A Man, A Pony And An Elf Enters The Inn

A Man

"...This can't be... Is it really... Him?" Luna felt a frown on her muzzle, dark thoughts filling her head entirely.

"I do believe that is right. I don't know how did he managed to come back to Equestria, but this time i'll make sure that he won't come back."

"But what if that's not him? There's always this possibility."

"I haven't met anyone in my long life who had ever called me a "friend", except you, Starswirl and... him. And since Starswill's transformation haven't succeeded, he's no longer with us... I'm almost sure that it must be from him." Celestia made her way to her bed, looking more exhausted than before.

"I'd like to rest now, have a good night Luna." She nodded her hed once and left her room.

Standing in the corridor, she couldn't help but look mindlessly at the letter in front of her, a thin layer of her magic covering it, keeping it up in the air. It's been so long, i wouldn't ever thought that this case would see the daylight ever again. She slowly made her way to the throne room, letting her mind go back to the day when it all happened.

This day, Equestria have been officialy announced as a one, united country, where everyone lived together - ponies, gryphons, minotaurs, diamond dogs, even dragons, they all were living together in peace. Four rulers controled this land - Me and my sister, but also our mentor - Starswirl the Bearded, and Eua'Regone - the first dragonequus to appear in these lands. Dragonequuses are really incredible - in a world, there can't be more than one of them. Dragonequus in old, Equestrian language have two means - chaos and void. If two of them would be alive at the same moment in the world, it's balance would break and whole Equestria would fall into madness, unimaginable and uncontrollable chaos, and the elements of harmony would lose their power - when a dragonequus die, a new one appears from the magic left by the dying one. Back then, each one of us controlled aspect of the existance - Celestia controled sun and light, i controled moon and darkness, Starswirl controled the harmony and magic and Eua'Regone controled disharmony and knowledge. Every little thing had it's place on the world, and if one of the aspects would vanish, this world couldn't exist anymore.

This is what we had feared the most.

If Eua'Regone would die, another dragonequus would take his position. Me and my sister are immortal, but Starswirl... he was only a unicorn, a really old one at this point. He was really powerfull, he could create a whole new world from pure magic if he only wanted to and still would have some leftovers, but even the magic can't stop death. The only way to save him was to turn him into an alicorn, something that back then was nearly impossible with our knowledge. This is where things began to complicate.

Eua'Regone seemed excited about this idea, and promised to search for information about a possible spell that would turn Starswill into an alicorn. None of us trusted him, but we had no other choice, so we allowed him to search for anything usefull he could find.

And he... instead of searching for the information we needed... he made whole Equestria into his private researching lab! He would be sarficing thousand of lifes each day for his 'experiments'. Me and my sister wanted to stop him, but... Starswirl was getting weaker each day, we feared that his end was near.

We didn't stopped him. Oh, if we could only stop him...

A month passed, when finally Regone had returned, explaning that he had finally discovered a spell that would transform a pony into an alicorn. We had prepared everything in accordance with his instructions. My sister at first hesitated, but she did it - she casted the spell on Starswirl.

It killed him.

No, she killed him.

She killed Starswirl.

My sister, Celestia, had killed Starswirl the bearded, the aspect of the harmony.

Only ashes and some mysterious stones were left from him as the pure terror became visible on my sister's face. In fury she started attacking Eua'Regone, a battle that had destroyed our first castle in the everfree forest and created a huge cave in the mountain where now often Ursa bears resides. In the end, Eua'Regone lost, but his last words had burned in Celestia's mind to this day.

"C'mon my old friend, how could i possibly know it would kill him? After all, you were the one who casted the spell, the blood had stained your hooves."

Celestia had banished him to the sun for the rest of his life, where he suffered for his sins.

Sadly, none of us realized that by this, there's officialy no dragonequus in this world. This is when Discord had been created, in the ashes of their first castle where Regone had been fighting. With us, tired after the fight, world had fallen to the chaos.

Thankfully, my sister had a chance to take a closer look at the stones left by Starswill. They kept the magic and the harmony in themselves, and with their help, they had turned Discord into stone, not killing him or banishing him, but keeping him in harmless form to keep the balance in this already ruined world. The stones had been called "The Elements of Harmony", and from this day, they would be used to protect the Equestria from all the harm. Soon after Discord was defeated, the other races had spread all around the land, creating their own countries and kingdoms. The world had never lived through such terrible-

"PRINCESS!" Luna had jumped in the air as suddenly a loud voice had spoke right next to her. When she came to her senses, she was already in the throne room, still holding the letter in her telekinesis. Slightly confused, she made her way towards her throne and put the letter at her sister's throne, then turned her head back to the guard.

"...Sorry, how may i help you?"

"Uhm, sorry your highness, but your duties are awaiting you."

"Ah, yes, of course... What do i have to do tonight exacly?"

"Soldiers are waiting for your orders, your highness. Also the ponyville's hospital is asking for help in fighting the new dissease. They need more beds and some of our royal doctors, we need your permission before we will be able to send anything."

"I see... send them all resources they need, i'll meet with guards soon." The night guard bowed and left the room, leaving the princess of the night once again in her though.

A disease, spreading quickly over the ponyville... I don't know what they may need, they could use all of our necesseary medical resources, i should talk about this with the professors...
...resources...
...huh...
...Right! How come that both me and sister haven't realized it before! These preparations that Eua'Regone had told us to do - By the moon, Celestia havent killed Starwirl, she had send him to another realm! This may mean...

...This may mean that there's still a chance to get him back! The time works differently betwen realms, there's even a possibility he will be younger... at the same time, i could just as well summon a skeleton... it's worth a try though! I have to prepare the spell!

Somewhere betwen the darkness of the night, in the middle of the New York, across the streets echoed the sound of a police siren.

A man in a grey hoodie and black jeans ran across the sidewalk through the crowds of unaware people, an old bag hanging on his shoulder as he made his way towards an old looking house.

"Stop him! Once he reaches this building, our chase is over!" He ignored the commands from behind him and put an extra speed to his pace.

A few meters betwen him and the old rusty door knob seemed to be a kilometers to him when he suddenly heard loud bang noise, and his world turned into pain as he stumbled right in front of the door. A small streak of blood was flowing from his leg, and right in front of him was standing a police man, his narrowed eyes were literaly telling him straight 'You're fucked'.

"Well, well, well... Mr. William, it looks like god had finally blessed me with a open field to shoot!" A small smirk appeared on his face "You don't even imagine how long i've waited to say these words... Mr. William, you're under arrest!"

William sat on his chair as the cop sat on the other side of the table, which had a single lamp on it. Typical hearing, almost like from the old detective movies. This thought gave him a small smirk, but the view of another cop entering the room had quickly erased it. Damn it, how did they got Mike involved in this? I hope that this bastard haven't sold me out.

Mike slowly approached the table, and, with a rather displeased expression, he slowly said:

"This is over, Nick. I've told them everything." A quick headbutt made him stumble a few steps back while the other cop punished the interrogated with a few hits with his baton. Mike's nose was bleeding, but he ignored that. "I was fine with your actions so far! Stealing to survive, running away, i understood it was necessary, but this?!" He once again approached him, this time the other cop holding William's head.

"You've murdered an innocent person, Nick. Things went way too far this time." The cop had released his head, and Mike made his way towards the door, but just as he was about to leave, he turned his head back to the Nick and let a small sigh escape his lips.

"I've told them everything, and after that i'll be suspended, but after what you had done, i don't regret it."

"Listen, it's not like that, i can explain! I can-" At this moment the door closed, and he was once again alone with the cop that was chasing him just yesterday. Great, my only hope had sold me out... I don't know who's trying to trick me into this, but i'll make sure that he will pay.

"Alright, i gues we should start with the typical procedure. Name?" The cop sat back on the other side of the table, getting some papers out of his pockets.

"Nick Williams."

"Profession?"

"Unemployed."

"Maybe you should've get a normal job instead of stealing then..." With a dark expression he pulled out a small file, signed 'Case 426-B'. A few pictures of an old woman had fell out of it, a particular one showed her dead body, lying on a street, a knife sticking out of her chest.

"What do you know about the victim, Karol Mayed?"

"I don't know her." Trying to keep the eyes away from the picture of the crime scene, he noticed that the other pictures were mostly family photos. She, her husband, and two adult mans, perhaps her kids. At the other picture she was already without her husband, something that had slightly saddened Nick.

"Then what was your motive?"

"I didn't killed her."

"How can you prove it? A knife have your fingerprints, witnesses had described you clearly, and nobody else was at the scene of the crime."

"Listen, i don't care what does the witnesses says, it wasn't me! I was just walking through the sidewalk when i saw a woman lying on the ground in one of the dark alleys, her bag resting next to her. I thought that she drank too much and passed out, so i tried to take her bag, and then i heard someone scream behind me!" The cop slowly leaned over the table and wishpered.

"...Tell me, do you really think that someone will believe you?" He couldn't anserw that, Nick knew greatly that no one trusts him. He was a thief, a social outcast, and he was doomed at the moment.

"This case mixed with your crimes will grant you a death sentence without a doubt." The cop stood up, opened a door and called someone outside.

"Hey, we're done here, get him back to his cell."

With a summoning circle prepared in her bedroom, Luna made her way back to the throne room, expecting more guards to come asksing for tasks. Circle have to be left for 12 hours to gain strenght. In the morning it should be already done, and to this time, i have to keep ponies away from my room, they may interrupt the spell. I've already told two guards to guard it, but just to be safe, i've enchanted the doors so nobody can open them. This morning i'll have a surprise prepared for you, sister. I only hope this will work...

Just as soon as her sister raised the sun, Luna instantly lowered the moon. The light slowly reached the horizon as Luna made her way to her bedroom. On her way there, her sister had passed the same corridor, probably going to the throne room.

"Ah, good morning my dear sister."

"Good morning Tia. Did you slept well?"
"I wish i could... I've been thinking all this time about this letter i've recieved yesterday."

"I understand your worries... Something made me wonder about it. How did he managed to send you a letter? If i remember correctly, royal mail is private, only a few can use it." Celestia's eyes suddenly went wide, something that doesn't occur often to her sister.

"It... It was sent by Spike..."

"Twilight Sparkle's dragon? But that would mean..."

"...He have to know something about this." Celestia's horn instantly lit up and she vanished in a blast of light. It's not often when she teleports for such long distance... Well, now is the perfect chance!

Within two minutes Luna was back at her bedroom. She expected to see already prepared spell, so she could cast it and summon already Starswil back to their realm. She definitifly didn't expected to see in her room just a painted circle on the ground, with all the candles in the room blown off. I forgot to close the window...

Citizens of Canterlot didn't expected fireworks at this time of the year, but there were many of them, all of them coming the castle. Some of them were even displeased when three specific fireworks came out, each one of them forming a word.

I

Hate

Everything

"The doctors from the Canterlot haven't arrived yet! Who are we going to ask for help?" Applebloom's bed was right next to them, when hearing that she quietly whispered.

"...Fluttershy... She knows... A lot about health..."

"Fluttershy? Nurse, check the list, search for somepony called Fluttershy" Nurse went through her way too long list, and after a moment shaked her head.

"It seems that Fluttershy isn't here, so probably she's healthy."

"Good! Finally someone who may know what to do about this disease! Tell us little filly, where does she lives?"

"...She have a cottage... near the Everfree forest..."

"Thanks a lot! I'll personaly visit her, hope she will be able to help us!" As soon as he ended that sentence, he instantly went outside and made his way to Flutterhy's cottage. Within twenty minutes, he arrived. The place was barren, there were some fences, chickencoops, troughs filled with water and food, but there were no animals visible around. Doctor slowly made his way into the cottage.

Some time later the doctor enters the hospital again, looking way more depressed than before. One of the nurses saw that and instantly approached him.

"What happened doctor? Where's this mare you were talking about?" Tears slowly fell from his eyes.

"...She is dead... Some of the alive animals was feeding on her corpse..." He fell on the ground and started crying.

"Dear god... that is terrible! What are we supoused to do now?"

"...I don't care anymore... We are all going to die..."

Luna could see the dark clouds gather outside her balcon. She couldn't wait anymore, she wanted to see her old mentor again. The summoning circle was faintly glowing, but it still wasn't enough, if the spell was about to work fully, she'd need to wait longer.

She couldn't wait longer.

Dashing towards the middle of the circle, she lit up her horn and began fulling the inside of the circle with magic. She felt as the pure energy swims through her while she focused on searching for any traces of Starswil in other dimensions. Five minutes. Ten. Twenty. Half an hour later, she felt something. Yes, i recognize this warm feeling... It's him! Instantly the princess of the night began forming a shape of the teleport.

Sitting on a rotten bench in one of the worst cells they had, Nick was trying to think about his future. There wasn't a single lawyer yet that tried to help me after he heard about my crimes before. My only hope is to try to convince Mike that it wasn't me...

At some point, he became tired and went to sleep, deciding that the floor will be a way better place to sleep than the bench, which barely survived him sitting on it. He placed his head on his hands and closed his eyes, already feeling the dream taking control over the reality as he saw a small light appear just before he fully shut his eyelids.

Wait, a light?

Nick opened his eyes again and saw that, indeed, there were some kind of an orbs emanating with light, slowly floating around him. There were around 6 of them, flying right above him.

"What the hell..." As soon as he murmured that, the orbs instantly began to fly faster and faster, circling him whole. Nick instantly stood up and took a defensive stance. What is it? Witchcraft?

Before he could do anything else, some kind of a portal had appeared betwen the orbs. What scared him more, was that the orbs slowly began to fly towards him.

"Oh hell no!" He dodged it and started hitting the bars of the cell, trying to make as much noise as he can. "Guards! Help! Anybody! He-" Suddenly he felt a weird sensation at his back. When he turned around, he saw that the portal was already swallowing him.

The citizens of the New York could hear a loud scream coming from the prison, which was kilometers away from them. A single lighting had hit in this direction, and a rain began to rapidly attack the streets.

It's happening! The portal slowly began to appear, growing with each passing second. Instead of stopping at the size of a casual pony though, it kept growing, to the size of Luna herself. Had i done something wrong and created a portal for myself?

Then suddenly, a weird creature fell through it, stumbling and rolling for a few meters through the floor. Portal instantly closed itself after that.

It was a tall creature, similar to ape. It's been almost entirely covered in clothes, his head was hidden by his dark grey hood that had fell on his head during his fall. It was rather slim, and it's very existance was already alarming for Luna. What was even more worrying her, was the question that had appeared in her mind.

Where is the Starswirl? You don't want to tell me that this creature is him?

Whatever it was, it slowly raised from the ground - while standing, it was slightly higher than Luna, but still smaller than her sister. It had took off his hood, revealing his muzzle - specifically it's absence. It reminded Luna of how does the griffins looks like, just without the beak and feathers. Instead of the beak, it had a small... triangle-like thing with nostrils at the bottom of it. It's ears were also looking weird, they looked like a small, almost flat bowls. It had a short, black mane on it's head, and it didn't had a tail. It had minotaur-like legs, but instead of hooves it had... something weird, she couldn't even say what it was. Luna was almost amazed by his look, but had quickly came to her sense when the creature had finally looked at her, being both afraid and confused.

"Uhm... hello?" Luna had asked shyly.

This creature have a really strong lungs, ponies could hear it's scream all over the canterlot.

It haven't been even five seconds, and the creature was already missing. She didn't even saw what happened, it just suddenly ran at her, so she closed her eyes in fear. When she opened them again, he wasnt anywhere to be found. The door was closed, and a spell was preventing anyone from going in or out, so he couldn't leave this room. Luna started looking where it could hide.

"I don't want to hurt you, please come out." Something shifted under her bed. It's back legs are sticking out...

Few moments later it was already being levitated by Luna's magic. It was obvious that it didn't enjoyed it as it struggled around to the point where it was already too tired to even move.

"So... this may sound weird, but what are you?"

"I'd like to ask the same question to you! What are you? You look almost like horse but you're blue and you talk and you have wings and horn and do magic and it's all just a dream, isn't it?" It took Luna a moment to realize what he was talking about, but she decided that the best thing to do is to sit down and take it calmly. Of course she was the one who sat, it was still levitating.

"So, let me start then. My name is Luna, and we are in the Canterlot."

"...Do you mean Camelot?"

"No, Canterlot, in a country called Equestria. In this country lives ponies, three types of them to be specific - earth ponies, pegasus and unicorns."

"...And which one of them you are?"

"Well, actualy i'm an alicorn - it's like... being a mix of them all. I'm also a princess of this country, me and my sister rule over these lands."

"...Isn't that a job of a king and a queen?"

"Queen? King? I'm afraid we don't have such roles here."

"Oh boy, this sounds just great so far."

"Please remain calm, i'm trying my best to not flood you with informations."

"You're not doing exacly a good job." Her eye twiched for a moment before she could calm herself down. After a sigh, she continued.

"I'm afraid that you're right. It's impossible to just explain you all the aspects of our life... unless..." Luna quickly went through the books she kept in a small bookshelf next to her bed and found a filly's book, explaining the world of equestria.

"Here, this should help you." She said as she levitated it towards the human.

"...A book for kids? Why do you even have it in your room?"

"Shush you..." She levitated him the book while hiding a slight blush. After a moment of thinking he shrugged his shoulders, took the book and started reading. "Oh, by the way, what's your name, and, uh... What are you?"

"My name is Nick, Nick Williams, and my kind is called humans."

"Humans?"

"Or homo sapiens."

"...I think i prefer human, thanks." She turned around and made her way to the small bookcase, a small smile on her face. I remember how my sister gave it to me herself when i came back to kingdom, i had a similar reaction. Suddenly Luna heard a loud smack right behind her. When she turned around, the human was rubbing his cheek, a red hand mark visible on it.

"...What are you doing?"

"Just checking if i'm not asleep for sure. So... this is all real?" He said as he threw the book on Luna's bed.

"I'm afraid it is."

"...Alright then, screw trying to understand anything, i just got two more questions - why did you brought me here and when will you send me back?"

"Well... It was..." A good question! Why did my spell brought him? I clearly felt the traces of Starswirl on him while summoning him here... or maybe?

"May i ask you to come to the balcony?" Nick seemed rather surprised by that, but after a moment of hesitation he made his way to the balcony.

"Look around. Do you recall some of these places?" From Luna's balcony was visible half of the Equestria, including Canterlot, Ponyville, Fillydelphia and much more cities. If i'm not wrong, then he is the Starswirl! He had to lose his old form and memory during the teleportation to another realm! If that won't work, i can always cast a spell on him to bring his memory back.

"...No, why should i? I never was here before."

"Are you sure? None of this seems familiar to you?"

"Well... the city under us seems similar to some of the cities back in my world, but beside that, nothing."

"I see..." The spell it is, then.

Luna's horn began to glow faintly and a small ball of blue energy began to form in the air, making it's way towards the human's head, who was looking at the Canterlot in wonder.

Eua'Regone slowly made his way towards the Canterlot castle, disguised as one of the Luna's royal guards, so nopony could recognize him. Not so long ago i could feel a lot of energy radiating from this place. I greatly know that energy, this amount can be produced only when summoning something to this world. Was it you, Celestia? Or maybe it was your darker sister? It doesn't really matter to me, all i want is to see what had you done. With a slowly forming grin on his face, he walked past the massive doors leading into the castle.

While channeling the spell, Luna felt a small pinch back in her mind. The last time she felt that was when Discord had freed himself.

"...Oh no." Luna's spell instantly vanished as did the ball of light. The human turned around to see the scared expression of the princess.

"What's wrong?"

"He's coming. I can feel it."

"Who?"

"There's no time to waste!" In a quick manner she pointed her horn at the human and shot a small bolt of energy into him, which he absorbed and fell on the ground.

"W-what was that?! What had you done to me?!"

"Calm down! You will see in a few seconds."

"Oh, don't even say that you had poisoned me! I always imagined dying by poison, and it never was... something..." Slowly Nick began to shrink, his body turning orange and his hands and feets becoming hooves.

Nick became a pony. He was now slightly smaller than Luna, had no wings or horn, his coat was orange and his mane and tail dark blue.

"What... WHAT HAD YOU DONE TO ME?!"

"Hush! You need to leave! If he will discover that you're actualy a human, something much worse than a death will happen to you!"

"WHO'S coming!? What's going on here!?" Ignoring him, Luna quickly walked to a wall next to her bed and pulled a small lever, designed to look like a candle. As soon as she did that, the wall shaked, and a secret passage had been revealed.

"This corridor will take you right outside of the castle. Head north, to the village called Ponyville, you should reach it by hoof before the sunrise. Search for a purple unicorn called Twilight and tell her that i've sent you and that i ask her to keep you for a while. I will come for you as soon as possible, but now you have to hurry!" She pushed him slightly towards the hidden passage with her head, being carefull with her horn.

"Listen, i really don't like this whole thing, i don't know if i should trust you and the most important, i don't know if it's all even real! Do you really expect me to just walk to some kind of a village filled with talking ponies and act like there's nothing wrong with it? YOU'RE A TALKING HORSE AND I'M GOING NUTS SO MUCH RIGHT NOW!"

"JUST DO AS I SAY!" The royal Canterlot voice perhaps wasn't a good idea, but at least it worked, since Nick was now spriting down the dark corridor. A moment afterwards, the passage closed behind him, and Luna was once again alone in her room. She slowly made her way towards the bed and picked up the book Nick had thrown. Levitating it back on the bookshelf, Luna looked around her room. With a single spell, all the candles dissapeared and the paiting vanished, leaving the room as it was just two days ago. ...I should probably consider retreat, if Eua'Regone is going to come here, i won't have much chances in a fight. Before she could move though, the door to her bedroom opened, the guard with a spear walking in.

"Princess! We had recieved a task to watch you over this night, it seems that there's someone in the castle trying to assault you." Nice try, but you've disguised yourself as a Celestial guard. Only my guards are awake at the night. I probably shouldn't show him that i know it, it's better to catch him offguard and retreat.

"Oh? Very well then, i'll remain in my chambers untill the assaulter will be found in that case." He seemed clearly displeased by that, a small grimace on his face that he tried to hide from her. After a few seconds of silence, he suddenly revealed his true form. By the moon... I need to escape! She slowly started to back to the window behind her before Regone's voice stopped her.

"Don't even think about this, my dear. I've definitely felt a summoning magic here, so now tell me kindly, what had you summoned?"

"I'm afraid i have no idea what you're talking about, Eua'Regone. Maybe Celestia was right, and you are indeed insane just like your descendant?" She said the last part with a daring grin. Just wait for the right moment...

"Oh please, don't compare me to him... Why can't you and Celestia see the difference betwen us? He was evil, and i just wanted to know everything!"

"Wait... how do you know that the Discord was..."

"Oh please, i created him, obviously i had a connection with him, at least partialy. Can't you really see that i was doing a good thing?"

"Yes, by enslaving everypony and taking the knowledge by force! And don't think we've forget what had happened to Starswil!"

"Enough!" He yelled in anger, whole castle slightly shaking from the power of his voice. "Where did you hide it?!"

"Why don't you try and find it?" Luna said with a grin as she suddenly flew through the window, flying through the night. It seemed that he was rather surprised by that and didn't tried to catch her in the air, which allowed her to fly through the night. He may be powerfull, but in the night i'm invisible for the untrained eyes. After a moment of flight, she descended a little lower, making her way to the Ponyville.

I don't know what hurts more... My pride, that i was scared by a pony, or my body. Nick thought that as he made his way through the forest, branches and bushes hurting his unclothed skin. I thought that i would have more trouble with walking on four, but apparently this had to change with my transformation as well.. He stopped, looking up in the sky.

Transformation... I don't know if it's all even real, perhaps it's just a dream of sorts, but then... I wouldn't feel pain. The trees, the bushes, they all look unnatural, but feel in touch exacly like the trees and bushes in the New York park. Is it true that i'm in another world? His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of something breaking not so far away. He made his way towards the source of the sound, and soon found himself looking at the old, wooden building. A single signboard hanging on the chains states 'Dity Joe Inn'. It looks like it's abandoned, perhaps i could rest here for a while. Nick slowly made his way towards the old, breaking apart door. Slightly pushing it open, he entered it, and was greeted by a view of a stallion standing almost right in front of the door. The whole place was incredibly dark, and if not the lit candle on the table right next to the stallion, he wouldn't even seen him. He was holding a part of the broken table in his mouth, the rest of it lying on the ground. He was Nick's size, had dark red fur and a short brown mane and tail, and had a beer tattoo on his flank. When he saw Nick, a small smile appeared on his snout as he put the part of the table back on the ground.

"Ah, welcome. You're the first one to arrive here."

"Uhm... W-what?" Nick took a step back, looking at the calm stallion in front of him.

"Well, you still have..." He looked for a moment at the counter, where a single clock with partialy broken shield was resting, but apparently was still working. "...Around five hours before everyone will arrive, so why don't you do something for me?"

"...What are you talking about? Who are you?"

"You will see, in five hours. For now, how do you feel about a little task?"

Nick looked at him in worry. Who is he? Does he own this place? He seems to be insane, perhaps it would be healthy for me to just leave. "Uhm, i'm sorry, but i'll be going now..." He turned around, before he could take a step though, he heard the stallion speak from behind him, keeping the calm voice all the time.

"I know that you're looking for Twilight Sparkle." He stopped in tracks and looked at him, a terrified expression slowly making it's way on his snout. "Continue your way to the Ponyville, but don't speak to her. Instead of that follow her, avoid contact with her, but keep an eye on her all the time. Whenever she goes, you go there as well, and what's most important, do not make her suspicious of you."

Nick stared at him for a moment before he slightly narrowed his eyes. "...And what if i won't?"

"Well, you can always stay here and talk with me about mares, or you can go to Ponyville and wait for princess Luna, only to hear that you won't be able to come back to your world." Nick instantly turned to him, looking at him in fear. It took him a few moments before he could say anything.

"...How did you know?"

"As i said, everything will be explained... in five hours." He turned around for a moment to clean up dirty glass... with a dirty handkerchief, before taking a look at the barely working clock on the wall and returning his gaze back to Nick. "Well, 4 hours and 50 minutes now... So, deal?" He said as he raised his hoof to shake. After a moment of thought, Nick shaked his hoof.

"Don't think that i trust you, nor any of your kind, but... Deal."

Eua'Regone, once again in his guardian disguise, made his way through the castle. I'll need to find her, if she will tell her sister about me, it will be all over! Another corridor, another room, and after a while he found himself in the throne room. Looking around this place, he couldn't help but murmured quietly.

"...Soon i'll be the one sitting here..."

"Oh, is that so?" He heard the voice speak behind him, a very familiar to him voice. He turned around and looked Celestia in the eyes.

"...Oh, excuse me princess, i was just..." Celestia's expression stayed cold and emotionless.

"You know, my guards are all asleep by now, it would be smarter to become a Lunar guard... Of course you wouldn't know about that." His mind raced through the thoughts before he gave up on coming up with explanations and revealed his true form, slowly gaining in size and getting his misshapen body back. Celestia's glare never left him during the transformation, and now she was face to face with his true form.

"...Long time no see, my old friend." Eua'Regone said with an evil smile.

The sun was slowly making it's way up the sky when Nick had finally arrived in the Ponyville. He shaked off some sticks and leaves from his mane before he trotted towards the town. I'm slowly getting used to this form, but i still wish to be back in my own body.

It was too early in the morning for crowds of ponies to be around, but even at this time, the village was somewhat empty. He had seen one or two ponies on their way to their homes, wearing some kind of surgical masks on their snouts. Epidemy? Luna wanted me to come here? This must be some kind of a joke... And some pony called Twilight is supoused to be around? If she indeed would be somewhere here, she'd probably be in hospital at the moment. Just... where could it be? Before he could take a single step, he heard a sound of hooves in the distance. He turned this way and saw a purple unicorn walking off, in assistance of some kind of a lizard creature. ...It's her? She's certainly purple... Well, here goes nothing.

He started walking after her, keeping a relatively big distance betwen themselves. After a while, she seemed to stop at the train station. She's leaving the town because of the epidemy, that makes sense. She bought tickets for the train and sat at the end of the row of chairs, as i've immediately sat at the other side of the station. I don't have money for the tickets... gues i'll need to try my luck in this one. Nick made his way towards the other side of the chairs and sat, avoiding looking at the unicorn. ...I still don't know if she's the unicorn i'm looking for... Perhaps i could...

He coughed lightly.

No reaction.

He coughed again.

Still no reaction.

He did so several more times before suddenly the unicorn spoke. "Spike, are you alright? You weren't protected from this poison, are you sure this can't affect you?"

Suddenly the lizard spoke. "I'm fine Twilight, dont worry about me. Even if it really was so powerfull, the worst it could do to me is to give me a light cold for a few days, that's all." Yep! That's the unicorn i'm looking for- THIS THING CAN TALK!? Holy shit, is this her bodyguard? He seems smalls, but damn i'm in a world of talking ponies, so who knows what this thing can do! Why would Luna want me to talk to a purple pony with a freaking TALKING LIZARD AS A BODYGUARD?. Thankfully, a train came as soon as he thought about it, and he instantly made his way towards the train's door. Twilight and her lizard made their way to the train as well soon after he entered, and sat in the third wagon, just behind the Nick's seat. After a moment the train began moving once again.

I hope this whole... Spike doesn't have some matter of improved sense like dogs, or else i might be screwed... Although... I feel.. off. Not just because of the ponies or the lizard, it's just... i think something bad will happen soon.

Luna arrived in the Ponyville, the whole place was deserted. Not a single pony on the streets, houses seemed to be abandoned, and there were some traces of blood visible on the road to the hospital. She was looking around the empty streets, horryfied, untill she felt it too. It was like something was pushing on her brain from all the sides, and she had a problem to catch her breath. A quick purification spell, and a anti-disease shield around her, and she was once again feeling normal. It's worse than i thought... It's a pure plague. She followed the traces of blood untill she saw in the distance a white building, which she assumed was a hospital. There were a few beds outside of it, ill ponies lying on them, slowly dying. Some of them were coughing out blood, some of them were just lying, not moving at all, but still breathing, and some... were dead. She also saw some of the the element bearers, which she recognized as Rarity and Applejack. ...What had happened to this place? What kind of horrific things happened just under our chin?

Before she could react, a doctor ran out of the building, bowing to her with a look of hope on his snout.

"Princess! Do you brought us the medical ressources? So many ponies are dying, and we can't do anything about it!" She looked down at him with a mixed feeling of compassion and fear.

"...I'm afraid i don't have them with me." The doctor instantly stood from the ground, looking at her in horror.

"Princess.. you..."

"-But don't worry! I've came personaly to stop this plague!" The doctor looked at her with slighlt worry.

"Princess, it's impossible to heal these ponies with magic! This epidemy that we are dealing with is... nothing like we had ever met before. Do you really think you can take cure it?"

"I am your princess, and it is my duty to at least try. What is your name?" The doctor seemed rather surprised at that.

"Uhm... My name's Goldshrine, princess." He was a stallion with a golden fur and a dark yellow, long mane and tail, both of them messy at the moment. He was wearing a surgical mask and a white coat, and had a needle as a cutie mark.

"Very well, doctor Goldshrine, i'll help you cure ponies of the ponyville!"

Luna and the doctor walked through the door and into the corridor, filled with sick, dying and dead ponies. This will take a lot of my power, but i think i can actualy do it... Although i feel like i'm forgetting something...

Sunera fell on the ground in some kind of a forrest, her wounds healed, but her head aching really badly. She shakily stood up and looked around herself. ...Where am i? This doesn't look like the forest i was in before. Dark clouds began to form in the sky, it was going to rain soon. Through the trees she could see a big, wooden house, a signboard hanging on the chains 'Dirty Joe Inn'. Slowly she made her way to the building, with hope that this somebody who offered help will be there. The door seemed to break at the slightest touch, yet it resisted under her touch and soon she was already inside. The thick layout of dust on everything made it hard to breath, a bunch of candles were lit and lying on a few wooden tables. There were a few of them broken, lying in the corner of the room. Nobody was behind the counter, only a single small clock was resting on it, it's shield partialy broken, but it was still functioning. It was really dark here, if not the candles, it would be nearly impossible to see anything. She made her way deeper into the room when she suddenly heard hoofsteps. It looked like there was a set of stairs next to the counter, which she couldn't see untill she stepped in. After a moment, a stallion made his way down. He had a dark red fur, brown short mane and tail, and a mug of beer as a cutie mark, if she remember it's name of these tattoos correctly.

"Ah, hello Sunera, it's good to see you." She was surprised by that, she tried to grab her knife, before she realized that it was missing.

"The others should be there soon, why don't you rest in the guest room meanwhile?"

"...Are you the one who's supoused to help me?"

"Yes, i am. Everything will be explained soon, for now, you should probably rest, i imagine it's rather hard to keep your mind clear after what you had seen."

"..I have no other option than to trust you at the moment, but if you're just playing around, i won't be kind to you."

"Oh, i fully understand that. Soon everything will be explained, all i can do now is warn you."

"...Warn me?"

"Terrible things will happen soon, way worse than you can imagine. No matter what happeneds, i need you to stay calm." Sunera thought for a second, before she replied.

"After what i've seen, i think i can't be more calmer than i am now." She made her way up the stairs, while the stallion stayed in the room.

"...You may think you had lived through hell. All of them may think that they've lived through worse than anyone else." He made his way towards one of the broken tables, looking at it with slight sadness in his eyes.

"...At least they are not forced to be living through it for eternity." He kicked lightly one of the broken parts, turned around and murmured.

"A wise man once said: The worst crime to commit that makes you the animal is to not feel guilty for your vices." The sadness left his snout, and the thin, light blue magical aura began to surround him.

"Let the war begin."

Author's Note

After a WAY too long break filled with personal problems, troubles at school and all this kind of stuff, i've finally decided to get this one done. At least i've finally found an editor who will help me with the grammar correcting etc.

Also, i advice reading the other chapters again as well, i've changed some things.

Coming soon: A Man, A Pony And An Elf Enters The Inn - Destiny