to things getting back to normal,” I yawn, “and I can think of no better way to work off the craziness of last night, than to continue sitting here in the arms of the one I care about.”

She smiles and sighs contently before adopting a slightly playful tone, “Well you know, there was one other who was worried about you leaving on such short notice.”

As she finishes, a familiar weight makes itself known on my head and I look up to see a set of golden eyes attached to the face of my favorite pet. Specter climbs his way down into my arms, which are still wrapped around Fluttershy, and settles himself between the two of us.

I smile down at my little friend, “Don’t worry Specs, I’m not planning on leaving again anytime soon.”

The three of us simply sit under the tree enjoying the early morning sun. As the minutes roll by I find myself getting more and more relaxed, my mind settled down a bit as well. I feel Shy start to stir beneath my arm and look down to see her peering at my watch before she nudges my arm to tell me to let her up. As she gets up she puts her hoof on my chest to push herself off me, unfortunately, her hoof lands right on the bruise I got from those thugs and causes me to hiss in pain.

She jumps up quickly at my reaction and stutters, “O-o-oh I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to-“

I cut her off quickly with a kiss. Once we separate, I whisper to her, “It’s alright, a little bit of pain is no measure against spending time with you. Now, where would a pretty little thing like you be off to in such a hurry?”

She looks at me quizzically, “Well, we need to head to work soon. I was going to go in today to check in with Mane and Manila.”

The fact that we need to head to work barely registers in my head as I simply curl up on the grass with Specter still next to me as I chuckle and respond, “Work already? I suppose we must, but might we at least go ahead and plan what we shall do next? After all, you brought up yesterday that technically speaking we’ve only been on one date.” I stare off into the sky as I continue, “Although if you prefer, it doesn’t even have to be anything big, I quite enjoyed the small moonlit picnic that we began with. Dinner is the classic standby for these types of things but if you are more comfortable doing something else we can do that... I’m sorry, I didn’t give you a chance to say anything, I’m not cutting you off or anything I just kind of got lost in my thoughts and…” I let my sentence trail off and stay quiet for a few seconds. “I forgot where I was going with that. Silly me.” I chuckle again for a short time and the movement of my stomach as I laugh causes specs to jump off.

Fluttershy looks at me strangely, “Rhino... are you feeling alright?”

I roll over a few times in the grass with a smile on my face before looking back at her, “Fluttershy, as far as I’m concerned, as long as you’re around, I couldn’t be happier.” I flinch slightly, “Oh, that’s not creepy is it? I’m not trying to be that way I’m just trying to be sincere but sometimes it comes out cheesy or something. But it’s not my intention to make you uncomfortable. Speaking of comfortable, this grass is comfortable.” I roll a few more times giggling to myself, “Weee!” When I turn to look back at Fluttershy she has a concerned look now, I instantly become apologetic, “Oh, I’m sorry, I’m making you worry again.” I try to cheer her up, “You don’t need to worry right now though. I’m fine.” I laugh again as the wind blows and the grass tickles me.

“Howdy you two!”

I lean my head back to see a familiar farm pony and dam technician working their way towards the little slice of nature my marefriend calls home.

Fluttershy turns to our visitors, “Oh, hello Applejack, hello Hydro.”

I roll myself over and shakily stand up to greet the two earth ponies. I wobble slightly as I hail them, “Hello…umm… you.”

The apple pony raises an eyebrow at me, “Oooookay.” She turns to Fluttershy, “Hey Fluttershy, me and Hydro here had an idea we wanted to ask y’all ‘bout.”

The pegasus mare cocks her head to one side, “Oh?”

The orange pony nods, “Yeah, we were wonderin’ if y’all might wanna go on a double date with us sometime.”

I see the shy mare look over at me as I look at nothing in particular, “That sounds… nice.”

The farm pony notices the hesitation, “Somethin’ wrong sugarcube?”

Fluttershy turns back to them, “Oh umm, well… Rhino has been starting to act… strangely…”

Hydro casts his eye over to me, “What do you mean?”

She puts her hoof to her chin and looks upwards slightly, “Well, we were resting for a while but afterwards he’s been… different… he’s been laughing and talking so much more than normal that it just seems off, but he doesn’t seem like he can focus. He didn’t even remember what he was going to say at one point.”

Hydro’s eye widen in recognition as he turns to me, “Rhino, how do you use Res?”

I cock my head at him and almost fall over, “Ummm… with my horn?”

Hydro facehoofs, “Yeah, he’s gone.”

Fluttershy’s eyes widen in alarm, “Gone?! What do you mean gone?!”

Hydro motions for her to calm down with a hoof, “Now now, it’s not bad. He’s just tired, all of us have pretty much been awake for the last day and a half and Rhino… doesn’t take that well. Essentially, when he gets tired and starts to slow down, his brain shuts off.”

Fluttershy looks in my direction, “So he just needs to sleep?”

Hydro nods, “Yeah, but getting him to do that can be tricky.” He raises his voice towards me, “Rhino, you need to sleep!”

“Okay.” I reply absentmindedly as I continue meandering around the yard looking at all the critters.

My marefriend puts a hoof to her lip in worry, “So what do we do?”

Hydro watches as I almost run into a tree, “Well, at this stage really the only thing we have to do is to get him to stay still, to quote him ‘After a certain point, the only thing keeping him going is momentum.’ Normally I would suggest cuddling on the couch or something, but since he’s likely to be out for a while and you probably have things you need to do… just go hug him or something.”

Fluttershy’s face goes slightly pink as she turns towards me and trots my way. When she gets close she sits in front of me and taps her front hooves together, “Umm… Rhino?”

I tear my eyes away from some bunnies, “Yes Fluttershy?”

She suddenly grabs me in a hug, stunning me into place with a goofy smile on my face.

Awww, I love hugs-

*Thump*

**3rd person**

The red earth pony stallion chuckles lightly at his now passed out friend as he turns to the yellow mare, “Don’t worry Fluttershy,” he says as he lifts Rhino onto his back, “I’ll get him home and after a long sleep he’ll be back to normal. We’ll talk more about the double date later alright?”

The pegasus simply nods as the two earth ponies and unconscious unicorn make their way back into town.

Chapter 47: Midnight Magic

***Monday, Day 30, night***

Ugh, where am I?

My eyes peer into the darkness to find the pleasant surprise of familiar surroundings. The familiarity takes the edge off the slight panic of not knowing when I fell asleep. I let my eyes wander around as I piece together what happened.

Last thing I remember… I was with Fluttershy. We talked, she was worried about me, we hugged for a while… It’s a little fuzzy after that… Hydro? Yeah Hydro and Applejack showed up…Oh, I see… the fatigue finally caught up to me. Well, I don’t think I did anything too bad during that little bout of insanity. What time is it anyway?

I focus a miniscule amount of magic in my horn to produce enough light to read my clock by.

Ten o-clock… and I’m wide awake…Hmm, what to do, what to do…

I feel a shift of weight against my chest and look down to see Specter curled up against me. My gaze then focuses on the shard of glass I had set on a shelf the morning before we left for Canterlot. Thoughts of the runes on Atom’s sword hilt follow soon after.

It has been a while since I’ve done a little experimenting. Things have just been so crazy I haven’t had time. Perhaps it’s time I get back to old habits.

I slowly ease myself out of bed without waking the small squirrel and make my way over to the closet. From inside, I pull out the one box I had yet to unpack, a box that I labeled simply: Magic. I set the box at the foot of my bed and wrap my magic around the contents inside. A moment later, a number of quills, different colored inks, pencils, many different loose papers, some used and some not, and finally, two books. I set everything but the two books on my desk in the corner and simply let the tomes float before me. The sight of the two tomes brings many memories flooding through my mind as I slowly open the first one for old time’s sake.

This initial tome is a blue book, its cover simply adorned with a green empty circle. I idly flip through its pages, revealing each to contain arcane circles I had experimented with over the years drawn on them. Their designs, let alone their runes, varies greatly from simple circles, to multilayered ones, to even ones with bars overlaying them, and even circles with other shapes within circles. I reach about halfway through and the pages go blank, showing there is still space for future projects. As I flip back through the book, the first two circles catch my eye, and I smile at the sight of the circles I have used so often: Blink and Res.

I chuckle to myself as I close my book of finalized designs, and turn my attention to the other book. This book is green and its cover is occupied solely by one of the first runes I discovered: Focus. Like the other book, I idly flip this one open, but instead of circles, inside are runes with words beneath them. My own personal Runic Dictionary, made by me over the years as I have discovered more and more runes and their uses. I have found runes in many places, most are from old or obscure books since runes are hardly used nowadays, but occasionally I will find them in pictures of ruins or on enchanted items which are the only application of runes in modern Equestria. Only some of these are official names for runes, as most of them I find in conjunction with others and thus I name them myself. Much like the other book, this one is half full, but I still see some of the interesting ones I’ve seen over the years: the basics of Fire, Water, Earth and Wind, the forming ones like Sharpen and Flatten, and even some odd ones like Condense and Disperse.

It has been truly far too long.

A smile appears on my face as I set both my books on the desk next to my other supplies.

Now then, first things first. Let’s see what Atom is up to.

I quietly Blink down to the first floor in front of Atom’s door. A quick magical sensing and I ‘see’ that he is in bed. I Blink inside the room to avoid any squeaking door hinges and spot his hilt on the bedside table. I smile and a few minutes later I Blink back into the room and set the hilt back down, having taken it and recorded all the runes on it upstairs on some paper. Another Blink and I’m back upstairs with some a brand new sequence of runes to analyze.

An hour later and I am in a very good mood. After examining and classifying the runes I was able to discern all of their uses and am able to add a brand new rune to my dictionary. Most of the runes are based around shaping and containing the energy that passes through the sword, while another few are the converter runes meant to lightly crystallize the specific element of the magic used. The new rune however, which I believe I shall call Wing, is a type of rune I haven’t seen before. Instead of focusing on drawing in generic magic, it appears to base itself around Pegasus magic.

Interesting, though I do not actually have a use for this at the moment, there’s always the possibility I’ll think of something in the future. Hmmm, still some time before I should get more sleep. I wonder…It has been a while since I’ve had a personal project…

A triumvirate of images flash through my head in a cycle: the assassin and his knives, the glass shard on my shelf, and Atom’s sword. Theories race through my head as I bring the shard over to me and then look back at my notes from Atom’s hilt. A smile slowly builds across my face as a quiet chuckle escapes my lips.

I think I know where I want to go with this… as far as I know, I’ve never heard of anypony doing something with precisely this method before… Hmm, should probably do concept testing for a few days before I start constructing the final version… Alright, it’s settled! A bit of concept testing and I should have just enough time to work out that spell Hydro asked me for last week.

I bring the materials I need to get started towards me and begin working on the prototype concept circles.

Hehehe, oh this is gonna be fun. Look out world, Rhino is back.

***The next morning***

I awaken after the few more hours of sleep I had grabbed to start myself back on a normal sleep cycle. Breakfast is more of a ‘make it yourself’ affair this morning, and before long all 5 of us, myself, Hydro, Atom, Iroh, and Specter, are gathered in the living room grabbing our essentials for the day.

I stop for a moment as I remember what I need to tell Hydro before he gets going, “Oh, Hydro, before I forget again: I designed that spell you asked about. You know, the one to separate water molecules?”

He seems to perk up quite a bit at the news, “Sweet, think you can meet me at the dam once you’re done at work? I want to get it implemented ASAP.”

I nod affirmatively, “Sure.” I glance at Atom and Iroh and ask curiously, “What are you two gonna do with yourselves all day? Since you’re new in town and all. Oh also, Atom, I took a look at your sword last night and got what I needed from it, so you don’t need to worry about lending it to me.”

Atom blinks, surprised at my confession, “Oh, well, no harm done I suppose, just ask next time. I was going to head over to town hall to go ahead and register myself as a P.I. for the town. I have to start getting my name out there if I want any cases.”

The nimbat nods his head approvingly at the pegasus’ plan before he turns to me, “An excellent idea. Personally, I think I’ll be heading over to check on my dear friend’s student. I’m interested in meeting her after all I’ve been told.”

I nod my head in acknowledgement of their plans and soon we are all headed out to our respective destinations.

***

Sometime later and I find myself leisurely Resing my way towards the dam, my latest shift being one of my thoughts.

Ahh, feels good to be back to the normal day around here. Helping out animals, purposely being vague but still revealing a little of what happened over the weekend to Mane and Manila, having them blowing off me missing work yesterday due to Fluttershy coming in and letting them know that I had passed out just before my shift, and even a surprise lunch with my favorite pegasus to top it all off.

The sound of flapping wings behind me causes my ears to swivel around.

Flaps are too heavy to be Fluttershy’s, Rainbow doesn’t strike me as the type to be subtle, and Atom is likely not done at town hall this early so chances are it’s Blue.

“Hey Rhino.” The voice that hails me confirms its owner as the blond-maned pegasus stallion.

Point for me.

I turn to the pegasus keeping pace by flying beside me, “Hey Blue.”

My blue friend picks up the conversation ball, “So, what are you up to?”

I answer honestly, “Heading over to the dam to cast a spell for Hydro. Not sure why he wants it, but it should be interesting. Why, bored?”

He nods, allowing his boredom to show on his face, “Yeah, Dash assigned partly cloudy skies today so there’s not really much to do.”

I adopt a look of slight concern, “How did she end up taking all the stuff we got up to?”

Blue’s eyes look up and to the side as he recalls what happened, “Well, she liked when I was telling her about the action parts. It did seem as if she was going to chew me out for the danger, but all her attention went straight to the fact that we did a part of the mission with Spitfire when I told her about it. Heh, she did a fan-girl squee and everything. She went off to train after that.”

I smile, amused, “Well, at least you didn’t get into trouble.”

We reach the dam without any incident, and soon Blue and I find ourselves in a small elevator with Hydro heading down inside the dam. The door dings and opens to reveal what looks like a workshop of sorts. Piles of scrap and machines lay all around the room along with a fair number of racks of tools. What draws our eyes more than anything though, is the construction in the center of the room.

It’s not in one piece by any stretch of the imagination, but the various parts are either lying on the floor or suspended in the air by wires and hooks from the ceiling. Among the hanging parts are what look like giant shovels one might see on construction equipment, even a pickaxe or two. The floor is littered with gears, pipes, and all other manner of internal workings of machinery. Off to the side there are a few seats next to an cluster of levers and buttons arranged in what looks like a control panel that has yet to be attached to anything. Finally there is the center piece of the arrangement of parts: a veritable next of pipes all flowing into and around a central tank with a small empty space within it, just waiting for something to be added to make it look complete. Blue and I gape with open mouths while Hydro heads over to a pile and shuffles it around.

I speak to my earth pony friend, my voiced laced with awe, “This is your current project then.”

Blue turns to me with an alarmed face, “Current?! He does this a lot?!”

Hydro grins at our astounded faces, “Hey, if Rhino’s a wizard, then I’m a mechanic.” He pulls out a gem from his bag, a perfectly spherical pink one with no markings on it. He sets it on a table at the edge of the workspace, “This is what I need you to cast the spell on, Rhino.”

I give the gem a look, “I take it this is one of those special gems that I don’t know about then.”

He nods and pats the gem, “Uh-huh, this is a Ditto Diamond. It’s what I spent that reward money on. It can replicate any spell that is used on it, so I’m going to use it as a power source to split water into its gaseous components and run the machine on the force of the directed gas. I’ll only need to refill the water every other day or so.”

I marvel at the invention in the center of the room, “Wow. Well, glad to be of help then.” I pull out the paper in my bag with the circle for the spell and set it on the table next to the gem. I let the magic flow to my horn as I scribe the circle in the air in front of the target jewel, then provide the power once it is complete. A brief flash and a small consistent glow from the pink orb are the only indications afterward that anything had happened. “Alright, that should do it.”

Hydro grabs the gem at holds it up to the light, “Nice, thanks!”

Blue and I watch the engineer work his technological gift, but it soon becomes apparent that he’s not going to be assembling the final product just yet. With that in mind we excuse ourselves and start heading up the elevator.

The pegasus remarks to me as we head up, “So when did you have time to figure out that spell anyway?”

I shrug, “Just had a bit of time last night and did that spell, among other things. I also did some looking into the runes on Atom’s sword, fascinating new rune on it. Apparently, it’s designed to work for pegasi and their weather magic. Any number of possibilities could be conceived from it.”

Blue looks down in thought for a moment before looking back up at me, “So… you could do some pegasi equipment with this new rune?”

I nod.

The stallion looks away slightly, “So, do you think maybe you could create something for me?”

I raise an intrigued eyebrow, “That depends on what you have in mind.”

He smiles, “I want to repeat something a little dangerous.”

Chapter 48: Assemble the Team

***Tuesday, Day 31, afternoon***

I can hardly believe it. It’s been a while since I’ve had a nice magical project to focus on, and now after finding a personal one last night that will keep me occupied for a bit, I have one requested to me. This ought to sooth that mental itch I’ve been having after not getting into my runes for a while. Let’s see… first thing is to gather those whose skills would be assets to the project… that would be Rarity and Twilight I believe. Seeing as Rarity’s place is closer, I’ll head there first.

I roll an eye upwards and twitch my ear a few times to make sure Specter is paying attention in his perch within my mane so he knows we are setting out. I feel a subtle shift in weight before Specter’s familiar set of golden eyes pops itself into my view before he launches himself off my head and glides around until we get to the bottom of the hill we were descending. As we continue into town he lands ahead of me and soon has run his way back up my leg and back onto his spot on my head.

I chuckle lightly as I feel him nuzzling me, “You know Specter, I sometimes wonder what you would say if you could talk. As far as I know though, Fluttershy is the only pony who can talk directly to animals.” I look back up to see him looking down at me, “Still, even if I can’t speak squirrel, you and I seem to be able to understand each other on a basic level. Personally I think it’s just because of how close we are, but if anything that’s just shows how good of a pair we make huh?”

He closes his eyes and nods in what I assume is agreement as I use my magic to lightly scratch the top of his head as we continue on our way.

We arrive at Rarity’s soon enough, and it occurs to me as I enter that I do not know exactly what Rarity’s reaction to the aftermath of our little Canterlot field trip was. I shrug as I knock on the door, figuring I’ll find out soon enough.

The refined voice of the fashionista flows through the door, “Come in~!”

Specter and I enter to see the white unicorn with her back to us, she turns to us with her eyes closed under her thick red glasses and says in a light tone, “Welcome to Carousel Boutique, where every garment is chic, unique, and magnifique."

I nod to myself, since she has her eyes closed, and reply, “Short and to-the-point yet still memorable, an excellent slogan Rarity.”

Her eyes spring open at my voice as she regards me, “Oh, hello Rhino. What can I do for you?”

“Well, Rarity, I was wondering if you might be willing to assist me in a little project I have. Blue requested that I work on creating a particular piece of specialized equipment for him, and I thought that I would inquire as to whether you would lend your particular expertise to the more aesthetic aspects of their design.”

She raises an intrigued eyebrow, “Well now, this certainly does sound like a different challenge for me. Very well, I accept. Did you have a design drawn out already or is this still in the planning stages?”

As I respond I walk a few steps away from the door and sit down while Specter climbs down and begins looking around, “Currently this would be the ‘gathering the experts’ stage. I have only a general design in mind for the moment seeing as once I get Twilight’s assistance we can really get down to function, and at the same time, ensuring the final product is pleasing to the eye as well.”

She nods as she magics off her glasses and sets them on her workbench, “Very well, simply let me know when you have decided on a date that we may begin working. Now, speaking of dates,” her eyes harden slightly at me, “are you aware of how your little soiree affected Fluttershy in your absence? I don’t particularly enjoy my best friend being distraught over her coltfriend’s safety when he runs off suddenly.”

My ears fold back at being reminded of that fallout from our trip, “I completely understand what you mean. Rest assured, Fluttershy and I spoke about it, and I have resolved to not make her worry so in the future. You have my word Rarity, that I would never do anything to harm her, emotionally included.”

Her eyes soften back to their usual state as she smiles, “Good, you two are much too good of a couple for you to be risking it with thoughtlessness. Now then, there is another result of your trip that I wish to address.”

“And that would be…?”

Her tone is simultaneously serious yet playful, “Why, Sweetie Belle’s magic lesson of course. You remember we set them for every Sunday, and since you were otherwise occupied this weekend, it of course did not occur.”

I mentally chide myself for forgetting the little filly, “Ah yes, of course. I do apologize for that, is there any way I might make up for it?”

She puts on an obviously over dramatized aloof face, “I’m not the one to ask darling, you should take it up with her yourself.”

As if on cue, the little purple and pink maned filly bounds in the room and skids to a hault in front of me.

“Hi Rhino!” she says with a large smile.

I smile at the happy little unicorn, “Hello Sweetie Belle, sorry about missing the lesson on Sunday, I hope you aren’t too annoyed with me.”

She shakes her head rapidly, her curls bouncing as she does so, “No, it’s ok, I was a little sad at first, but then Rarity told me you had missed it because you were helping take care of some bad ponies. So I understand.”

Another slight pang of guilt goes through me as I realize I made somepony else sad, no matter how briefly, “Well, how about to make up for it, this coming Sunday we start learning some actual spells?”

The filly beams and jumps forward to hug me. I stiffen at the unexpected hug as she responds, “That sounds great! I can’t wait to start doing some magic!”

“One thing Rhino,” Rarity’s voice causes Sweetie Belle to let go of me and face her sister, who is giving us an amused look, “Sweetie Belle does not actually live with me, the other times you have seen her here, she was visiting. This means that she will be with our parents on Sunday, so you will need to find her there.”

She levitates a slip of paper with the address on it to me.

I take the slip with my magic and put it into my bag, “Thank you Rarity.” I look back down at the still excited filly, “Now Sweetie Belle, I have a little bit more to talk with your sister about. So I’ll see you on Sunday alright?”

The little unicorn nods happily at my words and practically bounces her way out of the room and up the stairs. As I turn back to Rarity to fine tune the idea I had been pitching before, I am interrupted by the door chime announcing the arrival a familiar sea green unicorn.

“Ah Rhino and Rarity, sorry to walk in on the double R party unannounced.” Says Volt with a bigger smile than usual accompanied by a small rasp.

I take the time to face-hoof at Volt’s choice of dialogue before looking back up and returning the greeting. A small feeling that something is off besides his extra cheerful facial expression causes me to stop and examine the electric unicorn. As I identify what caused that small twinge in my magic, Rarity takes over by returning his greeting herself.

“Why Voltage, it’s good to see you more recovered than the last I saw…” Rarity stops mid-dialogue and gasps.

She squeals in delight quite abruptly before taking on a more sly tone. “I see that isn’t the only thing that changed about you last night. Could it be this new aura is means something changed about you relationship wise?” The teasing mare looks at the stallion waiting for an answer.

“Am I really that easy to read about that matter?” says Volt with a blush growing across his face.

I blink in disbelief at Volt’s ignorance of the magical marker surrounding him “Volt it is written all over you.”

Volt chuckles with a dreamy smile on his face. “Well I guess I always was an open book. In any sense Twilight and I came to an understanding last night. An understanding that was one might say magical... and involved a little kissing.”

“Well I, for one, am glad you two finally got together. Twilight, smart as she may be, can be a little bit awkward when it comes to these matters and you seemed a bit…” Rarity pauses and takes a moment to look at Twilight’s aura on Volt’s body then continues “inattentive to things of this nature. No offense meant of course.”

“None taken Rarity. I came to peace with my inattentiveness long ago.” Volt replies with a cheeky smile.

“Did you notice her do anything magical to you?” I ask.

He puts a hoof to his chin as he looks upward in thought, “Hmm, well she did help the healing process for quite a bit of my injuries. That’s why I can talk with little voice rasp or pain.”

I push a little, “Nothing else?”

“Nope. Why do you ask?” Volt says confused.

I shake my head in exasperation but adopt an amused smile at his ignorance, “It’s nothing you need to concern yourself with Volt.”

He shrugs it off, “Well in any case the reason I came here was to ask Rarity to fix a tear in my favorite tie.” He moves toward the seamstress and levitates a tie over to her from his saddlebag. “Twi and I were planning a dinner date somewhere fancy and I want to look up to the part.” He turns to me. “What are you doing here Rhino? Are you getting something fixed too?”

I feel Specter playing with the tip of my tail as I answer honestly, “No, actually Rarity and I were discussing a little experiment I was planning.”

“An experiment you say?” Volt takes an imminent step forward , “An experiment with technology and innovation?”

Volt’s sudden climbing interest concerns me slightly, so I answer carefully but clearly, “Not really technology, more of runes and enchantments. Though I suppose this project is quite innovative in a way. We are trying to make some enchanted gauntlets for Blue similar to Torchlight’s, only these would radically change the way that wind affinity of his works.”

Volt ponders for a moment. “It sounds like something technology could help expand.” He then proceeds to wrap his hoof around my neck and point his hoof skyward. “Imagine it Rhino. Circuits, circuits everywhere. And wires. And inductors. And upgrades. Oh the upgrades. We can put out a new model every year.”

I interject immediately “I don’t think technology would really fit into the design…”

“Nonsense!” Volt clears his thought and begins singing.

“Weeeeeelllllllll. If you want to work it. Get your circuit.
Grab your pliers. Connect the wires. Flip the switches. Burn the bridges.
Punch the buttons. Fry your muttons. If nothing works, well you obviously mmmmffff.”

I cover his mouth with my hoof to spare both mine and Rarity’s ears as we both slowly stop cringing now that Volt’s horrendous and off key lyrical attempt has been ceased.

With my hoof sill over his mouth I quickly put on my faux smile and say to him, “I just realized a short coming in my design. It could be easily patched with some of your circuits and some completely nonmusical design strategy.”

Volt smiles cheekily as I remove my hoof, “I see I inspired you.”

Yeah sure, let’s go with that.

I let out a relived sigh and remark, “Be glad Hydro wasn’t here as I doubt Rarity wouldn’t appreciate all the blood that would likely have resulted from that little number of yours.” I shake my head. “Anyway I need to head to the library. Want to follow along?”

“Sure, I am on break right now and I was actually going to see if Twilight wanted to get a quick lunch anyway.” Volt says.

Rarity moves the tie over to her sewing desk, “Well Volt I will get right on repairing your tie. Be sure to come back tomorrow to pick it up.”

Specter is back on my head as Volt follows me out the door before turning back and waving, “Thanks Rarity!”

***In the boutique***

Rarity sighs as the two stallions exit and the door closes. “With all the new relationships popping up, I wonder if I can find a gentlecolt to court a lady such as myself. I also wonder if I can learn to stop talking to myself why I work.”

***Back to Rhino’s POV***

Volt and I make our way to the library trying to keep our conversation light and on topic.

“So you want Twilight to help with the project too?” Volt asks.

I turn my head to him “Yes. Her knowledge and skill with magic will most likely be invaluable.” I then slow my pace a little bit as a thought occurs to me, “She isn’t mad about the ‘me forcing you to run out on her’ is she?”

Volt looks at me with a little bit of a cringing expression, “Well I did actually talk to her about it this morning before I went to work. She might be a little angrier at you than you expect, especially since she blames you for my injuries.”

Wait what?

I stop dead in my tracks, “She does? Have you talked to her about it?”

Volt stops as well and looks up to the sky in thought “Yeah, but she really is firm on her point, and is far too well read and beautiful to properly argue with.”

I give him a deadpan look, “I feel like you didn’t even try.”

Volt looks at me hurt. “Hey I did try, but when you get down to it purple is a deep and mesmerizing color. It really showed off her colorful language and had a ‘hue’ge effect on me.”

My face wasn’t ready for my hoof to come at it so fast and I ended up hurting myself a little, “Ow.” I rub my face a little and continue, “Did you try and back my case or were you too busy thinking of puns to break the news to me in a not so serious way?”

He counters, “Hey, how often do you like to argue a point with Fluttershy then, Rhino the charisma master.”

I mull this over a moment, “Well, generally I don’t like arguing at all, but I suppose I see your point in this.”

Volt adopts a smile once again, “And besides I can keep her in good spirits during the project. With me there you have nothing to worry about.”

I begin moving towards the library once again also with a newly adopted smile, “Once again good point Volt. At least we have a plan now.”

And with that Volt and I continue our way to Golden Oaks Library to enlist Twilight’s help.

***

As Volt, Specter, and I walked into the library I notice our furry and fiery friend that had gone ahead to the library was still here. Iroh has perched himself near Twilight as she lays on the floor preparing a book for something. Both of them turn their heads at the sound of the door. Iroh uses his wings to fly forward to greet us, while Twilight takes on a displeased frown at the sight of me. Her frown doesn’t last long as she looks at Volt and smiles while he makes his way over to her. He kneels down and nuzzles her cheek, inciting light blushes from both of them.

“Hello friends. I didn’t expect you to stop by the library while I was here,” greets the old nimbat.

“A few things small things came up and I wanted to talk to Twilight about it.” I respond nervously.

Twilight once again looks at me and queries. “What came up?”

Volt takes up the tale, “We had this idea for a project and were hoping you could assist us.”

Twilight looks at Volt with a big smile. “I would love to hear about it later, but right now I have to finish this current project I’m working on with Iroh.”

I cock an eyebrow at that, “What kind of project?”

Iroh answers, “Twilight will take a piece of my magical essence and use that to record a journal on nimbat physiology since her library doesn’t currently have any mention of my species.” Iroh answers.

“It’s both an expansion of knowledge for me as well as a practice on recording one’s being through magical imprinting.” Twilight cuts in.

I mull over the information a moment before responding, “Intriguing. I was actually interested in learning more about the nimbats, and this spell of yours seems fascinating as well. Would you mind if Specter and I stuck around to watch?”

The librarian ponders my request thoughtfully, “Hmm. Well I don’t know. Having an audience might not be the best idea.”

Volt moved towards me, “Don’t worry Twi I’ll keep a close watch on him and Specter to make sure nothing interrupts you.”

The mare concedes with a nod, “Thank you Volt. You especially need to stay since after this I would like to heal your throat some more and maybe do a few control practices.”

“Sounds good. Now Rhino please move back a bit.” Volt says turning to me.

We take a step back and prepare for the show as Twilight begins to focus the magic in her horn. Iroh turns to us to explain one final detail.

“This procedure is very sporadic thus there is no set time to when the essence shall be extracted from me. You should pay attention closely to not miss anything.”

He quickly turned back to Twilight and took on a meditative pose, his legs crossed and his wings expanded as he sits with his eyes closed. Twilight’s horn glow seems to envelope Iroh for a second then disappears. For a while nothing seems to happen, so all there is to do was wait and watch. Unfortunately Specter decides to explore a bit since he had the attention span of a squirrel as well as having no real reason to be interested in magic. He jumps off my head and glides down behind me. At the sudden loss of weight on my head, I turn around to find him sitting on a book set upon one of Twilight’s tables.

“Specter what are you doing? Get off there.” I whisper.

Specter quickly hops back onto my head leaving me staring at the book. It is titled Advanced Magical Theories of Space Anomalies and from the looks it was brand new. Since Twilight’s spell has still yet to start I decide to pick it up the book with my magic and pop it open out of curiosity. I notice the inside of the cover has something written in it.

Dear Twilight,

I know I ran out on you earlier, so I wanted to ask forgiveness through this book. I remember you mentioning that you did not have it in your collection and that you didn’t have time to go to a book store in Canterlot and buy it. It seemed like an appropriate present since you mentioned you would love to have it. I hope you find it in your heart to forgive me. You are an awesome friend and wouldn’t want to ruin it. Even if you do constantly tell me about this stallion you are interested in. I hope he notices you soon.

Sincerely, Volt

I chuckle to myself as I close the book while still holding it in my magical grasp.

Heh, well I guess he did end up noticing in one way or another. Now that I think about it, I do remember Volt passingly telling me about going to a book store while we were in Canterlot. He must have got the book for her there.

“Rhino, its happening.” Volt loudly whispers from behind me.

I turn around abruptly to see a sporadic ball of light phase out of Iroh’s head and slowly lower towards the special journal. In my state of awe I had not noticed that I still held the book in my magic. The book too had swung around when I did and gained momentum that lead it to impact into Volt’s throat. The electric unicorn gasps in pain after being hit in the tender area and stumbles backwards into a bookcase behind him. The bookcase lets loose a torrent of books onto the electric unicorn including one close to the size of a pony that lands right on his head.

Twilight, noticing the noise, immediately turns her head and loses her focus on the spell causing the tiny orb to be let free and bounce around the room uncontrollably. Specter, in fear, jumps onto the book still floating in my magic to try and use it as a shield.

“Twilight grab it!” I hear Iroh shout.

I follow the orb with my eyes as Twilight tries to get it under control but can’t quite get her focus on it since it’s bouncing all over the library. The orb never seems to hit any of the books, only the wood of the tree, lucky I guess. Unfortunately the luck turns around as the orb hits the ceiling at an angle and shoots right towards Specter and the book in my grasp. The sudden shift in trajectory causes my reflexes to be insufficient, resulting in the light hitting him and the book. Both fall into the pile of books that Volt is currently buried under.

My eyes widen at the hit to my friend, “Specter!” I cry out throwing a few books off to find him.

Luckily I find him a few books down into pile still breathing and only a little bit singed. He sits up and rubs his head trying to loosen the shellshock, before signaling me that he was okay with a thumbs-up.

I sigh in relief, “I am glad you are okay buddy. No harm done.”

A series of thumps draws my attention over to see Twilight digging through the books to find Volt. He is half awake and lightly moaning as several new bumps line his head. She looks him over quickly and checks him for a concussion only to notice her book I was holding earlier right near her hooves. It’s burnt around the edges and the spell has written over all the text in the book including the part Volt had written at the front, leaving it completely illegible.

Iroh flies over near Twilight and remarks to her, “We should limit your distractions next time so you don’t fail another project.”

Twilight looks ready to burst into tears as she cries a few words in disbelief, “But Volt! And Book! FAIL?!?!”

My relief of Specter being okay is overtaken by guilt at what had happened since I feel a bit responsible, string of unlikely and unfortunate events though it may be.

I should take complete responsibility for this and handle this like a stallion.

It’s then I notice Twilight’s coat turning a bit white and her mane starting to burst into smolder as she turns around to look at me with now red eyes.

“Rhino” Twilight growls with a voice of pure rage.

A reasonable response is now unlikely, apologize later when risk to self and others is significantly less.

“Bye!” I say quickly as fear for my life takes over all other senses. I Blink myself and Specter out of there as fast as I can and use a series of subsequent Blinks to end up back in my house just inside the front door.

Hydro, who had noticed my entrance and wide eyes, asks curiously, “Hey Rhino where’s the fire?”

“Twilight.” I answer shakily before heading straight up to my room.

***

The rest of the day goes by pretty slowly as I stayed home with slight paranoia of imminent flaming unicorn librarians for the most of it. Specter is tired after the incident so he decides to sleep the day away. I decide he has the right idea and retire early into a light dreamless sleep with Specter curled up in my forelegs.

***

I am awakened the next morning by an unknown voice.

“Hello? Rhino? Hey are you awake?”

The unknown voice causes my eyes to shoot open.

Author's Note

Revisions still going on in earlier chapters, but in the mean time, hope you guys like new ones!

Chapter 49: Changes

***Wednesday, Day 32, morning***

“Hello? Rhino? Hey are you awake?”

The unknown voice causes my eyes to shoot open. I barely register the fact that something’s eyes are looking down at me before my reflexes kick in and adrenalin instantly floods my veins causing my pupils to shrink and the fur along my spine to stand on end.

“GAH!” I let out an involuntary shout of surprise and fling my sheets over the shape while throwing myself against the wall on the opposite side of the room, causing a loud thumping sound when I hit it.

As I see the intruder struggling beneath the sheets entrapping it, some back part of my mind registers that the shape is much smaller than I am. Despite this information, I still wrap my magic around the glass shard I still had on my shelf after the last time we had an intruder. The sounds of rhythmic hoofsteps cause my frantic eyes to switch to the door in fear. The door slams open and to my relief, in come Hydro and Atom, the latter with his hilt in hoof but the blade not yet materialized. My two housemates lock eyes with me and I direct them to the sheets, the confines of which, the shape is almost free of. As the sheet comes off, all three of us tense up, only to let down our guard in shock at what emerges from underneath it.

I stutter slightly from shock, “W-what? A nimbat?”

The foxlike shape, large eyes with no white areas, and bat-like wings do indeed give the intruder the form of a nimbat. However, it is not the nimbat we had all come to know. This nimbat is smaller than Iroh, it also lacks his beard. Along with those details, its eyes are yellow to Iroh’s orange, its fur is black where Iroh’s is red, though it’s grey on its tail tip, paws, and the underside of its stomach. Finally, its wings are black to match its fur. Hydro, Atom, and I simply stare at the unexpected form.

I cease taking in its appearance and ask directly, “Who are you?”

The nimbat‘s ears fold back slightly, as if unsure how to respond. After a moment it answers, in a voice like a young colt, “I’m Specter.”

Hydro scoffs, “Yeah, right. Specter is a squirrel.”

The black creature looks back at me, “I was… up until I woke up this morning.”

While my initial thoughts are of disbelief, certain facts pop up into my mind.

I went to sleep with Specter in my grasp last night… he would have still been there, or at least on the bed when I woke up. Even when I’ve woken up after him, he never leaves the room in the mornings until I do. My squirrel isn’t here right now… only this thing. Specter would have at least come back from all the noise being made.

I take another look at the nimbat.

He has the same coloring as Specter. His eyes are the same yellow. Now that I look closer… he even has the same white lines starting from the bridge of his nose, going over his eyes, and to the base of his ears. It… seems impossible and yet… the feelings I’m getting from the slightly sad look he’s giving me…

I put down the glass shard I had been holding and give the nimbat an appraising glance as I ask, “How did Specter and I meet?”

The black creature answers, “It was at Fluttershy’s house. I was having recurring intense stomach pains and she asked you to come over and help. You discovered that a spice meant for phoenixes had been trickling onto my food. You were really nice, you didn’t charge her, and you even let me sleep on you. You adopted me the next morning.”
I have never told anypony what happened there, no one even knows that Specter was the patient I treated there.

As I hold my silence at the answer, I see the nimbat’s face slowly sink from the hopeful posture it took when I asked the question, back down to the slightly sad look it had when I asked its name. A familiar pang in my heart causes me to soften my gaze.

I look curiously, but not suspiciously at the small furry creature before me and ask hesitantly, but with a slight note of hope, “Specter?”

The little nimbat responds by slowly walking towards me, climbing up my leg, and coming to rest on my head, blending in with my mane. This small act convinces me, and I take the small creature from my head with a gentle touch of magic and levitate him in front of me at eye level. After a moment of looking at him, I simply reach out with my forelegs and bring him in for a hug.

A short time later and Specter and I start our business as usual as we head out the door, him on my head. However, the situation is anything but usual. My pet has become a different species overnight, not only that but he has become a creature with the capability of speech, so presumably he now has an intelligence boost as well. Also is the fact that I am leaving the house much earlier than I normally would, not to go to work, but to seek out a certain ambassador who had not come home from the library last night. Specter and I are searching for Iroh due to the fact that all we really know that happened is that Specter woke up as a nimbat, thus we seek out the only other nimbat we know to see if he has any idea what has happened.

As we round a block, I see the red target in question sitting at a table at an outdoor café drinking tea. I hail him as we approach, “There you are.”

Iroh looks up as we approach, answering happily, “Good morning, Rhino. It appears you were looking for me, sorry about that. I stayed at the library last night to assist Ms. Sparkle with her nimbat information records. Voltage and I were simply grabbing breakfast.” He gestures across the table.

At the nimbat’s gesture, I look to see the electric unicorn in question, completely unseen by me in my slight tunnel vision from slight anxiety due to the situation. I clear my throat and chuckle nervously while looking at the bandages on Volt’s head, “Heh, umm, hello Volt. So, first thing, I am truly sorry about what happened yesterday. I didn’t mean to get you hurt like that.”

The sea-green unicorn simply shrugs with a good natured smile on his face, “Apology accepted I guess. It was only a minor concussion anyway. Though it was pretty weird how you fled like that.”

I clarify for him, “I wasn’t fleeing from you. I was fleeing from Twilight. She seemed like she was about ready to blow from everything that happened.”

Another shrug, “Well I couldn’t really feel anything for a few minutes. But I did notice the temperature rise a little bit.”

“That was probably from when her mane started literally smoking like it was about to burst into flame. I have heard crazy things happen when powerful unicorns lose their tempers. Regardless, I am glad you aren’t too sore, both physically and emotionally I mean.”

He takes a bite of waffle, “Well I do like my mares smoking hot. But anyway, nah, not sore. Well, at least I’m not.”

I ask with trepidation, “I guess Twilight is still a bit angry?”

He grimaces, “’A bit’ would be the wrong words to use. She actually wanted me to stop being around you.”

I blink in surprise, “Really?”

He nods, “Yeah. But I told her that you saved my life and deserve to be forgiven.”

When did I do that?

I cock my head to one side in confusion, “I saved your life?”

More nodding, “Blue told me that Torchlight was going to squash my head when I was knocked out and that you came in and saved me. So unless you were planning to save my life then try and off me with books. We’re cool.”

Huh, forgot about that. Or I repressed it. Meh, really isn't a big deal either way.

I ask with a small amount of hope, “So Twilight is mad but forgives me.”

His answer flattens that hope immediately, “Absolutely not. She accepted the fact that I can still be friends with you, but she says there is no excuse for all the stuff you did to her.”

Somehow I doubt the fact that most of it was a string of unfortunate coincidences is going to work until sometime has passed.

I make sure my assumption is correct, “So, basically, I am on the blacklist of one of the most powerful unicorns in Equestria.”

Volt rubs the back of his head and looks away, “Well I managed to stop her from getting the old Pony Hunting for Egg Heads out of the banned books section. Leave it to a librarian to try and get a pony’s funeral booked.”

I try to ignore the pun, but still let slip a slight groan as I turn back to the patient nimbat elder, “Sorry about that Iroh, now, there actually is a bit of a situation that I thought you might have some theories about.”

I twitch my ear a few times and Specter, in his new form, climbs down from my mane and onto the table. Iroh simply stares at him a moment before commenting, “Ah.”

I nod, “Yeah…”

The grey bearded nimbat sets down his tea and spreads his wings, flying around Specter a few times before landing back in his seat. If nothing else, the demonstration showed me that Specter is just under half of Iroh’s size, so pretty much the same size he was as a squirrel. The older nimbat peers at the former squirrel another moment before saying simply, “You’re that squirrel that was with Rhino yesterday.”

Specter nods in agreement as I ask, “How did you know that?”

“Many little things all added up. He has the same markings on his face, the same colors, he rode on your head, and he sits like a squirrel. Adding in that you had never seen a nimbat before you met me, this little one doesn’t seem to know how to use his wings, and the little incident that happened yesterday, and I’d say the chances were pretty high that this was your squirrel.”

My mind grasps onto a particular part of his statement, “So when he got hit yesterday at the library…”

Iroh finishes, “It would be my guess, and I have seen much in my 185 years so my guesses are usually fairly accurate. When Ms. Sparkle was transferring my essence to the journal and it was intercepted by your squirrel, my magical essence was infused within his body. Squirrels being a strictly non-magical race, his body used the new magic to adapt to a form more suitable to his new essence, leading to this new young addition to my species. Before you ask though, no, there would be no way to change him back. I am sorry. Now that he has a body accustomed to magic, he would not be able to revert back to a form that did not naturally have it.”

I sit down heavily on the ground as I absorb this new information. I look on the positive side as I ask, “Are there any… negative side effects I should be aware of?”

Iroh gives Specter another appraising eye, “No, his transformation appears to have been complete. He still retains all his memories, and thus his personality, but beyond that he is now a nimbat through and through. I would wager he knows how to speak now, even if he is not used to it and thus doesn’t do it often at first, but other than that, anything that is outside of what he knew as a squirrel will have to be learned.”

I stand up, having had enough time to at least have a plan while the information sinks in, “Alright, so I need to learn more about nimbats then. The best place to do that would be… from Twilight’s new journal you helped her make… oh boy…”

Iroh nods while turning back to his tea, “Yes, I wish you luck with that my good stallion.”

Volt nods, “We would help, but you know… waffles.”

I gulp as Specter climbs back up for the next leg of the trip.

***

We reach the library in short order and after a minute or two, I build myself up enough to knock on the door. My slight hopes of having the draconian assistant answer the door are short lived as a purple and quickly irked librarian answers the door leaving no amount of interpretation needed for her current thoughts on my presence.

I try to keep the potentially fiery mare calm and reasonable, “Good morning Twilight, I just wanted to come by and apologize for what happened yesterday. Speaking of yesterday though, I heard you had completed the journal on nimbats and I was wondering if I could check it out for some research.”

The mare adopts a eerily calm smile as she replies, “I wish I could help Rhino, but starting today, due to the damage to one of my books by your actions, you are now on this library’s book ban list. Have a nice day.”

She simply closes the door, leaving me standing in front of it.

Chapter 51: The Project

***Thursday, Day 33, noonish***

Hmmm, I believe it was around here… ah, there he is.

I make a beeline for my electrically inclined target I had been searching for since I got off work. The pony in question is currently enjoying a sandwich while lounging next to a machine. The machine draws my eye for a moment due to the fact that I have never really seen anything like it, but I remind myself that I have a goal and so focus back on the pony in front of me.

I clear my throat lightly in case he hasn’t noticed me yet, “Hello Volt. I’m not interrupting anything am I?”

My friend swallows before answering, “Its fine, I’m on my lunch break now. Though this is quite the surprise, you guys never visit me during work. The only pony that ever vists is Twi.”

I nod absentmindedly, “Speaking of her, I was actually wondering if I might ask a favor of you.”

Volt looks at his sandwich for a moment, “Sure, let me finish this real quick.”

As he finishes the food, I look around to pass the time and notice what looks like Volt’s orders for his job at the moment. The letter is far shorter than I would expect it to be.

‘You must construct additional pylons.’ Huh… succinct…

I look back up to see Volt has finished his lunch and is nodding at me to begin. I do so, “Well, I assume you know about my current book ban.”

He nods, “Yes. Twilight felt it was an appropriate punishment.”

I pause a moment before ignoring what he said and moving on, “Remember that journal on nimbats she finished? Well Specter and I could still really use a look at it. Unfortunately, the obvious route of just getting somepony else to borrow it for me doesn’t pan out since Hydro tried and apparently the book is not able to be borrowed currently.”

His usual smile falls slightly into a more neutral expression, “Go on.”

I rub the back of my head slightly from what I am about to insinuate, “Well, you are far more welcome in the library than most…”

He picks up my trailing sentence, “You want me to steal one of my marefriend’s books?”

I cringe from the less than moral suggestion but remind myself that I am doing it to help Specter, “I wish it couldn’t be worded that way… but yes. I need the book for a few days so I can read it when I have time in order to find out anything important it might contain to help us with Specter’s new form.”

Volt looks to the ground in thought, “Hmm, I don’t know.”

I quickly add a few reassurances, “Volt, I know this might be testing the trust a bit, but I need that book. Rest assured though, if anything goes wrong I will take full responsibility for it. I don’t want you getting in trouble with Twilight if consequences arise.”

He thinks for a moment longer before sighing to himself and meeting my eyes, “…Okay.”

I let out a sigh of relief, “Thank you, I really do appreciate this. Oh, that reminds me… later on today I wanted to go ahead and get you, Twilight, and Rarity together with myself so we could work on that project for Blue. Do you think you could let Twilight know? I’m heading over to tell Rarity in a second.”

He nods, smiling now that we are off of less pleasant subjects, “Sure.”

***Later at Golden Oaks***
**3rd person**

The purple librarian looks up at the sound of the door opening to reveal her sea green coltfriend.

His eyes instantly focus on her, his usual carefree smile present, “Hey Twi.”

Her own smile graces her face as she quickly pecks him on the cheek in greeting, “Hello to you too Volt. Did you need something? Spike and I were about to run some errands.”

He chuckles lightly through the small blush from her affection, “Actually I just came by to pick up a book I need.”

She nods to Volt as her dragon assistant motions to her that he will be outside when she is ready, “No problem, we’ll be back later, so grab whichever book you need and lock up when you’re done.”

The stallion smiles at her trust, “Okay, see you later. Oh, by the way, Rhino wanted to go ahead and get the work done for his project for Blue this evening, is that alright?”

Her smile falters slightly at the name, but she recovers quickly, “That’s fine. It’ll be fun to see what all of our combined skills can do.” Twilght heads towards the door and gives him a small wave before exiting and closing it behind her.

Volt’s smile fades as he turns towards the shelf with his target book. His horn light’s up as the book floats down while being enveloped in a matching light. As the tome comes to rest, the stallion sighs deeply as he simply stares at it for a few moments before noticing a picture on top of another book. It is a picture from his and Twilight’s date last night. They had taken it at the park and it looks like Twilight had already developed it. Underneath it is a book that looks identical to the one he had retrieved, only, upon further inspection its pages are blank.

Volt says to himself, “Maybe I can put this one on the shelf so Twilight doesn’t notice…”

Volt then looks back at the photo for a few moments before smiling to himself and picking up the books.

***That evening, Golden Oaks basement***
**Rhino’s POV**

I look around at our little unicorn group assembled before me. The laboratory setting is a bit different than what I am used to, but considering we are creating an item instead of a spell, this is the appropriate place.

Twilight has been… not unwelcoming to me, but more along the lines of she just doesn’t particularly want to interact with me at the moment. It caused a bit of tension at first, but I decided to focus on the project itself and save dealing with our problems for another time.

I take one more look at the three ponies before beginning, “Alright, so just to make sure everypony is on the same page: our goal is to fulfill Blue’s request of a pair of gauntlets. These gauntlets will replicate the effects of those of Torchlight’s in that they manipulate the natural magic of those wearing them. As you know, pegasi magic is mostly focused in the wings, so our plan is to somehow transfer portions of the magic from the wings into the gauntlets on his hooves to allow him to release it at his command. I discovered a rune from Atom’s sword that harnesses power from natural wind magic in all pegasi, so we can start from there. I expect this will end up as a fusion of technology as well as magical enchantment. So, let’s take a few minutes to gather our thoughts, and then we can take the best ideas and go with them.”

I take Volt to one side, “If it’s not too much trouble, if you see a chance try to convince Twilight that I’m not trying to make her angry at me. I don’t expect you to solve the entire problem, but I’d be willing to take any points I can win in her favor at this point.”

Volt nods, “I’ll see what I can do.”

Things go smoothly as they usually do in a group project, ideas are proposed, tossed out, refined, and eventually a path is decided upon. After a time, Rarity and I begin discussing where and what materials the runes would be etched into the device in order for them to do what they must to guide and harness the magic. As we discuss details, Volt walks over to Twilight who is digging through some boxes for the materials and tools we shall need.

***Over with Volt and Twilight***

“Hey, Twi…”

“Hmm?” Twilight raises her head out of the box to see Volt, “Oh, hey Volt, could you hold this for me?” She levitates a piece of machinery out from the box.

“Umm, sure.” Volt grabs the metal with his own levitation as the mare starts sorting through the box again. “Anyway, I wanted to talk to you about Rhino.”

“What about him?” She says as she levitates him another object to hold.

As she methodically gives him more and more stuff to hold, Volt begins setting down some objects to make sure he doesn’t drop them, “Well, I know you two aren’t on the best of terms right now and I was wondering if you would think about forgiving him-“

He is cut off by Twilight otherwise occupying his lips with her own. The kiss is brief, and afterwards she giggles at him, “Don’t worry, I realize I overreacted when I asked you to stop being friends with him. He still has to face the consequences of his actions, though.”

As she walks back to the work area, Volt simply blinks as he tries to recover his train of thought.

***Slightly later***
**Rhino’s POV**

I continue explaining to Volt the purpose of the placement of the part we are working on as I slowly edge it into place.

“So by attaching it to the clips here, but keeping the length, we should be able to make sure it doesn’t interfere when he tries to fly with these on-” I cut myself off when I glance over to Volt and notice his attention elsewhere; specifically the back half of a certain purple librarian. I tap him lightly on the back of the head with the handle of a screwdriver to get his attention, “Hey, focus on the work. I don’t think she would appreciate you ogling her in front of her friend. Now come on, this is important.”

Volt gives me a sheepish grin, “Alright, alright, sorry. I guess I get distracted easily these days.”

***Over with Twilight and Rarity***

“All I’m saying is, darling, that you may have him a bit too worried about your reaction to expect him to come out and confront you about it. Rhino doesn’t exactly seem like the confrontational type.” The dressmaker states as she rearranges a few pieces on the pegasus mannequin she brought over.

“Look, Rarity, I told you, when the ban is over, he’ll have to come to me to get the book. I’ll confront him about it then.” She raises an eyebrow at her alabaster friend, “And why are you so concerned about what’s going on between us anyway?”

The fashionista makes a few more alterations before standing back to look at the product, “I’m just looking out for two of my friends, dear. The stallion has been nothing but pleasant in all the time I have known him, and Fluttershy has only ever said good things when we go to the spa together. I would simply hate for two ponies that seem like they could be good friends to end up avoiding each other over what could be a misunderstanding- Twilight are you paying attention?”

The other mare snaps herself to focus back on her friend, “I’m sorry what was that, Rarity?”

Rarity raises an eyebrow before leaning around Twilight to see what she was looking at. Seeing only Volt with his back to them, she adopts a sly smile as she asks, “Getting a bit distracted with unladylike thoughts are we?”

Twilight’s face burns lightly as she focuses back on the mannequin, “L-let’s just get back to work.”

***Even later, as Twilight and Rhino work together while Volt assists Rarity with some circuit placement***

“Thank you.” Twilight’s response is curt, but not insincere as I levitate her the tool she asked for.

I stay silent as she gets back to testing an aspect of the magic transference pathway. I usually enjoy silence, but the tension that accompanies this one is a bit unnerving.

Twilight breaks my thoughts as she calls me, “Rhino, come over here a second.”

I walk over and she points to a few different pieces she is levitating, “Could you weld these seams together? They need a bit of touching up.”

I look at the pieces of metal she is floating before looking back at her, “I’m afraid I don’t know a spell for that Twilight.”

“Look, it’s easy, it’s just a normal heat spell focused from the tip of your horn, run it along the seams so I can get to the next part.”

I maintain my position, “I’m sorry Twilight, but no matter how much you explain the spell to me, I’m not just going to be able to cast it. My magic doesn’t work like that.”

She turns away from the project to look at me with an expression somewhere between annoyance and curiosity, “What do you mean ‘it doesn’t work like that’?”

I take a few steps back and start to turn towards the other group, “It’s a bit too long of a story to explain right now. I’ll just go grab Volt for a moment.”

***Around midnight***

The product of our labors lies on Rarity’s mannequin underneath a sheet. All of us are tired, but we each still retain the smiles of a job well done for creating this prototype. Tired goodbyes are said as we each retreat to the comfort of our dwellings to rest and recover. A certain blue pegasus should be pleasantly surprised tomorrow.

Chapter 53: Crystal Formation

***Saturday, Day 48, morning***

Two weeks pass in relative normalcy. Blue continues to enjoy his gauntlets, though after wearing them for a few days without taking them off, I hear Rainbow had to put her hoof down to get him to lay off them. Atom’s housing papers finally went through so all the guys pitched in for our version of a house warming, meaning we helped him move all his stuff then lounged around afterwards. Our other temporary houseguest, Iroh, said his good byes and started his way home as well. On the subject of nimbats, Specter doesn’t seem too bothered being the only one of his kind in town now. He still doesn’t talk all that much, but he has opened up to Hydro a little, as well as speaking to Fluttershy with that same ease as when he converses with me. He actually tends to talk to me quite a bit, mostly commenting and asking questions about pretty much everything. Hydro has been in a cheerful mood lately, from what I understand, his little project in that lair of his is going very well and he is now at the point where he is just working out the kinks. My spell experimentation goes much along the same lines, the particular spell I have been working on since we came back from Canterlot is going coming along surely, but there is still one final part which is keeping me from completing it, I just need to think of a way around it. Romance has been progressing smoothly as well, as both Hydro and I have now gone over to our respective marefriend’s houses for dinner and to simply spend time together a few times now. Sweetie Belle’s lessons are going along smoothly, and levitation is now becoming more of a reflex than anything else, which was the goal. I thought meeting her parent’s might be difficult, but word sent ahead via Rarity, and a flying tackle hug from the filly herself, allowed me into their good graces easily. Finally, Twilight and Volt seem to be doing well, their romance has a more ‘exploring something new’ feel to it when compared to Blue and Rainbow’s ‘less public affections,’ Applejack and Hydro’s ‘contentment,’ or mine and Fluttershy’s ‘soft and caring’ relationship. My book ban has officially ended, and Twilight has given me confidence that nothing in the nimbat journal was cause for concern.

This brings me to today, in which all of us have arrived at the library to see what was causing a rather large amount of ruckus. It turns out the cause was the librarian herself.

I give a sideways glance to Volt as Twilight runs back and forth in a near panic, “Remind me: why aren’t you helping her pack?”

Volt wordlessly points a hoof at Twilight launching quills like projectiles into a bag Spike holds open.

I look at the now perforated bottom of the satchel, “Ah, right, self-preservation.”

Suddenly, Twilight bangs her forehooves together, drawing my attention as she continues speaking to… herself mostly, “Flash cards! I should make some flash cards.” She levitates some cards into her assistant’s arms, “Spike, I'm gonna need you to quiz me. On everything. Everything I've ever learned. Ever.” She gives the stack of cards an appraising look, “That isn't going to be enough cards.”

How would you have time to go over them all even if you have the cards?

Spike, currently playing the role of the sane one, sets down the cards as he calmly appeals to her, “Twilight, calm down. It's just a test.”

The room instantly goes dead silent as Twilight slowly turns around, “Just a test? Just a test!? Princess Celestia wants to give me some kind of exam and you're trying to tell me to calm down because it's just a test?!”

Spike dons a set of pillow armor along with a helmet before responding, “Uh...yes.”

As the sound of Twilight’s magic warming up fills the library, Blue remarks frankly to Spike, “You’re a brave drake, Spike. It was an honor knowing you.” Blue salutes and the rest of us guys follow suit.

Applejack, meanwhile, is remarking to the other girls, who seem to be taking this all in stride, “Ah'd say she's handling things pretty well, considerin'…”

The mounting magical pressure I sense through my horn has doubts.

*BOOM*

***Later, on a train bound for the crystal empire***

I gaze at the passing countryside before turning back to my marefriend next to me and commenting, “It all seems a bit surreal, this whole… test I guess.”

It’s true, the rest of us were given a sealed letter by Twilight from the Solar Princess to be opened once she had left. It had not said much, really just containing train tickets and a note that told us we would be informed of the situation when we got to Canterlot. There was also a small bag of bits for Atom, due to the fact that he had an indirect connection to the Bearers and thus this is more of a job for him. Still, he seemed happy to come along with friends.

Once we arrived at Canterlot though, Twilight didn’t have much to tell us other than ‘We’re going to the Crystal Empire!’ Suddenly we were back on a train and headed north to help Twilight with her test in whatever ways we can.

Fluttershy leans up against me as the landscape slowly grows snow covered as we pass, “At least the Princesses let you boys come along as well. With all of our help, I’m sure Twilight will do great on her test.”

I nod and put my foreleg around her as we speed on.

***Further up the train with Volt and Atom***

Volt casually chats with Atom to pass the time, “So, why did you look like you recognized the name earlier when Twilight mentioned we would be meeting up with this ‘Shining Armor?’”

The shade wearing pegasus pulls down his eyewear to peer at the unicorn in shock, “I’m guessing you don’t know about Shining Armor then, otherwise you wouldn’t be so casual about this.”

Volt cocks his head to one side, “Is there something I should know?”

“Well, let’s see… he is the current Captain of the entire Royal Guard. He personally has the power to put up a shield spell large enough to cover the entire capital. I’ve seen him in action and to be honest, I think he could have taken down Torchlight on his own. There is also the detail that should most concern you: that he is the older brother of your marefriend.”

Volt gulps, “What!?”

***

The train slows down as we reach our destination. A quick glance out the window reveals a darkened landscape completely enveloped in snow as the wind howls across it. Perhaps at one point this station had a town next to it, but for now it seems to be the only structure in the area, a simple platform among fields of white.

Twilight leads the way as the door opens to let in the cold. All of us adopt worried looks as we step out into the weather.

Hydro appears to be getting the worst of it as his teeth instantly started chattering when he steps out of the train, trotting in place in an attempt to stay warm. “I h-h-hate the cold…” he mutters as he rubs his legs together.

Personally I find the cold wind pleasant if a bit strong. I’m not saying I would like to stand out in it all day, but I am by no means near as bothered by it as some would be. I refrain from commenting on the lovely side effect of having a thick coat though, as it could be seen as bragging, and simply stand next to Fluttershy and block as much wind as I can. I’m not certain how effective my attempt is, but she still smiles appreciatively at me, and that makes it worth it.

Meanwhile, Rarity is enjoying the benefits of being the only pony who packed anything beyond basics, “Hah, and you all made fun of me for packing so many scarves.”

The rest of us ignore her as Spike exits the train with her excessive luggage muttering, “I didn’t say a word.” Soon the luggage becomes too much for him as the largest one bursts open and scarves fly away on the wind as he tries to recapture them.

A voice comes out of the wind and snow, “Twilight!”

The mare in question shields her eyes from the weather as she peers after the voice, “Shining Armor?”

A white stallion of mine and Hydro’s height appears out of the fog. He is wearing a scarf and a pair of goggles that he removes and sets up on his two tone blue mane as he exclaims, “Twily! You made it.” The two embrace quickly before they turn to face the way Armor came, “We better get moving. There are things out here we really don't want to run into after dark.”

I feel Fluttershy lean in to me as she gulps, “What kind of things?”

He looks towards the horizon for a moment before turning back to us, “Let's just say the empire... isn't the only thing that's returned.”

We trod along behind our white guide as we make our way against the wind and snow. Hydro’s teeth chattering can still be heard at times. Most of us have to keep our eyes squinted to keep things out of them, while Atom has to make due with simply wiping the constant snow buildup on his shades.

After a time, Shining Armor breaks the silence as he calls back to us, “Something keeps trying to get in! We think it's the unicorn king who originally cursed the place.”

The rest of us offer no comment as we continue following while Twilight responds, “But Princess Celestia said I was being sent here to find a way to protect the empire! If King Sombra can't get in, then it must already be protected.”

A loud and long roar unlike anything I have ever heard echoes from all around us.

Fluttershy instantly holds onto me as she panics slightly, “Th-That's one of the things, isn't it?” I wrap a protective hoof around her as all of us look around worriedly.

Shining Armor’s eyes narrow as he turns to us, “Guh. We have to get to the Crystal Empire. Now!”

A sudden sound behind us prompts us all to start running even as we look behind us to see a rapidly forming tornado of black smoke. The smoke has a pair of evil-looking red, green, and purple eyes as it utters a guttural growl. We see Spike freeze up in front of the approaching smoke just before Armor runs up and grabs him with levitation. The two soon catch up to us, though Spike begins to slow almost immediately.

I see Twilight toss her assistant onto her back before hearing her shout, “Go, go!”

All of us run wide-eyed from the monstrosity on our tails. Atom, Blue, and Rainbow have taken wing while the rest of us chug along the ground.

Just as a shimmering blue bubble appears on the horizon, I hear Shining Armor shout from behind us, “Almost there.”

As we continue running to the bubble that I recognize as a magic shield, I hear the sound of a magical blast from behind us, but focus more on getting to safety. Another growl comes from the cloud as we close in on the bubble. Soon, to my relief, we pass through the barrier easily and all of us come to our own out-of-breath stops.

Twilight gasps out, “Everypony okay?”

I wave my hoof as the others make general affirmative noises in response. My breath still not returned for conversation just yet. A thump from behind us gains our attention as Shining Armor rises slowly.

Twilight darts over to him, “Oh no, Shining Armor, your horn!”

The horn in question appears to now have some sort of black crystal growth along it. Armor appears to try to let his magic flow out his horn, only to have it stop suddenly when it meets the crystals. He gives up after a moment and shakes his head sadly.

I cringe as I give him a sympathetic look. Magic is a large part of any unicorn, and it’s not pleasant to think of suddenly lacking the ability to use it.

My ear perks up as I here Pinkie utter astounded sounds from a spot where the girls have gathered on a hilltop.

“Sparklerific!” she comments on the scene before us.

The crystal empire is certainly something. Above us looks to be any other scattered cloudy but mostly sunny day. The building themselves almost seem to be formed from hollowed out crystals that grew from the ground. Some are duller than others, but everything had that crystal shine to it. Above all of it is a towering castle that looks like it could be made of diamonds for how much it shines. It’s pure height dwarfing all other building around it by at least ten times.

A strange sound causes some of us to look to the side and see a certain red earth pony friend of mine rolling around in the grass. He mutters to himself as he rolls, “Warmth, warmth, warmth…”

Most of the others write it off, but Applejack and Fluttershy give me bemused looks as the farm pony asks, “What is it with you two boys and rollin’ around in the grass?”

I just chuckle sheepishly as my friend warms himself up.

Chapter 54: Crystal Gathering

***Saturday, Day 48, midday***

Our journey through the crystal streets is relatively quiet for the most part. The whole ‘foreboding cloud of impending disaster’ we encountered had the effect of toning down any tourist-like thoughts we might have once had. Other than the occasional hungry glance from Spike, completely understandable since to him this is essentially a place made of food, everypony seems very nonchalant.

The exception is one alabaster mare as she marvels at absolutely everything. Her usual restrained persona makes way for what can only be described as gleeful awe, “It's gorgeous! Absolutely gorgeous!”

I chuckle quietly at this newer side to our refined friend while Applejack takes a more practical approach with the unicorn, “Focus, Rarity. We're here to help Twilight, not admire the scenery.”

Rainbow adds in with a bored tone, “Eh, I don't see what the big deal is. Just looks like another old castle to me.”

Blue adds in the final blow to Rarity’s buzz as he passes her, “Every place has a theme, this one just happens to be shiny.”

Their words have a profound effect on the seamstress as she immediately starts twitching and stuttering, “A- p- guh! Another old...! Just happens…!” She rushes quickly over to the other three, “Have you lost your minds? Look at the magni-” Suddenly the other three start laughing and hoofbumping as Rarity realizes she has just been lead on. She quickly clears her throat and calms down as the rest of us simply smile at her reaction, “Very funny.”

We enter one of the legs of the castle that leads to the throne room.

As soon as the last of us enter, I hear Twilight shout from the front, “Cadence!”

From the throne, a pink alicorn I recognize from the newspaper article about her royal wedding a few months back happily canters towards Twilight. The two quickly close and perform a little… dance I suppose one might call it, “Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake. Clap your hooves and do a little shake!”

The rest of us stand back and let the two have their moment. The princess cringes afterwards, revealing tired and sagging eyes from what looks like enormous fatigue, “One of these days we need to get together when the fate of Equestria isn't hanging in the balance.”

Twilight raises a hoof, “Are you okay?”

Shining Armor walks up and answers for the mare I now remember is his wife, “Cadence has been able to use her magic to spread love and light. That seems to be what is protecting it. But she hasn't slept, barely eats. I want to help her, but my protection spell has been countered by King Sombra.”

Cadence tries to straighten up, “It's alright Shining Armor, I'm fine.”

Armor sees right through her, “She's not fine. She can't go on like this forever, and if her magic were to fade, well, you saw what's out there waiting for that to happen.”

A brief sense of unease can be felt just before Twilight answers, “That's why we're here.”

Applejack walks forward, head held high, “Why we're all here.”

The rest of us follow and make affirmative noises.

Armor’s voice reinforces how worried he is, “Well, with Cadence putting all her strength into keeping her spell going, and me trying to keep an eye on signs of trouble in the arctic, we haven't been able to gather much information from the Crystal Ponies.”

Suddenly Rarity bursts out with a level of excitement Pinkie would probably approve of in normal circumstances. She grabs her mane like a fangirl as she exclaims, “Crystal Ponies? Hahaha, there are Crystal Ponies?!” All of us staring at her inappropriate outburst gets through to her after a moment and she quickly tries to piece together her usual image, “Umm, hmm. Please continue.”

Armor does so, “But we have to believe one of them knows how we can protect the empire without having to use Cadence's magic.”

Sparkle suddenly gets an excited look, “A research paper!”

Shining Armor’s response reflects the unsaid thoughts of everypony, “Huh?”

The lavender unicorn only grows in eagerness as she continues, “That must be part of my test; to gather information from the Crystal Ponies and deliver it to you! This is gonna be great! I love research papers!”

Rainbow nudges Pinkie sarcastically, “Yeah, who doesn't?”

Being herself, the pink mare ignores the ‘sarcastic’ part, “Oh oh oh! Lemme guess! Is it Spike? Nono, Fluttershy! Rarity!” She pauses a moment after grabbing the named ponies, “Oh, I’ve got it!” She pulls me over, “Rhino!”

I try not to think about it too much and decide to just answer on reflex, “She is correct, give this mare a cupcake.”

The party mistress obliges by pulling a cupcake from her mane and chowing down on it while Twilight turns back to Armor, “Don’t worry, big brother. I am really good at this sort of thing.”

***

After a series of interviews with the sullen locals, I spot the group meeting spot as I head back with my findings. I arrive just as Rarity finishes her summary.

Twilight looks questioningly to me as I walk up, “How were the ponies you spoke with?”

I answer frankly, my mood a little down from being around so many dour ponies, “Uninformative and a bit depressing.”

The other stallions arrive in short time and give similar answers.

“Nope.”

“Nada.”

“Zip.”

“Zilch.”

As the last stallion delivers his report, I see Fluttershy walking up with a strange look on her face. Concerned that it might have been the ponies making her feel down as well, I walk over. Internally, I hope that I can cheer her up and that seeing her happy will inadvertently brighten my spirits as well.

I walk over to her and ask, “Hey Fluttershy, are you feeling alright?”

Instead of a response, her eyes simply widen and she dashes over to Twilight causing a slight pang in my heart just before she-

WHAT IN THE NAME OF LUNA?! But-but-but…

I stare open mouthed, eye twitching slightly as what I thought was my marefriend reveals itself to actually be Pinkie Pie in in a shockingly realistic Fluttershy costume. My mind tries and fails to grasp exactly what just happened as I sit staring at the now crumpled imitation of the yellow pegasus. A tap on my shoulder as gentle as a breeze causes me to look back into the concerned eyes of what appears to be my marefriend.

I continue simply looking at her with my shellshocked mind as she asks worriedly, “Rhino, are you okay?”

I only shift my eyes between the pony and the costume, still trying to get my thoughts in order.

Following my look, Fluttershy spots the disguise. Her face quickly becomes disturbed as she uses a hoof to fling the fabric away. My head is starting to get back into place as I watch the cause of its scramble gain some distance away from me. Fluttershy simply walks over to me and hugs me, which I return with a sigh of relief as I confirm that this time it is really her.

I open my eyes over her shoulder to see the others rapidly moving away from us towards some unknown destination. We quickly separate and head after them.

***

We arrive quickly at the natural habitat of the Twilight Sparkle, i.e. the library. As we walk in, the subject in question immediately adopts a tone and stance of absolute awe as she gasps out, “I just... I don't even know what to... There are no words.”

I mutter quietly to the few guys near me, “I believe ‘bibliophile’ might be a word for this.” A light snickering announces their agreement.

“Ahem.” A voice off to the side causes us all to turn and see an elderly crystal pony as she clears her throat, “May I help you?”

Twilight approaches her giddily, “Yes. We're looking for a book.”

“We have plenty of those.” The older mare deadpans, gesturing around.

You could almost see the sparkles in her eyes as Twilight responds, “You do. You really do.” She begins to twirl around on the spot as if in a dream.

Hydro remarks to Volt, “Wow, a library makes her go googly-eyed faster than you can.”

Atom pipes in from the back of the group, “Wonder if it makes her do anything else faster…”

Volt counters after a moment, “You guys better hope I never get in a position of power.”

Blue continues the ribbing session, “It would take magic for you to become royalty of any kind.”

The resulting silence from us is broken by Applejack as she approaches the older mare, “We're lookin' fer a history book. Somethin' that might tell us how the empire might've protected itself from danger back in the day.”

The librarian looks thoughtful as she responds, “Yes. Of course. History, history... Ah, yes.”

We smile at the prospect of information, but the smiles fade after a few moments of silence.

Twilight tries to be encouraging, “...which is where, exactly?”

The older mare looks around uncertainly, “I... I can't seem to remember. I'm not sure I actually work here.”

I could practically feel the resulting facehooves from Rainbow, Blue, and Atom.

Twilight starts leading us into the main area of the library as she calls back to the possible librarian, “We'll just take a look around. I'm sure we can find it on our own.”

The mare calls to us as we go deeper, “Let me know if you find anything.”

Pinkie bounces after us with a closing remark, “I like her!”

I still say they’re all depressing.

***

We all split up to search the shelves for anything potentially useful. While all of us have slightly different means of searching, the premise is the same: look randomly and hope we get lucky.

Not useful, not useful, fiction, fiction… Hmm, what’s this?

I levitate out an interesting book I had spotted.

Basics of Crystal Magic… never heard of it…

A sudden shout of “Yes!” derails my train of thought as I set the book on my back and rush over to where Twilight and the others are surrounding a book on the floor.

Twilight looks at the title, “History of the Crystal Empire. I just hope it has the answers we need.”

We quickly head towards the entrance of the library. As we pass the librarian, I show her the book I still have on my back and let her know I am taking it out. When she mentions again that she isn’t sure if she works there, I leave a note for her to put on the librarian’s desk so that the pony who is the one working here, whether it is her or not, will know.

Our short trip to the palace is highlighted by Twilight explaining to us what we will end up needing to do. In essence, it’s a fair meant to keep everypony happy. Now she just has to get the approval from the Princess and Armor and we are set.

***

We all relax in the conference room of the crystal palace as we wait for Twilight. Suddenly, I get a tingling feeling that lets me know of something coming. Magic is a mysterious thing, nopony really knows why, but all ponies have a certain magic within us that allows us to perform many spontaneous songs when circumstances are met. One can tell when a number is about to happen, and who has the chance to be involved, by who gets the tingle. It is also the last warning a pony gets if they wish to choose not to be a part of a song. It is with the warning tingle that all of us guys meet each other’s eyes and decide as a group that we do not feel particularly like partaking in this number, and excuse ourselves before we get caught in its wake.

***

Two hours later and the fair appears to be in full swing. I stretch a bit from where I have been helping Fluttershy with the ewe pens and the activity stalls near us. I walk over and give her a peck on her cheek as I ask if it’s alright for me to go around and check on the others to see if they are doing okay. She gives me the go ahead and tells me that she’ll contact me on the Gemini gems if she needs anything. I nod and pat my saddlebag to show her I have it with me.

I first take a quick run by the food court area of the fair. There are a variety of stalls in the area with everything from pies to corn to funnel cake. Two particular stalls are proving popular though.

The first is the desert stall run jointly by Pinkie and Blue. Pinkie runs the front while wearing a jester’s outfit to entertain the masses while Blue helps recommend items to those who haven’t decided. More often than not they end up going away with crystal chimicherrychongas… turns out if you enjoy something, you can sell it really well.

The second stall is different from the others in that it didn’t have food ready to simply be picked up when ponies decided they wanted it. Instead, this was a ‘made when you order it’ type of stall. The main attraction being Hydro acting as grillmaster and cooking of any sort of grilled fruit or vegetable a pony could ask for. Beyond the classic chef hat and tools, one could also see him wearing a grilling apron. While, he had originally wanted a ‘Kiss the Cook’ apron, a few words from AJ convinced him instead to wear his current apron, ‘The Cook is Taken.’

I note as I start heading towards the others that Hydro’s stand is getting quite popular as the only stand with hot fresh food. I resolve to send some help his way if I find somepony free.

I head towards what will be one of the biggest attractions of the fair next, the jousting arena. I arrive just as Volt and Atom are putting the final touches on the fence that separates the two competitor’s lanes. Atom proudly wears a set of crystal armor to signify his position as both an upcoming jouster and the pony in charge of the arena itself. He still refuses to remove his shades though. Volt, meanwhile, is more of a work pony that has been moving around wherever anypony else needs a hoof.

I rest on a hay bale for a moment as I chat lightly with the two for a few minutes before the jousting arena starts letting patrons into the stands. Soon enough, ponies start trickling in out of curiosity and excitement, so Volt and I make our way out. I mention to him that Hydro could use some help and he rushes off.

I smile as I look around. All the ponies seem to be in much happier spirits than they were earlier. Their coats seem closer to the crystal they are named after as well. It looks like we may pull this off after all.

As I look around, my eyes widen in alarm as I notice the blue sky flicker for a moment before turning into an angry orange.

Author's Note

Special thanks to my newest pre/proofreader Hydro who also doubles as a retroactive reader helping me go back and clean up some of the earlier portions of this story.

Chapter 55: Crystal Purification

***Saturday, Day 48, afternoon***

I stare for a moment at the sky wondering if it is just a fluke, or if things are about to go downhill fast. After a few seconds though, the sky returns back to its blue tint as I see the shield rise again. I turn my gaze back to the masses but it seems nopony else had taken notice, a fact that is probably for the best.

I shove the incident to the back of my mind as I begin heading back towards Hydro’s stand to see if Volt made it there. As I arrive, I notice that the line has indeed thinned out since last I was here. I approach my two friends who notice me as I get closer.

I hail them, “It looks like everything’s calming down now. Any problems?”

Volt shakes his head as he serves some grilled peppers to a couple of mares, “No, everything’s fine. Food is cooking, ponies are eating, and Hydro’s apron gets enough glances that I get to ‘grill’ him about it.”

As if summoned by a supernatural force, a spatula makes its presence known at the last part of Volt’s statement by rapping him none too gently over the head. I look over to Hydro to see him only now turning away from the grill and setting the spatula in question down as he takes a break.

A rumble of thunder causes us all to peer at the once again flickering sky, in the end it remains blue, but the sight is still slightly unnerving. A telltale flapping sound announces the arrival of a pegasus, and the chromatic contrail cementing it’s owner’s identity. Not even five seconds later, a darker blue pegasus follows, noticeably more out of breath than his predecessor.

I look over to my earth pony friend as Blue catches his breath, “I don’t suppose I’m lucky enough for that bit of rumbling to be the result of you bribing weather ponies with sweets for extra rain again, right?”

Hydro shakes his head, “Nope, wasn’t me this time.”

Volt looks at us questioningly, “What was that about bribing weather ponies?”

Rainbow quickly interjects, “Nothing you need to worry about or look into.”

Blue takes the conversation ball next as he motions us all away from the stand, lowers his voice, and leans in towards the rest of us, “Right, we’ve got more important things to worry about right now than cookies for clouds.”

Blue quickly explains to the rest of us, with supplemental information by Dash, that Cadance’s magic is indeed weakening, but we still need the crystal ponies to be happy. Apparently they need to power a magical artifact that still needs to be located by Twilight. Our jobs are essentially the same, but with a distinct note of urgency now.

Volt immediately runs off to see if he can help Twilight out while Hydro heads back to his stand. Blue flies off to see if he can find Pinkie to let her know the situation, leaving Rainbow and myself suddenly alone.

She turns to me after watching Blue fly off, “Actually there’s something I wanted to ask you too.”

I nod my head at her, “I’m listening.”

She continues, “Do you know where Fluttershy is? I was planning on getting her to fight me in the jousting arena to keep the crystal ponies’ spirits up.”

Hardly a second passes before my expression falls at the suggestion. It doesn’t take much to know that this would be a terrible idea for my marefriend considering her timid nature, aversion to crowds especially those looking at her, and gentle disposition that tends to not enjoy being a part of any acts of aggression. I feel my mood take a downward turn as I envision what might happen if a pony like Rainbow took on a pony like Fluttershy in this kind of act.

Just as I am ready to tell her exactly what I think of her plan, a large red presence makes itself known next to me as my best friend’s voice cuts through my intentions, “What are you talking about over here?” Dash explains briefly and Hydro responds, “How about instead, I fight Atom? Might make for a hay of a fight.”

The chromatic pegasus thinks about this a moment before nodding her head in agreement, “Yeah, that’ll work. Probably a better fight than one between me and Fluttershy anyway.” She races off in the direction of the arena.

As we watch the retreating mare, I ask my friend without turning my head to him, “Now how did you manage to have perfect timing there?”

Hydro remarks casually as we head back to the grilling stand to pack up, “The mental link was buzzing so I knew something was up. The line at my place is pretty much gone now, so I figured that this would be the perfect way to help you.”

I let out a sigh to relieve the little stress I had gotten from Rainbow’s suggestion, “Gotta love that link. Thanks bro.”

***Meanwhile, in the Crystal Palace***

Twilight darts from room to room looking in any place that might contain the Crystal Heart. “It’s got to be here somewhere,” she says to herself.

Volt enters the room with Spike, the two watching the librarian search.

Seeing that the mare doesn’t seem like she is going to be stopping soon, Volt tries to get her attention. “Twilight, can we talk about something?”

Her head snaps to the two males at the sound of Volt’s voice. “Volt, be careful you don’t help me. I am looking for the crystal heart. Celestia gave me this assignment and I have to make sure nobody helps me.” Her eyes lock onto the drake, “That includes you, Spike.”

The dragon chuckles nervously as he quickly puts down the rug he was looking under.

Volt nods but continues trying to speak to her with a concerned look on his face, “Okay. But the thing I want to talk to you about is that you never mentioned you had a brother before. All those times I asked you about yourself, you never said you had large muscular older brother who looks like he could break my spine in two.” He gulps.

Twilight continues searching and gives no sign that she heard him. Suddenly she brightens up and exclaims, “Of Course!”

“Hmm?” Volt says as he looks at her.

“Did you find it?” Spike asks, eyes hopeful.

She shakes her head but looks no less excited, “No, because this isn’t King Sombra’s castle.”

“Isn’t this where he lived when he was in power?” Spike asks.

Volt follows the two into the throne room, “Uhhh Twilight, did you hear anything I said?”

The lavender unicorn waves him off, ”Volt, we need to focus on the crystal heart right now. We can talk later. Any way this is his castle but it didn’t look this way.”

The electric pony nods understandingly, “Fair enough. Now, how would we know what the castle’s previous architecture looked like? Maybe there are some blueprints…” Volt’s voice fades mid-sentence as he stares at Twilight who has engulfed herself in horn in bubbling dark magic.

She fires the new type of magic at the crystal on top of the throne. The dark magic flows across the floor, revealing a hidden staircase.

As Twilight works her magic, Volt clutches his head as sparks erupt from his horn. His eyes become unfocused and looks as if he is about to fall over.

Spike is occupied by the recently opened floor as he asks in wonder, “Whoa where did you learn that?”

“A little trick I learned from Cele-Volt?” Twilight’s explanation stops as she notices her coltfriend acting oddly.

She quickly trots over and helps to keep him from falling over as he regains his composure.

He groans as he goes back to normal, “That felt horrible. It felt like my horn was icing over and I couldn’t get a grip on my magic. My head wouldn’t stop hurting and my vision went fuzzy. It might just be dehydration though or the rapid change in climate. I can’t tell what’s normal with me anymore after I dived into Fluffers .”

Spike snarks from across the room, “Geez if it’s not water that’s weakening you it’s the lack of water.”

Volt glares at the drake a moment before he looks to see Twilight descending the ominous stairs.

She calls back to them as she makes her way down, “You guys stay here.”

The two males wait a few uneventful minutes until they hear Twilight call up to them. “Hey, can you two see outside?”

Volt and Spike glance out the window to see the flashing sky as the shield flickers. A low muffled “Crystals” can be heard rumbling in the distance.

“Not too big on sentences is he?” Volt says jokingly.

Spike ignores the comment and immediately runs to the stairs and yelled down. “Not good. Cadance’s magic is fading faster than before.”

What proceeded to be heard was the sound of a Twilight falling down the stairs as her horn light faded in the distance.

Spike calls down after the noise stops, “Twilight, are you okay?”

An echo rises from the depths of the stairs, “Yes.”

Volt pats the dragon on the head and remarks reassuringly, “Don’t worry. It happens to me all the time.”

He then begins making his way down the stairs.

Spike looks at the unicorn questioningly, “Where are you going? She told us to stay up here.”

Volt answers without breaking stride, “I am going to make sure she didn’t actually hurt herself.”

The young dragon ponders this for a moment before following, “Good idea. She won’t admit it if she did.”

As the two make their way down the stairs, Volt suddenly groans and holds his head. “I’m getting that feeling again…” The electric stallion wobbles a moment before inevitably losing his balance and following his marefriend’s approach of tumbling down the stairs.

Spike finally catches up to the fallen stallion at the bottom of the staircase, “You weren’t kidding when you said it happens all the time. We should seriously start a checklist of all you weaknesses. Let’s see: water, lack of water, stairs, female contact…. Twilight?”

Volt remarks as he picks himself up, “Female contact and Twilight would both be classified under the same category though.”

“No, look at Twilight.” Spike says, pointing out Twilight staring at a wall within an open door way.

Volt approaches the mare, “Twilight? What are you staring at?” Suddenly she shakes her head and looks back at him with a confused face.

The lavender mare doesn’t say anything as she tries to compose herself. She works her way behind the doorframe as the two males look closer at the wall the door leads to. Suddenly, Volt’s and Spike’s eyes flash and begin glowing green with red irises as they stare into the wall.

“Ponyville?! Well, how did I get... no! I don't wanna go! Please, Twilight, don't leave me!” The young dragon quickly starts to break down at what he is seeing.

Volt, adversely, doesn’t say a word or move a muscle. He simply stares into the doorway in silence.

Twilight, seeing the two caught in the same trap she had been in, kicks the door shut breaking the illusion. As the stallion and drake collect themselves, she explains what happened, “King Sombra's dark magic. A doorway that leads to your worst fear.”

Spike’s voice is unsteady as he recovers, “We were home... you told me you didn't need me anymore. You were sending me away...”

Twilight puts on a caring smile as she wraps her assistant in a loving embrace, “A fear that will never come to pass, I will never send you away.”

Volt, meanwhile, has fully freed himself from his own nightmare.

Realizing that he too was affected, Twilight approaches Volt with cautious worry, “Volt what did you see?”

Volt is quiet for a moment before he answers, giving a slight shiver as he does so, “Spiders. Spiders everywhere.” He gives the mare a small smile, “Could I get a hug too?”

Twilight giggles as she walks over and wraps her hooves around her coltfriend.

Spike’s voice causes both unicorns to glance over to him, “Water, lack of water, stairs, female contact and spiders.”

Volt glares at the drake, Twilight’s attention however, is drawn to the small amount of blood coming from the stallion’s nose.

“Volt, what happened?” Twilight asks, motioning to the blood.

Volt quickly wipes the blood off before answering, “I got another headache and fell down the stairs.”

Twilight neglects to reply on the stairs comment since she fell down them as well, but the first part of his statement makes her put a hoof to her chin in thought, “A headache again? I doubt dehydration is causing it... Last time it happened when I used dark magic to reveal the stairs. I used it again down here. Could be a coincidence, but perhaps that’s what’s causing it.”

Volt adopts a similar thinking pose, “Hmmm. That could be it. The dark energy must be causing my weird magic to go haywire.”

“Well, in any case, we need to get past this door. Dark magic doesn’t work, so let’s try… this!” Twilight blasts the crystal in the top of the door with her normal magic. The door shines brightly before opening to reveal a bright white room beyond. The unicorn mare trots through and takes a look around as the stallion and drake stay in the other room.

“What is it?” Spike asks cautiously.

Twilight sighs explosively as she looks back to the guys, “Stairs. Lots and lots of stairs.” She begins making her way up the stairs before turning around and addressing Spike and Volt with a small smile, “Maybe you guys should come with me this time.”

The guys give smiles of their own and quickly follow her.

***Crystal fair arena***
**Rhino’s POV**

The excitement permeating the air is almost tangible. It seems as though every crystal pony, young, old or in between, is here at the track. The stands are full to the extent that ponies are standing in any place they can see between tents. The low murmur of the crowd can be heard no matter the distance as the wide eyed residents eagerly await the match while the competitors prepare themselves.

Rainbow, Blue, Fluttershy, and I are standing close to the arena in the staff area. Officially, we are there to make sure the crystal ponies remain happy despite the looming danger until we can get everything ready for them to work their magic. Unofficially, we are using this time to take a break ourselves, support our friends in this endeavor, and maybe make a few good-natured bets.

“I’m saying 10 bits on Atom winning,” Rainbow says as she looks out over the crowd, “I’ve seen the Royal Guard in action a few times, if Atom made it in there, he’s gotta be good.” She looks over to the rest of us, “What do you guys think?”

Fluttershy answers with worry in her voice, “I just hope they’ll be okay. They’re not going to get hurt by this right?”

Rainbow waves off her worries, “No way! The lances are blunted and the armor is reinforced in the chestplate. Most either of them will get is a bruise.”

Fluttershy breathes a little easier, “Oh, okay. I still don’t think I can choose though. I’ll just cheer for both of them. Woo hoo!” Her cheer is undoubtedly the quietest I have ever heard, but the intent is there and the sheer adorableness of the attempt makes it fine by me.

Dash simply smiles and shakes her head like she expected that as she turns to myself and Blue, “What about you two?”

Blue shrugs, “I think I’m gonna go with 10 bits on Atom. He’s been watching these all day, he’s got to have learned a trick or two.”

I break my silence I’ve been holding for a time as I’ve been going through what I know about each pony in my head, “I’m probably slightly biased for this, but from what I know, I think I’ll match you two with 20 bits on Hydro. From what I know about both of them, this is going to be a good match either way.”

A sudden flugelhorn blast causes both Fluttershy and I to jump as it announces the match. The crowd’s volume spikes as both competitors march to their respective ends of the pitch. Both Atom and Hydro are clad in the traditional crystal armor set, resulting in mohawks for both of them, not really a change for Atom, but it’s a new look for Hydro, as well as overall luster increase for each of them. It even appears our former Guard chose to keep on his shades for the match. Both of them give a wave to the crowd, sparking even more vocal support as various ponies wave flags matching the color of their chosen knight.

The crowd dies down as the knights prepare for the charge. The two launch themselves down their lanes at a breakneck pace as everypony holds their breath in anticipation. They close in, neither turning away nor flinching. The two armored ponies collide with almost explosive force as their lances impact the center of each other’s chest and subsequently shatter from the force. As the pieces of their weapons scatter, the two combatants are feeling the force as well. Both ponies are tossed back, however, Hydro plants his hooves firmly and only skids back a few hooflengths as opposed to Atom who skidded back the entire length of the pitch.

Hydro raises his head and hoof as the crowd recovers from the shock of the impact and cheers his victory even as I collect my winnings from the blue pegasi next to me.

***Back with Twilight, Volt, and Spike***

The group continues making their way up the stairs. Spike speaks up as a thought occurs to him, “What if this is just more of his magic? He makes a door that leads to your worst nightmare... why not a staircase that goes on forever?”

Twilight thinks about this for a moment as she cranes her neck to look upwards. After a moment, she looks back to the others, “I might have a spell for this, but I don’t think I can use it on all three of us.”

Volt waves Twilight’s objections off with a hoof and gives a reassuring smile, “I got this Twi. You take Spike and I’ll catch up.”

The lavender mare gives the stallion a curious glance but nods her head in agreement, “Alright. Spike, hold on tight.” With the drake on her back, Twilight sticks her tongue out in concentration as she gathers her magic for a spell. She slowly rises before a great flash erupts and suddenly she and spike are sliding up the bottom of the stairs as gravity is reversed on them.

Volt looks up in awe at the magical display as the two make their way up the stairs. Once they are out of sight, he smirks to himself as he says, “Let’s see if I’ve got the hang of this yet.” Volt horns glows with yellow magic as small spasms are seen throughout his body. “Lightning reflex spell.” Volt says to himself before taking off up the stairs at a greatly heightened pace.

***Crystal fair***

Things definitely seem to be going in a steady decline around the town. The flickering sky and rumbling is an almost constant thing now, and isolated incidents of dark crystals sprouting out of the ground are starting to be seen. The other Ponyville ponies and I are doing our best to keep the crystal ponies happy despite it all. I am currently patrolling the in between streets to make sure there are no straggling ponies.

A small vibration in my saddlebag causes me to stop and look into it, revealing the movement to be my Gemini gem going off. The familiar face of my marefriend appears in the largest face of the jewel as I pull it out of my bag.

Her voice is laced with worry as she speaks, “Rhino, I really need your help!”

This instantly gets my full attention, “What is it Shy?”

She speaks quickly, “One of the lambs at the petting zoo was scared by the storm and ran off! I can’t go after it because I have to stay here to keep the rest of the sheep calm. Rhino, please can you find the runaway?” Her voice is almost begging by the time she finishes.

I nod quickly and put on a serious face to reassure her, “Don’t worry Fluttershy, I’ll find it before anything happens to it. Did you see which way it went?”

A few directions later and I am quickly Resing my way through the town to make sure a lost lamb stays safe.

***Crystal retrieval group***

Twilight and Spike make it to the top of the staircase before re-orientating to proper gravity, crashing as they do so. They look around and see a large pure crystal in the shape of a heart in the room’s center. After a moment, Volt arrives at the top of the stairs himself, his breathing rapid and his movements sluggish.

Twilight appraises her coltfriend a moment before realization dawns on her face and she admonishes him accordingly, “Volt… Did you use that spell that enhances your movement speed? I told you that you shouldn’t be using it until it was perfected. You know all the side effects it has.”

Volt’s ears fold down even as he tries to catch his breath, “Sorry Twilight. I’ve been practicing and wanted to show you how much I improved.” Suddenly, his left foreleg stiffens, causing him to trip over it and onto the ground, “But my leg might have given out on me.”

Twilight sighs, “At least it’s just one leg this time. You need to be more careful. I didn’t train you so you could be reckless with your magic.”

As he lies on the ground, the stallion averts his eyes from the mare, “Sorry Twi. I was just trying to impress you.”

Twilight, noticing his distress, goes over, helps him up onto his good leg, and offers some morale, “Well, it definitely does look like you’ve improved. Maybe when we get done I can help you with that spell some more. For now though, let’s go get the Crystal Heart.”

Spike walks behind the two as he counts off on his claws, “Water, lack of water, stairs, female contact, spiders, and yourself.”

Volt ignores the dragon as he limps over with Twilight to the crystal heart. As soon as the two step near the artifact, Volt’s headache returns as crystals appear from the floor trapping both ponies in the center with the heart outside.

***Rhino***

I dodge around another crystal outcropping as I pursue the lamb. The little blue fleeced creature in question seems to be just running in blind panic ever towards the outskirts of the empire. As we clear the last buildings on the edge of the city, I see my opportunity to catch up to my quarry as we enter a relatively open field. I quickly Blink up to the little fluff ball and levitate it so it can’t run away. The lamb still struggles in my grasp, flailing away and making me worry that it will injure itself if it doesn’t stop soon.

I quickly bring the lamb back down to the ground but maintain my hold on it with my magic as I try to calm it down, “There now little one, I’ve got you. You don’t need to run off alright? I’m just trying to get you back to your friends and family. You do want to see them again right? Just calm down and we can get you back, okay?”

I continue speaking in a slow quiet tone like this for a few minutes. The sheep here seem to be a bit less sapient than, say, the ones on Applejack’s farm, but even if it does not understand what I am saying, my tone seems to have the desired effect. Slowly but surely, the lamb calms down. I set the creature down as I smile in success, before I look around me and notice where I am.

My surroundings have deteriorated drastically since I was chasing my quarry. The sky is no longer flickering and is a dark angry orange. I face the outside of the city and can see a quickly approaching wall of smoke that threatens to overtake myself and the little one at any moment if we don’t move. I quickly nudge the sheep towards the center of the city, away from the smoke, and we start making our way there.

Before we make it even half a dozen steps, I hear the ground erupting all around us. I can see dark crystals popping up with startling frequency. While some appear nowhere near us, other growths appear right in our path and force us to work around them. As I dodge around one crystal, I hear the frantic bleat of the lamb behind me. I turn to see that a small crystal has sprouted up so close to the lamb that it entangled the fleece and now keeps the sheep from moving.

I quickly double back and spend a moment freeing the lamb from the crystal. Just as I get the little one free, a sudden wave of smoke assaults both of us. My eyes water and I have a small coughing fit as the smoke engulfs us and moves past, leaving us surrounded and unable to see where anything is. I feel the base of a large crystal with a hoof and can barely make out its size in the smog, I quickly bring the lamb with me as we take shelter on the lee side of the crystal and crouch down to try and minimize our contact with the smoke.

The little lamb cowers against me as we both cough a small bit of smoke out. To my dismay, I see that this crystal barely provides any shelter from the rolling smog. I am vaguely aware of my magic cutting off as I feel several small crystals growing on my horn. I notice the sheep still coughing as it tries to raise its head. Instinctively, I wrap myself around the little one to shelter it as well as to keep its head down and out of the smoke.

As we lay there, I look down and notice that as the smoke flows over us, those parts of my body that are engulfed in it, which is pretty much everything except the lower half of my face and hooves because of my position, are feeling strange. I slowly see what appear to be tiny crystals forming across my coat, giving the sensation of dried mud caked on one’s fur with a coating of prickly plants within it. I let out a few more coughs as I try to swipe off or break the crystal growths, but they remain firmly attached to me.

I lay there for an unknown amount of time, simply sheltering the lamb while I slowly become weighed down by the crystal growths even as the smoke works its way into my lungs in small amounts. As I mull over thoughts of my friends and my marefriend, my ear perks as I hear something curious from somewhere within the smog. A sound, almost like a far off roar of defiance, echoes from somewhere. A sharp breath I unintentionally take causes me to get some nice lungfuls of smoke even as I hear another much louder sound approaching. As I struggle to rid myself of the thick smog, a sudden rush of air blows the remaining smoke away while stripping the crystals from both the ground and my body.

The lamb and I peer up to see a glorious blue sky, and the sense of a looming threat all but gone.

Chapter 56: Crystal Evaluation

***Saturday, Day 48, afternoon***

The lamb and I approach the Crystal palace after our journey back into the empire proper. It was certainly a much different trip than our first eerie and empty journey through the city when I had arrived with the others at the beginning of all this. Now, ponies were out and about with smiles as bright as their crystal coats, a trait it seems both the lamb and I had picked up. I was a bit concerned about the new look at first, but I reasoned that in light of recent events, becoming a sparkly emerald coated pony wasn’t the worst thing in the world. I had originally planned to drop the lamb back off at the petting zoo, but after checking over there, it seems they were moved back to wherever they were beforehoof. For now, the little one is sticking close to me until I can find Fluttershy, so she can tell me where to bring him.

As we near the entrance to the castle, I can just barely hear voices on the other side of the large doors. I nudge them open and the lamb prances inside causing all the voices to stop abruptly. I enter the large room myself to briefly see my group of friends, stallions and mares alike, as well as Armor and Princess Cadence before I suddenly find myself knocked back onto my flank by a blur of yellow.

“Oof!” I gasp out as I get stunned for a moment from the impact.

I look downward to see my marefriend clinging tightly to my chest, eyes closed as she says with extraordinary speed, “Oh my goodness, oh my goodness, oh my goodness! You’re back! I was so worried! King Sombra was right outside, smoke and crystals were everywhere, and I had no idea where you were in all of that!” She pulls herself out of the hug but keeps her hooves holding me as she starts looking me over, “You didn’t get hurt did y-!”

I cut her off with a quick kiss before she can work herself up more than she already is. After, I lean my forehead against hers and say softly, “I missed you too.”

A weighty pat on my back draws my attention to Hydro standing by my side. He simply smiles at me for a moment before saying in a light tone, “Well, after all these years I knew it wouldn't be that easy to get rid of you. What were you doing out there anyway?”

Before I can open my mouth, the lamb next to me lets out a bleat.

“Baa!”

I look down at him before looking back up at Hydro and gesture to the lamb, “I went to make sure this one-”

“Baa!” The lamb interrupts again.

I look down at the little blue creature and ask pointedly, “Did you want to tell the story or something?”

“Baa.”

Fluttershy coughs quietly so we look at her while she comments, “He said yes.”

For the next few minutes, all of us are entranced by the sheep’s retelling of what had happened to us. Of course, since none of us aside from Fluttershy could understand anything he said, most of us were simply observing how she reacted to the various bleats of the storyteller.

When the lamb finishes his tale, Fluttershy simply quietly mutters, “Oh my.”

Hydro simply pats me on the back again, “Well… glad to see you got out of all that in one piece bro.”

A question from the princess in the room draws the three of us out of our little isolated conversation we had unintentionally started, “So he is your brother then?”

I look at Princess Cadence confused before I look back at Hydro and realize what she is implying. I chuckle as I respond, “Brother in all but blood actually, your highness.”

The princess smiles serenely as she replies, “Oh, my mistake, Mr.-” her eyes widen as she cuts herself off before continuing, “My apologies but I don’t actually know any of you gentlecolts’ names.”

“Oh!” Twilight exclaims, “That’s right, we never introduced them with Sombra’s attack starting as soon as we arrived!” She beings immediately by pointing to each pony as she names them, “That’s Blue, weather pony and Rainbow’s coltfriend, Hydro, dam technician and Applejack’s coltfriend, Rhino, veterinarian and Fluttershy’s coltfriend, Atom, former royal guard…”

Shining Armor cuts in during his sister’s pause, “Atomic Vortex? As in the guard whose suspect termination led to a mysterious group of ponies infiltrating the castle and revealing double agents within the guard ranks?”

Atom simply offers a salute and a “Yes sir,” while the rest of us keep our mouths shut.

Armor gives us a look before motioning for Twilight to continue.

The lavender mare gulps slightly as she looks at the only unnamed stallion in the room. She takes a deep breath before saying very simply, “This is my coltfriend, Volt.”

Armor doesn’t show a particular reaction to this information, but his face does appear to have defaulted to a stoic guard appearance as he asks levelly, “Really, since when?”

Twilight continues her straightforward approach and answers simply, “We started dating a few weeks ago.”

The brother’s response doesn’t betray his thoughts, “This is the first I’ve heard of this.”

Twilight gives her brother a smug look, “Should I have waited longer and just sent a wedding invitation?”

Volt eyes shoot open, “Wait, a what now?”

The white stallion flinches slightly at that, “Never going to let me live that one down…” He composes himself and turns to the rest of us, “Well, on behalf of myself, my wife, and the Crystal Empire, I would like to thank all of you for your help today. The return train won’t be running until tomorrow morning, so we set aside some of the guest rooms here in the castle for you to stay in. You are free to check them out now, if you like, and tell us if you need anything else.”

Various noises of agreement are made by the collective group as we all start making our way towards the stairs.

As Volt turns towards the stairs, a large white hoof rests itself on his shoulder, his face paling as Shining Armor speaks, “Volt, I believe you and I should have a talk.” Twilight walks back in quickly after she hears this, though her brother talks before she can say anything, “Alone, if you wouldn’t mind.” His tone suggests he is merely being polite and actually wouldn’t care if others minded or not, the talk would be alone.

Making my way up the stairs, the last thing I hear is Princess Cadence speaking, “Come on Twilight, you and I can talk in the other room until the boys are done.”

***Twilight and Cadence***

Cadence shuts the door to the lounge-like room she and Twilight entered before turning to the young mare, “Phew, what a day! Glad we can all finally relax now, right Twilight?”

The unicorn’s response is to simply let out a massive sigh and flop onto the nearest couch.

The pink alicorn giggles at the display, finding herself a comfortable seat as well, “Yeah, I remember feeling like that after my tests back in the day too.”

Twilight groans at the mention of the word ‘test’ holding her head in her hooves as she mutters, “I’m happy we saved the day and all, but I still can’t help but think that I failed Princess Celestia’s test.”

Cadence looks at the student before stating, “Thinking too much about it will only make you more depressed. Be happy Twilight! You and your friends helped save an entire empire! Try and think of all the things you have to be happy about right now, instead of just dwelling on something that might not even come to pass.”

Twilight rolls over onto her back to stare up at the ceiling her voice still quiet, but slowly building up to normal, “I guess you’re right. The empire was saved, the crystal ponies are happy, I still have all my friends who support me even when we have to do crazy stuff like this, I have you, my brother…” Her voice trails off as her eyes slowly widen in alarm. Suddenly she sits up straight as she finishes her thought, “My brother who I left alone in a room with my coltfriend!”

The princess simply looks at her, “And this is bad… why?”

Twilight holds her head in her hooves as her mind winds itself up more and more, “This is bad, this is bad, this is bad! Cadence, Shining was always VERY protective! You weren’t in town when it happened, but he once beat up some ponies who had been bullying me in school! They transferred the next day! If he gets the wrong idea about Volt…”

Cadence simply looks on as Twilight begins pacing frantically, “Twilight, I seriously doubt you would be with a pony that Shining would feel the need to get protective because of. From what I’ve seen, that stallion of yours is funny and sweet.”

“But Volt can be very inarticulate when he’s nervous, and all it takes is one wrong thing said for the situation to get out of hoof!” Twilight’s ears suddenly sit straight up and her eyes shrink to pinpricks, “What if he thinks we got physical? Or that Volt pushed things further than I was comfortable with?”

Cadence stands up and holds a hoof out to the unicorn, “Twilight, you’re starting to panic. Just let them talk and I’m they’ll get along fine. You can’t just force Shining to accept Volt.”

Twilight freezes in place and mutters, “Force him to accept Volt…”

Cadence’s eyes widen in alarm, “Twilight? Twilight, are you listening to me?”

***Shining and Volt***

The white stallion sits calmly at a table, sipping coffee as he remarks, “It sounds like you have quite the potential future with your internship you have.”

Volt nods, nursing his own cup of caffeine, “Thanks, Electrical Engineering is a growing job market right now, I even have enough to set aside for later right now.”

Shining armor smiles, “Good, financial stability is always important. From what you’ve told me, and from what I’ve been seeing from her, you and Twilight seem to be very happy together.” He chuckles before he takes another sip and continues, “I was wondering when she would finally find a stallion, it seems she picked a good one.”

Volt smiles, “Yes, things have thankfully been very clean and straightforward so far.” He starts raising his cup to his mouth, “So you don’t have anything to worry abou-”

*SLAM*

The door bursts open and in runs a frantic Twilight, eyes twitching and mane frazzled. Not even taking in the situation in front of her she immediately shouts out, “Shining, don’t hurt Volt! I’m pregnant and I need him to support the foal!”

Volt does a massive coffee spit-take even as Shining’s shouts, “WHAT?!?” The soldier’s magical aura immediately wraps around the unfortunate intern’s form and pins him to the nearest wall. Shining approaches slowly, each pace measured as if holding back something, “’Clean and straightforward’? Is that what you call taking advantage of my sister?!”

Volt coughs as the pressure put on him by Armor’s magic increases, “I don’t know what she’s talking about! We haven’t done anything!

This only seems to make the soldier angrier, “More lies!” He slams the colt into the wall again.

As Volt groans, Twilight appeals to her brother, “Shining, stop!”

Shining doesn’t break his eye contact with Volt, but his voice grows quieter and more serious, “I’m just going to teach him a lesson.”

Volt manages to croak out as flashes of the Torchlight fight come back to him, “Heh, isn’t this familiar…”

Armor tightens his hold even more, “So you make a habit of sleeping around and impregnating mares, do you?”

The doors to the room fly open, revealing Cadence as she rushes to the scene, “Shining Armor, let him go. Everything is just a big misunderstanding.” She casts a disappointed glare to Twilight, “Isn’t that right?”

Twilight tries to pull her brother away from Volt as she answers frantically, “Yes, yes, I’m not really pregnant! Volt and I haven’t done anything close to that! I just thought you wouldn’t hurt him if I gave you information that forced you to accept him!”

Shining eases the seas-green unicorn onto the floor as his faces reflect confusion and regret, “What?”

Twilight rushes to Volt to cast her healing spell as Cadence explains, “She was worried you were going to do the ‘overprotective brother’ routine. Unfortunately it seems she caused exactly that after she worked herself into a panic.”

Twilight finishes healing her coltfriend and tries to talk to him, “Volt? Are you okay?”

He simply gets up and walks away without a word.

Chapter 57: Crystal Magic

***Saturday Day 48, afternoon***

I relax on the bed of one of the guest rooms as I look through the crystal magic book from the library. The others and I hadn’t so much as ‘claimed’ rooms as each of us had dropped our saddlebags in a random room then gone and done what we wanted. I decided I had enough excitement for one day and thus here I am.

“Given it’s primarily earth pony population, the Crystal Empire’s crystal magic is a rarely known subject. Its basis lies in a small portion of the already small unicorn section of the population. These unicorns didn’t attempt to create new magic, but instead created a new component of it. The basis of crystal magic is this component and its uses.”

Below this paragraph is a sketch of a rune. While mostly crystalline in shape, it has several intricacies that make it one of the most memorable ones I’ve ever seen.

I guess with the Empire existing 1000 years ago, runic magic was more commonplace…

I spend a few more minutes reading up on the rune and some of its applications until a knocking at the door catches my attention. One of my joints pops as I stretch and make my way to open the door. The knocker is revealed to be none other than my favorite pegasus.

I step back and let her in as I ask, “So, I take it everything went well then?”

She nods, “Oh yes, his parents were very happy to have their little lamb back. All of them are relaxing in the eastern fields now.”

I smile as I shut the door, “Good.”

Fluttershy notices the book on the bed, “Oh, were you working on something?”

I nod as I settle back down on the nest of pillows I had been lounging on, “Learned a new interesting rune due to our little excursion to the library. I was just about to do a little magical experimenting with it. Care to join me?” I gesture to some not yet occupied pillows on the pile.

She lets out a cute yawn before giggling, “I’d love to.” She joins me as I bring the book back up.

I ready my magic as I explain, “This rune is actually well documented so I really only need to perform a basic test just to see the effect under minimal specification.” I scribe a blank circle in the air in front of us, filling in the new rune as the core and three other runes for containment measures. “Let’s see what it does.”

The circle glows brighter as I let my magic flow into it. At first nothing happens, but after a moment, a small speck of green is seen hovering just in front of the circle’s core. As the seconds pass, the speck grows until it can be recognized as a green colored crystal. Unlike the crystals around the Empire, which grew out of the ground, this one being free-floating, is instead a starburst-like shape. I let the magic flow until the construct is about the size of a pony’s head. I levitate the crystal in front of us, its shape now resembling a pure crystalline sea urchin.

Fluttershy’s eyes shimmer as she gazes on the creation. She lets out a quiet exclamation, “Wow…”

I slowly spin the many pointed crystal and watch as light dances around the room reflected from its faces. “Indeed…” I slowly release my magic in order to set it down, but find that even after I release my hold on it, the crystal remains floating in space. “What the…?”

The yellow pegasus looks from my non-glowing horn to the still-levitating experiment. “But how is it… how can it do that?” She backs away slightly from the star-like crystal.

I nudge the spikey ball out of position with a hoof only to see it return to its place. “I wonder if it has to do with exactly what it is…” I place the book between myself and Fluttershy and point to the explanation section, “This crystal is literally made of crystallized magic of the pony or ponies who cast the spell that make it. It is my magic in solid form.” I hum in thought as I look back at the still floating construct.

“Umm,” I look over at my marefriend as she points to a hoofnote on the page, “it says that anything created from a user’s magic is linked to them just as their magic is. The object can thus be directed just as the user would any normal part of their magic, with the exception of its defined shape.”

I skim the passage she just read out to me as I nuzzle her, “Good catch.”

I try a few movements and find that the book is correct; I don’t hold the crystal in my magic to move it, but simply will it to move as I do with my own magical energy. I move it around the room a little more before I get curious and try to see what happens if I reach into the crystal and release what keeps it in its shape. As soon as I do this, the crystal glows lightly and begins to disintegrate starting at its outer edges and working inward. In about a single second, no trace of the crystal remains as I feel the magic it was formed from return to me.

“Hmm, this certainly does have many possibilities…I wonder…” I mutter as I pull out a piece of paper with an unfinished circle on it.

Fluttershy looks at how much more complex this circle is compared to the one I had just cast. “What spell is this?”

I look from the spell book to the prototype spell and back again as I answer, “It’s something I’ve been working on since we all came back from Canterlot after the… incident there with Atom.” I take a quill out of my bag and start making careful additions to the circle. “I was close to completing this, but I needed a core rune. This ‘crystallization’ rune should do the trick quite nicely.” I start forming the circle in the air in front of us parallel to the floor. My smile that I had been wearing fades as I complete the circle and begin powering it slowly.

The yellow mare notices my falling expression, “Rhino… what kind of spell is this?”

A shape begins to form as I say without looking at her, “A spell… for being prepared.” I cut off my magic flow to the circle and look at the product.

A green crystal dagger.

The blade is approximately three hooflengths long and is similar in appearance to chipped flint. The hilt is simple and looks comfortable for both hoof and mouth wielding if it is needed, with a crystal orb at its end. The cross-guard joining the blade and hilt angles slightly towards the blade as it reaches outwards.

I smile lightly as I look over the tool before I release its form as I had done to the test crystal. I feel a small shivering from my side as I look to see Fluttershy staring with wide eyes.

“W-w-why would you make that?”

My heart pangs at the small trace of fear in her voice. I try to explain, “Defence, for both myself and you.” I let out a sigh. “There were three major fights that happened in the Atom incident. For all three fights, my friends and I fought our hardest. However, while they took to the offense, I always stayed in back and helped where I could. I was support, I lent a push where it was needed and made some blows of my own, but in the end, I felt as if I was simply sitting on the sidelines while my friends gave their all.” I look down at the now finished spell, before putting it back in my bag, now in its own place in my completed spells book. “I know that it was all of us working together that let us win where we did, but they won’t always be around. I needed a direct means to protect what is important to me. I needed to be able to fight my own battles.” I turn and look her in the eyes. “I pray that I never need to use them in a serious fight, but having this tool to win is better than the consequences of the alternative.”

Her eyes are no longer full of fear, it is still there, but now there is sadness as well. “Rhino…” she begins softly, “I understand what you are trying to do.” She scoots closer. “I still worry, and I still want you to be careful. I don’t want you to become something you are not.” She brightens up as she smiles and boops me on the nose. “Besides, you aren’t alone. I’ll keep you safe, you keep me safe. That alright with you?”

I settle further into the pillow nest to sleep as I bring her closer to me, muttering as I become drowsy, “Sounds perfect to me.”

***The following morning***

Our whole group marches through the fresh powder of the morning snow as we make our way back to the train station. After yesterday’s events, waking up to a bright morning – and a bit of teasing from the guys as to what happened when they found me and Fluttershy asleep together, teasing which I put a quick stop to with some nice buzzkilling specific honesty that nothing happened- got us all to quite the positive start. We had passed the barrier edge not too long ago-

“I do so wish it was permanent.”

-and Rarity is already lamenting the loss of our crystal appearances.

“Did you see how my mane just absolutely sparkled?” She flicks her mane and does a small pout.

Applejack looks over to the fashionista, “But... good things are better when they're a rarity.” She winks at the pun.

Rarity coos as Hydro looks back at Blue and Volt and narrows his eyes at them. “I blame you two for her picking up that habit.”

The two pun ponies in question simply look away while the pegasus remarks to Volt, “Now now, is her learning to toss a pun really a reason to be cold to us?” They gesture at the frozen plains around us.

Hydro stops suddenly as he grins, “Oh you ain’t seen anything cold yet.” He hefts a hooffull of snow from the ground and tosses it up and down in his hoof. “But I’m willing to teach you.”

Blue quickly takes off as Hydro chases him, both stallions laughing as they run ahead of the rest of us.

Rainbow huffs as she looks over to Applejack, “Heh, stallions.”

The farm pony shrugs as she too grins, “Well, some of em anyway.”

Out of the corner of my eye I see Twilight give Volt a light tug of magic to allow them both to fall behind the group. I barely hear Twilight as she remarks to Volt, “Speaking of which… I didn’t get a chance to talk to you this morning and of course I didn't get to talk to you last night since I was too ashamed to show my face. I just wanted to apologize for what happened. I tend to overreact sometimes and things got out of hoof quickly. If you don't want to be together anymore, then well… I can just add it to the pile of my growing failures.”

I keep my head turned enough to see the stallion sigh then pulls her close to him, "You are not a failure to me. The reason I got upset was because I thought you considered me a failure and that was why you intervened. I tend to lose a lot before I win, but even when I lose faith in myself I had hoped you would always think of me as a success. You, Twilight Sparkle, made me feel like the biggest success in the world. That is why it hurt to see you act like that about me.”

Twilight’s voice goes quieter, but I can still make out what she says, “Volt, I absolutely consider you a success. You handled the situation with my brother far better than I did. I was just afraid something would happen to you after on top of my most recent test failure. I hate when bad things stack up and sometimes I just can't take the pressure.” She pauses. “So do you completely forgive me?”

Volt puts hoof up to his chin "Perhaps on one condition.” He grins. “We don't make this a repeat performance with your parents."

They both laugh together and continue walking.

The rest of the trip is uneventful as Twilight, Armor, and Cadence discuss her test results and what to expect from her mentor. No pony else really speaks until we all arrive at the train and start boarding.

I look over to see Armor approaching Volt as the other ponies get onboard and I load the luggage.

The white stallion rubs the back of his head as he looks to the sea-green one, “Hey, so I never got the chance to apologize for my actions last night.”

The electric pony shrugs it off, “Hey, it’s alright, I figure she can’t possibly do worse than this, so it should all go smoothly with the family now.”

Shining nods, “I hope so, for your sake.” He pats Volt on the back hard enough to almost knock him over. “Take care of her for me.”

Volt gives a small salute, “You got it.”

Chapter 58: Guests

Two weeks have passed since our little crystal trip. In the end, Twilight’s worries had been unfounded as she received an official pass from Princess Celestia on her test. Life has returned to relative normalcy for now. A few developments came up, such as the guys and I deciding that Wednesday evenings were our ‘guy night’ and hanging out then. Winona's puppies also arrived, each of them looking like their mother but with varying dark or lighter shades of color. There was also the day we were treated to an impromptu aerial pursuit as Atom chased Blue throughout the town while the weather pegasus kept a letter from the former guard. Surprisingly enough, it was the local mailmare, Ditzy, who stopped them by bopping Blue on the head and giving him a stern speech on taking other ponies’ mail. In the end it turned out that Atom and Spitfire had been exchanging letters, some of which were romantic in nature. Much friendly congratulating followed.

For now though, the only big thing planned is Ponyville’s music festival coming up that they host every few years. Apparently the whole event is a boost to both music sales for the artists and for the local tourist trade so everypony wins. No telling what else will happen, but it should be fun.

***Sunday, Day 63***
**Pre-dawn morning**

A muffled thump resounds through the room, and a tunnel opens up right in front of the closet door. The tunnel swirls with prismatic colors, a voice drifting out of it.

“Rhino...”

The ears of the room’s smaller occupant perk up at the noise as the pony in question snores on.

“Rhino?” This voice sounds younger than the previous one, in spite of the distortion caused by the tunnel. A few figures appear in the middle of the portal, starting to grow larger as they approach, but one faster than the others.

A small black furry head raises itself from the blankets and notices the glowing hole floating in the room. Specter’s eyes widen in alarm as he starts nudging Rhino’s head to wake him.

“Rhino!” A small pony leaps out of the tunnel, landing on the bed and wrapping her forehooves around his chest. That probably wouldn’t have been a problem, were it not for the horn in the center of her head accidentally jabbing him in the nose.

*First person*

I grunt as my eyes shoot open from the sharp pain on my nose. A mass of pink on my chest causes me to reflexively try to back away, only to fall out of my bed on my back taking the pink mass with me.

“Ugh...” I let out a groan as I try to make sense of what is happening.

“Are you alright, Rhino?” The mass of pink lets go, getting up and standing next to me.

“He’s seen worse.” The other few ponies step through the opening still in the room. The one who spoke, a white mare, chuckles at the sight. “Mind making yourself decent, Rhy?”

The nickname, one of the few I’ve ever had, sparks some memories of an unusual time I had a month back. I look up at the white mare with neon blue two-toned mane and tail wearing purple shades with astonishment as I roll over, “Vinyl?” I look to the pink mass that I identify as a fuschia filly with darker pink mane, “Pinchy? What.. how?”

“You remember me!” The filly hugs me happily, beaming brightly.

“I can answer that.” One of the other two adult ponies speaks up, a burgundy feminine pegasus with light brown mane. “You see, Pinchy, here, missed you. Twilight found this spell that allows us to visit other dimensions, and, well, here we are.”

I close my eyes and rub the bridge of my nose as I try to get my brain woken up enough to deal with this. “Well, Enigma, this is certainly... unexpected.”

Specter speaks up from the bed where he had managed to avoid being knocked off, “That’s putting it mildly.”

All four of the guests stare at the small creature in shock. Pinchy squeals in excitement, bouncing onto the bed next to Specter. “You can talk! That’s so amazing!” She takes notice of his wings, extending one slightly with her magic. “Nice wings, too!”

The little nimbat looks confused at the stares he is getting before it hits him, “Oh right! You guys met me when I was still a squirrel!” He looks down at himself a moment before looking back at the group with a sheepish grin, “Umm, surprise?”

“I’d certainly say so.” The grey mare with styled charcoal mane in the back speaks up, smirking slightly. “At least you look better this way, right?”

Vinyl rolls her eyes, smiling softly. “Sorry, dude. Tavi has a bit to learn still about teasing outside combat.”

I smile from where I am watching the exchange. “Well, I’m sure with you as a teacher, Octavia will be a master in no time.”

“Maybe.” She glances at me with a playful smirk. “Say, where’s that lovebird of yours?~”

I crack my neck as I answer, “At her home, likely sleeping as most ponies do when the sun hasn’t risen yet. This is mine and Hydro’s house.”

“Is that so?” The gray mare moves over to the door, putting a hoof on it. “I’d like to meet this ‘Hydro’. From what I saw during our bout, he must be intelligent if he works at a dam.” She pauses, raising a hoof to her chin. “Unless he’s a custodian, of course.”

A grimace forms on my face as I realize I’m going to have to explain the presence of four extra ponies in my room to my housemate. “He might already know you guys are here... let’s head downstairs to the living room so we don’t wake him anymore than we have... he’s a pretty light sleeper.” I turn to the door and Specter climbs up onto his usual perch on my head. “Oh and for the record, he’s the dam’s engineer, not the janitor. He pretty much runs it himself.” I feel a weight as Pinchy climbs up onto my back and settles herself there. “Ok fine, but only two passengers, the rest of you have to walk.”

Vinyl pouts playfully. “Darn. I wanted a piggy back ride.” She glances over at the pegasus, coyly smiling. “Oh, E.~”

“Not a chance, Vi.”

She sighs, making her way through the doorway. “You’re no fun...”

We all quietly make our way to the living room, I keep my ears perked but I don’t hear anything from Hydro’s room yet. Everypony gets settled, Pinchy choosing just to use me as her seat, and I fall back on host-mode until I can come up with anything better to do.

I motion my head to the kitchen, “Anypony want anything? I’m gonna grab a drink.”

Pinchy speaks up from my back. “I’d like some milk.”

Octavia raises a hoof. “Some tea would be nice.”

Vinyl is quietly nursing a small glass she’d apparently pulled from nowhere. She stops long enough to respond. “E and I are fine. We brought some lemonade with us.”

I nod as my passengers and I head into the kitchen and fix the drinks. As I put the last touch on Octavia’s tea, I get a feeling from the link again, quickly levitate the three glasses, and walk back into the room to find Hydro just coming down the stairs and staring at our guests.

I smile at him as I casually levitate Octavia’s tea to her while Pinchy and I get our milk. “Morning Hydro.”

He stares at me for my casual greeting. “Rhino...” he gestures to the occupants, “what’s all this?”

I take a moment to think of how best to approach this. I decide honesty is the best policy. “Quantum physics.”

He continues staring. “Yeah, I’m gonna go ahead and call bull on that.”

I persist. “No, really, meet some alternate dimension denizens I met a while back.”

He groans as he facehoofs. “You know what, whatever. We’ll talk over breakfast.”

After some eggs and a brief explanation, everypony seems at least on friendly terms.

“So let me get this straight,” Hydro starts, “one night, probably the one night where I wasn’t woken up by your snoring, you were transported by,” he points to our guests, “their version of Twilight. You did various things there for a few days, then were transported back the morning after you left.”

Specter looks up from his strawberry he is eating, “Hey, I went too.”

Hydro continues, “Right. And you said the reason you never told anypony about what happened to you is that without any proof of what happened to you they would probably just think you were crazy.”

“Correct.” I confirm.

“And now they decided to pay you a visit because this one,” he point at Pinchy, “missed you, and apparently thinks you are some sort of ninja.”

“Yep! He can climb walls, just like a ninja!” She leaps onto the table, beaming. “And I’m gonna be a ninja, just like him! He’s my idol!” She misses the small flash of pain that crosses Octavia’s face.

Hydro’s face remains impressively neutral. “And because she wanted to see you, these three decided they’d make it a sort of vacation, and appeared in your room this morning.”

I nod. “Pretty much.”

My earth pony friend sighs deeply. “Just another day in Ponyville huh?”

I shrug, “C'est la vie.”

***

The guests and I stroll down Main Street, no particular destination in mind. Hydro had split off to go do his own thing, while the rest of us simply wander.

I break the silence as I look to the group, “So what did you guys want to do on this vacation of yours? I’ve only got one thing planned today, so my day’s basically free.”

Vinyl shrugs. “I dunno, dude. What is there to do around here?” She glances over to a building nearby, frowning slightly. “Pinchy, get down from there.”

I look at her curiously, “Something wrong? She’s not bothering me if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“That would make sense, if she was still on your back.” She points to the building in question, where the filly was currently walking up the wall next to a second-story window. Apparently, the smell of pie drew her over there. “You taught her a little too well, Rhy.”

I frown as well as I see where the filly has gotten to. I walk to the side of the building and look up and call to her, “Pinchy, what are you doing up there?”

She stops, her mouth inches away from the pie on the windowsill. She turns to me, pouting. “...but... cherry pie...”

I resist the urge to smile at the typical foal answer, “We can get you a pie from a vendor if you want one. Come back down here before you hurt yourself.”

Instead of being upset, she beams happily at the promise of pie. “Okay!” The glow disappears from her hooves, and she starts to fall towards me.

My eyes shoot open and I catch her with my magic before she hits the ground. I let out a breath as I set her on my back. “Please don’t do that again, if you do I’ll stick you to my back to make sure you don’t wander off.”

She frowns, lowering her head. “I won’t do it again, Rhino.”

Vinyl steps up next to him, smiling softly. “Thanks for catching her. You have no idea what’d happen if she’d hit the pavement.” She shivers slightly, shaking her head. “Trust me.”

I rub the filly’s head playfully to get her out of her sour mood as I respond to Vi. “Are you saying that just because of the normal injuries from a fall like that, or is there something else I should know?”

“Calcium deficiency. Let’s leave it at that.” Vinyl rushes ahead, clearly not wanting to say any more.

Calcium deficiency... Oh. Hmm, well she drinks almost as much milk as I do so must be genetic... Most likely she means Pinchy has weaker bones. Well that’s not so bad. I’ll just have to be careful.

I look back at the filly, “So were you really set on cherry, or was there another flavor you wanted?”

She looks up at me, beaming brightly. “Can we have apple? Or maybe banana creme?”

I smile at the cute look she gives me. “Anything you want little one. Anything you want.”

“Yay!” She hugs my neck. “You’re the best, Rhino!~”

Before I could say anything, Octavia pushes past me, throwing a glare over her shoulder. “Can we go find a pie vendor, already? She can decide on the way there.”

I look over to Enigma, the only remaining grown pony besides myself. “I don’t suppose you know what that was about?”

The pegasus glances over at the classy mare for a moment. “I don’t know. I can read body language, but Tavi’s always so stoic. It’s hard to get a read on her.” Enigma glances at Pinchy for a second before turning to me. “I don’t know, maybe she’s jealous?”

I look to the grey mare’s back as she walks away. “Hmm...”

Author's Note

For those of you wondering about Rhino's little unsung adventure with these guys, check out "Epic Rap Battles of MLP" by EnigmaMystere. Rhino comes in at the third Q and A but I recommend the entire story.

Chapter 59: Meetings and Talks

***Sunday, Day 63***
**Mid-morning**

Specter, Enigma, Pinchy and I manage to round up both Vinyl and Octavia without too much trouble. Soon enough all of us are enjoying some banana cream pie at one of the picnic areas as one of the stages appears to be setting up for its first show.

I look back at Pinchy, who decided she’d rather just eat while still on my back. “So do you ever plan on getting down from there, or are you just gonna stay on me all day?”

She looks back at me, some whipped cream on her nose. “I like it on your back. You’re comfy.” She squirms slightly. “Almost like a fluffy blanket!”

On the other side of the table, the gray mare’s hooves press against the sides of her glass. I could almost swear she is imagining it’s a stress ball.

“Say.” Enigma speaks up, seeing Octavia’s stressed state. “We’ve met Hydro - lovely chat, that was - but it got me to wondering. How many other friends do you have?”

“Hmm...” I think for a moment. “I suppose the rest would be Fluttershy, Rarity, Blue, Atom, Twilight, Volt, Rainbow, Applejack, and of course Pinkie.” As I mention the party pony, I look around. “Actually I’m surprised Pinkie hasn’t come out of nowhere to welcome all of you yet, but I suppose with all the performers and tourists in town right now she can’t keep up with the influx of new ponies.”

“Don’t be silly, I still say ‘Hi’ to everypony! I just don’t have time to throw them all parties because the festival is one big party!”

I turn to my side to find the pink pony in question standing there. “Hey Pinkie.”

“Hi Rhino!” She leans over to Pinchy and places a cupcake in her hooves. “And hello to you,” Pinkie quickly hops over to each of the other ponies and puts a cupcake in front of each of them. “and you, and you, and you!”

Vinyl nods, lifting the pastry in her magical aura. “Thanks!” She looks at the other three guests, who had already started eating their cupcakes. “I suppose I’ll say thanks for everyone else, as well. We’re all very grateful.” She chomps on the treat, beaming brightly. “Delicious!”

Pinkie beams. “Glad you like it.” Her face goes blank for a moment as she shudders. “Oh, gotta go! A new family just arrived from Manehattan! Bye!” She cheerfully hops away as we wave.

“I don’t know why I bothered to underestimate her.” I chuckle. Suddenly a shadow covers all of us and our table causing us to look up and see some weather ponies moving some fluffy white clouds into place.

One of the ponies notices us and flies down. I recognize him as Blue once he gets into range. The pegasus hovers in front of us as he explains, “Sorry about the scare. We’re supposed to get shade clouds set up on some of these tables so ponies don’t get too warm.” He looks at us a moment before he registers what he is seeing. “Rhino, since when do you hang out with so many mares eating desserts? What would Fluttershy think?”

Vinyl, who had chosen that moment to drink some lemonade, promptly does a spit-take. She nervously turns to the burgundy pegasus next to her. The pony in question sits there in silence, a maroon eye twitching slightly. Thinking ahead, the disk jockey removes the plates from the table.

Enigma stands up, scowling at Blue. “Not. A. MARE!” The pegasus flips the table, growling in annoyance. “I can’t believe I’m mistaken for a mare here, too!”

The blue pegasus holds up his hooves placatingly, “Woh woh, sorry dude. Honest mistake!”

Vinyl sighs, waving a hoof nonchalantly. “It’s fine. It’s a bit of a berserk button for him, but he’ll calm down soon enough.”

The feminine stallion groans, realizing what he did. “...sorry.” He grabs the table with his teeth and promptly flips it back over. “For the record, though, I am male. Despite my mare-like appearance.”

The white mare leans over, whispering in Blue’s ear, loud enough for me to hear. “Don’t ask him about his lack of a cutie mark. Just sayin’.”

He whispers back, “Gotcha.” He straightens up and talks at normal volume, “Well, I’ve got to get back to work, but you guys have fun!” He waves and takes off to join back with his squad.

I remark to the others as we watch the group of pegasi fly off, “I guess you guys picked a good time to vacation here. Everypony just seems to think you came with the festival crowd.” A thought occurs to me as I say that. “Actually, now that I think about it, with all the extra ponies in town I don’t think any of the inns will have room for you... You guys could always stay at my place if you want. We have a guest room and a couch so we could work something out.”

“That sounds good.” Vinyl looks over at the rest of the ponies. “It seems like there will be enough room.”

At that moment, the filly on my back gently taps my cheek. “Rhino? Can I sleep in your room?”

I smile at her, “Sure, I don’t see why not. I might have a sleeping bag in one of the closets. I would offer you Specter’s bed since half the time he doesn’t use it, but it’s a bit small for you.”

“She could use my sleeping bag.” Enigma speaks up, a hoof in the air. “I always carry it with me, after all.”

The white mare next to him rolls her eyes, smirking slightly. “E, you carry everything with you. You even carry a spare kitchen sink!” She puts her hoof over his mouth before he can protest. “Don’t try to deny it.”

I nod, “Well, that’ll work. Which of you wants the couch then? Don’t go thinking it’s any worse than the bed by the way, I’m fairly certain the couch will put you to sleep far faster than the bed can.”

Vinyl giggles, a coy look on her face. “Who wants to go to sleep fast?” Enigma elbows her side, giving her a disapproving look. “Yeah, probably not something he wants to hear. Sorry, Rhy. Anyways, E and I can take the bed. Tavi could take the couch.” She glances over at the gray mare, who looks like she’s sulking on the opposite side of the table. “That fine with you?”

“Whatever.”

I look sadly at the down mare before glancing at my watch. “Well, I did mention earlier that I had one thing to do today. I actually probably need to start heading over there. Will you all just be exploring and enjoying yourselves then?”

“I will.” Vinyl looks over at Enigma, tilting her head. “What about you?”

“I was planning on going for a flight. See what all is different around here.” He shrugs. “I could stay with you if you’d like, Vi.” She smiles, nuzzling his cheek affectionately.

Pinchy whispers in my ear. “Can I come with you? Please?”

I whisper back, “Sure, you can meet my student here too.”

Octavia slams her teacup down on the table. “I need to clear my head. Excuse me.” She stands up, quickly walking away.

The filly on my back frowns, worried. “Why is sensei acting so strange?”

“Hmm...” I look back at the filly, “Have you two been hanging out much lately?”

She squirms a little, uncomfortable. “No...I thought she was still mad at me for helping you during your sparring match, so I’ve been spending more time with Dinky and Rumble...”

“Well, I doubt she’s still mad at you...” I rub my chin with a hoof, “Maybe we could find a present for you to get her around town, that might cheer her up.”

“That’s a great idea!” She giggles, pointing forward. “Let’s go! Adventure!~”

I smile and wave goodbye to Vinyl and Enigma as Pinchy, Specter, and I head into town.

***

We arrive at Carousel Boutique after Resing through town.

“Here we are.” I announce unnecessarily. I knock at the door and Rarity answers it after a moment.

She smiles at me as she wears her designing glasses with her tape measure around her neck. “Oh, right on time Rhino. Sweetie’s upstairs and I’m with a customer right now so I’ll let you show yourself up there alright?” She notices my extra passenger. “Oh? And who might this little one be?”

The filly on my back beams, waving a hoof. “I’m Berry Pinch! Nice to meet you again for the first time, Rarity!” She stops waving, putting the hoof to her chin. “That sentence sounds weird...”

I chuckle at her, “Yeah, but it is true and you hardly ever get to use it.” I look to the confused fashionista. “Pinchy here is a filly I’m looking after for a few days and she wanted to tag along for Sweetie Belle’s magic lesson.”

Rarity titters, “Careful now, too many more and you’ll have to rent out the schoolhouse.” She looks back over her shoulder, “I really should be getting back, good luck with the lesson, and very nice meeting you Berry.”

We make our way upstairs to Sweetie’s room and I knock on her closed door.

“Who is it?”

I answer, “It’s me and Specter, Sweetie, we brought a guest today, too.”

Sweetie’s light pink aura covers the doorknob as she lets us in, “A guest?”

I nod to the filly on my back, “Meet Berry Pinch.”

“Hi!” Pinch leaps off me and lands in front of the other filly. “Nice to meet you, Sweetie!” She holds out a hoof, smiling brightly.

The white filly smiles just as bright, “Hi! Nice to meet you too!” She takes the other filly’s hoof and shakes it enthusiastically. “Are you here to learn magic too?”

“I’m not here for that. I’m here to try and help, if I can!” She smiles nervously, a first for her. “If you don’t mind, of course.”

“Sounds good to me!” Sweetie bounces in place happily. “Rhino tries to make the lessons fun, but having friends over always makes things better!”

“Speaking of which,” I motion to Specter as he brings out the whiteboard Rarity had gotten for the lessons after the first few, “Today’s lesson will be on splitting your focus. Now Sweetie, we both know you have gotten quite adept with both levitation,” I toss a random yarn ball at her from a pile to the side and she catches it with a smile, “and light spells.” I point to a spot on the wall and Sweetie lights it up with a beam from her horn as if it were a flashlight. “But sometimes you will need to be able to cast one or more spells, even while being distracted.” I point to the diagram I drew on the board. “So your task today is to keep a beam trained on Specter and all times while he runs and jumps around the room, while also catching or otherwise preventing any yarn balls from hitting you. If you do this for about... five minutes straight, you and Pinchy each get a cookie I brought.” I set down the prizes in the table in the middle of the room. “Sound fair?”

Pinch stares at the cookies, her eyes wide. She is visibly keeping herself from pouncing on the table, quickly turning her attention to the other filly. “You can do it, Sweetie!” She smiles brightly, pumping a hoof in the air.

Sweetie looks to the pink filly, then to the cookies, then back to me as she sets her stance and narrows her eyes. “It. Is. On.”

**Octavia**

The classy mare walks around, frowning slightly. “Well, this Ponyville certainly is different. The streets are even laid out in a different way.” She glances at the buildings surrounding her. “Where am I, anyway?”

A sudden familiar sound causes her ears to perk up. The tune flows over the wind, as if drawing her towards it. She walks down street and through alleys as she pursues what she thought to be impossible. As she emerges from one final gap between houses, the mare gasps as she sees none other than herself, playing a cello with her eyes closed in a lonely field.

The observing mare waits until her playing counterpart finishes before speaking up. “You’re really talented. Of course, that’s to be expected.” She chuckles, approaching her alternate self.

The grey mare with the cello starts slightly at hearing her own voice from another, she holds her bow a little closer to herself as she greets her mirror. “Ah... hello...”

Octavia tilts her head a bit. “Surely I don’t scare you? I’m you, after all.” She thinks for a moment, tapping her chin. “Maybe I can do something to put you at ease?”

The cello wielding mare nods. “I would appreciate that, it is very strange to be sitting here talking to... myself?”

“Could you possibly turn away?” She reaches a hoof up under her hair. “I feel slightly awkward doing this while somepony’s watching.”

“Oh, umm, of course.” The instrumental mare turns to her cello and starts making a few adjustments.

As soon as the attention was off her, Octavia undoes the hidden zipper, stepping out of the latex suit. She quickly stuffs it into one of her saddlebags before carefully removing the pair of purple plastic disks from her eyes and putting them in the other. She adjusts her bright blue mane and brushes down her yellow pelt in the few places it sticks up. “Okay, that should be good. You can look, now.”

The grey mare blinks at her now palette-swapped counterpart. “Well, if it weren’t for the zipper sound I would have accused you of being a changeling. This does make it less awkward though, thank you... Erm, what should I call you?”

“Call me Fiddlesticks.” She shrugs slightly, trying her hardest not to slip into her natural accent. “That’s the name my family gave me.”

Octavia giggles lightly at the name. “Well that sounds, as Fancy Pants might say, ‘charmingly rustic.’ Did you really like my piece though? I wanted to make sure I had it perfect before my partner arrives.”

“Of course I liked it. You are really talented.” Suddenly something registers for her. “...partner? May I ask what you mean by that?”

The cellist faintly blushes as she says strongly, “He is my partner in both music and in life. We are meeting here to practice for the festival, as sort of our reunion present to each other.”

“That’s...actually quite romantic.” She rubs the back of her neck, feeling a little awkward.

The ash-colored mare covers her mouth with a hoof, “Oh, my apologies. I didn’t mean to make this awkward for you. I’m just... looking forward to seeing him again. Surely you have somepony in your life that you feel the same for?”

Fiddlestick’s mind brings up a brown unicorn, but she shakes her head fervently to get rid of the image. “N-no, not really. The closest I have is a really good friend. I guess I’m a little too busy teaching my...pupil...” She sighs, lowering her head, trying to keep her emotions in check. “...I have to wonder if she still wants to be my pupil, though...”

Octavia hums to herself as she looks at her imperfect reflection. Her eyes flick upward and focus on something behind the golden mare as she smiles. “Well, I don’t know about pupils specifically, But what I do know is this: cliche as it sounds,” A black unicorn walks around Fiddlesticks and sits next to Octavia, nuzzling her once, “the important ponies in your life will come back to you, no matter what.”

Fiddlesticks stares at the couple, feeling an empty pit in her stomach. “...sure. Whatever you say.” She turns and leaves, grumbling softly to herself.

The black unicorn stallion looks after the retreating mare. “Who was that, dear?”

Octavia smiles sadly after her, “A mare who just needs a friend to talk to and some time, Fragment. Let us hope she finds both.”

***That evening***

Pinchy and I make our way back to the house after a day of browsing various shops after her victory cookie.

“Well, what about the one at the corner stall-”

“Nope!” Pinchy shakes her head. “It has to be perfect!”

Specter groans from my head, “But the last one was really nice!”

“Perfect.” She repeats.

I huff lightly at the stubborn filly, but I understand what she is saying. I walk in the door about set my bags down as I call out to the house at large, “Anypony home?”

A yellow, blue-maned mare is sitting in the living room, cyan eyes staring at me over her cup of tea. “About time you returned.”

I stare at the strange mare, “Umm, may I help you Miss? And... what are you doing in my house?”

Before she could respond, Pinchy runs up to her, beaming brightly. “Hi, sensei!” She wrapped her hooves around the unresponsive mare, hugging her happily. “How’s your day been?”

She sighs, shaking her head. “I ran into myself.” She glances at her hooves, still holding up her tea. “I guess I forgot to put my suit back on. Oh, well.”

I stare for a moment as I try to piece things together. “Is that you Octavia? And... you wear a suit?”

“What, did you expect high-society ponies to accept me, an Apple from Stalliongrad?” She rolls her eyes, taking a sip of her Earl Grey. “That’d be the day Celestia takes a thousand-year nap.”

“And once again, you manage to defy all expectations.” Specter leaps off my head and glides to the kitchen. “Hydro will be home soon so I think I’ll get dinner started.” I call back over my shoulder as I start getting ready, “So how was it running into yourself?”

“Interesting, to say the least.” She sips her drink once more before continuing. “More so that she’s also straight, and in a relationship, to boot. Of course, her poise came naturally. I have to consciously keep mine in check.”

I continue wrestling all the ingredients from the various corners of the kitchen. “That and she’s likely not a dimension hopper. Specs, you seen the basil?”

“Up here.”

“Ah thanks.” I turn to head over to him only to almost trip over a certain fuschia filly. I look down at her, “Pinchy, what are you doing?”

“Um...” She hides a glass of white liquid behind her back, blushing softly. “Nothing?”

I look up at Specter who is perched on the fridge behind her. He says simply, “It’s a glass of milk.”

I laugh at the filly trying to hide her glass. “You know I would have made you one if you asked right? I just restocked yesterday, I’ve got three unopened gallons!”

“...honestly? If I’d known that, I’d have drank a gallon by now.” She blushes a bit more and runs out the room.

I chuckle again. “A filly after my own heart that one.”

Soon enough, the front door opens, revealing the last of the extra-dimensional motley crew. “I can’t believe how unproductive our day was.”

The burgundy pegasus shrugs. “Hey, I get that you wanted to meet yourself. Who knows whether or not that’ll happen tomorrow, though?”

I peek out at the two and frown, “Well that’s not right, Hydro was supposed to be the next one home... link must be on the fritz.”

Vinyl jerks her head back towards the door. “Oh, he’s right outside. He’ll probably be inside soon enough.” She holds up a jar, grinning playfully. “Strawberry applesauce?”

My eyes lock onto the treat while my voice takes on a brief country twang, “Darlin’, for that, you get an extra helpin’.” I levitate the snack back into the kitchen with me. “I’ll be out when I’m done making you my signature dish.”

A few hours later and all of us are sitting at the table with full stomachs.

I grin at the guests, “So how’d you like the lasagna?”

The still-yellow mare stands up, nodding politely. “My compliments to the chef.” She glances at Pinch, flinching slightly. “...I’ll be off, now. Good night, everypony.” She leaves the room, heading to the couch in the living room.

I smirk knowingly and look at Hydro, “How long you think she’s got?”

Hydro looks at the exiting mare, “Five minutes, tops.”

I rub my chin, “I dunno, she’s a stubborn one, I’ll give her ten.” I notice the confused glances from the others. “What? That couch might as well be magic from how fast it’ll put ponies to sleep. Between that and the food, she’ll be snoring before we get out of this room.”

“Maybe.” Enigma shrugs, chuckling a bit. “I should probably get that sleeping bag out for Pinchy, shouldn’t I?” He reaches back towards his bags.

“I got it!” The filly almost literally leaps headfirst into one of the bags, half of her body disappearing into the opening. “Almost there...” She pulls out a golf club, frowning slightly. “Why would you even need this?”

“What?” He shrugs, blushing slightly. “I may take up golfing one day.” He reaches a hoof into the opposing bag. “It’s in this one, by the way.”

“Oh.” She watches as he pulls a large, fluffy sleeping bag out, taking it in her magic. “Thanks!” She races out the room. “She’s still awake, by the way!” The words are followed by the clopping of hooves on the staircase.

I smile at Hydro, “Told ya.”

“Moving back onto the subject of the food, I loved it.” Vinyl covers her mouth to stifle a burp. “Of course, I’m no Chef Ramsay, but then again, nothing pleases that sheep..” She stands up and walks past Hydro to exit, teasingly brushing her body up against his. “Good night, boys. E and I will be in the guest room.” With that, the last of our guests left the room.

I let out a breath only us three original denizens of the house are left. I remark to the others as I start cleaning up, “Certainly make things interesting don’t they?”

Hydro nods as he gets up as well. “True. What are they gonna do while we’re at work? Hang around the house?”

Specter shakes his head, “I doubt it.”

I shrug as I dry the dishes. “It’ll be fine, definitely different and interesting, but fine.”

I let the others go ahead of me while I finish up. As I walk out of the kitchen and flick off the light a light cough from the couch grabs my attention.

“Just so you know, it’s been twenty minutes. I haven’t fallen asleep yet.” There’s a soft yet strained chuckle. “...can I talk with you, Rhino?”

I nod, “The might of the couch has been denied. To be serious though, sure, we can talk.” I settle down in one of the chairs and look at her expectantly.

She sits silently for a few seconds before gathering the will to speak. “...Pinch is...really attached to you. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy she has another role model...” Her voice trails off, and she sighs softly. “...actually, that’s a lie. I feel like I’ve been replaced.” She buries her face in her hooves, groaning. “I’m a terrible pony. I can’t even be happy for my pupil...what’s wrong with me?”

I resist the urge to comfort her and keep my distance. “To be candid, I would say separation anxiety. You care for her more than you realize, so seeing her supposedly moving away from you hurts more than you thought it would. I do emphasize ‘supposedly’ though. She still respects you, and likes you. I don’t mean to make you think I am replacing you, I admit I am fond of her, but the fact remains that in total she and I have spent less than two weeks together.” I give in to my urge and walk over and lay a comforting hoof across her shoulder. “Instead of thinking she is drifting away from you, why not focus on the fact she is happy?”

“...maybe you’re right.” She looks up at me, smiling softly. “Thank you. Can...can you not tell her about this? I’d feel so awkward if she found out I felt this way...”

I nod. “I promise.” I stand up and start heading towards the stairs. “Get some sleep alright?”

She sighs, laying her head back down. “...I’ll try...I hate insomnia...”

I chuckle as I walk up the stairs, “Just let the couch do its thing.” I walk quietly towards my room to avoid waking anypony who has managed to get to sleep. As I enter my room, I notice a certain filly sitting in the middle of my bed waiting for me. “Something wrong?” I ask.

“...sort of...” She looks down at her hooves, looking for all the world like she needs a hug.

I oblige the unsaid need and sit down next to her, not so different from what I just did with her teacher. “Want to talk about it?”

“...sure...” She leans over, nuzzling my side. “...I want to talk with sensei. But each time I try, I picture her upset face and I lose the nerve.” She sniffles. “I can’t stand the thought of her being disappointed in me...”

Please don't start crying, I can't take fillies crying.

“Hey, hey...” I whisper quietly as I bring her closer to me, “Why would you think she would be disappointed in you?”

“Because I went against her, and then abandoned her out of fear.” She buries her face in my chest, shaking slightly. “...I’m afraid of my teacher...and it hurts...”

I struggle to maintain my composure at the almost crying filly. Each shudder sends an ache through my heart. I hold her close as I whisper, “There’s no need to be scared, little one. She’s not just your teacher, she’s your friend right? You should never be scared of your friends. I can tell you for a fact it would hurt her just as much as it’s hurting you to know you’re scared of her.”

“...r-really?” She looks up at me, her eyes wide, a few tears on the brink of falling. “I-I’m hurting her by being scared of her?” Clearly, she needs a little push.

“Yeah,” An idea pops into my head. “Tell you what, how about tomorrow, when I get off work, you and I find that perfect gift for her you wanted, then we can come back and you two can make up, alright?”

She smiles at me, nodding softly. “O-okay...thank you, Rhino...” She gently nuzzles my cheek. “...I know I have the sleeping bag...but can I sleep up here with you? Please?”

I smile at her softly. “Of course.”

She squeals happily, hugging me tightly. Surprisingly strong, considering her age. “You’re the best, Rhino!”

If she keeps up acting like this, ponies might think she’s my daughter or something, heck I might start believing it.

I quietly chuckle as she squirms her way under the sheets. I glance towards Specter, who has been watching silently from his own bed this whole time, I give him a look that says ‘Do you mind if she does this?’

He simply stares back with a smile that says ‘It’s fine, she can have you for tonight.’

I nod and get comfortable in the bed as Pinchy still shuffles around to find a spot she likes. “Good night Pinchy.”

“Good night, Rhino. Good night, Specs.” She yawns quietly, resting her head on my chest. “...this is nice...a soft pillow to...” She trails off, and soon the air is filled with her quiet breathing.

Wonder what she was going to say... Ah well, a question for another time. Dealing with that level of emotion always leaves me drained...

Soon after, the entire house is filled with sleeping ponies.

Chapter 60: New Groups

***Monday, Day 64***
**Morning**

The familiar feeling of Celestia’s sun on my face stirs me back into the world of the conscious. I crack open my eyes as I glance at the clock to make sure I didn’t oversleep. A quick glance confirms both the time, and the still present pink filly in my bed. I smile fondly at her sleeping form as I gently make my way out of the bed, Specter planting himself on my head as I do so.

He points dramatically to the door and says quietly, “To breakfast!”

I chuckle and start heading out of the room-

-only to run into a solid sheet of clear tape with my face.

What the hay?

I pull away, yanking out some fur off my muzzle as I do so, and look at my doorway with a small glare.

“Hey, a little help?”

I look up to see Specter stuck upside down by his back to the wall of tape. Momentum must have gotten him.

He looks at me from his awkward position as I use my magic to try and unstick him. “Somehow I think I have something against spiders now...”

As I continue to unstick him, I hear a shout from down the hall, “Ah! What’s with the tape?!”

I raise my voice as I finally free Specter, “Looks like they got us both!” I concentrate for a moment to grab the edges of the sheet and rip it off the door so I can get out.

There is a grumble behind me as a certain filly wakes up. “Rhino? What’s with the shouting?”

I flinch as I realize I forgot to keep my voice down, “Sorry Pinchy, just dealing with a prank, you can go back to sleep if you want.”

She looks at the sheet of tape, giggling softly. “Vinyl got you?” She stands up, stretching a little bit. “If that’s the case, you’ll want to watch your step in the hallway.”

“Noted.” I look towards said hall warily. “Well, simple enough to avoid I suppose. Specter, why don’t you hang out with Pinchy until I clear the way?” He nods as Res powers up on my hooves and I walk up the walls to the ceiling before stepping out of my room.

And face first into another sheet of tape hung from the ceiling.

I huff and instinctively back away from the sheet, only to feel my hooves stick to something else on the ceiling before they detach and send me crashing to the carpet with a squelch.

Wait, why did the carpet go ‘squelch?’

I groan as I pick myself up and realize the half of my body that made contact with the carpet is now covered in paint the same color beige as the carpet.

I hear a series of squelches approaching as I look up to see Hydro looking at me with an unamused face. He says simply, “A bit more trouble than you thought they’d be?”

I flick a drop of paint off myself as I respond, “Indeed.”

There’s the sound of hooves approaching causing me to turn again, seeing Pinchy walking on the wall. “...I tried to warn you...the walls are the only safe spot in the hall...”

“Well, thanks for trying. At least you’ve been getting good use out of Res since I taught it to you.” I see Specter hopping from the pictures on the wall to avoid the traps. “How about I help us skip any other surprises?” I Blink all four of us directly to the kitchen.

The filly then promptly falls to the floor due to a lack of wall. “...ow.” She stands up and shakes herself, looking towards the table. “Oh, hi Vinyl!”

I hear the clatter of a glass on the tile. “...oh, that’s just not fair.”

My eyes roll in her direction. “My house, my rules. If you can turn me into a pinto pony, I can cheat by Blinking.”

“...touche.” She stands up, glancing around. “So, whatcha got planned for today? Because Tavi’s being a bore and refusing to get up from that couch of yours.”

“Heheheh, knew it.” I go over to the sink and wash some of the paint off my face. “Well, Hydro and I have to work today.” Bread floats over to the toaster encased in my aura and the fridge opens and the milk floats out. “He may not have to go in for an hour or two, but I actually need to get cleaned up and head out here in a second.” I offer a glass of milk to Pinchy and she accepts eagerly. “I’ll be off at noon though.”

“Gotcha.” She moves over next to me. “I have some green paint, if that’ll help.”

The toast pops up as I answer, “Is the beige paint water soluble?”

“No, it’s actually quick-drying latex paint.” She taps my side, pulling away with a clean hoof. “See?”

“Joy.” I sarcastically mutter as I put a slice of cheese on the toast and take a bite. After a moment I sigh and concede. “Alright, where’s this green paint?”

“Right here.” She pulls out a can of green paint, the exact same shade as my fur, and a paintbrush. “Let’s get started!”

She immediate slaps a streak of green across my side with the brush, causing the fur along my spine to stand straight up and me to jump away with wide eyes. “Careful! I’m ticklish!”

“Oh, really?” She steps closer, a coy smile on her face as she pulls out another brush. “Better to get this over with, hmm?”

I gulp nervously as the DJ prowls toward me.

***

As Specter and I approach the clinic, we both look back at our extra tagalong riding on my back as I comment, “You know, as much time as you spend up there, I think it’s going to be strange when there comes a time I look and you aren’t there.”

She looks up at me, tilting her head a little to the side. “Is that a good thing?”

I think about my statement. “I suppose it’s a good thing if you are there, and a bad thing if you are not.”

“Okay!” She giggles, turning her attention to my side. “Vinyl did a good job. She even recreated your cutie mark accurately.”

I look down at my half with the replica mark, “Frankly I’m more surprised I managed to stay still the whole time.”

She shrugs. “You probably shouldn’t have told her you were ticklish.”

We walk through the clinic doors as I answer. “Well, curses to reflex admissions.” I set my bags down behind the front desk as Specter goes to turn on the lights and open the blinds. “It looks like we’re the only ones here right now, but Manila and Fluttershy usually arrive in a little bit. Feel free to do what you want while I get settled up here ok?”

“Okay, Rhino.” She looks around, wondering what she can do. She looks at the ceiling and smiles, her hooves gaining a definitive glow. “Practice makes perfect, right?”

I respond reflexively, only half paying attention as I put my white coat on, “Just be careful.”

“I will!” She starts to climb the wall, smiling the whole time. “I wonder if I can surprise anypony.”

Nothing particularly interesting happens and before long I hear the doors open as Manila and Fluttershy walk in chatting.

I grin at the two, “Good morning, ladies.”

They respond simultaneously, “Good morning, Rhino.” Manila contiues, “Anything happen this morning?”

I shake my head, “No, we’ve all just been hanging around.”

There’s a snickering from somewhere above us. I look up, but I can’t see anypony. In spite of that, a familiar voice comes from the ceiling. “Hello!”

The butter yellow pegasus looks up at the ceiling, confused, “Umm, hello?”

“Oh, right, still invisible.” The shape of the ceiling warps, slowly revealing the fuchsia filly hanging upside down by her hooves. “Hi! You’re Rhino’s marefriend, right?”

Way to be subtle, Pinchy.

Manila doesn’t react much other than to look at me, even more confused than she was. “Rhino, how is there a filly on the ceiling?”

Fluttershy however, instantly switches to worried mode. “Oh my goodness!” She quickly flies up to the ceiling and starts trying to pull Pinchy off it. “Don’t worry, I’ll get you down safely!”

She lets herself be removed, staring at her rescuer. "I can see why he likes you. You're very pretty."

The mare blinks silently, not expecting that response. “O-oh, umm, thank you.” I gesture Fluttershy over to me as I give Manila her seat. The gentle mare wings over and sets the filly down next to me, where she promptly climbs up and onto my back.

She looks at Manila, curious. "Hello. I'm Berry Pinch!" She extends a hoof to her, smiling brightly. "What's your name, Miss?"

The earth pony mare smiles and laughs and she shakes the filly’s hoof. “So polite! Well, Berry, my name is Manila Goodall.” Her smile becomes cheeky as she turns to me. “You’re a bit early you know, ‘Bring Your Daughter to Work Day’ isn’t for another few months.”

Fluttershy’s confusion returns full force, accompanied now by its friend worry as she looks between the filly and me. “D-daughter?"

"Oh, I'm not his daughter. I'm just a friend!" She gestures to the room around us. "I wanted to see where he works, and meet this universe's Fluttershy!"

I groan and facehoof as I mutter, “Way to drop that particular bombshell, Pinchy...”

The pegasus in the room seems to only be getting more confused. “Rhino, exactly who is this filly? And what does she mean by ‘this universe’s’ me?”

One could practically see the single sweatdrop on my head as I begin the explanation.

***Vinyl and Hydro***

The odd pair of ponies approach the town dam. The red earth pony having not said a word as the DJ had spent the entire trip ‘stalking’ him. Stalking being loose in this context as he knew she was there the whole time.

Finally, he speaks up as he hears a bush rustle close by, “So, mind explaining why you’ve been following me?”

There's a groan from the vegetation, followed by a white mare, who is currently wearing what appears to be a gray leotard. "Honestly? I want to know more about you. And not in that way, you perverted stallion." She walks up to him, smirking playfully.

He rolls his eyes, “Didn’t even cross my mind. Though, I think you aren’t telling me everything. You’re bored aren’t you?”

"Unbelievably so, dude." Vinyl sighs, shaking her head. "Usually when I'm bored, I just work on my next Bass Cannon. I've yet to see any mythril here, though."

Hydro raises an eyebrow at her, “Never heard of that material, I mostly work with steel or aluminum. A Bass Cannon though? You invent things?”

"Yep! In fact, I made this harness I'm wearing!" She tapped the gray material. "Mythril weave. Capable of absorbing most physical damage. And I'd show you one of my Dubstep Guns, but they're currently in E's saddlebags."

The engineer hums thoughtfully to himself as he lets them into the dam. “Sounds like magic-technology hybrid equipment. Rhino and I occasionally contribute to the other’s projects, but usually we stick to our areas of expertise. Reminds me of that pegasus gauntlet suit he and the other unicorns made for Blue a while back...”

"Gauntlet suit? That sounds cumbersome to me. It'd probably restrict movement quite a bit, too." Vinyl glances around the area, wandering around until her gaze eventually lands on a spot of green in what looks like a control room. She points at it, curious. "What's that, dude?"

Hydro looks up from where he was taking Schmoopy out of his traveling tank and putting him into the work tank. “That’s the control room.” He registers exactly what button she is looking at and quickly walks over to lead her away. “And that would be the emergency water venting button, don’t touch that.”

She stops halfway towards the room, frowning at him. "You're no fun, you know that?" She spots his pet, her eyes wide in surprise. "Woah, how did I not see that before?"

The earth pony remarks dryly as he unlocks the small elevator that leads down into the depths of the dam, “Probably because you were too busy painting my roommate this morning.” A loud ‘Clang’ echoes as he lets the gate blocking the door upwards. “I think that’s everything for now...” He turns to the eel, “I forget anything Schmoopy?”

The blue eel shakes his head before going back to patrolling his tank.

She stares at him for a moment, bemused. "Schmoopy? Seriously?" She shakes her head, smirking a bit. "And here I thought E calling that female fox he'd adopted 'Vixen' was silly."

The ‘silly-named’ pet decides to voice his opinion by rearing his head out of his tank and squirting the mare in the face with a stream a water.

Hydro just laughs. “He seems to like it.”

She sits there quietly for a moment before raising a hoof up to remove her iconic shades, magenta eyes glaring at the owner of the eel. "He's lucky that I don't harm animals. You, on the other hoof..." She puts a hoof to her chin, shaking her head. "Nah, still couldn't do it. You're too much like a child."

He narrows his eyes at her while raising an eyebrow. “Oh really?”

"Yes, really. At least, compared to Tavi. Then again, everypony is childish compared to Tavi. Even Celestia's childish compared to Tavi." She stops, thinking about what she just said. "...I need to stop ragging on about Tavi. So, Mister Pump, what inventions do you have to your name?"

The red pony thinks for a moment before smirking, “You show me yours,” he then gestures to the elevator, “and I’ll show you mine.”

She stares blankly at him, her tail tucking protectively between her legs. "Dude, you realize how creepy that sounds, right? I mean, I have a coltfriend."

He rubs the back of his head with a hoof while chuckling at her. “Well, that’s good, because I have a marefriend. Sorry if it came out too creepy, but consider it payback for your little tail-grazing last night.”

"I may tease, but I'd never cheat on E." She shakes her head, making her way towards the elevator. "Sure, you can show me your project. I'll show you one of mine." She glances at the object in a hidden sheath on her back, smirking slightly. "I call it the Smooth Rhythm."

Hydro closes the door and punches the down button as they both step inside the elevator. She hoofs him the sheathed item and he appraises it as they descend. He slips the blade partially out and taps it in a few spots as he notes the glowing runes on it before sheathing it again and giving it back to the mare.

“Well, like I said earlier, runic stuff is more Rhino’s thing, but I’ve been around him long enough to appreciate a good use of them. Plus, as an engineer, I can always appreciate a sturdily built device.” He nods half to himself and half to Vinyl. “Definitely quality you have there.” The elevator enters a section where a large room filled with parts and machines can be seen below.

She shrugs, giggling slightly. "I try. So, which of these is the one you wanted to show me?" The mare glances around at all the items.

The earth pony tinkers with a large construct in the middle of the room for a moment before a brief geyser of steam comes out. He looks back at her, “The biggest one of course.”

***Enigma***

The burgundy pegasus walks through town, glancing at all the buildings around him. "...so much for memorizing the street layout of Ponyville...everything's different, here..." He shakes his head, thinking a bit. "Maybe I should just ask someone for directions. Maybe that pony over there?"

A black pegasus stallion with two-toned green mane is across the street talking earnestly to a unicorn mare with a clipboard. The mare keeps shaking her head after the pegasus speaks and after a moment he nods and mutters something to her before she goes on her way. Enigma walks up to the stallion as he slips a notepad into one of his green vest’s pockets and uses a hoof to take off his shades as he sighs.

The black-coated pony mutters to himself as the feminine stallion approaches, “Another dead end... surely somepony saw something? It doesn’t help when everypony I talk to is distracted. Regardless, I need to get this case solved and quickly.”

At this point, Enigma is close enough to hear what is being said. He stops a reasonable distance from the other pegasus, confused. "...case? Did something happen?" Any notion of getting directions has gone straight out the window.

The stallion straightens up and puts his shades back on before turning to Enigma. He says reassuringly, “Ah, nothing to be concerned about maam. I’m just looking into something.”

The feminine stallion facehoofs, groaning. Thankfully, there isn’t a table nearby for him to flip. “First off, not a mare.” He sighs, shaking his head. “And while your tone is calm, your body is clearly tense. Such a discrepancy clearly means something’s bothering you.” He tilts his head thinking for a moment. “That makes me think the issue is more pressing than you want me to think. Am I right?”

The shade-wearing pony is stunned. “Umm, yes...” He coughs lightly. “And, sorry for the mixup with your gender.”

Enigma shrugs. “I get how you’re confused. You wouldn’t expect a stallion to have a mare’s appearance. But enough about that.” He smiles kindly, holding out a hoof. “You look like you could use some help. May I help you with your case?”

The pegasus takes his notepad out of his pocket and flips through a few pages before slipping it back in. He thinks for a moment. “Well, I am running out of time and options... Sure. I would really appreciate the help.” He flares his wings, “Mind if we fly and talk?”

He stretches his own wings, nodding genially. “Sure.” He thought for a moment, apparently remembering something. “Oh, right. My name’s Enigma. What’s yours?”

The stallion hovers as he answers, “Atomic Vortex. Call me Atom though.”

“Gotcha, Atom.” He lifts off the ground, looking to the stallion next to him. “So, what’s this case about?”

The two pegasi head off as Atom explains. “A friend of mine is acting as a bodyguard for one of the musicians at the festival. He asked me to locate a record for their performance that went missing. The mare you saw me talking with was the staff manager who told me which stagehooves were around the record’s usual spot, but she didn’t see anything herself. That record is the key to the musician’s performance, but they don’t want rumors that it’s missing getting around, which is why I, and now we, are trying to get it back as quickly as possible.”

Enigma blinks, surprised at the long-windedness of the explanation. “Wow. So who do we ask next?” He glances around, confused.

Atom points to a pony in the catwalks above one of the stages. “That one, lighting technicians have a view of almost everything.”

Chapter 62: Confrontations

***Monday, Day 64***
**Afternoon**
*Enigma*

The burgundy pegasus slowly backs away from the fillies, rather nervous. Atom, meanwhile, simply looks on in amusement.

He turns to the black stallion, frowning deeply, before turning back to the excitable young ponies.

Apple Bloom acts as speaker again. “Wow, Ah’ve never seen somepony as old as you without a cutie mark.” She cringes as she realizes some of the implications of what she said. “Sorry, Ah don’t mean to make ya feel bad, we’re just surprised!”

Scootaloo continues, “Yeah, we keep saying we’re tired of waiting for our cutie marks, but you must have been waiting forever!”

Sweetie Belle has a more tactful approach. “Do you know why you don’t have a cutie mark?”

He blinks at this, putting a hoof to his chin. “...I guess...it’s mostly because I haven’t been actively trying to find my special talent...not to mention that I can’t think of anything that makes me unique...being so old without a cutie mark aside, of course.” He chuckles softly, trying to let them know that last part was a joke.

The three look at each other and nod before turning back to the pegasus. “Well, ya know, if ya want, ya could join the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Ya said that ya haven’t been looking, but we look all the time! Maybe we could help ya!”

Scootaloo nods. “Yeah, with an adult with us, I bet we could do all sorts of new things!”

Enigma sighs, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “Knew it.” He looks at them, sheepishly smiling. “See, the thing is, I’m only going to be here for a little while. If anything, I can only be a temporary member. You understand, right?”

The three whine, “Aw~”

The yellow filly tries to stay positive. “Well, at least we know we aren’t the only ones without cutie marks. Ah’m not saying we aren’t gonna stop tryin’ to find ours, but you seem to be doing alright without yers. Thanks ma’am! Yer nice!”

He sits quietly for a moment, his eye twitching slightly. “...pardon me.” He stands up and walks outside, heading over to a tree in view of a nearby window. He then proceeds to slam his head against the trunk of the plant, gritting his teeth as if he was holding onto a rope for dear life. His strikes cause apples to rain down around him.

Sweetie Belle tilts her head to one side. “Did we say something wrong?”

Atom simply laughs. “It’s alright, but just so you know: that was a stallion. Well, I should get this record back to its owner. See you later girls!” He walks outside to where Enigma is hitting his head against the tree. “You ready to go or do you want a few more hits in?”

“One more.” He rears his head back once more and slams it harder than any other time, causing the leaves to fall. “...oops.” He glances around and rushes off, blushing brightly. “Let’s go now!”

The two soon return to the client and present him happily with the missing record. Glare doesn’t ask any questions, and instead immediately takes it to the DJ who comes out to thank them personally.

The purple shades wearing mare trots out next to Glare and waves as she approaches the two stallions. “Hey Atom! Heard you and your friend there were the ones that found my record.”

Atom shrugs, “Just doing a favor for an old friend.” He and Glare nod at each other.

Vinyl continues unabated, “Still I feel you two deserve a little bit of a reward for helping me and my lug here out.” She briefly nuzzles the yellow stallion before resuming. “So how about this? Me and Glare decided that when I do my show tomorrow, all you guys have to do is find him and he’ll let you guys and some friends have the backstage experience?”

Enigma nods, smiling shakily. “That sounds nice, Vi.” He blinks and facehoofs, realizing what he just said. “I mean Vinyl. Sorry.”

She looks at him curiously, “Vi huh? Nah, I’m not feeling it, Vinyl works.” She turns around to start heading back to her room. “See you guys at the show tomorrow!”

As Glare follows her, Atom looks at the burgundy pegasus. “Something wrong?”

He looks back, sheepishly smiling. “...I guess Rhino hasn’t told you everything about me and my friends?”

Atom lowers his shades, “I didn’t even know you knew Rhino...”

A voice echoes from across the field. “Hey, E!”

The two pegasi turn to see Hydro and a familiar shade wearing DJ. Atom’s shades slowly slide further down his nose as the two approach and he stares with wide eyes.

The white mare nuzzles the burgundy pegasus’s cheek, smiling softly.

He quirked an eyebrow at her, smirking playfully. “What do you want, Vi?”

“Two things.” She glances at his saddlebags. “One, I’d like my V-Rifle to show it off to Pump, here, and two...” She pulls him close by the back of his head, eagerly pressing her lips against his. “...I missed you. If you tell anypony I said that, though, you’ll get a Seichusen Godanzuki. Got it?” He nods, unconsciously tucking his tail protectively between his legs. She grins, pushing her shades up her nose. “Good.”

Atom moves next to the red earth pony as the couple speak. He leans towards Hydro as he mutters, “What exactly is going on here? I know for a fact that Vinyl is dating Glare and just walked backstage, yet here you walk up with another one that is dating this guy!”

Hydro chuckles as he pats Atom on the back. “Just roll with it for now, it takes a while to explain so me and Rhino can explain it to all of you guys when we meet up for guy’s night on Wednesday.”

The black pegasus groans as he looks back at the couple. “Roll with it... right...”

***Rhino***

My ears flick as I hear rapidly pounding hooves approach myself and the others. I look up to see a quickly moving and very angry Fiddlesticks headed towards me. I quickly set the cello case to one side and flick my head so Specter flies off towards Fluttershy as I raise my hooves placatingly at the approaching mare.

“Woah, what’s wrong?!”

“You bucking lied to me! You really are trying to steal my pupil!” She is still running, and isn’t showing any signs of slowing down.

My eyes widen as I envelop her in my magic and levitate her off the ground. “What? I thought we talked about this!”

“Don’t you try to deny it! You actually have the gall to even have the same instrument as me just so you can edge me out of the picture!” She struggles, glaring angrily at me. “Why can’t you just butt out of our relationship, cyka? You know her silly crush won’t last!”

I strengthen my hold on her so she won’t escape as I look at her curiously. “What crush?”

Meanwhile, Fluttershy is holding Pinchy protectively, looking warily at the bow wielding mare.

The filly is trembling, shaking her head, tears forming in her eyes. “...sensei, no...please, don’t do it...”

“You know perfectly well what crush!” She points the bow accusingly at me, mere inches from my nose. “Why else do you think she spends so much time with you? Wants to be with you more than she wants to be with me?! That’s the only explanation I can come up with for this farce of a relationship!”

I look around at the number of ponies starting to stare at the situation and note the almost crying filly. I look toward the angry mare seriously, “Can we please not do this here? No matter what you think, this is still a private matter right? We can address any concerns you have at home, but only if you calm down.”

She glares at me for a few moments before she just seems to deflate, her legs hanging limply. “...what’s the point. She’s happy with you...I guess I’ll have to accept that I’m just not acceptable as a tutor for her anymore, much less a friend...”

The mare I hold now seems almost broken. I float the cello case over to her and crack it open enough so she can see the inscription on its surface. “Do you truly believe that?”

The only word I can use to describe her is stunned. She glances from the inscription, to me and then to Pinchy, tears in her eyes. “...is...is this for me?”

The filly smiles, walking up to her and gently placing a hoof on one of Fiddlesticks’ dangling hooves. “...happy birthday, sensei...”

I smile at the scene as I let the mare down. “Now, why don’t we all head to the house where we can talk this all out, alright?”

All of us including Blue, who had arrived shortly after I set Fiddlesticks down, made our way silently back to the house. Each of us alone with our thoughts. When we arrive, the house is empty. We all find a seat and wait expectantly for the talks to come.

I let the silence sit for about five minutes before I float the cello case in front of Fiddlesticks and pop it open. I look to the filly in the room. “Since it seems we are getting things out in the open, why don’t you start Pinchy? Why did you get this for her?”

She squirms slightly looking up at her tutor. “...sensei...”

Fiddlesticks holds up a hoof, smiling softly. “Please, Berry, call me Octavia or Fiddlesticks. I’d like to think we’re closer than just a student and teacher.”

Pinchy shakily nods, standing up and walking over to the older mare. “...Octavia...I wanted to apologize...”

The blue-maned mare tilts her head in confusion. “What do you have to apologize about? I was the one overreacting.”

The filly closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. “I’m sorry I helped out Rhino during your bout. It wasn’t fair. And I’m sorry I haven’t been spending much time with you recently, as well.” She looks to her hooves, sniffing softly. “...I was just so afraid I’d disappointed you...”

“Why would you ever disappoint me?” Fiddlesticks smiles calmly, gently stroking Pinchy’s mane. “You’re an intelligent filly and an excellent student. I’m proud of you.” She leans down and whispers into her student’s ear. I couldn’t catch what she said, but it makes Pinchy’s cheeks almost seem to glow.

After that, the sophisticated mare turns to me, smiling sheepishly. “I’m sorry about my outburst. I guess a second day without sleep got to me.”

I smile at her. “Don’t worry about it,” I tilt my head in Fluttershy’s direction, “this one knows I’m not in my right mind if I don’t get enough sleep either. Though, I guess mine is more silly than angry, but to each their own.”

“It’s not so much angry as extremely paranoid.” She watches as Pinchy climbs up onto the couch with her. “Oh, and as for that ‘crush’, I admit I was just talking out my flank. Berry is actually not romantically attached to anypony. I doubt she even knows what a crush is. Do y-” She cuts herself off, seeing the filly asleep on the couch next to her. “I guess it can wait.”

I chuckle as I levitate a blanket out of the closet and over the filly. “I told you, the couch works.” My expression turns thoughtful as I look at the filly.

Cause quite some stirs don’t you? I wonder what you actually do think of me...

The feeling of Fluttershy leaning up against my side interrupts my thoughts as I turn to Blue and notice something important missing. “Blue, where are your wings?”

He nods towards the earth pony mare. “She turned them invisible with some silver ball so we could walk around and look for you to see if you can undo the gauntlet suit. I think it sort of locked up on me.”

I look to Fiddlesticks, “Can you make them reappear so I can work on him?”

“Sure.” She walks over and grabs the metal sphere off his back, causing Blue’s wings to fade into existence.

I walk over to my friend and open up the central part of the suit of his chest. “Ah, here’s the problem, you overloaded the first converter crystal and the system shut down to avoid dangerous feedback. Easily fixed.” I Blink up to my room and rustle around in my gem box a moment before Blinking back down with a hoof-sized sapphire. “All I have to do is use a slightly larger gem with the same formula so you have a larger capacity.” A little magic inscribing and a few clicks later, and I close the chest piece as the suit starts to glow dully. “There we go, all set.”

Blue’s wings snap down as he sighs in relief. “So much better. Hey, you aren’t mad about me breaking the suit right?”

I wave off his concerns, “Nah, we told you this was a prototype, made to be adjusted as we learned of slight flaws and parts that need to be tweaked. This is just part of the process.”

“Cool.” He stands up. “Well, after a while of having those stuck in place, I really need to stretch, talk to you guys later!” He waves as he exits and promptly flies off.

I look back to Fiddlesticks as Fluttershy whispers that she needs to head back to her animals and that she is glad nopony was hurt. The pegasus pecks me on the cheek before she too flies off. I remark to the remaining mare “So, now that most of this is out in the open... what do you want to do about this one?” I gesture to the sleeping pile of cute on the couch.

“I think you’ll know what to do.” She walks into the kitchen to, what I can only assume, get some more tea, leaving me with Pinchy.

I look up at Specter for advice as he simply points towards the stairs.

I nod in understanding as I wrap Pinchy in her blanket and bring her up to my room where I set her lightly on the bed. With her comfortable, I turn to leave her to her sleep.

The evening proceeds smoothly from there. Hydro, Vinyl, and Enigma all arrive home after a short time and inform us that we are invited to be backstage guests tomorrow. Everyone seems to agree that it would be a good way to wind down the trip. Soon, the house smells of grilled vegetables and I head up to see if Pinchy is still sleeping.

I get to my door and crack it open as I speak quietly, “Pinchy, are you awake?”

Suddenly my vision is filled with pink. “Boo!”

I reflexively grab the pink in my vision as I step back and behold the filly in my grasp. “Well, I guess that answers that question.”

“Yep!” She giggles, hugging me softly. “Where are we going, Rhino?”

I hug her back as I answer, my voice level, “Wherever you want, but first I want to know if you would be willing to answer a question of mine.”

“Sure!” She smiles brightly, tilting her head. “What’s your question?”

Luna forgive me, for what I am about to say could easily take away that smile.

I look her in the eyes and do my best not to flinch. “In regards to the accusations Octavia made earlier, I have to ask: What am I to you?”

She stares at me, a confused look on her face. “What do you mean? You’re my idol!” Her smile returns, and she gently puts one of her forehooves on mine. “I thought you knew that!”

I nod and smile back at her as I continue. “I do know that, is there anything else?”

Her smile falls, confusion and worry dominating her expression. “...do...do I really have to answer that?”

I could practically feel her heart drop. “If it causes you to worry that much, then yes, please answer me so I can help.”

She looks away, fidgeting slightly. “...r-remember when I called Fluttershy ‘mom’?”

I nod. “Yes, she and I thought it was cute.”

“...well...that’s not far from how I feel about her...” She faces me, sheepishly smiling. “I kinda think of you as my dad...an awesome pony for me to look up to...which would make her my mom...you know?”

The full weight of what she is admitting to me makes me sit down and lean against the wall as I try to absorb it. A thousand thoughts run through my head as I try to figure out how to respond to this new information.

It seems both my thoughts last night and those of the ponies around town were more accurate than they thought. Me? Her dad? I... don’t know how to respond to this. On one hoof, I actually like the idea, I’m more fond of her than I’ve been of any other filly, and I’m not really... against the idea. I have always liked the idea of being a parent On the other hoof, she isn’t from here... she probably has actual parents back in her Ponyville. If not them, she has Octavia right? It wouldn’t be in her best interest to let her live this out would it? I... don’t know... I don’t want to crush her heart... *Sigh* I need to talk with somepony... Octavia most likely. I suppose I opened the proverbial box, now to live with it... Well, for now at least-

“...Rhino?”

Her little voice knocks me out of my torrential thoughts as I focus back on her face, awaiting a response. I try to voice that response carefully. “Pinchy...I want you to know, that I am both honored, and happy, that you think of me like that. I’m sure if she got to know you, Fluttershy would think so too.” I hesitate, but continue regardless. “I also want you to know... if I have ever thought of a filly as a daughter, it is you. So, thank you.” I find myself almost in tears by the time I get through that statement.

She doesn’t respond - not verbally, at least. She leaps forward and wraps her forelegs around my neck. I can feel a wetness near where her face is. “...you have no idea how happy I am to hear that, Rhino...”

I simply hug her back as my own eyes shimmer. After a moment I find my voice again, “What do you say we hang out here a few more minutes before going down and getting something to eat, huh?”

“I’d like that, Dad.” She snuggles close to my chest, a small smile on her face in spite of the dark trails on her cheeks.

I simply smile at her even wider as my thoughts echo.

It seems we still have much to talk about Octavia... and it will not be easy for either of us...

Chapter 63: What to do

***Tuesday, Day 65***
**Noonish**

I step out of the clinic with a filly on my back and a nimbat on my head. I look to the two of them seriously and they look just as serious right back at me.

I look to Specter. “Alright, who’s first?”

He recites back to me, “Rarity, followed by Pinkie Pie, followed by Twilight, ending with Volt.”

I look to Pinchy. “After that?”

She recites back as well, with a small salute and fighting a smile, “After we finish up, we head back to the house to check on the others while we wait for Fluttershy’s report on Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Blue Breeze!”

My serious expression cracks at the twosome’s military like responses, and soon we are all laughing at each other as we head out to ask everyone if they want to join us at the concert.

Rarity.

I knock on the familiar door of Carousel Boutique and am answered by the sight of a hard-working but smiling fashionista.

Seeing she is busy, I make it brief. “Hello Rarity, I came calling to ask if you would like to join us at a concert later today. We have a group backstage pass and are running around asking our friends if they would like to attend.”

Pinchy speaks up from my back, pumping a hoof in the air. “So we’d like to know if you want to join us!”

Rarity smiles at the filly as she answers. “Oh as much as I’d like to darlings, I’m afraid I can’t. All these tourists and musicians have been wonderful for business, but not quite so for spare time. I do hope you understand.”

I nod. “I understand completely. Congratulations on your new business.”

The alabaster unicorn nods appreciatively. “Thank you, well, I’ll let you get back to your rounds. Oh, but if you see Fluttershy, could you let the dear know that even with all this business, we are still on for our spa day? Thank you again.”

Pinkie Pie.

As we approach Sugarcube Corner, Specter pops down in front of my eyes with a question. “Hey, with Pinkie running all over town greeting everypony and other things, what makes you think she’s here right now?”

I answer mysteriously. “If there’s one thing you can predict about the unpredictable one known as Pinkie, it’s that she will be where she is needed. Thus all we have to do is say we need to talk to her, and she’ll show up.”

“Makes sense.” Pinchy glances around, smiling cheekily and apparently calling out to the street. “Pinkie? We’d like to talk with you!”

“You rang?” The Pink mare is suddenly hopping along beside us.

I look at both her and the smiling pink filly. “I guess that works too. Do you want this one, Pinchy?”

She shakes her head, giggling softly. “I’m good! I already asked Rarity, after all!”

I concede her point. “Alright, Pinkie, some of the guys and I have a group backstage pass for Vinyl Scratch’s concert tonight and we were wondering if you would like to join us.”

Pinkie stops hopping for about half a second, in mid-air, before resuming as she answers. “Are you kidding? I wouldn’t miss it! Oh, should I bring snacks? What snacks do you bring backstage? Cupcakes? Muffins? Banana splits? Pies? Cakes? Chimicherrychong-”

I cut her off before she can really build up steam. “Don’t worry about bringing anything, I’m sure the Cakes are already part of the backstage catering.”

“Good point! See you then!” The sound of hopping abruptly stops as I look to see only air where the party pony was.

Twilight.

*knock knock knock*

“Why are we knocking if it’s a public library?” Pinchy asks from my back.

I reply as I wait for an answer. “Because it’s also a home, thus it’s polite to knock.”

After a moment, a familiar scaly form answers the door. “Oh, hey Rhino.”

I nod my head at the dragon, “Hey Spike. Twilight around?”

He rotates his wrist while holding it parallel to the ground. “Eh, sorta sorta, she’s here yes, but she’s out cold upstairs. She’s being doing nocturnal experiments for the past few days and it’s finally caught up to her.”

“Oh, well we should let her sleep then.” I think for a moment. “Actually, would you like to come with us to a concert then?”

He shakes his head, “Nah, thanks for asking though. With Twilight out I pretty much have the day off, and I plan on spending it my way.” He leans off to one side of the doorway and comes back wearing a fez, a robe, and holding a bubble pipe.

I chuckle at his ‘day off outfit.’ “I understand. Well, have a nice day off Spike!”

“Already on it!”

Volt.

As we approach the electric unicorn’s apartment, I remark to my passengers, “You know, I’m glad we decided to only take half of these invitation trips. I’m starting to feel like a door-to-door salespony. Actually now that I think about it, it’s more like when I was in Coltscouts.”

The filly on my back giggles, playing a bit with my mane. "I'd love to see a picture of that! Dad as a colt - it has to be cute!"

Specter comments as I chuckle, “You know, I bet I could get this one over really quickly if you let me.”

“By all means, feel free to speed this up.”

Volt answers his door soon enough and Specter does the talking. “Volt, concert later, backstage pass, you in?”

The unicorn seems stunned from brief but rapid question. “Umm, sure.”

“Cool, meet us at the house in a few hours.” Volt nods and goes back inside as Specter peeks down to look me in the eyes. “See? Quick and easy.”

I shrug as we start heading home. “I suppose I can’t argue with the results.”

Pinchy gently taps my cheek. “Rhino?”

“Hmm?” I look back at her. “What is it Pinchy?”

She gestures back at Volt’s house. “Why did it feel like that stallion had something hanging over him?”

It takes me a moment to realize what she is talking about. “Oh, that! That’s... that’s actually sort of a magical marker his marefriend put on him a while back to let other mares, especially unicorns, know that he is taken. I guess she just never got around to taking it off and the rest of us have just gotten used to it.”

She tilts her head, curious. “What do you mean, ‘taken’? He’s still here, isn’t he?”

Oh boy...

“Umm...” I try to think of a way to explain this to a filly. “Think of it as a way to let other ponies know that he has a marefriend, so they shouldn’t go trying to be his.”

She giggles softly. “So it’s like an engagement ring?”

I nod my head. “Or necklace, depending on if it’s not a unicorn, but yes. Sort of like that, but less serious.”

“That makes sense, but where I’m from, many pegasi give their special someponies a primary feather to thread into their manes.” She tilts her head a bit. “I think it’s because they never deteriorate, and it’s almost literally giving a part of oneself to another. That makes sense, right?”

I look upwards as I recall that tradition. “I understand that one, yes. I’ve heard about it too, and that it is one of the primary pegasi traditions. However, my mother also told me that not all pegasi use that, considering some don’t know about it when they lose their first feather, or they lose it in a storm or something. Thus the whole ‘necklace’ proposal is seen as a sort of species-neutral way of expressing your feelings. Still, anypony that does get to be part of the feather gifting is considered very special.”

“Umm, excuse me.”

“Hmm?” My head turns to the source of the voice to see a unicorn with Blue’s color scheme except with brown tips in his mane. The stallion is also wearing thick-rimmed glasses as well as saddlebags. “Oh, hello. Can I help you?”

He nods, his eyes roaming but locking back onto mine every few seconds. “Yes, I was wondering if you could tell me where I could find the town hall.”

I nod. “No problem.” I turn and point a hoof down the road. “Go down to end of this street, make a right, then keep walking for about five blocks. You can’t miss it.”

The blue unicorn smiles and says quietly, “Thank you. Have a nice day!”

I call after the pony as he walks away, “The same to you!”

***

We all arrive back at the house in great moods due to the anticipation of the upcoming evening.

As we pass by the living room, I kneel down next to the couch as I announce, “Alright passengers, this is the end of the line on the Rhino train. Please make sure to take all belongings with you and we thank you for choosing us as your transportation.”

Pinchy leaps off my back, turning and facing me. “You’re silly, dad.” She giggles, nuzzling my cheek.

I lightly nuzzle her back as I playfully answer, “Shh, don’t tell anypony. I’d rather they figure it out on their own.”

I feel Specter shake his head and laugh as he jumps down next to Berry. “Yeah, definitely in a silly mood. I bet it was Pinkie’s influence earlier.”

“No comment.” The sound of the door opening makes me turn my head to see a familiar earth pony mare. “Oh, welcome back Octavia.”

The gray mare looks from me to Pinchy and back, a confused expression on her normally-stoic face. “...did I hear that correctly?”

I tilt my head. “What? That I can be silly or that I called you Octavia instead of Fiddlesticks?”

She shakes her head, pointing at the filly on the couch. “Why did my pupil call you ‘dad’?”

Pinchy flinches, lowering her head. “...I forgot that sensei’s hearing is amazing...”

My cheery mood instantly falls to neutral. “Ah, that. Well, the short answer is that she wants to and I don’t see too much of a problem with it.” I turn to the filly and nimbat. “Why don’t you two go upstairs for a bit so Octavia and I can talk?”

“Okay!” Pinchy takes Specter in her magic and puts him on her head. With that, she rushes up the stairs, leaving me with her teacher.

I watch the two until they are out of sight, and hopefully out of hearing range. I turn back to the grey-suited mare seriously. “As you saw, there are now complications.”

“I can tell.” She sighs, shaking her head. “If it was just a simple crush, it’d be much easier for her to get over it. But this...” She motions to the stairs. “...I don’t think she’ll grow out of this.”

I shake my head as I take a seat. “Not without time and heartache. So, the question is: What are we going to do about it? We both want what’s best for her, but I struggle to see which is the best course of action in this case.”

Octavia sits down on the couch, frowning a bit. “I don’t know. I wish there was a simple solution, but I can’t think of any at the moment...” She puts a hoof to her chin, thinking silently for a few seconds. “...I only know of one actual member of her family...Berry Punch...but she doesn’t really spend much time with her sister...”

I lean back as I touch my forehooves together in contemplation. “I suppose that makes sense of why she doesn’t consider her actual father as such... do you know anything else about her life? And... what exactly is she to you?”

“...I think she lives with her sister...and her parents aren’t around, anymore...” She grimaces. “...and...I don’t really know what she is to me...I know I care about her very much...but...”

As I see her struggling for the answer, I hold up a hoof to stop her. “This isn’t the kind of question that can be forced. From what Vi told me, your group will still be around until tomorrow morning. Why don’t we take some time... to think about things. We can talk later tonight, we’ll probably need to talk to her about what she thinks as well.” I sigh and run a hoof down my face. “It’s not going to be easy, but if we do this right... we can come out of it with the best solution for everypony.”

“...I suppose you’re right.”

***

Sooner than one would think, we had a rather large group of our friends heading towards the stage for the concert. Fluttershy has dropped by earlier to explain that Applejack wouldn’t be joining us due to the Apple family already watching the audience of a stage on the outskirts of their land to make sure they stayed in line. Rainbow and Blue said they would have joined us, but had already spent all day putting together a setup of cloud seats, including perfect acoustics, snacks, beverages, and of course the comfiest clouds one could find. Specter had elected to stay home, saying that he just wanted to lay around for a while and not have to worry about crowds. Still, with myself, Hydro, Pinchy, Vinyl, Enigma, Atom, Pinkie, Octavia, Fluttershy, and Volt, we were still a ten strong group.

We arrive at the tail end of a performance by a mare that looks exactly like Octavia along with her black unicorn partner. As we pass around the applauding crowd, I could swear I saw the mare on stage give our Octavia a wink, to which she simply smiled in return. We approach the door with Glare standing guard and he lets us in with a smile.

Enigma makes an announcement as we stroll through the entrance. “Ok, anypony who wants earplugs let me know now, because once the music starts I won’t be able to hear you if you need them.”

Octavia holds up a hoof. “I would, and so would Pinch.” She takes the offered earplugs and puts a pair in the filly’s ear before taking care of her own.

Pinchy frowns, laying flat on my back. “...now I can’t hear anything...not even my own voice...” She thinks about this for a moment. “...cool!”

The only others who ask for the earplugs are myself, Fluttershy, and surprisingly enough, Atom. As soon as all of us are set, Glare comes walking around us and stands next to the door in front of us.

He knocks on the door once before addressing us, “She wanted to say a quick ‘hello’ before she goes on stage.” He eyes the white mare in our group, “Seems at least one of you is a big fan.”

The mare in question shrugs, smirking playfully. “If you say so, dude.”

The gold stallion raises an eyebrow at her voice before shrugging it off as the door next to him starts to open.

Enigma smirks to himself, elbowing me. “Watch the confusion on everypony’s face...” He pauses, tilting his head slightly. “...this won’t cause a paradox, will it?”

I nod my head at the door. “If the pony behind that door is who I think it is, then Octavia already disproved that particular theory.”

Volt looks at us both curiously. “What are you two talking about? Paradoxes and theories of what?”

I simply point to the door as a familiar unicorn DJ trots out to meet us. She stops as she sees her mirror and simply stares.

“What’s the matter?” Vi giggles, shaking her head. “P0N-3 got your tongue?”

Vinyl laughs as she hears Vi’s voice. “Well, I guess if somepony had to, it might as well be me.”

“Or your stallion. Can’t forget that.”

Atom, having seen this once before but is still uninformed, simply observes with only a single mouth twitch to show his opinion. Pinkie seems completely unaffected by the whole situation. Volt, on the other hoof, is unashamedly staring opened-mouthed at the mirror image ponies.

He forces out words after a few moments, “But... you... how?” He looks to me and Enigma for answers as I mouth the words ‘In a minute.’”

The two DJs continue chatting it up as if they are old friends.

Vinyl nods at Vi’s last statement as she pats Glare’s side fondly. “Of course you can’t forget them.” She nods her head upward at our group. “One of these yours?”

“Yep!” Vi drapes her hoof over Enigma’s back, grinning widely. “I’d like to introduce myself to Enigma, or E, for short.”

She shakes E’s hoof. “Nice to meet you. Keeping ‘me’ happy?”

“I’d like to think so.” He drapes a wing over Vi. “She hasn’t told me otherwise, at least.” He nods at Vinyl, chuckling softly. “Glad you didn’t mistake me for a mare. First time that’s happened since I’ve been here.”

Vinyl floats a set of headphones out of the room behind her and around her neck. “Well, she did talk about not forgetting your stallion.” She turns to the ever increasing murmur of the crowd. “Well, better get out there to give em what they want.” She leans up up nuzzles Glare. “Keep the crazy ones off me, big guy.” She turns and walks onto the stage.

Pinchy decides to speak up from my back, having forgotten to take an earplug out to hear. “What are they saying, d- I mean, Rhino?” She pulls one out to hear my response.

I motion towards the identical mares. “DJs are apparently immune to paradox brain explosions and consider themselves instant friends.”

“Oh. Okay, then!” She glances over at somepony else in the group. “I wonder...” With those words, she leaps off my back and onto Fluttershy’s. “Oh, wow, she’s just as fluffy as you, Rhino!” She settles herself on my marefriend’s back, sighing softly. “So comfy...”

Fluttershy looks back at her softly as Hydro nudges me and mutters, “Fluffy huh?”

I look at him with a knowing smile. “Hey, after all these years with me, you know I have no problem being fluffy.” A cough from behind us reveals an expectant looking Volt. “Ah, right, I did say I would explain... well, details will wait until our usual night, but for now let’s just say: alternate dimension crossing.”

Volt, instead of freezing or looking confused like everypony else did, beams at the three words. “I knew the theories about parallel universes were true! This is great!”

...well he took that better than expected...

The electric unicorn stares me right in the face as he says, “Later. I. Want. Details. Oh, I can’t wait to tell Twilight!”

I let out a nervous laugh as I back away and put Hydro between he and I.

Octavia, who was right next to me, whispers loud enough for me to hear. “If he makes a pun, I’m going to smack him upside the head.” She trots away, shaking her head. “I swear, he looks like the type.”

After a look between the two ponies, I decide to adopt my usual fall-back plan of saying nothing.

And so the concert commences. All of us backstage dance to the musical stylings of the track mixing mistress who controls the stage. Whether it be Vi’s head-banging, Shy and I’s bobbing, or even so much as Pinkie’s moves that defy description simply because half of them do not seem possible, a good time is undoubtedly had by all. Even between sets was interesting as we observed all the stagehooves in their elements as they strove to make sure everything was perfect. Lights, smoke, lasers, convenient bottles of water stealthily slid to the performer so she stayed hydrated, it was like a colony of busy ants.

Even ants need rest though, and as night begins to fall, the music and ponies all begin to wind down. Finally, the time comes and the DJ bows to the crowd and makes her exit, giving a tired wave and a smile to the rest of us as we too begin heading back from whence we came. The streets are quiet as our group slowly splits, each to their own home with a goodbye and, in Fluttershy’s case, a quick peck while I take the filly off her back. Soon, there remains only us 6 left as we arrive home, all tired but in a good way.

Hydro, Vi, and E all express their various desires for sleep, or in Vi’s case just lying down and not moving, and soon head to their respective rooms, leaving only myself, Pinchy, and Octavia.

I look at the mare and motion to Pinchy a few times with my eyes, to which she nods.

Octavia turns to the filly, smiling softly. “Berry, would you please let Rhino and I talk with each other in private?”

She nods, leaping off my back and heading toward the stairs.

I sigh as I see the filly goes out of sight. “So, have you thought about what I asked, just as I have thought about what to do?”

“...I have...” She sighs, sitting on the couch and looking at me. “...Pinchy is my pupil...and my friend...honestly, I’m not sure I could just leave her here...I...I’d miss her...”

I hum in thought. “My mind is split on this. Logically, one would think it would be best for her to simply go back with you to her world, as planned.”

“But then she might be upset.” She places a hoof on my shoulder. “She really cares deeply for you...you’re the father she never had...I’m just her teacher - a friend...”

I wince at her words. “And that is why I am conflicted. I see her, happy, and it breaks my own heart to think of what might happen. I admit I have grown attached to her, and I feel no small amount of warmth every time she calls me...that.”

“You’ve truly grown that attached to her?” She tilts her head, curious. “Even though you’ve barely known her for a week...you’re absolutely sure?”

“Technically, I’ve known her for over a month, even if only a little over a week of that was spent with her. She was with me for the vast majority of the time I was in your world, remember?.” I sigh. “I don’t know why I bonded with her so easily, sometimes these things happen. All I know is that it did happen, and now she thinks I’m her-”

“Dad?”

We both turn to see the filly peeking out from behind the corner. She steps out, a sheepish smile on her face. “...I couldn’t help myself...” She stops in front of me, looking up with wide eyes. “...I’m sorry I caused so much trouble...but I really want to stay here with you...”

Those words nearly break me as I hear them. I groan as I stare upwards at the ceiling and ask it, “Is this even possible?” I look back at the filly. “You would give up the life you have?”

She tilts her head, thinking a bit. “...I admit that I’ll miss my friends...but I don’t have to give them up, do I?”

I sigh. “One can never give up true friends, but it is true... if you stay here you won’t see them nearly as often, perhaps even not at all. You could always make new friends, but they would not be the same friends. That’s why I want to make sure you are absolutely sure about this.”

“They said the same about me not seeing you, but I’m here now!” She grins widely. “I suppose I won’t see my friends as often...but that’ll make the time I do spend with them more special!”

Her optimism brings a small smile to my face. “I guess it could be similar to moving to a new town...” I give a sideways glance to the silent mare, “or to a new country.” I turn back to the filly but gesture to Octavia. “What about your teacher?”

Pinchy looks over at the mare, smiling softly. “You understand, right?”

Octavia sits quietly for a moment, her gaze traveling to the case in the corner of the room. “...I suppose...you need a father figure in your life...” She turns to the filly, smiling back at her. “...I guess this will be good for you.” Before Pinchy can leap with joy, the mare holds up a hoof. “I will be coming every so often to check on you, though, and I will ask Rhino whether or not you’ve been a good filly. If you are, then maybe I’ll bring one of your friends when I come over next.”

Pinchy leaps forward and hugs me, happily nuzzling my chest.

Octavia looks to me, smirking slightly. “Congratulations, Rhino. You now have a daughter.”

I hug the little pink filly back as I answer. “So it seems... I can’t actually believe this is happening... and you seem to be taking this better than I expected.”

“I’ve come to terms with it.” She shrugs a bit. “Besides, if we didn’t do this, Berry would likely be sad. And that will not do.”

I look down at my newest responsibility. “No, no it won’t. Hmm, I guess there’s a lot to do now.”

“Like what?” Octavia looks at me in confusion. “Berry’s always been home-schooled by me. Do you not plan on teaching her, yourself?”

“I could always teach her some things I suppose, but I’m not qualified to teach her everything. Plus, the social aspects of school are important as well. That’s not all I meant though. It’s not like she brought everything she owns with her, so we’ll have to get those, we’ll also either have to have her birth and medical records or I’ll have to go ask my Twilight what the process would be to create them from scratch. We’ll have to fix up the downstairs room, and I’ll have to formally adopt her... and then comes the hard part.”

“Hard part?” Pinchy looks up at me, tilting her head to the side. “What do you mean by that, dad?”

“I mean, having to tell to everypony how a little filly that didn’t exist in our dimension is now my daughter... that includes explaining that to your future grandparents.”

“I have grandparents, now? Yay!” She starts bouncing around the room, beaming brightly. “I can’t wait to meet them!”

I give Octavia a sideways glance. “Yeah, this is gonna be interesting.”

The mare giggles softly, gently placing a hoof on my back. “That’s probably an understatement, Rhino.”

Chapter 64: Welcome

***Wednesday, Day 66***
**Morning**

My usual surfacing to the land of consciousness is not by alarm this morning, but instead by a peculiar feeling on my nose. I summon enough brain power to tell my hoof to scratch it before trying to go back to sleep. As I feel myself going back to sleep, the feeling returns. I twitch my nose and blow a gust of air through it to ward off the feeling again. The feeling returns a third time, and my mind is up enough to form coherent thoughts.

This is getting ridiculous, what is that?

I crack open my eye to see what is becoming a familiar pink mass.

She smiles at me and opens her mouth to speak, the yellow feather in her mouth dropping to the floor. “Morning!”

I peer at Pinchy with my one open eye, smiling. “And to what do I owe this little wakeup call?”

She stares at me for a moment before realization dawns. “Oh, right! Sensei and her friends are returning to their dimension today!”

My half-awake self shrugs. “Well, I guess there’s that. But you know what has to happen before that right?”

She tilts her head to the side, looking up to the ceiling. “...we have to get my medical records?”

“Before that.” I say, my smile getting wider.

She springs onto the bed, bouncing happily. “We do a song and dance number! Pinkie would love that!” She stops, putting a hoof to her chin. “...wait, that can’t be right...”

“Want to keep guessing? Or shall I tell you?”

She sits in front of me, smiling softly. “I’m good. What do we have to do first?”

“Simple.” My horn glows as I levitate the feather behind her. “Revenge!” I start tickling her sides mercilessly.

She laughs, desperately trying to push the feather away. “D-Dad! I’m t-ticklish!” She jumps off the bed, trying to get away from my playful attack. “B-besides, we might wake up Hydro!”

I look at the clock as I call off the attack for a moment, “Meh, he’ll probably want to be up to see them all go anyway.” I brandish the feather at her again but only wave it in her direction instead of tickling her with it.

She stands there for a moment, staring at the feather. “...can’t catch me!” She rushes out the door, giggling.

I hear Specter laughing from over in his bed as he stretches. “Is every morning going to be like this now?”

I roll out of bed, stretching a bit myself as he climbs aboard. “I honestly have no idea... and I kinda like it that way, makes things more interesting. Now let’s see where she went.” I reach throughout the house with my magic to find the little filly. “There she is.” I Blink to the bottom of the stairs to avoid that particular morning hazard. My ears pick up tiny sounds from the kitchen as I walk in to see a glass of milk slowly emptying into thin air.

A second later the glass stops moving. It sets itself down on the ground, and the sound of tiny hoofsteps approaches me. The air warps, revealing the filly I was searching for. “You found me, dad!” She smiles, nervously glancing over her shoulder. “...pay no attention to the glass behind the filly?”

I chuckle as I muss up her mane with a hoof. “I told you, you can have it if you want it.” The glass is enveloped in my aura as I put it in the sink. “Just don’t leave it lying around.”

She sighs, levitating the glass back over to herself. “But I like feeling as though I earned it. That’s how sensei trained me when I made my invisibility spell...”

I roll my eyes as I float a glass of the drink over for myself. “Training is all well and good, but I’m not going to deny you a drink just because you didn’t work for it.”

She smiles, looking up at me with a little milk mustache. “That sounds good!” She points at the fridge. “You’re down to two gallons now, by the way.”

I shrug as I drink from my special glass. “Sounds about right. I usually go through four a week with about half of a gallon for Hydro. Hmm, Guess I’ll have to restock more often now that we have you huh?”

“Yep!” She moves over to me and starts climbing onto my back. “So should we wake Hydro up, or do you think he’s already awake?”

“The answer should be obvious.” The earth pony in question walks past us as he raids the fridge for a drink as well. “So why did you two wake me up so early?”

I motion towards the filly with my head. “This one decided she wanted to start the day with a tickle fight before we see everypony off. Actually that reminds me, Pinchy, how is the return trip going to work?”

“Oh! That’s easy!” She motions towards the guest bedroom. “Vinyl has a ‘beacon’ to signal where they are and when they’re ready to go back! They activate it to let Twilight know to make the portal!”

I nod. “Simple enough, at least ponies don’t have to leave through the same spot they came in. I was not looking forward to having to shove ponies in my closet.”

“Yeah, or else they might have to come out of someone else’s closet over there!” Pinchy says this with complete innocence, quickly turning her attention to Hydro. “...can I call you ‘Uncle Hydro’?”

He looks at her with a confused look due to what seems to him as a random question. “Umm, sure I guess? What brought that up?”

“I was gonna ask the same thing.”

We turn to see our visiting couple, standing in the doorway to the kitchen. The white mare steps forward, looking at Pinchy.

The filly beams. “Oh, that’s because I’m staying here with Dad!” As she says that last word, she wraps her forelegs around my neck, nuzzling the back of my head.

I ignore the instant stares directed at me and finish my milk in silence. Milk is more important than drama.

The pegasus slowly backs out of the room. “...I’m gonna go make sure Tavi is ready...you four - five, sorry Specter - have fun, mkay?” He turns and walks into the living room.

There is silence for a long moment until Hydro breaks it with a startlingly accurate summary. “What?”

I look at him casually. “Yep.”

Specter nods from my head. “Mmm hmm.”

Vinyl takes off her shades, frowning deeply. “Seriously, what did she mean by that? Is Tavi alright with this?”

I maintain my casual attitude, half to try and encourage the others to do the same, and half because their reactions to it would probably be funny. “We reached a consensus.”

The white mare glances at the filly on my back, who is still happily nuzzling my mane. After a second, she sighs, shaking her head. “...I guess there’s no talking Pinchy out of it.”

Hydro doesn’t take it lying down. “Seriously!? Something this big comes up and you basically go ‘oh well.’ This... how did this happen?”

I shrug. “She asked.”

He glares at me before groaning loudly. “Uh, I can’t believe this.”

I set my glass in the sink and start walking out. “Why don’t we take this into the living room? The kitchen’s a bit small for this kind of conversation.”

Vinyl shrugs. “Whatever you say, Rhy. Not sure what else you can say about this, though, unless there’s something deeper you want to share.”

Hydro pulls me back into the kitchen before I can get too far. “Mind if I talk to you alone?” He looks pointedly at both Specter and Pinchy.

Having a feeling I know what this is about, I look up at Specter. “Take Pinchy into the living room alright? We’ll be out in a minute.” Hydro and I watch the two leave before he turns to me with a frown.

He gestures at where the filly had just exited. “Were you even going to ask me? This is my home too, I kinda get to have an opinion on these issues.”

I sigh and look apologetically at him. “Look, I’m sorry about making this decision on my own. Things just escalated too quickly for me to take in anypony’s input besides hers, mine, and Octavia’s.”

He rubs the bridge of his nose with a hoof. “I understand getting attached to a squirrel and bringing it home, but this? This is huge, Rhino!”

I say nothing, simply look at him.

We have an instant unsaid conversation before he sighs again. “I’m not gonna be able to talk you out of this…” He huffs before heading into the living room as I follow him.

I steal one of the pillows off the couch where Octavia and Enigma are sitting and lay down on it as I answer. “Well, how about this: if any of you have any questions about this, any at all, I’ll do my best to answer them.” Specter and Pinchy climb back up to their favorite spots on me as I wait.

“I have one.” Enigma leans forward, propping his head up on his chin. “Are you sure you can be a good father for a filly that’s almost half your age?”

I look back to Pinchy before I answer. “How old are you, anyway?”

She pumps a hoof into the air, her magic forming a number in the air. “I’m nine, I just turned it a month ago this summer!”

I smile at her. “I bet you can’t wait to hit double digits.” I turn back to Enigma. “Well, obviously I can’t think of everything. However, my finances are stable, my job doesn’t keep me away most of the day, I have a number of friends who could watch her, and not the least of which: I care about her wellbeing and happiness. I dare say I love her like a daughter already.”

He stares at me for a moment before nodding, a smile on his face. “I’m glad to hear that. I’m also very glad that you were being truthful with that last part.”

I see Hydro staring at me silently. I give him a questioning look until he finally asks simply, “Are you sure you thought this all the way through?”

Instead of answering, I float Pinchy off my back and set her down next to me. I then reach over her with a foreleg and draw her close to me protectively. Finally, I look my best friend in the eye and nod affirmatively.

Hydro sighs and comes back up with his own small smile. “Well, I guess that’s all I can ask then.”

I look to the two mares. “Any questions from you two?”

“None from me. Vinyl probably has one.” Octavia looks at her best friend.

The mare in question tilts her head, thinking a bit. “...we’ll still be able to see her when we want, right?”

I shrug. “I don’t have a problem with it, but it’s up to your Twilight really.”

“Good point, Rhy.” She glances at her hoof. “Oh, look at the time. We should probably head back, now.” She pulls out what appears to be a silver rectangle with a red button and presses it.

With that, a large multicolor tunnel appears in front of the guest bedroom’s door. Octavia stands up and walks up to me, holding a hoof out. “I’ll see you later. After all, we need to get Berry’s belongings here, among other things, am I correct?”

I stand up and shake her hoof as I nod. After I let go, I lean down and nudge Pinchy lightly with my nose. “Why don’t you say goodbye to everypony.”

She looks up at me, confused. “Why would I say goodbye? That’s what you say when you won’t see somepony again.” She turns to her friends, smiling brightly. “No, I think I’ll say that I’ll see you all later!”

I smile proudly at the filly as I bring her closer to me with my foreleg again. “That’s my girl.”

She nuzzles my chest, giggling softly. “Thanks, dad.” She looks up at our departing guests, waving a hoof. “See you soon, okay?”

The three adults smile and wave as they walk into the tunnel. Both their silhouettes and the tunnel itself slowly shrink until nothing is left to prove they were ever there.

Well, aside from one thing.

I look at my watch then down at the newest addition to the family. “Well, I’ve still got a little bit of time before I need to go to work, anything you want to do?”

She thinks for a bit, her hoof on her chin. “I can’t think of anything...oh, wait! Can you tell me about your parents?”

“Hmm...” I focus myself and put on a story-teller mindset. “Well, my mother is Mist Scribe, she’s a bright red pegasus who loves to read books. She’s very nice, and she tends to talk a lot. Not Pinkie levels, but still way more than me or my dad. My dad is Bio Blaze, a blue unicorn who is current Haz Mat Chief of the Canterlot Fire Department. While Mom is the type to tell you what she expects, Dad is the type to expect you to work it out on your own. I know Mom will be happy to meet you, I expect Dad will be too, but I never actually talked with him about something like this so I don’t know exactly how he’ll react.” I wince as I mentally imagine sending them both a letter about this. “Both of them will probably visit as soon as they get the letters about this...”

“That sounds great!” She starts to skip around the room, giggling to herself. “I’d love to meet them, and I’m sure Fluttershy will be happy to hear the news, too!”

I chuckle nervously. “Yeah... that’ll be an interesting conversation...”

Specter walks out of the kitchen where he had wandered during the goodbyes. He crunches on a pecan as he looks at me. “I thought you were all about things staying normal, now we have a filly?”

I look at him simply. “Normal is a relative term, Specter. A fact that seems especially true here.”

The rest of the day actually passes by much simpler than I would have thought possible given the new circumstances. Due to Fluttershy deciding to take her shift at home and Manila not questioning it, the only new ponies to actually find out about my newest family member were the guys when they came over that night. There were a few questions, most of them the same as Octavia and I had discussed, but most of them seemed to take the news with smiles and congratulations. There was a reason they weren’t the ones I was anxious about telling.

***The next day***

Once again, my first sensation upon waking is that of a strange feeling on my nose.

Again, really?

I try to ignore it, but the feeling of a feather on my nose is persistent in its attempts to get a reaction.

I mumble without opening my eyes, “Not as funny the second day in a row, Pinchy...”

“What? She already did this to you?” There’s a soft huff. “Darn it, Pinchy...”

Confused, I raise a hoof to scratch the itch on my nose as I open my eyes to see who was speaking.

*Splat*

Only to find out my hoof had been covered in shaving cream, a state my face now reflected.

“Hah! Classic!” A couple giggles accompany these words.

I groan lightly as I wipe the foam off my eyes to see a familiar DJ grinning at me. After sitting up, but not getting quite out of bed yet, I ask, “Vinyl, I thought we just got rid of you?”

“Yeah, but I thought you wanted Pinchy’s belongings? Not to mention her birth certificate and medical records?” She holds up a manila envelope, grinning widely.

I crack my neck as I answer, “Yes, but I also expected Octavia.”

“She fell asleep.” The white mare shrugs slightly. “You see, she has this thing where she stays awake for three days and then falls asleep for a full day.” She waggles a hoof at me, playfully winking. “That’s also why your couch didn’t work on her.”

“Odd.” I make my way out of bed as I look around for a certain pink filly. “You seen Pinchy?”

“Yeah.” She points at the door. “She’s downstairs with her friend, Dinky. The one from my dimension, I mean.”

I nod as I take the file from her and set it on my desk to use later. “Alright then. What else did you bring?” I start walking down the stairs to see what the fillies are up to.

She walks to the front and side of me, a hoof on her chin. “Let’s see...her blanket and pillow from her sister...her black headband, a wooden training kunai from Octavia, some ninja stories...a few pictures of her friends...oh, and Lucky.”

I tilt my head to one side questioningly. “Lucky?”

She stops at the bottom of the stairs, looking up at me blankly for a moment. “...oh. She never thought to mention him, I take it?” She turns away, giggling softly. “I wonder why. She loves the little guy, surely she’d tell her dad about him, right?”

“What? Is he a stuffed animal or something?”

“No, he’s very much alive. In fact...” She motions to the filly as she approaches them. “...I’d say she thought about you when getting him.”

“Hi, Dad! Meet Lucky!” She looks up at her mane as a small white creature pops out. “He’s my pet mouse. Miss Lulamoon gave him to me!”

My own little furry companion looks down from his similar perch in my mane as he comments, “Well, doesn’t that look familiar?”

“That’s the idea!” She giggles, holding up her hoof as Lucky leaps onto it. “I figured, since you had a pet, I should get one, too. It helps that he’s such a nice little guy!” She gently nuzzles him, and he nuzzles her back. “I missed you.”

Lucky responds with a series of squeaks, leaving Pinchy smiling but confused. “...I wish I could understand him, though...”

Specter pipes up. “He said he missed you, too.”

I look up to the nimbat. “Wait, you can understand him?”

Specter nods. “Well yeah, all animals understand each other. I’m not technically an animal now, but I was, so I guess I’m... bilingual, I think is the word.”

“Does this mean you and Schmoopy have talks as well?” I ask, half-joking.

He nods again with sincerity. “Well yeah, he and I have started playing poker on Wednesdays when you and Hydro are out.”

Oh... good to know I guess.

“Well, since everything seems to be in order, Dinky and I will be on our way.” Vinyl enters the hallway, where the portal is still in front of the guest bedroom’s door. “Remember, we’ll be showing up every so often to see what’s going on, mkay?”

Pinchy holds her hoof up to her head, giving Lucky an easier path onto her mane. “See you, Miss Scratch! Thank you for everything!”

The mare waves, but a small purple-gray filly steps up to me, smiling brightly. “Thank yew, Mistew Whino. Fow teaching me magic, and being Bewy’s dad.”

I smile down at the second little filly I had met on my adventure in their world. “No problem Dinky. I’m proud Pinchy chose me to be her dad. Tell your mom I said ‘Hi’ okay?”

“I will!” She walks over to Pinchy, giving her a quick hug. “See yew latew, Bewwy!”

We wave at them as they enter the tunnel, both them and the portal shrinking as they leave.

Pinchy gently tugs on my leg. “Dad?”

I look down at her. “Yes honey?”

She giggles, pointing at my face. “You look like you’ve got a white beard!”

I blink as I touch a hoof to my chin and realize that whole time I had forgotten to wipe the shaving cream off my face. “Well, at least this’ll save me some time cleaning up.” I dab a spot of the foam on her face with the bit left on my hoof. “And now you have a white nose.”

She giggles, quickly taking some more cream off my hoof and putting it on her face. She pulls her hooves away, revealing a white goatee. “Now I’m just like you, Dad!”

I chuckle at her before putting a hoof to my chin and put on my skeptical face as I say teasingly, “Nah, I think I pull off the beard look better.”

Chapter 65: New Objectives

***Canterlot***
**Night**

Princess Luna stands on the balcony of Canterlot Castle’s highest tower. This tower, once unused due to its sheer height and the fact that most ponies don’t consider it worth the energy needed to climb it, in recent years has been restored back to be used as it was intended. This intent is being the unobstructed view necessary for the official Royal Observatory. The midnight blue alicorn can be found frequently in this place dedicated to her domain. This night, her dark blue magic pulses around her horn as she silently gazes over the land.

After a time, the aura of her magic fades as she lets out a long slow breath before uttering a single word. “Nothing.”

A white pegasus stallion approaches from within the tower. He has a black and blue mane and tail, each medium length. He wears a set of black astronomer’s robes with purple trim along with matching shoes and a small brooch of Luna’s cutie mark.

He looks to the Princess of the Night questioningly. “Nothing to even narrow the search, Princess?”

She shakes her head as she closes her eyes a moment. “Nay, not even the smallest wisp. The forest of Everfree has long since held its own wild magic. Not even we can pierce through its shroud with any great accuracy.”

The stallion gazes at the forest in question. “Does this situation really worry you that much?”

The astral-maned pony nods. “It does, and with good reason. As you are well aware, Orion Starchaser, stars falling from our night is an uncommon but normal occurrence. As my sister’s orb takes the place of my own, so does the magic in our stars return to us. Thus then, are fallen stars reborn with the very next night. Such is the way of things.” She narrows her eyes. “However, this star has landed in perhaps the single place from which it cannot return to us.”

“What would you have us do, your highness? We of the Astonomer’s Guild are, as always, at your service.” He bows his head slightly towards the princess.

“The fragments of our fallen star must be retrieved. Solid masses of our magic left in that wild forest could cause unknown damage.” The alicorn’s head droops as she sighs. “However, it will not be as easy as simply saying it. As you well know, the budget for the Guild all but disappeared while we were… away for a millennium. Only since our return has it been rising, but it is not enough for what would be needed for this excursion.”

“So, what shall we do?”

She turns to the stallion and straightens herself back to her usual stature. “You, Starchaser, shall do as your name decrees and be the one to seek out our star fragments.”

The stallion’s eyes widen as the weight of his new responsibility settles on him. “I-I’m honored, Princess.” His ears fold back. “But, will I go alone?”

“You shall be the only one of our Guild, it is true. With the members spread throughout the cities, we do not feel easy about sending word to them and having to wait while unknown circumstances befall our star. Though take heart my faithful pony, you shall not be alone…” She summons a set of papers from within the tower and levitates it to the pegasus. “These ponies have proven themselves, whether from past actions or more recent events. We believe if persuaded correctly, you could obtain the help of at least some of them…”

***Saturday, Day 83***
**Golden Oaks Library**

“… and that’s the situation.” Orion concludes, as he finishes telling us what Princess Luna had told him about what was happening.

All of us, both mares and stallions alike, sit in silence as we absorb what we were told.

It has been a little over two weeks since little Pinchy became a staple in our lives. Things were tense in the household for the first four or five days with Hydro not saying a word, still feeling hesitant about the entire situation. He soon reconciled with it though, and things have gotten much brighter. I’ve been spending time with Twilight and Volt recently as we work through getting Pinchy fully integrated in the bureaucratic eyes of Equestria. Everything has gone smoothly so far, the exception being that when we were filing her birth records we found out that there was already a ‘Berry Pinch’ living in Manehatten. This snag was soon avoided by a small change, and my ‘Berry Pinch’ is now ‘Ruby Pinch.’ Now all we wait for is the confirmation of her adoption that Twilight has been graciously helping with by pulling strings to get the process streamlined.

In non-Pinchy related news, the town’s music festival was celebrated as a great success and a boost for both the tourist trade and the musician’s fame. Ponyville has been quiet lately, so I suppose we were about due for something to happen when Twilight received a letter yesterday. Surprisingly enough, it was from Princess Luna instead of Princess Celestia. She had not sent much other than she was sending a stallion on her behalf the following evening to inform us further. Thus, myself, Hydro, Volt, Blue, Atom, and the Bearers of Harmony all sit in the library listening to this white pegasus’ tale. The stallion, dressed in a black and purple ensemble including shirt, bandana around his neck, and shoes, had been identified by his constellation cutie mark.

He looks at us as we still absorb everything. “So, does anypony have questions?”

I have one. “Why us? The girls I can understand since they are national heroes, but the rest of us are just normal ponies.”

Orion nods at us. “Well, normal or not, you are all close to the Elements and have already proven yourselves in the trying circumstances regarding former-Lieutenant Torchlight and the freak weather phenomenon Fluffers.”

Atom’s normally easygoing visage tenses at the former and Volt winces at the latter.

Twilight inquires next. “So, exactly how are we going to proceed with finding these star fragments?”

The white pegasus pulls out a scroll from his black saddlebag and unrolls it on the floor, revealing it to be a map of the Everfree forest and surrounding areas. “This is a special map the Princess enchanted herself to detect the magic within the fragments. This magic, like the stars themselves, will ‘twinkle’ in a way. The magic will normally be at a level undetectable due to the Everfree’s influence, but at times there will be a sort of magical spike within the fragments. At this time, a glowing dot will appear on the map, marking the fragment’s location. Bear in mind though, the location will only persist for a short time once the fragment’s magic drops back to background levels.”

Blue nods as he looks at the map. “So we’ll have to be ready to go at a moment’s notice…” He suddenly looks back up to Starchaser with a grin. “Well, considering my hobby is studying the Everfree Forest, I’m coming with you.”

Rarity speaks up, “As am I. Your map admirable yes, but I believe my gem-finding spell shall be useful when we are trying to locate the fragments’ exact locations. Not to mention that there is no telling what kind of inspiration I might receive from these pieces of the sky…” Her voice trails off as she looks upward with a glassy look in her eyes.

“I’ll definitely be coming along.” Twilight states. “This is a mission from a princess and an opportunity to see a manifestation of her magic few ponies have ever seen.”

Volt hums uncertainly. “I don’t know if I want to go… I do have to work and all...”

The librarian looks to him with a pleading face. “Please Volt? How many ponies can say they touched a star? This is a once in a lifetime opportunity!”

Volt takes one look at her before conceding. “Alright, alright, you talked me into it.”

Atom looks to the white pegasus. “I’ll be going as well. No offense, Orion, but you don’t seem like much of a fighter. You never know what you’ll find in that forest. Breeze and I will be there to help.”

Blue looks at Atom quizzically, “I already said I was going.”

Atom rolls his eyes, though it is unseen behind his shades. “Not you, I meant my sword.”

“Oh.”

Orion chuckles as he responds to the black pegasus. “No offense taken, Vortex, you’re right after all. I am definitely not much of a fighter so I gladly welcome your help.” He turns to the rest of us. “The rest of you don’t have to worry about answering right now. This is likely to be a multiple trip quest seeing as Princess Luna said the star fragmented into five different pieces.” He glances out through one of the windows. “Well, I think that’s all I needed to say tonight. I’d better get going if I want to get back to the inn in time to set up my telescope for my nightly viewing. Goodnight everypony.”

Everypony says their goodbyes and filters out towards their respective dwellings. Twilight levitates an envelope to me as Hydro and I begin our walk home. We walk in silence through the darkened streets as a few other ponies make their respective journeys.

Hydro eventually breaks the silence with small talk. “So what was that envelope Twilight gave you anyway?”

I bring said envelope out of my bag, open it, and browse the paper inside. I come out of it with a smile on my face. “It looks like all the paperwork finally got pushed through. Ruby Pinch is now officially my daughter.”

“How has she been taking having her own room now anyway? I keep forgetting to ask her.”

I continue shooting the breeze as we walk. “Oh she’s been taking it well enough. It definitely looks like a filly’s room instead of the guest room now. I still wake up some mornings to find she snuck up to my bed, but she isn’t doing it as much as she used to.” I chuckle. “Plus, it’s not like I really mind that much.”

My friend’s ears twitch as he remembers something. “Oh, that reminds me!” He reaches back to his saddlebags and pulls out two letters that I levitate out from his mouth. “These came for you this morning in the mail.”

I slit them open and browse them, coming out with another smile, but a nervous one instead of a happy one. “Well, looks like Mom and Dad got my letters I sent them about Pinchy.”

He smirks and raises an eyebrow. “Oh yeah, how’d they take you delaying a week and a half before telling them?”

I look away and say airily, “I may have neglected to mention that.”

Hydro pats my back. “Well, good luck with that.”

I give him a knowing look. “Oh, don’t you have a part in this too, ‘Uncle Hydro?’”

He puts on an innocent face. “Hey, you’re the one that made the decision, I just live with it.”

We both laugh as we walk the rest of the way home. When we get there, as soon as we shut the door behind us I hear the sounds of tiny hooves running towards us. However, instead of her usual smile, Pinchy races towards us with a scared look.

“Dad! Uncle Hydro!” She says with alarm on her face as she hugs onto one of my forelegs tightly.

I look down at her with concern. “What is it honey?”

“My magic! It’s not working right!” Her eyes are shimmering with potential tears.

I bring her over to the couch and try to keep her calm as I ask, “What do you mean?”

She gingerly touches her horn before answering. “I haven’t been casting my spells as often over the last few days, because it’s been getting harder for me to cast them. I thought maybe I was just tired or something, but now I’m having trouble levitating things too! It’s like my magic is changing… i-it just doesn’t feel right anymore a-and I don’t know what to do!” She is tears by the end of her explanation.

I hold her to me, trying to get her to stop crying. “It’ll be okay Pinchy. We’ll figure this out okay?”

She looks up at me from burying her face in my chest. “Really?”

I nod and smile soothingly at her. “I promise. I won’t let anything bad happen to you.”

She is quiet for the rest of the night, but stays firmly attached to me for comfort. I can feel my protective instincts constantly flaring the whole time, and I vow that I will figure out what is going on and help her through it.

***The next morning***

Given Ruby’s origins, I decide that Twilight and Volt would be the most pertinent ponies to ask. Pinchy has been slightly more chipper this morning then she was last night, but she is still quiet and glances up at her horn worryingly from time to time. I have her on my back as I ignore my instinct to knock on the door and instead walk in to find Orion, Twilight, Volt, Rarity, Blue, and Atom gathered in the center of the room.

Twilight looks up at me as I enter. “Oh, Rhino. Did you hear?”

“Hear what? I actually came by to ask yours and Volt’s opinions on something.”

Orion holds up the map, which shows a single glowing spot. “The first one has appeared.”

Chapter 66: Adaptations

***Sunday, Day 84***
**Morning**

I glance at the spot before turning to Twilight to address what I feel is the more important issue. “So, does this mean all of you will be heading to retrieve the fragment immediately?”

She nods. “Yes, since we don’t know how long the magical flare allowing us to see it on the map will last, we have to head out now.” She looks at the filly on my back. “Why do you have Ruby with you?”

Pinchy speaks up, sheepishly smiling. "...we wanted your opinion on something?" She glances at the map. "It might not be as pressing as that, but my magic is..." She puts a hoof to her chin, thinking for a bit before turning to me, slightly confused. "Fizzy? I can't think of the right word..."

I look back at her, concerned. “Are you sure? You seemed worried before.”

"I was - I still am! But I don't want to interrupt this." She motions to the group in front of us. "And besides, even if I don't currently have magic, I still have my ku-" She stops mid-sentence, eyes wide. "...I can't use those...not without my magic..." She groans, curling up into a ball on my back, covering her face with her hooves.

I frown as I twist my head further to nuzzle her gently before turning back to the others in the room. “I understand you have to leave for Princess Luna’s mission, so go on. The sooner you get back, the sooner I can talk to you and Volt about this.”

Twilight nods as the others get ready to leave. “We were planning on only everypony here going for the first trip anyway.” She walks up and speaks to the little pink ball that is Pinchy. “Don’t worry, we’ll be thinking about what may be happening to you on the way and be back as soon as we can.”

The filly moves a foreleg just enough to see the purple unicorn. "...th-thank you, Twilight..." She sniffles, trying to dry the fur under her eyes. "...good luck...not that you'll need it." She uncurls herself, smiling as best she can.

Twilight smiles softly at the filly before she follows the others out the door.

I look around at the empty library as I register some soft snores presumably coming from Spike upstairs. Trying to cheer her up, I ask, “Well, we’ve got the place to ourselves. Anything you want to read?”

She tilts her head, looking around. "...you know, I've never been in here this long...not even in my own dimension..." She taps my cheek, smiling softly. "What would you recommend, dad?"

I walk over to one of the shelves as I share my love of reading with her. “Well, I find fiction to be an excellent time-sink and it helps broaden the mind...”

She walks up next to me, pulling one out with her mouth. She holds it up to me between her forehooves, looking at me with wide eyes. "Can you read this with me, Dad?"

I chuckle as I bring over some cushions. “Alright little miss hypnotising cuteness. Let’s see what you have there...” I lie down and spend the next few hours reading with her tucked up against my chest. Quite an excellent way to spend a Sunday if I do say so myself.

***Starlight Hunters***

The small group of three unicorns and three pegasi make their way through the forest at a fair pace. Blue and Orion are leading, since the former knows the forest like no other pony and the latter holds the map. As they proceed, Blue takes on the role of a park ranger, keeping everypony away from dangerous animals, plants, and terrain. After about half an hour at a brisk pace, everypony agrees to a rest in a clearing they encounter.

Blue continues to look around until he decides to makes an announcement. “I’m going to see if I can scout ahead. Be back in a few minutes.” With that, he flares his wings and launches himself upwards. As soon as he clears the canopy he is lost to sight.

Atom patrols around the clearing, looking as close to his former occupation as possible even without the armor.

Meanwhile, Orion has cleared himself a spot by flapping his wings to leave the patch he was standing on free of loam and leaves.

The voice of Rarity makes itself known from next to him. “Pardon me, might I share this clean patch of grass?”

The white stallion looks up to find the alabaster mare smiling winningly at him. He smiles back and gestures with a sweeping hoof.

The fashionista titters. “Oh my, such a gentlecolt.”

The two seat themselves and Rarity takes it upon herself to chat.

“So my dear stallion, tell me: Given that Princess Luna herself gave you this mission personally, does this mean you are one of the Canterlot nobles?”

The pegasus seems unfazed by the question as he answers casually. “In a manner of speaking I suppose I am. My position in Princess Luna’s Astronomer’s Guild does grant me privileges normally associated with the nobility. However, I am not technically counted as a noble.”

Rarity nods as she looks over his clothing. “And is this the official uniform for the Guild?”

He chuckles as he turns to her. “Close, but not quite. The actual uniform of the guild is a set of robes with this color scheme. Most members only where it to official meetings though. This is actually a set I put together because it matched the uniform yet is easy enough to move in that one could wear it during normal day-to-day activities.”

The mare looks at him quizzically. “You don’t take the average pony’s approach and simply wear nothing most days?”

He simply shakes his head. “No, I never did feel comfortable strolling around without garments. Still, I feel that wearing the right clothes can give quite the first impression. The color scheme also reminds me of my dedication to her highness.” He looks down at the map. “Hmm, it appears the flare has stopped, no matter. I already marked where it occurred so we can keep going.”

The two continue chatting about such things until Blue finally busts down through the canopy in a flurry of leaves. “Finally! Sorry I took so long, it’s almost impossible to tell the difference between some areas when you’re above them, this is the third spot I tried to find all of you at!”

Twilight and Volt walk over as the former comments. “Then we should stick together on the ground so nopony gets lost.” The others all nod in agreement before they continue on their way.

Soon enough, the group arrives at another clearing, this one filled with soft dirt and the occasional marshy ground.

Orion turns to the alabaster mare. “Rarity, if you would?”

“Of course,” Rarity says with refinement as she light up her horn with her gem-finding spell. She walks around the clearing, horn to the ground as the others look around for themselves. After about 15 minutes of this, they all meet back up and shake their heads at each other’s questioning glances.

Orion frowns as he thinks out loud. “I don’t understand… the map said it should be right here, and Princess Luna assured me that a gem-finding spell should be able to locate it if we couldn’t see it ourselves.”

Rarity shakes her head again as she looks to their navigator. “I apologize, darling, but there simply isn’t anything my spell is picking up in this clearing.”

Atom looks between everypony. “So, does this mean we go back empty-hooved?”

Orion nods sullenly. “We don’t have a choice. The flare ended and none of the others are showing up. We have no leads at the moment.”

The mood on the journey back to town is noticeably disappointed for all involved.

***Back in town***

Pinchy and I are still enjoying reading together, after leaving for lunch and coming back, when Twilight and Volt walk back in the door no worse for wear.

As they register the fact that we are pretty much where they left us, I greet them. “Hey you two, how was the star hunt?”

The lavender unicorn huffs lightly. “Unproductive, we got there as fast as we could but when we arrived at the location, there wasn’t anything there.”

Volt continues from there. “We aren’t sure whether it was a fluke or whether somepony got there before us. All we can do is try again for the next one.”

Pinchy looks up at them, gently rubbing her eye with a hoof. "Maybe Rainbow could help? She's fast, so she could get there quicker, right?"

Twilight shakes her head. “That’s a good idea. We thought of that, but even with Blue’s knowledge of the forest he almost lost us a few times when he flew above the trees. Rainbow would have to stay with us so nopony gets lost. She isn’t the most patient pony for those kinds of things.”

Volt looks to Pinchy and I. “So, you two said something about Ruby’s magic acting strangely?”

I look down to my little filly. “Do you want to tell them or should I?”

Pinchy yawns softly, shaking her head. "...I always get tired when I read a lot...I'm gonna take a..." She rests her head against my neck, falling asleep instantly.

I explain in short to the two other unicorns about the problems Pinchy described to me. The increasing inability to cast her spells up until her recent failed attempts at basic levitation. I also tell them of how she describes her magic as ‘feeling different’ than it used to.

Twilight and Volt are silent for a moment afterwards. They begin speaking to each other in fragmented sentences as they walk over to the basement door and continue talking even as I hear them gather equipment.

I feel a pressure around one of my forelegs as the noise increases. I look down to see that Pinchy is holding my hoof close, nuzzling it in her sleep like a teddy bear. I smile down at her and curl my neck around her sleeping form.

Eventually, the clattering of machines dies down and they both walk up with various machines levitating in their auras.

Volt turns to me. “Follow me, we’re going to bring all this to my apartment so I can tweak it for some tests.”

I nod as I carefully stand up and float the filly onto my back. We four unicorns quickly make our way towards Volt’s place, equipment still held in the couple’s grasp. Soon enough we see the complex coming up, and the sea-green stallion leads the way to his door so he can unlock it for us.

We enter the apartment in a small hallway and walk into the main room. It certainly fits its resident. Wires and circuits can be seen running all throughout the rooms, either as part of some of the crazy electrical setups or just sitting there on their own. Instead of posters, blueprints dot the walls around us. Shoved to the side, I can see a few barely recognizable items. One appears to be a pinball machine, while another appears to be a massage chair of some sort that has been mutilated to the point that it looks like an electric chair. Only in one part of the room is there a semblance of order, and that is a small work desk with a photo of Volt and Twilight on it.

The couple set down the machines and Twilight starts hooking them up as Volt explains while grabbing various tools. “What we are going to try to do here is an overall scan of her magic use and potential then compare it to what you know she has been able to do in the past. Twilight gave me a sample she took of Ruby’s dimensional residue, and with it I should be able to measure it accurately.”

I nod as I look at him with all seriousness. “Will it hurt her?”

Volt looks back at the array of machines. “Theoretically no.”

I narrow my eyes at him, a low growl forming in my chest. “You hurt her, I hurt you.”

He nods quickly. “I understand.”

I go back to my usual calm self as Twilight finishes setting up the machine and Volt makes the adjustments. After a minute or two, they finish and walk back over to me.

Twilight’s horn lights up as her aura surrounds Pinchy, “Now all we have to do is put her in...”

At that exact moment, I feel four little legs tighten around my torso. I hear a small whimper, followed by a few mumbled words. "...no...I don't want to go...I want to stay with Dad..."

All of our eyes soften at her display as Twilight stops trying to move her. I reach my head back and try to nuzzle her gently awake. “Wake up Pinchy...”

The filly slowly wakes, blinking as her eyes focus. She looks up at me, smiling brightly. "Morning, Dad." She glances around, confusion clear on her face. "...where are we?"

“We’re at Volt’s house.” I gesture to the parts around us. “And we’re here to run some tests to figure out what’s happening to you, alright?”

She nods quietly, staring at the machine. "...it...it won't shock me...will it?"

Volt smiles. “It didn’t shock me.”

She turns to him, tilting her head a bit. "...okay, then. I guess it'll be alright..." She taps my cheek softly. "Dad? Can I please hold your hoof?"

I walk her over to the machine. “Of course.” I lift her off my back and place her onto the seat and Twilight straps her forelegs in and puts on helmet that looks like a colander with Hearth’s Warming lights on it. I set my hoof next to hers and she grabs onto it. I nod to the other two unicorns as I feel Pinchy’s grip tighten.

Volt flips a switch. The lights on the helmet start blinking as other machines whir. Throughout it all, one particular machine is spewing out a stream of paper as a graph is drawn on it. No pony says anything as the two look over the graph as the machine does its thing.

"...Twilight? Volt?" Even without looking at her, I can tell she's nervous. "I-is that it?"

I don’t think the two hear her as they continue pouring over the papers. I clear my throat loudly to get their attention.

Twilight jumps. “Oh, right.” She shuts off the machine and takes the helmet off the filly while undoing the restraints.

As she clambers back up onto my back I look seriously at the mare. “Well, that was a bit anticlimactic. So what’s the verdict?”

She walks back over to Volt and the two converse a moment before turning around. “Well, first, Ruby, do you want something to calm your nerves?”

Pinchy nods, trembling slightly. "...a glass of milk, please?"

Volt points us towards the kitchen as he and Twilight go back to discussing the results. I find the fridge and a glass easily enough as I set Pinchy down on the floor. After I pour a glass of it for her, I look at the container and my eyes widen in horror.

Skim milk...

I levitate the glass back to Pinchy with a grimace as I trot back into the living room. “Volt? I thought you had milk, not water with milk in it.”

He scratches the back of his head with a hoof. “Sorry, it’s what I drink.”

That explains so much.

"Dad?"

I turn to see Pinchy sitting in the kitchen doorway. In her forehooves is the glass, with almost the same amount of liquid. She speaks, holding it up. "Why does this taste strange?"

“Because that is skim milk, Pinchy, or as I like to call it: imitation milk.”

"Oh." She glances at it, then back at me. "...can I have some of the milk at home, instead? I don't like how this tastes..."

I nod, inwardly proud at her tastes in milk. “Sure you can. Just go put it in the sink.”

She nods back, smiling. "Thanks, Dad!" She slowly stands up on her hindlegs, carefully making her way towards the sink.

After she comes back in and settles herself on her favorite spot, namely me, I look towards the couple and give them a nod to begin.

Volt starts off. “Right, as you might guess, the frequencies of the various universes differentiate from each other. Conceptually, this is also true for magic and the way it is used in each universe. From what we can determine, since she has been in ours for so long, her magic, originally born from her own universe, is slowly being adapted to suit the frequencies of our own.”

Twilight continues from here. “The readings suggest that almost all traces of her original dimension’s magic have been replaced by those native to our own. In addition, I’ve noticed her internal capacity for magical energy being slowly filled the longer she is here. I would theorize that in her own universe, Ruby used the magic around her to cast spells instead of the magic within her. Whether this was the way all unicorns did this there is irrelevant, the point is she did it.” She stops to take a breath before continuing. “However, as all of you know, in our universe each unicorn has their own supply of magical energy and to use energy other than that requires either specific spells or enchantments to do so.”

Volt takes the baton again. “Thus as her magic becomes attuned to our own, she will likely absorb the kind of magic she is around the most. That would be yours, Rhino. She will likely grow to reflect your magic to some degree as her body adjusts to having a constant source of magic within itself. The reason she cannot cast spells is due to this change. She is used to casting spells her way, bringing in magic and shaping it. Now, for her to use it, she must be taught how to bring forth the magic from herself and use it in a way you might. From the readings, we think that, in time, she will adjust to our universe completely and be like any other unicorn filly, albeit with more of a talent with magic than most.”

I nod as I absorb the information. “I understand.”

"So I'll be using Dad's magic?" She giggles, grinning happily. "That means he can teach me how to control it, right? Like he does with Sweetie Belle?"

I look back at her. “Well, sort of, but not exactly. See, Sweetie Belle had to be taught everything about magic from the ground up and can use it like most unicorns can. For you, it’s more like you were taught magic under a different set of rules and now I’ll be teaching you my rules. You get the more personalized experience.” I quirk an eyebrow at her. “And did you really understand everything they just said?”

She lowers her head, her ears flattening in embarrassment. "...not really...I felt like I was thrown into the middle of a budget meeting in Canterlot...I only understood bits and pieces..." She turns to the side, whispering quietly enough so only I could hear her. "...two different dimensions, almost exactly the same Twilight..." She looks out the window, curious. "...Dad? Today's Sunday, right?"

I tilt my head at her. “Yes, why?”

She rolls her hoof slowly, smiling softly. "Don't you tutor Sweetie today, Dad?"

My eyes snap open as I quickly check my watch. “Yes, yes I do. And we need to get moving if we want to get there in time.” I look to the other two. “Sorry about leaving so suddenly, but thanks for all your help with this.”

They both wave it off as Twilight speaks for both of them. “Not a problem, this has been a very interesting experience.”

I look back at my daughter. “Anything you want to add, Pinchy?”

She waves at the other unicorns, beaming brightly. "Thank you both very much!" She turns to Volt, then to me, gently tapping my cheek and whispering in my ear. "That marker thingy is kind of distracting, Dad...why did she not take it off him, yet?"

I whisper back as I grin in the couple’s direction. “Probably because she still doesn’t want any other mares getting the wrong idea. A bit like if I decided to put a magical marker on you saying you’re my daughter, but there’s not really a point to that seeing as I don’t think anyone else will think you’re theirs.”

She looks up at them, and I feel a hoof lift off my back. "Okay, dad."

We quickly head out towards Sweetie’s parents’ house. Content with the knowledge we had gained on Pinchy’s condition.

Chapter 68: The other searchers

***Tuesday, Day 86***
**Everfree Forest**
*Morning*

Orion lets out a yawn as he and the same group of ponies from the last Everfree expedition plunge once more into the forest.

Blue looks over at the white stallion. “What? Did you just wake up when the map went off this time?”

Orion nods. “Actually, yes. I’m more of a late night pony than an early morning one. Honestly, I’m surprised I haven’t gone nocturnal.”

Rarity comments from behind him. “Well, sometimes ponies tend to stay up later in order to get things done. I know I’ve had my share of late nights finishing important orders when I get ‘in the zone’. Even Twilight has been mostly nocturnal for how long I have known her.”

“Hey!” Twilight exclaims. “Just because I get so busy studying that I don’t go to sleep until morning doesn’t make me nocturnal!”

Volt looks at her with a smirk. “I don’t know Twi, you even exhaust Owlicious with your work schedule. Not to mention the times you make me stay over late to pick up your books and make you coffee.”

Blue jumps on the opportunity the electric unicorn left open. “Are you sure that’s the only thing she makes you stay over there to do for her at night?”

Volt responds sullenly “Don’t worry about that. Shining Armor taught me the wonders of abstinence.”

Everypony, even Atom in his ‘stoic guard persona’, chuckles at Twilight’s face after that round of teasing. Soon enough, the half dozen ponies arrive at their destination, this time the area isn’t in a clearing, but a normal looking part of the forest next to a chasm. However, unlike last time, it is plainly obvious where the fragment lies. Well, as obvious as a narrow trench carved into the ground can be.

The team walks over, anticipation clear on their faces. As everypony else stops, Orion takes the last few steps towards the small crater at the end of the trench and gently brushes the dirt away with a wing. There, shimmering in the dim light of the forest, lies a crystalline stone, obviously a piece of a larger whole. The fragment glows with a white light as the stallion picks it up with a hoof and turns around, showing it to the others.

He smiles as he holds up the trophy, “We’ve got it!”

A sudden black blur swipes the crystal from his hoof as two other slightly smaller shapes land beside it.

“Wrong.”

The ponies gasp as the shapes come into the light.

They are Diamond Dogs, that much is certain. However, all three are unlike any Diamond Dogs the ponies had ever seen before. The one to the left is clad in pieces of a dark blue armor. Fins are present on it along with a neck component that is reminiscent of gills, and on the sides of its armored arms and legs. The one to the right wears a scarf that covers the lower part of its face, matching the purple of its streamlined armor. Finally, there is the hulking one in the center. He, for his voice earlier made his gender obvious, is twice as large as the other two dogs. His armor is as black as a moonlit night and is as thick as a pony’s leg in places. Not to mention ferocious thick claws adorn his paws.

Everypony in the group unconsciously take a step backwards at the sight of the creatures.

The middle dog talks again “Thank you for making this easy retrieval even easier. But if you want to be cut into our wage I am afraid you are barking up the wrong tree.”

Rarity narrows her eyes at the canines. “Looks like we know who took the other fragment now. Diamond Dogs are unruly and dense enough to take anything that glitters.”

The finned dog speaks this time “Well, Well. Looks like someone considers herself high and mighty for a pony. Yet, I guarantee I have read more books than you, you ‘Ulk de truk’. That translates into something quite nasty in ancient Equestrian, in case we need to dumb it down for you.”

“It’s true. It does translate into one of the rudest things you could say.” Twilight quips reflexively.

The scarf-wearing one comments now. “Indeed, but we have wasted enough time on you whelps.” The black armored dog tosses the fragment to his blue armored companion. “We’ll be taking this now.”

Orion flies over and hovers in front of them. “In the name on her highness Princess Luna I demand you hand over the fragment or drastic measures will be taken.”

Blue’s gauntlets power up. “Yeah we aren’t afraid to make this a fight.”

The dogs simply let loose a series of rumbling laughs before turning to walk away with one last statement. “Begone, you are not worth our time.”

Twilight responds by trying to grab the fragment from the dog’s hand with her magic. The finned dog stops as it tightens its grip and the other dogs turn around.

“Very well.” The black armored dog says before slamming his hands into the ground and disappearing. The scarf-wearing one jumps into the air and lands behind the group while the one with the crystal holds both his ground and the fragment to keep Twilight from pulling it in.

“Sapphire keep the ponies from getting the crystal.” The purple armored dog says.

“Don’t keep underestimating me Amethyst.” Says ‘Sapphire’.

“Both of you, focus!” Barks the largest foe from the hole he left.

“Yes, Obsidian!” Respond the other two in unison.

Atom forms his wind blade as he and Blue turn towards the purple armored dog. The two wind-wielding pegasi charge the canine as they fly just above the ground.

“Flight is a quality advantage if you know how to use it,” comments Amethyst. He dodges the first few blows the pegasi throw at him. “But it seems you lack that particular knowledge.”

Atom and Blue bristle from the insult to their very species as they attack with even greater ferocity. The diamond dog still doesn’t lift a paw against them and simply dodges them with ease.

Amethyst continues to goad their efforts. “If you give up now I might even give you discount flying lessons. I mean, I fly better than both of you even without wings.”

Blue grits his teeth and releases a flurry of wind blasts from his gauntlets with a series of shouts.

Every single shot had fails to hit its target as once again the agile dog comments. “I do love opponents who yell when they attack in agitation, but your gauntlets are the really interesting things. Too bad I already learned how they work. You might have been able to use that to your advantage if you hadn’t wasted it. I will admit, I would love to steal them if I weren’t already on a job.”

The blue pegasus slumps over to catch his breath as Atom dives in.

As he begins parrying the blade with swipes of his paws, the dog seems almost disappointed. “A blade made of wind? Such a boring concept. At least your friend had an interesting weapon. I bet you even gave it a cliche of a name like ‘gust or ‘breeze’.” As the former guardspony performs a horizontal slice, the canine simply leaps high into the air and lands away from the two pegasi. “Is that really all you have? Why don’t you both attack me together?”

Atom charges in once again as Blue flaps his wings to power up the gauntlets and comes around back to get him up close from behind. This time when the black pegasus swings, instead of dodging, Amethyst grabs the stallion’s sword arm and uses the blade to intercept the incoming blasts. As the two different magically weaponized winds collide, the air seems to explode from that point. The resulting gust sends both pegasi crashing into the trees to fall groaning and unmoving to the forest floor.

The purple armored dog lands from where he had leaped to avoid the blast. “They weaponized wind, so I weaponized stupidity.”

Meanwhile, as Atom and Blue were fighting their opponent, Orion and Rarity also find themselves in trouble as the hulking form of Obsidian erupts from the ground like an avenging demon. The black-clad canine lunges towards the unicorn with his claws outstretched. The pegasus stallion leaps in front of her and throws a punch to counter the incoming blow.

The giant dog smiles as he catches the hoof with a paw while the other grips Orion around his middle. “Pathetic.” He turns and flings the star gazer down into the hole he had just come out of as he turns back to the fashionista. Ignoring her screams, he grabs the unicorn and tosses her down the hole as well. He chuckles as he slams a fist into the ground, causing the entrance of the tunnel to collapse and trap the two ponies inside.

At the same time, Twilight and Volt struggle to get the prize from Sapphire.

The finned foe looks down at the crystal he continues to keep the ponies from obtaining. “This isn’t really my element, but I think I have just the thing for you troublesome magic users.” He raises his free paw and points the fingers at the couple. “I consider myself a bit of a chemist and these gloves I am wearing are soaked in a special compound that hates magic. That is why you are having a hard time keeping a grip on the crystal. But they also have another function.” He flicks the free paw and lets loose a stream of bubbles that begin to float casually toward the unicorns. “You see these bubbles also hate magic. They will disrupt your telekinetic focus and let’s just say you don’t want them to pop on you.” He grins unsettlingly at them.

“Well, I’ll guess we’ll just have to burst your bubbles then.” Volt says as he charges up his horn with his improved lightning blasts.

He fires at the closest bubbles, causing them to pop in a chain reaction but also canceling out the bolt. He continues launching blast after blast, even as Sapphire pumps them out as quickly as they get rid of them. Finally, Volt manages to clear enough bubbles for Twilight to get a clear shot with stronger levitation.

As she charges up her horn, a lasso suddenly loops over the stallion’s head and around his neck, roughly yanking him backwards. Twilight, horn still charged, turns and sees Obsidian holding the rope with one end around Volt’s neck and the other tied to a boulder perched on the edge of the chasm. The huge dog grins as he pushes the rock over the edge with one paw. Volt is dragged off the edge in mere seconds.

The canine says simply, “Make your choice. Hurry though, he probably only has half a minute at most.”

Twilight immediately ceases her attempts to grab the fragment and gallops over to the cliff edge even as she focuses on finding both her coltfriend and the boulder with her magic. She locates them and immediately teleports closer to envelope both of them in her aura as she begins to lift them out of the chasm.

The diamond dogs turn to leave as Obsidian comments one last time. “Last warning: Don’t get in the way of Refined Diamond Dogs and their prey.”

The ponies say nothing as Blue and Atom manage to get themselves up and over to Twilight. Wincing in pain from the movement, the swordspony cuts Volt from the rope. As the unicorn stallion massages his, once again, injured throat, the others quickly walk over and help dig the last two of them out. Rarity and Orion emerge bruised and covered in dirt.

The silence continues all the way back to town, each pony alone with their wounds and thoughts about the crushing defeat. They all gather horrified stares as they march back to the library.

They enter and sit on the floor facing each other, Twilight uttering the all-important question.

“What do we do now?”

Chapter 69: New Friends

***Wednesday, Day 87***

**Noonish**

*Sugarcube Corner*

I look over to Applejack, whom I am currently working with setting up balloons. “Remind me why we are doing all this.”

She blows up another balloon before passing it to me. “Shoot, it’s a little fuzzy fer me too.” The apple farmer takes off her hat and scratches her head with a hoof. “From what Ah can remember... Pinkie came around to all of us and asked us to set up this here party. She said fer one, it was to give us somethin’ to do to get our minds off what happened in the forest...”

I nod my head while frowning. “Still can’t believe there are others searching for the fragments, and that they are diamond dogs. Let alone the fact that they are apparently well equipped and much more intelligent than the usual examples of their species.”

“Ah’m just glad everypony got out in one piece.” Applejack passes me another balloon. “Still, it’s the second reason Pinkie mentioned that’s got me curious.”

I raise an eyebrow at her. “She gave you another reason? I guess you put up more of a fight than I did.”

“Ah was just in the middle of somethin’ when she came ‘round. She didn’t say it straight away, but when Ah asked she said that the main reason she asked us all the help her with this is because ‘she missed one’.”

I tilt my head. “Missed one what?”

The pink party hostess bounces over to answer that herself. She looks around to see if anypony else is listening before she speaks. “I missed a pony! I always welcome everypony to town when they move here, or even when they visit, but somepony moved in during the music festival and I only gave them the visitor’s welcome! They are new, so they need a party! It. Must. Be. Done.”

Both Applejack and I lean away from Pinkie as she finishes with a wild determination in her eyes before she bounces off.

I look to Applejack who wordlessly gives me another balloon to hang up as we continue.

Soon enough, the party is ready and Pinkie has us all await the guest of honor. Luckily because of its rushed nature, the party is really just our group of friends and we don’t have to hide. Pinkie keeps her eyes glued to the door as the clock strikes one, the time when the party is set to start and the guest is meant to arrive.

Half an hour later and still the guest has not arrived.

Rainbow Dash is the one to finally wave her hoof in front of Pinkie’s face to break her line of sight to the door. “Umm, Pinkie, I don’t think he’s coming.”

The party pony’s mane seems to deflate slightly as she looks downward and begins muttering to herself. “Double-checked the address, single invitation, hoof delivered it to his mailbox myself, party is at a reasonable time...” Her muttering gets quieter and quieter until it stops completely and everypony looks to each other as we worry. Suddenly Pinkie springs up shouting, “Backup party!”

Volt tilts his head. “Backup party?”

Pinkie zips up to him and stares with eyes looking straight into his soul. “Backup party.”

He nods silently.

After a quick cleanup up, we made our way across town to the guest’s residence and set up a new room for a party via a demonstration of the party cannon. Granted, some of us were wondering if Pinkie was allowed to break into houses to set up parties, but the girls assured us this wasn’t the first time this happened and it likely wouldn’t be the last.

Suddenly, Pinkie’s back hooves start tapping erratically and she gets a huge grin on her face. “He’s coming! Get ready!”

The door clicks as the knob turns and it slowly opens. A slightly familiar blue unicorn with a blonde mane with brown tips and glasses walks in, looking back as he puts something back in his saddlebags. He turns forward and sees the party decorations along with all eleven of us smiling at him.

In one smooth movement that takes less than five seconds, he screams, turns around, and runs off out the door.

Well, that didn’t go well.

As everyone simply stares at the now empty door, Pinkie suddenly shouts, “First one to catch him and bring him back here for his party gets free goods from Sugarcube Corner for the next three days!”

Now, anypony with a semblance of a sweet tooth knows how valuable that offer is, or somepony might just want to be away from Pinkie while she goes into party withdrawal. Reflecting this, all of the stallions aside from myself immediately charge the door and are gone almost as fast as their prey was.

Hmm, pony that runs at the sight of a party in his house gets pursued by a group of stallions bent on catching him... this won’t end well.

I crack my neck as I trot at a leisurely pace out the door and see the two pegasi stallions beelining in a direction. One roll of my eyes and a few Blinks later and I see the unicorn in question across the street as Hydro and Volt chase after him, while Blue and Atom get a lead.

I shake my head as I see the glasses-wearing pony turn down an alley I know is a dead end while the others follow him in. Strangely enough, they all leave a few minutes later, empty hooved. I tilt my head and slowly walk to the alley, peeking in. It appears empty at first, then as I watch, a section of the alley suddenly shimmers and falls, revealing the unicorn with wide eyes. I sit down at the mouth of the alley and wait for him to approach.

He blinks at me for a moment. Apparently realizing I wasn’t there to ‘capture’ him, he finally speaks. “...hi?”

I nod politely and smile. “Hello. You okay after all that?”

He nods slowly. “Yeah...what was going on with them?”

“They were bribed to bring you back to your house for your party,” I say honestly.

“...party?” He looks rather confused. “The only party I saw them working on was a search party.”

I chuckle at him. “Didn’t you see all the balloons, streamers, and party treats at your house? We brought the party to you after you didn’t show up to the one earlier.”

“I was a little more freaked out by the fact that there were a bunch of strangers in my house, really...and I didn’t show up because the last time I went to a location I was given in the mail, it didn’t end well.” He winces a bit at an apparently painful memory. “I don’t like repeating mistakes.”

I nod and look at him understandingly. “I see, sorry about all that. Pinkie’s methods - she’s the one that set up your party - are a bit... extreme at times, but I can assure you she means well.”

He sighs, visibly relaxing a bit. “If you say so...um, so, anyway, my name’s Pop Filter.” He says this as though he just remembered it. “Sorry about all that commotion.”

I wave it off. "Hey, no problem. I can't blame you for freaking out." I check my watch and see that school's almost out. "Well, if you want to go home to the party you can, if not you can come with me if you want to kill some time."

“I think I’ll come with you...no offense to your friends, of course. I’m just not that much of a social pony.” He trots over to me.

I turn and start to walk off. "Alright, come on then. I've got to pick up my daughter."

He follows, trotting quickly for a moment to catch up. “Daughter?”

"You'll see."

We chat until we reach the school house. In front of the door sits a certain pink filly, humming softly as she waits. As soon as she sees me, she jumps to her hooves, grinning brightly. “Dad!” She runs up and hugs me, happily nuzzling my chest.

I hug her back as I laugh. “Hey Pinchy, how was school?”

“It was fun! I learned a lot today!” She turns to the unicorn next to me, eyes wide with surprise. “Hey, I remember you! You’re the pony we gave directions to at the festival!” Her gaze moves between us, curiosity and confusion clear on her face. “...do you know Dad?”

He nods slowly, looking a little surprised. “I just met him, really...um, I’m Pop Filter. It’s...nice to meet you?”

She holds out a hoof to him, smiling kindly. “My name’s Ruby Pinch! It’s nice to meet you, too!”

He smiles gently and accepts the hoofshake. He looks at me. “Your daughter’s a nice girl.”

I chuckle, “That she is.” I look at my watch. “You should be able to go home without fear of ambush now, though if you ever run into Pinkie Pie, all bets are off. We should hang out sometime, you seem nice.”

He nods, still smiling. “Thanks. You seem nice too. I’ll see you later, okay?” With a wave, he walks off, heading back home.

I nod and look to Pinchy who is climbing onto my back, “What do you think of him?”

She settles herself in her favorite spot, watching the departing stallion. “...definitely a nice pony, if a little shy...” She turns to me, curious. “...what did you mean when you mentioned Pinkie, Dad?”

“He managed to avoid a Pinkie party so I told him to be careful because she’ll probably try again.”

She sheepishly smiles, rubbing the back of her head. “Is it bad that I feel bad for him?”

I shake my head, “Not at all, not at all.”

***Third person***

The familiar duo of Pinchy riding on top of Rhino’s back are seen heading home after her first complete day of school. As they approach the house, a small white unicorn can be seen sprinting after them.

She hails them as they are about to go inside. “Rhino! Ruby!”

The two ponies turn to look at the source of the voice as the white filly skids to a halt a few steps away from them. The green stallion gives her an appraising look. “Sweetie Belle? What are you doing here?”

Sweetie takes a few moments to catch her breath before she speaks. “I... wanted... to talk... to Ruby... please.”

Pinchy tilts her head, curious. She carefully gets off Rhino’s back, smiling at the white filly. “Yes, Sweetie?”

The white filly gives the stallion a meaningful glance, which he acknowledges with a statement. “I’ll leave you girls alone so you can talk. I’ll be inside if you need me.” He enters the house, leaving the two schoolfillies to themselves.

Sweetie looks brightly at the pink filly. “I wanted to talk to you during recess today since you didn’t come to school yesterday, but I couldn’t find you!”

Pinchy grimaces a bit. “Sorry...I kind of went off and did my own thing...”

“Hey! Don’t be sad! We can talk now!” Sweetie gathers herself a moment. “Umm... so, I was wondering if you-wait, what were you doing anyway? Is this because of those two bullies?”

“...maybe...” She glances over to the door. “...don’t let Dad know, but I’ve been practicing a skill of mine in secret...I can’t do magic, right now, but I can still throw my wooden kunai.” She grins, proud of her little accomplishment.

The white filly frowns. “That sounds dangerous, you aren’t planning on throwing that at anypony are you?”

“...no...” She scuffs the ground with a hoof, frowning softly as well. “...I know that’d make Dad upset...and I don’t want to do that...”

Sweetie Belle wipes her forehead with a hoof. “Phew, good. I was worried for a moment.” She shakes her head. “Wait, wait, wait, that’s not why I came here. I came to ask if you want to be friends and you know... hang out and stuff!”

Ruby tilts her head, confused. “I thought we already were friends.” She taps her chin, thinking a bit. “I do suppose we haven’t hung out that much...so...yeah, I’d like that.” She smiles, nodding happily.

“Yay!” The white filly bounces in place with happiness. “So, do you want to hang out right now? The girls and I were going to get together to get through Miss Cheerilee’s homework early so we could play.”

Pinchy blinks at this, a blank look on her face. “Uh...sure.” She sheepishly smiles, nodding to her. “Lead the way?”

Sweetie tilts her head to one side. “Umm, shouldn’t you let Rhino know you’re leaving? I don’t think he’ll be happy if we just run off without telling him.”

“Oh. One sec.” She looks up at her mane, smiling softly. “Lucky?” A white head pops out, looking down at her. “Can you let Dad know where I’m going so he can pick me up later?” The mouse nods, saluting her. She giggles, beaming at him. “Thank you!”

Sweetie Belle looks at Ruby in confusion as the mouse scampers off. “I thought Fluttershy was the only pony who understand animals, how would your mouse tell him anything?”

Ruby winks, smiling slyly. “Trust me, Dad has his ways.”

The white filly simply blinks before her smile bursts out again. “Oh, okay!” The two start walking off as they continue chatting. “So what did you think of this homework anyway?”

She shrugs, glancing over at her friend. “It wasn’t that hard, in my opinion.”

Sweetie eyes widen. “Really? Me and the girls thought we’d be struggling with the new stuff. Think you could help us?”

Ruby smiles, stopping to place a hoof on the white filly’s shoulder. “It’d be my pleasure, Sweetie.”

The two giggle as they walk through the town to go find Sweetie’s friends.

***That night***

The familiar household of Rhino, Hydro, and Ruby is quiet as all the pony occupants are out this evening. Of course, this doesn’t mean the other residents are inactive. The door to the earth pony’s room cracks open as two furry figures make their way inside. They make their way over to the aquarium that makes up an entire wall of the room, it’s occupant soon noticing them. The eel swims over to the special segment of his tank that allows access to it from about a pony’s chest height.

He flashes his teeth in a grin at the two visitors. [I was wondering if you mugs were going to show up.]

Specter smiles back. “Hey, you know I’ve never missed a night since we started.”

Schmoopy nods. [So, finally convince our newest mate to join us?]

(Yep! You’ll have to forgive me, though.) Lucky shrugs a bit. (I’m not au fait with poker; Black Jack is more my thing.)

The nimbat pats him fondly on the back. “Hey, I didn’t know how to play either before we started. Schmoopy did mention Black Jack once, but he said it was more of an individual game and that poker is meant for groups.”

[And on that note,] The eel pokes his head out of his tank as Specter moves a table in front of it. [Shall we get started lads?]

The two regulars set up the standard arrangement with deck and fake chips divided between the players. Naturally, a game between is not all about the game, it’s about the interaction.

Specter deals two cards to each and sets the deck back down as everyone checks their cards. “You remember I told you the basics of Apple Hold ‘Em, Luck?”

(Yep. Still slightly confused, but I’ll get over it.)

[That’s the spirit!] Schmoopy moves his chips for the big blind with his tail. [So, what do you lads think about the scuffle some of the ponies had with those dogs who told them to clear out?]

“Seems to me everypony is in shock by it, they haven’t really started reacting yet except to be quiet when it’s mentioned.” Specs calls the blind.

Lucky also calls. (Sounds to me like they were just caught unaware. Surely they’ll be ready next time, right?)

The nimbat reveals the flop as Schmoopy responds. [Oh I have no doubts they’ll try to prepare themselves. Still, this isn’t something you can solve with a wave of your hat.] He places a small bet.

Specter glances at his cards before calling the bet. “The way I heard it from Rhino, these guys sounded like professionals. I’m glad nopony was seriously hurt.”

The mouse calls as well, frowning slightly. (Bugger. I hope they’ll at least get one of the star fragments before those dogs.)

The next card is put down. [Well, I know Hydro was muttering to himself after hearing about it. So maybe we might have surprises of our own next time. Check.]

“Hmm, check.” The Specs glances to their tank-bound friend. “Hey Schmoop, should we consider getting some of the other pets in on these nights?”

(Check.) Lucky glances up at them, deciding to put in his two bits’ worth. (Why not? More pets means more friends, right?)

[Hmm...] The water pet thinks as the last card is put down. [We could do that, let’s just make sure to take it slow so things don’t go pear-shaped.] He makes a small bet.

“Any opinions on who to bring in first then? Call.”

(How about Angel?) The mouse glances at his cards once more, looking at the ones in front of him. (Raise...that’s the word to use, right?) He puts another chip down.

[Ah, I’ve heard about that one, can’t he be a right arse at times? I’ll see your bet.] Schmoopy narrows his eyes trying to see what Lucky is planning.

Specter glances at his cards before slapping them back down on the table. “Fold. Angel’s a bit rough around the edges and definitely makes it clear who he does and doesn’t like, but he and I got along pretty well while we were under the same roof.”

Lucky doesn’t raise again so he and the eel show their cards.

[Well, bugger, looks like you win this one.]

(It appears so.)

Specter hands the mouse the deck. “What? Is that it? You prove your name in the first round of the night and all you say is ‘it appears so’?”

He looks at the cards, then his little claws before answering. (I really don’t like to brag. It makes one a wanker, in my opinion.) He grabs the deck and attempts to shuffle it.

[So tell me lad, what’s it like being the pet of the little miss? I don’t get to see her much myself seeing as I am bound to my tanks.]

(Rather perplexing.) He finishes, reaching over to pick up a card that flew off. (Don’t get me wrong, she’s a great filly. I just worry about her taste in recreation.)

Both of the other pets give him confused looks.

(She fancies herself a ninja. You should have seen how she practiced until she was exhausted.) He shakes his head, sighing softly. (She wants so much to not be seen as weak...) He glances at Specter. (...to prove herself worthy.)

“Of what?”

(I’m not sure I can say any more.) He hands each player two cards. (I did promise not to tell anyone else about that. I’m almost breaking my word by saying what I did.)

[Bit of an odd thing that, asking pets to keep secrets when no pony can understand what we say.]

Specter shrugs as he bets. “It makes them feel better, so why not let them act curiously?”

[Actually, speaking of acting curiously...] The eel turns to the nimbat. [I’ve been meaning to ask: You’ve got wings now, but you never use them. Why?]

Specter shrugs. “I don’t know how really. I’m used to just gliding, so I can hold them out to do that, but I don’t really know how to do the whole ‘flapping’ thing to an effective extent. Still, I get around well enough by jumping and climbing.”

The eel nods as he turns to Lucky. [Alright new blood, let’s see if your luck holds out.]

He shrugs, chuckling softly. (If that’s what you wish.)

Chapter 71: Water Fight

***Monday, Day 92***

**Mid Morning**

Leaves crunch beneath my hooves as I shift my weight from leg to leg. Orion, Rarity, Blue, Atom, and I are currently waiting for Hydro just outside the Everfree Forest. Hydro and I were decided to be the replacements for Twilight and Volt while they were out of town. While this expedition may seem familiar to the others of the group, to me it is eerie. The white pegasus stallion checks the map one more time and confirms the shard is still flaring just as a thump is heard. Another series of thumps follows, and the pattern continues as they get louder and louder.

Finally, the source of the noises crests the hill in front of us and I have to hold back a smile as the others stare open-mouthed as Hydro steers his centaurian machine towards us. It settles a small distance away and a small hiss of air comes out as the cockpit’s cover opens and the earth pony pokes his head out and smirks at us wordlessly.

Rarity is the first to recover. “Hydro... what is that thing?” She eyes the metal construct warily.

My red friend reaches down and pats the mech fondly. “This is D.A.I.S.I. D.”

Atom tilts his head to one side. “DAISI D?”

Hydro nods. “Digging Apparatus Improvised for Situations Involving Diamond-dogs. The last D can be changed to another letter depending on the situation.”

Blue stares in wonder. “So is this what you were working on in that lair of yours?”

He shrugs. “Among other things. Let’s get moving! We’ve got a star fragment to find!” He brings down the cover of the cockpit and the machine whirs up as we all start making our way to the point on the map.

We arrive sooner than we expected, Hydro’s invention making the normally irritatingly thick foliage easily passable as it clears the way. When we get to the point, all that is noticeable is a very large pit that goes straight down for about 100 feet with what looks like water at the bottom. It was likely an underground cavern that was exposed to air when the star crashed through its roof.I reflexively cast Res to attach my feet to the ground as I peer over the edge.

Orion, who is looking between the water and the map, remarks wryly, “No doubt about it, the fragment is down there somewhere. Can you narrow it down for us, Rarity?”

She nods as her horn glows a light blue. The water below all seems to light up at once for a few moments before the light fades again and the fashionista looks at us apologetically. “I’m sorry darlings, but the bottom of this pit is almost lined with gems... I cannot pinpoint the fragment’s location.”

Blue looks down at the water grimmly. “Well, what are we going to do then?”

A small cough comes from behind us. We turn and see Hydro giving us a cheeky look and pointing to himself and DAISI.

Atom lowers his shades. “Wait, is that thing water-proof?”

The earth pony nods. “Completely leak-proof and between the engine and the cockpit I’ve got about 20 minutes of air. Now, let the water pony do his thing.”

The sounds of hissing air can be heard as various points on the mech seal themselves. All of us clear a large path for DAISI to get to the pit. Steadily, it marches over before stopping at the edge. Suddenly, all four of its legs crouch and extend, propelling the machine upward and out into the center of the crater. As we watch the mech fall, a loud crack is heard as the ground falls from beneath us, loosened by the force DAISI had put on it. As we fall, Hydro’s machine hits the water and sends up a colossal splash that meets us in the air before taking us back down to the main body with it.

I close my eyes until I stop swirling in the water. As I slow down, I let my body’s natural buoyancy tell me which way is up, and follow it. I gasp loudly and hear similar breaths of air as I open my eyes and see the others come up as well. I look down, and can now see a fair distance into the water, including the large shape of DAISI that had come to rest at the bottom. A light flicks on from its shoulder as Hydro looks around.

Suddenly, a form rises out of the water revealing itself to be one of the diamond dogs.

“You sure are a noisy bunch aren’t you?” Sapphire says as a gill-like piece of armor vents water out of itself from it’s position on his neck.

Rarity shrieks and swims backwards away from him. “What are you doing here?!”

The diamond dog smiles and holds up the coveted treasure we were looking for, “Why recovering this star piece my dear. Also, I wouldn’t splash around so much. You’ll spread the drug throughout your body much more rapidly.”

Alarm bells ring in my head. “What do you mean ‘drug’?”

The dog folds his arms behind his head and swims leisurely backwards using his feet for propulsion as he speaks. “Well as a lover of marine life I make sure my work leaves as little an imprint as possible. And since this pit was filled with ferocious piranhas I had to put my special drug in the water to sedate them out for a bit. Now you are swimming in the same water I drugged, so you have about 20 minutes before you sleep with the fishes. Literally.”

All three pegasus stallions immediately start flapping their wings to try and get out of the water. Unfortunately, all their efforts do is tire them out, instead of getting them out. I try to Blink out only to have my magic fizzle.

“Really? Moving around some more? My drug affects all things physically and magically, so your efforts are benign. Especially your efforts to fly, since you don’t have pegasus magic to protect your wings from getting wet and last time I checked, wet wings don’t fly. But based on your average group intelligence it doesn't surprise me you would lack that common knowledge.” Sapphire says in a demeaning tone.

We all glare angrily at the dog but dare not go after him since he is obviously faster than us and seemingly immune to his own drug.

The dog begins to make his leave, “Well it has been fun. I hope you all manage to get out of here before you lose consciousness, drown, and have your bodies eaten by the piranhas that will wake up later. Au revoir.”

Suddenly, a metal arm shoots out of the water and grabs onto Sapphire before dragging him down into the water.

***Third person***

“Well well, a new challenger has appeared.” Sapphire states.

Hydro’s voice can be heard slightly muffled through the glass as he glares. “Darn right I did! Now, give me that shard!” The stallion pushes a lever and one of the arms lunges towards the dog.

Sapphire narrowly avoids the attack. “Hmm. Faster than I expected...It doesn’t matter, I’m still more maneuverable.”

The water pony allows the mech to sink to the bottom of the crater and quickly pushes off with it’s powerful legs as he again extends an arm towards the canine. Sapphire manages to dodge, but the sudden turn and speed of the attack means that he did not escape unscathed as a section of his leg armor is highly dented from a grazing blow. The diamond dog recovers quickly, continuing to dodge and weave through Hydro’s onslaught, proving himself to be superior in speed under water.

However, this does not mean Hydro is at a disadvantage. When he does make contact, it counts. On one particularly memorable strike, he manages to land an open-palm strike on Sapphire’s chest plate, sending the dog into the opposite wall with a thump and large imprint of the mech’s grasper. This goes on for what seems like minutes until the mechs body seems to slow to a halt.

“Performance issues?” the dog says snidely.

Hydro struggles with the controls as nothing seems to get a response. He slams a hoof down on a console in frustration. “What the... Oh come on you hunk of junk, move!”

The blue-clad dog smirks as he floats up and taps on the glass. “Having trouble? Would you like to know why? Well, if you had done your research you would have known I use chemical bubbles, and all that time you were creating a commotion you did not notice me releasing my bubbles around your robot. They proceeded to pop and clog your joints leaving you in an what amounts to an anchor.”

“What’s with the generous exposition?” Hydro growls questioningly.

“Well you see, I plan to finish you off instead of leaving you like we did before.” Sapphire then proceeds to attach to Hydro’s cockpit and start smashing the glass. While the material is reinforced it eventually succumbs against the dog’s relentless onslaught and cracks, letting the water start to fill the cockpit.

Sapphire gives a satisfied smiles as he sees the fruits of his attacks. “Isn’t it poetic when one builds their own coffin?”

Hydro begins mumbling to himself as he begins fiddling with the controls. “Windshield compromised... hull still intact... power supply acceptable... I could wrench the joints... just reroute it here...”

The dog takes notice and resumes his barrage of blows on the cockpit while baring his teeth. “I won’t even give you the time.”

***Rhino***

As the battle raged under the surface, the rest of us had made our way to the edges of the pit sides. It had been agonizingly slow, only making the most basic movements and essentially floating over to them. Each of us had found a hoofhold to try and keep ourselves afloat without moving as we watched the two combatants. We watch as Sapphire begins tearing into DAISI and our eyes widen in alarm.

Orion is the first to speak up “What are we going to do?”

“I think I might have an idea to distract him for a few moments.” Rarity inputs.

I look over to her as I worry for my friend. “Well whatever it is, if you think it’ll work, do it!”

She starts concentrating the magic in her horn with much strain due to our numbing bodies. The pit’s bottom suddenly begins to glow. It grows brighter and brighter until all of us have to look away. She keep this up for a few precious seconds before passing out as the effort and drugs take hold. Luckily Orion is nearby to grab her and help hold her afloat.

“Let’s hope it helped.” He remarks as we all look back down towards the battle.

***Third person***

Hydro’s mech is barely holding out as the cockpit fills with more and more water. Suddenly, Rarity’s spell takes effect and the underwater bottom blooms with ever increasing light. Hydro is spared due to his shelter in the mech. Sapphire, however, is not as fortunate as he slaps his paws over his eyes as he howls in pain.

“My eyes! The goggles, they do nothing!” He screams out.

The earth pony is not one to let chances pass by. With a final series of switch flicks, he once again grasps the controls for DAISI’s arms. He wrenches the controls and with the squeal of metal on metal the graspers surge into movement towards the canine.

The first blow is a vicious uppercut to Sapphire’s abdomen. The next blow slams him back down towards the bottom. Strike after strike assaults the stunned dog’s form as Hydro yells out an incoherent battle cry of rage even as the water still slowly seeps into his cockpit. Each piece of the blue finned armor is shattered until finally, all that remains is the hound beneath it all. With one last blow, Sapphire is tossed clear out of the water and lands on a protruding rock on the wall of the pit.

Hydro grabs the slowly dimming star fragment and surfaces near us, opening up the glass cover of the mech to let the water flow out. He takes one look at the rest of us barely hanging onto our safety rock before he sweeps us up and plops us onto the top of DAISI along with Sapphire.

He pilots the machine over to one of the walls before announcing to us, “Hold on everypony!”

*Slam*

One of the arms buries it’s digits into the wall as it grasps onto it and pulls the mech up a few feet before the process is repeated with the opposite arm. At first, all of us worry that we’ll be knocked off, but we each find a spot to hold on to.

Atom looks back at our canine rider and asks with disdain. “So, what do we do with this one?”

Chapter 72: Parents: Take Two

***Tuesday, Day 93***
**Noon**
*Canterlot*

Twilight and Volt walk from the library wing of the palace with unsatisfied expressions on their faces.

Volt sighs heavily before grumbling. “Well that was a waste.”

Twilight shakes her head in disbelief. “I still can't believe that in the entirety of the Canterlot Archives, there wasn’t a single mention of these ‘Refined Diamond Dogs’. A day and a half of looking, for nothing.”

“Yeah well at least I can enjoy the fresh air for a little bit before we have to go to your parents.” He says, trying to look on the bright side but only coming off as nervous.

She looks back at him. “You aren’t worried about meeting them are you?”

The sea-green stallion swallows. “Well, I would hate for them to get the wrong idea.”

The purple mare stops so that he catches up and they can walk side by side. “What do you mean?”

“Well like I said before, I don’t want to have a repeat of the incident with your brother. We should win them over with our relationship normally is.” He ends with a hopeful smile.

Twilight blushes and looks away at the mention of the last family encounter. “Right, I learned my lesson last time.”

He simply looks straight ahead with a small smile. “I know. I just wanted to make sure.”

The two unicorns arrive at a house in what would be considered the upper-middle class area of the city. Going along with what could be considered the major color scheme of the city, the two story house is mostly off white with a dull gold colored roof. Like many of the houses on this street, it has a very decent sized yard, small hedge wall lining the street, and a few tasteful pillars holding up the porch cover. It looks to be easily able to house four ponies with rooms to spare.

“Well here it is. The house I grew up in.” Twilight says, gesturing proudly with a hoof.

Volt tilts his head backwards to see the roof as the sweat sparks off his brow. “So it is...”

She playfully bumps his side with her own. “Hey, no need to worry now. They will love you just like I do.”

“Thanks Twi. You always know how to make me feel better.” He leans in to kiss his marefriend only for the door to fly open.

A stallion with a light blue coat and a dark blue mane stands there with a sword held in his magic and a ferocious look on his face. “Prepare to die you dirty daughter defiler!”

Volt seems to freeze in place while Twilight stands in front of him. “Dad stop! What are you doing?”

Her father lifts the sword higher into the air. “I am taking revenge on him for brainwashing you into...” A small snicker escapes his mouth before he simply bursts out laughing as he sets down the sword. “Oh I can never keep a straight face for these jokes.”

Twilight is unamused. “Dad! He was nervous enough and there you go playing jokes on him!” She turns to her coltfriend. “Are you okay, Volt?”

Volt continues standing in place with the same horrified expression he put on when the stallion opened the door.

The blue stallion is the first to get an inkling that something is wrong. “He doesn't look like he’s breathing...”

Twilight immediately scans Volt with her magic. “His heart stopped....HIS HEART STOPPED!”

“Calm down, calm down. We can just get him to the hospital and-” The dark blue stallion says calmly before he is cut off by his daughter.

“How are you so calm?! Dad, you stupid joke went and-” The mare herself is cut off by a loud thump as sparks shoot off Volt’s chest. The electric unicorn gasps loudly as he regains his breath.

Twilight instantly wraps him in a hug. “Volt, you’re okay!”

Volt looks around in confusion. “Huh? What?”

Meanwhile, Twilight’s dad laughs heartily once again. “Well played indeed. The classic fake death. I’ll admit you got me good.” His laughing fades as as he smiles brightly at the couple. “Come on in. My name is Night Light, and I think you and I will get along great.” The stallion walks back inside and leaves the door open.

Twilight holds Volt at arms length as she admonishes him. “Volt why didn’t you tell me you could stop your heart on demand like that?” She shakes her head. “Nevermind... Well, I guess you manage to win my dad over in record time so I guess it worked out. Just tell me next time so I don’t have to worry.” She heads inside.

“Wait, what happened?” Volt stands on the porch quite confused as he idly rubs his chest with a hoof. “And why does my chest hurt?”

***Rhino***
**Ponyville**
*Afternoon*

I hum to myself as I leisurely skate to the train station with Pinchy on my back. My parents were due to arrive today, so I was a bit nervous about how they would react to my adoptive daughter. In the end though, I figured there was nothing I could really do until they actually meet, so I simply put it in the back of my mind. We arrive a few minutes early as we come to a stop on the boarding platform.

I swivel my head around to look at my pink passenger. “Are you ready to meet them Pinchy?”

She nods, giving me a little salute. “Yes, Dad!”

“Last minute questions?”

She puts her hoof on her chin, silent for a moment. “...should I call them grandma and grandpa, or by their names? And should I mention my dream or keep that a secret?”

I think about this a moment. “I think their names would be too formal. Not sure what Dad wants to be called, but I know Mom explicitly stated years ago that she doesn’t want to be called grandma. She said to call her Mimi. As for the ninja thing... I’ll leave that up to you. No promises on how serious they’ll think you are about it though.”

“Okay, then!” She giggles, turning to look down the tracks. “...Dad? They won’t be too worried about where I’m from, right?”

My smile becomes legitimately nervous. “Oh I’m sure as soon as my mother gets me alone she’ll squeeze all the information about you right out of me...she is very good at that. Probably one of the first things that will come up is frantic explaining on my part as to why I delayed telling them about you.” I gulp. “Yeah... some of this is going to be very awkward for me.”

She gently pats my cheek, smiling at me. “I can help explain it to them, if you’d like. Maybe it’ll make it less awkward?”

My ears flick as I hear the approaching train whistle. “If you want to I suppose, I’ll provide supplementary explanation when needed, but it would be interesting to hear all this from your perspective.” The train comes into view as it rounds the hill near town. “Well... here we go.”

A mere moment later and the train is pulling in, the wheels hissing loudly as the brakes are applied. I step back against the wall of the platform as the doors swing open and ponies come pouring out. I use my height to my advantage as I try to look over the crowd and spot them. Pinchy actually climbs on top of my head to help me look.

Soon enough, the platform is clear of all but a few ponies milling around and I soon spot the particular two we are waiting for. I wave to them and they smile, heading over to us. As they get within distance of us, both of them stare wide-eyed at the pink filly on my head. They get to normal speaking distance but neither of them says a word. I leave the silence where it is for a minute, wanting to let it all soak in for them.

“Hi, Mimi!”

Pinchy, naturally, is the one to break the stalemate.

Mom shakes out of her stupor and looks at me with a smile. “Aww, you remembered what I told you I wanted to be called.” She looks back up to the filly. “And I take it this little one is ‘Ruby Pinch’ that we’ve suddenly heard about?”

I smile and nod. “Yep, this is the little one that’s got me wrapped around her hoof.”

She leans forward, offering a hoof to shake. “Nice to meet you!”

I feel a sudden shift of her weight as she leans too far and slips off. With a spike of adrenaline, I lean forward and catch her with my teeth by the scruff of her neck.

Pinchy giggles, blushing softly in embarrassment. “Oops! Sorry about that!”

I let out a relieved breath as I set her down. "Be more careful next time, okay?"

Dad simply chuckles. “Well, she certainly is spirited.”

She trots up to my father, staring up at him with wide eyes. “...Dad sure takes after you...”

The mustached stallion chuckles again before leaning down and looking at her. “And what makes you say that?”

“You’re really tall!” She holds her hooves up, grinning widely. “And you both are smart unicorns, too, right? After all, Dad said you worked in the library!”

“Is that what he told you?” He looks at me questioningly.

I clear my throat. “Actually Pinchy, I said that Mom worked in a library at one time. Dad never has.”

She blinks, putting a hoof on her chin. “...oh. I guess I got it mixed up.” She giggles, sheepishly smiling. “My bad!”

Mom finally cracks and gathers Pinchy in a hug as she hovers above the ground, her red wings keeping her aloft in her happiness. “Oh, I can’t believe it! My first grandfoal! A little earlier than I expected, but still wonderful!” She nuzzles Pinchy as Dad and I look on in amusement.

Pinchy happily nuzzles her back, giggling a bit more.

I smile as I ask. “Shall we take this little love fest home?”

Everypony nods, even as Mom comments, “Fine, but I get to hold her!” She flies in slow circles as Dad and I walk home, watching the two of them.

As we arrive at the house, Dad calls out to the still-flying pegasus. “Mist, are you just gonna hog her all to yourself?”

“I’m thinking about it!” Came the cheeky reply just before Mom alighted on the front porch and set the filly down.

Pinchy immediately gives Mom a hug. “Thanks for the snuggles, Mimi!” She beams brightly at her before turning to Dad. “Did you want a hug, too?” She holds out her little forelegs, looking up at him with her wide eyes.

I am forced to look away from the cute onslaught as Dad answers. “Aww, well, since you offered.” I peek back to see the two embracing.

Atta girl, cute them into submission.

As Pinchy pulls away, she rubs his fur with a hoof. “...you feel like a towel right out of the laundry.” She looks up at Dad, smiling brightly. “I like it!”

Bio blinks, nonplussed. "Umm, I'm glad? Do you always describe what other ponies feel like?"

She shakes her head. “No, just when I have something to compare them to!” She turns to Mom, beaming brightly. “You’re really soft, but I can’t think of a comparison!” She tilts her head to one side, thinking a bit. “...I wonder if I’m forgetting something...” The filly is silent for a moment before she turns and heads into the kitchen. “Milk time!”

Mom looks after the filly as she exits. "You're sure she isn't yours biologically? She certainly seems to have gotten you and your father's milk love."

I look frankly at her. "That's not the only thing, but no, she isn't mine by blood. Which is actually something I wanted to make sure you guys were okay with...”

Dad adopts a thoughtful look. “Well, I definitely didn’t see it coming, we expected biological grandfoals. However, I have no problems with this arrangement. She seems to be a fine and happy filly. What more could we ask for?”

Mom pipes up with a comment. “But just because we are fine with it, doesn’t mean we aren’t going to press you about how it happened.” She points a feather in my direction to emphasize her point.

I feel myself shrinking under her gaze. “Well, umm-” A small detonation from the kitchen cuts me off and sends me running into it along with my parents.

As soon as we enter, we are greeted to the sight of Pinchy, her face covered in soot. Right next to her is a glass of milk, and there are crumbs all over the floor in front of her.

I let out a sigh of relief at the sight, glad it wasn’t something big. A washcloth covered in my aura wets itself in the sink as I walk up to the filly and wipe off her face. Once she is clean, I give her the milk and ask simply, “Again?”

She nods, quickly drinking the milk to hide her blushing face.

The red pegasus mare looks at our calm faces, astonished. “What?! Something explodes next to your daughter and you act like this is a normal thing?”

I look at her seriously. “It is a normal thing, it’s been happening for a week now.”

She narrows her eyes at us. “Explain.”

Pinchy raises a hoof, beaming brightly. “I can do that! When I came here, my magic had to adapt!” She pauses, putting a hoof to her chin and turning towards me. “...that’s about all I could understand of Twilight’s explanation...what was the rest of it, again?”

Dad beats me to it. “The magic in this town doesn’t feel any different from normal... why would she have to adapt?”

Uh oh.

I flounder as I try to decide how to answer that question. “She... umm... well... you see...it’s...”

Pinchy takes another gulp of milk before she speaks up once more. “They would have to find out eventually, Dad.” She turns to my parents, sheepishly smiling. “Truth be told, I’m from another dimension. That’s not a bad thing, right?”

I groan loudly and perform a double facehoof as I mutter to no one in particular. “Way to hit them over the head with it, Pinchy. I didn’t have a way to break it to them yet...”

“...oops.” Her ears lay flat against her head. “I’m sorry, Dad...”

I suddenly have an idea. “Tell you what, how about since you put it out there, you explain it?”

She blinks, confused. “...where should I start? The part where you came to my dimension, or the part where I came over here?”

I shrug while grinning. “Don’t look at me, this is your story. Do what you want with it. I’m actually interested to see what your side in all this was like.”

“Okay, then.” Pinchy climbs onto my back, carefully holding the glass in her teeth. As soon as she situates herself, she turns to my parents. “It all started when he hosted a ‘Question and Answer’ show in my universe. I’d heard so much about him from Twilight, and when I found out I was to be one of the guests, I was ecstatic!” She pauses, apparently wanting to gauge their reactions.

Both of them seem to have entered neutral listening mode as Dad asks, “And this ‘other Twilight’ knew so much about him... how?”

“Oh, uh,” she averts her gaze momentarily, thinking about that, “I think she talked with him when she brought him over?”

I look over to the side as I say quietly, “Not brought voluntarily...”

The mustached unicorn nods and motions for her to continue.

“Anyways, I finally got to meet him, and it was in front of a camera! I was so nervous, I swear I almost got the hiccups!” She nervously laughs. “I was asked my questions - something about my life’s goal, I think - and then I had to leave the stage. Oh, and I thought he was a ninja when I first met him. I even asked him what this was to prove it to myself.” She pulls out her wooden kunai, smiling brightly at them.

Dad is once again the one to comment as he looks to me. “So you’re a ninja now?”

I shrug. “Why not?”

He looks back to the filly. “Why do you have one of those anyway?” He points to the kunai.

“That’s easy!” I feel her lift two hooves off my back. I turn to see her striking a pose, pointing with the wooden knife. “I’m going to be a ninja, and protect everyone I care about!”

Mom seems unsure about this. “Oh... that’s... great?”

Pinchy falters, turning to the red pegasus. “...is something wrong, Mimi?”

She rustles her wings. “Well, not necessarily, it’s just most foals tend to have a certain job as their dream so ‘ninja’ isn’t something I expected.”

The filly shrugs, putting her kunai back in her mane. “I read a lot, I guess. And I prefer to think of it as a ‘protector’. ‘Ninja’ is just a cool name I use for it!” She giggles, covering her mouth with a hoof.

The red pegasus laughs along with her. “Well, I can’t be mad at that. So, what happened next in the story?”

“Oh, well, the next day, he came over to my friend’s house! He was so kind, agreeing to help teach Dinky magic!” She gently nuzzles my neck, giggling a bit. “I worried that we were imposing on him. It was supposed to be a vacation for him, after all!”

Mom comments this time. “I suppose helping your little cousins was good experience for that.”

I nod as Pinchy continues, providing hoof motions now to enhance the narrative.

“Then there was a couple of situations - his bout with sensei and the invasion - but those don’t really need much attention, in my opinion.” She starts to gesture with a hoof. “After those, we spent the last couple of days together, and then he left...” A sad expression crosses her face. “...that was the longest summer ever...”

I hug her as the overall emotion in the room heads south.

Pinchy hugs me back, smiling softly. “...after two and a half months, I couldn’t take it any more. I had to see him again! So I asked Twilight to create a portal to bring me and my friends over, we ended up getting here during the music festival.”

I am the one to say something during this pause. “An eventful morning to start off a series of eventful days.”

The filly gently places a hoof on my cheek. “Sorry about poking you with my horn like that, by the way.” She turns to my parents, resuming her explanation. “Anyways, after another few days with him...I...I just couldn’t go back. He was the closest thing to a dad I ever had.” She giggles, resting her head against my neck. “He’s strong, sweet, yet capable of being strict if he needs to be. For a while I thought that just made him my idol...but then he took the time to comfort me. Make sure I was okay...” Her voice trails off, and she seems unsure of how to continue.

I nuzzle her as I take up the narrative a moment. “Suffice to say, her mentor and I discussed Pinchy’s situation there and her possible place here. Emotional talks were had, then she became my daughter.”

Mom and Dad have given up speaking for now and are simply listening.

“A while back, my magic started adapting to how this universe’s works.” Pinchy giggles, tapping her horn. “I was taught to gather energy from my environment, but that doesn’t really work here. I think Twilight said something about my magic mirroring Dad’s?” She turns to me for confirmation.

I nod. “Yes, because I’m the source of magic she is closest to most often. Thus leads us back here, the small explosions are from her essentially relearning how to use magic. This includes the usual instabilities that come with that.”

The pegasus mare nods. “Yes, we got lucky you had more internal surges when you were young.”

Meanwhile, Dad has a more mystified look at the story. “So, all that really happened?” I nod and he looks down for a moment before coming back up with a small smile. “Well, I guess, no matter how it came about, we have a new addition to the Nexus family.”

Pinchy tilts her head to the side, thinking about this. “...does that make me Ruby Nexus? Because that name sounds awesome!”

I tussle her mane as I say teasingly, “But then what would I call you if not ‘Pinchy’?”

“Ruby is good. After all, it’s the name you gave me!” She beams brightly at me.

I put on an obviously fake sad face. “Yeah, but everypony gets to call you that, I like having my own name for you.”

Her little forelegs flail, her eyes wide. “I can still be your Pinchy, Dad! Ruby Pinch Nexus!” Her horn lights up, the words starting to form in the air.

The blue unicorn stallion interrupts the little mini drama fest. “You know your name doesn’t have to change right? It’s a family name, meaning it’s more of a way of identifying the family as a whole without having to put it in your name if you don’t want to. Sort of like how Rhino here is technically ‘Rhino of the family Nexus’ even though he legally only has a one word name.”

“I know!” Pinchy giggles, waving her hoof. “I just thought it was a nice thought!” Her light words poof into smoke. “...aw.”

I rub her mane. “Don’t worry, that’s what the lessons are for. Do you really want to be ‘Ruby Pinch Nexus’ though?”

“Why not? It sounds like an epic name!” She leaps off my back, bouncing in place. “Not to mention it has both the name you gave me and my family name!”

We all head back to the living room as something occurs to Mom. “Come to think of it... how is that marefriend of yours taking this development?”

Pinchy waves her hoof. “Mom’s warming up to the idea. We even spent some time together a few days ago!”

My winged parent nods. “Ok good, I was worried this might have been too much for her.”

Dad looks at the clock on the wall. “Well, we can’t hang around too much longer today since we need to make sure the inn still has rooms available. We’ll still be around for another day or two, but was there anything else we needed to know right now?”

Pinchy opens her mouth to speak, but is interrupted by a squeak from her mane. She looks up, surprised. “Lucky? Is that you?”

The white mouse pops out, a golden bit in his mouth.

Mom shrieks loudly and instantly flies and hovers near the ceiling.

I wince as I rub my ringing ears. “Been awhile since she put her lungs into a shriek like that...”

The pegasus doesn’t say anything as she has her eyes locked onto the small bit of white fur in Pinchy’s mane.

The filly looks up at her, frowning softly. “Mimi, it’s alright! Lucky’s my friend!” He taps her horn with the bit. “Oh, thanks! A couple more and I can afford that one thing!”

Mist laughs nervously. “Right... a friend...” She slowly flutters down but maintains her distance from the rodent.

I look to Pinchy. “What is this surprise you’re trying to afford anyway?”

She stares blankly at me for a moment. “...nothing special?” She quickly turns and starts walking to her room. “...got the date right...right?”

I watch as she leaves, curiously. “I wonder what that was about...”

Chapter 73: Days and Nights

***Wednesday, Day 94***

**Veterinary Clinic**

I scribble down the last of my notes before turning to my current patient. “Alright Miss Joe, all you have to do is keep that walking cast on for about two and a half weeks. Drink plenty of fluids, try not to put too much weight on the cracked hoof if possible, and everything should seal up nicely.”

The familiar bovine face from my frequent milk stocking trips smiles thankfully at me as she steps down from the examination platform. “Oh, thank you Doctor. Sorry for troubling you about this, I just lost my balance after that rain we had the other day. Never know where the rocks are in all that mud.”

I hold open the door for her as she heads back to the lobby. “No trouble at all, accidents happen. See you tomorrow then for my next batch?”

She giggles, as all the cows tend to do when they discuss my milk consumption for some reason. “Oh don’t worry dear, we have yours already set aside and ready for when you drop by. You know, we never did get to meet the little one that seems to drink it almost as much as you do.”

The door slides open as two forms, one smaller than the other, walk in. I glance at my daughter and marefriend as I smile knowingly at Daisy Joe. “Well, here’s your chance.”

The happy filly waves as they approach, an excited grin on her face. "Hi, Dad! Who's your friend?" She gives Daisy a curious look, leaning over as much as possible without falling off Fluttershy's back.

I gesture to the cow. "Pinchy, meet one of the ones responsible for all that milk you and I put away. She was just talking about wanting to meet you when I got done fixing her up."

Her eyes light up and her ears perk up a bit. "Really? That's great!" She leaps off my marefriend's back, landing in front of Miss Joe. "Thank you for the milk! It's really delicious!" She glances at the cast. "I hope you get better soon!"

Daisy smiles at the filly. "So you're the one making this stallion have to visit us girls twice as often eh? Aren't you a cute one? Don't worry about this old thing." She wiggles the cast a bit. "I just won't be quite as fast as I usually am." The bovine leans down and whispers conspiratorially. "Between you and me, I'm actually looking forward to having a doctor's note saying I don't have to go running around."

Pinchy gives a little wink, giggling softly. "I understand completely. And I apologize for having Dad visit you so much, but I think it should be a compliment!"

The cow straightens up. "Who said it was a bad thing? He's our most frequent customer now!" She looks back at me. "Though if you come up with any more little ones with this same appetite, we'll have to give you a discount just for how often you'll need to come by."

I put on a dramatic grimace. "Oh boy... I don't even want to think about how much i'll need at that point." My face goes back to normal as I laugh. "But I don't think we're near ready for another few sets yet." I spot Fluttershy nodding in agreement with a small blush on her face.

"Suit yourself then, dear. I should start getting back to the girls, have a nice day now!" We all return Daisy's departing wave as she leaves.

Pinchy turns to me, smiling brightly. "She's really nice. Funny, too!" She glances at Fluttershy for a moment before leaning in to whisper into my ear. "Am I really not going to get a brother or sister anytime soon? Does the stork have a grudge against you, Dad?"

I flinch at the veritable Pandora's box Daisy unknowingly opened. "Umm... let's just say that there are certain steps that will need to be taken before we get close to the point where you get siblings..."

Fluttershy has turned a beet red and is nodding furiously as her mouth is unwilling to move.

She looks from me to Fluttershy and back, confused. "...does this have to do with that talk you gave me? You know, when I found you and sensei after your sparring match?" She scratches her head, frowning in concentration.

"Rhino..." Fluttershy starts, "what is she talking about?"

I speak quickly. "An impromptu explanation on the concept of 'Mommy and daddy hugs' that I worked hard to not actually go into any depth about-change of subject time!" I focus on Pinchy. "So how was hanging out with Fluttershy?"

"Really fun!" She beams, hugging my marefriend's foreleg. "We mostly stayed at her house, but I got to play with a few of her animal friends! Did you know she has a couple of ferrets?"

"I didn't know that. It's hard for me to keep track of all the animals she has over at her place." I give Fluttershy a thankful look while I continue. "So what else did you do on your half day off from school?"

"...um...well, Sweetie and her friends came by for a bit." Pinchy looks up at the ceiling, thinking for a bit. "We played outside with the animals for a bit, Scootaloo suggested we try falconeering - I think that's what she called it - and Sweetie and I practiced magic." She grimaces a bit. "...I feel bad for startling Harry...but I got one of my spells to finally work properly!"

"Oh? Which one?" I ask. "I know we've been practicing mainly with levitation just so you can get back your basic daily actions, but I didn't know you were trying other ones too."

"Yep! Watch!" She closes her eyes and concentrates. A few green sparks emerge from her horn, floating up and writing words in cursive. She looks up, beaming brightly at what it says - 'F. S. Braveheart'. "Ta-da!"

I beam at her. "That's wonderful Pinchy!"

Fluttershy giggles. "You should have seen her and Sweetie Belle jumping around in happiness. It was so cute."

I think for a moment. "It looks like I'll have to do something special for our next lesson..."

She tilts her head, looking up at me, her wide eyes filled with curiosity. "What do you mean, Dad?"

I look away with a smirk. "You'll see~"

A rumble in the distance catches my attention as it slowly grows closer and closer.

Pinchy looks like she wants to know now, but the noise distracts her, as well. "...what is that?"

I walk out the front door and look down the street. As I see a dust cloud in the distance, I squint my eyes to try and tell what it is, and I immediately run back inside as soon as I do. I lock the doors and move some chairs in front of them before turning and facing the others.

Fluttershy looks at me worriedly. "Rhino, w-what is it?"

I look at the two of them with horror in my eyes. "It's an army of Pinkie Pies."

***That evening***

**Ponyville streets**

Hydro and I are making our way to one of the newer guy’s night activities, bowling.

As we walk I notice my friend being a bit broody tonight. “Something wrong, Hydro?”

“Nothing besides my relationship with Applejack having some friction lately.” Hydro grumbles.

This peaks my interest seeing as, if anything, his and Applejack’s relationship has been smooth sailing, “What happened?”

He sighs and speaks in a tone that says how irritated the situation has him. “She has been questioning the integrity of our relationship since we haven’t said ‘I love you’ to each other yet. Apparently she got the idea because one of our friends said it to his own mare...”

I take a wild guess. “Volt.”

The red stallion nods. “Exactly. I never thought I would have to live up to the bar set by him of all ponies..”

A thought occurs to me. “You know... that does actually explain something Fluttershy tried to bring up the other day... she never actually said the word ‘love’ but she did seem to be trying to see where we were in regards to our relationship.”

He looks over to me. “How’d it go for you?”

I think a moment about how to respond. “Suffice to say... I spent that the entire time Pinchy was with her friends just hanging out with Fluttershy and showing small signs of affection. At the end, we agreed to continue our way of just going at our own comfortable pace... though I think she did end up jumping us ahead a few small steps.” I see the look he is giving me. “No, not in that way.”

He smirks as he faces forward. “I didn’t say a word.”

Soon enough we arrive at the bowling alley where the others are waiting. Included in the group besides our usuals is the quiet newcomer Pop Filter, whom I convinced to tag along. In a few minutes, we have a nice lane to ourselves and start setting up.

I check if everypony is ready. “Alright, everypony got their balls?”

Hydro just looks at me silently until I realize what I said and silently facehoof.

Blue reaches below himself and states, “Yep, still there,” before pulling out a blue bowling ball from under his chair.

Volt takes on a big smile “I am ready to have a ball.”

I can barely hear a subdued chuckle from Filter’s direction.

Atom quips from where he eyeing up the lane. “Are we doing anything to make this interesting?”

I respond with partial joking, partial seriousness. “I certainly hope not, I pretty much suck at this with the occasional lucky toss.”

“I’m mostly here to have fun. So basically I’m optimistically terrible.” Volt answers.

Everypony else pretty much shrugs it off with varying comments on ‘eh, we’re okay.’ The game begins and the pins start dropping, more so for some than others.

“So anything interesting happen while I was out of town?” Volt questions.

Atom remarks casually. “Well, beating Sapphire was the big one, but the only other thing I can think of was the Pinkie Pie incident and you were here for that.”

Volt answers back “The problem with all the Pinkie Pie clones? Yeah luckily we were all here to round them up.” He then proceeds to blow on his hoof and rub it against his chest. “Not to mention Twi blasting the fakes to kingdom come. She is awesome like that”

Blue turns to the earth pony of the group. “By the way Hydro, thanks again for letting us hole up in the dam during the worst parts of the Pinkie Flood.”

He smirks as he rolls a spare. “It’s times like that I’m grateful I work behind walls that are reinforced by concrete thicker than a pony is long.”

I turn to Atom as something occurs to me. “Oh, by the way, everything go well with Sapphire?”

He nods. “Yeah, got him on the prison train bound for Canterlot yesterday. I heard they got him a nice cell in the same block as Torchlight.”

The bowling continues, Hydro and Atom vying for the lead while the rest of us simply try to beat each other for nothing more than to say we weren’t in last place. Eventually things wind down as we get some overpriced drinks and food from the concession area. Balls roll, pins crash, and ponies cheer and rage as the time goes on. Finally the last ball is rolled and the score is tallied up. Surprisingly enough, in last place is Blue, who ran into a truly astounding streak of bad luck that I almost believe was where my own stroke of good luck came from. On the complete opposite end of the board is the overall winner, Atom, who won by a single pin in what was easily the closest game I have ever seen.

I check on Filter as we all head out and he states that he had a better time than he thought he would and is looking forward to next week. All in all, a very good-natured guys night with no unexpected developments.

***Volt and Hydro***

As everypony starts to head to their respective homes, the earth stallion is hailed by the electric unicorn.

He raises a hoof as he approaches the mechanical engineer. “Hey! Hydro! Buddy! Amigo!”

Hydro gives him a flat look because of the odd greeting. “Hey. You need something?”

“Well, okay.... I have kind of this odd favor to ask you. You are one of my more physically fit friends and I was just wondering how you went about obtaining such.... muscle mass.” Volt stammers.

Hydro looks surprised, not expecting that. “Oh... well, really it’s just because I do everything by hoof. All those pipes and metal parts over at the dam don’t move themselves. So... the short answer would be: exercise.”

“Well I do most of my work by hoof also and I do try to go for jogs every morning before I work, but I don’t seem to be getting a lot of payoff. So I feel I could use some help becoming a more well built stallion.”

“Well, earth ponies tend to build muscles more easily, but what’s with the sudden interest?”

Volt sighs, “Well Twilight and I started this new literary play reading exercise which is sort of like this role playing thing... well anyway. I feel like I have been getting some signals...”

***Flashback to Golden Oaks one day***

Twilight comes up the stairs, levitating three books. She lays down on the bed where Volt is waiting and sets the books down as she starts, “Ok, today I thought we could try reading one of these books. Let’s start with a high school romance.”

“Okay sounds like fun.” Volt quips optimistically.

Spike’s voice is heard outside the door. “You better wait for me to walk out the door. The last thing I want to hear is you reading mushy junk out loud to each other. And I especially don’t want to walk in on you...” The dragon shudders “making out again.”

“Anyway” Twilight begins annoyed as the front door slams shut. “Let’s begin our little activity.”

***Golden Oaks Library (Several pages later)***

"Then the tall muscular guitar savvy stallion was crowned prom king and the egg headed yet beautiful school mare was crowned the prom queen. HE held her close with his well toned fore hooves and into her ear, ‘I love you’." Twilight said with an elated sigh.

***Present time***

Volt looks at his own forearms lacking, while Hydro takes in what he just heard. “So basically, you feel insecure about not being like a male romance novel character in that one session?”

“Well it wasn’t the only time this happened.” Volt answers

***Another time***

“Lets move on to my second romance novel. I will play the princess and you will play the handsome royal guard.”

Volt blushes a little “Oh you.”

***Golden Oaks Library (Several more pages later)***

"While the princess was indeed beautiful her love of reading and learning kept her introverted. But the tall, handsome, and well physically built stallion that she ran into on a daily basis finally saw her as the flower she really was. When she had fallen over he helped her back onto her hooves with ease thanks to his obvious strength. They both proceed to make the most of the moment by engaging in an intimate kiss that seemed lasted forever." Twilight hugged the book while repeating the last few lines with her lips puckered out expecting Volt to play along.

Volt sits there with somewhat of a confused look on his face. “Um Twi?”

She opens her eyes and looks at him. “What’s wrong Volt?”

"Twilight a lot of these stories have a character that represents you really well, but perhaps is there one that would represent me better?" Volt asks.

She holds up the third book she brought “I have just the solution.”

***Present***

“It wasn’t a solution.” Volt deadpans.

***Golden Oaks Library (Several well written and thought provoking pages later)***

"The intelligent and beautiful yet unsocial mare went with her short and somewhat feeble stallion companion. They had been on a long and arduous journey, but it hadn't been in vain. The magic of their love changed the stallion into tall and brawny stallion. He used his new strength to carry her to their beautiful wooden cabin where they shared the rest of their lives happy and in love.”

Volt sat there staring at Twilight “Well I definitely feel somewhat of a connection....”

***Present***

Hydro nods. “Yeah, definitely starting to see a pattern there.”

“So you will help me?” Volt says

The red stallion puts a hoof to his chin in thought. A chuckle rumbles from his throat just as a smile slowly spreads across his face. “You know what? Sure,” he pats the other pony heftily on the back, “I’ll help you out.”

Chapter 74: Mountain Battle

***Sunday, Day 98***
**Midday**

Days had passed as normal for most of the ponies in the group. Rhino’s parents had stayed for a few days and even accompanied Pinchy when she spent some time at Fluttershy’s house one day. Other than that, the only notable thing is the rather intense training regimen Volt is now enrolled in thanks to Coach Hydro.

Volt had mentioned jogging as his current exercise, while Hydro had approved of this, he also said it was not enough. Volt was now running while burdened with rocks in his saddlebags. Sweet Apple Acres also now has a new volunteer thanks to the electric unicorn. Hauling carts, lifting bales, even taking the plow for short amounts of time while Big Macintosh takes a break.

As one might expect, there are a few forgone results of this training tartarus. The first is that Volt now has the habit of dropping unconscious whenever he can to recover energy. The second is that he would inevitably get hurt, namely when he got stuck on a rock when plowing the field and jerked his foreleg out of its socket, putting him essentially out of commission.

This means of course, that when Orion comes around to let us all know that another fragment is slowly flaring up, both the electric stallion and his self-appointed nurse Twilight are both unable to attend. DAISI D is also absent this trip, her exertions in the last one having stripped many of her gears leaving her creator to repair them when he has time. Thus the same group from last trip again make our way through the forest, again in a different direction.

The trip is slower this time around, apparently this shard is only slowly warming up unlike the flaring tendencies of the others. We soon reach the outer edge of Rambling Rock Ridge, a mountainous area on the edge of the Everfree. A quick spell from Rarity reveals the shard high up on the mountain closest to us.

However, it is not as easy as we would have thought. As we approach the base, the sliver of star begins to shine brightly as its flare finally kicks in at full force. A large rumble rocks the area causing us all to freeze-

-as the mountain begins to move.

A gravel-like groan echoes as the base shears itself in half vertically, revealing itself to be a pair of thick legs. The sides split as two arms bearing thick, rough fingers, vegetation grown on the knuckles, stretch. Finally, a formation of rocks near the top shift in various ways until two small boulders rise up to reveal glowing eyes behind them.

At last, a large cave opens a distance below the eyes as a deep groan once again echoes, declaring to the world that this is not a mountain... but a colossus!

All of us stare open mouthed and silent as the giant creature raises one of it’s arms to paw at the spot where the shard is embedded in its stone hide. Due to the arms size and shape however, it is unable to reach it. The creature grumbles unhappily and slowly raises one of its feet before slamming it down with an earth shaking thump a distance away. The other foot soon follows as the being begins trudging off.

We soon regains our senses and run quickly after the giant of stone. The colossus seems docile in its wandering as the light shines from the shard upon it. If anything, it looks like something that was rudely awakened and now only wishes to be able to sleep once more.

“So how are we suppose to get it?” Orion pants out as we run.

The earth pony of the group deadpans. “Well, half of you are pegasi.”

“Yeah, we just fly up and snag it off it. Simple.” Blue states confidently.

The white stallion gulps as he looks warily at the colossus in the distance. “I suppose...”

I spot a figure quickly moving along the ground towards the goliath. “Whatever you’re going to do, do it quickly. Our competition is here.”

Atom flaps his wings as he darts forward. “Alright boys, let’s fly.”

***Aerial team***

The three pegasi fly ahead through the dusty ridge to where the titan is clambering. All the while keeping the aforementioned figure in sight as it tries to reach the giant.

The black stallion smiles as they close in on their quarry. “Looks like we might beat him there.”

The purple-clad diamond dog chooses that moment bursts out of a cloak he was wearing and jumps onto the leg of the colossus. He begins climbing the rocky limb quickly, managing to start leaping up certain parts of the lower half of the leg to gain more distance. Atom takes notice and pursues him around the leg. The black pegasus follows the dog closely until he loses track of him amidst the jagged hide of the beast. Suddenly, Amethyst appears from the shadow of the rocks and leaps onto Atom, using the momentum to throw him harshly into the other leg. The dog then uses a hooked rope to attach himself back to the original leg and continue moving upward. Meanwhile, Blue and Orion manage to fly to the shoulders and grab the star piece only for it to be immediately taken by a well thrown grapple-hook from Amethyst.

“Are you still trying to out-hunt us? I thought you learned your lesson last time?” The dog grins as he takes the shard from the hook.

Blue shouts down to him as he dives, “And I thought you would have learned your lesson after we beat your friend!”

Amethyst is unaffected by the taunt. “Oh yes. A shame what happened to Sapphire, but then again he was always too wrapped up in his chemicals to take fights seriously. Regardless, let us focus on our own fight.”

The dog puts up his fists in a playful manner acting like he wants to engage in a fair fight. Both Blue and Orion look at each other before the former shoots an air blast at him. Amethyst dodges barely and pretends to teeter on the edge before settling back into place and reaching into his pocket. He pulls out what appear to be marbles and begins to fiddle with them in his open palm.

“Would you all be willing to play a game of marbles? I can play pretty well even in the harsh winds up here.” The dog smiles cheekily.

Orion flies slowly around the canine, looking for an opening. “Are you just going to sit there and mock us?”

Blues, meanwhile, is still glaring at the one that defeated him last time. “What’s gonna stop us from just beating you while you sit and fool around?”

The wind seems to pick up slightly as the ponies have a standoff with the diamond dog. A unsettling smile stretches across Amethyst's face. “My turn of course.” Instantly, the dog uses his fingers to launch one of the marbles right in between the plating on Blue’s wing gear and lodge itself in the muscle of the wing.

The blue pegasus cries out in pain as his wing tenses up and he begins to plummet groundward. Orion looks down immediately to try and react to Blue’s fall only to see Atom coming from below, already on rescue duty.

“Can you fly on your own?” Atom asks.

Blue winces in pain as he tries to flap his wing to no avail. “No I Can’t move it. Which also means my gauntlet power is limited now.”

“Such a shame, I hate it when I win too fast at his game.” Amethyst chimes in. He then aims another marble, this time at Atom. “But I do like two-for-one points.”

Orion looks decidedly at the diamond dog and back to his friends in danger before charging at the diamond dog to attempt to draw his attention. As he closes in at a breakneck pace, Amethyst does one of his high jumps up into the air and launches a marble right into the back of the white stallion’s head. Blinded by the pain, Orion falls off course and crashes into the neck of the colossus. Meanwhile, Atom has caught Blue, so the two try and attack from their tandem position, only to miss and make even more of a hassle out the predicament.

Atom growls as he holds Blue underneath himself, his wings working for two. “This isn’t going to work.”

The other stallion, as comfortable with being flown as the average pegasi, which is to say, not very, comments. “You could always drop me off.”

Atom narrows his eyes at the purple opponent. “We can’t let this guy have any chance of escape. We have to try and keep on him, even if that means some dangerous dodging.”

Meanwhile Orion is slowly coming too as he finds himself shifting among the grinding stone plates that make up the hide of the colossus.

“Ugh. What happened?” He mumbles, before reaching his hoof out to support himself on the moving stone, only for his hoof to sink in marginally on the smallest plate. His train of thought is immediately cut off by a roar from the colossus as its hand immediately comes up to scratch the general area of the irritation. Orion, meanwhile, flattens his body up to not get hit by the lumbering limb. Soon after the hand is pulled away, he carefully moves away from the the nexus of stones.

He takes notice of the design and how they move rhythmically, the raised smaller plate in the center of the point where many larger ones would otherwise collide. A sort of stone pressure point. “Interesting.”

Back down around the shoulders, Blue and Atom are performing strenuous dodge movements to make sure the marbles being launched at them don’t hit their remaining set of wings. This doesn't mean they haven’t taken a few body shots though. Amethyst on the other hand, hasn’t taken any damage from the two pegasi’s sloppy attempts at a counter attacks.

Atom is visually frustrated. “We’ll be tenderized before this is over. Our offensive is embarrassing.”

“At least your sword is more reliable than my gauntlets right now. I barely can get enough charge to form a single blast-” Blue is cut off by his immediate view of Orion below. The white pegasus is making frantic movements with hooves and wings as he points up to Amethyst and down to the neck area. He then finishes it up with what looks like a blast motion at the small plate and a large hoof swing.

Blue puts on a smile “Want to make a gamble on a game of charades?”

“What?” Atom says confused.

“Drop me and charge Amethyst to lead him down to the neck.” Blue says simply.

Atom puts on a surprised look. “Have you gone mad?!”

“Better than being dead!” Blue wiggles out of Atom’s grip and starts falling.

Atom takes Blue’s advice and charges Amethyst, barely dodging the marbles and taking a large horizontal swing. The dog dodges and hops around the shoulders dodging the swing with ease. The pegasus stallion on the other hand, has rigid focus as he moves his opponent closer to the edge he needs before winding up and taking one final swing. Amethyst takes a small hop backwards before realizing the sword extended in length with this swing and actually hit him, pushing him off the edge of the giant.

Blue, who had fallen further than he would have liked to during Atom’s little rumble, takes notice that their target had begun falling as well. With this in mind, he charges his one shot by flapping his good wing as much as he can before firing all he has in Orion’s direction. The latter meanwhile is using his bright white coloring to frame the aforementioned sensitive spot so that they don’t lose track of it.

“Hit the weak spot for maximum damage.” Orion mumbles as the blast hits his desired location, causing him to stumble away from the impact. He jumps away from the area and takes flight as a large roar of pain erupts from the colossus. Amethyst, meanwhile, confused about what they were doing, takes his hook out and attaches it to the side of the titan to stop his fall.

“You all realize I’m the one you are suppose to be fighting right?” The dog yells as his momentum carries him back up in an arc.

Blue looks up and yells before he is out of earshot. “Yeah, but we thought you could use a hand.”

In that moment the colossus’ hand flies up at a high speed to swipe whatever was attacking his pained neck. Unfortunately Amethyst happens to be right in the impact path as he is hit by the massive hand before he can dodge. Like the mosquito being swatted by the larger creature it annoyed, the dog flies off at high speed, his flight ending with a muffled thump as he crashes into the ground. Meanwhile, Orion dives down as fast as he can to catch the falling Blue before he’s too far gone. The stallion flaps and flaps as he tries to catch up to the other, but doesn’t gain speed fast enough. As Blue begins to realize his doom, he begins to flail his one wing frantically, before he disappears in a rainbow blur.

A familiar prismatic-maned pony gives him a cheeky grin. “You know, you boys were doing really well in that fight for most of it. Try to have a plan to get out of it in one piece next time.”

Blue puts on an ecstatic look. “Boy, am I happy to see you-” A thunderous crash cuts him off.

***The ground group***

The three of us who have been on the ground the whole fight having been running after the colossus the entire time. Mostly the terrain has been flat rock, so it hasn’t been that bad aside from the massive thumps of each giant step. As the fight wrapped up and we see Amethyst defeated, Hydro and I let out a cheer.

Rarity however, lets out a shriek.

The thunderous crash cuts off any question from my friend and I as we see what she had saw coming. An actual mountain that we had been running next to, had the unfortunate luck to be in the path of the colossus’ flailing arm. The stone limb seems to almost shear through a section about midway up the tower of rock, meaning everything above it comes tumbling down.

The area surrounding us becomes dark as the light is blocked off by rocks and dust bearing down on us. It all happens so fast as some stones thunder the down the mountainside and others simply freefall.

I vaguely hear the shouts of the pegasi just before I am deafened by the crashing boulders around us. Dust envelopes the area around us, bringing visibility to zero. My eyes water even as my ears ring as I try to figure out where I am as thuds echo around me. I vaguely feel a sharp stab of pain in my rear right leg as a rock of unknown size hits it, causing me to stumble and limp from then on.

I don’t know how long I stay in that brown-grey limbo, wandering. All I know is that eventually, I can start to make out the sound of my own voice shouting for the two who had been with me. I find a white shape on the ground, revealing itself to be the fashionista, covered in minor cuts and bruises from the shards of the falling rocks, but otherwise unharmed as she takes shelter in the shadow of a relatively intact boulder.

I say her name, but she does not hear me. She remains curled up in a protective ball until I crouch down, wincing on my injured leg, and nudge her with my nose. She uncurls and sees me, her eyes watering as well, as she slowly gets up, visibly shaken from the experience. I motion with my head for her to follow me and she does so, shakily, but steadily.

As I turn my thoughts to my missing friend, a corner of my mind flares into life, more intense than I have ever felt before. The mental link he and I seem to have, usually a source of unlikely coincidences in thinking or simply knowing what the other is doing without any other information other than gut feelings, is now screaming at me. I don’t know how I know, but I turn and limp in a specific direction, knowing my friend would be there.

As I close in, I begin to worry, the screaming link only seems to get louder and louder. Finally, a dark shape can be seen in front of me. I am vaguely aware of Rarity looking around besides me as I trudge closer. A red shape soon shows itself among the piles of rocks and boulders that make up the dark mass. Much like before, the shape lying on the ground does not respond when I call it’s name. As I close in, I realize exactly why the link had been screaming as it had...

… the pool of red spreading from its groaning red owner.

Chapter 75: Wounds

***Sunday, Day 98***
**Late Evening**

“Sir, I really don’t think you should get out of bed. Your leg-”

I cut off the mare, my patience very much strained from today’s events. “Nurse, my leg was dragged through the Everfree without any sort of medical attention. I’m sure it can survive moving from this room to a chair down the hall, especially bandaged up as it is. I have more important things to be ready for.”

I make my way down the hall, the tell-tale ‘clop, clop, clop, thunk’ pattern of my steps already annoying me. I’ve been in hospitals before, but I’ve been totally comfortable in them. Perhaps it’s an acquired taste, but the identical halls, mostly white walls, and just overall atmosphere of them tend to make me feel either numb or stir-crazy. Currently, I’m on the latter side of that coin. One never gets quite used to the smell of a hospital either, some say it smells like antiseptic, but to me it doesn’t smell at all, which is perhaps more disturbing. Anywhere else you might smell the wind through a window, the smell of food, paper, varying perfumes and colognes, but here... there’s nothing.

After what is to me, an unacceptably long amount of time for the distance it was, I reach one of the chairs and plop down tiredly. After a moment, the sound of running hooves reaches my ears.

“Dad!”

I turn and see a familiar pink filly, followed by a canary-yellow mare close behind. “What happened? Aren’t you hurting right now?” She looks at my leg, a concerned expression on her face.

I try to stand up to talk to them, but Fluttershy stops me with a hoof to my chest as she pushes me firmly back down into the chair. She looks at me with that maternal stare as she asks, “Should you even be walking around right now?”

I don’t meet her eyes. “Technically no...” she opens her mouth to speak but I quickly cut her off, “I was careful getting down here and they gave me enough pain medicine for me to be okay for a while... I’m fine, really!” I wiggle my light green cast-covered limb and grit my teeth as I force a smile.

Pinchy frowns, a bemused look on her face. “You aren’t fooling anyone, Dad.” Her frown softens, and she moves closer, gently nuzzling my cheek. “We just want you to get better.” She turns to Fluttershy, smiling softly. “Right, Mom?”

The pegasus nods. “Right. Umm, how bad is it anyway?”

I tap my cast idly as I look around the hallway empty of other ponies. “Just a small fracture, I should be able to take this off in about a week and a half. I guess I lucked out to only get this... even if my nurse is a bit more restricting than the cast at times.”

The filly gently taps my cast, curious. “How did you even break it? And are the others as hurt as bad as you are?”

I nod down the hall. “Rarity’s just getting a final checkup. I don’t think they’ve found anything more than scrapes and bruises on her, though she did get to shelter quickly so that’s to be expected. Hydro...” my voice goes quiet.

Fluttershy puts her hoof on my shoulder. “Rhino... what about him?”

Not answering, I simply look further down the hall I had come to. Their eyes follow mine, coming to rest on a single set of double doors with a large red light lit above them.

My marefriend gasps as she covers her mouth with her hooves, her eyes shimmering on the brim of tears.

Pinchy has a somber expression, unable to look away from the door.

I nod quietly. “He was in pretty bad shape...” I hear another set of hoofsteps, but pay them no mind. “We found him, after the mountain collapsed... He was unconscious, and he had lost a lot of blood... We had to dig him out of the rocks. Rarity had some cloth in her bags, we used it to bandage him up to hold him together... Really had to wrap some parts...”

I break away from my memory trip to see Applejack a short distance away, listening intently with fear in her eyes. She silently motions for me to continue.

I pick up where I left off. “Orion took the shard, Atom landed to help me carry Hydro. We tried to move as fast as we could, but we had to be careful with him... Blue flew ahead... made sure there was an ambulance wagon waiting outside the forest... Rainbow flew off when we got in... We were separated when we got here, but managed to get the information from my nurse that Rarity was fine and Hydro was...” I look back at the doors, “Undetermined.”

Applejack lets out a shuddering gasp as Fluttershy quickly flies over to comfort her, leaving Pinchy with me. I sigh as I lean back at stare at the ceiling.

“Why?”

I look at the filly’s word, surprised at seeing her visibly tremble. “...why must the ones I care about get hurt?”

I lean forward as I reach out to her. “Pinchy?”

She turns to me, tears in her eyes. “...first mom...then dad...and now Uncle Hydro...” She sniffles, rubbing her snout with a foreleg. “...I-I don’t want to lose somepony else...”

My ears fold back as I pick up the filly and hold her close. “Hey now, Hydro’s a tough pony... It’s not gonna be easy, but I think he’ll pull through.” I gently wipe her tears. “We just have to be positive, okay?” I turn an eye to Applejack, who seems better, but still looks very shaky. “Not just for Hydro, but for Applejack.”

She silently nods, looking at the cowpony as well. “...I-I guess you’re right...” She glances back at the door, concern flashing across her face. “...h-he’ll get better...h-he has to...”

I stroke her mane as we look at the door. “That’s my girl... How did you and Fluttershy know to find us here anyway?”

“...well...” She looks up at me briefly. “...the Crusaders and I were at Mom’s house...and I overheard Rainbow telling her about what happened...” She sheepishly smiles, shrugging a bit. “...I ran to get here as soon as possible, and Mom followed after she sent the others to Apple Bloom’s house...”

I look back to the farm pony. “I guess either Rainbow told the Apples or the Crusaders did...” The red light is still bright. “Hmm, well, to keep our minds off bad things, how about we think about what we can do to help Hydro? Maybe you and your classmates can make get well cards or something?”

“We can do that.” Pinchy nods, smiling brightly. It seems as though she is getting back to her usual happy self.

Suddenly, the light over the door flicks off and a unicorn stallion comes out as he is removing his surgical mask. He sees us all waiting and motions us to one side of the hall.

Applejack immediately confronts him, looking like she is halfway between crying and breaking something. “Well, how is he? Is he alright?”

The stallion backs up as he answers. “He’s stable, we’ve moved him to Room 117. You can visit him if you like.”

The farmpony gallops off as fast as her legs could carry her, leaving the rest of us. I turn to the doctor, my voice serious. “How bad was it?”

His eyes meet mine. “You’re the doctor that came in with him?” I nod. “Then you know how close he was when we got him. I admit, it was touch and go for a while, but we did everything we could... given what we had to work with.”

My voice is raspy as I ask the next question. “And what about his...” My voice trails off.

He shakes his head. “Like I said, we did everything we could.”

Pinchy looks between us, confused. “...his...what? What are you talking about, Dad?”

I cringe. “Well, most of the damage was isolated to a specific area... It might just be best for you to see for yourself...”

The surgeon turns to leave. “As I said before, his room is 117. The anesthetic should be wearing off soon, so he might even wake up while you are there.”

We nod and quickly head to the designated room. When we open the door, we find the orange mare, her hat on the bedpost, with her hooves holding Hydro’s right one even as small sniffs can be heard coming from her. Fluttershy goes to stand next to Applejack, a small gasp confirming what I had feared as Pinchy and I walk around the other side of the bed.

Where his left foreleg would normally be, Hydro’s now stops at the shoulder. A swathe of bandages wraps the area, a small bit of blood on them. I look down to see how Pinchy is taking it, but she seems to be stunned more than anything else.

A groan comes from the red figure on the bed as his eyes crack open. “Ugh... what? Where am I?”

Applejack smiles as she quietly answers. “Yer in the hospital. Try not ta move too much.”

Hydro groans again. “Hospital... why... why am I...”

I answer the unfinished question. “We had a mountain collapse on us, you got hit the worst.”

He looks at me. “Don’t see where you got hit.”

I lift up my bad leg. “Just a crack, nothing too bad. How are you feeling?”

He rolls his eyes around a bit before shutting them. “Confused... groggy... can’t feel my left foreleg for some reason...”

The room goes silent at this statement.

He notices. “Hey, what’s with the quiet?” He sees Pinchy on my back. “Especially from you Ruby, usually you at least have something to say.”

She sheepishly smiles, rubbing the back of her neck. “...nothing I can say will diffuse the tension...sorry, Uncle Hydro...”

He shifts in the bed. "Why would there be tension-" He freezes. I can see the muscles in the shoulder working to move the mass that is no longer there. He looks down at where his limb should be. "What..."

I put my hoof on his shoulder. "I'm sorry bro, it's gone..."

He still stares at the empty space. "How..."

I explain as gently as I can. "During the collapse, it was crushed flat between two boulders... The damage was immeasurable... They couldn't save it..."

Hydro collapses backwards onto the bed, a stunned look on his face. I see Applejack’s hoof tighten around his remaining one as Fluttershy turns away. He speaks after a moment. “I... this is a lot to take in...”

I nod understandingly. “I know dude... I know... Sleep on it... we’ll help you get through this.” I offer my hoof to him and he manages a smiles as he frees his hoof from the farmpony long enough to brohoof me.

Pinchy pops up next to Applejack, a small box wrapped with gear-patterned paper in her hooves. “...I know that this might not help that much, Uncle Hydro...but hopefully, it’ll help you feel better!” She carefully puts the present down on the bed, smiling kindly at him.

He gingerly picks up the box and holds it as he opens it with his teeth. Once he removes the wrapping paper and opens the box itself, he lifts out a snowglobe. Not just any snowglobe though, this one has a water wheel in it almost exactly the same as his cutie mark. He smiles as he shakes it once before setting on the bedside table and turning back to the filly. “Now, who told you that I collect snowglobes?”

She smiles, looking up at me. “Dad did. This is from the both of us.”

Hydro looks up at me. “You remembered my birthday? Even with all this?”

I smile at him. “I know it’s not for another few days, but I think this is a good time for you to have it.”

He yawns as he pats Pinchy’s head. “Thanks, Ruby...”

She giggles. “It’s my pleasure! You look like you need some rest, though.” She turns to me, almost as if asking for confirmation.

I nod as I pick her up and set her on my back. “We’ll let you rest, I’ve got to go debate with the nurse that I’m well enough to go home.” Fluttershy sighs and shakes her head at me before she leads the way out of the room.
“Wait...”

I turn back at Hydro’s voice as Applejack speaks. “Don’t worry sugarcube, Ah’ll be stayin here with ya.”

He looks to her. “I appreciate that, but I need to ask Rhino one last thing.” He turns to me, his face serious. “What happened to the purple one?”

I word my answer carefully, given our company. “Merely a smudge in a crater now.”

He nods. “Good.”

Chapter 76: In The Woods

***Thursday, Day 102***
**Early morning**

*Beep, beep, beep, beep, bee- click*

My hoof draws itself back in from the reflexive swat to the alarm clock. I silently slip out of bed, careful not to make too much noise in case I wake the other inhabitants of the house. I grab my circles notebook and Blink downstairs to the kitchen. One quick glass of milk along with grabbing my saddlebags and I am out the door. Not towards work though, I have been given the week off due to my leg, which was still in its cast and made walking irritating. Instead, I traveled in the direction of the nearby Whitetail Woods.

As I walk down the path I had been going down for the past four days, my thoughts flash with their usual sequence that has been haunting me. Hydro in his hospital bed, Applejack by his side, the pain on our friend’s faces, Pinchy’s crying face, and of course, my own leg. I feel the small bit of adrenaline trickle into my system at these images.

Good, that means I’ll be focused.

I reach the familiar clearing, stumps mark its borders. Within it though, lies what some would see as the sight of some kind of attack. Limbs and sections of tree trunks litter the ground, each scored with dozens upon dozens of claw-like marks. Everything from scratches to straight punctures can be seen. For me... the piles represent progress. Not as fast as I would have liked, but progress nonetheless.

I drop my saddlebags at the edge of the clearing, fishing out my book with my magic as I do so. A quick glance to double check is all I need to make sure my most recent memorized circle is still accurate. With a large breath and a larger flare of my horn, two identical circles appear to either side of me. From them, arise two crystal daggers which float on either side of me without the assistance of levitation.

I plant my hooves and close my eyes, simply listening to the wind rustling the leaves around me. After a moment, the forest goes silent...

… My eyes snap open as my horn flares and I send a section of tree trunk the size of my own barrel hurtling towards me. I catch the wooden mass with the blade of one dagger, leaving another scratch on it even as I use the second dagger to parry it’s momentum away from me. The wood soars past me as my horn lights up and more arise from where they had fallen on previous days. Time and time again I assault myself with the projectiles, never moving from my spot so that I am forced to defend myself with the blades. Parrying, cutting, and blocking all blur in my mind as I dance the line between calculations and instinct. Finally, a piece of significant mass slips through and hits one of my uninjured legs as a fair speed, making me hiss in pain as I stop the attacks. The glow around my horn dies as I breathe heavily from the exertion.

“Sugoi!”

“Huh?” I look around curiously at the unknown word.

“Oops, sorry, Dad!” A pink filly steps out of the shadows, smiling brightly. “It’s Neighponese for ‘awesome’! But...” She stops in front of me, examining my cast. “...shouldn’t you be resting?”

I eye the filly. “The same could be said of you, young filly. Why aren’t you in bed?”

She looks at me with an even expression. “I’ve gotten used to waking up early to get ready for school. In my own way, of course.” She giggles, reaching back and readjusting her saddlebags. “It seems you have the same idea.”

I let out a long breath as I float over a water bottle from my own bags. “What do you mean? You’re always doing that cute wake-up yawn of yours whenever I come and get you out of bed in the mornings.”

“That’s so you don’t think something’s up.” She shrugs slightly, turning towards the wood pieces. “You’re further along than I am. Of course, I suppose that’s to be expected, right?” She lifts a piece up in her magic, smiling brightly. “Look, Dad! It’s not exploding!”

I nod as I take a swig of water, my daggers still floating next to me. “Good. That means on our next lesson we can move on to actual spells.” I pause for a moment as certain things she said click together. “Wait... waking up early, same idea, further along... Pinchy... what have you been doing?”

“Oh, that’s easy!” She opens up one of her saddlebags, pulling out her wooden kunai. “Practicing being a protector! I have my own private practice area and everything!”

I raise an eyebrow at her as I dispel my daggers. “You haven’t been doing anything dangerous, have you?”

“Just some spells and knife-work.” She grimaces, lifting up one hoof. “...I did sprain a hoof once practicing the Res spell, though...and there’s been a few explosions, as well...”

Paternal instincts cut my training session short as I immediately zip over the her and look over the hoof. I gently prod it in a few keys places as I ask, “Do any of these spots hurt when I put pressure on them?”

She stares blankly at me. “...Dad, it was weeks ago. It’s healed by now.”

“Oh...” I clear my throat to hide my embarrassment, “well, since you’ve been doing this for so long without my knowledge, show me where you’ve been training.”

“Okay!” She leaps up and turns, marching further into the woods. “This way!” I follow her until, eventually, she stops in front of a large, spanning shrub. She examines it closely, as if she was looking for something. “...should be somewhere near here...ah, here it is!” She pushes on a branch with a hoof, revealing a pathway through the hedge.

I look past her curiously. "How did you even find this?"

“My family used to come here in my own dimension. Dad said he even had their third date here!” She glances up at me before quickly averting her eyes. “...s-so yeah, this is my practice area!” She motions to a spot to the right, where a couple of trees are covered in notches, and a hole in one of them about halfway up. “That’s where I practice Res. I mark the bark to show how high I get before my control slips!”

“Hmm...” I look at the bark before looking back at her. “Is that from running up the tree or walking up the tree?”

“The one on the left is walking.” She frowns at the one with the crater. “The right is running. Still need to work on that...not as much as my invisibility one, but still.” She looks up at me, smiling brightly. “Anyways, I have a spot to practice each spell I know. And I still have a clear area for when I want to eat lunch here with my friends!” She shrugs slightly. “Haven’t yet, but it’s there. Just in case.”

“Your friends know about this? Even when I didn’t?”

“Not really...” She paws at the ground with a hoof, embarrassed. “...o-only Rumble and Dinky...b-back before I moved here...nopony else...” She moves away, pointing towards the other side of the clearing. “C-come on, I’ll show you where I practice invisibility!” She rushes over, moving in a curious pattern, as if avoiding some items on the ground.

I shrug off her darting movements and just make a beeline towards her, stepping over a few craters on the way. “I believe I know why you’re having so much trouble with a few of these, but I’ll save it for once we’re done with this little tour.”

“Sorry about those. Light clones aren’t that stable, here, for some reason...” She concentrates, making a floating ball of light so they can see this darker area better. There’s a mirror nearby, but Pinchy frowns at it. “...I don’t know why I have this here...I can’t see when the spell’s active...”

I quirk an eyebrow at this. “Wait, you mean you were blind when you were invisible?”

“Pretty much.” She tilts her head, confused. “Why is that surprising, Dad?”

I look around as I explain. “I suppose I just figured you had accounted for that... but maybe I was just distracted by your abilities to realize that adding a one-way inversal component to the spell was a bit above you right now.”

Pinchy blinks, staring at the mirror for a few moments. “...I don’t think I even know what that is, Dad.”

“Exactly my point.” I turn back to her. “So this is everything you’ve been up to?”

“Well...” She pushes the light orb with a hoof, causing it to rise into the air. As it does, the craters I walked over are revealed - several small holes in the ground, and what looks like the foundation work for a circular building. “...I’ve also been practicing the light clone, like I said before...the big one’s my first attempt...” She levitates over a small bucket, sheepishly smiling. “I’ve had this nearby ever since.” She nonchalantly sweeps a few glittering shards behind her with a hoof, looking away from me. “...ignore the crystals...they are not important...”

I narrow my eyes at her. “Pinchy...”

She flinches at my tone and sighs, embarrassed. “...I...I took a look in your rune dictionary...and found the crystal rune...”

A frown grows on my face. “I thought we talked about me slowly introducing you to runes at a decent pace for you to get used to them.” I sigh. “It’s my latest rune so I’m still fiddling with the combinations, I don’t know what could happen and I don’t want you messing with it until I can be sure most combinations aren’t dangerous...”

“Well, I do know what happens!” She holds one up to him, giggling softly. “They sparkle and shine! It’s really dazzling, Dad!”

I take it gingerly in my magic. “...Exactly what method are you using to create these? And for what purpose?”

“I just...focused my magic into the rune...” She frowns slightly, confused. “...I usually layer runes until I find a specific one that works...it’s how I made my Hard Light spell...”

I nod as I remember her short range light element discharge spell she used in her own dimension. “Fair enough, but that was in your old world, has that really worked well in this one?”

She sighs, tapping her horn. “I don’t really know...it just comes to me, for the light writing and the light ball...”

“That’s because those are less like spells and more like simple manipulation of magical energy. Sort of like levitation, but different.” I walk over to her and rustle her mane fondly. “But, since you finally have control over you levitation, I believe that qualifies you as stable enough for us to move onto the real magic.”

She looks up at me, eyes wide in excitement. “Really? Oh, that would be great, Dad!”

I smile at her. “Alright then, well, I don’t have the materials here for the first official next tier of lessons, but how about a little treat to show you what can be done?” My horn lights up as I draw a complex circle almost the size of my own body in the air next to me. “Do you know which spell this is?”

She looks at it carefully, eyes narrowed in concentration. She suddenly brightens up, smiling happily. “Oh, I remember this from your dictionary! It’s Res, right?”

I nod. Correct, now I’m assuming you’ve just been trying to use Res the way you were able to before right? Well, since you essentially have my magic now, why don’t you try using it my way? Learn this circle, and when you’re ready, write it on the underside of your hoof and stick it to the tree.”

“Okay!” She stares intensely at the circle, her eyes visibly looking over every inch of it. “...okay...I think I got it...” She tilts her head to one side, curious. “...which one do you change to make it go from smoothing out the surface to magnifying it’s flaws?”

I point to a large symbol in the circle right outside the core. “This one. Currently this is Hi-Res. Replacing this symbol,” my horn lights up as it changes, “to this one changes it to Low-Res. Also this spell is power dependant so the more power you use, the more effective it is, thus if you plan on skating around, you’ll find you need to monitor the power you put into it very carefully, otherwise you’ll probably crash.”

“Thanks! I’ll be sure to do that!” She looks down at her hooves, concentrating. “...let’s see...Low-Res...” Her hooves light up and promptly slip out from under her, causing her to yelp in surprise as she hits the ground. “...ow...I think I banged my chin...”

I wince as I walk over to her. “Yeah, did that my first time too... Also ended up doing the splits... not pleasant.” I stand next to her. “Here, try using me as a support until you find your balance.”

She nods, letting the circles disperse before leaning against me. “...let’s see...maybe I should try this systematically...” One of her hooves lights up, and she tentatively puts a bit of weight on it. “...so far, so good...”

I try to encourage her. “Easy does it, minimum power until you get a feel for it.”

“O-okay, dad.” She sticks her tongue out one side of her mouth, lighting up another hoof. “...two hooves...still doing well...” She activates the third one and starts sliding down my side. She panics, scrambling for purchase on the grass.

My foreleg wraps around her barrel. "Calm down, just relax and adjust."

Pinchy nods, closing her eyes and focusing. Soon enough, her legs stop flailing and she looks down, smiling brightly. “Hey...I think I have it!”

"Excellent, let's make sure." I let go of her and take a step back.

She wobbles slightly, but manages to stay upright. She grins, pumping a hoof in the air in her excitement. “Yay! I got it!” She puts her hoof back on the ground and uses it to push herself around, giggling a bit. “And I’ve got an extra hoof free to help me move around!”

I chuckle as she glides around the clearing. "Well, you seem to use it more like a scooter or skateboard than rollerblades like I do, but I suppose your way is easier until you have the control that comes with experience." Eventually I give in and start Resing around with her, just enjoying the time together. After a bit of time doing this, I skate ahead of her and turn around so I am facing her while going backwards. "Hey, did you want to go visit Hydro after this so you can show him your new trick?"

“Sure!” She smiles happily before pointing behind me. “By the way, you might want to watch out for-”

I suddenly run into a multi-armed log thing since I couldn't see where I was going.

“...the Wing Chun practice dummy...” She giggles, shaking her head playfully. “You’re silly, Dad.”

Author's Note

Go check out my newest story 'An Alternate Path' if you haven't already. I think most of you who like this one should also like that one.

Chapter 77: Adjusting to the New

***Sunday, Day 105***

**Morning**

A familiar pink filly rushes about her room, gathering together a few items she feels she needs. Putting everything into her saddlebags, she nods, grinning to herself. “That should be everything!” She puts her bags on, tightening the strap to make sure it doesn’t fall off.

I chuckle as I lean against the frame of her doorway, watching her. “Excited aren’t you?”

“Are you kidding, Dad?” She looks up at me, positively beaming. “Apple Bloom said that her cousin and I will get to join the Cutie Mark Crusaders!” She glances back at her flank for a moment. “Not that I’m not fine being a blank flank, of course. Still, I’ll be able to join their group officially!” She bounces around me, giggling giddily. “I hope I’ll get a cape like theirs!”

“I’m sure you will, Pinchy.” I walk over and run a hoof through her mane. “I was actually starting to wonder if you would ever become an official Crusader.”

She looks up at me, her head tilted to one side. “Of course I would. Scootaloo just had to finish the speech for the ceremony.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Huh, I would’ve thought Sweetie Belle was writing the script. You’ll have to tell me about it once it happens.” I look at the clock on the wall. “From what you told me, it looks like you’d better get moving in a second if you want to get to the station to meet the others in time. So, got everything you need?”

“I think so!” She gives me a quick hug before rushing out the front door, waving back at me even as her hooves light up. “See you later, Dad!”

I call after her she rushes out the door. “Don’t forget that I’m going to be at the hospital most of the day to support Hydro during his physical therapy! You can use the house if you need to, just let Specter know that you’re home!”

“Thanks! I’ll keep that in mind!” With that, she skates off down the street.

When they all arrive at the station, Apple Bloom and the others practically vibrate with excitement as they wait for the train. “This is great! We’re gonna have two new members in the same day, that almost doubles our numbers!”

Sweetie looks over to the pink filly of the group. “Sorry it’s taken so long to get the ceremony ready-”

Scootaloo looks over indignantly. “Hey! You gave me a minimum word count! What do you want from me?”

The white filly continues. “But at least we still had fun with you as our ‘unofficial’ member, right?”

Pinchy nods, smiling brightly. “You bet! I’m still surprised at all you do for your cutie marks!” She looks at the orange filly, tilting her head to one side. “...I still don’t understand why you thought spelunking would work.”

The pegasus looks away. “Hey, you can find all sorts of things in caves... we just found sap-filled roots instead of cutie marks...”

A train whistle blows in the distance, announcing the arrival of its engine. As the locomotive pulls in, the littlest Apple goes practically Pinkie as she tries to spot her cousin.

Applejack, escort for the fillies, decides to point out the obvious since apparently it isn’t quite obvious enough. “Apple Bloom, you've never met Babs Seed, remember?” She points to a door that just opened where a burnt orange filly with pinkish mane has just stepped out. “That’s her.”

The three founding crusaders rush over and barrage the newcomer with their excitement and welcomes before motioning both her and Ruby to follow them as they sprint off, leaving the two relatively on their own as Applejack follows the more rambunctious members of the group.

The pink filly smiles kindly, holding out a hoof. “Hi. Babs Seed, right? My name’s Ruby Pinch Nexus, but you can call me Pinchy!”

Babs shakes the offered hoof. “Nice to meet you, hay of a name you got there.”

Pinchy giggles, waving a hoof dismissively. “Nexus is my family name, but I think it’s too sweet to not use!” She puts a hoof to her chin, thinking a bit. “...say, would you like some help with your luggage?”

The Manehattan filly looks to the suitcase next to her. “It’s just the one bag, no big deal...”

“Are you sure?” She smiles softly. “I really want to help, but if you don’t want me to, that’s fine.” She turns so that she’s next to Babs. “If you don’t mind me asking, is there a reason you decided to visit your cousin?”

The filly turns away as she scuffs a hoof against the ground. “Oh you know, the usual reasons... meet family, get away from it all...” She looks up at the almost out of sight Crusaders. “We should probably get moving before we lose em.”

Pinchy frowns, believing that she wasn’t telling her everything but quickly covers it with a smile, nodding. “You’re probably right.”

***Ponyville General Hospital***

I enter the physical therapy area smoothly, having been given directions there by the helpful nurse upfront. The inside is about what I expected, various machines, walkways, weight, straps, and a few medical supplies in case of injury during rehabilitation. Luckily, the place seems to be empty of ponies other than the patient himself and his stetson-wearing marefriend, who had apparently beat me here.

I nod to Hydro as I walk up to the two of them. “Ready to get started moving on your own again?”

He nods grimly. “More than ready, though I wish they’d let me walk around the halls here instead of having to stay in a wheelchair.”

I carefully pat his back with a hoof. “Maybe they will if you show them how good you are in here.”

“Now sugarcube,” the farm pony begins, “Ah’m always one for bein’ stubborn and pushin’ yerself ta get through the hard things, but that don’t mean Ah want ya hurtin’ yerself more tryin’ ta do too much. Alright?”

The red stallion smiles, nuzzling her neck a moment. “I know what you mean. I’ll be careful.” He adjusts the small crutch the hospital had given him until he learned to walk with his new balance. “Let’s do this.”

***Apple Barn***

Apple Bloom rushes ahead of the others as she opens the door and gestures grandly inside. “Here it is! The official Cutie Mark Crusaders float for the Summer Harvest Parade!” It looks almost exactly like one would imagine a giant pumpkin float would look like.

Scootaloo nods. “As members of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, you'd be able to ride on it with us! It'd be totally fun.”

Pinchy steps forward, touching the float. “...this is amazing...I can’t believe I missed out on making this...”

As Babs looks on while giggling at the presentation, a familiar snobbish voice calls out. “Less like fun and more like funny looking!” The two local school bullies waltz in with their usual air of disdain.

Pinchy scrunches her nose up, confused. “...I think your timing was a bit off...either way, it wasn’t that good of a joke...”

Diamond Tiara blanches at the jab to her statement. Meanwhile, Silver Spoon decides to continue anyway. “We didn’t ask for the opinions of ponies who worship giant oranges.”

Apple Bloom deadpans. “It’s a pumpkin...”

The pink unicorn turns to the side, muttering to herself. “...I guess she needs stronger lenses...”

The headpiece-wearing filly recovers. “Don’t care. Who’s the new blank flank?”

The yellow filly puffs her chest out. “She's mah cousin, Babs. She's from Manehattan!”

Diamond turns to the out-of-towner. “Manehattan, huh? Well, I guess you have that going for you.”

Silver continues the interrogation. “Suppose you're gonna join their little club? What's it called?” She crosses her eyes and staggers. “The Cutie Mark Crusaders?”

Pinchy holds herself back, a growl forming in her throat. “...they’re only words...they can’t hurt you...”

Babs looks between the two groups before narrowing her eyes and blowing her mane out of her face. “More like the ‘cutie mark crybabies’!” She laughs under her breath as she moves to stand beside the bullies.

The pink unicorn blinks at this, stunned. “...what.”

Apple Bloom exclaims, “Hey!”

Diamond looks on approvingly. “Oooo, heh, big city attitude! I like it!”

Silver nods. “Mmhm, last time we got a new filly, we just got that one.” She motions to Ruby. “And we can all tell she’s nothing special.”

The filly in question quirks an eyebrow, unamused. “Really. So being from another...you know what, you don’t deserve to know that secret.” She sticks her tongue out at them.

Babs just laughs as she walks slowly towards the float. “You think that was attitude? I’ll show you attitude...” She kicks the front wheel off with a grunt.

Scootaloo gasps. “Oh no she didn't!”

As the three bullies laugh, a creaking sound comes from the float. Suddenly, it crashes down and rolls out of the barn, tearing itself apart as it goes. The four other fillies all rush to look at it go as the three mean ones laugh more.

The Manehattan filly smiles. “Looks like somepony's pumpkin just got squashed!”

Pinchy sighs, lowering her head. “...her timing was good...as much as I hate to admit it...”

Apple Bloom narrows her eyes. “When ah tell Applejack- “

Babs cuts her off. “You gonna tell Applejack what?” She stand over the bow-wearing filly.

Bloom shrinks back. “W-well, y'know, uh...”

“What're you, a snitch?”

The two snobby fillies walk past the group. “Come on, Babs, you should hang with us! Y'know, the cool ponies, not these babies!” The three make their exit.

Apple Bloom mutters in a stunned voice. “What... just happened?”

Scootaloo responds sadly. “I think Babs just went to the dark side.”

Sweetie comments. “We have to tell Applejack!”

AB vetoes the idea. “No, we’re not snitches!”

Scoots nods. “Yeah, and we’re not babies!”

The white unicorn looks down. “Then... why do I feel like crying?”

Pinchy gently places a hoof on Sweetie’s back. “We’ll figure this out...I promise...”

***Ponyville General Hospital***

“Argh!” Hydro lets out a harsh sound of both frustration and adrenaline as he plants all three hooves on the ground again to prevent himself from face planting into it.

“Easy there, sugarcube.” Applejack warns. “You ain’t meant to be gettin’ around without the crutch just yet, just seein’ if you can balance without it.”

“That’s a big fat no…” The stallion grumbles as he slowly picks himself up for the fifteenth time. Having gotten decent at walking around with the crutch, despite the transition from leg to stiff rod, the transition to nothing supporting that particular part of him had not gone nearly as smoothly. He had barely managed to get one step during his best attempts at trying to get around. “Rhino, can you bring the crutch back over so I can at least stand up long enough to think?”

I nod, bringing the aforementioned locomotion aide to him and positioning it appropriately, quite literally giving my friend a leg to stand on.

“Thanks,” he grunts out. A frustrated sigh escapes his lips as he adjusts. “I gotta find some way to get around… they won’t let me leave before then, and they say the crutch isn’t a permanent solution.”

“You don’t have to rush you know…” I gently remind him.

“Yeah,” AJ agrees, “ya’ll are free to stay here as long as ya want until ya get better.”

Hydro snorts. “If I stayed here as long as I wanted, I would have been out of here the day after I was admitted. They still won’t let me leave until I can get around, but I can’t without anything holding me up…” He stands there, thinking for a moment before he seems to get an idea, only to sigh and look at me with a face that clearly says he hates the words that are going to come out of his mouth. “Rhino… I need you to go get Pinkie.”

“I’m sorry, what?” I say blankly. Clearly I misheard that, how would she help?

“I have a feeling on what she’ll do,” he continues. “Just… ask her to not make too many pirate jokes.”

***Crusader Clubhouse***

Scootaloo sighs. “I still can't believe she ruined our pumpkin float.”

Bloom scoffs. “I still can't believe I'm related to such a big stinkin' bully!”

Pinchy frowns, speaking up from a corner of the room. “...I wonder if that’s really the case...”

Sweetie Belle sighs. “Even if she isn’t usually one, she sure is acting like one now... What are we gonna do?”

AB takes on a triumphant pose. “We're gonna build a new float, that's what.”

Like a rogue weather pegasus, Scootaloo rains on her parade. “Why bother? She'll probably just ruin that one, too.” This causes another sigh from the apple filly.

Sweetie speaks up. “We could always tell Applejack.”

Pinchy raises a hoof. “I second that plan.”

Remembering Babs’ words, the other two fillies shout. “No!”

Bloom clarifies. “We're not gonna be a bunch of tattletales! Besides, she's only here a couple of weeks... we'll just avoid her like the plague until she goes home.” She looks at the two unicorns. “There’s two for telling and two against. Since there ain’t a majority, we’ll do a re-vote another time. For now, we just stick to staying out of her way.”

Scootaloo laughs nervously. “Yeah... how hard can that be?”

The pink unicorn tilts her head to one side, frowning softly. “...since when does ignoring an issue make it go away?”

Apple Bloom explains in a hopeful voice. “Think of it like the quiet game, if you stick it out long enough, the other ponies eventually get bored and do something else... usually...”

Pinchy sighs, shaking her head. “...if you say so.”

Author's Note

Guess what's back?

Chapter 78: Final Shard

***Monday, Day 113***
**Evening**

Once again a group of ponies are moving forward to a new blinking light on the map. This group unfortunately is minus one red earth pony since his injuries leave him in a condition unsuitable for traveling. Although Hydro did try insisting, he was shot down by Applejack who lectured him on the lesson of overexerting yourself. A lesson she knew all too well. Luckily both Volt and Twilight were here to fill the gap left by our friend.

“The Everfree sure is dark at this time of day.” Blue comments as we push through another bit of undergrowth.

Atom smirks and chimes in “Aren’t you the one who brags about traveling through the Everfree?”

The other stallion tilts his head side to side a moment before he answers. “Well I normally keep clear of it in the dark. The weather isn’t easy to read and the night creatures are definitely less friendly.”

Twilight takes up her own conversation. “I for one, love the night sky away from Ponyville. Volt, remember when we went stargazing for our second date? We need to try and do that again soon.”

“I remember. It was mostly you telling me what the constellations were while I tried to act knowledgeable on the subject. Maybe we can go again tonight after we finish up here.” Volt says optimistically.

Orion rushes excitedly over. “Yes indeed. Tonight is even going to have a full moon. It will be a very beautiful night for stargazing.”

Twilight continues to chat with Orion while I ask her coltfriend a question I’ve been meaning to. “So Volt, how’s your leg doing?” I look down at my own limb that had been injured, it’s a bit achey at times, but at least I can walk around on it.

He moves it around in an exaggerated fashion. “One hundred percent better. Twilight is the best with her new healing magic, so good it makes me a little jealous.”

I raise an eyebrow at that. “Why don’t you just learn it yourself then? I’m sure she’d be willing to teach you.”

“Well actually it would be a lot harder than you think, because my magic is not super useful for healing. I mean I would love to have the ability to heal like Twilight. Not even wounds like Hydro’s would be able to stand up. Did you know when I went to visit him he was only concerned about my training. He said it would improve his mood if he knew I was out there ‘killing myself with exercise.’ Talk about a true friend.”

Yeah… let’s go with that.

“Well in any case it is good to have your guys help.” I say honestly.

Volt’s smile drops. “Yeah or at least Twilight’s help. She is far more helpful than me and most of the time I hold her back. I mean if I hadn’t of needed Twilight to help take care of me then maybe Hydro wouldn’t be in such sorry shape.”

I shake my head. “Or maybe you would have gotten hurt even worse than you originally did, considering the states the rest of us came back in. It was difficult situation to be in, and Twilight being there wouldn’t exactly have secured our safety. Don’t beat yourself up about things out of your control.”

Volt smile returns “Yeah. Thanks.”

We walk through the dark eerie forest for a while longer until we reach the spot where the star piece impact occurred. Charred trees and broken ground are abundant as some spots still give off a burnt odor.

“Focus on the starlight everypony. It will be easier to find if you do that.” Orion says

“Well this starlight isn’t exactly making a very good beacon, unless it became a living creature and walked away. Heh, Starlight. Sounds like someone from your family, Twilight.” Volt goes off on a tangent.

She moves over and chides him.”Come on Volt, you need to focus.”

Volt looks away as if he was ashamed. “Sorry.”

The mare smiles and nudges his side. “But I don’t think anybody in my family is named Starlight. It does sound like a name my parents would come up with though.”

“Guys heads up!” Orion says holding the map. “It looks like we were beat here because the next piece is already on the move.”

Everyone huddles around Orion to see a blinking dot move at a fair pace across the magic map.

The white pegasus quickly turns towards the direction of the dot. “Alright everyone let’s follow it.”

Everyone makes haste in the direction of the dot through the dark forest. Everypony seems haphazard as the star pieces preciousness overtakes our want of safety. Leaves brush past me as a twig scratches my leg. My ear flicks as I hear a thump and turn my head to see a darkened silhouette of a pony laying on the ground. I run over to see Volt sprawled across the ground having tripped on a fallen branch. I reach a hoof to help him up.

“Thanks bud,” he says as he reaches out and stands back up. He steps forward only to see his hoof caught on a vine. He tugs at it and breaks free, but a whooshing noise faintly sounds as I suddenly feel sharp pains from my back end. I look over to see what appear to be a large number of green plant spines sticking out of my hindquarters. A quick look forward reveals Volt was not spared by the mysterious onslaught either, though he did receive less.

He clears his throat “Looks like I ended up being a thorn in both our sides. And yes that was appropriate for the situation. Now let’s go. We don’t want to get pinned down too long.” He telekinetically shakes off all the pins and begins to run off.

I sigh and follow suit in both, wondering idly about what plant would have that kind of defense mechanism, but not really being surprised by it, given where we are.

The forest now makes me even more apprehensive especially since we lost track of the others. I charge forward only to be bump right into Volt, which almost knocks him off the edge of an incline we stopped at.

“Looks like we found some quality seats for the show.” Volt says as he points down to the rest of our group confronting Obsidian.

The large diamond dog grips the crystal in his hand with a fierce scowl on his face. Blue and Atom move forward to attack yet their wind based attacks don’t match up to his heavy plating. Twilight takes this opportunity to pelt him with her magic blast, which knocks him back, but doesn't seem to be effective either. The purple unicorn then charges her horn and releases a large wave of magical force that manages to actually throw the behemoth of a canine off balance. This in turn causes him to let the crystal free and be carried high into the air before he falls into the ground. Luckily it flies right to where we are standing and Volt snags the prize with a bit of magic.

“Yes! We got it! We won the day!” He jumps happily before losing his balance and tumbling down the incline.

I reach out to grab him, only to begin tumbling as the unstable cliff crumbles under my hooves as well. I attempt to cast Res and recover but an avalanche of dirt and mud pushes me further out of control. I shut my eyes and All I can hear or feel is the earth crashing around me until I feel myself come to a stop. I stand, feeling the soil roll off my coat as I climb out of the small amount that had buried me. I look around, not finding myself in the place where the others were fighting, but underground, in a cave of some sort.

The cavern lights up around us slowly as Volt speaks. “Wow that fall took a lot more out of me than I thought. Illumination spells don’t usually make me so light headed.”

I think idly as I shake some of the dirt off myself, an act which does nothing to help with the small headache I now have. How the hay is he so calm about falling down a cliff… ugh, my head… I turn to look at Volt to see him sitting and staring at the ground. He seems to be a bit discolored and his eyes have much more pronounced bags under them. “You don’t look too good.”

He turns to look at me. “You don’t exactly look that great either.”

It’s not like I expected to after that, but as I now notice my legs being a bit more shaky and my vision blurring a little, I grow a bit worried. I assess the symptoms and gulp as I come up with an explanation. “Well in my medical opinion it appears we have been poisoned, probably by that plant you got caught in. That, or we both have concussions, but those only account for a portion of the symptoms”

A voice booms from the side, “Well, your medical opinion is quite correct.” The hulking form of Obsidian walks from the darkness of the cavern towards us. “The Everfree Blowdart is one of the main reasons this iron mine was closed. Too many ponies got poisoned and even a few died after the few hours because they didn’t get cured.”

Both Volt and I immediately get ready to fight only for the dog to laugh. “You expect me to fight two poisoned ponies who I guarantee aren’t skilled at fighting?”

Wordlessly, I narrow my eyes,I channelling magic into my horn and form my daggers. I hold them ready, knowing that if he was right, any fight that happened needed to be quick.

“Woah,” Volt gasps, “I didn’t know you learned a weapon spell.”

“Correction, I made a weapon spell. I felt I needed some offense rather than being support all the time.” I quickly Blink behind Obsidian and lunge forward with the blades. However, the dog is prepared as he swings his arms knocking both of my weapons away in a single movement. Shocked, I manage to Blink backwards out of his range. Volt meanwhile, has begun launching his lightning bolts only for them to have a negligible effect on the juggernaught.

“You will find my armor is quite resistant to most magicks. I am disappointed that you two couldn’t do more to entertain me. Now, hand over the crystal or I shall be forced to take it.” He says in a commanding voice. I look to Volt and see a glowing light trickle from his saddle bags.

My fellow unicorn stands tall as he faces down Obsidian. “I still have my one ultimate full proof strategy.” His horn glows as he charges a spell. His body flickers with energy before launching off into a sprint in the opposite direction. “It is time to retreat toward future victories!” He shouts as his voice gets fainter.

...did he just ditch me? I stand there shocked for a few moments before turning to run after him.

“Running will only end up hurting the ones you love.” Obsidian states causing me to stop in my tracks.

I turn back to the dog. “What do you mean?”

He folds his arms and gives me a discerning look. “I’m saying look at the situation you are in. All you know right now is that you are underground. You don’t know how deep you are or what is above you. The poison won’t wait for you to find a map out of here. On the other hand I know my way out and could easily help you both out. All I would need is that crystal in return.” I open my mouth to respond, but find myself cut off before I can utter a sound. “My job is to collect as many of those star pieces as I can for my client. Just your job is to help sick animals,” he pauses for a moment, “and taking care of that young filly you adopted.”

Alarms go off in my head as I tense up immediately. “How did you know that?”

His teeth show in a grin. “Gathering information is one of our many specialties and in this situation I am the only one who can help you. I simply want you to help me retrieve that shard from your buffoon of a friend. He obviously doesn't have any idea what to do. Why would he run otherwise? With your magic it would be easy to make losing it look like an accident. In this situation you aren't betraying anybody. You are simply being the responsible adult that ponies rely on.”

His words, both spoken and implied, affect me more than I would like to admit. Everything, from his points on how we are lost, to the small threat to Pinchy, weighs on a scale in my mind. Cursing myself, yet knowing at this point there is little else I can do, I look back at him as I dispel my weapons. “We get a way out?”

He smiles devilishly “Absolutely.”

Without another word I Res off down the tunnel following the hoof tracks in the soft dirt knowing I would find Volt at the end. I have no idea how long I traveled, one really can’t tell time in a tunnel light only by the barest green glow from my horn. As it always happens, the quiet inevitably forces me to listen to my thoughts… and right now they are in turmoil.

I can’t betray my friend.

Why not? It’s not like we’re killing him, if anything we’re ensuring his safety!

By trusting a creature I don’t even know? That has goals so obviously opposite mine?

Opposite goals or not, he makes sense! We’ll die down here anyway judging from how fast my energy is draining!

And if I don’t? What if he was lying and I really do just have a concussion?

Then I’m still lost, and he… he still knows about Pinchy. He can obviously find his way out easier than we can… he might…

I don’t know that he would.

I’m not willing to take that chance!

So you would definitely hurt one to possibly save another?

I… he… she…

My thoughts grow dark and foggy as I continue down the tunnel, the swirling of emotions and logic finally broken up by the pale glow and silhouette of my friend leaning against a wall. I put on the brakes, my walk almost like a prowl as I approach him.

Volt turns to look at me. “About time you caught up. What happened? Did you try to fight him by yourself?”

I huff, my annoyance at his actions and stress of the situation bleeding into my tone. “No I merely took a wrong turn down one of the forking tunnels. Thanks for leaving me back there by the way.”

“Sorry. We weren’t going to beat him like we were back there. I wanted to get some ground and think. I was hoping you would get the gist of what I was doing and follow suit. Sort of like that mental link you and Hydro have.” He says simply.

I let out a small growl. “Hydro has been my best friend for years. One thing I know about him is that he would never abandon me in a situation like that.”

Volt’s face drops. “Well I guess you're right, but it just didn’t seem like a good idea to stay there when Obsidian had the upper hand. Besides I think I have a way to beat-”

I cut him off. "Obsidian isn't even our only threat right now. We are poisoned and lost underground. Have you figured out a way to get us above ground?"

"Well I had this plan. .."

"Then it better be a good one because a half baked plan isn't going to keep Pinchy from being orphaned and our marefriends from attending our funerals!" My furious outburst continues as I pick up a rock, if only to have something to vent on. "I would rather have made the journey with this rock, at least it wouldn't have gotten me poisoned and buried alive."

Volt’s ears fold as he turns away, voice quiet. "I didn't realize I was such a nuisance to you. I just always want to do my best for everypony, but I just end up failing."

I look at the rock gripped by my magic and back to Volt.

I could just knock him out and take it from him. I could get us both out of here. He would forgive me, eventually…

I raise the rock over his head as he looks away. My vision starting to blur a little more, tunnel vision forming as darkness narrows my vision.

It would be so easy to fix this situation, but... why am I hesitating? Why can’t I follow through and do the smart thing. This has the most chance to work. This is the best course of action. Maybe... because it isn’t the right thing to do. I haven’t been much help in this situation either... Almost, and may have already, made things worse even… maybe… maybe I can change that...

My face reflecting a myriad of emotions as I struggle with myself, I let out a roar as I turn around and throw the rock off into the tunnel. It clanks against the armor of Obsidian as he reveals himself from within the shadows.

“Shame it has to be this way. I will be taking that star piece from you quite forcefully.” Obsidian growls.

Volt steps forward glaring at Obsidian and then levitates the prize out of his saddlebags. “Here. If you want it take it.” The electric stallion throws it half the distance to him.

“What are you doing?” I yell, my voice straining as I pant, my energy dropping even more.

The dog moves in and picks up the shard. “Good to see one of you has common sense.”

Volt doesn't respond, but instead charges forward at Obsidian. The armored canine simply responds by countering his charge with a single punch, launching him all the way back to where I’m standing.

Snorting, the dog looks over the prize. “Well that was anticlimactic. But I suppose there are worse ways to try and catch someone off guard.”

The ceiling of the tunnel begins to crumble as what looks like a large boulder falls out right above where he stands. Obsidian barely reacts in time but manages to drop the shard to catch it. He groans as he barely holds the incredible mass above his head.

Volt get up and coughs.. “Right now we are in an iron mine, which is one of the more common magnetic metals. I was hoping for you to hit me right there so I could pass a permeability spell on to you. I essentially made you a super magnetic who easily attracts the large deposit which I lured you right under.”

“I see. Maybe I underestimated you, but I can still survive this encounter.” The beast strains as he begins to lift the iron filled boulder higher.

“Well....” Volt bites his lip trying to think.

I take this time to summon a dagger.

It didn’t pierce his armor last time, but maybe I can try something different.

“That’s it!” Volt proclaims looking at my dagger. “Rhino your dagger couldn’t get past his armor last time, and neither could my magic, correct?”

I nod.

He continues, speaking quickly. “Well what if we weren’t hammering it on his armor, but instead we got under it?”

I look down at the dagger, my eyes widening in revelation. “Volt, your plan is genius.” Giving him a grin, which he returns, I fully immerse myself in the natural magic my dagger is composed of in order to focus my remaining strength. Almost as if the weapon is connected to me by a tendril, I take aim at the small target, and propel the blade forward straight and true. With a squelch and a responding roar of pain from the dog, the dagger finds it’s mark… straight into his right eye.

“Perfect” Volt declares as he steadies himself and launches a blast of electricity right into the daggers exposed hilt, the magical weapon eagerly accepting this new magic and sending a charge of electricity through their opponents body. The combination of pain and trauma proves to be enough for the dog to finally give in to the iron deposits weight and is buried beneath it. Volt walks over to pick up the star shard.

***3rd Person***

“Victory. Good thing too because I feel ready to keel over from this poison.” He looks up the hole the boulder came from. “I feel a draft. Rhino help me up.” Not getting a response, he looks over just in time to see the other stallion fall to his knees, eye glassy before he tumbles onto his side. “Aww man. That last fight took more out of you than I thought.” The still-conscious stallion’s vision begins to blur. “Not too mention my magic is waning at this point as well... Also I think I cracked a rib from taking that punch earlier.” Volt yammers on, not thinking to stop himself. “Don’t worry buddy, I’ll get you out of here.” He hoists Rhino onto his back, though the size difference seems to be taking it’s toll. “I now realize why Hydro put me through those unreasonable regimes: It was for situations like these.” Volt uses a combination of magnetism and telekinesis to lift the green stallion out of the hole and into a large open ravine. “Okay we have a lot higher to go and we might both be dying faster. Mondays, am I right?” Volt says to his unconscious friend. The sea green stallion looks down at the shard in his hooves. “Stars are good for wishes… Well, now is as good a time as any to try wishing. I wish we could be saved, please.”

“Granted.”

Volt turns his head to see Orion, Blue and Atom descending on their location.

“Really? Wishing worked?” Volt says astounded.

“No...the star hasn’t gone off the map yet.” Orion states.

The electric stallion blinks. “Oh, well… we have the star shard, Obsidian is defeated, and Rhino and I are poisoned and need a cure.”

“You’re what?!?” A familiar female voice exclaims as Twilight and Rarity teleport in.

Volt looks to his marefriend, his voice slurring as his poison delusion starts to take over. “Hey babe, I’m feeling a bit light headed right now, but I could sure use some happy purple time.”

Ignoring his words, Twilight walks over and leans against the stallion to support him. “Come on, let’s get you to Zecora’s. She’s got the antidote for pretty much everything in this forest.”

The group transports their poisoned friends to the home of the Zebra shaman. Zecora reveals the cure to be the odd combination of an alligator spit bath under the light of the moon while breathing the fumes of special candles. Thus the bath was prepared thanks to Zecora’s odd yet convenient stockpile of alligator spit and the candles. Rhino was the first to be thrown in since he seemed the farthest gone.

Volt stood there on the edge in somewhat disgust as the saliva splashes almost like goop.. “I am not sure if bathing with a dude in alligator spit is better than death.”

He turns around to see Twilight giving him ferocious glare. “Get in.”

“Yes honey.” Volt immediately falls backwards into the tub.

She immediately takes peers into the pool and talks in her cheery voice. “Alright Volt I will be back to help you home in an hour.” The purple mare kisses her hoof and pats him on the head. “Have a good time. I love you.”

Volt looks over the side. “I love you too, mom.”

She sticks her tongue out at him and continues to walk out of sight.

***Rhino***

As I regain consciousness I can’t help but feel submerged. It was as if I was trapped in the ocean, only the water was thicker and slimier. I feel the need for air as I try and force my way to the top. Emerging I see my surroundings as still the Everfree but what looks like one of the trees built into a house. The ripples in the water cause me to look over to see my bathmate.

“Enjoying your dip?” Volt says cheekily.

“What is this?” I say confused as I wave my hoof at our entire situation.

Volt points his hoof at the items. “Alligator spit, dragon candles, and moonlight. The cure to the poison.”

I slowly remember. “Did we get the shard?”

“Yep. Though the first two we still can’t find. But Orion said with the majority obtained Luna will be pleased.” Volt proudly states with a smile.

“Thanks. I don’t really remember much...” I smile proudly at him. “ But I do remember you trying to lift me out of the hole. Thanks for that.”

“Yeah, well it was the least I could do. I didn’t want to be complete failure of a friend.” Volt says, his ears flopping down.

I wince at his words. “Listen. You were awesome back there. I was just letting the stress of everything get to me. Without you we wouldn’t have won back there. Hay, we probably wouldn’t have even survived.”

Volt lays back against side, taking in the words. “Well, you inspired me to learn a few new tricks. You and Hydro both had something cool to show. I want to come up with something cool now.”

I notice Volt’s bruised side “It wouldn’t hurt to try and learn a healing spell.”

He sighs “Well the thing is I don’t think my magic is capable of that. My electricity magic seems to only be good for degeneration of cells. I had an idea for experimenting with my magic to use it revitalization of cells, but it still needs work. My magic is more complicated than I would like to admit.”

I try to be supportive. “Well I’m sure you will come up with something.”

A rustling is heard off the side as both of us look over to see something rummaging through Volt’s saddle bags.

“Hey!” The bag’s owner shouts while jumping out of the tub.

When he reaches his saddlebags a small form crawls out. A small timber wolf pup is munching on a sandwich stowed away in his saddlebags.

Immediately forgetting his annoyance, the stallion bends down. “Hey little guy. Who are you and why are you eating my sandwich?”

It continues eating as it stares up at him.

~Hmm. After getting hopelessly lost from my pack during the hunt I appear to have stumbled upon my prey. A beta male stallion from the looks. He will be simple to take down. I almost feel bad for him.~

The young timber wolf proceeds to start gnawing on Volt with his barely developed teeth. Meanwhile all Volt does is laugh as the bites simply tickle him.

“Quit it pup.” He says through the laughs. “Boy you sure are friendly.”

~He appears to be a far tougher quarry than I thought. Nevertheless I shall pursue and take down.~

As Volt starts to walk away the small timber wolf follows and tries to pounce on his legs.

“Huh. I think he likes me.” He looks down at it. “Do you want to come home with me?” Volt brings up a hoof and starts scratching the pup’s head.

~I would rather die than be take home by... Ahh yes right behind the ear. That is good. Perhaps I will humor you and be taken in. Indeed I shall use my prey and be showered in your gifts until I grow bored. Then when the time comes I shall take your body to the ancient feeding grounds and...Ohh So this is what a belly rub feel like.~

Volt holds up the wolf up with a smile. “I will call you Reginald Spruce Pinefield. Or Reggie for short. But I will definitely need to stock up on kibble and treats if you are going to live with me.”

~My name far exceeds the boundary of your boorish pony tongue and I will not be subjective to your preposterous petty pun pedigree.....And did you say Kibble and treat? Maybe I can play along for now.~

I look up at the sky, chuckling lightly as I sink into my disgusting bath. “Well, things never stay dull for long...”

Chapter 1: Arrival

***Day 1, Friday, evening***

“Are we there yet?”

“No, Rhino, we’re not.”

“Damn.”

Well that killed about five seconds, now what? Frankly after walking all day I’m proud of myself for even trying to kill boredom with conversation of all things since we pretty much ran out of things to say after the first few hours of mind-numbing walking. I suppose it isn’t that bad though. Wait, there’s something I need to do before anything else.

My carriage pulling partner looks toward me questioningly and I catch a glimpse of myself in his shades.

I'm a green unicorn more on the upper scale of height. My mane and tail are both black with a blue stripe running through them. My mane is short, what I might call a natural style, and the blue stripe runs vertically down slightly off center to the left. My tail is longer than most stallions' styles, but not really styled, just kept knot free. The stripe in my tail runs down the center of my tail, but horizontally and can be seen from both sides. My eyes are a chocolate brown, and as usual, I have on my watch. My cutie mark is a blue arcane circle with a heart in the center and veins coming out of the heart and reaching out to the edge of the circle.

I look away for a moment before a thought occurs to me and I turn back to him, “Hey Hydro, I’m gonna turn the radio back on since we’re probably far enough from Everfree to not bother anything that lives there.”

He nods as he faces forward again, “Oh yeah, I forgot we turned that off.”

Figures he forgot. Oh well, let’s get some music going. I clicked the power button with my magic.

What is love?
Baby don’t hurt me,
Don’t hurt me,
No more.

I love this song, plus it’s zone out music if I’ve ever heard it. Meh, it allows me reflect on why we’re headed to Ponyville in the first place. I suppose the simple answer would be jobs. Hydro Pump and I have been best friends since high school and kept in touch during college. We recently graduated from our respective colleges in our fields, him graduating with an Engineering degree and myself with a Biological Sciences one. After the semester ended but before the actual graduation, Hydro had approached me with an idea. He had heard of a job opportunity for him down in Ponyville, apparently there was a faulty dam in need of an on-site pony to maintain its internal workings, and had suggested I move there with him to look for a job myself since I hadn’t decided where I was going yet. I had thought of Ponyville as a potential location for me since I prefer small towns and they had a veterinary clinic I could apply for with my credentials. Add in having my best friend there and my mind was pretty much made up.

Thus I find myself and Hydro approaching Ponyville from Canterlot along the path we took around Everfree, hitched up side-by-side to a large wagon filled with furniture and other home essential items. Never before have I hated the fact that my furniture was wood until I had to haul it cross-country, though with his earth pony endurance and my magic we were doing pretty well for ourselves on the trip. The sun was just starting to set as we round a hill to see we weren’t that far from the town itself.

I admire the view of the orange bathed town as the last of sun’s rays begin fading, and then glance over to my longtime friend.

Hydro is a dark red earth pony of similar build to me, but slightly thinner. His mane and tail are black like mine, but don't have any other colors in them. His mane is pretty much the exact style mine is, while his tail is about half the length. His jaw is more angled than mine. While his eyes are orange in color, I can't actually see them at the moment due to his shades. Finally, his cutie mark is a water wheel with water flowing underneath it.

I gesture towards the town with my head, “I gotta say Hydro, I think you picked a real winner in this town.”

He nods, “It sure looks that way, but I hear crazy stuff tends to happen here.”

I refuse to let him kill my good mood as we make our way through the outskirts, “Well, the town’s still in one piece so it can’t be that bad.”

“You know you totally jinxed us right?” He raises up his aviators as he says this.

I cringe slightly as that thought occurs to me as well, “Yeah, I just realized that. Hopefully it waits until after we get all this to the house.”

Our trek through the town is noticeably quiet, as not a single pony is seen. Not completely unexpected given how late we have arrived. The sun is almost completely set as we pull up to our new abode. It's at a street corner so thankfully we can just park the wagon to the side of the house and don’t have to worry about having it just sitting in front of the building for two days until the return pony comes to bring it back to the rental place. It is a very nice home, then again I don’t ask for anything too fancy. The house is two stories, 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, kitchen, living room… the works. It looks similar to most of the other houses on the street, but things like the color and personal touches tend to let houses like this still stay easily identifiable.

Hydro and I unload all the boxes and furniture and put them in the front room for now. I find us two glasses from one of our boxes, get some water from the tap, and levitate his over to him. I settle down in one of the chairs after deciding that it would be better to avoid the couch for the moment, given its rather famous reputation of putting ponies into power naps before they even know what hit them.

Ok, let’s see just how much more we are going to do today.

“Ok Hydro now that we have a second, how about we decide the pertinent question of how much unpacking we’re doing right now.”

He answers bluntly, “Depends on how much you got left in you.”

I mull the query through my head before answering honestly, “I’m thinking I have enough left for one last burst of productivity, after that I’m crashing.”

He smiles teasingly at me, “Fair enough dude, honestly I’m surprised you got this far.”

I roll my eyes at him, “Oh hahah, I did it didn’t I? To be frank though, my legs are most likely going to be a little sore over the next few days but it won’t be that bad. Just don’t expect me to go running for anything short of my life, and even then I’ll have to think about it.”

“Yeah, because you do so much running normally.” He rolls his eyes. “Alright, how bout we just get the furniture moved into the rooms, set up the beds, and then use them?”

“I approve this plan.” I raise my glass and drink the rest of the water.

I discuss it with Hydro and I end up with the bedroom next to the side street, he gets the one down the hall, and the upstairs bathroom between us. Next comes the worst part of moving, even worse than the move itself, bringing large and heavy furniture up stairs after an already tiring day.

“Are you even listening Rhino? I said move it clockwise!”

“You didn’t say which one of us it was relevant to so I took a guess!”

“Well why didn’t you ask?”

“Because I’m concentrating on not letting my freaking huge bookshelf squish me if it falls! I’m trying to get this done and having this conversation already makes it more difficult to react!”

“Just levitate it to me so I can take it, you pansy.”

Hmph. Let’s see you focus enough to lift furniture with your head while feeling like just falling asleep where you stand.

A bit of grumbling from the long day and a few small scratches on the walls later, Hydro and I set up the beds. Mine being just the usual frame and mattress set up and his requiring running the hose through the house because somepony likes water beds.

Come to think of it it’s a little funny how a pony who works with water so much for a living ends up sleeping on what is essentially his work every night, maybe it’s just comfortable for him. Whatever, too tired to care all that much right now.

I yawn, “Alright, did we forget anything?”

“That depends on if you plan on freezing me out with the air conditioner.” Hydro appears to be starting to wear down as well.

I chuckle and respond teasingly, "It's not my fault you can't take the cold like I can."

His counter is equally teasing, "Hey, if you make threats with the air conditioner, I can make threats with the heater."

I cringe at his threat to my inverse temperature intolerance, "Touche. Middle ground?"

"Glad we can agree."

“Alright in that case, I’m going to go pass out, night dude.”

“Night bro.”

I fall asleep under Princess Luna’s shining orb with my last thought,

‘Note to self: invest in shades for windows.’

Author's Note

Alright first chapter down, heh, I have a feeling this is going to be fun to write
Special shout out to Blue Breeze for being the straw that broke the camel’s back in getting me to write.

Chapter 6: Volt

***Day 4, Monday, noonish***

After manually resetting our brains from Pinkie induced blue screens of death, Hydro and I say our farewells as Specter and I head back to the house to kill some time until the party while Hydro finishes his shift. As I thought, on the way downhill Specter decides to do some long distance gliding directly above me until we get to the bottom. Once again, he lands squarely on my head at the end of said flight.

Wow Specs has good accuracy. Though I still think he might freak a few ponies out if he does that to them. Note to self: remember that for quick gag next time Pinkie appears out of nowhere. She seems like the kind of mare to take a joke and it’ll be my way of rebooting my brain the next time she breaks it.

Specter and I find a nut stand on the way home so we stock up some food for him.

I never thought I’d see the day. Me, buying bags of nuts for my house. I hate nuts, yet here I am. Well, at least he doesn’t have to worry about me snacking on his food. The same cannot be said about him with my food, but he’s cute so he is forgiven.

We arrive at the house, again, and this time I get Specter to hang around for a moment. I had to catch him before he went exploring again so I can show him where he can find his food bowl. He gives me a nod after I show him then climbs on top of the fridge.

I remark off-hoofedly to the squirrel, “Let me know if you ever find something good anywhere in the house while you’re climbing around.”

I head upstairs and put his bed on one of the shelves of my bookcase next to my bed. Specter peeks in a moment to see what I’m up to, but quickly pops back out into the hall once he sees I’m not doing much.

Hmm what to do… I suppose I could read one of my fantasy novels. Which one to reread… oh, Blue Dragon is always an interesting read. Still think having the world get sawed in half then break apart into cuboid mini worlds is a pretty good plot twist, never saw it coming.

I head back downstairs and set down the book on the coffee table while I get comfortable on the couch.

Ahh, you know I always did…like……this………zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

***

*SLAM*

Huh? What? *yawn* Must have closed my eyes for a moment.

The familiar voice of Hydro resounds in my ears, “Rhino? Why were you sleeping? I thought nothing happened last night.”

I yawn, “Sleeping? I just closed my eyes for a second while I was getting comfortable.”

He asks simply, “The couch got you didn’t it?”

I look down at the furniture in question, “I guess it did.”

Couch, once again I am reminded of your power. The power to make anypony with even an ounce of fatigue drop within one minute of resting upon your cushiony surface. You are the master of forced power naps, and I am grateful for your blessing. Hmm, how long do we have until Pinkie’s party?

Hydro's question echoes my thoughts, “So how long until we have to get to Pinkie’s party?”

I give him a look, “You’re in my head again.”

He gives me a look right back, “Hey, you’re guilty of it just as often as I am.”

I concede to his logic, “Fair enough.”

It’s not my fault we can randomly read exactly what the other is thinking, magic has nothing to do with it. It’s all just knowing each other for a long time and somehow having an innate sense of what the other is doing at certain times.

I look at my watch that I didn’t have a chance to take off before passing out on the couch.

I remark to my friend, “We could probably start heading over there now. Seeing as it’s a surprise party and all we should probably get there a bit early, if for no other reason than to get good hiding spots.”

He walks to the kitchen, “Alright let me get a swig of water then we can head out.”

You’d think he’d be sick of it by now, but I swear he just lives for this stuff.

I call out for Specter and he lightly bounds in from the kitchen with a peanut in his mouth.

I lean down to the squirrel, “Alright buddy, Hydro and I are going to go to a party for a while, you be good while we’re gone okay? You know where the food is and don’t stay up too late, alright?”

Specter nods at me then resumes eating his peanut. Hydro in the meantime has made his way to the door.

He raises an eyebrow at me saying goodbye to my pet, “You done?”

I roll my eyes at his impatience, “I’m done.”

Hydro and I make our way over to Sugarcube Corner where we see, surprisingly, the lights are on. It turns out standard procedure, if anything Pinkie does can ever be described as standard, for a surprise party is to leave the light on and let everypony talk until about 15 minutes before the guest of honor arrives so that they can get all of it out of their system before lights out. We got there about 2 minutes before lights out so we didn’t have much time to do anything other than pick a spot, near the edge of the room at my insistence. The lights go out, the silence creeps in, and we wait. Not for too long though as about 5 minutes until his scheduled time to arrive, the guest of honor arrives and we do our duty.

SURPRISE!

The lights brighten for a second when he jumps but they fade back into normal brightness as I get a good look at the new guy.

He's a sea green unicorn with average height and build. His horn is one of those uncommon types that curves upward slightly, and his ear has a chunk cut out of it. His mane and tail yellow with black tips, the mane looking almost windswept and the tail being of the popular very short look. His eyes are light blue, and his cutie mark is a high voltage symbol.

Hmm with the combination horn and ear he certainly looks a little different, but let’s see how he acts before making any judgment calls.

I walk away from the crowd gathering around the new guy and head over to the punch table. Not really for thirst, but having a drink in hoof gives one an excuse to not talk at some points, at least for a moment to gather one’s thoughts. I tune in for the end of the Pinkie speech to hear the new guys response:

He smiles at the pink pony, “I like your optimism.”

She smiles back at the compliment, “Really? You should meet the other new ponies!”

Wait is she talking about…

Pinkie grabs his hoof and leads him over to us.

She is.

The party pony pony deposits her newest dragging victim next to us, “Hey guys! Since you’re new too I thought you could help Surgio here by being his first friends!”

Pinkie runs off to play hostess again leaving the new guy with us.

Well at least I have backup this time.

Hydro starts us off. “So… Surgio huh?”

He rubs the back of his head with a hoof. “Actually it’s Voltage Surge, I’m a recent graduate from Baltimare and am currently an intern for Magitech Industries.”

Hydro introduces himself, “Oh, Hydro, dam technician, recent graduate from Canterlot.” They shake hooves.

Voltage looks over at me next.

Analysis of previous introductions suggests optimal results from simply continuing the pattern.

I spill my information out in the same way Hydro had, “I’m Rhino, I’m a Veterinarian down at the clinic and I also graduated from Canterlot, though a different college than Hydro.”

He nods appreciatively before looking back tot he hostess, “Wow, so is the pink one always…”

I’ll take this one.

“According to her friends the answer is yes, she seems to have her heart in the right place though.”

His eyes light up at something on the table, “If that pie I see behind you is from her then I have to agree!”

He rushes between us toward the snack table and it’s apparently mystical pies.

Hydro looks at me, “What’s so great about pies?”

Voltage apparently heard this comment, “Hey don’t be mean to pie, it’s off pudding.”

That pun was both clever and terrible.

Hydro doesn’t seem to get it.

Voltage just shrugs at Hydro’s silence, “What can I say? I like pie.”

Hydro finally snaps out of it and responds, “I can see that.”

Volt smirks, “Dam you’re good.”

I laugh at that one. “Well while you two chat I’m gonna go mingle.”

Hydro looks back at me for a second, “I take it that means you’re going to skirt around the edge of the party only really talking to ponies you already know?”

I nod, “Mmhm.”

I turn around and see that I’m hemmed in but see Pinkie pie over on the other side. I cast my short range teleport spell I call Blink and then levitate my punch over, along with a spare glass, from where I was standing before. I approach Pinkie Pie as she seems to be wrapping up a conversation with Fluttershy and the others. Seems like a good time for something that’s bothering me.

I get the pink mare's attention, “Hey Pinkie, would you mind if I ask you something?”

She giggles, “You just did silly!”

“Fair enough, but I have to ask: how did you get this many parties cleaned up then set up again? It seems like a lot of work.”

More giggling, “Oh cleanup’s easy, as for setup... well that's why I have my PARTY CANNON!” She pulls a cannon out from behind her and points it over the crowd, then pushes the button launching a cloud of confetti.

That answers one question but raises so many more, I should have just kept my mouth shut.

She suddenly perks up, “Oh! Thanks for reminding me Rhino, I have to go do something really quick.”

She darts over to where I left Hydro and Volt, leaving me with Fluttershy as she had stopped to cover her ears when Pinkie pulled out the canon when the others had just wandered off. I offer her the spare punch cup.

I ask with a concerned tone, “Are you alright Fluttershy?”

She slowly opens her eyes and uncovers her ears, “Oh umm yes I’m fine. Thank you for the punch. I just don’t like it when Pinkie fires the canon so close.”

I remark to her as she sips her drink, “You know, I’m surprised you come to so many of these parties. If you’ll pardon me saying so, it just doesn’t seem like you would like the crowds that much.”

She looks down as she fiddles with her drink while she answers, “I do prefer it when the parties are smaller but Pinkie believes it’s important to help new ponies make friends when they come into town and it means a lot to her for us to be here to support her.”

I nod, “Well then I suppose she already succeeded with me then.”

She looks at me, “What do you mean?”

I gesture to us, “You and I are friends right?”

She smiles at me. “Yes, we are.”

Suddenly I hear Pinkie’s voice coming over a loudspeaker: “Can I get everypony’s attention please? Thank you. Now as you all may have noticed I have DJ-PON3 up here with me tonight to change up the music a bit. Well I figured as a special treat we’d let our newest friend come and pick a few music snips to play. Come on up Volty!”

Fluttershy and I see Voltage Surge walk up on stage, speak to the DJ a moment then turn to the console. He pushes a button…

And this plays.

As time goes on and ponies dance to the music Volt presses two more buttons then Pinkie walks over to him. “Alright, we’re gonna put some classics back on, alright?”

Volt smiles and starts walking off the stage, “Alright Pinkie this bass was getting hard to hold…” he leans over and clicks one last button.

Click

“Oops, dropped it again.”

The whole room laughed with him at this. Well, three days in and things are already looking a bit more interesting.

Author's Note

Voltage Surge has arrived... took him long enough.

Chapter 11: To The Lake

***Day 8, just after noon*** (Yes, a lot of chapters start at this time but frankly after noon is when everything interesting happens right now. This is subject to change as we go on.)

Well, it’s a day late but look what we have here: an earth pony meeting me after work. Strangely though, I expected it to be Pinkie Pie but I suppose with the mood I’m in Hydro is probably the better result. Really though, does everypony know when I get off work or something?

Hydro speaks first as he walks up to me, “Hey, you ok?”

I try to speak but nothing except a raspy noise comes out of my mouth. I clear my throat and try again, I’m able to use words this time but still a large amount of rasp, “Throat’s been bugging me a bit.”

He adopts a sympathetic expression, “Sorry to hear that dude… does it hurt?”

I shake my head, “Not really, just a weird pressure at the back of my throat with a hint of dryness. Luckily this whole difficulty talking thing started at the end of my shift so I was still able to work.”

“That sucks… Hey, think you might be up for a little trip out to the lake? Pinkie and Rainbow Dash invited us, Volt, and the girls to go cool off and have fun.”

Tempting… but frankly all I feel like doing right now is going home, eating a bowl of ice cream to help my throat, and taking a nap to sleep it off. Hanging out with friends means talking and I feel it might be best to avoid that right now.

I shake my head again but make sure to look regretful, “Maybe some other time, I’m not sure I’m up to it right now.”
“I think I may be able to convince you.” He says with what could be easily described as a mischievous grin.

I raise an eyebrow at him.

You’re lucky I’m still in sort of a good mood right now. Well, I suppose it’s my fault for being open to bribes on silly decisions like this where I’m mostly on the fence about it. Let’s see what he has in mind.

He continues after a moment, “What if I told you that in return for ponying up and going to the lake I could give you something you’ve been trying to find for years now.”

That narrows it down, normally I either obtain it or move on. Only certain things make my “list of things to pursue for an extended period of time”… though it’s less pursue and more “keep an eye out for.”

“Go on.”

He continues in a teasing tone, “A particular substance that you’ve only been able to get in small quantities before now and have always regretted not finding a large source of…”

My eyes slowly widen, “You don’t mean…”

He smiles, “Yes…”

“But I looked everywhere for that and I could barely ever find miniscule amounts…”

More teasing and smiling with a hint of smugness, “Suffice to say I found a little place off the beaten path that has what you’re looking for.”

I am now officially excited, “Well don’t just stand there! Tell me where this mysterious place is so I can go get the stuff!”
“Ah ah ah,” He shakes his head, “Here’s the deal, I’ll tell you where to find this place only after our time at the lake.”

I think about this for a moment, “Toss in a sample now and you have a deal.”

“I thought you might say that,” he says, reaching into his nag and pulling out a large container of… the stuff.

You could practically hear the angels singing in my head.

Yes! It’s too beautiful for words… Come to papa!

I grab the container and immediately start trying to get into it.

Hydro chuckles at me, “Alright, come on. You can get into it while we head to the lake.”

I’m too preoccupied to answer him, but I follow him anyway.

We arrive at the lake a short time later, the girls and Volt having beaten us here but that was irrelevant as I had gotten the container open and was pleasantly occupied. I had just finished up when we approached comfortable hailing distance. On the way, Specter had sniffed the container of the stuff but he pulled a face that makes me think it just wasn’t his thing. Rainbow dashed out to meet us as Specter zipped up the nearest tree to play.

She brakes quickly and hovers before us raising her hooves in the air, “Finally! You guys were taking so long I thought you weren’t going to show up!”

Hydro is leading so he gets to answer, “Heh, sorry about that, I had to convince Rhino to come along.”

The others walk up as Rainbow asks, “Convince him? How?”

Hydro looks back and gestures at me, “Well- dude did you seriously finish all of that on the way over here?”

I look back at the now empty container then back to him, “I have no regrets.”

Hydro facehoofs. Rainbow cocks her head to the side, “What is that anyway?”

Hydro looks back at her, “I bribed him with a big jar of strawberry applesauce.”

I interject, “And it was delicious!”

All the girls give me a questioning look before Rainbow seems to have something occur to her, “Wait, why didn’t you want to come with us anyway?” She narrows her eyes at me.

I’m still basking in post strawberry applesauce euphoria though so I ignore the stare and just speak frankly, “My throat was bothering me and I could barely talk, I was just going to head home.”

The suspicious look does not subside, “You sound fine to me.”

I shrug, “I guess a nice coat of cool strawberry applesauce is just what my throat needed, either way I’m not complaining.” Subject changing time! “So, Pinkie, was there a reason you wanted to come to the lake today or was it just a spur of the moment thing to spend time with your friends?”

Our resident living embodiment of cotton candy pounces on the question, “Dashie and I figured we could all have a bit of fun here at the lake and we figured since you boys and Volt were new that we could show you one of our favorite spots. Come on, follow us!” And away she bounces.

As we pass the group, who look to be going to set up along the shore, Volt and I brohoof in greeting resulting in me getting a static shock from him. He looks at me sheepishly and says, “Sorry, that tends to happen a lot. Doesn’t help that I still have a bit of leftover charge from yesterday’s power line incident.”

I simply look at him a second before shrugging and continuing to follow Pinkie, Rainbow, and Hydro. We don’t go far seeing as I could still see the others from our perch on a hill that leads to a cliff on the shore on the lake. Other than the elevated position about one story higher than the rest of the group, I really don’t see any difference between this spot and other spots.

“So… what are we supposed to be seeing?” I ask.

Rainbow answers, “Look down into the water, you can see right through it from here…”

I give her a questioning look then poke my head over the edge of the cliff to look into the water as Hydro and Volt do the same. I look for a moment before questioning her claim, “I’m not sure I see-”

*thump*

I get cut off by what feels mysteriously like two hooves bucking me off a cliff.

*KER-SPLASH*

Well at least I avoided belly-flopping… right, I should probably surface now.

I gasp as I break the water’s surface, a red blur and a splash sound announce the arrival of Hydro. I look up to see Volt just beginning the merry ride Hydro and I just finished.

Wait, something occurs to me… electric pony… carries a charge… water… this will not end well.

*crackling electricity sounds*

***Third person for a moment as being shocked tends to clear one’s head***

As Volt touched the water small arcs of electricity can be seen originating from him and radiating for about 10 yards in every direction in the water. This electricity reaches Hydro and Rhino almost instantly and renders all three unable to do more than twitch for approximately 5 seconds. The charge dies off after that.

***Back to first person!***

Note to self: Careful around Volt and water as he has the potential to be a living joy buzzer bomb.

I regain my breath as Pinkie dumps a bucket of absorbent balls on our heads, you know those one where they will absorb water only if you hold them under and squeeze them. The rest of the girls had moved into the shallows and look on with concern. Applejack speaks for them.

“You fellas okay, that looked kinda bad.”

I shake off the last effects as I answer, “Tingled a bit but we’re fine.” I look over to Volt, “That happen to you often?”

He nods, “Shocking, isn’t it?” He says with a grin.

I stare at him a moment before looking at Hydro, both of us thinking the same thing. We then proceed to each bean Volt in the head with a nearby ball for that last pun. The grin stayed but turned a little more sheepish as Hydro was readying a second shot. A sudden shot from off to the side interrupts Hydro by coming within a few inches of his nose.

We look off to the side to see the girls looking at Pinkie who had her usual grin on her face as she picked up another ball. She looks at us as she hoofs the ball to Rainbow, “What? It looked like fun.” She then tosses a ball to Applejack as well.

I’m really not comfortable with how many of them are now armed, the smile on Pinkie’s face isn’t helping.

What follows is laugh-filled, ball-dodging brawl with friends the likes of which can never be seen again, until the next time it happens. Applejack makes up the forefront of their forces with her straight shots, Rainbow providing air support and sometimes air strikes when we take cover. Pinkie Pie keeps popping out from behind random rocks and spots in the lake taking pot shots, while Rarity refuses to actively participate and instead recovers fallen ammo while Fluttershy distributes it with supply drops. Twilight evidently discovers her inner troll, as she would only occasionally through a ball but it always seemed to be the one that kept any of us from finishing off the other team by either distracting us with counter fire or just plain deflecting our shots. I glide around on Res, Blinking occasionally whenever they triple team me. Hydro is pretty much my team’s version of Applejack except he flows around more while she plants herself. Volt is relatively limited at first, apparently the splash down earlier shorted out his magic. As it slowly comes back he figures out an entertaining way to use the small charges into his shots so they discharged whenever they impact, causing whoever is nearby to twitch just enough to throw off whatever they were doing.

This goes on for a bit until Pinkie calls for a snack break. She goes over to a basket of unknown origin and starts handing out sugary delights of all varieties. To quote her, “Cupcakes, candies, and pies, oh my!” I snack on some chocolate cupcakes with vanilla icing since I was still a bit full from my jar of goodness earlier. Hydro finishes and approaches me with an interesting proposition.

“Hey Rhino, what do you say to one last round?” He says, gesturing his head to the balls.

Our little mental link kicks in again as I respond, “One on one, sudden death, one hit you’re out?”

“Exactly,” he nods.

“Any restrictions?”

“No Blinking, the spell not the action,” Curses, he found the loophole, “ Res is allowed but you have to have a minimum on both of us to walk on the water.”

Hmm that’s going to be draining unless…maybe if I switch a few of the runes around…

I give my counter-offer, “What if instead of the usual precise Res, I put a general casting of it on our hooves so that if they touch the surface of water we can walk on it, but if any other part of us touches it we fall into it?”

He nods, “Sounds good.”

“And since this is your turf, am I still allowed to use Res to its usual extent?”

He thinks for a moment, “Hmmm, alright, but no using magic to directly affect shots, other than actually throwing them.”

I nod, “Agreed.”

We shake hooves and head down into the shallows as I cast the general Res on us. As I mentally feel the circles forming on our hooves, the others line up on the shore with Specter watching from Fluttershy’s head. We stand 10 yards away from each other and prepare ourselves, a smooth patch of lake is our arena. Pinkie starts the match.

She pulls out a cone and shouts into it, “Ok the match will begin on the count of cupcake!”

Volt remarks to her, “We don’t have time to count to cupcake. Just count to pie.”

Pinkie sighs, “Fine.”

What the hay are those two talking about?

She tries again, “Alright then, chocolate, muffin, PIE!”

*Activate battle music*

We both circle each other, our steps sinking slightly into the water but not breaking the surface as we weigh each other’s movements waiting for the opportunity to strike or counter. I throw a quick test shot to see what defenses he’s thinking of, he simply stops moving to let the shot pass him by and returns one of his own. I mimic his dodge.

Inconclusive, but broke the tension, let’s get to the good part shall we?

I decide to power up Res and start strafing him. I fire enough shots at him to where he can’t just dodge them, but then he simply ducks his head to touch the water so he falls into the lake.

Crafty, can’t hit him while he’s down there.

I slow down a bit trying to see where he is.

What is he up to… I hate how long he can hold his breath… Is that-WOAH!

I pull back as a ball rockets out of the water where my head was a second earlier.

I guess some of the balls sank, clever. Uh oh, well, here we go!

I see a number of growing shadows in the water heading my way and use Res to start gliding over the water at a little over jogging speed, I have to keep the speed that low to remain maneuverable. The shots start shooting up around me as I try and wait him out, though some of them get uncomfortably close. Thankfully not Pinkie close. This continues for about another minute or so until Hydro finally comes up for air.

There you are, time for offense again.

I grab a ball and start spinning it in my magical grip then send it to the surface just in front of Hydro. He smirks when he thinks it’s going to fall short, I smirk bigger because I know it will. The ball hits the water in front of Hydro, but, thanks to the backspin I put on it, it then shoots up towards Hydro’s face. His eyes widen as the smirk disappears when he dodges again, but not by much this time. I keep him on the defensive with a mix of normal shots and more spinning one designed to miss and then come back.

That ought to keep the pressure on.

This continues for about 2 minutes, the group on the beach following us with their eyes as we move around the field of combat. Just as I feel the pressure’s getting to him, he scoops up 4 balls at once and lobs them my way, forcing me to move and thus cease fire. He does a few more cluster shots at me, keeping me going full speed, once he launches them I have to move a good bit away from where I was.

We stop and look at each other, both of us winded due to the first war with the girls, followed by getting full stomachs then going all out for the last 10 minutes against each other, plus me holding up the spell keeping us from just falling in the water. Directly in front of each of us are two balls. We keep our eyes on each other as we slowly pick up the balls and back up three steps. The wind picks up as we have an unsaid conversation, finishing with a nod. We begin the final moves.

We launch our opening shots straight at each other, the force of the collision creating a mist cloud between us as we launch the follow ups. I launch mine straight through the mist hoping for a decisive victory. As the mist clears, I look to Hydro questioningly but he seems unscathed.

Wait, where did his-

*splat*

I feel a wet splat on my head as a ball falls on it. Hydro apparently went for a lob shot, and I neglected to move. I bow my head in defeat.

*stop the music*

I hear applause from the beach as Hydro and I head back to rest up.

Looks like we put on a good show.

“That was awesome!” exclaims Rainbow.

“An excellent performance.” Rarity complements.

“That was almost as good as the rodeo.” Applejack says.

“Yay,” softly shouts my favorite pegasus.

“What a great match!” Twilight approves.

Volt just nods his head while munching on a pie slice.

Pinkie has the most to say, imagine that, “That was so cool, you guys were stare, zoom, woosh, splash, woah, foosh!” she makes all kinds of gestures during this… narrative. “Hey what did it feel like to walk on water?”

Hydro answers, “This time, it kind of felt like walking on jello.”

Well at least it’s better than that time I made it feel like walking on ice.

Pinkie jumps into the air and gasps then runs over and gets in Twilights face. “TWILIGHT! I know what your next spell should be! You should totally turn the lake into jello! Think of it… jeeeelllllooooo.” She extends that last word while looking directly into Twilight’s eyes not blinking.

We all laugh at her lovable antics. We spend the rest of the time doing our own things, I relax in the shallows with Fluttershy while Rarity lounges on the shore talking to Twilight who is reading with Volt looks to be asking Twilight a few things as well. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie all have fun doing any number of things in the lake, often randomly teaming up on one pony or another at random times. It just has an all-around feeling of friendship and contentment. We had just gabbed all of our stuff when Spike comes running up to our little group with a letter in hand.

His words are staggered as he tries to catch his breath, “Twi…light… Twi… phew… Princess… letter… urgent…” He thrusts the letter towards Twilight as she levitates it over to herself and opens it.

Chapter 12: Gather the Troops

***Saturday, Day 9, morning***

“So just to make sure we’re not forgetting anything, let’s go over this one more time.” I say to Twilight.

Rainbow interjects with a slight whine, “Again? I’m pretty sure we all have the gist of it by now. Why do you want to go over it again?”

Still a bit cranky from our early departure I see.

I look at her, “Because this is serious and the more information we know the less guessing we have to do.” I nod at Twilight to recap.

She goes into lecture mode, “Princess Celestia has asked us, and by us I mean the girls and I, to stop an extremely large, hostile, sentient cloud that has been terrorizing Equestria.”

Volt confirms what us guys had recently found out, “And the reason the princess asked you girls is because it turns out not only have you dealt with weird situations before, but you six are in fact the famous Bearers of the Elements of Harmony who have saved Equestria on a few separate occasions and considered heroes?”

“Heroines.” I correct.

He waves it off, “Yeah that.”

Twilight nods at this particular bombshell that was dropped on us the previous evening. “Correct, the princess also wanted to bring some specialists along with us, which would be you three.” She points her hoof at Hydro, Volt, and I.

I ask something that just occurred to me, “Actually on that note there is something I want to ask, to be honest I’m surprised I didn’t ask this earlier. How did Princess Celestia know about us anyway?”

Twilight answers, “The girls and I send reports to Celestia on the magic of friendship, along with that I also send her periodic reports of interesting things that happen in Ponyville. I sent her reports both for when you three arrived in Ponyville and my notes on what happened the other day when you all helped me test that new spell.”

I ponder this for a moment, “I would guess this means after you told her about us she then endeavored to look into our backgrounds so I assume this is where her knowledge of our fields was obtained.”

It’s a weird feeling knowing one of the rulers of the country looked into you… not sure if I like it or not.

Twilight nods again, “Yes I would guess that’s what happened. She said she wanted Hydro and Volt for their respective areas of engineering and electrical expertise. She also said she wanted Rhino along for his magical proficiency.”

Hydro continues the say-and-confirm pattern, “Alright so we know why we are all here, now what do we know about the cloud?”

The other girls tune in a little more at this point as Twilight goes on, “Objectively we don’t know much about the cloud, but what we do know doesn’t inspire confidence. A month or so ago, there was an accident at the weather factory in Cloudsdale. The result of this experiment was a single small cloud darker than anypony had seen before. They tried to simply get rid of it like any other unwanted cloud but what was strange is that the pegasi could barely affect the cloud let alone get rid of it. While they were trying to decide what to do with it… it apparently escaped. While they weren’t too worried about it, the problem is that it found its way over the Everfree Forest and ended up combining with the clouds there into the massive cloud that it is now. It’s sentience is limited, but is more than enough for it to realize that ponies were hurting it and thus it is trying to do the same to them. Since a few days ago it moved out of the forest and has been causing extreme and unpredictable weather all across Equestria. The princess assigned us to stop it while the army tries to stay ahead of the cloud and evacuate those who are in its path, but being sentient means it’s only even more unpredictable than other storms from the Everfree. The princess believed that with a wide array of approaches we could find some way to stop the cloud which she has code named: Fluffers.”

The fact that Twilight says its name with a straight face makes the rest of us snicker.

Hah! Still having a hard time taking it seriously with a name like that.

We laugh to ourselves for a minute, getting it out of our system, then I summarize our current situation, “And thus we find ourselves on a medium sized airship headed for Cloudsdale with a cargo hold of tools and parts. I’m just glad we were able to set up last minute arrangements for our affairs in Ponyville.”

The others make various noises of agreement to my statement.

Speaking of which, I wonder how Specter and Angel are doing over at Fluttershy’s…

***Meanwhile, at Fluttershy’s house***

We find Specter lounging on a shelf in Fluttershy’s living room eating some mixed nuts as Angel walks in with a smirk on his face from another room.

Angel walks over to Specter with that same smirk, ‘Hey Specs, you mind sleeping down here tonight? I need the bedroom.’ He motions back over his shoulder where Specter could see a female rabbit and her friends chatting.

Specter raises an eyebrow at Angel, ‘Seriously? Again? Why do I always get kicked out when you have girls over? What do you guys do up there anyway?’

‘You’ll find out when you’re older.’ Angel chuckles at the squirrel’s naivety.

Specter gives Angel an appraising look, ‘I’m not sure I’ll even want to know then.’

Angel puts a paw to his chin for a moment, ‘Tell you what, to make it up to you, how about I move our sparring match up from next week to say… in five minutes?’

‘I suppose that’ll do, at least it’ll tire me out so I can sleep through those weird noises you make.’

Five minutes later and we find our two furry friends opposite each other in the middle of the floor. Specter is garbed in a traditional ninja outfit and wielding a tiny toy wooden sword. Angel is wearing a white ninja outfit and wielding a carrot. The two raise their weapons and slowly circle each other. They freeze and every other animal in the cottage looks on, none of them daring to make a sound.

The clock chimes.

At this signal the two combatants rush towards each other and-

***Back at the airship***

Those two are probably just sleeping the day away.

I continue with the questions, “So are we heading to Cloudsdale to ask the ponies at the weather factory about the initial cloud?”

Twilight shakes her head, “No, actually we are headed there to pick up one more pony to help us against Fluffers. He is the only researcher of the Everfree Forest weather and could be a great help to us.”

“So what’s this mysterious pony’s name?”

“Blue Breeze.”

Chapter 17: An Enemy Revealed

***Tuesday, Day 11, Morning***

A storm is brewing on the horizon.

We all stand on deck facing the enormous bank of clouds that is our foe. The dark shapes of the clouds are constantly rolling over each other like a boiling grey ocean in the sky. The entire storm is like a slowly rotating disk. Arcs of lightning can be seen every few seconds lighting up the otherwise dreary scene. The winds are the first we feel of its power.

As the wind picks up again Rainbow Dash cries out, “We have to land this thing! There’s no way we’ll be able to stay in the air if we get any closer!”

Applejack, one hoof on her hat, points down while looking over the railing, “There’s a space behind that rock over there! Let’s get down there before the ship starts actin’ like tumbleweed!” We look past her at what could be described as a small mountain.

In short order we’ve managed to anchor down the ship on the far side of the rock and deflate the balloon to keep it from dragging us off. Blue stands on deck with his eyes on the sky as the rest of us finish strapping down the last few things.

Twilight walks over to Blue, “Can you tell what type of cloud we’re up against?”

Blue closes his eyes and shakes his head, “Sorry, I can’t tell from here. I need to get a sample to have a better guess.”

“I’m on it!” Rainbow dashes off without another word leaving us all watching in momentary shock before yelling for her to get back.

Rainbow starts out strong, but she seems to have to fight the wind more and more the closer she gets to the edge. She homes in on a tuft of cloud barely hanging on to the rest of the mass and snaps off what little is tethering it to the main body of the storm. We all let out a little cheer as she starts bringing the cloud back but our voices die out as we see the clouds shift behind her as if in response to her taking a part of it.

The clouds seem to condense into each other for a moment until a solitary bolt of lightning shoots out straight toward her. We all shout out a warning just in time for her to turn and dodge to where instead of hitting her in the back, the bolt only singes her tail. We open the cabin door and she rushes inside with the small cloud that is just smaller than her whole body. We quickly shove the cloud under a large bell jar that we had found in the cargo hold.

The mini cloud simply hovers there as Fluttershy makes sure Rainbow didn’t get hit by anything, Blue looking between his notes and the cloud a few times before shutting the notebook and putting it in his bag in the corner.

He starts speaking as he turns back around, “We got lucky, seems Fluffers is going for pure numbers and not strength. This is a standard Everfree cloud, luckily not one of the rarer more dangerous ones. They’re harder to destroy than normal clouds, but with Fluffers own toughness…” he trails off.

Rainbow tells the others how it was tougher than she thought it’d be to separate the cloud but it was only a small piece she had to destroy. As she tells them this, I take a long look at the cloud and see something that gives me an idea.

“Blue?”

“Yeah?”

“To clarify, you said that Fluffers was almost immune to normal pegasi weather techniques but the Everfree ones are not nearly as tough?”

“Yes, generally the darker a cloud the harder it is to get rid of hence Fluffers being almost black.”

“Well, observe here for a moment,” I gesture towards the window, “It appears to me that while the core of the storm looks to be as resilient as you describe Fluffers to be, as they near the perimeter of its rotation, the clouds become several shades lighter. It’s a bit of an assumption, but I would guess that perhaps the clouds on the outskirts are viable targets as of now.”

Rainbow and Blue come to the window as I step away and give their weather experienced eyes a glance at what I see. They turn back to us and Blue walk up to our little sample cloud.

“If what I’m about to do works, I think we have a good chance of winning.”

He pulls back a hoof as if to punch the cloud while moving the jar off it with a wing. However, as soon as it’s clear the cloud darts for the exit. Unfortunately for it, the door was still closed so it merely bounced off and starts ricocheting around the room. While everypony else ducks for cover Rainbow simply stands up.

“Calm down guys, I got this.” She then dives on the cloud slowing it down… only for it to keep going but now with the added mass of a certain rainbow maned pegasus to hit us with.

Applejack manages to crawl over to her saddlebags and lasso her rope around both rainbow and the cloud with Hydro helping her pull it in and tie it to a chair. After that’s done AJ gives Rainbow a look that anypony pony could easily translate to ‘You got this huh?’

Blue walks back up to the cloud and pulls his hoof back again, this time we have time to see the wind gather around his hoof before he punches the cloud in its center, dissipating it to momentary wisps of air before simply ceasing to be. Blue smiles at us as we begin to plan.

***

We begin our three team battle against Fluffers.

Blue and Rainbow are on offense. Blue is tasked with separating the clouds bit by bit from the main body and pushing them away. His wind powers allow him to generate harder hits necessary to tear through the clouds without having to use too much more energy. Rainbow’s job is to take each cloud fragment that Blue takes off and keep them from reforming by bringing each of them away from other clouds and bucking them to make them poof out of the battle.

Applejack, Hydro, and Pinkie are the distraction team. Without them, Fluffers would simply keep shooting lightning at our two flying pegasi and he would either get lucky or they would drop their guard, either way, not good. Which is why these three are on the ground distracting Fluffers by making targets of themselves. Pinkie seems to almost always know when to dodge so we aren’t too worried about her. Hydro and Applejack end up doing some nice double teaming always trying to split Fluffers attention from one to the other so that he never has a chance to focus too long. Unfortunately, Fluffers gets smart and starts using his wind to topple trees and throw terrain at them. That’s where team three comes in.

Team three has two subdivisions, the first is made up of Twilight, Volt, and Rarity. These three are playing defense. Rarity is focusing on deflecting all but the largest debris from the distraction team, her eye for detail making her an excellent pony for this job. Volt is on lightning duty, his familiarity with electricity and lightning itself make him ideal for either redirecting the lightning with his magic or in desperate situations being a temporary lightning rod. He doesn’t completely shake off these strikes but it’s better for them to hit him than the pegasi or any other pony for that matter. Twilight is on heavy duty defense, it is her job to defend the ground troops from the larger objects like trees and boulders as the winds picks up even more. She is also the emergency teleport for all of us should we need to fall back quickly.

The second subdivision is myself and Fluttershy. We are playing support, myself lending a constant casting of Res to the other three unicorns up on the mountain, anchoring them so they don’t get blown off. I also deflect some of the debris I manage to see that slips by the others occasionally. Fluttershy is on medic duty, whenever one of us takes a good hit or when either Blue or Rainbow needs to take a break, Fluttershy will set up a landing pad of mattresses if it’s the pegasi and for everypony she has the first aid kit and supplies standing by. I assist her whenever time is of the essence or she needs me to grab something she needs.

This fighting goes on for hours, that is just how massive of a scale this storm is. As time goes on both we and Fluffers seem to be weakening, though while we cut down his power he never gets tired. As we near the last few clouds outside the dark core we all have our share of injuries and fatigue.

Blue and Rainbow have to stop frequently for breaks now, small singes on their coats a testament to some close calls that we couldn’t prevent in time. All of the earth ponies, including Pinkie, are reduced to short spurts of speed to dodge, their mere presence enough to distract Fluffers now. Each of them with cuts, though none too bad thanks to teleports from Twilight and aid from Fluttershy. All of the unicorns including myself are bone tired from excessive spell usage, probably have massive headches tomorrow as well. Fluttershy is doing what she can with our remaining supplies, we aren’t going to run out yet, but neither can we keep this going if we start using them excessively.

As the final stray cloud is stripped off the core and destroyed we all let small miles slip out for a moment. Just when we do this though we here a rumbling from inside the core itself, the very air seeming to shimmer for a moment as a large buildup of electricity can be seen arcing within the core. We are all slow to react as dozens of lightning bolts shoot out in all directions from the core, lucklily Twilight casts one last teleport to take us all back to the ship before she collaspes on the floor of the cabin. We looks to see the last of the bolts coming from Fluffers before they cut off suddenly as if he used up too much of his power and finally has to go dormant for a while.

We all breathe a sigh of relief at this welcome sight. We each drag ourselves to our respective beds for much needed rest before the final battle. Volt drops Twilight off in her bed and heads to his room as I pass Fluttershy on my way to mine. In my fatigued state I nuzzle her a little before heading to bed; she herself seeming too tired to mind and she actually smiles a bit. As I lay down I think of what is to come. The core is still there but at least now Fluffers is small enough to not be nearly as much of a threat to towns, at least for now. Given a few days it is likely he will gather more clouds, so we must finish this tomorrow.

Chapter 34: Navy Shadow

***Saturday, Day 28, late evening***

I mentally groan at the sound of knocking on the door.

I know Saturday’s are long days, but I REALLY want this one to be over… or at least slow down for a bit…

I turn from where I had hopefully started heading upstairs, and instead make my way towards the now expectant door. I open it to find a pegasus stallion on the other side. He is… to be honest very blue. Dark blue coat, light blue eyes, regular blue mane with a small bit of red in it and his tail. The mane is relatively short while the tail is long and the tips seem to be spiked with some product or another. He sports the fetlock style of only having the front of his hooves showing, revealing a typical yellowish grey color. His cutie mark appears to be the shadow of two wings.

The stallion takes a moment to take in my appearance as well before speaking, “Rhino is it? Nice to meet you. I believe you are in possession of a certain pegasus who goes by the name of Atom?”

How the hay do so many ponies know who I am? I’m a vet!

I raise an eyebrow at the rather direct greeting before replying, “Umm, nice to meet you... since you obviously know my name, might I ask yours and how you came across mine?”

The stallion replies, “My name’s Navy Shadow, the author. My friend told me about you.”

Not sure why he tacked on his occupation there but whatever.

The fact that he knows my name still bugs me as I answer, “*Sigh* It's amazing how ponies seem to magically know who I am lately... You mentioned Atom, may I ask how you know of him as well?”

Navy simply shrugged like it was no big deal, “I used to know the guy back when he was a royal guard, we kept in touch but didn’t get to see each other much, to be honest kind of had a little crush on him.”

What? Ok… didn’t see that last part coming… very blunt isn’t he? Ok wait he said he’s… ah ok, an old friend. Should probably have more questions but I am really starting to wind down, let’s just see what he wants.

I clear my head from the slight whiplash I got from his little confession that came out of the blue then back up to let him in, noticing his shadow wings cutie mark as I do so, “Alright... umm, come in I guess.”

Navy walks in while looking around, commenting, “Nice place you got here...”

Still wondering what he wants I close the door while answering absentmindedly, “Thanks...” I call out to Hydro who had moved upstairs, “Hydro, we have a visitor, and I think we might want to hear what he has to say!”

In what feels like a strange case of déjà vu for me, Hydro and I find ourselves on the couch once again listening to a strange pegasus sitting in what I might soon start officially calling the “story” chair. Before we go any further I decide to go ahead and ask a question that I know will bug me if I don’t get an answer to.

I look toward Navy, “Ok, just because it’s really bothering me, how did you know my name when you showed up on our doorstep?”

He smiles, “Easy, I had heard a basic description of the ponies the guards had dropped Atom off with and then I simply asked around town when I got here. In a small town like this, it doesn’t really take long to find somepony who knows somepony else.”

The relatively normal response eases my worries, “Oh, alright then, sorry, just a lot of weird things happening in the last day, it’s nice to hear at least something is the way it should be.”

Hydro seems to be more impatient than anything else right now though, “Yeah, moving on though, so you said you were Atom’s friend, but why are you here?”

Navy straightens up a bit, the most serious I’ve seen him act, “I’m here because I think Atom is innocent.”

I hope he wasn’t expecting a dramatic gasp.

I simply look at him after his statement, “And why do you think that?”

“I’ve known Atom since we were foals; he’s a good pony, a bit hot tempered at times, but good nonetheless. He wouldn’t hurt another pony without reason, and money isn’t a reason. Another thing that bothers me is actually how I heard about all this. My friend overheard a pair of guards talking about what happened to Atom, now talking with Atom has told me that the few times a guard has gotten arrested, all of the guards has been solemn about it, but these guys were laughing at all of it as if it was a joke. That’s not the way it’s supposed to be. I think Atom’s being framed.”

With every new side to a story, another small piece of the truth is found.

Hydro is the first to respond, “Well... that was a very nice story Navy, and I do like that Atom has a friend that has his back right now. But I’m not sure exactly what you wanted to accomplish by telling us all this.”

“Umm… well… if he is being framed I can’t go to the guard, so I thought maybe I could come to you guys and maybe you’d let him go.” He tapers off at the end.

Hydro answers clearly but not harshly, “No. As odd as this whole thing has been… there’s still too much we don’t know, and pretty much everything Rhino and I know is based solely off what you, Atom, or the guards said. We don’t have enough information to really act on anything, so for now we’ll just be sticking to the original plan of just keeping an eye on Atom until some guard comes and gets him.”

Navy look from Hydro to me, “And there’s no way I can convince you guys?”

I shake my head, “Sorry, this is just the best we think we can do right now.”

He sighs before looking back at us, “Can I at least see him?”

Hydro and I look at each other before looking back at Navy and nodding. I go and retrieve Atom from his room and lead him back to where Navy is waiting. Navy smiles at his friend while Atom just seems surprised to see him.

“Hey Atom, long time no see.”

“Hey Navy.”

Navy cocks his head at the short greeting, “You okay Atom? Oh silly me, I know what’s wrong,” he digs around in his saddlebag a moment before bringing out a pair of green aviator shades and hoofing them to Atom, “there you go, I found these in your apartment when I first went to look for you. I thought you might want them back since you go hardly anywhere without them.”

Atom looks at the shades sadly before sighing and hoofing them back to a confused Navy, “Keep them.”

“What? Why?”

“Just, keep them.”

Navy looks down at the shades before looking back at Atom, “But, you can’t not want your shades, you always wear your shades ever since your mom gave them to you!”

“You don’t understand.”

“Then make me! This isn’t you Atom, what happened to you?”

Atom simply looks down, the image of a defeated stallion, "When I was young my mother told me those who moved with the wind lived a good honest life. That's why I joined the royal guards, so I could make a difference for the better in this world. And those shades are a symbol of what I was trying to be. They are the eyes set upon my life goals. After recent events, I can't help but feel that my choices in life have let the winds lead me astray. And worst of all I let my mother down. I don't deserve those shades. They are meant for a better stallion.”

“So that’s it then, you’re giving up?”

“I guess I am.”

“Then you aren’t even Atom anymore.”

“What do you mean?”

Navy walks over to Atom and places the shades over his eyes, “Remember what you used to say? Your life’s motto?”

Atom simply remains silent.

“You used to always say, ‘Never stop. Keep going until it's either done-’”

“- or becomes impossible.” Atom finishes, slowly rubbing his hoof along the sides of his shades.

Navy smiles, “Exactly, last I checked, you weren’t in an impossible position-”

“- and this is far from over.” Atom finishes, voice slightly stronger this time.

“Good, so tell me, are you giving up?”

Atom takes his hoof off his shades and stands taller than I’d seen him stand the whole time I’ve known him, “I never give up.”

Navy beams at the return of his friend, “It’s good to have you back Atom.”

“You know what Navy, despite all this, it’s great to be back.”

Navy turns back to Hydro and myself, “Sorry about all that you two, but thanks for letting me talk to him.”

I smile a bit myself at the scene before us, “Hey, no problem. If you would have told me that guy there was the same depressed one we’ve had the last day I would have said you were crazy. No pony should give up like that.”

Navy and Atom brohoof a moment before Navy starts heading towards the door, “Well, like you guys said I didn’t convince you to let Atom go, so I’m gonna head back to my hotel for the night. Would you mind if I came back tomorrow though?”

I shrug while still smiling, “Long as one of us is here I don’t see a problem, house arrest doesn’t exactly have clear cut visiting hours anyway.”

Navy just keeps smiling, “Thank you guys again,” he raises a hoof to Atom, “See ya, Atom!”

“Later, Navy!”

Hydro decides to be the one to snap us out of whatever daze we were in, “Ok, this has been a very long and very… interesting day. What say we all turn in? Atom, back to your room please.”

While Hydro goes to chain up Atom’s door again, I yawn and make my way up to my soft and awaiting bed. As soon as I lay down I feel Specter wriggle his way under one of my forelegs up against my chest but tonight I’m too tired to care.

I murmur as sleep overtakes me, “Good night little buddy.”

***Sunday, Day 22, 12:01 AM***

*Thump*

Whoops, almost forgot, or rather, did forget until I remembered. *Ahem* Navy Shadow comes from the user Navy Shadow.

Chapter 39: Questioning

***Sunday, Day 29, night***

Navy looks up at the middle-class abode of our witness. Of course, “middle-class” for Canterlot is a relative term judging by the gate and hedges of our target’s residence that would be seen only in the wealthiest areas of Ponyville.

“So explain to me how both this mare and I tell stories for a living, yet she lives here while I live in a tiny apartment.”

The DJ, true to her profession, responds without missing a beat, “Probably because she’s a lot sexier than you.”

Navy puts on a look of hurt, “Hey I’m plenty sexy, right Atom?” He turns to the black pegasus only to slump as he sees Atom just coming back from looking around the building and thus had no way of hearing what he said.

The white mare smirks at the author, “Swing and a miss.”

Navy sighs and shrugs, “Gotta hit the mark eventually.”

I barely register their conversation as we all head in, Atom, Hydro, and Volt going in the back while the rest of us use the front door. Vinyl tests the door handle, finding that it’s locked. She chuckles quietly as her horn lights up slightly brighter and a small click comes from the door. A small test twist and we’re in.

As we tread lightly checking the first floor rooms, I walk up to the music pony and whisper, “So why’s a DJ know a lock-picking spell?”

She opens a door to find a broom closet as she answers, “Got tired of sleeping outside when I lost my keys.”

I smile at the mare’s response as we find ourselves and the rest of the group at the bottom of the stairs, all of us shaking our heads at the others showing our disappointing results. Some silent debates later find Navy and Vinyl making their way up the stairs as the rest of us kept our ears open for any signs of trouble. We all look at each other and smile as we hear a slight scuffle upstairs.

***

*click*

A single light flicks on illuminating an earth pony mare with silver coat, light blue mane, and ice blue eyes. The mare blinks for a moment before realizing she is tied to a chair in front of a table. She squints as two shapes walk into the light, the first a red earth pony, and the second a sea foam green unicorn.

“Silver Tongue?”

The mare shakes her head a moment before looking up defiantly at the two stallions, “Who are you two, and why are you in my house?!”

Hydro remains where he is, speaking plainly, “It doesn’t matter who we are, we know what you did.”

Volt glares at the mare, pointing a hoof at her, “You’re in hot water and on thin ice right now. And I hate ponies that break the laws of physics."

“What are you two talking about?”

Volt smiles at her, pulling out a plate with a slice of pie on it, “Where are my manners? Would you like a pastry? A delicious flaky pastry with warm filling?”

Those of us watching through a glass door covered by a thin curtain in an adjacent room stare on in confusion.

Blue whispers, “Where did he get that pie?”

Atom whispers back, “I think he raided the fridge.”

Vinyl shushes them both, “Quiet! This is gonna get good.”

Back in the interrogation/living room, the mare shakes her head to Volt’s offer.

His smile flips to a frown in an instant as he smashes the plate on the ground, looking back angrily at the confused mare, “The only thing I hate more than silent ponies are connoisseurs! I could arrest you for that right now!”

Hydro remains where he is, still speaking calmly, “We know you were paid to testify against the stallion named Atomic Vortex.”

The silver pony narrows her eyes before sticking her nose up and turning away, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Volt looks at the shattered plate on the ground before turning back to the mare, “You know what? I made a mess, let me clean this up for you.” He grabs a broom and heads back to the mess before turning and suddenly brandishing the broom towards the mare, “That’s what you are! A mess! After I clean up you’re act, you won’t know what to think!”

The mare seems to be slowly shifting from confusion to fear, though from whether Volt’s lines are actually working or she legitimately thinks he is insane is anypony’s guess.

Hydro continues, “You were paid to say Atom tried to break into the treasury.”

“I-“

Volt levitates a glass of milk in front of her, “Would you like a glass of milk?” He slams the milk down on the table, “After I milk you for answers, you will need the calcium!” He gets right in her face with a small smile, “Dairy I say things will get intense.”

“Ok! Yes! I was paid to speak against him! Is that what you wanted to hear?!”

The red stallion continues to simply stand, watching her, “No, I said we already knew that.”

“Then what do you want?!”

“We want to know who paid you.”

The mare coughs a moment causing Volt to adopt a look of concern, “I’m sorry are you sick? Here, have a cough drop.” The mare accepts the cough drop and sticks it inside one cheek as Volt rounds back onto her, “Now drop the deats!”

The icy eyed pony simply looks at Volt before spitting the cough drop into his face.

Volt wipes the spit off his face before turning to the other stallion, “Leave the room for a second.”

Hydro nods before going out the door and walking back around to where the rest of us are watching.

Navy seems to be getting a little agitated, “What’s going on in there? Is he crazy? We haven’t gotten any information that we didn’t already know!”

I look back at Volt, “Well, it’s keeping her off balance at least… maybe he’ll say exactly what he needs to so she’ll talk.”

Volt gestures in the direction Hydro left from, “You see my friend who just left the room?”

The silver mare seems to be getting used to Volt’s actions as she simply asks, “What about him?”

“He is a vampony. And you don't want to see him entertain himself. He will suck the info right out of you. He just didn’t mention it because he’s shy.”

I facehoof at his statement, “Ok, maybe he really has gone crazy.”

The female earth pony simply looks at Volt before smirking, “Yeah right, I’m so scared,” she says sarcastically.

Volt seems to not notice her tone, only her words, “Afraid I will blow up again? I am a loose cannon!” He gestures once again to the door, “And my vampony friend there?” He slams his hoof down on the table, “BITCH HE EATS PONIES!”

Silver busts out laughing at his yell.

I sigh to myself, “Okay, this isn’t working.”

Vinyl grinds her teeth, “After all she’s done she has the gall to laugh?”

Hmm, idea.

I turn to the DJ, “Vinyl I have an idea, come with me. The rest of you, go take a water break real quick alright?”

The three pegasi and one earth stallion all shrug and head towards the kitchen as Vinyl and I walk into the room with the probably crazy unicorn and the still laughing Silver Tongue.

I tap Volt on the shoulder before motioning over mine, “Go get a drink, we’ll watch her.”

Silver is still chuckling as she looks us over, “What, time for your turn? Going to tell me stories of how all the various monsters from zombies to ghosts are part of your group and want me to talk? Hah! You’re all jokes! You really think I would tell you anything? Fools, you’ll all be sorry. Just like all those guards I helped put away!”

I see Vinyl’s eye twitch at that last sentence, “You know what? I think I’m a bit thirsty too. Watch her for a moment will you?” I smile at the purple shades wearing pony as I leave the room and from the corner of my eye I see the silver pony’s laugh die quickly as the other mare looks at her.

I join the others in the kitchen and magically grab myself a glass of water to sip on.

Volt looks at me, “I thought you and Vinyl were going to keep an eye on our lead?”

I smile at him, “So I see you didn’t go completely crazy.”

He shrugs, “Meh, read an instruction book and good cop bad cop routines once, never could decide between the two… but you still didn’t answer my question.”

I keep smiling, “Oh, I figure maybe our DJ will help our little liar open up a bit more, maybe actually talk with us. It seems to me, Ms. Scratch certainly wanted to talk with her.”

Realization slowly dawns on the others faces in the form of knowing smiles as we drink our water for another few minutes before heading back to the room where Silver is being held.

We enter the room to find a much shaken looking Silver Tongue and a relaxed Vinyl Scratch leaning lightly against the wall watching the door with Silver between her and it.

The DJ’s smirk seemed a little darker than normal even if her voice was sweet, “Silver here said she’s like to speak with us now.”

And speak she does, Silver tells us about how she was contacted by an anonymous letter to meet in an alley one night. She tells us of the money offered to simply say she saw things, and that this wasn’t the first time she did something like this. To her this was simply another job, one that she gladly reaped the benefits of. Unfortunately she also told us how she never actually knew who hired her as she is paid in advance and exposed if she doesn’t hold up her end, such was her business.

“I honestly don’t know who it was that wanted Vortex out of the way, I swear!”

Vinyl walks up closer to the liar causing her to flinch as she speaks, “Is that really all you know?”

“I-I-… they always have somepony watching me to make sure I do my part!”

Blue’s voice by the window draws our attention, “Guys…”

All of us rush over to the window in time to see an equine figure move off the roof across the street and run away from us, its actions suggesting it had been watching us and had bolted when we saw it.

Navy bolts to the door remarking, “Come on, we can’t let him get away!”

I look back at Vinyl before following the others, she waves me off saying, “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of things here, you guys get to the bottom of this.”

I nod before chasing after the others and our newest target.

Chapter 44: Debriefing

***Monday, Day 30, pre-dawn***

“Look, I’m just saying: the next time I tell you somepony needs to wake up gradually… Don’t dump a bucket of water on them!”

“Hey it worked didn’t it?”

I sigh at my earth pony friend, “Yes, it worked, but it could just have easily made it worse. I told you, Volt has magical exhaustion, he needed to be eased out of his comatose state,” I half-heartedly flip the empty bucket onto Hydro’s head, “I know you and he have your differences… but please, just cool it for a bit huh?”

The red stallion removes the bucket from his head and sighs at my killing his buzz, “Alright, alright, I get it.”

I turn to our electric friend currently wrapped in a towel with a bag of ice on the base of his horn, “How’re you feeling?”

Volt rasps out a few unintelligible noises.

Seeing the opportunity before him, Blue pounces, “What’s the matter Volt? Feeling a bit hoarse?”

Facehooves and groans go all around while Volt manages to chuckle before letting out a groan of his own, “Heh-ow… hurts to laugh…*cough*-ow…”

I hold up a cautionary hoof, “Careful Volt, between your lack of magic for the next few days due to using it all up, and the damage to your throat from Torchlight, you need to take it easy.”

As we converse in the middle of the throne room floor, the sound of a door opening off to the side gains our attention. In stroll four distinct figures, well, three stroll and one flies. Iroh seems to prefer to fly everywhere, given his size, an understandable decision. He flies in approximately head height with our Princess of the Night who is followed by the Captain of the Wonderbolts, and finally our resident Sun Goddess, who wraps up the parade while levitating a large cup of what smells like coffee in her magical grip, a compliment to her tired eyes.

As the group approaches the throne, Luna turns to Spitfire, “Thank you for your testimony Captain. If you would like, you may join your friends for the debriefing.”

The fiery pegasus bows, “Thank you, your highness.”

While the Wonderbolt makes her way over to us, Celestia and her caffeine rest themselves upon their golden throne while Luna summons a large fluffy blue cushion and Iroh lands on the unoccupied section of that same cushion.

Celestia takes one long last chug of her cup before setting it down beside her and clearing her throat, gaining our attention, “Well, my little ponies, from what my dear sister and yourselves have told me, it seems you’ve had quite a busy night.”

I tense up as I answer, “Yes, your highness.”

Celestia smiles gently, “Peace, you are not in trouble.”

Luna smiles in less gentle, but more proud manner, “Verily, your deeds this night have been momentous. We simply wished to call you before your departure to enlighten you so there are no questions.”

Celestia nods to her sister, “Indeed, now to the matter at hoof. First, a question I have for you: I understand Torchlight had quite the interesting set of armor during your fight, would you happen to know how he sustained so many cuts and bruises as he now sits muttering to himself in one of our best dungeon cells?”

Atom shrugs and says with a completely straight face, “He probably fell down some stairs, some ponies are clumsy.”

The rest of us echo his assessment.

“Gotta watch out for those stairs.”

“Yeah, they’ll sneak up on you.”

“Those stairs are crafty.”

Celestia doesn’t look quite convinced but moves past it, “Very well, to the matter of former Lieutenant Torchlight’s plan: It appears his goal was to infiltrate enough of his own ponies into the ranks of the guard to enable the Canterlot branch of a particularly troubling mob group to do whatever they pleased. Now that their inside ponies have been exposed and are being dealt with, their crime in this town should cease and this will likely deal a blow to their organization as a whole as well.”

Hydro whistles, impressed, “Wow, we go through all that and it turns out the whole thing was just so some ponies could get away with pretty much anything… amazing when you think about what brought us here.”

Luna nods, “That is another item we wish to address: the assassin you encountered.” Luna summons a note with her magic and looks it over before continuing, “Hospital records show a pony matching the injuries your assailant gained from your encounter checking in here in the capital, unfortunately he left the hospital not long after he was treated, but we still have a group dedicated to tracking him down and they have already left to go after him. He should be too busy to trouble you any further.”

Celestia takes up the narrative again, “Speaking of the hospital,” she nods towards Spitfire, “Thanks to Ms. Spitfire, all the ponies you liberated from the dungeon are now receiving treatment and are on their way to recovery. In a few weeks, all of them should be back to their daily lives, hopefully no worse for wear.”

An audible exhale of relief comes from both myself and the others as we smile knowing we helped out those we could.

Luna lets out a small laugh, “And it appears your writer friend has already started an article to submit to the local news about this little excursion of yours. Names will not be mentioned, but it should be out fairly soon seeing as he continues to write even as he continues to rest in his hospital bed.”

Atom chuckles, “Navy never did let anything stop him when he had something good to write.”

I work up the courage to ask something that is bothering me, “Umm, your majesties? If I may ask… given the results of some of what occurred last night… Should we expect any consequences for some of the damage we caused?”

Celestia looks up in thought before returning her gaze to us, “Given the testimonies of both Captain Spitfire and my good friend Iroh,” she nods to the nimbat in question, “as well as uncovering many double agents in my own guards, I believe you get a pass for any damages caused.”

Atom steps forward, “Princess Celestia, you said earlier that all the prisoners, some of which were guards, would be able to go back to their lives. Does that include me?”

For the first time in our conversation, the Princess of the Day looks regretful, “I am sorry Atomic Vortex, but no. Yours is an unfortunate case. Before you, all the guards replaced were considered either MIA or AWOL. You were the first to be framed and because of how far this went before it was discovered, you were discharged out of the Royal Guard yesterday morning. As you know, once discharged, nopony may rejoin the Guard due to the measures against returning guards having become traitors. It is an old rule, but one that still counts.”

Atom’s ears flatten as he looks to the ground and says softly, “Oh…”

Luna’s voice attempts to perk up our friend, “Fear not, for all is not lost. Though you may not be able to serve us, your experience does qualify you for another profession, one many of our guards take after their retirements.” She floats a small card over to Atom. “We thought this might serve as a small consolation.”

He takes the card in a hoof and reads it out loud, “Atomic Vortex, Private Investigator?” He blinks for a moment before a smile starts working its way across his face, “I like it.”

Luna continues, “Also, if you wish to accept it, we have started the paperwork for you to gain a residence in Ponyville, though you will need to find a place to stay until it is ready. As you know, the talk of Canterlot is still of your trial, false though it may be, and thus it may not be wise for you to linger here. In addition, we thought you might enjoy being close to those who helped you prove your innocence.”

Brohoofs are given all around to congratulate Atom on his newly licensed job.

Celestia begins again, “And on that note, I figure you boys might want to start making your way back home now. You probably need to rest after all this.”

Iroh speaks up for the first time, “And, I’ll be coming with you.” He continues in response to our questioning looks, “I believe I did promise to tell you about nimbats when you rescued me from the dungeon, and it would hardly do to break a promise to those who helped me. Plus, from what Celestia tells me during our chess games, she has quite the student down in Ponyville, and I’d very much like to meet this “Twilight Sparkle” I’ve heard so much about.”

The Sun Princess turns to her friend, “Be sure to come back say goodbye this time once you’re done down in Ponyville before you head back to the rest of your people.”

Iroh makes a midair bow, “Of course.”

Celestia rises from her throne, “Once again, thank you all for what you have done here. I sent a letter to Twilight explaining the basics of what happened, but you’ll need to fill in the details yourselves.”

We thank the princess and begin making our way out of the throne room, as Luna yawns as she makes her way out as well.

Just before he exits the door, Celestia calls to Volt, “Voltage Surge, there is one more thing I wanted to tell you.”

Volt scampers back in and approaches Celestia with a questioning look on his face.

“Now, I’ve heard quite a bit about you from my student’s letters.”

The questioning look remains as he rasps out an answer, “She’s a good… friend.”

Celestia nods, “Indeed, you would never do anything to hurt her, right?”

“No.”

Celestia smiles, “Good, because doing so would make you a liar. And a liar of that caliber would have to burn under the intensity of a thousand suns."

Volt’s face, a mixture of confusion and trepidation, nods rapidly before he exits quickly after his friends.

Celestia waits a moment before continuing in a quiet voice, “Oh, she also has an over protective brother who is Captain of the entire Royal Guard who could easily break every bone in your body… oh no, it appears he didn’t hear me… oh well.” She shrugs and heads towards her room to raise the sun as she does every day.

***

I idly wonder what took Volt so long as he catches up to us just outside the castle gates as Spitfire is making her goodbyes.

“Well, it was nice meeting you all, but I need to get back to the other Bolts.” She looks at Atom, “Don’t be a stranger alright? We don’t see each other nearly as often as we should. Plus you should have a bit more free time now.”

Atom grins as they hug, “Hey, you know where I live now, feel free to visit any time.”

A small twinkle appears in the mare’s eyes as she prepares to take off, “Careful Atom, I might just take you up on that.”

A gust of wind and Spitfire is nothing more than an orange blur in a barely dawn sky. As we look back down and make our way down the street towards Atom’s place to pick up his stuff, a familiar duo hails us from across the street.

A yellow pegasus stallion stands happily next to a familiar purple shade wearing DJ who is waving us over, “Hey guys! Over here!”

I hail the mare as we close in, “Good morning Vinyl.”

The DJ has on her signature smirk, “You’re lucky I decided that you guys were worth staying up for before I go home and sleep. I just wanted to say thanks for getting this lug of mine back,” she pats Glare who stands with a content smile beside her, “Don’t know how you guys did it, but I’m sure I’ll hear about it later. What happened to Navy?”

Atom answers, “He’s holed up in the hospital for now on account of some injuries he got during a fight, could you tell him sorry we can’t see him before we leave? We’re kind of in a hurry.”

She waves it off, “Sure, I suppose staying up a little longer won’t be bad.” She turns to the stallion next to her, “As long as somepony agrees to carry me home-Woah!”

Glare chuckles as he adjusts the mare he had unceremoniously slipped onto his back, “Thanks again you guys. Atom, I’ll see you around alright?”

Atom smiles, looking back at us then to his friend and nods, “Look for me down in Ponyville, looks like I might be staying there for a long while.”

Chapter 50: Double Date

For those of you who were wondering, I whipped up a quick pic of what Specter looks like now:

***Wednesday, Day 32, morning***

I blink my eyes a few times in stunned silence at the door that was recently shut in my face as the final punctuating end to a rather sudden and unexpected end to my trip to the library.

My mouth opens and closes a few times uttering no sound until my voice finally manages to find its way out with slightly less than its usual coherency, “…huh…” My body feels like its running itself as I turn around and begin walking away from the arboreal abode.

About a minute passes before I feel some stirring on my head as my little passenger decides to speak up, “Well, at least she doesn’t seem mad anymore.”

I respond carefully, “I almost wish she was, anger, volatile as it is, can at least be predicted to some degree. This new attitude though… scares me far more, if only because I have no idea if I’ll be able to tell when she actually is in a forgiving mood.”

More shifting occurs before Specter responds, “So if we can’t get the book… how else are we going to learn about… well, new me?”

I look at my watch, “Well, it’s about time for work, and so we really don’t have time to track down Iroh again.” I rub the bridge of my nose with a hoof, “I suppose we simply take things as they come. It’s not like you’re too different, to be honest I was just worried in case nimbats have a special diet or something, but Iroh seems to do fine with normal food. Other than that, the only really big thing is if you breathe fire like him, but I guess you can just let me know if that happens then we can work on it. Of course, you have an opinion in this too. Anything you’re curious or have concerns about?”

A few ponies pass by us as I walk and Specter waits until they pass until he responds, “I… don’t know. This doesn’t feel bad or anything, just different. Though,I don’t think I’m ready to talk around anyone else yet.”

“You seemed to talk fine when Hydro and Atom were around this morning,” I say as I idly scratch near his ears with a little magic.

“I’m still getting used to the whole… talking thing. I spoke then because you needed to know it was still me,” I feel a slight increase in drag as I see his wings unfurl out of the corners of my eyes, “despite everything.”

I nod slowly as to not throw him off, “I suppose that’s the next challenge: seeing how everypony at work reacts to your new look.”

Turns out, everypony reacts pretty well. All I do is lead with a shortened version saying there was a ‘magical mishap’ and then show them Specter’s new form. Manila doesn’t even look shocked, she simply squees loudly and fawns over Specter saying how he is ‘even cuter now than he was before.’ Dr. Goodall takes a more logical approach and gives him a checkup along with the resulting clean bill of health and a recommendation of more fruit since nuts will likely not be enough for sustenance. Fluttershy is also in the office today, wearing a nurse’s hat that may or may not have distracted me a number of times with the … endearing effect it had on my marefriend’s appearance. Her reaction was a bit frantic at first, but after the checkup and convincing Specter to talk with her when the other two mares were out of the room, she seems to be at least comfortable with the situation. However she does tell Specter to take it easy since he is probably getting used to his new body.

The rest of the shift goes by relatively as normal as every day. A small surprise comes during lunch when Fluttershy asks me if we can have the double date with AJ and Hydro tonight seeing as AJ had approached her early this morning asking about it. I readily tell her that it’s no trouble and the plan is set.

***Evening***

Oh come now, this closet isn’t that big. Where are you hiding?

I finally spot my target hiding among some of my winter gear and levitate it out to see it clearly. It’s a simple black jacket for informal settings. I put it on over my red shirt and give myself a once over.

I look to Specter lying on the bed, “What do you think?”

He glances at me and puts a paw to his chin in thought before nodding, “Looks good!”

I smile at the encouragement, “Thanks Specs. Now, I’m not sure how late we’ll be out, but we should be back before too long. If you feel anything weird, let me know when I get back because with Iroh telling us to ‘experience the joy of discovery for ourselves’ with your new form, we can’t be too careful until I can find a way to get that book from Twilight.”

Specter nods again with a small dip in his smile from remembering the teasing lack of an answer from the elder nimbat.

I smile, “Good, be safe, and I’ll see you when I get back.” I grab my keys and such and put them into my pocket as I join Hydro outside.

The earth pony taps his hoof on the ground in impatience and says in a slight teasing tone, “Come on, I know you get attached to things but it’s only for a date. He’ll be fine.”

I look at my friend in his white collared shirt and black stetson, “Sorry, couldn’t leave without saying goodbye. Let’s go meet the girls.”

A short time later finds all four of us sitting at a table at Stable and Gardens, one of the informal restaurants in town. Applejack and Fluttershy are both wearing simple dresses, Applejack’s being a golden yellow sundress type, and Fluttershy wearing a spring green affair with a small blue flower clip in her mane. The restaurant is a quaint place, with themes of nature and rustic taking precedence as the low murmur of chat from the other tables along with the usual clanking in dining patrons lends a low background noise to the scene.

Soon our orders are taken and the Apple mare, her usual headwear lying on her bags next to her seating cushion the same Hydro’s is doing, decides to break the ice, “So, I suppose ya’ll have heard about Twi and yer friend Volt?”

I nod, “Oh yes, it was quite literally written all over him. Did Twilight tell you about it?”

She shakes her head, “Nah, good news travels fast around these parts. That and gossip. Hard to tell which is which sometimes. Whatever this is, Rarity decided to talk mah ear off about it yesterday when Ah was in the market runnin’ the stall.”

Hydro perks up, “Glad to see he finally got the hints, that or Twilight finally stopped beating around the bush.”

Fluttershy quietly adds in, “I’m happy for them, it’s wonderful having a special somepony, and they deserve to be happy.”

Applejack’s smile fades, “Long as everythin’ goes fine that is.”

I give her a curious glance, “Do you have some reservations about them being together?”

She waves a hoof, “Now it ain’t like that. I wish em both luck. Ah’m just sayin’, Twi’s a bit inexperienced with relationships and this seems like something she can’t learn from her books. Ah just got a little worry in mah head that Volt might take advantage of that.”

Surprisingly it’s Hydro who comments, “I wouldn’t worry too much Applejack. Considering how long it took him to even realize she was interested, I don’t think Volt is going to be the one doing a whole lot of pushing.”

I add in my two bits, “Volt’s a good stallion. A bit silly with his puns, electrical or not, but from what little I’ve seen, he is head over hooves for that mare. Plus, from what I’ve heard, Twilight has more than enough power to take care of herself, as for the inexperience… well what better way to learn than first hoof?”

The farm mare’s smile returns, “Alright alright, maybe Ah’m just being a bit protective. Like Ah said I wish em the best.”

I raise my glass slightly in AJ’s direction, “Hey, I, for one, say there’s nothing wrong with being protective. As long as it stays within reason, all it does is show how much you care.” I give a knowing smile to Fluttershy who blushes and smiles right back.

Hydro nods, “Good, now if we could, I would like to change the subject, as talking about Volt seems to make him appear and I would rather not make this a triple date.”

Fluttershy looks out one of the windows and giggles lightly and she motions toward it, “It looks like you may have stopped just in time.”

The rest of us look at the window and indeed see the unicorn couple in question walking by, both in more formal attire than us and looking like they are enjoying themselves. Our party simply laughs at the coincidence the two graced us with.

Our food arrives shortly so conversation dies for a bit as we partake. Eventually the pace slows down enough for conversation to be viable. After a time of the usual things of ‘how have things been’ the Apple mare brings up a question, “So what did you boys do before you came down to Ponyville?”

Hydro and I look at each other before I motion him to go first. He clears his throat and begins, “Well, both of us were in school. Beyond that though, I actually worked a part time job as a mechanic for the airships used by the Royal Air Force, mostly low level things, but it was still a great time. I got a few free flights out of it too.”

Applejack looks at her date curiously, “Ah’ve gone up on a few flights, but ya sound like you went up on plenty. Not sure how ya could stand it, Ah prefer having all four hooves on solid earth.”

Hydro chuckles, “Oh the usual call of the earth gets me eventually too, but I always did enjoy flying more than most.” He glances to me, “Rhino being one of those who aren’t too thrilled about it.”

I roll my eyes at his statement, truthful though it may be, “Pegasus mom or not, I don’t see anything wrong with being scared of falling from heights. As long as I don’t think about it, am distracted, or am on something large like and airship I’m fine.”

Fluttershy responds, “So, what did you do then Rhino?”

“Well, believe it or not, I worked in customer support. It was a bit difficult at first, me not being the most social of ponies, but in the end I suppose it helped me get a little more comfortable talking to ponies I don’t know. I basically was a pony that other ponies who used certain magical devices would call to help walk them through it when they didn’t understand something or had questions. They would come in, they assigned one of us to help until they were satisfied. Honestly glad when my time was over there, useful as it is to be able to put on a mask for other ponies, having to do it for hours on end just made it eventually feel like I just wasn’t myself there.”

Applejack comments, “Sounds a bit like lyin’ to both them and yerself.”

I think on that, “It pretty much was at times, at least when it comes to what I was thinking, but the important thing is that they went away as satisfied as we could make them. Personally, I prefer having friends who you can be yourself around.”

The whole table raises their glasses to that.

Chapter 52: Escalation, Explanation, and Evaluation

***Friday, Day 34, noonish***

It seems like I spend my time seeking out ponies exponentially more since I moved into this town. To be honest, I think I preferred it when I could rely on a certain amount of consistency in my days.

Thoughts of my friends, and especially my marefriend, flit through my mind like an energetic pegasus.

Heh, although I have to admit, the results from the interesting times in this town have been enjoyable. I suppose a healthy mixture of tedium and spontaneity is the key.

I corral my wandering thoughts and instead focus back on why I am once again on the hunt for an electric unicorn. The irritating reasons behind today’s quest do lead to slight internal grumbling as I continue searching for him. I spot my quarry as he approaches his traditional hangout of the library. My face adopts a neutral expression as I make a beeline for the door and follow him in. A cursory glance around the interior of Golden Oaks shows a lack of librarians, which is just fine by me. I make sure to make my hoofsteps louder as I walk in, in order to get his attention.

Once he turns around, Volt’s eyes widen slightly at my unexpected appearance. I levitate the book he had given me out of my saddlebag and hover it between us as I begin, “Mind explaining why the book you gave me is completely blank?” I let the book open slightly to reveal its bare pages.

He says nothing, so I continue, “Volt, why would you even bother giving me a blank book if you changed your mind about getting me the journal? I would have been a little irritated at you for changing your mind, but I would have understood. This just seems… unnecessary.”

Volt raises a hoof to the back of his head sheepishly in response to my forced neutral face, “I was trying to appeal to both sides here. Mostly appealing to Twilight’s side, but I didn’t want you to think I didn’t care about your side either.”

I sigh both to myself and to him, having expected such an answer and having no real reason to be angry at him for it. My tone is a bit exasperated as I respond, “Volt… I understand what you were trying to do, but this is useless to me.” I put the book on a nearby table, “I need the information from that journal-”

A sharp and familiar voice cuts me off from another room, “-and this is how you go about getting it?!”

A familiar lavender unicorn makes her way into the main area of the library from her loft upstairs. Her face clearly shows that she is most certainly NOT ok with what had been going on. Her voice mirrors her displeasure, “You went around my book ban,” she points a hoof at Volt while still facing me, “you tried to use my coltfriend against me,” she then turns to the coltfriend in question and says accusingly, “And you went along with it?!”

My eyebrows shoot up at the redirected anger as I quickly cut off anything Twilight was going to say, “Twilight! Volt didn’t go against you. This whole thing was my idea, I asked him to do this. While he agreed at first, in the end, he sided with you. He didn’t betray you in any way.”

She still looks pretty angry, but at least it’s directed at me now. Her face flashes from angry to thoughtful to apologetic as she turns to Volt and says, “I’m sorry, Volt. I am happy to know you sided with me, so thank you.” Her voice and demeanor harden again as she turns back to me, causing the fur along my spine to stand on end at what I can feel is to come.

“As for you,” she begins, “you injured my first coltfriend and, in the process, caused me to fail a project at the critical point! I had to redo the entire thing! When I gave you a punishment for what you did, I thought you were simply stoically taking it. Instead, I find out that you were going behind my back to get what you wanted anyway! This was not how this was all supposed to go! To top it all off, you ruined my latest friendship report! It was on how sometimes friends just accept the consequences for their actions in order to make sure they don’t stay mad at each other. Well, we both know that report isn’t accurate anymore, don’t we?! It’s like you don’t have an ounce of respect for me!”

The last statement to her rant causes a spike of irritation within me due to its false nature. I raise my voice slightly, not nearly as much as she had, but enough to where I try to make sure I will not get interrupted, “You’re wrong about me not respecting you Twilight. I do respect you, as I respect all my friends. This whole situation was never meant to slight you, and I am sorry that it all escalated as much as it did.” I let a slight bit of irritation enter my voice as I rile myself up, “What happened with Volt and your little project was unfortunate, but not intended in the least. I’m sure you well know that it was a series of unfortunate accidents. While I do regret that I never actually came back and apologized for what happened, my mind was preoccupied with the more immediate aftermath that I had to deal with. Namely, Specter’s newly discovered sapience. I’ve been trying to be calm about his whole situation, and with your book ban keeping the only accessible source of knowledge that would allow me to help him away from me… I went about getting it in less than desirable ways.” I lose steam in my speech as I reflect on my side and hers, “I was worried, Twilight, and with how angry you were everything occurred… I was more than a bit hesitant to approach you afterwards anyway.” I sigh, “I honestly hate how far this has gone from such a random occurrence. I hope you do realize that I am sorry about making you think I didn’t respect you. To be honest, I really wasn’t thinking about your side in most of this. If at all possible, I would truly appreciate it we could get past all this unpleasantness and go back to being the friends we were.” I end with a tentatively hopeful look.

Throughout my speech, I had noticed a change in Twilight’s demeanor. At first she had maintained her anger, but as it went on her face reflected feelings of thoughtfulness, regret, and finally fatigue. The room is eerie in its silence as everypony absorbs the now out-in-the-open information.

After a time, Twilight sighs to herself, but the small smile she allows fills me with hope, “Honestly, I’m tired of all this too, and I would very much like to go back to being friends.” She lets out a small giggle, “But you are still on book ban for another week.”

I chuckle as well, “Fair enough Miss Sparkle.” I adopt a light teasing tone, “However, if the merciful librarian would indulge me, should you come across anything especially important in your own readings of the nimbat journal, might you let me know?”

She simply nods, “Of course.”

Volt quips in from across the room, peeking his head out from behind his protective book pile, “Look like we closed the book on this case then.”

Twilight giggles as I facehoof and groan loudly.

She manages to stop giggling after a moment as she gets a happier look on her face, “Well, it’ll require a bit of rewriting, but I think I can still do a letter to the princess.”

I cock a curious eyebrow at her, “Oh?”

She nods, “Something along the lines of ‘sometimes when you and your friends have a fight, it’s good to sit down and hear both sides, instead of just letting everypony build up tension until it all explodes.’ It will probably need a little more refining than that, but it’s a start.”

***

Things are peaceful after that. I hang out at the library with Twilight, Volt, and Specter, who I had forgotten was asleep in my saddlebags and was awoken by the raises voices earlier. Being the first time she has seen his new form, Twilight gives my little friend many visual examinations, but he still refuses to talk unless he and I are alone. Twilight is a little huffy about this at first, but resigns herself to the fact that she can’t force him to talk and simply says she hopes he will be able to answer some questions she has some day.

A little more time passes as Twilight buries herself in the nimbat journal to see if she can find anything interesting. Her voice suddenly cuts off my train of thought as she remarks, “You know, Rhino, I actually had a question for you about something you mentioned the other day.”

I give her a look that says ‘I’m listening, please continue.’

She does so, “The other night when I was trying to teach you a spell, you said your magic ‘doesn’t work that way.’ What did you mean?”

I blink in surprise since I was sure she would have forgotten that little detail. Given our recently patched friendship and that I couldn’t really think of a reason not to, I indulge her curiosity, “Alright, let me start by asking you a question: How does unicorn magic usually work?”

She recites the answer as if reading a summary from a book, “Magic is used by knowing a spell, by which meaning how to cast and direct one’s magic to achieve the desired effect, channeling the magic through one’s horn to at least the minimum amount of power needed, and finally releasing the magic to do what you want.”

I nod, “And what do you know of arcane circles?”

“I know they used to be used to create blueprints for spells back before magic education was improved. They aren’t really used at all nowadays due to most finding them too restricting and unnecessary.”

Again I nod, “Well, my magic isn’t like most unicorns. Basic levitation works just fine for me, but anything beyond that… has never really worked well for me. Even as a foal, anytime I would try magic beyond levitation, it would either just fizzle out, or it would cause a magical backlash, leaving me with a sore horn and a splitting headache. My magic also has the tendency to shift with my emotions, nothing too extreme, just things like power output and precision, but this also means my hold on my magic is a bit looser than most unicorns. It’s still there, and I can direct it, just not with the usual accuracy. Think of my magic as... more fluid than most. This results in the inability to cast spells.” I gesture to my cutie mark, “Arcane circles and runes are the answer to this. I create circles for any magic I cast outside of levitation. Both Blink and Res are circles I have created, perfected, and memorized. When I cast magic, I first create the arcane circle with the proper runes and configuration for the task, and then guide my magic into it. Like a river into a channel, my magic flows through the circle, where it does what I want it to.” I lift a hoof and cast Res onto it, the usual circle forming on the bottom of my hoof now visible since it is raised, “See? I scribe the circles thus I can cast what I need to. Anytime I use a circle it is visible. Of course, as you saw with the project, this does also give me quite the knowledge of enchantments, since they are based around the use of runes to guide magic for specific uses.”

Twilight raises a hoof to stop me a moment, “But how do you learn new spells then?”

I go on, “The short answer is: in my own way. I see what the spell is meant to accomplish and then create a circle using runes I know in order to achieve the same effect. It’s a bit like having to experiment with every spell to get the proportions and combinations correct. It also means I learn them slower than most since I have to do so in a roundabout way.” I allow myself a proud smile, “However this has resulted in a bit of a perk for me. Remember my fluidity comment? It also means my magic is a bit more flexible. As you could imagine, having to memorize all the circles for spells can get very tiresome. Thus, I have learned over the years that it is actually much easier to simply use what spells I already know and make a few alterations to them in order to achieve new things. It’s why I don’t have more than a hooffull of spells I use with any great frequency, I use what I know in as many ways as possible. I still do little experiments at home with new spells, I’m working on one right now actually, and I am always happy to learn new runes because they open up many possibilities for new and existing circles of mine. So in the end, like I said, my magic just doesn’t work like most unicorns, but it has made me who I am, so I’m fine with that.”

I glance at my watch, “On an unrelated note, we should probably leave now to retrieve Rarity so we can go deliver the gauntlets to Blue.”

***

A short time later finds Volt, Twilight, Rarity, Blue, Rainbow, and I all out in one of the empty flat fields near town. The unicorns in our group are currently getting Blue equipped with his little request. The entire project turns out to be a bit bigger than gauntlets: it starts with some lightweight metal strips attached to the forward edges of his wings, these lead to some specialized wiring Volt created located at the base of his wings, a centralized power storage sapphire within a metal housing, from there more of the wiring leading down the forelegs, attached with straps, and finally into the gauntlets themselves. The entire setup has runes engraved on the larger pieces of metal, while the wiring and where it connects to the pieces reflects the more technical aspects of the project. Finally, the whole thing is dark blue in color with gold trim to match Blue’s natural color scheme.

We stand back to let Blue look at himself as we admire our work. He gives himself a once-over before looking to us with a smile, “Wow, this is way more than I thought you guys would come up with! I feel like I’ve got a full super suit on!”

Rainbow deadpans, “It’s a pair of metal shoes.”

Blue flexes and wiggles his eyebrows in Rainbow’s direction, “You know I look good.”

“Remind me what you needed these for?”

Blue keeps looking himself over, “Remember, the whole reason I moved here was to study the Everfree in my spare time, and it never hurts to have an edge in that place.”

Rainbow rolls her eyes and settles on our group, “So do these things actually work?”

Twilight gestures to further out in the field, where we can all see some dummies made of sticks and leaves, “That’s what we’re here to test.”

Rarity interjects, “And on that note, I believe I shall be making my leave. I merely wanted to stay to make sure that they looked fabulous on Blue Breeze, but I need to get back to my shop. It’s likely there’s going to be some debris from this bit of target practice, so… tah tah!” The fashionista waves as she trots of towards her home.

The rest of us shrug off Rarity’s departure as Blue turns towards the targets. He centers himself before rearing up onto his hindlegs and thrusting out one forehoof with a decisive, “Hah!”

Nothing happens.

Blue looks down to his hoof in confusion before trying again.

Still nothing.

“Wind!” he points both hooves in front of him.

“Air bend!” he raises both hooves skyward before bringing them down to point at the targets.

“Woosh!” he does a wavelike motion with both his hooves in the direction of the targets.

None of these evoke a reaction from the gauntlets or dummies.

He looks back to us in confusion, “Am I doing something wrong? Is there a certain way I have to punch forward?”

I take it upon myself to speak for the group, “No.”

“Then why isn’t this working?”

I give him a deadpan look, “Flap your wings to charge it first.”

He looks at part of the gear wired to his wings, “Oh.”

You can almost feel the sarcasm in Rainbow’s comment, “Smooth.”

Blue flaps his wings a few times, causing the wires to glow a golden color and the sapphire in his chest to glow a faint blue. After about fifteen seconds of stationary flapping later and Blue rears up again. He thrusts his hoof towards the target-

*FOOSH*

-and a blast of air about twice the radius of his hoof rushes out and punches hole through one of the brittle targets.

Everypony present raises their hooves above their heads in a triumphant “Woo!”

Twilight looks to myself and Volt, “Success!”

We three high hoof.

Blue meanwhile is having the time of his life, punching holes in his various targets from across the field while Rainbow looks on appreciatively, evidently evaluating if the gauntlets meet her requirement of ‘awesome’ or not.

Twilight suddenly perks her ears as she looks at Volt, “You know Volt, your magic should be back up to full strength by now. I talked about helping you with your magic, so this would be a good way to evaluate your current skill. Why don’t you take a few shots at the targets too?”

Volt looks surprised for a moment, “Umm, okay.”

The electric stallion steps up next to Blue and lowers his horn at the targets, his horn charging up with its yellow glow. He lets the charge build up a few seconds before releasing it-

-and not getting anywhere close to the targets as the shot flies into one of the trees on the edge of the field.

Yeah, still as terrible of a shot as he was with Torchlight.

He fires off a few more shots, but none of them actually hit any of the targets. As Volt’s takes a breath after a series of rapid fire spray and pray shots, Rainbow remarks smoothly to Twilight, “Sorry Twi, looks like you just proved my coltfriend is cooler than yours.”

I miss Twilight’s rebuttal as I see Blue pat Volt on the back in support, “Hey, don’t worry. I have a bit of an advantage here since my dad was a Royal Guard and made sure to keep me in shape for stuff like this.”

Volt shrugs off his performance, “No big deal, I never really had great aim or magic control.” He turns to Blue with a smirk as he levitates one of his conductor rods out of his bags, “However, I was always a great fencer.” The rod then sparks a bit from the magic Volt is putting into it. “But I could definitely use some help in fixing this magic control problem.”

I chuckle as the sun begins to set on us laughing guys and the two mares snarking back and forth.

Chapter 61: Reveals

***Monday, Day 64***
**Noonish**
*Octavia/Fiddlesticks*

The still-yellow mare lay on the couch, looking up at the ceiling. She definitely doesn’t feel tired. Not even close. She is still focused on trying to get her feelings sorted out.

Eventually, she sighs, shaking her head and getting up. “...I suppose I should get some tea. Might help calm the nerves.”

A series of knocks on the door interrupts her newest quest before she can even begin.

Ever cautious, she pulls out a cello bow, sneaking quietly towards the door. As soon as she is close enough, she hides behind the door and slowly opens it. She waits for whoever it is to step through so she can figure out whether they are a threat.

Blue walks through the door, wearing his gauntlets and the usual wing attachments. He looks around curiously, not seeing anypony. “Rhino? You home? I wanted to ask if you could look at my gear, I think there might be a small problem.”

The mare presses the mythril reinforced bow to his neck, grabbing him from behind. “Friend or foe?” She flinches slightly, realizing her natural Russian accent bled into her voice.

The pegasus freezes but still answers. “Friend, what about you?”

She stays silent for a moment before pulling away, laying her weapon across her back. “I’m a friend of-” She stops to clear her throat, going back to her posh speaking style. “Of Rhino’s.” She steps around, seeing his face and instantly recognizing him. “Oh, I remember you. You’re the one who put that cloud over our table yesterday.”

Blue looks at her curiously, not recognizing her new color scheme. “Hmm, I don’t remember seeing you with him...”

She glances down at herself. “Oh, right, I was a different color at the time.” She shrugs slightly. “Suffice to say I wear a suit Pinkie made me while performing in Canterlot. When you saw me before, I was gray with dark hair.”

“Ah~.” He nods in understanding before laughing to himself. “I suppose some mares meaning it more than others when they say they need to ‘put their face on.’”

She stares at him for a second in silence before smacking him upside the head. “I won’t let Vinyl make bad jokes in my presence, and neither shall you!” She huffs, heading into the kitchen to finally get started on that tea.

Blue rubs the back of his head ruefully. “Ow.” He follows the mare but stops before entering the kitchen. “Hey, you wouldn’t happen to know where Rhino is would you?” A large puff of air comes off the underside of one of his forehooves, causing him to flap his wings to maintain his balance. “I think I broke something on this.”

She places a teabag into a cup of hot water, glancing over at him. “He should be at his workplace. He took Berry Pinch with him, and I have to wonder if they’re able to handle her.” She picks up the string in her teeth and begins to dip the bag repeatedly in the cup, trying to get as much flavor out of it as possible. “You’ll check on them, I take it? Or is your armor something that can wait?” She sips at her tea, sighing softly as the warmth of it filled her.

He flaps his wings experimentally as a glow flows along the conduits leading down to the gauntlets. “Well, it doesn’t seem too bad yet, I guess I can-”

*Click*

“-that didn’t sound good.” The entire setup goes instantly dark as the suit shuts down. This also leaves Blue with his wings locked upwards due to the now immobile wing clamps. “And now it’s a problem.”

“It definitely seems that way.” She walks around him, holding her cup with one hoof. “Well, I don’t know if you can move your legs or not, but I’m not going to attempt to carry you.” She shakes her head. “Unless you want me to do that, of course. Otherwise, you’ll just be here until Rhino returns.”

He tests his legs. “No, I can walk just fine, I just can’t fly now.” The pegasus looks back towards his wings while trying to wiggle out of the setup. “Doesn’t look like I’ll be able to get out of this though. That and walking around town like this will get more than a few awkward glances.” He sits down heavily and sighs. “Well, buck. What now?”

Octavia thinks for a moment. “...you know, Vi gave me something that might actually help with this situation.” She walks into the living room and searches through her saddlebag. “Ah, here we are.” She stands up, holding what appears to be a silver sphere.

Blue jumps at the chance to get out of the suit. “Sweet! What do I do?”

“Just hold still.” She places it on the spot between his wings and taps it, nodding to herself. “There we go.”

He tries to move his wings but fails. “Umm, I don’t think it-” he turns back to looks at his wings only to be greeted by empty space, “-what the hay?!”

“It’s an invisibility device. It’ll hide your wings for about two hours.” She shrugs, smirking a bit. “If I’d attached it to your chest, everything from your neck down might as well be thin air.” She moves towards the door, looking over her shoulder at him. “You’ll lead the way, right? I haven’t the slightest clue where Rhino works.”

“Right... I think I should be able to find it... never actually walked there before.” He strides to the door confidently anyway. “Still, it can’t be too hard.”

She nods, pulling the door open and quickly finishing her tea. “After you, then, whoever you are.”

“Oh, right, I’m Blue Breeze.” He tries to walk through the door only to hit his now invisible wings on the door frame and hiss in pain. He talks through gritted teeth, “Who are you then?”

“For now, call me Fiddlesticks.” She frowns down at her yellow forelegs. “That’s the name I go by in this state.” She notices his pain, rolling her eyes. “Hold on a second.” She stands up in front of him on two legs, using her forehooves to find his wings and push them up to avoid the sides of the door. “There, try walking forward now.”

The two awkwardly work their way out the door, Fiddlesticks walking backwards bipedally while staring Blue right in the face. As they clear the threshold they both visibly relax.

This makes it all the easier for an unfortunately placed rock to throw off the mare’s footing and sending both of them to the ground.

She lands flat on her back, feeling the air rush out of her lungs and closing her eyes instinctively from the impact. She groans, shaking her head and slowly opening her eyes.

To meet a set of crimson ones attached to a blue face. Blue simply stares at her but doesn’t make an attempt to move. “Umm, hi?”

She stares at him, her face expressionless. “Please get off me. If you don’t, I’ll be forced to resort to violence.”

He instantly springs off her and clears his throat while looking away. “Right, we should get going.”

She stands up, brushing dust off her coat. “We should. Now, would you kindly lead the way?”

***Rhino***

After explaining the basics of the situation to Fluttershy and Manila, things go relatively well during the shift at the clinic. We even manage to have a nice lunch including Pinchy sipping milk from a glass bottle through a straw, which had both mares cooing. Eventually though, our time was up so Fluttershy and I, along with my two passengers, waved goodbye to Manila and Mane, who had arrived for her shift.

I look back at Pinchy as we exit the doors. “So, where to first?”

“Maybe we can head to a music store, or an instrument shop?” The filly stares off into the distance, apparently lost in thought. “Vinyl seems to always break sensei’s cello, and she’d definitely appreciate a record of classical music...”

I frown slightly as I think. “I don’t think I actually know any music shops in town...”

Fluttershy speaks up from my side, “Actually, Lyra runs a small store like that near Bon Bon’s candy store.”

I smile brightly at her, “Well then, shall we?”

She giggles sweetly and simply wraps her tail around mine as we walk.

I feel the tensing of legs around my torso, the filly behind me whining so softly I almost didn’t register the sound. Having Fluttershy as a marefriend though, tends to attune one to soft sounds.

As we continue on our way I call back to my pink passenger, “Something wrong, Pinchy?”

“It’s nothing.” She smiles brightly at me before turning her attention off to the side, appearing to get lost in her thoughts once again. “I am curious about why I was thought to be your daughter earlier...” She glances at Fluttershy, tilting her head a bit.

I think for a moment before I answer. “Well, obvious reasons you aren’t my biological daughter aside... You are a unicorn and you have shown impressive capability with a spell I am known for, something usually kept within families, as well as having your own way with magic. You and I get along extraordinarily well and seem to treat each other with that sort of familial fondness. We can both chug down as much milk as ponies can stand to give us, which I know is genetic in my family. All of that along with the fact that you seem to be attached to me wherever I go, so it doesn’t seem like that far-fetched of an idea to me.”

“Oh.” She thinks for a bit, putting a hoof to her chin. “Those are good reasons. To be fair, though, I’m actually adept at most magic. Even Vinyl’s illusion spell.” Her horn lights up and a copy of herself appears in front of them.

It grins widely, opening its mouth to speak. “See?” With that, it fades away just as fast as it appeared.

I stay silent for a moment at the display of magic, one part of my mind wary at the thought of a filly with so much power. “Impressive... but I do hope you know to be responsible with all that skill.”

She looks at me for a moment, silent. “Well, I mostly use them when practicing my jutsus.” The way she said that, it sounded like we should know what she meant.

Fluttershy asks the question on both our minds. “Jutsus?” The unfamiliar word seemingly tripping on her tongue.

“Ohh, right, you probably don’t have manga here.” She leaps off my back, landing in front of us. “They’re essentially techniques for protecting one’s ninja way. At least, that’s how I like to think of them.”

My marefriend looks thoughtful at the answer, the word ‘protecting’ likely echoing memories of our conversation two weeks ago at my newest spell. “I-I see...”

I however, am not as sure on what she means. “What do you mean ‘protecting your way’?”

She thinks for a bit. “Well, my ninja way is to make sure my friends and family are safe.” She shrugs, moving on in her explanation. “Anyways, there are three types of jutsu - taijutsu, which is essentially hoof-to-hoof fighting, ninjutsu, which would be spells that you use to attack or defend, and genjutsu, which is used to distract one’s attacker.” She sighs, shaking her head. “I’m not that good with taijutsu, so I focus on - oh, is that the place?” She points at a nearby building.

Fluttershy nods, seeming grateful at the change of conversation from fighting to music stores. “Oh, yes, that’s it.”

We enter the store accompanied by the classic bell ringing when the door jingles it. A voice calls out from the back of the store, “Be right with you!”

I look around at the instruments lining the walls and the racks of records as I remark to the filly, “Anything catch your eye?”

She jumps off me and glances at each of the records, propping herself up into a two-legged stance to better reach the racks. “I can’t decide between this one...” She points at what appears to be a live recording of the Canterlot Orchestra. “...this one...” She moves her hoof towards a collection of jazz tunes. “...or that up there.” With that, she indicates the cello high above her head.

I muse as I look at her choices. “Music is said to be one of the purest forms of expression. However, an instrument is a way to create limitless music. I would suggest the cello, every time she picks it up she would remember that you gave it to her, thus any music she uses it for will be another gift from you.” I look back from the cello to see Fluttershy, Pinchy, and the mint green shop owner staring at me. “What?”

My marefriend gazes at me, “Rhino... that was beautiful...”

I blush at the sudden attention and scuff my hoof against the ground, “Just giving my thoughts.”

“It’s a great idea!” The happy little filly rushes over and hugs me, nuzzling my cheek. “I’ll get it right away. One moment!” She rushes over to the shop owner, smiling brightly at her. “Could I get that cello, please?”

The unicorn mare nods at the cute filly. “Sure thing.” She walks over to the instrument and starts levitating it down from its pegs. “Did you want this engraved or anything?”

She nods, a solemn look on her face. “Can it say ‘To Sensei, from Berry Pinch’?”

Lyra nods as she sets the cello of the counter and brings out some tools. “Do you know which side your friend plays on?”

She tilts her head, looking up at a ceiling as she thought. “She’s right-hooved, so I think she plays with it on her left side.”

After a few minutes the engraving is done in neat cursive script on the top left section of the instrument. To quote the shop keeper ‘So that it is always in the corner of her eye when she plays.’

“That’s great!” She beams, but then a thought occurs. “...um, one sec.” She rushes over to me, smiling sheepishly. “...could you possibly pay for it? I don’t have my money on me...I promise I’ll pay you back when we get back to the house, though!”

I rustle her mane playfully as I chuckle. “Don’t worry about paying me back, I got this.” I go over to the minty mare and get payment settled before she puts the cello in its case and levitates it over to me with a smile.

I set the instrument on my back and thank Lyra as we exit, her calling out as we leave, “I hope your daughter’s friend likes her present! Don’t forget to tell ponies where you got it from!”

It strikes me how somepony mistook Pinchy as my daughter again. I can easily see why they would think it this time, considering our group was a stallion, mare, and filly all walking around together.

Pinchy giggles, gently tugging on Fluttershy’s foreleg. “Come on, mom, let’s go get this gift to sensei!”

Fluttershy smiles softly as she nods at the filly, just as i feel the fourth member of the group move around on my head as he comments. “Just one big happy family huh?”

I only chuckle in response.

***Fiddlesticks***

The yellow earth pony walks behind the suited pegasus, frowning deeply. “You’re not very good at navigating on the ground, are you? I swear, we’ve just passed the town hall for what seems to be the fifth time.”

The blue pegasus continues on. “I can find it! I’m just not used to so many obstacles.”

“You keep telling yourself th-” She stops in her tracks, staring at a spot in front of them.

Across the street are Rhino, Fluttershy, and Berry Pinch all walking and laughing together. She recognizes the case on his back as a cello case. None of the three notice the two ponies observing them as the filly starts laughing and hopping around the couple in excitement.

Fiddlesticks glares at the scene, her body trembling in anger. “...now, now you’ve gone too far...” She pulls out her cello bow, approaching the group, her eyes fixed on the stallion who apparently stole her pupil from her.

***Hydro and Vinyl***

The engineer finishes his basic explanation of the large construct and looks proudly at it while he waits for the DJ’s reaction.

The machine in question is a little over the height of four ponies, the length of the same number, and the width of the same number if they stood side-by-side. Its overall appearance is that of a centaur, with the head and upper chest replaced by a piloting seat with controls for its movements. The entire construction has a sort of dull metallic plating on it, while replacement and alternate parts for all four of its legs and its two arms can be seen on the walls of the room. All in all, it is almost like a mech that somepony designed for utility instead of combat.

She stares blankly at it for a few moments, tilting her head slightly as she regards the feat of engineering in front of her. “...it’s cool. Definitely would help with carrying heavy objects a pony couldn’t on their own.”

Hydro nods happily. “Yep, that was one thing i had in mind for it.” He points to the various arms on the walls. “I also have parts so it can dig, break rocks, funnel dirt over its back, all kinds of things.”

“If I didn’t know better, I’d say it was a way to create a fighting mech without others detecting it.” She shrugs, shaking her head. “I’m probably overthinking it, though.” She pokes at one of the legs of the machine, curious. “What’s it made of? What powers it?”

He pats the mech fondly, “Mostly it’s aluminum with steel reinforcements at the stress points, as well as the little bit of titanium I could manage to find. The power source is actually something I got Rhino’s help with, though he doesn’t know it. I asked him to make me a spell which splits water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen. I then got him to copy the spell onto a Ditto Diamond, which replicates the spell continuously in a small area around itself. Using a source of water housed within the mech, I can funnel water in the core, the gem, and using the resulting gases to move the mech as well as funnel the oxygen into the cockpit if I ever get around to making this thing waterproof. The hydrogen is used to power a combustion engine for the more complicated parts.”

She nods a bit. “That seems like it’d be a problem if there was a leak in the gem section. Isn’t hydrogen dangerously combustible?”

“Yeah.” He replies casually. “But it’s better than coal.”

“I can see that. Hydrogen’s environmentally safe.” She thinks for a bit, smirking slightly. “Besides, coal just burns me up with how hard it is to find. It’s why I use magic crystals.”

Hydro sighs, “Oh great, another pun pony.”

“Sorry, I like to think of myself as a fairly punny pony.” She pauses, thinking about that last sentence. “...yeah, I think I’ll stop now.”

“Thank you.”

“Anyways, yeah, I’ll show you my favorite weapon after seeing this.” She continues to tap the metallic leg of the mech. “Just showing you my sword doesn’t seem like a fair exchange of ideas and innovations.”

He shrugs, “Whatever you want, I’m just happy to finally show somepony what I’ve been working on for months.”

“I’d feel the same way.” She giggles, walking over and bumping shoulders playfully. “We have quite a lot in common, eh?”

The earth pony smiles. “Yeah,” he lightly bumps her back, “you’re not so bad after all.”

She holds a hoof to her chest, mouth agape. “...ow. That actually hurt, dude.”

He rolls his eyes, “Yeah, because obviously you’re so delicate. So what’s this other invention of yours?”

She grins, pushing her shades back up her nose. “I call it the V-Rifle. It’ll have to wait until later, though, as E currently has it.”

***Enigma***

The two pegasi had questioned three different ponies so far, though none had anything useful to say, all of them were cleared of involvement. The two are now heading back to the pony who originally gave Atom the job to deliver a progress report and see if they can get any more information.

A large yellow pegasus stallion with yellow and white mane and tail walks up to the two as they land and addresses Atom. “Any luck so far?”

The black stallion shakes his head solemnly, “Sorry Glare, nothing so far. We’ll keep trying though. We came back to ask if there was anything you could tell us that might help.”

Glare looks at him quizzically, “What kind of stuff do you need to know?”

Atom presses, “Anything really, who was near the record’s location, anyone who was acting strangely, things like that.”

The golden stallion shrugs. “Well, it is a show so everypony is on edge, but that’s normal. Hmm, I know the tour guide was out of it this morning when she was here, but I know she didn’t do it.”

“Are you sure?” Enigma spoke up, curious. “No one else was around?”

“Not unless you count the fillies she was leading around.”

Atom ears twitch, “Could they have taken it?”

Glare frowns, “I don’t see why they would. It’s a record, you can hear the same song at the concert, there’s no point in taking it.”

“I don’t know.” The feminine stallion tilts his head, thinking a bit. “Still, it’s a lead we haven’t followed, yet.”

Atom nods as he makes a few notes in his pad. “He’s right, who were these fillies?”

The yellow stallion thinks a moment, “If I remember right... it was a yellow earth pony with red mane, a white unicorn with pink and purple mane, and an orange pegasus with magenta mane.”

The black pegasus’ eyes widen. “The Crusaders...” He smiles, “Don’t worry Glare, I know where to find those particular fillies. Tell Vinyl we’ll have her record back before her show starts.” He starts heading towards an open spot to take off from.

Enigma sits in the same spot, staring off blankly. “...I suppose that the Vinyl here would be missing her vinyl record...” He looks around and quickly realizes that the other stallion was about to leave without him. Panicking, he rushes after him, trying to make up for lost time.

The two pegasi take flight and before long as passing over fields of apple trees. As they approach one particular piece of the land, they could both hear music bumping and getting louder by the second. They land outside the famed CMC clubhouse, where it is obvious the music is coming from.

Atom remarks wryly to his burgundy partner, “Guess we found the record.”

“Yep.” He pulls out a pair of earplugs, holding them out to the darker pony. “Want ‘em?”

The investigator nods. “Thanks.” He puts them in his ears as Enigma does the same with another pair.

“Well, let’s go in, then.” Enigma steps forward, moving up the ramp.

The two open the door to find all three fillies dancing their little hearts out to a gramophone pumping more bass than one would think possible. As the sun shines through the now open door, the fillies notice their company and quickly shut off the music and greet the two adults.

Apple Bloom speaks for the three. “Er, Howdy Mr. Atom! Can we help ya with somethin’?”

Atom nods as he takes out the earplugs. “Yes, you can tell me where you three found that record.”

The earth filly forces a smile, “We uh-”

Scootaloo interrupts, “-we found it!”

“Found it?” Enigma has pulled one earplug out, looking at the orange filly skeptically. “Care to elaborate?”

Sweetie Belle speaks up now. “We found it on the ground.”

Atom sighs, “Girls, did you take that record while you were on the tour of a stage earlier today?”

Apple Bloom is shaking by now. “Ah...uh... we... uh...”

Scootaloo buts in again. “No!”

“That seems like an offensive response.” The burgundy pegasus sits down. “Even disregarding the fact that AB over there is shaking, your response alone tells me that you’re lying.” He looks to Atom, frowning slightly. “It’s not like they’re gonna be in a huge amount of trouble or anything if they did take it, right?”

The other stallion shakes his head. “If they did happen to take it, and they also happened to give it back, I would see no reason anypony would have to hear about this.” He looks at the trio expectantly.

The three look at each other before huddling together facing away from the two adults. A few moments of frantic whispering later and they turn around to look at the two again.

Sweetie Belle looks at them intently. “Nopony has to know?”

Enigma smiles kindly, nodding a bit. “Nopony has to know.”

Apple Bloom nods as Scootaloo grabs the record with her mouth and sets it in front of him.

The unicorn filly looks down as Atom take the record with a wing. “We didn’t mean to keep it forever you know... We were on the tour and saw the record sitting on the ground where everypony kept almost stepping on it. When we picked it up and saw that it was a new song, we got excited and wanted to listen to it right away. But then, we saw Mr. Atom talking to that yellow pony about it and we didn’t want to get in trouble. So we came back here until we could think of what to do.”

The three say simultaneously, “We’re sorry.”

“You’re forgiven.” He sighs, turning towards his temporary partner. “I say this case is solved, wouldn’t you?”

Atom nods as a loud gasp comes from the three fillies who are staring at Enigma’s flank.

Apple Bloom shouts out as she points, “You don’t have yer cutie mark!”

He stares back at them, his ears flattening a bit. “...oh, not again...”

Chapter 67: What is to come

***Monday, Day 85***
**Morning**

I have had various ways I’ve been woken up over the years. Everything from the sun, to pranks, to an alarm clock has been the culprit. If most ask, I’ll say I tend to hate the alarm clock the most, but there is one wake-up call I have come to hate just because of the feeling it causes.

*BOOM*

The feeling of fear when one of Hydro’s experiments goes wrong in the morning always gets the adrenaline pumping.

*large amounts of rushing water are heard down the hall*

I hear Hydro shout over the noise, "Damn it!"

There is the sound of frantic scrambling, and the door slams open, revealing Pinchy, eyes wide in panic. She rushes onto my bed and buries herself in the covers, her nose is the only part of her still visible.

My adrenaline starts to wear off as the house doesn’t come down around us. The sounds of water can still be heard in the background as I lift up the covers slightly to expose her head. “Are you alright, Pinchy?”

She shakily smiles at me, her ears flat against her head. "...y-yes...now that I'm here with you, Dad..."

I speak in a reassuring tone as I roll out of the bed. “Don’t worry too much about the explosion. It happens occasionally when Hydro is working on something; usually they are a lot smaller than this one.” My ear flicks. “Usually not accompanied by water either...”

She leaps onto my back, clinging tightly to me. "O-okay, Dad." She mutters softly, probably not expecting me to hear her. "...it's not the explosion I'm scared of, though..."

I pretend I didn’t hear that second part and figure she’ll tell me when she’s ready. “Let’s go see what the damage is.” I walk out into the hall and look towards my red friend’s room where a small bit of smoke can be seen coming from the top of the door while a small trickle of water comes from the bottom where his seal wasn’t perfect.

Pinchy taps my cheek, motioning towards the door. "I-is that a good sign? Does Uncle Hydro need our help?" She seems worried, but trying to be brave at the same time. I do see that she's glancing at the trickle a few times.

“One way to find out.” I walk over to the door and knock as I call out, “Hydro, you okay?”

A series of splashes can be heard before he answers. “Yeah, I’m good. Small mishap made the waterbed pop! I’m handling it though. I’m siphoning the water through a hose out the window.”

I turn back to my passenger. “See? All good. Just don’t go opening his door until he tells you that you can, so you don’t flood the house.”

She nods, her grip on my torso tightening slightly. "O-okay..." She rests her head against my neck. "...what are we going to do today, Dad?"

I tilt my head to one side as I check back in my room to see Specter sleeping soundly before heading downstairs. “Don’t you remember? Today’s the first day of the school year.”

There's a moment of silence before she responds. "...but...I've never gone to school, before." She gently nuzzles my neck. "Can't you teach me? Please?"

My eyes soften at the little filly, as they seem to do often these days. “Sorry honey, I can teach you all I know about magic, help you when you need it in other subjects as well, but I don’t feel you would be getting the best if I were to try and teach you everything. I’ve talked to her and Miss Cheerilee is a very nice mare who will be teaching you about all kinds of things.”

She groans softly, apparently seeing no way out of this. "...okay, Dad..." There's another moment of silence. "...what does one do at school, anyways?"

I think for a moment, "Well, in a general sense you're there to learn. You do this by listening to your teacher. On the more fun side though, you can also make friends there. I know for a fact Sweetie Belle is your class." I smirk at the last part.

"Oh, that's great news!" She tilts her head to the side. "To be honest, Dad, I thought that schools were where ponies go through drama and break into spontaneous song and dance." She giggles, shaking her head at that thought.

I chuckle at her. "Now where would you get that idea?"

"From Vinyl's old high school stories." She hops off my back, heading into the kitchen. "Anyways, I need school supplies, right? I can't remember getting any..." She pops open the fridge, reaching for one of the milk jugs.

"Here's a little trick I learned," I say as I float her saddlebags next to the door, "On the first day of school, bring pencils and paper. Your teacher will tell you exactly what you will need, then we just go get it. This way you don't try and guess what you might need and instead know for sure."

She looks at me, the container above her head between her hooves. "Okay..." She totters over to the table, trying her hardest not to drop it. She puts it down, and I can see the gears turning in her head. "...do we have any pencils or paper?"

I nod to her saddlebags. "Already packed. Did you want anything special for lunch?"

She smiles up at me, humming softly as she moves around the kitchen. "Can I have a sandwich? And maybe some of that strawberry applesauce?" She climbs onto the counter, stretching a hoof towards the cupboard with the cereal. "I haven't really tried it, yet..."

I grin and start preparing her lunch while saying teasingly, "Well... only for you. I don't even let Hydro have this normally."

"Really?" She turns to me, her eyes wide in surprise. "Thanks, Dad!" She closes the cabinet door, the cereal hugged to her chest. She stops, staring down at the floor. "...how to do this..." She carefully crouches down, a hoof tenatively searching for a surface two feet beyond its reach.

It finally registers to me what situation she has gotten herself into. I levitate her back down and set a bowl in front of her. "Careful Pinchy, I don't want you to get hurt."

Her ears flatten against her head, and a sheepish expression crosses her face. "Sorry, Dad...I'll try to stay safe..." She tips the box over, spilling cereal all over the table. She sits there, staring at this in silence for a few moments.

I pat her head as I take her bowl and sweep a portion into it as the rest goes back in the box. "Still wanting your magic back huh? Don't worry, we'll start working on that."

She smiles softly at me, leaning up to gently nuzzle my cheek. "...thanks, Dad...I just...feel so strange, not being able to use my magic..." She takes a spoon in her teeth, scooping up some cereal. She pauses, looking from the far end to the part in her mouth.

I notice her conundrum. "Why don't you try lifting up the bowl and drinking the cereal?"

She blushes, putting the spoon down. "R-right."

***

"And here we are, the schoolhouse." I say as we approach the bell-topped building with young ponies filtering inside as a plum-colored mare stands by the door.

"...I see." She tightens her grip on me, looking around nervously. "It seems nice...so far..."

I nod towards the mare ushering the little ponies. "That's Miss Cheerilee, pay attention to what she says, okay?" As the last of the foals go inside, the teacher notices us and starts heading our way with a smile on her face.

Pinchy nods, even as she attempts to make herself as small as possible. "...o-okay, Dad..."

Cheerilee hails us as she gets close, "Good morning, Dr. Rhino! Is this little Ruby Pinch that I've heard so much about?"

I smile at the cheery teacher. "Yes she is," I turn slightly to give her a clear view of the filly on my back. "Say hello, Pinchy."

She raises a hoof and waves, shyly smiling. "...hello, Pinchy..."

Cheerilee giggles. "Well, it's good to meet you Ruby. Are you excited about your first day of school?"

"Yes, but..." Pinchy glances at me before turning back to Cheerilee. "...I kinda wish Dad could stay here with me..."

The teacher's eyes and tone soften. "Oh, I know what you mean, but I'm sure your dad will be right here waiting for you when school is over. Plus, you can make some friends while you're here!"

"...I..." Her grip on me loosens a little. "...I guess you're right..." She hops off my back, pausing to tap my leg, gesturing for me to lean close.

I do so.

Pinchy gently kisses my cheek, giggling a bit. "See you later, Dad."

I smile and wave as Pinchy and Cheerilee head into the building, a single thought going through my head.

I miss her already...

***

My shift at the clinic runs its course smoothly, if not a bit more quietly than it has been lately due to the absence of a certain filly who had been at my side almost constantly for the past three weeks. Still, time moves ever forward and soon I find myself eating lunch with Fluttershy on the comfortable chairs in the lobby.

I decide to tackle current events. “So, Fluttershy, what do you think about this whole ‘star hunting’ business?”

Her wings rustle lightly as she thinks before answering. “W-well, I’m happy that everypony is getting the chance to help out Princess Luna... b-but I really wish it didn’t involve having to go into the Everfree Forest, e-especially repeatedly. I just hope nothing bad happens.”

I follow up with another question. “Do you think you’ll ever go on one of the star hunting trips into the forest?”

She looks down as she answers. “Well, I don’t know how much help I’ll be. If they have any animal problems then I guess I would, but I don’t want to be a burden...”

The self-conscious answer doesn’t surprise me, so I retaliate with my usual response. “You’re not a burden, Fluttershy. But, I think I’m with you on this issue. Personally, I don’t see myself going with them unless something happens. I’m not sure how many of the others see it that way, but the way Orion described it, this does sound like a voluntary quest.”

“Speaking of voluntary,” she transitions, “I noticed Ruby isn’t here today.”

I nod, “Yes, she’s starting school today. She was clinging to me a bit this morning, though that’s nothing new, but I think she’ll grow to like school. It’ll be good for her to make some friends here too.”

“Oh, well that’s nice.” The pegasus mare is quiet as she sips her tea she normally has with her lunch. “Actually Rhino, I’ve been wanting to talk with you about her.”

“Hmm?”

“W-well, it’s just that...” she fiddles with her hooves a moment before continuing, “I-I know that Ruby is important to you, and that you’ve been spending most of your time with her lately... But, umm... I-I just feel like we haven’t seen each other that much outside of work lately and-” She suddenly covers her eyes with her hooves. “Oh, I’m a terrible pony!”

The sudden whiplash of emotions from her stuns me for a moment, though I figure it out once I snap out of it. “Fluttershy,” I begin cautiously, “are you... jealous of all the time I’ve been spending with Pinchy?”

She shakes her head back and forth quickly. “N-no, yes? I don’t know... I just miss you, and then I see you with her and I’m happy for the two of you. Then she goes and calls me ‘Mom’ sometimes, and I just don’t know how to respond to that when she’s being serious. Even with her doing that I’m not exactly sure what she thinks of me because she doesn’t really spend time with anypony but you and... and...” Her little release of emotions comes to a stuttering end as she runs out of breath and has to stop talking a she gets it back.

I take the opportunity to do as much damage control as possible. “Fluttershy... it’s not good to hold these kinds of things in, hypocritical of me as it is to say that. Yes, I’ve been spending a lot of time with her lately and I’m sorry that you’ve been feeling lonely again, I didn’t realize. Please understand that right now, I’m all she has, thus she takes up a lot of my time. You’re not a bad pony, this is just not exactly a normal situation. If it helps at all though, I think she is being both serious and hopeful when she calls you ‘Mom’.”

“B-but... I don’t know if I’m ready to be a mom...”

“Then don’t worry about it.” I say honestly. “She is my daughter, thus I am the one responsible for her. If you don’t feel like you can be it yet, then it’s okay. Nopony will think any less of you. Do you want some advice though, to help you through it?”

She nods silently.

“Just act on what you feel. Don’t think about it too much. When Pinchy came here with the others on their little vacation, I just acted on instinct with her most of the time. In the end, everypony turned out happy. So, if she calls you that, just let your heart tell you what to do. You don’t have to think of her as your daughter, nopony is saying that. Though I think it may grow to that someday, just let your feelings sort themselves out. Even if you don’t think of her as yours, she is mine, and thus you will probably spend time around her. Let’s just see what happens from that, alright?”

I let out a sigh of relief as Fluttershy comes out from behind her mane and nods as she mutters, “Just let my feelings decide...”

I try to lighten up the mood after that rather heavy discussion. “Hey, it worked out for us didn’t it?” I give her a light peck on the lips.

She lets out a few giggles. “Yes, yes it did.”

I smile. “Good, now that you are calmer, I can go back to my own internal worrying about her at school.” The sound of hooves approaching the doors causes my ears to rotate towards them.

The front door opens, and a pink form stumbles through. She looks around, the brown bag in her mouth swaying as she does so. Her gaze falls on us and a smile crosses her face. She rushes over and puts the bag down before speaking. "Hi, Dad! Hi, Mom!"

Fluttershy and I blink in surprise as I say, "Pinchy? What are you doing here so early?"

"It's lunchtime!" She opens her bag, looking inside. "I wanted to spend it with my family!" She pulls out the sandwich, turning to us. "...did I do something wrong?"

Fluttershy asks the important question. "Ruby, does Miss Cheerilee know that you came here for lunch before you go back to school?"

Pinchy flinches at her words, lowering her head. "...um...I left her a note...I figured she wouldn't mind if I was back in time for class..." She takes a bite of her sandwich before continuing. "...and...I wanted to ask you something..."

I look over to my marefriend, who motions for me to do all the talking while she goes over to Manila. I look back to my daughter. "What did you want to talk about honey?"

She takes another bite, nodding satisfactorily. "This is good. What's in it?" She holds up a hoof. "Sorry, that wasn't the question I meant to ask. Can I ask another one?"

I motion with a hoof for her to proceed. "Ask away Pinchy."

She puts her sandwich down on the table, looking up at me. "...can...can I not go back to school?"

Alarm bells start going off in my head. "Why? Did something happen?"

"Y-yes..." She sighs, trying to gather her courage. "...Dad...you mentioned all those good things..." She sniffs softly, rubbing her nose with a hoof. "...why didn't you mention bullies?"

I sigh as my unspoken fears are realized. I bring her over to me and hug her softly as I say quietly, "Because I hoped you wouldn't have to deal with any. It seems I was being too optimistic."

She nuzzles my side, and I can feel her trembling. "...I could handle it if it was just me being bullied...but I saw them harass Sweetie and her friends...I couldn't stand seeing that, but I felt so helpless..."

I continue comforting her. "What exactly happened?"

"I...I saw them at recess...these two rich fillies were tormenting Sweetie and her friends...I tried to step in, to stop them...but they turned to me..." She grits her teeth, gripping one of my forelegs tightly. "...said I was unimportant...a freak that shouldn't even be here..." Her voice trails off. "...t-thankfully, the bell for lunch rang before they could say any more...and I came straight here..."

I try to be positive, "Well, quite the bundles of misinformation weren't they?"

She looks up at me, hopeful, if slightly confused. "...Dad?"

I smile at her. "Well, everything they said was wrong, you don't go getting all sad when somepony goes around shouting that the sky is green, right? Same thing. They don't know how wrong they are, so to those of us who do know, they just look silly."

Pinchy sits quietly for a moment, processing what she just heard. Soon, a smile slowly grows on her face. "...thanks, Dad...I guess I wasn't thinking clearly..."

I wipe her eyes. “There we go. So how was the rest of school?”

She tilts her head to one side, a hoof on her chin. "This dimension certainly is different...even down to the history. I learned quite a bit today!"

“Did you make any friends?”

She shakes her head, frowning slightly. "...I was a little too focused on listening to Miss Cheerilee...sorry, Dad..." She picks her sandwich back up, resuming eating it.

I rustle her mane. “Hey, that’s what you’re supposed to do during class. Normally you would make friends during recess or lunch.”

She winces slightly at the word 'recess'. She opens her mouth to respond, but nothing comes out. As a matter of fact, it appears like she isn't moving. Her eyes glaze over and she collapses onto the table.

I immediately jump up in alarm and turn Pinchy onto her back. Her breathing sounds labored and forced. I notice slight swelling around her throat as I try to get a response from her. When she still doesn’t move, it confirms what I thought. I turn to Manila and Fluttershy over at the reception desk and shout, “Fluttershy! Adrenaline shot! Now!”

Both mares jump at my tone, but as soon as they see Pinchy, Fluttershy springs into action and zooms out of the room. She flies back in a moment later with a syringe in her teeth, which she gives to me. I uncap the sterile needle and quickly plunge it into one of the filly’s veins to deliver its payload. I take out the needle and everypony watches her small form with anxious eyes. My heart is hammering in my chest with worry.

After thirty tense seconds, her eyes crack open. "...Dad?"

I let out an explosive sigh of relief as I gently brush her mane to one side. “Thank goodness...” I shoot Fluttershy a beaming smile of gratitude before turning back to my slowly awaking filly. “Lie down for a moment Pinchy, you gave us quite the scare.”

Her eyes move between us, slightly unfocused. "...what...what happened?"

I levitate the needle over to Manila for proper disposal as I answer. “You went into anaphylactic shock. You collapsed and passed out. It looks like your throat swelled up, likely from something you ate.”

"...but...the only things I've eaten are cereal this morning...and..." She glances to her side, where the sandwich fell after she dropped it. "...that..."

I float the sandwich over to me as I muse. “Well, I know you’ve had the cereal before so it wasn’t that... This is just a normal daisy sandwich I made for you this morning. You’ve had bread before... Huh, guess you’re allergic to daisies. That wasn’t in your medical file...”

She looks up at me. "...I've...never eaten daisies before...not even in my old dimension..."

“Probably a good thing considering how you reacted.” I give Fluttershy a one-armed hug as I continue. “I don’t even want to think about what might have happened if you ate daisies when you weren’t near a facility that could have treated you. Thanks again, Shy.”

Pinchy blinks, turning her attention to Fluttershy. "...you helped save me, Mom?"

The shy mare hides partially behind her mane at all the attention. “W-well, I mean, I didn’t do much... I just went and got the shot...”

The filly slowly gets up, walking over to Fluttershy. She nuzzles her cheek, smiling softly. "...thank you..."

Fluttershy doesn’t seem to know how to react at first so she looks at me. I gesture at her to take the advice I gave earlier, and she smiles and looks down to Pinchy. “You're welcome.”

I gather my things as I prepare to leave. “Well, now that that minor heart attack situation is done, do you feel up to traveling, Pinchy?”

She nods, carefully climbing up onto my back. "Are we going back to the school, Dad?"

I let out a huff. “Not a chance. You,” I boop her nose with a hoof, causing her to giggle, “my little filly, are coming home with me so I can make sure you’re okay after that little incident.”

"Okay, Dad." She turns and waves to Manila and Fluttershy. "Have a nice day!"

***The following morning***
**Within the Everfree**

“The equipment’s reacting, another fragment is awakening!”

“Good, get ready and we shall go retrieve it.”

“The Forgemaster should be quite pleased with our efforts thus far.”

“Then we’ll just have to make sure we continue collecting them won’t we?”

Chapter 70: At The Spa

***Saturday, Day 90***

**Morning**

*Rarity*

The white unicorn strolls through town on her way to her scheduled spa appointment with her friends. The first few days after her disastrous journey into the Everfree had been trying, but she had slowly moved past it. As she crosses the street, a confusing sight catches the corner of her eye. A familiar white pegasus stallion lies near the side of a building half asleep and completely filthy from head to toe.

Rarity gasps and trots over to him as she exclaims, “Orion what happened to you!? Were you mugged?”

The pegasus in question slowly becomes more lucid as his eyes crack open and he sees the fashionista.

The stallion looks around unsurprised as he answers. “Oh, did I have one of my night episodes again? Sorry, it’s a periodic side effect of my nocturnal habits. From the looks of it I went on quite the adventure.”

Rarity looks at him, surprised at his nonchalant attitude. “Darling, you look even worse off than when we were buried alive!” She brings the stallion to his feet with a quick burst of magic. “No no no, this will not do. A stallion of your standing cannot be seen like this, you shall accompany me to the spa so you can be made presentable.” She turns to walk away but notices the stallion hasn’t moved yet. “Come along, we don’t want to be late!”

Orion shakes his head and follows after the mare. “Oh, umm... right away!”

The alabaster pair make their way quickly through town and soon arrive at Ponyville Day Spa. As the door slides open, the two are greeted by the blue mare behind the counter.

She smiles at them and perks up at seeing Rarity. “Oh, welcome Miss Rarity. Your friends are waiting for you in the secondary lounge.”

Rarity nods and smiles. “Thank you, Aloe. Oh, and Mister Orion here shall be joining us so be a dear and add him to the tab, alright?”

The spa pony nods and ducks beneath the counter as the astronomer objects. “I really can pay for myself, you don’t have to-”

The fashionista cuts him off. “Up up up, I won’t hear a word of that. You, along with the rest of my friends, are my guests here and I shall not hear of you trying to pay for it yourself. It is my treat and, no offense meant, I do believe you need it more than any of us.”

The stallion looks at himself and says nothing as the two enter the other lounge. Within the room are Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie, and Fluttershy.

The four stop chatting as the two walk in and Rarity greets them. “Good morning girls! I hope you don’t mind, but I picked up another pony for our little get together. Apparently Orion here was out sleepwalking this morning and got into Celestia-knows-what.”

Applejack laughs lightly. “Yeah, no tellin’ what someponies get up to when they sleepwalk. Big Mac had that for a week and Ah still remember exactly what happened.”

Fluttershy speaks quietly. “Oh, he didn’t break anything did he?”

The farmer only laughs harder. “Nah, but you never forget when a pony cooks some of the best pancakes ya’ve ever tasted while they’re asleep and can’t even remember how they did it.”

The pink twin sister of Lotus walks in to find six ponies laughing their hearts out. She takes one look at Orion before asking, “Shall we start with the baths this morning?”

Rarity nods quickly. “Oh yes, thank you Aloe.”

The group soon find themselves relaxing in the warm waters of the oversized baths. Orion warranted his own smaller one due to the amount of filth on him and being the only male, but at least he is easily recognizable now. He comes up for air after another soak just as the girls are starting to chat again.

The fashionista is the one to start the proverbial snowball down the hill. “So, Twilight, what’s this Rainbow Dash told me about you and Volt going away to Canterlot?”

The purple pony speaks up, “Yes, my parents sent me a letter demanding to meet Volt and I thought I could use this as an excuse to also see if I can gather information on these Refined Diamond Dogs from the Canterlot Archives.”

Applejack looks over from her own spot in the tub. “Wouldn’t yer brother have told ‘em everythin’ they needed to know?”

“Well, they probably already got everything out of him they could, but they like to see ponies for themselves before they accept any conclusions.” Twilight answers.

The farmer nods. “Yeah, that makes sense. Guess Ah just got lucky my immediate family is right here in town so I could show Hydro to ‘em early.” She fiddles with her hat that she had set off to the side. “Reunion’s a whole different matter...”

This time Orion pitches in “So I take it Volt does pretty well dating the prodigious student of Princess Celestia herself. It seems like it would be a lot of pressure to not make a mistake.”

The only answer to this statement is the sound of Pinkie giggling since crickets are not allowed in the spa.

“Speaking of your family, Applejack,” Rarity begins, “I did hear the most interesting rumor concerning your brother...”

AJ lets out a slow breath. “Oh boy, what is it this time?”

“Now now, it’s nothing terrible,” the unicorn insists, “just a little tidbit floating around that a particular mare has been having an eye on Macintosh for some time.”

The apple mare grumbles. “Well, Ah suppose it ain’t the first time... usually they get over it after a few weeks though, who’s the special one?”

“Oh oh oh! I know this one!” Pinkie splashes water out of the tub as she bounces in excitement. “I heard it’s Manila!”

Applejack raises an eyebrow. “Who?”

Fluttershy answers. “Oh, umm, she’s the front desk worker over at the veterinary clinic where Rhino and I work. She’s very nice and I, umm...” she ducks behind her mane, “I may have heard her mention Big Macintosh a time or two... i-in a good way of course!”

The farmer crosses her forelegs as she thinks on this. “Hmm... Ah may have to have a little chat with her next time Ah bring Winona and the pups in for somethin’.”

They enjoy the baths for a few more minutes before one of the spa sisters comes in and lets them know it’s time to get out and head to the massages. Everypony stands up and walks out of the baths when a sudden ‘pomf’ sound comes from behind them. All of the girls turn around to see Orion behind them and looking at his wings.

He turns and sees the mares looking questioningly at him. He smiles nervously and wiggles his wings slightly. “Sorry, just airing them out.”

The still-wet mares stare for a moment longer before shrugging it off and proceeding as the pegasus stallion sighs in relief. The group dries off and are soon in bliss as the massage ponies work their wonders.

Orion asks as he waits for one of the masseuses to get to him, “So how come your Rainbow friend isn’t joining the rest of you here?”

Rarity gives him a look. “Well it’s not as though I didn’t ask.”

Applejack continues from there. “Spas just really aren’t RD’s thing. Says they're a bit too girly for her, plus she doesn’t really like ponies touching her hooves. She probably thought taking a fly around with that blue stallion of hers was a better use of her time.”

“Speaking of stallions,” the fashionista redirects the conversation, “how are you three doing with yours?”

Applejack takes the cue to answer, “Well me and Hydro are doing swell. Why just yesterday he helped me clear the southwest field. Big Mac’s still doin’ the math on it, but we think the irrigation system we installed made that section of the fields more self-sufficient so we don’t have to worry about ‘em so much.”

Fluttershy taps her hooves together nervously. “Rhino and I are fine. I was a bit worried since we didn’t spend much time together for a while, but we talked and he has been taking me out on dates almost every day this week to make up for it.”

Twilight starts out a bit hesitantly, "Well, actually Volt and I... umm... After his last near death experience with the diamond dogs he told me the day after that umm....”

Rarity’s curiosity is sufficiently peaked. “Well, go on dear, don’t leave us in suspense.”

The lavender unicorn takes a deep breath before blurting out excitingly, “He said he loved me!”

Traditional gasping, followed by squealing and congratulations followed this announcement.

Rarity takes notice most of all. “Tell. Me. Everything!”

Twilight seems eager to spill everything now that she has gotten past the initial hurdle. “Well, Volt and I went on a date to the movies to try and have some normalcy after the aforementioned trip. I noticed he had been acting a little funny as well. Afterwards, as he walked me back home, he told me that he had some things to say and that he wanted to get them off his chest after almost dying again. He said it then. I was so overjoyed that I almost didn’t return the sentiment. It felt like something out of my favorite romance novels.”

The fashionista continues pressing for details. “Oh my, what happened next? Normally situations like that end in acts of passion.”

Twilight blushes moderately. “Well we did kiss afterward, but nothing more since we both agreed to keep our relationship clean. But we did start a new type of dating activity.”

Rarity smiles devilishly, “Oh do tell darling.”

“Well every other day we meet up and read parts from romantic plays.” The bookworm sighs “Nothing is better than expressing love through literature.”

Applejack keeps a straight face as she responds. “Well that sure is some......special time y’all seem to be sharing.”

“I don’t know it seems like fun to me.” Pinkie says bouncing.

Rarity sighs longingly. “Yes, just some time alone with your beloved. I hope you don’t think me shallow, but I really do envy you girls for that companionship. Somepony to tell all your problems to, somepony to hold you and tell you everything will be alright, somepony to be with you through the good and the bad... I can’t remember the last time I had been on a date.” She sighs heavily again as she looks off into nothing.

The taken mares feel a bit awkward after her little monologue. Fluttershy breaks the silence, “Well, we could always stop acting like that around you if it makes you feel bad...”

“Bad? No no no, you misunderstand, I love seeing you girls happy.” She pauses slightly. “I just look forward to the day I find that happiness myself.”

Applejack gets a mischievous grin as she points to the only stallion in the room. “Well, ya could always try this one.”

Rarity ignores the joke and looks over Orion with an inscrutable gaze. “Hmm...”

***Rainbow and Blue***

“Come on Blue fly faster!” Yells the rainbow-maned pegasus.

Meanwhile, Blue Breeze strains himself to keep up with his marefriend who is at half speed. He still manages to crack jokes though. “Don’t mind me, I’m just holding back because I had a big lunch.”

Rainbow rolls her eyes and stops. “Blue, if you aren’t going to take this seriously then why did you ask me to train you?”

Little known pegasus fact: heavy flying tends to make confessions easier because it uses less breath to just admit things. Blue adheres to this rule as he looks away from the chromatic pegasus. “Because I’m still too weak, even with my gauntlets. I want to believe that if I can train my body, I will be better equipped to face the dangers of my hobby.”

Rainbow gives him an appraising look. “You seemed pretty confident when you first got them. I guess those diamond dogs hurt more than your body.”

The stallion sighs and mutters half-jokingly. “My dream of being a super powered pegasus was crushed pretty fast. I thought I would be invincible with those gauntlets, but I couldn’t even beat my first real threat.”

The light blue mare grins. “Maybe I can come next time. Those mutts won’t even know what hit them with me in the fight.”

Blue’s tone slowly degrades to melancholy. “I don’t know Rainbow... Maybe we should just not get in their way again, they made it pretty clear they were toying with us. Maybe it would be better if I stopped going in the Everfree for my personal reasons too....”

Suddenly, Rainbow has zipped up to his face with a no-nonsense look on her face. “Hey! I don’t date losers who give up after one loss! Just for that I am going to triple your training routine so it covers your attitude and your body. If you give up now, then you and I are going to have a serious talk about your employment, among other things.” She turns away from him. “Now keep up or get grounded.” She flies off.

Blue just hovers in place for a moment. “Ouch...” He starts heading after his marefriend, still talking to himself. “At least the shot to my pride doesn’t hurt as much as my wings will in the morning.”

A quick peck to his cheek makes him turn and see Rainbow smiling at him. “That’s better, look on the bright side and work through the pain. You just needed motivation.”

***Rhino***

**That night**

I walk out of Pinchy’s room after tucking her in and see Hydro huddled over the coffee table with papers strewn across it as he mutters to himself. I catch the words ‘finish it up’ and ‘terrain proof’ as I walk over to him and ask, “Hey, working on something?”

Not even looking up from his work, he replies. “Well, that depends on your definition of ‘working,’ but yes, I’m trying to make some.... improvements to a project.”

I raise an intrigued eyebrow. “Did something make this particular project jump up in priority? You usually do this kind of thing in the morning, not at night.”

He looks to me with a grim expression. “I’m not exactly in the mood for games so I’ll give it to you straight. Rhino, our friends are put themselves in harm’s way and we’re darn lucky no one was seriously hurt. We’ve just been sitting here on the side lines while they went and risked themselves. I’m not just going to sit by anymore. If there’s a fight, I’m going to be in it, and I’m going to be ready as best I can.”

I blink at the blunt statement. “Wow. This Refined Diamond Dog thing really got to you, didn’t it? Although, I guess all of us were affected in some way...”

He lets out a deep breath and looks away. “Yeah it did. I mean, we’ve been in tight spots before with Torchlight and Fluffers but this... this isn’t just an enemy that we go and beat, they are practically next door. It really gives you perspective, you know?”

I think about his words for a moment before saying quietly, “So, what are we gonna do about it?”

He looks at me seriously. “You already know the answer to that.”

One look at my friend and I can confirm his statement. “We fight.” He nods and I continue. “So, exactly what is all this then?” I gesture to the papers.

He smiles for the first time tonight. “Well, let me introduce you to DAISI D.”

The Decision

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