Friendship is Ancient

Chapters

Prologue: The Stranger Tides
Chapter 1: New Beginnings
Chapter 2: Memories
Chapter 3: Unknown Trials
Chapter 4: Distractions
Chapter 5: Out of the Frying Pan...
Chapter 6: The choices we make....

Prologue: The Stranger Tides

Twilight was sitting comfortably on the pillow she had laid on the floor, next to larger, even fluffier pillow for the princess. The room was only lit by dim candles placed randomly around, leaving a slight scent of lavender. It was late; even Spike got too tired and went to bed. Twilight was dosing off as she waited for her majesty, Princess Celestia that is, to arrive. The clock was ticking, slower and slower, time began to slow down, until the faint snoring of a tired pony could be heard. Silence filled the room with it's own song and darkness died at the edge of the windows, giving the feeling of separation from the world entirely. Then there was a knock at the door; waking, Twilight got up lazily and walked to greet the visitor.

She bowed to the tall figure and said softly, "Hello Princess, I hope you weren't busy.".

Celestia returned, graciously, with "Hello my most faithful student, And don't worry, I wasn't in any manner of importance."

Now fully awake, Twilight showed the princess the pillowed spot she had made for her, and asked "Would you like some tea princess?"

"Yes please, no sugar."

Twilight walked into the small kitchen like area and got the pot of tea that had been setting on a low fire for an unknown amount of time.

"So, Twilight, this 'thing' you found is a 'he'?"

"Yes, and he's...whatever he is, I have never seen it before." Twilight then gives the cup of tea to Celestia, as they both lay on their seats.

"So, Twilight, what was it that had everypony so scared a few days ago? I would like to hear your story, instead of the rumors I was told previously."

"Okay princess, It started like this...

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...It was stormy, with plenty of lightning to wake me up a few times throughout the night. Each time it woke me, I knew it was nothing but the weather. However, at dawn, there was an unnerving crash of sound, far too loud, and it could not have been lightning, it sounded too...unnatural.

I walked outside to see what it was, but I couldn't until the pegasai had cleared the clouds. Everypony else was getting up and looking as well, and what we had seen, scared everypony. It was a massive, dark sphere that bent the light around it's edges, and it didn't cast a shadow, about the size of a half a football field. I sat there and watched all of the pegasai try their best to fly to it for a closer look, but a mysterious wind was blowing to keep them all away from it, even Rainbow Dash.

As I sat dumbstruck, said friend exhaustively landed next to me.

"Twilight, what the hay is that thing?"

Never before had i seen such a thing, nor anything that had ever resembled it.

"Dash, i have never seen this before,in fact, I have never seen anything like it." Then, an idea hit me. "Dash, Remember that launching pad you made when Applejack had that bumper harvest and she tried to get all the apples alone? Where is it?"

"It's at Applejack's actually, it was too heavy to put into a cloud."

Without another word, we then went off to AJ's. Heading through the town, we had seen Fluttershy gathering all the bunnies that ran off in fright of the sounds. We had also seen Pinkie Pie singing her 'Fear Song' to a small group of children, but Rarity was not with everypony outside, at the time I thought she was just busy with another order of clothing for an important client.

Nearing Apple Acres, we found Applejack and Bigmac Pulling the Launching device, all folded up, in a Two horse supply Carriage.

I said "I can see you guys were thinking the same thing I was, Need some help?"

"Eyyup" said BigMac. Applejack didn't speak but grunted, as she tried to keep up as much pulling as her stronger brother. So I swapped out with Applejack every once in a while to let her have a rest, using the come-to-life spell. We approached the town square, directly under the dark sphere, and began to set up the catapult-like device. It didn't take more than a minute to re-assemble the five-piece contraption.

Shortly after setting up said contraption, Me, Applejack and Bigmac all climbed to the top.

Then I said "Okay Dash, we're not sure if this will work, so if this gets you close, try not to touch it, we have absolutely no idea what this is."

She hesitantly said,"Got it." Rainbow-Dash reluctantly stepped onto the other side, waiting for us to jump. Ponies saw what we were doing, and they watched nervously, more so than Dash. On the count of three we had jumped, and as we almost landed together, time slowed for me, enough to see sudden fear in the eyes of Dash, for that moment, I too shared that fear.

We hit, and Rainbow-Dash flew so fast, she was on the edge of another sonic rainboom. She was flying too fast, and she wasn't able to turn at that speed, so flying directly into it. I closed my eyes, waiting to hear the cracking of shattered bones, But I never heard such a sound. She had flown right through the ball of energy, or magic, and my Stomach sunk.

Was it somepony's magic? Or perhaps just a visual trick? Is Trixie playing a very bad joke? I ran to the library as fast as my slightly sore hooves could carry me. There was no time to waste, i had to move whatever it was away. I was panting as I opened the door to see a still-sleeping Spike. So quietly, I had began going through the list of books I had.

I was looking for the teleportation spell that didn't teleport me with what I relocated. After a bit of browsing I found it in the 'Advanced Magic for Foals'. I studied it quickly and hurried back to the square. My friends were all there, except for Rarity.

Then I said "Okay girls, since none of us have any idea as to what this is, I'm going to try and move it out of here, you may want to stand back." They all looked at me with worry, and just like what their expressions were telling me, there was something very off about all this.

I could faintly see Applejack mouth the words, "Just, be careful Twilight.". I Knew this thing was dangerous, I could feel it in my gut, so I HAD to get rid of this ominous orb.

I began charging the spell, as the other ponies stood back. Electricity surged throughout my body, at first it was just through me, but then it got so charged it covered me in a field of purple colored wires of lightning. It hit full capacity and I was practically light itself, and so, fired a bright violet lightning bolt at the sphere, expecting it to disappear from sight, but it didn't.

My magic reacted with the black hole in the sky, and I realized that my spell was the catalyst of some catastrophic event.

I just hoped no-pony would be hurt because of my mistake.

Combining with my magic, The orb was shrinking, and pulsing white light, while producing air-piercing screeches and whines. Like an ear-piercing whistle but was as loud as a train. It became louder and louder, pulsing faster and faster until it became so small you couldn't see it.

That moment it went mute, or maybe, we went deaf, as loud as it got, it instantaneously exploded in a ring, like one of Rainbow-Dash's Sonic Rain-booms. But, it was different, around the edge of the quickly expanding ring it was all black, while emitting a trail of misty light without color. It was memorizing, so much in fact, that only by a slim chance, had I seen something fall out of it's epicenter, towards the everfree forest at an incredible speed.

Dazed, I stumbled around a bit before I got back to my senses. Although there was, thankfully, more time than before, I hurriedly got back to the library to see if I had anything that came close to what I just saw.

I opened the door and saw a panicked purple Dragon that greeted me with "Twilight, What's going on? I heard this loud noise and when I looked outside, everypony was just staring into the sky! Did Derpy release the-"

"Spike, I need to find every book we have that is related to Natural and Magical Phenomenon's."

We searched high and low in every bookcase in the entire library. Each book we found that was related was set in the center of the room and I searched through each Title individually.

"Let's see...Spirits and magic, no...Cutie marks for fillies, no...Your Horn and you,no...Supernatural magics, Let's see...nope, Nothing on floating spheres of Darkness."

Spike panicked. "Spheres of Darkness? Is that what everypony saw out there?"

"Yes, but it's gone now, come on, we need to find the others."

It seemed my friends and I were all thinking the same thing, because just as I had opened that door, I saw those 5 familiar faces standing there. They sat there patiently, waiting for me to answer the one question we all had.

I said "I know what you all are thinking, but I don't have any idea what had happened. I will tell you what I do know, when that thing exploded something fell out of it, towards the everfree forest. Did anypony else see it?"

Rarity spoke up, "I did, and it kicked up a bunch of nasty dirt and dust."

Then I said, "Alright girls, we are going to have to find whatever fell, it may very well be the only clue as to what had happened. Go get some things in case this turns into a night-time search."

All of them simultaneously agreed. They all left for home, while I was already there, and mostly just got some warm clothing and dinner for later. When we met again within half an hour, it was roughly noon. We were walking through ponyville, I could hear ponies saying "Good luck." and "Be Safe.", I suppose we ARE the same group who saved everypony from eternal night.

We began nearing the forest area by Fluttershy's cottage, and I stood there, apprehensive feelings came over me. With small amounts of regret, we entered the Ever-Free Forest. The most peculiar thing was amiss, for hours we walked around, maybe in circles, I began to notice these small chunks of charred dirt. It wasn't anything to make a big deal about, but I knew that it meant we were getting close. The closer we got, the larger and more numerous these burnt rocks with roots had gotten. I knew we were very close, as we had walked into this foggy haze of dust, dirt and smoke. It had gotten so thick that you couldn't see two steps ahead of you!

So I said, "Dash, would you mind if you cleared a bit of this fog? So we don't have to walk blind?"

"Yeah, just give me a second." She began to make a small tornado to push the dust higher into the atmosphere, So we all had closed our eyes and stopped moving to keep safe.

I heard Dash say "Whoa..." so I opened my eyes and gasped. There was a massive crater right in front of me, if I had taken another step, I would have fallen and broke something. Obviously this was the crash site, so with squinted eyes we all looked to see what had caused such an explosion, at that point it was quite near dusk. We had found it, whatever it was, it looked like a glistening pile of metal, tinted red from the now setting sun. After seeing what I assumed to be the fallen object, we descended the side of the water-less lake.

At the bottom was massive piles of charred rocks, some still smoldering. We walked carefully, to avoid the still-burning embers, towards the Shiny metallic object. The sun was no longer hitting the object, but looked just as light as before. As we grew closer, I had realized it wasn't scrap, it was a full suit of armor. There was no way anything could survive that fall!

We went right up next to it and we saw, yes, it was armor, a full suit of armor so purely white that it could shine without the sunlight. We were dumbstruck and speechless, I myself, not able to believe how it could even do that. It covered the whole body, seemingly made to fit him perfectly. The only exposed area was around the eyes, where small slits were cut out to give exposure to light. It had extra pieces set on the joints as well, to protect weak points. It had what looked like a single saddle-bag on it's back, and two, very large double Bladed knives sheathed in leather around it's waist. Obviously, this was a trained fighter, seemingly a knight of sorts.

It had four limbs, two legs and two arms. It's head was small in comparison to the rest of it's body. This was most definitely not a pony, in fact, if i put a good guess in, i would say it looked somewhat like a monkey with a straight back, longer spine, and no tail.

After a few minutes of examining this thing with my eyes, I leaned in and felt the armor, it didn't feel right. It felt as smooth as silk, and as hard as diamonds. Not only that, but it was warm, not the sunlight-heated warm, or a campfire warm, it felt, alive, as if the warmth of it was homeostasis. I moved it to check out what it looked like from the front, and as I turned it over it let out a low, pained moan. By the deep sound I assumed it was male. Whatever "He" was, he was still alive.

Knowing this, a slightly tearing Fluttershy had instinctively said, "Oh, poor thing, we need to help him right away." Fluttershy then tried to carry it, but to no avail, He simply weighed too much. So Applejack and RainbowDash took turns carrying him on our way back.

I teleported us to the top of the edge of the crash-zone, then we all walked home, pondering what this thing, what "he" could mean for the near future. I hadn't noticed that the sun was well passed set and it was dark out, because the armor was glowing brighter as it got darker, so it illuminated our way.

When we got back to the cottage, Fluttershy begged to take care of him, since she was good with animals, why not? Tired, we all left for our own homes, trusting nothing bad would happen with Fluttershy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

...The next day is when I mailed you those letters, princess." Twilight said, with a sore throat from the story telling.

The tea was gone, the candles were nearly burnt out, and the clock read a time of 6:00.

Celestia broke the silence, "Could I take a look at 'him'?"

"Certainly Princess, Fluttershy is usually up by now, preparing breakfast for the little critters." Celestia then proceeded to go outside to raise the sun while Twilight blew out what was left of the candles, and put up the tea-cups.

Twilight joined the princess in a moment. As the two walked through town, they watched everypony else wake up and prepare for work, and school. They were both tired so they walked rather slowly, slow enough for some of the other ponies to notice that the princess was in town, and they waved. After what seemed a long time, the made it to Fluttershy's cottage. They stepped up to the door, but before Twilight could knock, it had opened up with a distressed Fluttershy behind it.

Fluttershy said worriedly, "Oh, thank goodness your here, I don't know what to do or where to go. I can't find him anywhere!".

Twilight, with a sudden frown said, "Slow down Fluttershy, what happened?"

"That thing, that we found in the forest, He's gone!"

Twilight and Celestia Simultaneously had their Jaws Drop, and pupils Contracted.

Chapter 1: New Beginnings

Twilight spoke first. "You mean, the only thing that could possibly tell us what happened, left..."

Fluttershy looked down for a moment. "Ye..Yes, but that's not all..." She then pulls out a card and a large pouch. "He left these too..."

Twilight slowly grabbed the small piece of paper, and looked over it. It was writing obviously, as Celestia, leaning over, confirmed. They had never seen such a language before, but before they could ponder what it was, the ink began moving. "Celestia, look, the words are re-writing themselves!"

As the ink dried in it's new position, Celestia read it aloud. "Thank you for housing me while I was unconscious, I am leaving a gift in return, I hope you use gold as a currency. As for me, I have not eaten in days, and I would not want to be rude and over-stay my welcome, so if you request my presence, I will be trying to find the market. Sincerely, Alexander."

Fluttershy seemed relieved, Celestia however, became troubled.

Then Twilight spoke. "Alexander...Quite an odd name, don't you think?"

"Yes my student, he's obviously not from here. Would you excuse me for a moment?" Celestia went outside and down the path a little, before she looked up and began whistling a tune. Shortly after stopping, a messenger Pegasai dressed in a light royal armor set flew fast from afar, and landed gently in front of her. They spoke very shortly, and the messenger left. Celestia walked back to the cottage. "I sent for some royal guards to retrieve him. In the meantime, Fluttershy, Would it be alright if we could rest here? We have been up all night."

"Of course you can princess, right this way." Fluttershy proceeded to lead Celestia up to her bedroom. Twilight simply walked to the couch and dropped to her side, falling asleep immediately.

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Meanwhile, at the market on top of a roof, was Alexander, observing ponies, studying them. He had been to many worlds, but never came across one that wasn't ruled by humanoids. This world was different, and he liked it, nothing to him is more boring than consistency. Alexander stood for another moment before he silently dropped into the alley next to him. He began to walk into the open market, a few heads turned as they took notice, but not too many, They were more confused than scared.

As long as he's lived, Alexander has never really liked attention, but that didn't mean he didn't get it anyways. He walked around a bit, already hearing some of the rumorous whispers going about, and found a nice vendor.

"Excuse me, how much would it be to purchase that fruit basket behind you?"

"Oh, uh...Twenty pieces." Alexander took out a large gold-pouch and counted you fifty pieces before handing it over. "Sir, it only costs Twenty."

"Keep the change." The mare confusingly took the money and gave him the basket. Alex bowed and said "May you have a good day miss."

Walking back to the alley, Alex noticed many more ponies staring at him, and he didn't feel comfortable keeping so much attention for any longer than he had. He then walked back into the alley he came out only minutes ago, and put his breakfast in his backpack. Looking up, he found an easy way to scale the wall again, by the windows. He had set his foot on the window sill and got a good jump up to the second floor's window, where he grabbed the ledge, set his foot and repeated for the roof. Then Alex had grabbed his fruit and set himself on the side of the building where no-one could see him from ground level. He removed his helmet, revealing dark hair that didn't even seem longer than half an inch, on semi-pale skin, and a beard that was shaved not two weeks ago.

Feeling like he was starving to death, Alex had removed all of the assorted fruits and began to feast. When he was finished, he had set his helmet back on and leaned over the edge to drop the remaining basket into a garbage bin below him. He could instantly feel the eyes of a few equine dressed in golden armor. He pulled his head back, in slight worry of what looked as the equivalent of police. To his suspicion, Three while Pegasai landed on the roof edge next to him.

"There you are, You're coming with me." Alex pulled back as the horse tried to grab him.

"Excuse me sir, but could you at least have the decency to explain why you need me removed from here?"

"We were ordered to locate and escort you to Twilight Sparkle's library, I wasn't told we would be given trouble." He tried to grab him again, evaded as last time.

"You could at least say please."

"We're not asking." The three expanded their wings to show folding blades lining the front edge.

Alex knew where this was going, all too well. Should he go peacefully, and maybe get sucked up into yet another problem that wasn't meant to be his? Or escape with the small chance that he IS the problem. The mare that helped him, couldn't possibly be with these colts, maybe he could refuge there.

"Sir, I won't say it ag.." But before he could finish, Alexander began running and already had jumped to the next roof. "Get Him!"

The three pursued, at first running, but soon took flight. With such speed, Alexander leaped from rooftop to rooftop, dodging a few failed attacks from the faster flying colts. One of them stayed steady behind him, perhaps to make him tired from endurance, but it won't work. He kept running, running to get away, but they're too fast, he will have to subdue them. Suddenly one of the colts was ahead and landed, blocking the way. This was his chance. He jumped onto the next house and fell into a power-slide, kicking the armored stomach of the soldier.

The colt had no time to react as he was sent backwards and hit his spine on the next roof's edge, but luckily fell into a pile of hay.

"That's one." Alex then dropped to the hard ground next to the dazed stallion to avoid the one flying overhead. He was still in the market, so there must be something useful. He ran out of the alley, and saw the other two ponies turning around and coming straight for him, so Alex burst into a full sprint. Dodging the crowds without stopping proved to be a bit of a challenge.

The soldiers smartened up, they flew above the crowd, trying to tire Alex to surrender. Since they couldn't be outrun by him, Alex paced himself, and began to think of a plan. He pulled out a pouch of gold, and kept running until he came back to the food area. Frantically, he found a baker and quickly swapped a pie for his pouch.

Still dodging the alarmed crowd, Alexander noticed the T-shaped intersection coming up. At this point, the colts were only paying attention to two things, their target, and their altitude. "For you, defeat will never be so delicious." He turned and threw the pie, and before it could be dodged, It hit square in the face of a soldier. Blinded, he did not realize his surroundings and hit the red-brick wall head on.

"That's, Two." What Alex had just done only angered the remaining soldier, as he watched his comrades get knocked down so easily. Alex saw the rage in his eyes, and he knew what was coming, everything. Alex ran fast and hard, there wouldn't be any pacing with this one, alone. Alex had to dodge every ramming, evade every kick, and block all attempts to instill fear into him with his shear fury. To travel any slower than a full sprint would be a death-wish, This pony was out of his mind, Infuriated to the point of yelling what he'll do when he gets his hooves on Alexander. Alex knew this would only get worse if he didn't end it soon.

He began to search out for a traveling supplies vendor, It took him a few sections of the market to find one, but he did nonetheless. Hastily, he grabbed some rope and gave the mare a heavy pouch. He ran, now waiting for the perfect time to attack. The stallion swooped in from the right, and back again from the left, before doing a full charge from the front. Alex jumped and barely dodged it as he heard a wissing sound.

The soldier was coming in from the back now, this was his chance.

Alex jumped and threw out the middle of the rope to catch the pony by his neck and choke him back while landing on his back, legs over wings to keep him from flying. The two rolled against the ground hard, when they stopped rolling, Alex quickly lowered the rope and tied the stallion's front legs to his stomach, and put the poor pony on his back to keep him from flying.

That's three.

"What, ARE you?"

"Me?" Alex questioned, kneeling down. "Why, i'm a human, have you never seen a human before?"

"Never touched the stuff." The colt spat on the ground next to Alexander.

"Really? Well, this is rather interesting. But in any case, who is it you work for that wants me relocated?"

The pony gave him a confused look. "Who do you think, the royal family."

Alex face-palmed. "Royal family? Great, here for a couple days and a king already took notice, good job Alex, you were quite subtle this time."

"She's not a king, she's a princess. You're obviously new to these lands."

Alex mirrored the confused look from the pony. "Princess? No parents?"

"She and her sister are older than anyone I could name."

Before Alexander could question the soldier any more, another rainbow maned Pegasai landed next to him.

"What gives? We saved your skin and you start attacking the royal guards? Are you TRYING to get yourself killed?" Rainbow-dash was infuriated at the sight she now saw.

He stood. "'We' you say? So you're with the yellow one."

"Yes, but don't change the subject on me. I just watched you take down three royal guards! Why?"

Alexander looked at the guard. "Because they didn't bother to tell me why I was being relocated, nor who they were until just now." Some of the anger seen on the stallion's face had turned into regret.

"Well, everypony knows who the royal guards are."

Alex lowered himself to eye level. "Not to someone who's never been here before." Alex looked at the guard and pulled out a sword. "As for you..." He swipes to cut the rope, and helped him up. "Go help your comrades, they're surely in need of assistance."

The stallion stared at him, sighed, and looked at rainbow-dash. "Apparently you know him, just, don't let him hurt anypony." He flew off to assist his squad members.

"Knowing Fluttershy, she's probably worried sick about you."

He gave a slightly quizzical look. "Why do you say that?"

"She doesn't let animals go out immediately after unconsciousness, which means you left without her noticing. Se we should go see her."

Alex stared a moment.

RD:"Look, I may not be very smart, but I can add two and two."

He gave a low chuckle. "My apologies miss, I meant no offense."

She just began walking and he followed.

"Ma'am, may I ask as to what I should call you?"

"I'm Rainbow-dash."

"Rainbow-dash...You people,i mean, ponies have peculiar names."

She gave him a glance. "What do you mean 'Peculiar names'?"

"I mean, I have never come across anyone named Rainbow-dash, Fluttershy or Twilight Sparkle."

"And just how do you know Twilight?"

"The guard informed me that her library is the location I was to be transferred."

Dash pondered why he would need to be taken there, but found no answer. "So, if my name's weird, what's your name?"

"You can call me Alexander."

"Uh huh, that's not weird at all." Dash added sarcastically. She was silent the rest of the way, she couldn't help but get the feeling that Alex wasn't supposed to be here, but he was. They arrived.

Rainbow-dash knocked on the door, and after a moment was greeted by a happy yellow pony.

"Oh, hello rainbow-dash, and Alexander."

Alex removed his helmet and bowed. "Hello, M'Lady."

Fluttershy blushed. "Come on in, make yourselves at home."

Dash immediately bowed as she saw who was in the living room. Alex did the same, once it crossed his mind who it very well may be.

"Hello rainbow-dash." She looked at him. "Alexander." He gave a smile.

"So, I see my magic has yet to fail me. I assume you are the princess, it's an honor."

Celestia gave him a quizzical look as he sat across from her. "Since you're here, what of my soldiers?"

Alex gave a more serious look. "Two incapacitated and the third is reviving them."

"I assume you had a good reason?"

"They never said please. If you know what I mean."

Oh, Celestia knew what he meant, She knew the arrogance of Staff Sargent Dagger-Dash more than well. He always was one to think of orders as an excuse for impoliteness. "I apologize for anything that may have happened, please don't be angry for my choice."

He smiled once again. "I understand completely your majesty, I'm actually rather surprised, Most worlds try to kill me where I stand." If any of them weren't just staring at Alex, processing what he just said, they were now. They all sat there for a few minutes, questioning to themselves as to what the true meaning behind his words were, until Celestia got the nerve to break the silence.

"So, what you're telling me is that you're a-"

"Traveler among worlds, yes, but please, let us not dwell on me, tell me, what is your name?"

She stood. "I am Celestia, elder princess of Equestria."

Twilight stood beside her. "I am Twilight Sparkle, Student of Princess Celestia."

Rainbow-dash yawned as she lay on the couch to herself. "You already know me."

Fluttershy smiled and said softly, "I'm Fluttershy, and, I take care of all the animals."

He looked at Dash. "So, who all was it that brought me here?"

"Me, Twi, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie were all there when we found you."

"Well, I thank thee for doing so, It is comforting to wake in a soft couch instead of the smoldering ashes I am used to."

His voice trailed off, as if contemplating on something he had just said.

So was Celestia.

She couldn't decide if she should trust him or not. He easily took out three of some of her best, although it was self-defense. If he decided he didn't like somepony at any point, There is no telling the damage that could be done. He seems to honor and respect ponies without basis, from the way he treated his host. Are his actions honest, or a deception? She should ask him of his past, and test him of his words. Yes, this would help her decide.

Before Celestia got a word in, Twilight spoke.

"Alexander, when we took you in, I became curious, why are you wearing armor?"

He was hesitant to speak. "This armor is a...favourite of mine, I earned it for becoming a paladin in another world."

"But, something's different, it seems like it's a part of you."

"It is. To be specific, it's my spirit armor."

Celestia knew of such a thing a long time ago, used to strike fear into the wearer's enemies, give strength to the wearer, and enhance all of their physical skill. "Would it be alright if when you go in public, that you take it off? It may frighten somepony if they saw it."

Alex stood up and closed his eyes. "Very well then." The armor began to disintegrate, and turn to dust. Rotting away from his body and disappearing from sight. Without the armor, he was just a bit shorter than Celestia standing. His swords had stayed, in the same kind of cheap worn cloth that now surrounded Alex's torso, and upper arms and legs.

"I...apologize, that you have to see me in this, but it would be better to not scare ponies."

Suddenly a bright pink pony burst through the door. "Fluttershy! Are you alright? Did anything hap..." She stopped, once she saw the princess and the mysterious guest. Fluttershy asked quietly.

"Pinkie Pike, how did you know to come?"

As a white furred mare entered along with an orange one in a hat, Pinkie stated: "My pinkie senses told me to bring Rarity and AJ here. I Thought you were in trouble." She popped up next to Fluttershy and looked at the guests again. "Are you?"

"Oh no, Alexander here is the one we helped out of the forest."

She took a third glance. "But, he's not Shiny!" Alex chuckled.

"If you're referring to my armor my dear, I had just taken it off."

Applejack spoke up. "Well, that explains why you were so heavy when we carried you here."

"Again, I thank you for doing so."

Rarity gave a disgusted face. "Eeew, if you were in that nice armor, why do you go around in these...rags?"

"Well apparently my armor scares ponies and I'm not going to run around naked."

The ponies all looked at themselves and each other, before returning to Alex. He realized that aside from Celestia's jewelry, he was the only one wearing anything. "I'm meaning no offense, I just don't like exposing myself"

After a moment of silence, Pinkie Pie spoke. "But, then we can't see your Cutie Mark."

Alex then showed a deep face of confusion. "My...what?"

"You know, a cutie mark! The thing that shows what makes you special."

Alex shrugged. "Never heard of it." Everypony gave a look of surprise, except Celestia, who saw this coming.

"So, how do you know what makes you special?" Alex became slightly depressed. "I'd prefer to think I'm ordinary. For me, being 'Special' is, uh...a tad bit overrated."

All of their jaws dropped, even Celestia didn't see that one coming. Pinkie Spazzed out. "What? What are you talking about? How could you say that? What in Equestria could possibly make you say that!" Twilight shoved her hoof in pinkie's mouth to silence her.

"I apologize for my friend, but, why?" Alexander looked down, and put a hand on his necklace piece.

"I have lived as a hero for too long, but if I didn't go out of my way to save people...my fear is no-one would."

Dash said in retort. "Yeah, kinda ironic we had to save you."

He looked directly at her. "But was it out of generosity, or curiosity?" She blew off the question.

Celestia still sat and thought to herself. As for no cutie mark, she expected as much, griffons only get it on very rare occasions, but they all knew what one WAS in the least. And did he call himself a hero? Either he is an ego-maniac, or more powerful than he looks. No, he isn't prideful of it, or else he would WANT to be a hero. He hates it, but does is anyway...He fears no-one else would. From what hell-bound world did he come from, to make him think they're no other heroes?

Was it...him?

Suddenly there was a knock at the door. Fluttershy went and opened it to see two guards with an urgent look on their faces.

"Princess, a few of the guards are requesting to speak with you, negotiating early vacation. Should we confirm or deny?"

"I'll be out in a moment's notice gentlecolts." The colts went out and re-hitched the carriage. "I will have to be back at another time, good-bye ladies, and Alex." She exited.

This would be the perfect time for her to research him, make sure he's who she thinks he is. She went to the carriage and waved as she was flown off.

Alex stated, slightly concerned: "I hope I didn't hurt them too bad."

Applejack perked up. "That was you?" Alex nodded. "Should I be surprised?" He shook his head.

Pinkie Pie gave a worried look. "Well, that was kinda mean."

Alexander responded. "Do not get me wrong, I meant no harm, it was in self defense."

Rainbow-dash stared at Alex. "So let me get this straight, you come out of nowhere, falling fast enough to not be noticed by most of us, you can survive said fall, completely in tact, and you're scared of a few guards?"

Alex thought it through for a second, and decided it would be better to agree rather than spill the beans. "Yep, knives scare me when the sharps end's to me." Twilight gave a quizzical look while Rainbow-dash gave a suspicious one. They looked at each other and back to Alex.

Then Twilight spoke. "So, Alex, you said you know magic?" He nodded. "What kind of magic do you know?"

"All kinds, really. Is magic common here?"

"Yes, well, sort of, only unicorns can use it. Since you don't have a horn, how are you able to perform magic?"

"Where I first learned magic, along with most places that have magic I've been to, you didn't need a horn or anything to perform it."

When this information hit twilight, she had an idea. She still had a few friends back in Canterlot, earth ponies, who used to be made fun of for the lack of magical abilities. Although earth ponies were common, they weren't in that city. Mud-blood, muggle, dirt digger, you name it, they were called it.

"So, when you say all kinds of magic, does that include transformation spells?"

Alex tilted his head slightly and raised an eyebrow. "Yes, I do...but why?"

"No reason." She look at the clock. Ten-thirty. "You know, I should probably get going, if spike's awake he'll be freaking out cause I'm not there." She and most of the others got up.

AJ:"Aye, uh, need to get to apple buckin'."

Rarity:"My friend Silver thread is meeting with me at the spa today."

Pinkie Pie:"I, uh, need to go get more sugar for the shop."

RD:"Fyre-Flye invited me over today, so I better go."

The ponies then proceeded to leave, and closed the door on their way out, except for Fluttershy, who still sat there.

"Fluttershy, may I ask a question?"

"Ye...Yeah."

"Well, seeing as I don't have anywhere to stay...could I, perhaps, stay here, with you?"

Fluttershy smiled warmly. "Of course you can."

He smiled back. "Another thing."

"Yes?"

"I like to earn my keep, so If you have any jobs you need to get done, just tell me." She sat, and thought for a moment.

"Well, I guess I could use some help cleaning the chicken coop and some of the bird houses."

He smiled again. "Consider it done."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That afternoon in Canterlot, Celestia was at her chambers' window.

A black unicorn walks in, he has a cataract and a scar leading up his neck. His cutie-mark consists of two masks, a happy one, and a sad one.

"When you told me of my banishment, I thought it'd be permanent." He then walked up next to her in the silence, and just as she, looked out over the city. "So, what is it you could possibly need from a criminal?"

She still stared over the open city, before saying something she's never had to say before. "I can offer you your freedom, in exchange for you talents, Two-Face." The words bit her and left a sour taste in her mouth, but she knew he is the only one with the skill set she needed.

"My freedom 'Eh? Sounds like I have no choice but to accept. What's the catch?"

She had to swallow any faith she had at this point. "I need to to test somepony, but he's not a pony."

He gave an intrigued look."What is he then?"

"A human, one of the things you learned of the forbidden book of myths you stole, years ago." She gave him a glance, but he was indifferent, a perfect poker face. "Or as you would better see it, my diary."

"You are assuming I actually read it after I stole it."

"Because if you didn't, you would have sold it to the highest bidder at the auction you visited the next day."

"Touche. But refresh me, what does this thing look like?"

"Trust me, you'll know him when you see him. Now go pack your things, we start tomorrow."

"Very well, tell Luna I said hello." The unicorn exited the room.

Celestia gave a heavy sigh, then a weak smile as she looked over the prospering city again. "By my father's grave, I hope Alexander is who I take him to be."

Chapter 2: Memories

It was late evening. The chores such as feeding the birds and cleaning their houses were complete, as was the task of gathering the chicken eggs and picking some of Fluttershy's home grown fruit. Alex wanted to go out and eat, saying he'd buy, but she insisted on the idea that she'd make a salad instead. After dinner, Fluttershy put the animals to sleep, and spoke to Alex

“If you want, you can sleep in my bed tonight.”
He was silent for a moment, but then said softly, “I appreciate the offer, but my chivalry would not allow me to take the better night of rest, I'll sleep on the couch.”

She stuck her head under the couch for a second and pulled out a blanket. “At least have some covers to keep warm. Good night Alex.”
“You too Ma'am.”

Fluttershy then walked up the stairs,but looking back, saw Alex wasn't laying down, she assumed he just wasn't quite tired yet. She went into her room, but didn't bother to close the door. She laid on her bed and pulled up her quilt that Rarity had made for her. Thanks to Alex, she had her chores done early. She wasn't tired enough to fall asleep yet, but she WAS tired enough to feel the need to rest.

She was trying to get herself to sleep by imagining calming things like fireflies, swarming and showering light all over the dark night, or listening to a waterfall rush by as she laid on the grass. She grew more and more tired, but didn't fall asleep. For an hour, she had tried to drift herself to sleep, to no avail.

Then she heard a very soft creaking. It didn't frighten her, but she was curious, was Angel sneaking more midnight carrots? She stuck out her hooves to get out, but was bitten by the bitter-cold air. She got up and quickly folded the quilt over herself, making it seem like a thick robe. She then tip-toed her way to the stairs.

As she neared the stairs, she began to hear a soft voice and a string instrument on pianissimo. She descended down the stairs, and heard a bit louder of the sounds, which carried well over the dead of night. She got to the end of the staircase and saw that Alex was not in the couch, and the door was cracked open, enough to hear the soft tune and sweet singing of a man with a voice far too tender to be a knight.

She crept up to the door, and opened it wide. There, she saw, was Alexander, in a warm, worn robe, holding a violin in his hands while playing and singing softly. He was sitting off the edge of the pathway leading to her cottage. She slowly walked towards the figure, just behind him so he couldn't see her.

His playing was calming, even if she didn't understand what the lyrics were supposed to mean. Her eyes became a bit heavy, and she swayed a bit, to the tune of his violin. As she grew tired, she crawled up to his side and laid next to him, leaning her head against his thigh. He realized she was there, but continued to play until he finished the final verse. When he did finish, he looked down and saw two sleepy eyes look back.

“What do you call that song?” she said, eyes now closed.
“Actually, I don't even remember the name.”
“Would it be alright, if I could hear it again?”
He didn't answer, but began to play again, even a but softer.

She fell into a deep sleep, enchanted by his skills with the string instrument. Alexander played a verse short when he realized she was already asleep. As carefully as he could, Alexander put his violin back in his backpack, and looked down at Fluttershy. He couldn't help but smile at the cute equine, and for some reason, she reminded him of someone, but he couldn't remember who.

Alex reminded himself that it's near freezing out, so he should take her in soon. He put on arm around her neck and the other around her back legs as slowly as he could, and gently pulled her up, with her head resting on his shoulder. He walked into the house and quietly closed the door. He began his slow and stealthy ascension of the stairs, and near the top he'd almost dropped her. However, when he lost his grip, she pulled tight, out of pure instinct, perhaps, but nonetheless had saved him from an awkward moment.

Alex then walked into her room, and laid her on her side and pulled her quilt over her legs. Again, he couldn't help but smile at how cute she was. He knelt down, and looked at her. He began to run his fingers through her hair.

And then, it all hit him......he remembered everything about it. All of his memories he had wanted to, needed to forget, for his own good...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He could feel a weak slap or two to wake him.
“Private. Get up!”
Alex opened his eyes. It was his Sargent, dubbed “Slingshot” for his ability to throw grenades far and accurately. Alex stood up and got out of the convoy truck.
“My turn for sniper duty sir?”
“Better.” Slingshot hands him a shovel. “Body patrol. Still got your gun?”
Alex flashed him a holstered .357.
“Good boy, remember, if you even think it's too shallow, dig deeper. And collect the tags if you find any.”
“Yes sir.”
Nothing else was said between them. Alex walked up the long dirt road, burying any of the dead Germans he found. But he took it to a personal level. He would take out his bible, and pray for each grave he filled, and afterward, laid their helmet to mark them. He slowly worked up the road, collecting any dog-tags he found on the way. After a few hours he managed to make his way up hear a ware-house.

He started digging another hole when he heard voices come from the building. So he stuck his shovel into the ground and drew his gun. Quickly but quietly, he ran towards the side of the small warehouse. Both hands on his revolver, he trailed closer to the door. He leaned on the door to hear weak voices of germans. Just like in his training, he grabbed the knob with his left hand and aimed down the sights of his gun.

“One...Two...Three!” He burst open through the door, prepared to fire. But it was not what he had expected. There were a few german men, injured, and in medical bandages, and what he first thought to be a nurse.

But after looking closely, he realized it wasn't a nurse, it was a little girl, no older than ten. No guns, no ammo, no tanks, no trucks, no planes, nothing. These weren't nazis, let alone soldiers. He lowered his gun, a bit relieved actually, that he didn't find himself in a sticky situation. Then he holstered his weapon, and decided they were friendlies.

He began to walk around to account how many wounded and dead there were. 37 dead, and at least fifty wounded.

“American!” he heard a gentle, yet distinguishable voice. “Du sprichst deutsch?
It was the girl, holding a rag down on a bleeding out civilian.
“Ja, ich sprecha.” He walked over to her, and she told him instructions in german so that he would be of use.

While he held the rag for her, he pondered the idea of reporting back to his sarge, but shot down the idea that he would get in trouble if he didn't. Considering he was the platoon's best medic, he wouldn't get too yelled at for doing what he does best.

It wasn't until after a while that he realized the girl had removed a few bullet fragments from the new open wound. The girl tied a roll of bandages around the open flesh. For hours, that's how the cycle went, Morphine, tweezers, roll, repeat. Until all the still-living civies were taken care of.

When they were done, Alex decided he'd better report back what he found. Just as he placed his hand on the doorknob, he heard the girl. “Wait, American...” She tugged on his arm to get his attention. “Do you...know, where I, can get...food?” Her english was slow, and broken, but good enough to understand.

Alex looked around, the rest of the civies would be fed after taken with med-evac, but she wouldn't. He looked down at her, and she returned the gaze. He couldn't resist her huge, pleading eyes.

“Yeah, come, i'll get you some food.” She grabbed her teddy bear and followed him outside, down the street. As they walked down the road, the girl was counting the helmets out loud, so to keep her off focus from a body count, he started asking questions.

“So, what's your name?”
She was silent for a moment.
“...Suzanne...”
“How old are you?”
“Zwölf...I know, I look young.”
“Why are you here Suzanne?”
“...Mom, taken by nazis...I left, in orphanage....It blew up...I help survivors.”
“Why did nazis take your mom?”
“She's doctor, I learn...from her.”
“What about your dad?”

She held her bear tight to her chest.
“Dad took her...”

They were quiet the rest of the way. Such a silent torture it must be to be abandoned in a war-zone, as a mere child, and to have no-one to talk to.

As soon as Alexander step foot on the so-called 'base', he heard a gun cock and his sergeant yell.

“Private!! Why is there a little girl with you?!” Alex didn't flinch, but Suzanne hid behind him.
“I'm getting her some food.”
“We're the army, we don't hand out food.”
“Yeah, we also don't shoot 12-year-old orphans that pose no threat.”

Alex grabbed the end of Slingshot's gun and lowered it for him. He didn't fight it, but he did return with an angry face.
“Fine, but get her out of here soon as you're done.”

Slingshot left to go check on some of the other soldiers, muttering “damn medics...” under his breathe, leaving Alex and Suzanne alone.
With Suzanne close behind him, Alex walked over to the convoy truck he woke up in earlier that day. He took her and set her on the edge, and rummaged through the metal bin that was set aside. Alexander pulled out two sandwiches, handing one to her.

She only stared at it.

“Is something wrong?”

She didn't make eye contact.

“I don't, eat meat.”
“Ugh, just like Donny...tell you what kid...”

He took the meat off of her sandwich, and placed it on his, then did the vegetables the other way around.

“Better?”

She nodded, and ate slowly, while he was done within a few bites.

Since Suzanne was still eating, Alex went ahead and grabbed the large box with a speaker and microphone.

“I'm going to make a call real quick.”
He flicked a switch and buzzing could be heard.
“This is medical Private Alexander, is Admiral Armstrong able to receive this transmission?”

There were several long moments of buzzing.

“...Well, if it isn't my own personal life-saver. What can I do for you son?”
“Sir, I found a pocket of downed civies at these coordinates.” He punched in a series of digits on the numb-pad.
“Three dozen wounded, the rest are dead.”
“That is? Alright, I’ll get some craft over there. Anything else?”
“Actually sir, yes.”
“...and it is?”
“Remember the offer you made after I got you and some others off the carrier?”
“I lived through that day thanks to you.”
“I think it's time I take up on that offer. I'd like to go home.”

Suzanne: “Can I come too?”

The admiral fell silent for a few seconds as he tried to understand what he just heard.

“Son, was that a little girl I just heard?”
Alexander panicked before having to make a decision. Whether to let the girl stay in war-entrenched Europe, or take her to back with him.
“...Between you and me sir, it wouldn't be so bad to get two tickets home, would it?”
“...Alright, I’ll see that you have a spare seat. Over and out.”
“Over and out..”

Alexander turned off the radio and turned to Suzanne.
“Why would you want to come with me?”
“You are a medic, no stranger to death...you, understand.”

He hadn’t taken a good look at her until now. She had extreme blonde hair, but had black eyes to contradict it. Her skin was pale, but her dress covered much of her body, hiding it except for hands and face.

“What do you mean I understand?” He gave a deeply concerned face.
“Death ist natural, others don't see, why I don't cry...for my family.

He knew what she meant. More often than not, at someone's funeral he always saw the ones with more forethought being the only ones to not shed a tear. Because they knew it is inevitable, not because they are heartless.

But she's only twelve!

“Well, most soldiers understand. So, that still doesn't explain why you want to come with me.”
After downing her bread crust she once again held her bear tight.
“I want to be doctor...for mom.”

Of course! How could Alex be so blind? Her parents, what he found her doing, and helped her do. Alex looked towards the city, buildings destroyed, some still burning to ashes. Post WWII will be hell for her, in this part of Europe. He looked back to Suzanne. She's not choosing this to help people, that's a second, she's doing it to honor her mother, whom she will never meet again.

“Well kind, right now Germans aren't exactly thought highly upon in America, so tell you what. I'll take you, but I’m going to have to teach you everything myself.”

He had no time to react, as the girl jumped up and clung to him in a tight hug. “...Thank you.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day, after barely dodging heavy invasive 'study' by government officials, thanks to the admiral, the two were on their way to America. The ship they were on wasn't too large, only a bit larger than a standard submarine. Most of the men were injured, but couldn't be helped anymore than they had already been.

For the most part, the two had to stay in their bunk hammocks, which could sometimes be uncomfortable with the ship's swaying, but if you closed your eyes it felt like you were on land, blowing in the breeze. The food wasn't great, but that's military for you, more often than not it was beans with bacon, or rice, with occasional whiskey sneaked in when the officer's weren't looking.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A couple years later...

Alexander stepped out of his truck; the frozen air began gnawing away at his skin. He walked up to the house. It was a nice house, two stories, brick, common and cheap here in Oklahoma, especially so in rural areas.

With a heavy object behind his back, he unlocked the front door and walked through. “Merry Christmas Suzanne! I got a surprise for you.”

She popped her head around the corner. “What is it?” Her English had severely improved since she arrived with him.

He pulled out the book called 'Exploring Human Anatomy' and held it out to her. She gasped and ran under the book to hug hum tight, knocking the air out of his lungs.

“Oh! Thank you daddy! You're the best.”

Daddy.....she called him daddy.

A tear formed at his eye. He'd never been a parent before, he never thought he would ever be one either. In fact, he's never had a family, no parents, no brothers, sisters, cousins. He's never had any of it, until today, and to know someone loves you enough to call you 'daddy' was a great- no, an amazing feeling.

So great in fact, it replaced the pain of his ribs beginning to crack.

“That's...enough Suzanne.” She let go. He offered a smile. “You just go enjoy your present.”
She grabbed the literature and smiled. “I will!” She bolted off to the other room.

All the other things in the world didn't matter to him right now, not the war, nor his friends, nor enemies, awards, medals, accolades, kills. The only thing that matters to him right now is that after all of his life, he finally has a family. With this, he is content.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A decade passes, and each year the two grew closer as a family. Suzanne began branching off from human doctoring and included animals in her study. In her studies, Alex gets a few pets to keep her company. Throughout the decade she got more and more stuff for each subject on medicine she could, so she could be the doctor she wants to be.

As his memories fly past him, they play out a particular morning, just a regular Saturday, with an abnormal event.

Alex flipped the last of the pancakes onto the plate and cut off the fuel supply for the stove. He chopped off a bit of butter and poured some syrup on both stacks. He then took each plate and set them on the table that was on the other side of the kitchen, and called out upstairs.

“Oh Suzanne! Breakfast is ready!”

Alexander stood at the bottom of the stairs for a few moments, before ascending. She had been up all of the night before, studying her pets. Suzanne thought she always got away with it, but in reality Alex just didn't think it was bad to do so.

As he got to the top, he turned to the first door and saw it was cracked open. Now against the door, he started pushing it open with the back of his hand. When he fully open the entrance, he couldn't help but smile as he saw his daughter laying there.

She lay on her side, with her arm extended over the end of the bed. Standing on her finger, so calm, yet bold, was her pet raven, frozen, as if instructed to stay in that exact spot.

He walked up to her, and looked at her. Seeing his daughter had always given him something to be proud of, to be happy for. Alexander extended his arm and brushed her hair back from her eyes. But as soon as he touched her, he froze, and his heart skipped a few beats.

Cold. Just, dead cold.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alexander's experience kept switching. Memories, reality, memories, reality. It was difficult for him to tell the difference, because they mimic each other so well. The emotional pain was killing him, when he looked at Fluttershy, all he saw was Suzanne.

He had to get out of there, he couldn't stay.

With his reality being bent back and forth, Alexander quickly walked down the stairs. He grabbed his knapsack and rushed out the door into the cold night towards town. As he got further away, his perception of reality repaired itself, and he could make out what was real again.

Only now did Alex realize that he had been crying maniacally since he exited the cottage, not that he was sniffling, but his eyes were running like water-falls.

While walking towards the town square, Alexander composed himself, wiping his years with his free hand. After drying his eyes, he threw his arm into the bag, grabbed a piece of paper, and secured the bag on his back again. He unfolded the piece of paper, revealing a map of Ponyville, given to him by...her, in case he needed it.

On it, all of her friends' houses were specially marked. He took his finger and ran it over the map.

“Okay, I’m right here... and she is... here.” His finger fell on a tree shaped drawing with Twilight's name. Being the socialite she is, she probably knows where there is a place he could stay tonight, right? Not to mention research would keep her up at these hours.

Alex lowered his map and in the distance he could see the Library, somewhat illuminated. He put away the map and began walking towards it. When Fluttershy was telling Alex about her friends, she did speak of Twilight's unusual sleep patterns anyways.

The bitter cold air gnawed at the bit of exposed skin he had as he stepped on the soft, grass-covered ground with his exposed feet.

SNAP

The sound sent chills up his spine, and Alexander spun around and threw a hand of the handle of his sword. He saw a shadow hide behind a house.

Perhaps it was just a kid going home.

There was no certainty, but no point in investigating. He let go of his weapon, turned back to Twilight's library, and began walking faster. He walked right up to the artisan designed double door.

The windows showed candle light, and he could hear feint hoof-steps. She was most definitely awake. He put the back of his knuckles against the door and knocked. The pitter-patter of hooves are heard until the door swung open, to reveal a purple pony with the slight scent of lavender.

“Hello? Oh, hey there Alexander.”

He offered a reluctant smile. “You can call me Alex, Ms. Sparkle.”

“Okay, well, what can I do for you at such a late hour?”

“I was just wondering if you happened to know if there were any, say, hotels or apartments in town that would be open to rent tonight?”

“What?? Did something happen between you and Fluttershy?”

He scratched his head. “No, well...yes. Look, I just can't see her for now.”

“Could I at least know what happened? Did something upset one of you?

He shifted his feet. “Yes, but I don't really want to explain right now...so, do you know if there is anywhere I could stay?”

“Well,i don’t know of any hotels...” She backed up and open the door more. “But you can stay here a while, we have a quest bed upstairs in my room.”

Alex ducked his head a little and walked in. After Twilight closed the door, she turned to see him kneeling down to by eye level in front of her.

“Thank you Ms. Sparkle, if there is anything I can do for you, just let me know.”

Twilight looked at him. It was hard for her to tell with only candlelight, but he didn't look the same as before. His face was a bit red, his nose was running, his eyes were a bit wattery, and what other skin was showing was pale. Either he's suck, or something bad had happened, emotionally speaking.

“Don't mention it.”

She walked past him, and he followed as she led him up the stairs to her bedroom. Twilight opened the door to her 'bedroom', which had no less books in it than the room before. She led him up the last, short flight of stairs, and stood at the end of the bed across from her's, looking at it.

“Well, here's the bed, if you need to use the bathroom, there is on downstairs and to the left, try not to confuse it with the lab.”

He sat on the edge and turned his head to her. “Thank you, miss Sparkle. I'll try to find something to give you in return for this.”

She began her descent. “Call me Twilight, and, you don't have to pay me back. Sleep well.”

“I'll try.”

Twilight left the room. Alexander laid down and closed his eyes, pretending he was laying on a mountain, or in an abyss, so that he may rest his mind.

Chapter 3: Unknown Trials

Everypony turned his or her head as he or she noticed a familiar purple pony walk in with a n unfamiliar, taller, slender, bipedal figure. It had skin on it's arms rather than fur, and wore faded blue jeans and a dark cloth shirt to compliment it, along with a pair of red/white running shoes.

Although Alexander hardly met any of the ponies, he has already become a notorious image to the population, from the previous mornings' fiasco. None of them seemed to fear him, which was good, but they did have quite the aversion of him.

One of the waiters worked up the courage to be the two guest's server. He was a lime-green Pegasus, with dark green hair, wearing an upscale casual vest, which ended right before the cutie mark, consisting of a hoof holding a large plate with food on it.

He approached the two. “How many?”

“Just the two of us.”

He snatched a duo of menus as walked. “Right this way.” They followed.

Alexander still wasn't sure why Twilight invited him to eat lunch with her. Perhaps she was just being friendly, and introducing him to some places around town.

“Here you go.” The ever-so-slightly Italian accented pony set the pair of pamphlets on the table, and pulled out the chairs. The guest took their seat of rest.

“Thanks”

“Thank you”

“I'll be back in a moment with your complimentary tea.” The waiter simply walks away, secretly hiding his anxiety of this new object of the people's eyes.

“So, Alexander, how do you like Ponyville so far?”

“Well, mind you, I’ve hardly met anybody, and of the few I have, half were either the silent type, or didn't feel like talking to me.”

“Well nopony has ever seen a human, I believe. However, there are a few stories in books every few hundred years that describe a bipedal creature like yourself. In an case, it should be expected. Also, my friends will get more talkative as you get to know them, especially Pinkie.”

There were quite a few questions going about in Twilight's mind. She had sent Owlicious out to check on Fluttershy last night, but she was fine, and from she can understand of the owl, nothing was stolen, destroyed or even moved. What could have happened that would keep him from seeing Fluttershy? She would have to ease into it, instead of her usual, more direct approach. Perhaps she can learn a great deal about him today.

“So if you're a 'traveler of worlds', what are some of the other worlds like?”

He drew his eyes from the parchment he was studying intensely.

“In a word, different. Some of them are more advanced in technology, others in magic, religion, some aren't advanced at all, or are stuck on one time in history, repeating the same way to take things over and over. In some worlds things are resolved by fighting, not by law. There are millions of other worlds out there, and I can guarantee if you imagine something impossible for this world, it exists in another.”

Twilight just stared at him with a blank stare. She never felt like she learned so much, yet so little at the same time. So, you're saying that, specifically, everything is possible? She wanted to sarcastically add.

“In fact...” Alex pulled out what seemed to be a piece of glass with a rounded metal edge from his backpack without looking. He tapped his finger on device a few times and placed it on the center of the table. Beams of light hit the air, and she made out an incomplete ring shape to be in front of her.

“In case you don't know what this is, it's called a hologram. Light bounces off air particles to present an object that isn't really there.”

“Well, technologically, this is very new, but I know what it is nonetheless since magic here has much larger advancements.” She took a second glance at the broken band of light in front of her. “But what is it showing?”

“What it's depicting right now is a map of the universes I’ve traveled to, exempt of the ones that are no longer existing, which is only about ten.” He points his index finger to the empty space between the ends. “This represents all the other universes that have yet to be reached and/or passed. Relatively infinite to be honest, it's impossible to tell how many there will be until I come back to the start.”

Alexander shut down the device as the green pegasus came out of nowhere and set large glasses of tea in front of both of them. “Are you two ready to order?”

Alex gave a 'yes' look to Twilight.

“Oh, yes, I'll have the dandelion sandwich and a house salad please.” She said

“And you sir?”

“I'll have a small spinach-mushroom pizza.” Said Alex.

“Your food will be ready in fifteen minutes.”

The winged green pony grabbed the menus and walked into the double doors with a sign that read 'Kitchen'. Twilight turned back to Alex.

“As you were saying?” Asked she.

Alexander took the small piece of glass and placed it in his bag again.

“Theoretically, all universes are connected into a large ring pattern, and the only way to travel between them is to offset some energy.” He said.

“Just, any kind of energy?” She queried.

“Well no, it's a specific kind, I’ve never known it to have a name. It would be easier to call it dark matter, but it's not the same thing. Whatever it is, it's undetectable, intangible, and otherwise, unusable. It's just something that exists, and all I know about it, really, is how it reacts to make portals.”

“Speaking of which, just out of curiosity, does a rift close on it's own?” She asked.

“No actually, it doesn't. Why do you ask?” He responded.

“Then is the rift you came in still open?” She asked.

“No, I closed it as soon as I can, it's dangerous to keep those open for long.” Alexander noted.

“How did you..oh, that's right, I already forgot you can do magic.... can I ask a question?”

I can tell she's going back to the discussion from yesterday. “ Fire away.”

“If you don't need a horn, then how does magic work for you? What's the driving force?”

I should have expected this one. “In many worlds, there is another type of energy that creates and stores itself everywhere, called 'mana'. It is only released when interacted with by living organisms. Some worlds require special tools life wands or staffs to interact with, or even attain said energy. There are many worlds however that don't have magic at all, they don't need it.”

“Interesting. Here, only unicorns can actively manipulate things with magic. Earth ponies are only able to do it passively, to have better charisma, although most don't realize they even have said passive magic. I suppose you could say that Pegasai have it passively too, since they are the only ones that can naturally use clouds as a ground barrier.”

Alexander stared at her quizzically, obviously contemplating on what she had just said. Without removing his questioning gaze, he said. “Twilight?”

“Y...yes?”

“Does this have to do with your sudden interest in transformation magic you asked of yesterday?”

She gave a nervous smile. He read me like a book! “Yeeaaahh, it does.” Said she.

“Does this have to do with changing a pony from one thing to another?” He pursued.

What the..? How does he know where I’m going with this? “If by 'thing' you mean a unicorn, pegasus, or earth pony, then yeah, it does...” she said.

Alexander set his face into the palm of his hand silently.

“Well,” she continued, “I know how to do it essentially, but I have to stay near them, relatively speaking, or it dissipates, and it's very weak to start with.”

“Not that it matters.”

Twilight turned her head and offered a very curious face. “Huh?”

“Look, the only spell I know that can change people, or ponies, permanently, is a very dangerous one, and requires a huge sacrifice from the one being changed.”

“What kind of a sacrifice?”

Alexander gave a deadened look as the question seemed to burn into his mind.

“Is it...their home?”

Alexander shook his head.

“Their money?”

Again, he shook.

“Do they have to take on some kind of mark or a new way of life?”

For a third time, his head motioned left and right.

“Is it...” she leaned real close to whisper into his ear, “a...blood sacrifice?”

“What??” he felt appalled she would suggest such a thing. She MUST be reading a lot of fantasy books, those don't even work for magic, that's more for religion than anything. “No.”

She leaned back again, eyes drooping a bit in boredom. “Well then, what is it?”

He searched himself for an answer, and found one. A riddle ought to get her off my back about this. “Something no living thing should have to give up more than once, and I’ll just leave it at that.”

'Something no living thing should have to give up more than once'... So everypony gives it up at one point in their life, but for some, it's given multiple times. She tried to comprehend what he was trying to get at, but resulted without an answer.

They both looked into the others' eyes, waiting for something to be said by the other, until a lime-green pegasus pony popped up next to the table with a plate on each wing. The skilled waiter swiped his wings swiftly over the empty spot in front of each of them, leaving a plate for the two. “Would you like anything else? Some ranch, or Alfredo?”

“No, thanks.” she replied.

As the waiter left them, Twilight dug into her sandwich immediately, while Alex was slightly more hesitant to do so. He was trying to recall exactly the conversation they had before, it was something important. What was it?... Ah,Yes! The armour! She was Curious about the armour. He had felt bad about the fact that he couldn't tell her about the transformation spell, and caused her so much disappointment. She did save me, so she could at least be trusted with one of my lesser master spells, right?

Alexander pulled out a book from the bag on his back, and set it on the table next to Twilight's plate. It was an old book, worn on the pages and more so on the cover, which presented a picture of a skull. One side of it was covered in a silver plate armour, and had a small, white, faint glow of a flame for an eye.

Twilight looked up at it, then to Alex, with the subtle look of disappointment gone. She grabbed it with her magic.

“What's this?” She said. Twilight opened to the contents, but closed it when she realized she can't read 'human'.

“You were interested in the armour I had on yesterday, right? This is the spellbook.” he said.

“That's nice, but I can't read human.”

“It's Czech, and I’ll get that.”

Alexander opened up the front of the vest-like set of tags he was wearing, and pulled out a clear bottle filled with an opaque liquid. He pulled out the cork and poured out a little on the cover of the book. The thin fluid was soaked into the book almost immediately. “That should do the trick.”

Twilight took the book again, and opened it up. Each page she turned revealed last bits of words being translated. “What kind of potion is that?” she asked.

“Mind reading fluid. It translates any parchment to the language of the closest being to it.”

Alexander started cutting up his pizza and masticating the delicious pieces. Twilight nearly asked about how to make it, seeing it's usefulness, but something else caught her attention. Why did it seem like he was so ready with that stuff in his backpack? Did he see this coming? Did he even plan this? She had to find out, it could mean a lot of differences for the near future.

“Alex?”

He looked up from his half eaten mini-pizza. “Yes?”

“What's in your bag, if you don't mind me asking?”

Alexander answered without mission a beat. “Everything I’ve ever earned and owned.”

Twilight contemplated, then asked confusingly. “So all you own is a book, swords, two sets of clothing, and some gold?”

He smiled. “So you really think that's all I can fit in there? ...Of course you do, else you wouldn't ask. Long story short, a very good friend I made once had shown me how to cram an entire dimension into here, and I enchanted it so that when you reach in, just think of something you want and, if it's there, you'll feel it in reach.”

Twilight was half stunned at the idea. “Who in Equestria could have shown you something like that?”

Alexander spoke between bites. “As I said, a very good friend, the only one I know that has more ability than me. Always took good care of his friends he did. He's an old man too.”

Twilight contemplated furiously. Who is this guy? He survives hitting the ground at terminal velocity, takes down the best royal guards, travels throughout universes, knows powerful magic, and can now apparently break laws of physics. Able to do all that, and he wants to be normal? Something is wrong here. Something is very wrong here. I have to investigate this.

She and Alex nearly finished their food at the same time. Both had also emptied their large glasses of tea. Alex became a bit less talkative, as he became distracted by a pony he saw down the street.

The pony was huddled next to a brick wall, with a young foal unicorn laying up the mother's side. Beside them both was a sign that read 'Will work for food'.

He felt pity for the two, not being able to even eat. While Twilight tried intensely to find the apparently entrancing object, she had no avail.

“Did you two have a good lunch?” The green pegasus came out without warning.

“Yes, it was delicious.” Said Twilight.

Her and Alexander both pulled out a sack of coins.

“Don't worry Alex, you don't have to pay.” She insisted.

“Well it wouldn't be very gentleman like to let a lady buy her own meal.” He retorted.

“But you're my guest, and I’m treating you to lunch.” She reinforced.

He sighed. “All right then.” He turned to the waiter and handed him the sack anyways. “I'll take a salad and bread sticks to go please, this should cover it.”

“Yes sir, just a second.” The server quickly went to the kitchen and assembled said order himself. He came back out and set it on the table. “Anything else?”

Twilight replied, “No, I believe that's it. Thank you.” She got up and, followed by Alex, retreated to the outside.

“Thank you for coming!”

The two stood a bit off the entrance. Alexander turned to Twilight. “Well, this has been fun, but if you wouldn't mind, I think I’m going to go explore a bit around town, meet new people and such.”

“All right then, if you need me, I’ll be in the library studying. See you later.” She replied.

“Good day to you.”

Twilight watched as Alexander walked away, until she decided to go the other way to home, in the opposite direction.

As Alexander strolled his way down the street, he took a deep breath, letting the fresh air overtake him, and closed his eyes, feeling the calm wind push against his skin.

He took back his concentration, and opened his eyes, searching for the poor damsel. He found her, and moved his way to her at the bricked wall.

As Alex came close, the mare picked up her head and open her left eye to look at him. The smaller pony she was mother to squirmed a bit when his parent shifted her body. She took in his image, and said nothing as he set the bowl of dressed salad and warm bread in front of her.

She gave him a thankful smile and shed tears as if this had been the only food they've had in weeks. Words could not describe the gratitude that the mare felt towards him. She pressed her cheek against her sons and nuzzled him a little to wake him up.

He picked himself up and opened his eyes to see the food. His heart raced as he grabbed a piece of bread, laid on his back, and ate away in content.

The mother looked at Alexander, and all she could muster up was to mouth the words 'thank you'. She dropped her attention from Alex to her son.

Alexander could only smile at such happiness. But it was short lived. He turned around, dropping his smile as he saw something odd.

There was a pony staring at him, not just any pony, a familiar one. He had a white coat, a horn to match, light gray hooves, and dark brown hair, combed just to keep it out of his eyes. He also had deep blue eyes, and a smile on his face, that gave an approving look.

Alexander made eye contact for a second before a wagon full of merchant supplies was driven between the two. When the carriage fully passes there was just an empty space there. He looked towards the wagon. No sign he ran. Whoever he was, he's gone.

He quickly dismissed the pony from his mind, as he began walking down the street again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alexander spent the next few hours going around town, meeting ponies that were wanting to meet “The strange creature” that “no-pony” has ever seen before, were vending anything that he needed, or otherwise, were scolding him for information on “how in Equestria” he managed to nearly break a royal guard's neck via pie.

To Alexander's surprise, some ponies were actually quite eager to meet him. It were almost as if he were some hero from a battle from long ago, just returning to the people he defended.

He was able to personally meet some of Twilight's friends that he had only formally met before hand. Such as Rarity, whom informed him she would gladly make him some nicer clothing. It took him about 15 'no thank you' 's before she gave up and moved back to her tasks. Rainbow Dash, whom Alexander already seemed to be on bad terms with, was nowhere to be found, and Applejack was far too busy at the time for conversation. Pinkie Pie had invited him to a party tonight, which he hadn't much choice but to accept since she gave the smallest of hints that it was for him.

He met a nice mint-green unicorn named Lyra at the park. She talked about how she had always wondered what it would be life to have hands, because she had seen dragons, minotaurs, monkeys, and other creatures with said appendage. Mainly she wanted them for the simple fact that the sound of her magic makes it harder to play her lyre, since it throws off the pitch a bit. The cream colored earth-pony next to her, dubbed Bon-Bon, challenged her mare-friends words and insisted it was an obsession growing out of proportion. But before the two got into the heated argument, Alex had left on the account that neither were even talking to him anymore.

The only pony who seemed completely un-phased by him appearance was the gray furred, blonde haired pegasus named “Ditzy Doo”. Alex was confounded that, in spite of her condition, she is able to fly rather well, and is able to do her job with relative ease. Only after a couple minutes of conversation, did she take her leave in response to hearing some electronic type sounds coming from a nearby alley.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alexander was casually walking through the southern residential district. It was near dusk, and with that, most ponies were already in their homes, resting from a hard days' work.

He passed by an abandoned house, or at least, it was ill-kept, and stood out quite a bit from the other houses that looked considerably nicer. It was made of aged wood, lacked any proof of new paint in the last several years, had broken glass window panes, and had uncontrolled vines creeping up and in the cracks.

“AAHhh..!!!” Alexander stopped. The pained yelp came from the building, before falling silent again. Muffled conversation was then contained on the inside. He dampened his footsteps as he began to approach the low-quality home, and when he reached the entrance he place his ear against the door.

“Just tell me where you keep your spare key and I promise nothing bad will happen.”

Alex pushed the door open ajar and stepped halfway in, without a creek, to look. There were two stallions. One of them was tied from the waist to some heavy weighted furniture, and had a potato sack over his head. He had brown fur with almost bleach blonde hair. The other was a dark blue pegasus, with burn marks on the back and side of his left back leg.

“I already told you, I won't allow a thief to tell me what to do!”

With lighter feet than ever, Alexander tip-toed his way up behind the blue pony, nearly stepping on random objects, such as boxes of empty food supplies, that would have given him away immediately. He stopped just out of eyesight.

“Then I’ll find another way in, your wife will know, all I have to do is get a bat and-”

“Surprise her?” Alex said with perfect calmness. He took his first two fingers and jabbed the blue pony on the flank with them, striking a nerve.

The pegasus nearly had a heart attack, as he spun around to face Alexander; wings expanded in a responsive attack stance. The right wing had crude metal plating, a petty attempt to make a weapon. The left wing, however, was cut, tattered, and a bit bald. The pony lowered his voice and hardened it with anger. “Who are you?!”

“Me? Oh, no-one really. I’m no-one of importance. But you, however, seem to be doing something of relevance.” Alex said without a hint of sarcasm.

“Get to the point.” He stated emotionless-like.

“Cut to the chase 'eh? Alright then. Why do you have this poor stallion all tied up? Are you looking for his money? Valuables?” Said Alex in an almost 'I’ve figured you out'-esq tone.

“No shit Sherlock.”

“So you admit to extortion?” He said triumphantly.

“What do you care?!”

Alexander slowly walked over to the window and leaned on the edge of the wall. He picked up a shard of glass and observed it's cracks, points, curves, warps and pores.

“Tell me, how did you nearly lose your wing? Or burn your leg for that matter?” He asked concernedly.

“I think a better question would be 'How long until you slice me'.”

“You weren't always like this, were you?” All the evidence ties together. I just hope I’m right.

The blue pony lowered his wings, but narrowed his eyes in focus and anger on the stranger.

Alexander dropped his focus from the glass to the sky outside. “No, you weren't. Let me guess, war vet? Police officer? Maybe even a Royal Guard? Something that you could help people as, but also something dangerous, something that might compromise your life one day. But that changed when an incident happened. An explosion left you impaired. Brittle and Broken, you had no use to your employers. You were discharged, too early at that. You couldn't get a job, and couldn't afford a house. So you found this place, with nopony that ever claimed ownership; made it your home. One thing led to another and before you knew it you were robbing ponies blind.”

Alexander looked at the pegasus, and saw his head held low.

“But that's not all. No. Being a soldier of sorts gave you willpower, and not mere poverty would have set you over the edge like that. You lost something else that day. You lost something important. More important than your wing.” He walked up to the blue pegasus and lowered himself to his low eye-level. “You lost a friend...didn't you?”

The pony sighed as a tear formed at his eyelid. “...21st pony brigade. We were marching towards Diamond Dog camps, when they came out of nowhere. The first thing they did was through a volley of grenades. One of them was coming directly at my face, so I dodged instinctively. When I looked back to see where it had gone, I nearly died. The grenade flew directly on my friend and jammed in the joint of his wing armour. He froze, then panicked as he tried to get it out. The last thing I remember was the pain, but not from the explosion. It was from the only expression on his face, the fear of dying, and at such fortune.” He looked directly into Alex's eyes. “If I had done anything different, my best friend would still be alive today.”

He searched into the bipedal creature even more. “But why should you care?

“Because understanding is the first step to everything.” He placed a hand on the shoulder of the pegasus. “Tell you what, if you let this pony go right now, and promise to lead an honest life, I’ll walk to the police station with you and pay off every coin of your bounty. What do you say?”

The ocean blue pony had a moment of suspicion, but was replaced by guilt. “I'd call you a liar, but you have the charisma of an honest....thing. Sure.”

He walked over to the tied stallion, and pulled one end of the rope; it came undone. He then bit the edge of the potato sack and pulled it off.

The brown pony, whom had a black eye on the left, simply looked at Alexander, said “Thank you” and ran out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The wind grew quiet as dusk had long since set the sun past the horizon. Celestia stood on her balcony; her majestic hair nearly set down, but moved every few seconds from the breeze. She stood there, waiting for the silence to be broken.

It was.

“Hello princess, I’m back.” The Black stallion closed the door behind him and walked up next to Celestia.

“How did it go?” She questioned calmly.

“Rather well, he gave the “homeless mare and son” a free meal, and saved the “kidnapped stallion” from a hired criminal of mine. Even paid off his bounty, and that wasn't part of your plan! I do believe he passed these trials of yours.”

Celestia breathed a heavy sigh as she watched over her city. “No, he's not done, yet. But you are.” They looked at each other. “You lived up to your end of the bargain, you can have your freedom.”

He looked out over the lighted city, thinking for a moment. “Since I don't exactly have a job, perhaps I could continue for pay?” He asked in a slightly raspy voice.

“Make an honest living from doing dishonest things? It would be a good choice, had I the need for it. If you live long enough for the next time around, then we can talk.”

The black unicorn said nothing as he walked to the door, opened it, and left.

Princess Luna, whom was waiting just outside the entrance, walked in and stood by her sister. They faced each other in meaningful conversation.

“Sister, is it true?” Luna asked delightedly.

“Yes, Sister, it is.” Celestia smiled happily.

Luna returned the smile. “Oh, how long it's been! I can't wait to see what happens this time.” The two giggled to themselves a bit.

“Yes, he does seem to have trouble always following in his wake.”

The pair sat together, watching the beautiful night sky. Time seemed an eternity, as Celestia felt for once in a long time that she, aside from her sister, wasn't alone anymore.

Chapter 4: Distractions

The figure cloaked completely in shadows extended it's full black wings past the dark mist, with red eyes gleaming bright enough to fight it's way through the darkness. It stepped forward in an assertive and self-assured manner. His voice breached the wall of echolocation that shielded their ears with a demonically tuned pitch. “So, my queen, can I trust the use of your very best?”

Chrysalis steeped down from her seemingly termite infested throne of carapace to meet the mysterious, if not downright evil, guest at eye level. “If your word is true, and I can have my revenge, then yes, my elite are at your disposal.”

A pearly white smile cracked as he stood straight, as opposed to his normal slouched position. Now being joined by presumably best-of-the-best changelings, the figure popped it's wing joints and took flight, into the dark night.

Stupid mortal, he thought for a queen of deceptive beings, she sure can't tell when one is lying. He laughed as the plans he has set, played out with intended result recurrently in his head.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alexander woke up with a pounding headache, gnawing on his worn out nerves. Sugar may not cause a lapse in memory, but in large enough amounts, can leave a pretty good mark on your, well, everything. Maybe he just got dehydrated from dancing, or having too many of the delicious rainbow cupcakes, he couldn't remember. But damn, those cupcakes were good, if not spicy.

Fluttershy was there, he could remember that. It had taken him all his mental strength to not think of his daughter. May god forbid he lose his mind, in the middle of a party, with everyone watching. Pinkie Pie invited everypony in ponyville, and many of them had made it, to his discomfort. It was quite the party indeed, she even managed to get DJ-Pon3 there on such short notice. Not that techno was exactly his favourite, albeit it could have been worse. Like scream-o, that stuff is just nasty on oversized speakers. The digital beat of electronic synthesizers was alright, but it would have been nice to throw in some light rock 'n roll. Oh well, he thought can't ask for everything I suppose.

Without opening his eyes, Alexander turned on his side and reached for his glass of water on the nightstand. It was too far out of reach, he stretched his arm out, but lost his balance, and fell over on the hard wood floor, face first. “...Ouch...” He looked up. There wasn't even a night stand. “Maybe someone did spike the punch last night.”

Alex picked himself up and sat on the edge of the bed. He threw off his dress shirt, which he had worn the night before, and applied a fresh t-shirt to his torso. Feeling his fingers around his neck, he reassured himself that his necklace was still there.

He stretched out his legs before getting out of his comfortable, although small, bed, and walked down the flight of steps that connected the upper sanctum to the resting place. He opened the door, and as soon as he did, a wave of delicious cooking batter hit him. He took a deep breath and entered the main room, near the small kitchen.

“Good morning Alexander. was last night fun?”

He took a seat at the table, on the other side from Twilight. Spike had already eaten his pancakes, and was cleaning about the library.

“Very. I haven't seen a party like that in years.”

“I haven't either, I’ve never seen any pony have a staring contest and eating contest at the same time, it's a shame you lost to Pinkie Pie.” She nearly laughed at the thought of them again. It's a miracle he could even keep up with her eating for 5 minutes, let alone 20.SHE could go on for hours, who knows how many pies she can fit in her stomach. And he blinked only after 23 ticks on the clock.

“No shame in losing, she was quite the party-goer.”

“Well, I’m glad you had a good time. Would you like some flapjacks?”

“I would love some if you wouldn't mind.”

She offered a smile as she set a stack in front of him. He returned with a gratuitous 'thanks'. The two held more conversation between bites.

“So Alex, I finished this morning...and I had a few questions.” She prompted him as she hinted the book on the table, with the familiar cover.

“Finished already?...a quick reader we are. Fire away.” He stated, confident in any answer he could give.

“Well, you said your armour has something to do with spirit, but I hardly saw anything about that in the book.” She asked, genuinely concerned she was missing out on something important.

“Well, I didn't give you the exact same spell, the one you have is different, all spirit plays in that one is to fit the wearer's body and personality.”

“What do you mean fit them?”

“For body, I mean light ponies, light armour, heavy ponies, heavy armour, simple as that, fit to the skin...or coat. For personality, I mean it will be fitted for running, fighting, charging, carrying, magic, flying, etc to reinforce strengths. Also, the armour is usually tinted to preferred colors. Pretty cool, eh?”

“Yes,” she replied, “I'm just wondering why it wasn't in the book.”

“Because I hadn't written it in yet. But the book's yours now, so you can write what you want.”

Twilight sat thinking about what information she could possible be missing on the spell.

“I'll tell you a little known secret about it. If you concentrate hard and charge up the spell, you can detonate it, giving other ponies around you the same effect.”

“Really now? That would be quite useful.” She said.

Silence fell for a few moments as both finished up breakfast.

“Hey Twilight, I have a question. Are ponies typically herbivores here in Equestria?” He sincerely asked.

“Not really, we eat eggs often, though mostly for baking, and fish is acceptable cuisine here since that's what griffons and dragons eat in many meals. Why do you ask?”

“I was just wondering if I would have to give up steak.” He said honestly.

She gave him a shot of confusion. “What's that?”

That would be a yes. “It's...uh.............tender?” Please don't pursue it.

“You don't think I should know, do you?” She bluntly asked. His only reply was sheepish nod. “In that case, just try not to scare any pony by telling them you eat small animals.” Wait.. Twilight gave a worried smile, realizing that it sounded much better in her head than out loud.

“I haven't scared them yet, have I?”

It seems the situation was successfully salvaged. “No, I guess not.” Twilight got up and took their empty plates to the sink. “But there is a first time for everything.”

“Well, I suppose that's true. But alas.” Alexander stood up and went near the door to grab his backpack. “I'll be off today to find a job; don't want you to have to keep buying my food.”

Twilight walked into the Lobby to watch him leave. “Alright, good luck then.”

“Thank you.” Alexander reached to the door knob, but just as he did, the door swung open and hit him square in the face, knocking him to the side a bit. In rushed Applejack and Rarity.

“Twilight! We have an emergency.” The orange mare said, surprisingly calm. “Somehting's been takin' ponies into the everfree forest!”

Rarity cut in. “It's got out sisters, and Fluttershy!”

“WHAT?!?” Thoughts were zipping around through Twilight's head. Who could do such a thing? Why would they do it? Why did Fluttershy have to be taken too?

Now, it was personal.

“AJ, Rarity, go get Pinkie and Dash, and meet us in the square as soon as you can.”

“Alright, we'll be there.”

The two ran out and split up. Twilight turned to Alexander. “Alex, could you~”

“Yes, just let me get ready.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Within thirty minutes the six had gotten ready and were just on their way into the Everfree. Even during the day, the forest seemed to have a shrouded look, covering what truly lies within.

The group made their way in, keeping an eye out for any clues for the whereabouts of any ponies. Alexander seemed to be the only one that had physically prepared.

Over his white t-shirt, he wore a synthesized leather vest with two columns of pockets fitted to specifically carry throwing knives, steel vambraces with a few more throwing knives on the underside, steel greaves, with the left one having a leather slot with a dagger, and the right having a blowgun and some darts. On his back, he had a large, two-handed sword and an over-sized sledgehammer.

Dash watched him intently from behind. How does he even know he'll need all those weapons? Why is he even here? He only just met everyone. Maybe he's just returning the favor from the other day. Or was this about Fluttershy to him? Twilight had told her close friends, including Fluttershy, what had happened a couple nights ago.

Rainbow is rather surprised that Twilight isn't trying harder to find what had happened, being the oh-so-curious one she is. Maybe she's watching him just as much as Dash is. It would make sense, since she usually tries to help solve problems from the start, but didn't this time.

Twilight came to a dead stop, as the rest followed suit. She and Alexander stared at the irresistible evidence presented before them. Two linear indentations in the ground, that led towards a few shrubs and a willow. One of the shrubs was halfway uprooted; blood on it's throned branches. The willow, weeping as it were, had a side of it clean of bark, as if pried off by a strong individual.

After looking at the remnants of the battle for ones life, Alexander spoke in a thick monotone. “Looks like someone went down fighting.”

Twilight looked even closer. With the ease of the breeze she picked up a black rock that was scraped onto the ground. It was charred, with dead tree roots and a fresh worm digging itself out. She looked back at the previous evidence, taking note that scrapes and scratches of the charred rock followed back with the taken pony. She dropped the broken piece of earth and turned towards the others. “Girls, and Alex, I know where they are. Come on.”

She bolted away, with the rest of them keeping it tight, except for Alexander; Even at a full sprint he was quickly losing ground. Relying on sound to follow them was his best best. The harsh, dry wind blew past Alex as he forced his body across the grass covered and ash sprinkled forest.

The breeze flew against his ears, forcing him to choose between seeing where he is, or hearing where he needs to be, the choice evident in whether his head was forward, or tilted sideways. Why choose? He simply kept switching between the two.

The further he ran, the more dense the forest grew. Only hurting his struggle to keep up, he simply had to move through the thick brush. The carefully woven canopy was host to much moss and mistletoe; even worse, vines. They crawl up the oblivious trees, and over their fragile branches, just to hand it's dead weight down in the open, ready to lynch it's victims with itself.

There was a whole wall in front of him, with no way about or over, only through. He dove, clearing as much as he could in one fall swoop, before having to edge his way through. I wish I had a flamethrower on me, didn't think id need one. Or at least a machete..wait, I have a sword. I am an idiot. He marveled at his own stupidity as he crawled his way through.

The small amount of exposed upper arm felt only the passing of smooth and soft immobile flesh, almost inviting to suffocation in comfort. Alexander felt the dirt again, and began pulling himself into the partially eaten grass. He narrowly escaped, and began to pick himself up, just to be anchored by his ankle. Hearing the voices grow weak, he retrieved his dagger and swiftly swung at the vicious vines. Once. Twice. His captivity was short lived, but he couldn't hear the group of mares anymore. Crap...where did they go? Alex threw himself up and~

“Jack, this way!” He heard a voice cry out. Setting his eyes on the direction it came from, he now saw a colt running away from him; The same white colt from yesterday.

With a single push, he dashed towards the stallion. Chasing him as fast as he could, he followed the colt towards the girls. The pony was just far enough away to hide his cutie mark. Wait...How does he know my name?

SMACK!

He hit his head on a tree, disorienting himself a bit. In those few precious moments, he regained his focus, and saw no living creature ahead of him. He was gone. But something else was more important, he saw a break in the treeline. A perfect gap; no bushes, and trees are separated well.

He closed his eyes, focusing on the voices he could barely hear now, so calm yet clear. The cool breeze blew on his lightly sweat-dabbed forehead. As the smashing of leaves below his feet stopped, and the warm sunlight heated his skin, Alexander opened his eyes.

He panicked, dropping into a power-slide, and forcefully stabbed the ground, causing a gap to appear up to the edge where he now hangs. With the blade held in the ground, he used his legs to turn to the open.

With only about a 10 meter drop, the crater spanned a little less than a mile in diameter.

“Huh, I wonder what caused this.” He looked below the ridge near himself to see five pastel colored figures. “There they are.” The group stood out very well, seeing they have candy colored fur.

He averted his eyes to a bit further down the edge. Some of the ground collapsed to form a ramp. A bit too convenient, but chances are to be taken!

Alex turned towards the ledge he was hanging from, and pulled on the staked knife. The brittle blade broke under his weight, sending him for a fall. His knees buckled on the slope, causing him to slide his way down on his steel plated shins, backwards.

After reaching the bottom, Alexander stood up and dusted himself off, and emptied his boots of the dirt that managed to get in the cracks. He looked at the handle left in his hand, and threw it away, cursing himself for thinking a steel dagger would be strong enough.

“Took you long enough.” Dash chimed in. “Your legs stop working or something?”

They walked together to the others. “For your information, humans can't run nearly as fast as equine.”

She gave a huff. “Yeah, well, then get a motor-scooter or something.”

“You know, I have a feeling that you don't like me very much.” He asked in a serious tone.

“It's not that I don't like you...” She paused. “...It's, just....i don't trust you in the slightest.” She stated blatantly.

“Ouch.” He threw a hand on his chest in fake agony. “...My ego...”

“And just so you know, being sarcastic and condescending doesn't exactly help it.”

Of the few conversations the two had, he recalled them quite easily. “Well....i, suppose I wasn't aware of my manners?”

Dash rolled her eyes and let silence fall as they got to the others.

“Are you sure they're here, sugercube?” said Applejack.

“I'm very sure, my detection magic confirmed my suspicions....but where are they?”

A rolling plain of broken earth was laid before them. Only the empty echoes of what was once a lively forest filled the silence. The air stood still, and only worsened the worry. Time burned like a candle, slow, with uncertainty of any change at all. They stood, wondering, for less than a minute, but it died at the rate of an hour.

Suddenly a buzzing came into earshot as a small amount of ground in front of them began to break up. Following the creation of a gap in the ground, three fillies crawled out.

“Cutie Mark Crusaders Escape Artists are a success!” Said Sweetie belle. “It's a good think you borrowed those spellbooks from Twilight.” Scootaloo admitted. “Girls, before we celebrate, we should go get...Big sis!!”

Apple-bloom jumped on her sister in a tight hug; Sweetie did the same to Rarity. “It's a good thing ya'll are safe 'n sound, but where's everypony else?” AJ asked. “They're all still underground, we were going to get help to get 'em out.” Applebloom replied.

Marking the end of her words, the ground shook, earth separated, roots raveled and unraveled. A large, collective mass of boulders resurrected itself from the ground.

AJ quickly commanded her sister, “Applebloom, you take your friends and go to Zecora's, we'll come get you when it's safe.” Applebloom nearly contested the idea, but a roar louder than thunder tamed her thoughts. She grabbed Sweetie and Scootaloo and booked it, getting out of view rather quickly.

The mixed rocks assembled themselves into a shape that resembled a human, but thickened at the torso and limbs, and cut off at the shoulders. It let out trembling outcry as it pounded it's club-like appendages against the world in a threatening manner.

AJ asked, “Twilight, what's that?”

“That's....a golem....a really, really big golem.”

The twenty foot structure stepped toward them, and pointed it's arm directly at Alexander, as if a public display of it's hate towards the only other bipedal in the area.

Alexander drew his greatsword. “It seems I have a challenger. Very well then, I’ll fight.” He proclaimed.

(Theme Music) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2O9K7E3lDRU

Suddenly the ground farther behind the golem burst up, revealing trapped ponies. At least three dozen were tangled in live roots and stone traps, stuck to a dirt wall that rose high enough to be used to spectate. “And we'll fight with you.” Said Twilight in a very stern voice. She quickly charged her magic and shot a pulse of light that moved away from the epicenter; Her. As the circular line of light passed over her friends, it left metallic armor that was tinted their fur color, like Twilight's; Aside from Alex, whom stayed without armor by choice of withstanding.

“A quick learner I see.” Said Alex.

“Yeah, pretty much.” She replied.

Twilight charged up her magic again. When she fired, a cylindrical field surrounded her to protect herself. Purple tentacles of light seeped from the ground around the golem and threw themselves around the legs to secure it in one spot.

Rarity began to pick up rocks from the ground around her, sharpen them to a fine point, and fire the newly formed spear-heads like bullets into the wounds that were opened from the others.

Dash launched herself into the air, climbing as fast as she could, and used all her might to force herself down and slam into the golem with stunning shockwaves.

Pinkie Pie jumped around in front of the monster, taunting it among other things, to distract it from the others. When it lost interest in her, she would jump on it and play 'dodge-the-massive-rock-monster's-arms' to trick it into hitting itself.

Alexander and AJ looked at each other;they smiled, knowing what to do. Alexander impaled an arm as it made a pass at Pinkie. It threw him up and he landed at the limb's base. He shoved the sword deep into the shoulder, causing the golem to let out another cir de coeur. He jerked the sword around as much as he could to break up the tough roots and rocks that composed the golem.

He slid his way down as Applejack ran her way up. She smashed her hooves on the sword to break up as much stone as she could. She jumped up and bit the leather handle of the blade on the way down to cut off the arm completely with the force gravity gave her.

The pained shouting of the golem effectively shook the earth. Black and dark purple mist formed at the end of the freshly severed arm at and exposed shoulder. The bleeding shadows drew at each other and began to pull the arm back, until it was reattached.

The projectile rockets that Rarity shot helped keep the magic wounds open, especially after Dash smashed against the now non-severed arm, breaking apart the surface. Pinkie Pie jump and stuck to the front of the torso. The golem smashed itself as Pinkie dodged it's intact left arm.

Applejack seized this opportunity by stabbing the elbow-resembling area of the fully-functioning arm. The golem flicked it's arm out in pain, throwing off AJ. Dash mauled the monster again, beginning to break up the surface of the torso, and stunning the golem for a few precious moments.

Alexander leaped onto the sword and twisted, damaging the area greatly. With a final push, he broke off the arm entirely at the elbow. He hung on tight with his legs, leaving him upside down while the limb was temporarily paralyzed. He pulled out a fist full of throwing knives and shoved them all on the end of the broken appendage, handles facing inward.

Alexander dropped as the severed arm began to levitate back up. As the rocks connected, the upper section visibly split out into several cords, and was bleeding magic profusely. AJ and Alex stood away a bit, in a defensive type stance, as a reaction to the high pitched whistle they heard above them. Dash shot past their heads as she slammed her hooves against the abdomen of the golem, forcing a small explosion of color, and breaking apart the boulder.

The torso bled a brighter red mist than the dark purple and black the arms bled; It could almost be mistaken for real blood.

A large gap stuck out from the rest, being a bigger target and going down the center of the golem. Alexander threw his sword as best as his skills allowed, nailing it deep in the crack. He removed his hammer from it's tie, and looked at AJ, whom was at the opposite side of him from the golem. He ran at her with true focus.

“BUCK ME!” He yelled. She didn't need a second thought. She cocked back; He jumped. Hooves met feet, as the enhanced strength of Applejack sent Alex up. He pulled up the hammer as he was about to smash the golem with all his power.

A half-ton rock fist flew in from the side, blasting Alex into the ground. The hammer flew up, and was caught in the teeth of a pegasus covered in sky-blue armour, with multicolored secondary pieces.

Dash's wings sliced through the air as she built altitude. She began to feel the freezing air over her eyes, being the only part that wasn't at least partially covered. She closed her eyes as her innate instincts took over. She didn't have to see to know her altitude, she could simply feel it. Her wings halted as she achieved her goal. Her body flipped upside down, and she bolted down. She could hear the air piercing sound of her own descent. Her eyes opened to see the target; A glistening on the golem showed the sword.

With a swing of the hammer, metal on metal, the sword plummeted through the golem, taking massive chunks from the inside that connected the front and back. Every ounce of force was exerted from her body in that on hit. The sword was lost somewhere underground, miles beneath them now, and there was now a gaping hole in the middle of the now deathly-still golem, bleeding a bright red aura. It creaked as it fell over on it's back, and began to moan pained bellows.

Twilight, exhausted, relinquished her grip on her three powerful, and tiring, spells. With the exception of Alexander, they all went to help the abducted ponies to help them out of the tree-root chains.

Alex was more interested in the golem than anything. He walked up next to it, observing the bleeding aura. “I'd start off with a normal conversation, but from the looks of your wounds, you'll be dead within a couple minutes. So, why did you abduct the ponies?” A long low moan followed by low stutter was made, similarly sounding to a whale. “Oh, I can help you with that.”

Alexander knelt down and stuck his hand in the gaping hole. The aura tinted purple, and slowed it's escape. “Better?” The rumbling sounded lighter, and peppy. “Now, back to the question.” The golem let out a groan, then a quickly fluctuating frequency of sound. “Distract us? From what?” The fluctuating sounds trailed on. “Really now? Given this, I almost feel ashamed for having killed you. I’m sorry you were summoned to simply die, I wish I had known you were forced. I truly am sorry.”

Only the soft mystic sound of the golem's bleeding, and the slow breeze filled the silence. The aura disappeared, taking with it, the only sign of life in the rocks. Alexander felt the last of it's- ...his soul, trail between his fingers, and stood again.

He looked ahead of himself, at the group of ponies leaving, and jogged over to the only six standing still. Just as he stepped within earshot of their conversation, a messenger landed next to them from nowhere.

“Twilight Sparkle and company?” He asked urgently. “Yes” She inquired. “Princess Celestia had been abducted, and the captor left a note that said 'Everfree Sisters'. Luna suspects the abductor has taken her sister to the castle where you found the elements, and requests that you six-” He looked at Alexander with slight distrust. “-and, uh...him, go rescue her.”

“All right then, inform her we are on our way.”

The messenger pony fly off, leaving the seven alone.

Twilight looked towards the direction of the castle, and gave a sign as she took a step forward.

~_~_~_~_~_~~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~__~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~

Sorry this took so long everybody. But Dark Souls, Prototype, Torchwood, and Team Fortress 2 take up a LOT of time....

In any case, i'll try to release the next one as soon as i can, but i am still in the middle of fiddling with ideas, so it's a doozy. Feel free to comment or criticize, i need the information to help me be a better author anyways.

~CPTgentlementlegen [AKA Alexander Jack the Paladin]

Chapter 5: Out of the Frying Pan...

“Why do you want us to stay behind, exactly?” Dash said in a stern voice, projecting her distrust again. “Just so you can say it was only you that saved the princess? That it?”

“Dash,” he responded, “ it's because this is obviously a trap.”

“So? All the more reason for us to go with you. You would've been nailed by that golem if we weren't there. Who knows he doesn't have something better up his sleeve?” She encouraged that they all go together.

“Alex?” Twilight interrupted. “Are you certain it's a trap? I mean, what if the golem told you to expect a trap there, and really it was just out of the way to stall us?”

“Yeah, how can you trust someone that just tried to kill you?” Dash injected into the conversation.

“Most people simply let go of their lies when they are going to die, Dash. I've learned this the hard way. I used to be a military medic.” He said as-a-matter-of-fact.

“-And zealots will believe things through the end, Alex. I'm sure you've learned this as well.” Twilight fought.

Twigs and leaves crunches with each step taken. The sunlight hid behind the thick canopy, already touching the distant mountain's side. Birds sang songs of sorrow with a twist of frustration at the group for stepping on fresh nesting supplies. Hives of bats and bugs shot sounds of echolocation, even during the day. The cool breeze occasionally burst through the trees and blew their hair, giving a false impression that an opening was near.

“I still don't understand why we have to bring him.” Dash continued.

Twilight simply rolled her eyes and shrugged off the question. From her perspective, he was quite calm and quick to help in the situation. He's obviously had a lot of experience in this line of work, given he seems to be confident that everything will be alright. Although it doesn't exactly explain how Luna would know, since she hasn't even met him yet, it still gave Twilight bits of comfort that he had an idea of what they were heading into.

Suddenly she shuddered at a wretched thought that crept into her mind.

If whoever took the Princess is as powerful as Alex, which is surely a possibility, then...who's to say we'll be of any use at all? Maybe he's just trying to keep us out of harm's way...But what if Dash's suspicion is right? What if he's just using this for something? What if he's trying to get something out of all this?

She walked just a bit faster to get in-pace with Alexander, and carefully glanced at him from the side.

No, almost no emotion in his eyes at all. This doesn't exactly help. Either this is him not caring because saving someone's life simply does not matter to him, or because he's just used to it. Tricky. This can really cut so many ways.

She looked at him again, trying to reinforce her belief that he's really here to help.

Oh well, I’ll just try to make sure he doesn't pull anything.

“Hey Alex, if you like 'traditional' weaponry so much, why don't you ever use a shield?”

Surprisingly, it wasn't Twilight doing the questioning, it was Dash. The boredom had been so effective that it convinced her questioning him would be more fun.

“Psychology my dear Dash. I come off as more aggressive or threatening if instead of a shield, I have another, or much larger, weapon. It keeps me out of a few unnecessary battles. Having said that, I think that it's more fun just to parry attacks with a sword.”

“Well, I suppose that's one way to do it.” She commented.

“Do what?” He asked, unsure of what she meant by the words.

“If you wanted to get out of fights, couldn't you just put on a robe or something? So you're not showing off a fully loaded squadron's worth of weapons on your body?”

“Well, I’m not exactly familiar with this area, so i may need my weapons, and that would make it difficult to pull anything out when i need it.” He replied.

“Mare, please, we've been here at least a dozen times, we only know the road to the castle, Zecora's, and back and we've never brought weapons with us. Right girls?” She triumphantly stated.

They all nodded in agreement.

“Huh, last time I ran through a forest empty-handed I nearly got decapitated by a giant. Maybe I’m just getting too old to expect anything different.” He pondered out loud.

The reaction he got out of most of them was nearly the same. “A giant what?”

“You know, a gia- Oh, that's right....uh, it's a human the size of a golem. Roughly speaking, maybe bigger.” He informed.

The former statement, however, evoked a different reaction from Twilight, one that caught Alex off guard. “Now that I think of it; how old are you, anyway?”

At a quick, or even careful glance, one couldn't tell that he had flinched in his step, or contracted his eyes a bit. But Twilight was better than careful, she had precise focus on all the sudden, albeit miniscule, movements that gave away the fact that he was no longer in his comfort zone in the conversation. To say he's good at hiding himself behind rhetorical questions and sarcastic answers would be an understatement. But Twilight was yet, even better at deciphering what he does and doesn't want you to believe.

“I'm, uh...forty-three.”

The girls looked at each other a bit, and back to him, before Twilight spoke again. “You don't sound very confident in your answer. Are you sure that's the answer you want to go with?” Her voice rang with suspicion, purposely indicating to Alex that she knows he's lying.

Son of a... “Okay, I may be, about...a decade older than that. I've had a long day.”

Four of the six looked like they accepted the answer. Applejack and Twilight, however, looked at each other to show the other that she doesn't believe it. “Long enough to make you forget your own age? I doubt it.” Twilight struck back. “If you don't want to talk about your age, you could just tell us.”

Mother of... “Yeah, I just don't like talking about it.” He agreed, trying to quickly end the lingering conversation.

There was a quickly increasingly loud inhaling followed by a moment of silence, as if to act as the calm before the storm. A storm named 'Pinkie'. “OH youknowwhatwouldbesofun?Tryingtoguessyourage!YES!Canwetrytoguesspleaseohpleaseohplease?Iknowyoudon'tliketotalkaboutitbutittechnicallywouldnotbetalkingaboutitifwejustguessedandyounoddedorshookyourehadifwewererightorwrongpleaseohpleaseitwillbesofunibetyouarelikealmostahundredorsomethingijustwanttoguessyouragethatcan'tpossiblyhurtcanit?Noitcan'thurtunlessyouwerelikeasupersecretagentorsomethingareyouasecretagentican'ttellbutibeticouldfigureyououtifyouwereOHmaybeyou'reactually-mfmffmmmffghfmmf...” The whirlwind of nonstop talking ended at the lavender unicorn stuck a hoof in the pink pony's mouth.

“You can guess as much as you like, but I’m not going to give a hint to how old I am.”

“Okay!” Pinkie replied happily. “I love twenty! Let's start at Twenty. Are you twenty? How about Twenty-one? No? Twenty-two? What about-”

Alex had already tuned her out, quickly realizing that she was going to guess EVERY number she could think of. The others simply listened as she went on and on, and Alex was thinking of whether or not to tell her the first ingredient in glue.

“You know she just want's to be your friend, right...?” A ghostly voice chimed in. “Of course, as long as you have been avoiding 'friends' per se, it's rather difficult to tell people apart, now isn't it?”

The voice seemed very familiar, it was lighter in pitch and kinder in tone than his own. Alex looked to his side to see the white stallion again. With the pony walking side-by-side it was now easy to see the cutie-mark; Four cards, overlapping a bit, each of a different suit, but all four had a king on the face and the A for aces in the corner. Alexander looked over to the others, seeing if they could even hear the stallion, given he was less than two feet from the group.

“Don't bother asking them; it's just us in this conversation.” He gave a small chuckle. “'Alexander', right? It's been so long since you've used your real name. Too long maybe.” Alexander tried to find the power to speak, but found it far too difficult for some reason. The colt walked almost eerily next to him, without sounds coming from his lungs breathing, or even from the leaves and twigs he broke as he walked on the hard forest floor. He was almost like a ghost, but not given an ethereal look.

“Why do you use that name anyway?” Again, the pony amused himself. “Oh, that's right, it's your little 'front' to keep others away. Or at least so you can cope with leaving them....That's what you always do eventually, right? Just, up and leave?” He waited, as if expecting to hear an answer. “The reason you leave is the same reason you push others away. You're scared. You've been scared your entire life that it will happen again.”

Again, he let the words set in. “You think to yourself 'How could I lose my friends if I never have any?'. But what makes life worth living if you live it alone? I'm telling you now, the only thing worse than losing a loved one, is losing love itself. I'm telling you this so you can stop the ceaseless cycles that happen before your eyes, and you're too ignorant to even glance at them. You're not waiting for your future, your future is waiting for you, for you to get your act together and change.”

“Alex,” he paused in disgust of calling him that. “What you have yet to realize, is that you are the reason for your own unhappiness, and your age is trivial compared to how you get there. Stop pushing others away and you'll have your own, happy, forever-and-a-day. I can promise you this much; If you change yourself, you'll find change in others as well.” The colt looked Alex in the eye. “Big days and small days, Jack. Which will it be?”

The words set in just as the stallion had set them. Jack (with the former alias “Alexander”) simply set and digested the information he took in. All he could think of as he repeated the monologue over and over in his mind was simple fact; He's right.

Jack looked over to the group. They seemed like in spite that their own princess was captured alive, they still seem to be happy they have each other, and are absolute in the idea that they can defeat this evil together. How could I be so blind? He pondered.

“You weren't,” he said. “you just closed your eyes really, really tight.”

Jack looked down to him in the eyes again. “....who are you...?”

“I'm just memories compiled into one's subconscious that evolves and grows based on one's 'true' mentality and personality, with the knack of knowing what your active conscious does not.” He looked Jack back in the eye. “Or in layman's terms, I’m you.”

Jack couldn't even respond. He had never expected this to happen, not in millions of years. 'This' being several things. He never thought he could have ever gotten so ignorant. He never thought his mind could be in such disarray that his own subconscious would have to set him straight. He never thought it would make him feel so idiotic either. But after all that, there was one thought that lingered. ...Why is he a pony?

“Just make some friends while I’m gone.” He pointed to the six candy colored ponies next to Jack. “They look like they'd make great friends.”

“Oh, and, it'll be about midnight, just so you know.”

“What?” Jack muttered under his breathe. No response. Well, no MALE response.

“Hmm? Say something?” Twilight asked.

He quickly grasped the fact that the imaginary colt was gone. “Oh, uh, no.” she shrugged it off. He looked at listened to the pink pony slightly behind himself. “What about thirty seven? Thirty eight? OH no, you're thirty nine!! Definitely! No? For-” He could only guess she hadn't skipped counting for so much time, only to pick it up again. No. He had that entire conversation with himself in only a matter of seconds. He looked back to Twilight. I guess now would be the best time of any.

“Actually,” She looked at him, “could I talk to you in private?”

From her standpoint, his entire demeanor just changed in an instant. Up until now, his voice was cold and calculating, With little emotion attached to his words. Now, though, his voice contained quantities of sorrow, with a hint of nervousness.

“Yeah.” She said to him. She looked to her friends. “Girls, keep walking, we're going to be right off the path.”

The others exchanged looks, with the exception of Rainbow, whom pointed at her eye, and then to Jack, to ensure he knows his place as a permanent suspect.

The two broke off and walked parallel to the others around 10 meters away, as to get out of earshot, but not eyesight.

“Twilight,” his voice crumbled to contain emotion again. “what is it like to have friends?”

Her face froze. She most certainly did not anticipate this question in the slightest. “Well... it's....i guess it's....” She concentrated to find the words she was looking for. “It's great.” She was able to muster out of herself. “It's wonderful. I mean; After I made friends, I found ponies I could rely on, that care for me and would help me through any situation I faced. They give me somepony I can trust; Somepony to be with through thick and thin.” She gave a sigh. “Before I had friends, I thought it would all be for naught, just useless attempts and work that would have no real reward in the end. But I was wrong. I had never been happier in my life. And honestly, I wouldn't give it up for the world.” She ended, making a silence that seemed to last forever.

“...what do you consider me...?”

The question hung in the air as Twilight tried to search herself for the answer. She only met him a few days ago. He was nearly a complete stranger in comparison to her friends. And yet, she cared for him. In spite of what he can do, his well being still worried her. Has she really grown attached to him over the past half week? His 'hush-hush' demeanor aside, yes. She has. Enough to say these next few words.

“I see you as a friend.”

He tried not to show it, but his face lit up almost instantaneously. “Thank you...” As the two kept walking, Jack pulled out a pocket watch from his backpack. It was hand-crafted as far as one could tell. Silver with intricate vine details around it's circular edge. It had a small, flat ruby center-piece, where the red thinned out and disappeared into a clear diamond color around the edge of it's circumference. He pressed the jewel and it opened wide. He closed his eyes for a moment, took a deep breathe, and exhaled a thin mist of energy into the open timepiece. His eyes watered as he was forced to relive the saddest part of his life over again; But it was necessary.

When he was done he closed the device, causing a click and snap. “Twilight. This watch is very special.” He handed it over to her, and she took it in her magic. “Listen, that watch? It now contains a copy of many of my memories. The same man that showed me how to make the backpack, is who gave my that timepiece. I don't even know how it works, I just know it works.” He paused. “Keep that with you. Don't open it right now, but it will show you everything I am. It will also explain what happened the, uh...the other night...” he trailed off, Not wanting to contemplate that moment. “Just, make sure you don't lose it. Please?”

She took the end of it's chain and roped it around her neck to attach it to itself, and dropped it to dangle from her. “I won't...but I have one question.” He looked her in the eye, waiting for it. “Why the sudden change?”

He should have seen this one coming a mile away. Maybe he was more distracted than he initially thought. “I, had a bit of a uh...revelation I guess. Not too long ago.” That was an understatement. He only had the 'discussion' moments before this one.

“We should go back. Dash doesn't even trust me right next to her; Let alone being alone with one of her friends.”

Twilight only giggled a bit. “Yeah, she really doesn't trust anyone until you prove yourself.”

The two guided their direction to ease back into the group. They heard quiet talking so silent as the got nearer.

The air became cold and still by an unnatural force, as they ascended the final staircase to the throne room. Even the cracks and holes bore no motion of nature's breath. In the deathly ill silence, Twilight could have sworn she heard a faint electronic whirring, perhaps it was just the anxiety getting to her.

She eased her mind by counting the leaves of the vines that grew on her path upwards. She stopped for a moment to feel the smooth vegetation with her velvet-Esq fur. The lively plant-flesh grew rapidly, loosely hugging her hoof and going up, only to broken off when she continued the ascent with the others. Bind root, she thought, Grows well just about anywhere, but exceptionally well if allowed to bind to an animal. Makes good armor, too, since it regenerates.

She caught the vine on the last step of the stairway to slide it off.

They all halted before a set of double doors to take in the scene, and let the anxiety settle in. The air was stale, allowing chunks of dust to float aimlessly in the air, which was easily seen near the crystal clear window with the sun closing the distance to the horizon. Something's wrong. Twilight thought, observing the doors. These doors weren't here before. She looked them over. They were wooden, and thick, with the black painted metal pieces all over it, securing the planks that make it up. Not a bit of dust. Obviously this is new.

The thing that really set the doors out of place wasn't the fact it was new, it was the lack. Not only was it locked, but the huge bar of metal that sat across it to secure it's stance was on the outside. Why someone holding Celestia hostage would be stupid enough to do something like put the lock on the wrong side of the door is beyond her, but it will work for them.

Jack nervously shuffled his feet to the door, placing his hand on the bar, and looked at the six ponies. “If anything happens, just get her and get out. Don't fight my enemies for me.”

They all exchanged nervous glances, even Rainbow, trying to think of what would be bad enough to make him worried about them.

He pulled up on the iron bar, sending off a symphony of clicks and taps in a hidden mechanism in the frame. It creaked, as if centuries old, as he pushed it open with his shoulder. The air was even more brisk as they entered. A thin later of magic shielding plastered the walls and windows, giving it all a sparkling look. Twilight's heart jumped when she saw a tall white alicorn looking out the window.

“Celestia! Thank goodness, you're alright!!” She ran to greet her mentor, but screeched to a stop halfway through at the sound of a large set of doors locking. She snapped her head back just fast enough to see the magic wall seal off the only exit that was available. While Twilight slowly reset her gaze to the princess, the princess set hers to Twilight.

No. No. No no nonononono...princess, what happened to you? She thought, looking over her teacher. Celestia's entire image changed within seconds. Her eyes became bloodshot; Her mane fell to the ground, becoming dull and lifeless; Her fur lost it's sheen; her veins showed through her coat, as a villainous black; And her voice was doubled over by a demented tone.

Celestia peered at the only other thing in the room that was about as tall as her. “Hello Alexander.” She, or 'he' if referring to the darker voice, looked at the ponies. “Vermin.” Jack walked up next to Twilight, while the others walked up behind them.

“What did you do to the princess?!?!” She demanded.

“I've possessed her, half-wit. Now silence and let the adults talk.”

WHAT?!?! Twilight thought. Her face showed a face of pure frustration and anger, but she kept her temper, and remained quiet. Maybe Alex can deal with him better anyways.

Celestia looked at Jack again. “Hello Alex. Good to see you in such great shape.”

“Hello Mr....”

“Xavier.”

“Mr. Xaxier. It's good to see you haven't done anything stupid yet.”

(S)he gave a huff to vocalize anger towards him. “Do you even know why I’m here?”

“Other than to stall while your smarter brother in the back thinks of a plan, no. I don't.” Jack replied, with a slight smile.

Twilight winced at this. Each joke he made, she thought would be his last. Given the predicament, it is rather bad timing.

Again, Xavier hissed at this. “Thanks to you, I have no brother.” He huffed again. “And that's why I’m here. To make you feel pain, Alex.” He spat out. “Someone here will die tonight. And you get to choose who it is.”

Jack's heart skipped a beat. Or maybe five.

“But luckily for you, the weapon you'll use isn't exactly ready yet. So I do hope you find temporary oblivion to be a great alternative to sitting there and making a plan to save everyone.” He tacked on sarcasm at the end of the sentence.

“Wha-” SLAM!

Suddenly a hammer struck the back of Jack's head, sending him a few feet forward. He hit the ground hard, with his head facing away from the others, and unable to see what had struck him.

“Alex!!” Twilight exclaimed. She continued to watch, hoping he would get back up. But he didn't.

A couple of the others nearly tried to run over to help him, but their feet stayed glued to the floor in fear of befalling the same fate. Twilight shot a stare at Celestia possessor; It was quite difficult for her to sustain her state of calmness. “Look, I’m sure that whatever happened between the two of you, doesn't need any bloodshed. Please, if there is any way I can ta...”

She stopped as she saw Celestia uncover a trap and open it's door. She pulled out a changeling, one that was larger and meaner looking than at the invasion, that was all tied up and had a burlap sack over it's head. She tore it off and looked directly into his eyes.

“You! Stay here. Yell to me if they try to pull anything, and you might live.” She set the changeling next to the trap door, and descended into the hidden chamber.

As soon as the door shut, he looked to the ponies. “Please tell me you have a plan to get us out of here alive.”

Twilight looked over to the window, where dash wash trying to pound her way through, to no avail, and looked back. She was about to say “no, but I’ll think of one.”, But something else in that sentence caught her attention. “Wait, what do you mean alive?”

Suddenly a muffled scream was heard from the hidden cellar, one that turned the heads of all the ponies in the room. The changeling reacted stronger to it, and scrunched up his body beyond what the ropes had, along with giving a pained yelp. He tried to get closer to Twilight. “Please, help us. He's locked us out of the hive mind with magic, but we can still feel the ones that are here with us! We're all tied up, and he's killing us off one-by-o-AHH!!” He winced again as he felt another ping in his body.

Fluttershy was in tears, and looked to Twilight. “We have to help them! Nopony deserves something like this!”

Twilight tried to stay as calm and collected as she could. “Don't worry Fluttershy.” She turned to the changeling. “But we're going to need what we're up against. Please, start from the beginning, but be quick.”

“Al-HNNNGG!” He covered his head, as if it would stop the pain. “Alright!! Last night, something requested the help of the Queen's Elite.” He pointed towards the door. “It was whoever possessed your princess. He was covered in shadows so we couldn't see what he looked like. She agreed to help as long as she could get revenge from the two responsible for ou-AHHH!!” Again, he felt like his head would burst.

“our failure at the invasion. Early this morning we arrived here to set up his plans. We created that door, wooded outside but heaviest metals we could find on the inside. We used our magic to make powerful talismans, strong enough to keep this magic shield up through Celestia's AND Luna's strongest attacks together. But then he-AH.” He managed to stifle his self this time, unconsciously timing when each attack was.

“He triggered the shield himself, and attacked us all. He threw us in the cellar, but before he did me, he told me 'you're special' and put a sack on my head. I wasn't able to see it for myself, but my brothers told be through telepathy of what was happening; He's killing them and absorbing their souls for some kind of dark magic. A lot of the time, we were all just unconscious, so he could have easily gotten your princess in that time.”

As he finished, he prepared himself for the next pang of death. But to his surprise all he felt was a small magic surge and silence from the local brethren. He looked up to see the fading purple light from the lavender pony. “Feel better?” He nodded. “I'm sorry this all happened to you. None of you deserve this. But I have one question. Could you tell us exactly what he is? I mean, any info we could get on him would help us escape.”

He looked at the door to make sure Celestia wasn't coming back yet. He looked to Twilight again. “Whatever you do, don't freak out, or he'll know something just happened.” He double checked the door. “He's a Vrykolakas. And a powerful one at that. He doesn't just know this dark magic, he was born with it! Innate in ways of condemned! His very being was forged from the damned themselves!”

Twilight gulped as she took in this information. This snippet of, yet all-telling, information.

“Twilight.” Applejack interjected. “As much as I'd love to say I know what he's saying, I don't. Can you translate for me?” She asked.

“He's saying...That what we're facing is a demonic vampire, from the depths of Tartarus itself.” She said, only barely keeping herself from panicking. “Even worse, I have no idea how we can even fight it. The whole put-a-stake-through-it's-heart thing doesn't actually work, but I don't know anything that will!” She thought about the situation for a moment. “Wait.” She looked over to Jack. “We need to wake Alex, he knows how to defeat it.”

Fluttershy went over to Jack's body, while Dash stood next to the lavender unicorn. “Uh, don't mind me asking, but, how do you know he does?”

“This seems to be about revenge, which means Alex has dealt with this before.”

Her horn glowed as she helped Fluttershy move his body over to the window.

“Alex!” He heard. He had hit the granite floor hard, after being nailed in the back of the head by a currently unknown object. The pain was excruciating; It felt as if someone used a train to ram the blunt end of a railroad spike in the back of his skull. Not only that, but Jack could feel something constricting him; Choking him. Whatever it was, was supposed to render him unconscious, but didn't. However, he still felt he couldn't move anything. He was barely able to breath, let alone get back up.

Jack could hear voices, but only two of them, and he didn't recognize either of them.

A soft, feminine voice spoke first. “Is he...?” She left off, not wanting to speak the word.

“No. He's alive, and barely conscious at worst.” Said the more confident stallion.

Jack heard them set themselves down in front of him. “It's been a long time, Jack.” He spoke calmly, and slowly. “Come on, I know you're here. Just, open your eyes, so we know you're listening.”

Jack grunted as he worked up the willpower to breach his own ocular covers. What he saw surprised him a bit. There were indeed, two ponies. One of them was dark, had starry hair, and a moon for a cutie-mark; Just as if she were the alternate version of Celestia. The other, had light brown fur with a darker brown mane, and wore a traveler's vest that seemed to use an alternative to leather, along with a white shirt underneath.

At that moment, Jack could barely register in his mind who he was talking to. “Hello...princess.” He managed. He looked at the colt, but was silent.

“Don't remember me, do you? I thought you would have recognized the voice, but I guess it's changed a bit much.” He paused. “Actually, you'll remember me the instant I explain why your friends can't even see us.”

Jack was actually thinking about that before the colt mentioned it, but he continued. “Two words. Perception. Filter.”

Jack's eyes widened at the thought of such a device. He stared up at the pony who was now rambling a bit. “One so strong, that you have to be inside it to see through. Or, well, just watch something go into it from the outside, but it only works for that specific object. Or have an IQ of over 230, but that's pretty rare. Or, really you could have just known me and it never really works on you again. Well, I guess there are other ways to-”

“Doc..tor....” Jack let out.

“Oh, so you do remember me. For a bit there, I thought you forgot.”

“How...can I?...You never, stop talking....” He winced in pain from his aching head.

The Doctor let out a playful face of disgust. “And that's the only thing you have to remember me by? Tisk tisk."

“How's Harkness?” Jack said.

“Oh, Captain Jack is A-Okay. The you Jack seems to be in a bit of trouble.” He paused. “Actually, what are the chances you were both named Jack? Are you two related or something?”

“I....no, we-”

“Well, it doesn't matter. But regardless I’m just here to give you a pat on the back and moral support. In the form of letting you know that, thanks to Luna here, the spell or weapon or whatever you want to call it that your enemy is making is indeed, useless. Sabotage at it's best. So you know exactly what you can do to end all this.”

He got up and walked back to the Tardis, which was hidden behind the two from Jack's point of view. As Luna entered, he turned back. “Oh, and, one last thing.” Jack waited silently. “I suggest you use your real name. It fits you better.” He entered, and shortly after, the Tardis disappeared, leaving behind only dust and echoes.

Jack heard mumbling coming towards him, and tried to move his head, but felt his eyes get heavy, and his vision began to fade.

The doctor began messing with the controls of the Tardis again. “Doctor,” Luna started. “What did you mean back there, 'Thanks to Luna'? We haven't done anything to prevent the spell yet.”

“Which means, that we will, now, come on-” He flipped the switch and set the ship in motion. “Get those bags of frogs, telepathy/kinetic emitters, and exfoliated carapaces, we're going to make some fake changelings!”

Jack began to hear voices, but they were fuzzy. “-ink he's....ming back...” He managed to open his eyes a bit, revealing that both eyes were now lazy. “There, he should be....no!” He dropped forward, as a result of having lack of motor control at the very moment. With the help of hooves, he slowly but surely leaned back up. “Okay, just take it slowly Alex. No need to rush this.” He re-opened his eyes, beginning to fix his focus again. A purple hoof tilted his head up by the chin. Twilight looked into Jack's eyes. “Hey, are you going to be alright? Do you feel anything? Or maybe the lack thereof?” He managed to shake his head, which had uncontrollably shook his torso in a similar manner.

“Alright, I’m going to have to take a more direct approach, this isn't going very fast. Dash, I’ll need one of your feathers.” “What? Hey, wai- Ouch!” Applejack chuckled. “Too slow Rainbow.” She hoofed over the feather. “Here you go darlin'.”

“Hey!! Plucking pony feathers is not cool.”

“Oh quit your whining, this one here just got knocked into tomorrow with an enchanted sledgehammer with a poison dart stuck to it.”

Twilight just rolled her eyes at the argument. “Okay Alex, this is going to hurt a bit, but trust me, this is to help you.” Twilight found the small lump on the back of neck, and concentrated. She stuck the soft end of the feather on it, and began moving the hairs inside it. Once they got in as far as she could without widening the hole too much, she fed a spell onto the feather.

Jack winced in a small amount of pain he could feel. But then he realized he was now getting feeling back in all of his body. After a bit of time, he felt the feather slide out again. Placing his hand on his neck, he felt the welt that had formed from the impact.

Twilight levitated a blue feather front and center for everyone to see. It was almost completely covered in a layer of unknown dark liquid. “Tranquilizer.” She said flatly. “I'm actually surprised I could get it out that quickly.” She dropped it and turned to Jack. “You feeling any better?”

He rubbed his neck some. “If by 'any better' you mean 'at all' then yes, yes I am.” He leaned up with his shoulders square against the wall, and looked up to the group. “What did I miss?”

Everypony waited for somepony else to explain, but slowly it came to the conclusion that a few of the others had set their eyes on Twilight. She noticed this, and let out a small sigh. “Fine, I’ll tell him.” She said to them. She turned to Jack. “Okay...We are facing...A demonic 'vampire', as one would say, that wants nothing less than revenge against you via an undetermined sorcery that requires the deaths of a small elite army of changelings.” She cleared her throat. “...and, uh, for all we know, he's just about done, and he'll walk in here any minute.”

Jack took a few moments to process this information.

“Alex, would you happen to, you know, have a plan to get us out of this?” Twilight asked pleadingly.

“Well...for a normal vampire it just takes a properly made stake to the heart-”

“Told you Twilight~” Pinkie interrupted in a sing-songy voice, which didn't falter in the presence of frustrated stares.

“-but this, is going to take a whole lot more, and I don't even have all the right materials.”

Twilight sighed. “So, he's going to have one of us killed, via you, and we can't even touch it?”

He shook his head, and began to pick himself up. “Not unless Celestia is a reasonable casualty, which I doubt. Possession is what's stopping us for the time being.”

Twilight hung her head. “Someone here will die tonight, and you get to choose who it is.” She was about to get desperate. In fact; she'd be willing to bite the dust if it meant her friends got to live happily ever after; Especially her mentor-for-life.

Suddenly a creaking echoed through the room as Celestia took her sweet time ascending the stairs again.

I just hope nopony gets hurt because of me.

The possessed figure stopped at the changeling and eyed him.

“I heard talking, what did they say?”

After a moment of frozen fear he worked up the courage to speak. “They were, uh, just trying to wake him up.” He shook a little, frightened by the famous last words spoken by this demon, before it descended to his brethren.

She stared at the group and acknowledged that the human was only just now getting up. She looked back to the changeling. “Very well, I suppose you did your job, you get to live.”

The bug-eyed being nearly dropped and began thanking his lucky stars, but was picked up by the neck by the tall figure. “Hope you remember how to fly.” She had her hooves at his throat, and threw him against the window. The shield broke only long enough to let him through. Shattering glass could be heard, along with a small crack of a bone or two breaking, as he was forced through a decorative window.

The last the group saw of the changeling was him falling into the smokey abyss that surrounded about half the castle.

Jack managed to pull himself up and silently tread over in front of his new friends.

They nervously listened to what the demon was about to say.

“Alexander,” he started. “You have a few options here.” He pulled out a knife; One with curves bending back toward the wielder, and giving off black fog from the metal itself. Celestia handed over the blade to Jack, who took the weapon with unease.

“This blade is very special, Alexander. Whoever is killed by it is bound to the lowest depths of Tartarus itself. Permanently. There is no way around it. Even someone with your....condition.” The figure let out a laugh to break up his monologue. “Option one: You kill me. You condemn both me and your dear Celestia to such a fate. You solve all your problems at the exchange of breaking a bond.” He continued. “Option two: You kill yourself. If you do this, I’ll leave this planet in peace, even the princess. You save everyone you've met, but at the cost of your own freedom from hell.” He drew his eyes to Fluttershy. “Option three:” He pointed at the group. “You slaughter five of those six 'friends' you've made there. And you can choose which one lives.”

Jack could barely breath. “...you know exactly what you can do to end all this.” Yeah, I guess I do. I just wish this won't happen again.

Jack slowly turned around and looked into the eyes of each one of the mares in front of him. They were frightened of the choice he was about to make; Pinkie and Fluttershy were holding each other and were almost in tears. He lowered himself to Twilight. She had watered eyes herself. He grasped her in a hug, and she returned it slowly.

He whispered in her ear, “I'll be fine. You take care.” Jack stood back up and looked towards the Alicorn.

Twilight wanted to scream. No. you don't have to do this! There must be some other way! You can't do this!

Celestia smiled her evil smile. “I see you've made a choice. Good. Care for some famous last words?”

“Yeah. Te conatus.” This is going to burn like hell...

He took the edge of the blade and pressed it on his chest. He pulled as hard as he could, sending a wave of pain over his body, centered at his heart.

Twilight looked through her teary vision at Jack. She heard the slice that could only come from the splitting of flesh, and saw a small, shiny, blood-covered point that came out of his back. She watched, horrified, as he dropped down to the ground. It seemed to be in slow motion; She was able to watch him drop to his knees and then slam into the ground on his front.

The Blade seemed to collapse in on itself, breaking away into smaller pieces until unseen by anyone.

The demonic voice only laughed, and bled itself out of Celestia's figure, disappearing and dropping her half-conscious body to the ground. The mane six were too shocked to see this though, and had only paid attention to the body they were now walking up to.

After the disappearance of the knife, something seemed to be eating away at him. Similar to his armor from only days ago, his body began to disintegrate, only from the inside out. His chest widened and looked as if it was burning away. Not only that, but his clothing and weapons went along with him. This continued until there was only a skeleton left, which had precariously kept stable, as if it were kept together by some strange force.

By now, Fluttershy and Pinkie were bawling like there was no tomorrow. The others were at least teary, with the exception of Rainbow, whom fought against her depression at the ending scene before her.

They had stared at it for hours, as far as they could tell. In actuality it was only for a few minutes. The only reason they could tell time was passing was because-

Wait, the sun! Twilight realized that the sun had just completed it's daily use, with the light now turning to a dull white from the moon on the horizon. But that must mean.. She looked to her side, and there was Celestia, also, looking at the remains. Their eyes met, both brimming with water.

They embraced each other in a hug that would put Pinkie Pie to shame. Twilight spoke through her sniffling. “Princess...he-”

“I saw all of it, my most faithful student. I'm sorry you had to see such a thing.” She replied, in a voice that would have seemed normal for her, if it didn't contain the few traces of sorrow it did.

When they broke from each other, they looked back to the bones that lay on the floor. Then Celestia spoke to them. “My little ponies, this sir died a hero's death; one that meant sacrificing what he could to help all he could. And so,” She silently cut off part of the ancient curtain that hung next to the window. “ he shall be given a hero's funeral.” She properly laid the skeleton onto the end, and began covering it in the thick cloth. When she was done, she levitated the corpse and walked towards the door.

The others followed at her semi-slow pace, with Twilight lagging in the back. She held up the silver pieced watch for a moment, and could only think one thought. What secrets did he entrust me with? She could only ponder for now, for she felt that now was not the time to open it.

A/N

Alright people, i'm sorry for the MASSIVE delay on this one, it is entirely my fault, aside from a few unwanted vacations from typing. This story WILL be finished. I'm not going to go on another 'this is cancelled' rant. I realize my immaturity of what i had said, and so i will be typing in a timely fashion. I've probably lost a good number of viewers over that, but i can only blame myself. In any case I'll be splitting the last chapter into two chapters, so that you get some earlier explanation on what the buck is going on, and why such an event has just happened.

Please, comment, it helps me understand what i'm doing wrong. As a reminder, this is still my first FanFic.

Chapter 6: The choices we make....

Luna's full moon advanced towards the middle of the sky, proving it was late into the night. Only a few clouds lingered, which occasionally blocked out the milky-white light from reflecting on the smooth water of the lake.

On the grounds stood Luna and Celestia; the ones closest to edge of the water. Other ponies, such as the elements of harmony, the night guard, the Cutie-mark Crusaders (who were all but asleep), and a mysterious stallion in a cloak that began to get fidgety when a night guard asked him why he was here (To which he answered “He paid my dues” and refused to answer anything else), were further down the bank. Impressively, any of the towns people that happened to be awake, along with a few that were awoken for the distinct purpose of attending, were broken up onto the hill behind the regal sisters and guardsponies, just high enough to see over them.

Celestia took a final step towards the wooden boat; one only large enough to fit a single pony. She used her magic to create a flame. It wasn't large, only big enough to be seen by those paying attention, but was a flame nonetheless. She dropped the ball onto the craft, and watched, as it was set into a peaceful inferno. Not even with her magic, but with her own hooves, she pushed the incinerating vehicle out towards the center of the lake.

The ponies watched as it floated out from the bank, and held the only light that was competing with the night sky, leaving a faint orange glow on each body present. It reflected easily off the tears of some of the watchers, proving that he had actually left a mark on on some of the townsponies. The guards only saluted as they saw the corpse, that was certainly crispy by now, set off.

It was indeed a rare sight to see; A strange creature from hidden myths, willingly dying to protect a very few, that he knew only very shortly. They were all told that he sacrificed himself to save the others; Little did they know how accurate that actually was. It wasn't their fault; Celestia and the others didn't want everypony to know what actually happened in front of their eyes. It was too...dark. Evil. Demented.

But in all this, another rare occurrence happened. Now laying down with Luna, Celestia had rested her head on her little sister's shoulder, and had shed a single, pristine, warm, tear, that was now following a guided path down her cheek. It was impossible for anyone else to see it. Only Luna could tell of her sister's emotion, and decided that in the silence of all the ponies around them, now was not the time to speak of it.

Twilight had watched all of this, from the first crackling of the fire to the incinerator that now stopped in the distance of the water. Her eyes were tearing from the moment he told her to take care of herself. Then she remembered what he had given her. I guess now is the best time of any. She pulled up on the chained piece of metal she now wore as a necklace. She pressed the mixed gem on the center and it popped open. She felt as if she was being sucked into it, and that's when her vision blacked out.

Suddenly Twilight's sight came back, as she watched a world become constructed before her. A matrix of memories thrown across space in disorderly fashion. The black backdrop was riddled with fragments of crystallized shards floating all across as if gravity could not affect it. They were so plentiful that the distant ones created an illusion of the night sky. It was almost as if this world was only supposed to contain a single, concrete piece of semi-clear calcite, but something had broken it up into indistinguishable pieces.

“Hello?” She finally called out, only to hear the emptiness that was...whatever this place was. She felt her being finally become overtaken by gravity, landing her on a floor that resembled a thin layer of crystal.

The fall didn't hurt, as high as it was. In fact, she didn't even budge when she hit, nor did she feel any wind or falling force. She simply felt it, like a tap on the bottom of her hoof. She looked up to try to find something to reference how high she fell, but could not make out any distinguishable landmarks. It was easy for her, given her extremely fast learning curve, to realize that this is no longer a 'real' world, per se, just more of a mental state.

The floor was only a small circle, just large enough to fit two ponies across, with what seemed to be an endless walkway connected to the side. On the walkway, there were pedestals adjacent and jutting up from the side every dozen or so meters.

Twilight began to take steps forward, which, in the silence, sounded like drums pounding in a beat. She steadily made her way to the first pedestal, and examined it. It was crudely cut along all of the base up until the top, much like a fracture along a bad angle would produce. At the top set an almost perfectly round orb setting in a half-sphere depression, giving off a glow that only appeared to outline the edge.

Twilight craned her neck and leaned over the edge to attempt further examination, but found there were no other clues as to what this thing did. So out of curiosity, she decided to try and press it.

Tap..

Suddenly everything went black again, but this time was different, she could still see herself, in the omnipresent light that apparently surrounded her. That, and gravity didn't let go. “WooaAAAH!” SLAM. She hit a hard wood floor, and didn't exactly land on her hooves.

Twilight picked herself back up and looked around. She could quickly tell that she was in some kind of beverage serving area, based on the extreme quantity of glasses behind a counter. In front of the counter were two humans, both male if Twilight could tell by the voices. One was scrawnier than the other, and had a higher pitched voice too. They had brown hair, but the thicker one was beginning to go gray

The skinnier one spoke up. “Mr. Smith, please, I need that birth certificate. If I don't have identification then I will never get in the army.”

“Well,” the thicker one grunted, “Why don't you have one already?” He grabbed a tall glass with a golden brown liquid inside and began to drink.

The younger one gave a sigh. “I have no parents, alright? When I checked the hospital as a few years ago, they didn't have one person on file that I recognized, not even me. When I was born, either the records were destroyed, or I was never registered in the first place. I grew up on the streets only being called by my first name.” He turned his chair to face the other man. “I have never met someone that knew me by anything more than my first name.”

Twilight could now see a few more features on the smaller one. He had blue eyes, pale skin, and kept his hair at a short length.

“Alright...i guess that makes sense. One more question kid.”

The younger one squinted at the term he was called, clearly showing agitation. “What?”

“Why the army?”

“...why not?” He spun around in his chair a couple times and stopped in a forward position, then spoke again as if to restate his answer. “I just want to help. If I can make a difference...to a single person out there, then, I think my life will have been worth-while.”

The thicker man put on a fur coat that was hanging on his chair. He dropped some money on the table to cover the drink and stood up. “One more thing Jack.”

The younger one perked up.

“I'm going to need a last name if you want fake papers. Since it's yours, I may as well ask what you want it to be.”

He sat there, thinking about all the names he could, before he decided to simply pick his favorite. “Put my last name as.... Alexander.”

Wait, what? Twilight thought.

The man exited, and nothing else happened. It seemed as if everything (including Jack) had gone into some kind of idling mode. Absolutely nothing was moving, and the crickets outside, along with the dishwasher on the other side of the room, and everything else had gone silent as well.

Twilight looked around herself, and saw that the same pedestal was standing next to her. It was glowing with just a tint of green now, unlike the white it had earlier. She decided to press it, hoping it was continue the scene.

She blinked, and realized that the memory before her had completely disappeared. She was now standing back on the crystallized walkway that extended in front and behind her. She looked at the pedestal, and took note of the fact that the orb sitting on top was no longer glowing with it's weak aura.

Why would he lie to us about his first name? She thought. She looked down the path, and looked eagerly over to the next pedestal. Well, only one way to find out.

As she had before, Twilight made her way over towards the next stalagmite and examined it. Just as the previous one had, it was topped with a sphere that gave a soft white glow. She tapped it, and she felt another pull into the fabricated reality.

The drop was much lower this time, only a few inches.

She felt the cold grass on the side of the beaten path that led up to a...cottage? Fluttershy's cottage! Twilight thought. Then, this must be when he..

She began to hear a violin, along with a voice. “Roman Calvary choirs are singin'~ Me, my mirror, my sword and shield~” She turned to it's origins, and was surprised at what she saw.

There, with his legs hanging over the edge, was Jack. His violin was playing away in a quiet volume, and his voice was nearly a whisper. Next to him was Fluttershy, laying down with her head on his side, lightly snoring.

Twilight watched as the calm breeze had picked up Fluttershy's mane and Jack's robe every few moments. It was tiring, to say the least. Given the events that had transpired earlier today, and how late it actually is at the moment, Twilight felt that she could fall asleep right here and now. But for some reason, no matter how she felt, her body would not allow her to delve into rest. It was like the memories restricted her from losing her tight embrace on reality.

She listened as the hushed tune of the instrument began to decrescendo into silence as the song ended. Twilight watched as Jack picked up Fluttershy slowly and made his way towards the door. The ground around her began to get fuzzy, so Twilight hightailed it towards the two.

She got in right as he closed the door, and followed the bipedal figure upstairs. When he got to the top, he opened the door to her room and began to set Fluttershy down. He made sure she was comfortable under the quilt. Twilight watched with anticipation, and heard a single thought out loud.

Why does she look so familiar? Jack thought, and Twilight heard. He placed his hand in her mane, and lightly ran his fingers through the fine silky-smooth hair.

Suddenly, Twilight felt a burst of memories come over her. From one second to the next, she simply knew what had just happened to Jack; She saw what he saw, all in an immediate flow of knowledge. She had just learned of all the things about his daughter, all of the past that Jack had just been forced to remember at this very moment in time.

It was eye-opening to say the least; Now she understood why he seemed less than willing to stay with Fluttershy for an extended period of time. She simply reminded him too much of his own daughter. But why he was still more closed off from others, though, remains a mystery.

She watched him, with the same distortion of reality that he had, as he descended the stairs quickly and quietly, grabbed his stuff and ran out.

He was sprinting halfway down the path when he took a sudden stop. Just like before, everything paused in time. Twilight looked around herself again, and like the previous time, there was another pedestal beside her.

She looked back towards Jack, who was not much farther down the path than she was. She had so many questions to ask, and she might not ever get any of them answered.

As she tapped the pedestal once again, she asked herself one question in her mind..

Why did he seem so willing to go?

As the crystal world came back, she heard a voice say something, an echo of a memory that was put here, almost as if he was talking to her directly. “I'll be fine.” It said. I'll be fine.. She thought. Wait, he said that at the castle! Why would he say that, unless...no, he couldn't be, could he? Do those even exist? I doubt it. Even Celestia.... She paused.

Celestia....

She decided to stop her monologue to herself before too many theories could be created. Twilight looked over to the next pedestal. The least I could do is look at all the evidence first. She quickened her normally paced walk, and made her way over to the diamond-Esq stand.

She unconsciously held her breath, in hopes that there would be some sort of answer to her questions behind all these memories, not just more questions.

She tapped the stone sphere and watched as the world destructed and reassembled itself again. This time, she was in a house; Two stories, with a kitchen behind her, stairs to her left, and several entrances to various rooms on her right, along with a covered window in front of her. A few pieces of furniture littered the room; A couch, two padded chairs that looked as if they were rarely used, a single stool that sat in the center of the room with something that looked like one of Vinyl's portable 'beat-box' s as she called it, and a desk that sat against the wall at the window.

At the desk was Jack, writing away on some piece of parchment that seemed to be of importance. Twilight was having a hard time trying to figure out why Jack would want her to see this memory, but then decided that it must be what he was writing at the time was the importance. She stepped her way around the chosen décor and made her way towards the oak-wooden desk. She leaned over the edge and began scanning the page, but before she could made a single word out, he picked it up and began going over it himself.

Not out loud. She could clearly hear his voice, but his lips weren't moving. His thoughts from the memory instead, were what she was hearing.

“Dear reader,

It is with shame that you must find me in such a way. Such tragedy it is that must be the guillotine to the thin thread of life that I feel I have left. Since those few months ago, I am unable to function as one should, and am no longer use to anyone. I know that I will never move past the end of the only one I have ever lived for, and so, I simply wish to be with her again. Through my years I’ve learned of many things. One of them, is this: The fewer things you care for, the more you care. Since coming back, I’ve only cared for one thing, my daughter. I would give anything to be with her again, and that's exactly what I intend to do. Whether my eyes are deluded I will not know, but it is still through those eyes that I see a way to be reunited.

Suzanne, I shall see you soon.

Sincerely,
Jack Alexander.”

Twilight watched with tear-brimmed eyes as he folded the letter up and placed it on the table. “What do you mean by that..?” She asked emptily, grasping a small amount of hope he could answer her.

He did nothing in reaction to her, and instead, opened a drawer on the side and dug his hand through the insides. He pulled out a silver piece of metal and held it in his hand.

It took Twilight several moments of thinking before the answer came to her, as to what it was. She now recalled the device from the earlier memory. The shining shard of steel that was now in the clutches of Jack was something called a 'gun', and it shoots lethal projectiles.

Very lethal projectiles.

She only watched in disbelief as Jack pulled back the hammer and dragged it's aim further up. She watched him as he silently bit on the end of the barrel and closed his eyes.

Twilight couldn't bear to watch any more, and closed her eyes right before the loud bang the followed. She stood there for who knows how long, scared to open her eyes to what was surely a huge mess. She peaked just a bit and looked at the crimson spray that had landed for several feet behind him. Some of it was still in the air from the memory stopping.

She hid herself from the sight again by throwing her hooves over her eyes, and began to cry softly. Her tears slowly ran down her face, leaving a trail of salt-watered fur. She remembered back to the castle, and the conversation they had before. What is it you wanted me to see!? She thought. What is it that could ever make you do this?!? Why in the universe would I ever need to watch...you die........twice.

That's when her mind clicked. This is his memory.

“I'll be fine.” he had said.

“...it will show you everything I am...”

She jerked her head up. Suddenly Twilight realized that her earlier suspicions were perfectly accurate.

Stunned at this new information, she quickly disregarded the scene that now lays before her, and reached over to the pedestal that had, at some point, appeared. For the third time she watched as a realistic memory was burned away and nothing but crystallized information remained around her.

This time was different, though. The objects that flew around were no longer the off-white shades, but were now a deeper blue and violet. She looked around at her changed surroundings and took account of them. The seemingly endless walkway was now broken off next to her. She accidentally kicked a shard off the edge and watched as it descended into infinite darkness. On the other side of her was the more spacious area that is far too close to say it's in the same place as before. On it was another pedestal.

Twilight shifted her feet and walked over to the small pillar and pressed on it. The ground around it broke and began dropping at a constant speed. As it descended the light kept receding, until there was nothing but black. Then the pace began to quicken, faster and faster until she could no longer feel the elevator and was now dropping at the speed of whatever gravity would allow in this place.

Her heart was racing. She couldn't even hear her own panicking because noisy wind passing by. Her hoof hit the side of the shaft and sparks flew around, confirming that she was indeed falling at unnatural speeds. Twilight closed her eyes as she saw a glimpse of light under her. For all she new, the fall would be lethal. She hadn't anticipated this, so her mind was set into a craze. She felt the air become warmer as she neared it, and then, nothing.

The air stopped, noise died, screaming halted, and she could feel her hooves on solid ground. She opened her eyes to see the crackling of the fire, still burning to a crisp. The moon still shone bright above the sky, and a few ponies that had paid their respects had left towards home.

She looked at the silver watch she held, and saw on it, a timer. The inside of the timepiece that normally held some kind of networking of wires and gears was hollow, and contained a single piece of sorcery that was called a 'hologram', as Jack put it. The message on it was as follows: 3.4M. 28.7K. 40Yrs.

Twilight recognized those abbreviations. They were mathematical terms in 'old equestrian', as one would say. Being Celestia's protege meant that the Princess herself would help choose the studies Twilight took on. Celestia preferred the now dead language, which she so often signed her name in, and it resulted her name being one of only two names that were known and used outside of studies (Luna being the other, upon return). The princess had taught Twilight everything about that language, including all of the odd and numerous abbreviations.

Okay she thought, it means... three million...four hundred and twenty eight thousand...seven hundred and forty...years. She was stuck on the last part on the end. That's...impossible. No, no, maybe it's how old the watch is. Or maybe how old his lineage is? It can't be... No-one could EVER live that long. Suddenly her memory struck her with how defensive he was about telling his age. Oh gods.... that's..... I feel terrible.

She sat there in a slightly somber silence, pondering the precarious events that have passed, and waiting for a certain someone to show, until he did.

“Beautiful.” Jack said, setting on the grass next to Twilight, and watching his previous husk cremate. She could already tell it was him, since his voice hadn't changed in the slightest. What she hadn't noticed was the severe lack of surprise surrounding her.

“Isn't it? I've never seen a soldier's funeral before. Is it always like this?” She asked.

A low hum kicked in as the large golden flames turned turquoise and began to truly destroy the contents of the casket on the water.

“More or less, though I’m disappointed no-one brought s'mores this time.”

Twilight halfheartedly smiled at the comment. The other half of her, however, wanted to be offended that he could look at death so passively. This feeling was reinforced when a few nearby listeners had picked up the comment, and glared at him with suspicion, to which the pair ignored.

“So, Twilight, have you learned anything from all of this yet?” Jack asked as if from some impromptu script.

Twilight hadn't exactly thought about learning anything from this experience, she was just trying to get through all of this in one piece. She shook her head. “Give me a few minutes. I'll have something.”

After a good ten seconds of solid boredom, Jack leaned in and whispered to her. “Need a few hints?”

It wasn't that Twilight would actually need it, but she was curious about what he had to say nonetheless. She nodded.

“Remember when I told you that riddle about what someone has to give up to trans-mutate themselves? Have you found the answer?”

She was suddenly confused by the question that didn't seem to be related to this particular subject, but she gave her answer anyways. “Someone has to give up their life. That's why you don't want me to know the spell.”

Jack smiled at her apparent revelation. “Very good, Twilight. You're quite clever. But the truth is I lied.” He said it as if it had been obvious he had been hiding something. “You see, it requires nothing more than what any other spell requires.”

A wave of frustration came over Twilight, but subsided for her curiosity once more. “Why?”

Jack breathed out a puff of smoke from a cigarette he had apparently lit while they were conversing. “For one thing, in the wrong han-..hooves, that spell could be dangerous. Imagine if Chrysalis could turn her minions into real ponies, or dragons for that matter.” He paused, taking a clean lung full of air. “For another, I’ve learned that it is damaging to force a society to evolve faster than it's natural pace. But the book I did give you wasn't exactly a new spell, just taking another one and messing with it really.”

Twilight wanted to kick him at this point, but she saw his point. It is the same reasoning that royalty and wizards use in defense of keeping powerful spells, weapons, or artifacts locked up in a castle, labyrinth, or any other secure area.

“So what did you gather from that, Twilight?”

“Dear Princess Celestia,” she started. “Today I learned th-”

“Just sum it up, I don't like reading other people's mail.”

She gave a huff. “Those that are close to you, will often try to protect you, even if you think the means are unreasonable or unneeded.”

“Well, that's good too. I was going more for 'Everyone lies, and for a reason' kind of idea, but yours works just as well.” He smirked, though she didn't know he did.

“You kinda suck at this 'friendship' thing, you know that, right?” It was her turn to smirk.

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Hey, aren't those your princesses coming?”

She looked off of the fire for the first time and saw two regal figures approaching herself and Jack. Both of their eyes glowed with life as the fire set a soft reflection. The star-filled hair of Luna twinkled in the night, and much like the real stars, gave a comfortable feeling for those that found themselves in the darkness. Even Celestia's primary rainbow hair held a weak glisten in it's flow. The two spoke with a motherly warmth to their voices.

“Hello Twilight, who's your new friend here?” Celestia asked in a calm and moderately curious tone.

“Huh?” she said. “What do you mean? This is..” She turned to look at him for the first time since they were at the castle.

There was no human in sight. What sat next to her was a white-coated stallion, with gray socks and brown hair. His mane was combed a bit, just enough to part the hair to the sides and clear his view, while his tail was less taken care of. Though, it almost looked natural on him, given the horn that protrudes from his head. His strong-blue eyes complimented the auburn cigarette that he was extinguishing at the time. On his arse was four cards, one of each suit, each with a king on them, and each having the 'Ace' symbol in the corner. He wore a leather-like vest, that, looked like it had be sewn together by somepony that could use more practice, and contained a variety of pockets for little nick-knacks.

The grown colt made a small bow to the princesses and said with a smile, “Jack Alexander at your services. Though you formerly know me only as Alexander. Call me Jack from now on.”

The royal pair glanced at each other as if surprised by this revelation. Luna pressed. “You mean, as in the supposed human that saved my sister?”

“Well, I was really just the show front, there was a doctor on standby just in case.” He stated calmly, expressing a bit of gratitude at the end.

The crowds around them had begun to leave in large groups, and left few ponies, allowing them to speak more freely. “And yet, you defied death, and soul banishment at that?” Luna added.

He motioned to the lavender companion next to him. “I believe Twilight here is entitled to answer that one.”

Twilight met the eyes of her mentor and mentor's sister with an honest gaze. “He is, in it's strongest sense, immortal. I can testify to this.” She met their curious gazes with a pleasant smile.

“Oh and, the guy doing the soul banishing really, really sucked at it. I was only in Tartarus for about three minutes, not even enough time to go through the brochure they had. Did you know they have a lava slide down there? I have never seen happier demons in my entire life. I mean ser-”

“Ahem.” Twilight cut in.

Jack got slightly nervous that someone he knew was finally rubbing off on him, albeit it could be worse.

“Well since you are back,” Celestia incited. “I was wondering if you would like to discuss events over some dinner with Luna and myself. Maybe as a celebration, and a thank you?”

Jack cracked a brilliantly stupid plan to mess with the princesses some. He cracked a wide smile. “Sure, I’ll come. I'm so hungry I could eat a horse!”

While Twilight was giving him a disgusted face of disbelief, the princesses only grinned and shook their heads. “Typical human behavior, wouldn't you say sister?” Celestia asked. “Yes, saying the worst of jokes at the worst of timing.” Luna added. This dissuaded Twilight of shock a bit, knowing he was only kidding, but she was still appalled he would joke about cannibalism. And the princesses only laughed!

“Alright then, is Sunday evening good for you Jack?” Celestia asked in her always polite tone.

“Yes, I believe so.” He confirmed.

“Very well then, we'll see you there. Farewell you two. Do svidaniya.” The milk-colored princess said.

The two flew off to gather their guards, leaving the pair alone.

“Twilight, I have one important question.” He said in a pleading manner.

“What is it?” She asked, worried it was another question surrounding morals, lessons, or anything else that required inquisitive thought.

….......

“When the heck is Sunday?”[/i

]

Alright everypony, i'm not dead! This failure of a Fanfic will be finished in due time. But having all advanced classes really hurts your free time. Regardless, i'll be trying to pace myself and be more descriptive for this last one. That's right, only one more chapter! For those that stayed after my stupid rant a couple chapters ago, thank you. I feel like i'm just an impatient SOB.

You know, hell, i'll probably be stupid enough to try and write a sequel. Maybe i should just give up writing all together and go make my tupla like i want to.

In any case, please comment more and thanks for sticking to this sorry excuse for a story.

Sincerely,
Alexander "Jack" the Paladin.

P.S.

Dear god guys, i need help thinking of a new title for this story. This one is terrible and i need help!