Improbable Truth

Chapters

Chapter 1: ...Something Odd.
Chapter 2: I Hate Paperwork
Chapter 4: Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
Chapter 5: Fire From the Heavens
Chapter 6: The Corpse
Chapter 7: Visitors
Chapter 8: Where Wolf?
Chapter 9: The Bird Way
Chapter 10: Slip
Chapter 11: Killer
Extra: With friends like these...
Extra: Lyra's Journal Entries
Extra: Fiddlesticks
Extra: Jeune
Chapter 12: Chaos Dawn
Chapter 13: Found
Chapter 14: Turn to Flames
Chapter 15: The Necronom-nom-nomicon
Chapter 16: Comparing Notes
Chapter 17: Chess
Chapter 18: Feathers
Chapter 19: In(s)ane Tasks
Chapter 20: The Occolt
Chapter 21: Eruption
Chapter 22: Tick Tock
Chapter 24: Shattered Glass
Chapter 25: Hard to Digest
Chapter 26: Cracked Reflections
Extra: That One Bath-house Episode That Annoys Me To No End
Extra: Not What You Expected
Extra: Bechdel Can Suck It
Extra: "I don't really celebrate holidays..."
Chapter 27: Fool's March
Chapter 28: Into the Maw
Prologue: Something New...
Chapter 3: Remembering the Past, Building the Future
Chapter 23: Simpler Way

Chapter 1: ...Something Odd.

I didn’t pass out, okay?

It was just…a momentary break to check my eyelids for light leaks. Yeah.

When I woke up ̶ er, finished my check up, I was in a hospital bed, the soft beeping of my heart monitor keeping me company. I could already taste the déjà vu. Maybe I got lucky this time and the episode lasted less than an hour. I looked down to see a pair of forelegs upon a barrel covered in dull turquoise blue fur. Apparently not. I took a couple deep breaths. Dad was no longer around to make sure I wouldn’t get into trouble. I was on my own, with a disease that no one, save a couple inquisitive doctors a couple states over, knew about. Wait. How badly did my deluded mind want to screw me over?

I threw off my covers in a panic, completely disregarding the breakfast tray that had been carefully laid on my bed to not wake me up. It wasn’t there. No, no, no, NO, NO, NO! Why did you do this to me, brain?! My p ̶ oh wait, there it is. Completely forgot humans are the oddballs in the animal world concerning genitals, with it, well, hanging loose and all. Or maybe my condition ‘translated’ me wearing clothes. Convenient.

I heard someone clearing their throat, and I whipped my head towards the door, letting the covers drop over me. The doctor who looked like a pony looked at me with an eyebrow raised. I smiled sheepishly. He turned to look at the mess of oats ‘n OJ on the wall facing my bed.

“Not a fan of breakfast?” He asked.

“Nah, sorry doctor.” I muttered, looking away in embarrassment. “I just thought I lost…something.”

“Ah.”

The ‘Ah’ of a guy who knows what another was doing but chose to ignore it. Nice to see the guy rules still exist in this hallucination.

“So…” he began, “as per routine, I’m going to need to ask you a few questions.”

A doctor, wearing a white coat and a toupee, entered the room. His dull eyes glanced over my bedridden body. “Yeah, m’kay,” he started in a monotonous voice, “I’m going to need to ask you a few question, m’kay?”

I sighed, the scene all too familiar.

“Let’s get this over with, doctor.”

<><><>

The entity surges through the hospital, taking care to not mess with the precise medical equipment. Invisible to the naked eye, but still capable of slightly affecting electronics. Keeping to the ceiling, its essence slithers about like an upside-down snake. The cardiovascular wing, the burns wing, awwww, the newborns wing! Wait. The entity found it, the X-ray wing! It could now determine what happened during that odd incursion. Although it has no physical body, it still shudders in anticipation. It would finally know, after all this time! It passes sheet by sheet, name by name, until it finally finds it. A full body scan for a pegasus presumed to have crashed into the library. No fractures, no contusions, no misplaced bones or viscera…the transformation the Veil made was flawless. Well, almost. To the very astute doctors, the fine white specks along the spine would be nothing more than an error in the machine. But the entity is sure that no doctor had noticed the needlepoint-sized white dots along his spine. The consciousness streams out of the room. The x-rays gave it more insight on what it suspects. It is no longer necessary to observe the young man, now a young stallion. But it will do it nonetheless.

Because he interests it.

<><><>

“So, Mr…Windell Green” the doctor continued, “All I need now is your medical history.”

“Mr. Green, I have good news and bad news, m’kay?” Dr. Lemont said as he checked my chart.

“Bad news first, doctor.” I asked. Both he and my father, Amadeus Green looked at me in surprise. Well, dad did, but Lemont just looked at me with one eyebrow raised slightly more than the other.

“You ruined the joke.” He said monotonously “You were supposed to ask for the good news first, to which I would have answered ‘Good news is you’re going to have a disease named after you.’” Amadeus’ eyes flared in anger, and he got up from his chair by my bedside.

“You think this is-” I grabbed his forearm, and he looked into my somber hazel eyes. I shook my head. I loved my father dearly, he had taken care of the both of us after mom died, but sometimes he was overprotective of me. He sat back down.

“What do you mean?” I asked, voice almost stuttering.

“I mean you’re lucky you’re alive, m’kay.” Lemont answered, voice constant. He took out a manila folder and scanned the contents. “According to your mother’s records, she worked in a very radioactive line of work. And it appears she only took maternity leave during the six months preceding your birth.”

“The pregnancy test was faulty…” my father grumbled.

“Anywho…” the doctor carried on “It appears to have affected your genetic sequence somewhat. Which has had a minimal effect on you, such as your lock of white hair, until the later stages of puberty.”

“But I’m eighteen,” I interrupted. “Shouldn’t there have been signs at around thirteen?”

“Not necessarily” he answered, “It seems that the effects were brought on by the final stages of maturation brought about by your pituitary gland. And that is why it took so long for there to be such an…interesting effect on your brain. I would say the result is impossible, but since the evidence is right here, I guess it’s just very improbable.”

A deep breath. “Is it terminal?” Amadeus cringed.

“We don’t know enough about the brain to get an answer, m’kay. This is unprecedented. Not some major change, but a minute one's in your, erm, ‘circuitry’, and enough to cause your…episodes.” I stared dejectedly to the foot of my bed.

“If I may make a suggestion?” Lemont asked, interrupting my brooding, “If you donate your brain to science, posthumously of course, we are bound to make large medical advancements in neurology.”

Father rose up, face red in rage. “Already going for-“

“Sure, go ahead and count me as a donor.” I interrupted. Dad whipped around.

“But Windell…why?”

“Dad, if there are any others who come across a similar disease, then that knowledge will help them. I may die in a month, or I may die in a couple of decades, or I may even die a century from now. But if I die and we don’t learn anything, then we’ll be hurting others. I don’t mind them picking my brain,” I chuckled “as long as it helps others who are going through the same things I went through. Real or unreal.”

“M’kay…I’ll just mark you down as ‘donor’.” The doctor scribbled on my file. “As for symptoms….”

“Mr. Green? Windell Green?”

I shook my head, seeing my messy pitch-black mane and that lock of white that stuck with me through the hallucination.

“Sorry. I got lost in thought there. So, medical history, right?”

“Correct,” the pony affirmed.

I scooted nervously in my bed. “I have a very rare genetic disease called ‘Green Neurological Disorder’”

The tan stallion cocked his head. “And I assume that you share a name with this disease is not a coincidence?”

I nodded. “I am actually the only one recorded to have it.” I chuckled mirthlessly. “Doctors said it developed in the womb, while my mom was working with stuff she shouldn’t have.”

“Oh.” The doctor’s demeanor fell, and his ears splayed back. “I’m sorry…and your mother?”

“Wasn’t so lucky. And she was the one who brought home the most revenue, so my dad really had to struggle to get enough for the two of us. He really worried too much for me, and he…passed on a year back.” I avoided eye contact. Tears were already stinging my eyes.
The stallion cleared his throat.

“And…the symptoms of your disease?” his voice cracked slightly. I guess he was new on the job. I closed my eyes in thought.

“Hallucinations, sleepwalking, dream-reality disassociation, bouts of apathy, bouts of…psychopathy, all of which happen in ‘episodes’ for indeterminate amounts of time. I’ve also been diagnosed with paranoia and a mild case of agoraphobia, but they may be unrelated.”
The doctor looked at me funny, and stepped back a bit nervously.

“And are you aware of when you have these…episodes?” He asked with an anxious smile.

“The first one occurred before I was aware I had the disorder. I am currently experiencing the second one.” I answered nonchalantly. My doctor scuttled back skittishly. “But it appears I am lucid enough to be aware of it, so it's likely I’m going to seclude myself until it blows over.”

He inched back to me slowly. “How do you know what you’re seeing isn’t real? And how can you be aware of me?”

“It makes logical sense that what I’m seeing is impossible. As for one of my disease’s quirks, it ‘translates’ things for me. Those I see will change in my mind to fit in my delusion, and their words slightly altered to correspond to my reality, or dangers like a runaway train would appear to me as other dangers, like a giant, carnivorous boar. Not logical, yet my subconscious recognizes dangers as detrimental to my well-being.”

“Wow…” the pony breathed. He blinked a couple times and added “Well, we should look over your X-rays and update or create your medical records, but you should be out by noon.” As he shuffled out of the room, I began to lose myself in thought.

I couldn’t get home in this state, and I couldn’t stay here. I could probably make a guess where home is, but I’ve been known to wander for miles during my previous episode. My father even found me a whole state over once. No, I couldn’t even figure out which way to go, and I had to stay out of town to avoid whatever shenanigans my mind would cook up. Wouldn’t want to freak out the populace. Worst part was, my delusion seemed to follow along the lines of a show I watched once. I didn’t particularly care for the fandom of said show, and truth be told, I only watched it because I was on a ‘story binge’, or when I basically read everything and anything I could get my hands on, and when I ran out of literature, movies and shows fell to my voracious desire to know stories. My Little Pony, as it was called, was simply one of the casualties.

But here is where my advantage lay. There was still a library. Twilight lacked wings. And from what I could gather, she was new in Ponyville. Therefore, I had the advantage on my hallucination. I knew what dangers existed, and I assumed which people my subconscious wanted me to avoid. Namely a pink character that I would have to avoid like the plague. Social interaction in this state is a big no-no. And my mind was broken enough, I didn’t need it to try and recreate the impossibility of Pinkie Pie. Therefore, I had to find out where Ponyville ended so I wouldn’t be detected. So close enough to occasionally come for supplies, but in a place safe enough for a crazy person, and yet somewhere where people can’t stumble onto. Or somewhere they wouldn’t want to go to. Okay, I had an idea, but I would need a map. And I wanted to avoid the inquisitive sort, so the library was out of the question. For now. I was going to read those books. I wanted to see how far the delusion would go. I would also need a means of income, as well as shelter, seeing as my last psychotic episode felt as if it had lasted two years. In actuality, it had only lasted six months, and I had dreamed about three-fourths of it. That would have been a problem in this episode, had I not spent the last two years training myself to lucid dream during REM sleep. Hopefully. I could not discount the possibility of a nightmare. That thought gave me hope. This may end sooner than I think.

Shelter would be easy enough: I would build one. Well, it would be easier than what job I was sure fit within my ‘no socialization’ parameters in a pseudo-society full of sociable people. Hell, even small towns are more sociable, and I was stuck here, because I knew what to expect, and what to avoid. As for the house I would build, I would need money for lumber and some tools, but I could get started on the foundations once I got out. Then I could get a job. I doubted I would need a resume for this, but it would take some time to find my employer. Luckily for me, all I would have to do is follow six mares into a forest. But to know when my window is open I would need to see one of their houses. Again, a map would be necessary. And I would have to build a temporary shelter out of sticks and tarp. Hopefully the knowledge I gained in my first delusion would help me.

A half-hour later, I trotted (tripped) out of the hospital with a new medical record. As far as I knew, I had stumbled onto an airplane and ended up in another country. At least the nurses and doctors were giving me a break due to my condition. First stop: town hall. Wait. I stopped mid-stride and almost fell on my face, or muzzle, in the middle of the dirt road. Where was town hall? Well…seemed like a little social interaction was necessary.

And since people will judge me for seeing them as characters from a little girl’s show, I’ll be looked down upon, ostracized, run out of town, TORTURED, KILLED-STOP.

I took a few calming breaths. Paranoia will get me nowhere. Calm thought and self-control will. Just give everybody nicknames, and if asked, explain that I have a neurological condition that screws with my memory and messes up names. It wouldn’t be a lie. React, but don’t feel. I took a deep breath and approached the market. Specifically, a rose-maned mare with a cream colored coat attending a stand.

“Excuse me,” I spoke, as she turned from her roses to face me, “I’m passing through town, but I would like to know where town hall is, I need to see some documents.”

“Of course!” she chirruped. “Just follow the road that way,” she flung her hoof to my right “and the second right is Mane Street, which leads right to it!”

“Thank you.” I said sincerely, as I headed out that way. If this is the start of a long, painful, dream, I mused, it begins with some very polite locals. At least this phantasm is peaceful and cheery, unlike the other one. I shuddered. I may never recover, and I may never know if there were any more real victims.

Chapter 2: I Hate Paperwork

Despite Ponyville being nothing more than a figment of my fevered mind, I found it to be quaint. It maintained all of the same building styles and colors from the show, as well as the friendly ponies that inhabited it. Such a beautiful, peaceful ̶

“WOOOAH!”

Okay, maybe not. I was blindsided from my left, sending me flying into a store. Shaking my head, I picked myself off of the purple duvet that had saved me and dusted myself off. Of course I wasn’t quite used to standing on three legs as a quadruped, so I fell onto the red couch on my right. Apparently, the shop owner decided it would be a good idea to store quills on the shelf above, and my crash had dislodged the box somewhat. So upon collapsing on the red couch, the quills finally broke free of their repressive regime between an ornamental vase and another box of quills, and found themselves attacking some poor, insane, sap. Namely, me.

The shopkeeper, watching the entire event, just buried his head into his hooves. I got up, quills still interspersed throughout my mane, and walked to the counter.

“So…” I coughed nervously. “Your, uh, couches are very sturdy, very comfortable.” The purple duvet chose that moment to give a sickening ‘CRACK’ and promptly fell apart.

“Just leave,” he moaned. I decided it would be best if I did. I shook my head and let the majority of the quills fall out. On the street, I saw a familiar cyan mare with a prismatic mane looking around frantically.

“Oh NO!” she stammered. “I flew into him so fast, I viperized him!”

“First off, it's ‘vaporized’,” I stated while walking up to her. “Second, I’m fine. Third, why?”

She turned to look at me, snorted, and fell over laughing. “BWAHAHAHA! Oh my gosh! Did you get into a fight with a chicken?”

“No, you sent my flying and traumatized the poor guy in there” I pointed backwards. She looked at the shop, then back at me, and fell over once more, bucking her legs up in the air, snorting in laughter.

“Yuk it up, Skittles, but I’ve got to go to town hall.” She got up instantly at that, hovering in the air, a scowl trained on me.

“Hey! It's Rainbow Dash, best flyer of Equestria!” She aggressively jabbed her hoof in my face. I grabbed her hoof and shook it.

“Windell Green, a pleasure.” She stopped glaring at me and just stared in befuddlement. I began to walk towards town hall once more. She stared at me for a moment, trying to understand my sparkling personality. She must have given up on her anger, because she started flying after me.

“Why do you want to go to town hall?”

“Several reasons. The main one is I need a map of land under jurisdiction of this town so I can settle just outside of it.”

“Why?” I chuckled at her slight voice crack.

“I’m not sure how taxes and society in general works here, and I think that it would be better, for both this town and I, for me to build a house outside the limits where I won’t bother anyone.” She nodded at my explanation.

“But where are you going to get the money to build a house?" she asked as she flew in front of me. "Do you need a job? I can probably get you on the weather team, it's something I could do to make up for, you know… You look a lot like one of my favorite teachers from Cloudsdale, other than the mane and coat colors. Oh! Maybe you can ̶ ”

“Listen,” I interrupted “I’m flattered that you would offer me a job, but I’m going to have to refuse, not just due to my medical issues, but because I’ve already got an idea where to find an employer who might need my skills. I just need to find her and I can get started on building my temporary home.”

We both stopped to see a brown stallion with spiky chocolate brown hair running frantically place to place holding some sort of metal flashlight in hoof. Ponies stared at him, but just ignored him after a couple moments.

“Skittles, can you tell me if I’m seeing things, or is that guy really running around like that?” Rainbow ignored my nickname and explained while flying onwards.

“That’s Time Turner. Sometimes he gets panicky about kumquat metrics and stuff like the Veil, the Void, and ‘timey-wimey wibbly wobbly’ stuff.”

“I think you mean quantum mechanics.” Rainbow rolled her eyes.

“Pfft, whatever. That’s egghead stuff.”

“Well, it seems like the Doctor is really panicky right now.”

“Why did you call him ‘Doctor’?” Rainbow asked.

“The nickname seemed to fit him,” I answered as we spotted town hall. “If you haven’t noticed, Skittles, I tend to give everyone I meet nicknames. I have a good reason for that, but I won’t tell you.” She nodded. At least she accepted my desire for privacy.

“Thanks for accompanying me here.” I said as we walked up to town hall. I may not like to socialize much, or at all, but having someone by me without ulterior motives is always nice.

“No problem!” Rainbow piped up “It was the least I could do after almost ‘vaporizing’ you. And plus, who would have protected you if another pegasus crashed?” She flew up high and gave a few jabs to an imaginary foe. I chuckled a bit at the sight, and gave her a wave as I walked into the circular building. I noticed a black cloud of smoke slowly going over Ponyville as I entered Town Hall.

At least I know when I am. Just before ‘Dragonshy’. Thanks for the subtle hints, mind.

No problem.

Not you, I’m talking to the unconscious, insane part of our brain.

How was I supposed to know that?

You’re me! You should know! What do you even do?

Meh. Sit around eating imaginary chips with the rest of our psyche.

THAT MAKES NO SENSE!

When did we ever make sense?

“Are you going to sit there and grumble, or do you need my help?” A voice broke through my thoughts. A yellow earth pony mare with a neat, scarlet mane, bearing a notepad cutie mark stared at me from the top of a staircase by the stage, presumably leading up to the mayor’s office.

“Uh…” Maybe this wasn’t the best start. I cleared my throat. “Sorry, but do you know where I can find the maps on the borders of this beautiful town?” The mare’s face brightened when I complimented her home, and gave a nod.

“I could show you the official documents if you’d like.”

“That would be lovely” I shot her a grateful smile, and she waved me to follow her as she trotted down the staircase and went behind it to reveal a heavy oaken door. Opening it let a musty odor and cold air seep out, as if it couldn’t fly fast enough to escape the horrors of old paperwork. The mare took a lantern hanging by the door, and tapped the underside a few times before a faint blue glow emitted from within it.

“The battery gem is running low.” She muttered. Holding it in her gritted teeth, she made her way down the creaky stairs, into the dark, where the bureaucratic nightmares lay sleeping. Despite my aversion for all things ‘contracts, land, and money’, I followed her down.

“Nopony has wanted to see the records for years.” She stated through clenched teeth.

“I guess I’m just curious” I answered. She nodded, seemingly accepting my curiosity.

When we reached the bottom, I was pleasantly underwhelmed. Instead of endless bookcases extending into the darkness, there were only two along the wall, a filing cabinet that had seen better decades, and a sad, wooden table in the middle of the room. The mare placed the lantern on the table and began to trail a yellow hoof along the spines of some dusty books.

“We normally keep records of ponies near the Mayor’s office.,” She mentioned. “Most of this is just official clutter that hasn’t been touched in a long time. Including the borders. Last time we had to go over that was when the Carrot family had a land dispute with the Apple family thirty years ago. Back then, they weren’t quite the friends they are today. The way Granny Smith and Orange Root tell it, not a day would go by without casualties from a thrown apple pie or carrot cake. Ah! Here it is!” She pulled out a heavy black book, and with a mighty grunt, dropped it on the table. It gave a creak, but the old guy held strong. She opened it up and started trailing through the pages and finally came to a page with a map of Ponyville, complete with borders of the town and family properties.

“Ponyville hasn’t grown much, or at all recently,” the mare said as I memorized the map. “Mayor Mare says that if Celestia allowed information about the Elements of Harmony to go public, we would get more tourism and immigration, but she accepts that they want privacy.” She froze.

“You’re not from here, are you?” she gulped.

“No.” I let her sweat a while, while she tried to work her mouth. I smirked. “But I won’t say anything. I’m planning a couple months of seclusion.” The mare let out a sigh of relief. Then she jabbed me in the barrel.

“You did that on purpose, didn’t you?” she grunted. I nodded with a chuckle.

“Thank you Miss. I hope you have a nice day” I said as I began to walk out.

She raised an eyebrow. “That was it?”

I nodded and waved as I walked back upstairs. I got out of the building and headed east. There was a small clearing to the south-east of Ponyville, by the northern tip of the Everfree, out of Ponyville jurisdiction, and just by the river. The only neighbor I would have was possibly a bigger introvert than I, and she was on the outskirts of the Everfree and the northern forest joined to it. I would be in the northern forest, close enough to the river to gather water and bathe in the morning, yet far enough from civilization so that I would not bother anyone. Of course, I had to remember that although I may perceive my neighbor as Fluttershy, they wouldn’t actually be Fluttershy, so it would be best if I explained my situation to them, no matter how much I didn’t want to. When I crossed the bridge, I spotted the little cottage.

And there seemed to be a revolution. Animals were stampeding about in chaos, birds were gorging themselves on seeds, turtles had been flipped upside down, and there was a bear parading a pole around with a snow-white rabbit atop his head, who was seemingly orchestrating the madness.

Oh, and Spike was tied to the pole.

“HEEEELP MEEEEEEEE!”

“Nope. Gonna go build my shack.” And I trotted into the woods behind Fluttershy’s house.

<><><>

The sun was setting when I was done digging the trenches in the clearing. I had spent my first hour gathering sticks and stones (and nabbing a tattered sheet someone stupidly threw away) to make a very temporary shelter. Think of a teepee, but dial it back a couple notches. It would keep most of the rain out, but if anything more than a light breeze hit it, it would fall apart like a dyslexic kid at a spelling bee. As for the trenches, my hooves seemed fine, but I was positive my hands were bleeding from digging the ten meter by ten meter trench. It wasn’t like I would use fine motor access for my fingers anytime soon. And digging a meter deep was pretty tiring. Nonetheless, I washed my hooves in the river and wrapped them in pilfered blankets, just in case.

I would be lying if I could say what a meter was, since animals had various sizes that did not match up, and I didn’t want to go through the trouble of calculating what a meter was from the curvature of the Earth or the weight of water. So I just assumed a meter was one body length.

Exhausted, I pulled my tattered blanket over me as I lay on my moss bed. The teepee was closed, the crickets began to chirp, and my first day of lucid insanity was ending.

But the chirping suddenly stopped.

I tensed. Was there a predator nearby? Was I going to die? All because I was too scared to live in civilization?

A melody began to play. And somehow, for some reason, I relaxed. Everything would be alright. I let out a deep breath. And as the first lyrics began, in that alien, yet comforting, tongue, consciousness left me.

<><><>

A small crowd of ponies moved discreetly to the lake north-east of town. Ponyville had many secrets; Granny Smith’s zap apple recipes, Carrot Cake’s family ties to the Apple family rather than the Carrot family, Filthy Rich’s addiction to lemon meringue pie. The Element bearers were simply more recent (and probably the biggest) additions to the town’s large repository of secrets.

But the oldest, and the most mysterious, was the Singing Lake. Few ponies knew about it, since it was generally agreed that it would be left for others to discover on their own, or shown to very close loved ones. In fact, Granny Smith had only discovered it when she stealthily followed her brother as a filly. Of course all those who went to the Singing Lake agreed that a large part of its beauty lay in its mystery. But its true beauty came once a week at sundown. For every end of the week, just as the sun set, a song would play.

Nopony knew where it came from, as it seemed to come from the center of the lake itself, but there was nothing there. And it would sing strange songs, sometimes in their language, sometimes in a language so foreign, the ponies were sure it was not of that world. And every performance was unique, and sometimes oddly relevant to current events.

Now some would say that it had to do with natural or harmonic magic, but ponies were not strangers to either magic or harmony. Unicorns that visited it said there was not a trace of odd magic, to the chagrin of the more inquisitive listeners. If it were harmonic, the ponies would easily join in. This was raw music, untainted by magic, yet brimming with emotion, and it was a mind blowing to the select few Ponyville residents who witnessed it.

When the few ponies came by the lake in eerie silence, they expected a melody about the events that occurred on Rockpick Mountain, a song of bravery and dragons. They were mistaken, yet not disappointed.

As the sun disappeared beneath the horizon, a lone violin began to play a sad tune. And a young voice began to sing

Ah shun yun

Instruments began to join the violin.

Kel vil ayes runal,
Crunaya ti nolumes terrusas
I ti grunas fumals
On tis vunes quanars

Vil umaes re li terrume
Ave I vil I veer
I fynes
I gruneer

At once a chorus of voices joined in.

Jun vil nu rumaeis lu mura!
Kulama vil nu qayeis lu ve
Li shona mi vil sura
Ti polave i ploave
Kim ki yark renura
Ya teriraman kunave

A tired voice replaced the young one.

Ah shun klum

R’ave re vil qayis ve
R’ave re vil qayis fyne
On grunve?
Vil qayis ve kruname

On mak ti ja wana on ja krenelma
Ker vil yene
Grunas heltan fumas
Vunes zotanner

Jun vil nu rumaeis lu mura!
Kulama vil nu qayeis lu ve
Li shona mi vil sura
Ti polave i ploave
Kim ki yark renura
Ya teriraman kunave

A deep, ragged voice sang in place of the tired one.

Ah shun yanas

Jes fayas numa
Jes glyns mi krunamime
Lu ime cun vilte pomlma
Jun humannime fumas he terrume

Dunaime vi fenyrs
Ker re vil yeneis mol
Gronime tis grunas he refyr
Ker yene tis lomis

Jun vil nu rumaeis lu mura!
Kulama vil nu qayeis lu ve
Li shona mi vil sura
Ti polave i ploave
Kim ki yark renura
Ya teriraman kunave

An old, yet strong voice rang out.

Ah shun punares,

Vil qayis bula vilte reloma
Humana nuy on wana
Vil ceris telouroma
Ker jes unums vil qayis yena

Jun vil rumaeis mura.
Kulama vil qayes ve.
Li shona mi vil sura
Ti polave i ploave
Kim ki yark renura
Ya teriraman kunave

And the instruments stopped. A lone voice, neither young, nor old, neither male, nor female, whispered, yet rang strong in the silence.

On ot qa moli krefara ker vil gruneer

Chapter 4: Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

The dreamscape is an expanse of the incorporeal ideas and beings located just below the Veil. As such, all those that can dream can receive ideas, stories, and impressions that skim across the Veil, as if one were to see things through a distorted glass pane. Sometimes, ideas are sent out, but where they go, nopony knows. But the things that exist in the Beyond, trapped between Reality and the Void, they are the creatures of nightmares. Abominations of blistered flesh and bloody maws, serrated beaks, tentacles that ooze pus, they glide by the Veil, reminding one of a shark circling prey. Those few given physical or magical forms that pierce the Veil to enter the physical realm often cause disaster. The Nightmare was one such intruder, infiltrating Luna’s mind from the dreamscape as if Luna was nothing more than a means of transportation for the parasite.

Luna couldn’t help but shiver, despite being in a realm where she once felt safe. The Nightmare ruined the dreamscape for the princess, the one place where she felt she was truly important. And now that she had returned to ease the dreams of her subjects, Luna couldn’t help but feel on edge. It was true that the Nightmare had robbed her of her sense of security, but there was something else that bothered Luna. When she had last been to the dreamscape, there had always been a sort of turmoil outside the Veil, movement that indicated the existence of the foul beasts that survived in the Beyond.

But now, a thousand years later, there was utter silence. Her ponies still had nightmares, but not of the dreaded shoggoths and other demons that plagued the Beyond. Did Tia destroy them? Were they hiding? Have they moved on to find easier prey? Luna shook her head. It was best not to question it. However, Luna couldn’t help but feel as if the sharks had dispersed because they sensed something else…something bigger. She decided to ignore these paranoid thoughts, and tend to the dreams of her little ponies.

Where should I begin? She approached a bubble of sky blue, and took a look from the outside. Is that…a giant muffin? Luna could see a gray pegasus mare with a blonde mane digging throughout the muffin like a worm in an apple. The alicorn chuckled. That is a dream I would enjoy. Although, Luna gave a grin, I could imagine Tia having the same dream with cake.

Hours passed as Luna tended to the few nightmares of the Equestrians, from squishing giant spiders in a filly’s dream, to consoling a royal guard who lost his friend on a deployment to the border of the Badlands. Luna was about to return to the physical realm, when something caught her eye. A dream bubble, secluded from all the others, spinning faster than any other. A lucid dream. Luna’s eyes widened. They were rare enough, but Luna always enjoyed watching, and sometimes even interacting with them. With little more than a moment’s hesitation, Luna touched the bubble and entered the dream.

<><><>

I was human. But I knew I was dreaming. I was standing on the hill overlooking Ponyville, a dark forest behind me, wearing my turquoise hoodie, jeans, and because this was my dream, socks and sandals. Because if someone told me off for wearing socks and sandals, I’d know I wasn’t dreaming. Plus, I always found them comfortable like that.

This was my dream. I was aware. I was in control. I willed the buildings in Ponyville to float in the air, to spin in circles, to grow chicken legs and fight one another. It was my will, and so it was. And for once, I was in control of the madness. There was an order to this chaos, my order. And simply knowing for sure that it was not real, that what I was seeing was indeed impossible, a sense of security flooded through me. I still had my dreams.

Until she came. I felt something enter my dream, the feeling not unlike someone managing to squirm their finger inside a clenched fist. I sat down and willed myself to be invisible. Eventually, a dark, ethereal-maned alicorn flew down from the sky and landed in front of me, back to Ponyville. I quickly restored order to the small dream town.

“We know thy art there.” She trotted closer, but it was still my dream, so it was about as effective as moving forwards on a treadmill. Luna noticed, and adopted a hurt expression. “Art thou…afraid of us?”

Awww, dammit, she’s doing that pouty face…this is so much more potent for real…or, well, in a dream. Note to self, don’t get caught by pouts outside of the dream. Taking care to disguise my voice, I elected to respond, and really determine if she was an extension of my delusion, or, against all odds, the real princess Luna.

“I am not afraid of you,” Wow, that deep reverb voice is as awesome as I wanted it to be. “I am simply…unsure. I don’t really know if I have become delusional once more, or if the more improbable had occurred.” Luna perked up.

“Thou doubts thy senses?” She snorted “Thou seem well-spoken for a madcolt.”

“I have a good reason to. And what makes you think I am male?” Luna rolled her eyes.

“Please. Thy voice is the perfect ‘mysterious male voice’. If thou were’t a mare, thou wouldst hath chosen something more…” She circled her hoof around in the air. “Original.” Wow. Sassy. “And do not try to change the subject. We art very curious, but we art also willing to help thee.” Oh, what the hell. I know I am dreaming, and if this is just an extension of my insanity reaching here, which I don’t think (or so I hope) is true, then I don’t think there is any harm in talking to it. But if it really is Luna, I have to be careful on what I mention, I don’t want to be tossed into an insane asylum, or exiled, or-stop. Just measure my words.

“I doubt my senses because they have deceived me once before. Even now, I am not completely sure you are not an extension of the madness seeping into my dreams. Heck, the only reason I trained myself to lucid dream was so I would be confident if I was dreaming or not. It is true that you may be Princess Luna, but it is far more likely that it is not the case. And when I wake up, I will be in the delusion once again.” She didn’t see me, but I bowed my head.

“Why hast thou not sought medical attention? Or mental aid?” There was a rumbling as the trees behind me quickly caught fire, and were consumed by the raging inferno. Luna’s eyes widened, and she stepped back slightly. I let her.

“I have very bad memories of my last visit to one such facility.” I spat the word out, and I made sure my vehemence permeated throughout the dream. “Not an experience I would like to repeat.” Taking a breath may not be necessary in a dream, but it did wonders for my flared temper. The trees behind me melted into ashes, but more slowly grew in their place. But there were still a few embers floating about, moving haphazardly between the pines like lost fireflies.

“How does thee know what thou’st see is not real?” Luna asked. I considered telling her the truth, that for me, magic was impossible, meat was delicious, and unicorns, pegasi, and all that other crazy stuff was nothing more than mythology to me, and I may have come from a different reality entirely. But I couldn’t help but feel it would be placing me in danger if this was the real Luna. I saw shadows flitting between the trees behind me in the reflection of her eyes, the light of the embers making them seem even larger.

“Honestly, I wish I could tell you, but I believe that telling you will end up hurting me.” I’ve never had a lucid dream with an element I could not control. And you can’t be something I consciously made, because I’ve been willing you to sing some Jimmy Buffett for most of our conversation. So either you and everything outside is real, or, more likely, lucid dreaming doesn’t beat back the madness. I guess all that effort was invested in a flimsy hope. Luna frowned.

“Why dost thou not trust us?” The scattered leaves began to smolder, the embers grew larger, and the shadows in the forest grew longer. Luna stepped back again, wings flared out.

“My mind wasn’t the only thing to deceive me.” This was getting too personal. Time to flip the tables. “But enough about me, let’s talk about you.” I could hear my sneer through the voice modification. “How do you know if you really are you? For all you know, you were Nightmare Moon for a reason, and the Elements tampered with your memories, just so harmony would be restored. Harmony isn’t stable, it’s a fickle thing that demands the sacrifice of many to make sure everybody, or rather, everypony is happy. It is stagnant, unbalanced, and too easy to fall apart.” Luna looked baffled, and I was pretty sure I could see the fear in her eyes. “The real you could have been stripped away like an ugly coat of paint by the Elements. Or it could have put a veil over your senses to get it to do what they want you to do. Or you may still be on the moon, slowly changing during a dream, from when Celestia first used the Elements against you. I may be the voice of reason in your mind, calling out.” I paused.

“But you will never know for sure.” I willed a powerful updraft to take her out of my dream, and it was so. I chuckled mirthlessly at the sight of Luna tumbling off into the distance, before she disappeared with a small flash. “Say hello to Team Rocket for me.”

I opened my eyes. Pony once more, I shook my head in disappointment. I could have said a thousand things, and I chose to go with a bad Pokemon reference. It sounded so lame. But still...I’ve never experienced a lucid dream like that. Could this all be...true?

<><><>

Luna could not help but panic as she hurried through the dreamscape. The lucid pony ̶ No, not a pony, she corrected, he said ‘anybody’. And what he talked about, it was dangerous, different, so…unpony! He could be a danger to all of Equestria. Luna may have tried to not think about what he said about her, but his words kept prodding at the back of her thoughts. So great was her haste to reach the ley line to the waking world, Luna failed to notice something stir beyond the Veil. Something far bigger than the creatures of the past, far more ancient.

Activating the ley line, Luna burst back into her chambers in a flash of blue light. She had to warn Celestia of the impending danger! Her royal horseshoes clicking against the pristine floor increased in rhythm as she approached her sister’s quarters. Ignoring the guards, she burst into Celestia’s room, and saw her attending her duties by raising the sun.

“Sister!” she rushed over to the Sun Alicorn. “We bring grave tidings! Upon exploring the dreamscape, we happened to find a lucid dreamer!” Celestia opened her mouth to say something, but Luna rambled on. “Furthermore, he hath disguised his voice and form when we went to see him, and he admitted to not trusting his senses, and he spoke of the fragility of harmony! We think this creature means to bring trouble to our fair land!” At this, Celestia stood straighter, what little sleep in her eyes dissipated from the potential threat. But just as quickly, she relaxed.

“Luna, if he admitted that he did not trust his senses, then it is obvious we are dealing with one who is mentally unwell. Maybe his little rant was nothing more than the talk of a madcolt?” Luna shook her head in response.

“Thou dost not understand, sister. He was lucid, in both dream, and awake. He was aware of his condition, and did not fully believe it was us in his dream. Imagine if a pony were to annoy him while awake, or if one stood in his way. He disbelieves his senses, thus he may decide they are not a pony, but a threat to him! Or his misguided senses would paint others as enemies when they would want nothing more than to help him!” Luna averted her gaze and whispered in fear. “We hath seen the shadows in his dreams, sister. Shadows that remind us too much of the Nightmare.”

Celestia moved closer to her sister and nuzzled her neck.

“Don’t worry Luna. If he is a threat, we will find him. If he is as lost as you think him to be, we will help him.” She looked into Luna’s eyes and smiled. “Now, if we could find him, that would be a good start. Do you have any clues?”

Luna shook her head.

“No, sister. He was very lucid in the dream, and was clever enough to disguise his form and voice. We could only sense he was there, and see his emotions in the forest behind him.” The younger alicorn paused a moment and continued. “He grew very angry when we suggested mental aid, and he verbally lashed out when we broached the issue of trust. Then he threw us, quite quickly, out of his dream”

The two sisters frowned, deep in thought, before Celestia spoke up.

“If he was lucid enough to disguise himself, we may not be sure if he was a pony or not. A madcolt, an insane gryphon, a deluded minotaur, those would all work, correct?” Luna nodded. They both knew that although non-pony dreams were harder to enter for Luna, they were easier to go into the closer they were to potent ley lines, which meant most of Equestria was ‘multi-species dream territory’ for the dark alicorn. “And if he has as much control to fling you out of the dream, then disguising his voice to make it seem like he was male would be no problem.”

“So what we are looking for may be a madcolt of any species, and may actually be a madmare.” Luna grimaced at her own statement. “Forgive us, sister, but that seems much harder.”

They sighed simultaneously.

“I suppose,” Celestia said dejectedly, “The best we could do is keep our ears to the ground. We should send more scouts along the borders of Equestria. Shining Armor will lead the watch on the Badlands border, since that is where danger most likely lies.”

Luna nodded and started to trot back to her room, but errant thoughts still fought in her mind. I should know better than to let these thoughts consume me. These are the same thoughts that made me vulnerable to the Nightmare. She turned back to her sister.

“Actually sister, we would like to talk to you about some…doubts.” Luna approached the Sun Alicorn slowly. “While we were in his, errrrr… let us call it 'Lucid' for now.” Luna took a breath to steady herself. “While we were in Lucid’s dream, he claimed that it was possible that we are still on the moon, dreaming, or that the Elements have changed everything we see, or even that the Elements changed who we ̶ who I was. And these thoughts, they assail me, they pester me, and they fester in the back of my mind. And ̶ ” Luna was interrupted by an angelic wing draped over her back. The Solar princess smiled at her sibling.

“Doesn’t this feel different from a dream? Don’t you know that no matter what the Nightmare made you do, I would always try to get my sister back? And do you really believe my sister, the gentle, artistic, shy, Princess Luna, would ever do what the Nightmare did? Do you think I would want any less, settle for any less? You are my sister, Luna. A victim of a monster, but a frank, loyal, humorous mare who was twisted for that parasite’s foul plans.” Celestia nuzzled her sister once more. “I will always love you, and I would do anything in my power to help you when you are hurt. Your scars will heal in time, dear sister. But for now…” Celestia summoned a bell and daintily rang it three times. Within seconds, a mare with a mustard coat and perfectly simple brown mane entered. “We are going to spend some time together, and we won’t be disturbed. We are going to talk over some tea, biscuits, and ̶ ”

“A margarita!” Luna blurted out. Both the maid and Celestia looked at the Lunar diarch in surprise. A visible blush came to Luna’s cheeks, as she worked her mouth to continue. “We…have been craving one recently. We don’t know why.” The maid shrugged and exited the room to carry out her request. Celestia chuckled.

“It’s nice to know you have been looking up the advances in beverages we’ve made in the last millennia.” Celestia coyly smirked. Luna’s blush only turned darker.

<><><>

Aside from my dream, the past week had gone swimmingly for me. With the funds I got from Zecora, I was able to afford food directly from the farms rather than going into Ponyville. I managed to convince Carrot Top, who I called “Ginny”, to keep the extra bits I gave her because I “liked the cut of her jib”. It took a few minutes for her to accept the money, but she eventually realized that I could be very stubborn, and decided to accept.

Surprisingly, food was cheap, and I quickly had money left over after getting assorted vegetables, namely, potatoes. Potatoes were necessary for basic survival. For humans, at least, and if the Irish could do it, so could I. Pots and pans were easy enough to come by; offer to buy some from the Apples. Thinking nothing suspicious of a traveler buying appliances, they were happy enough to try and give me a discount. I didn’t feel right paying ten bits for a frying pan, two good pots, a soup ladle, and a complimentary axe, so I insisted I pay the normal price. AJ seemed confused, but Big Mac gave a respectful nod. Thirty bits lighter and a frying pan, two good pots, a soup ladle, and a complimentary axe heavier, I made my way back to my refurbished tent, now with sturdier sticks! The somewhat chilly air spurred me on to the clearing. It was getting pretty nippy, but I decided not to think about it.

I was satisfied with how much I was doing, and felt a swell of pride when I saw the beginnings of my house. Already, stone had been carefully placed to fill the ditches, making a stable base for my walls. Lumber that I had bought from Pine Timber, a big lumberjack who lived in the forest to the south of Ponyville, was carefully placed as floorboards on the ‘inside’ of the square of stones, with a tarp covering it so rain would not damage the wood.

Putting down my new pots in a pile by the fire pit, I entered my tent for a few minutes of thought. There were several inconsistencies that I wanted to look over. The way these people act around me is inhuman! I got a job from Zecora practically on the spot, which I doubt would have happened anywhere I’ve been before. The Apples were very happy to sell to what they thought was a nomad, and even insisted on a discount. What is it with these folks and money anyways? I know haggling is a thing, but apparently, I’m either being well-paid, or people are trying to sell me stuff for less than they should. This is so odd. Unless…I took a sniff at my forelegpit.

“Eugh, ah!” I retched, “This is why! I smell awful! Next objective: jump in the river, then buy soap. Huurg. Awful…OH GOD, I THREATENED CARROT TOP WITH HOURS OF THIS!”

<><><>

The wolf ran through the peculiar forest, its steel-gray fur rippling in the wind as it chased its prey. The past few months had been odd for it. One moment, it was hunting in the snow with its brothers and sisters, the next, it found itself in the strange forest, stranded, alone save for a few unrecognizable lumps of meat and bone and some patches of melting snow.

But the beast had little to fear from the forest. It was warmer, sure, and some other predators were strange, such as the feline with a scaly tail, and the other, smaller wolves made of tree-material. Wood. Sticks, branches, and twigs. The wolf gave a smirk as it steadily approached the fleeing deer.

There was another thing. Ever since it had come here, it had changed. It began to know things, to think things. He had realized, after a month, that he had become aware of himself. Sapient. I am sapient. But I am still a predator, and the deer before me is my prey. The wolf leaped forwards and bit hard on his victim’s leg, his powerful jaws crushing the bone to calciferous shrapnel. The food tumbled, and he took the opportunity to tear its throat out.

But sapience came with a price.

As the light fled from the deer’s eyes, he could not help feeling troubled. I’m sorry. I’m hungry. I wish it wasn’t so, but such is the cycle of life. Sometimes I wish I hadn’t become aware, so I wouldn’t feel like this every time. And it is worse still that I suspect you were sapient as well. He shook his head and began to eat. He would eat all that he could, so he would not be forced to eat another for some time. When there was nothing left but bloody bones, a few of which were cracked oven for the marrow, the beast looked around.

It seems as if I am no longer in that other forest. This place feels…different. The smells are purer, and the scent of rot that permeated throughout that dark forest is no longer here. No, it smells like…them. The wolf knew that odor far too well, a smell that carried well in the tundra, and a fragrance that could only be attributed to one species. The smell of smoke. The smell of fire. The smell of death. The odd, shambling creatures that hunted his kind only rarely for food. It was only now that the wolf realized that they were probably just as sapient, if not more, than him now. I know now which advantage they held. Intelligence. And I do not want to know what would happen if one were to exist here.

But curiosity could not be denied, and the wolf approached the origin of the scent. He came across a clearing, with weird piles of stone and wood, seemingly organized for a reason. And by it…he recognized the shape as a den for one of the creatures. He tensed as he saw similar tools. The club, which had an oddly sharp end, the fire pit, and black pots. But what came out of the tent was not one of the dreaded creatures.

What…what is that? A turquoise quadruped, lacking the distinctive flat face, odd forelimbs and strange claws the beast had learned to fear, had settled down in front of the pit and began to make a fire. The wolf saw its flat teeth as it held a pan in its mouth while it sparked a fire into existence.

You are not one of those creatures. For that, I am relieved. Unfortunately for you, you are prey. And although I regret it, you will be my next meal, when I become hungry. And the Gray Direwolf sulked back into the depths of Rambling Rock Forest.

<><><>

Far north of Los Pegasus, and equally south of Vanhoover, there lived an old fishercolt. An earth pony stallion, with a blue coat and a greasy, graying mane, spent his days fishing and drinking. Fresh Halibut had built his hut decades ago, when he saw the cove for what it was; a beautiful place to spend the rest of his days fishing. He proposed to his wife there, they got married there, and, a couple months ago, she died there.

So Fresh continued his existence, alone, using alcohol and salt to get through the day. As the sun sank into the shining ocean, Fresh felt a sense of unease. Deciding it was nothing more than his buzz wearing off, he took a swig. The sensation ebbed away quickly. But there was something else. A slight shuddering. A pause. And another shuddering. Fresh decided that was enough alcohol. But the unease came back. And it came back with fear. An unnatural, archaic fear.

Fresh didn’t know it, but he was feeling the aura of a powerful being from beyond the Veil. And had his vision not been shot by all the alcohol, he would have seen the colossal form that approached Equestria from the west. It walked on two legs, like a diamond dog, but that is where the similarities ended. Its skin oozed toxic pus consistently, and it had four huge, curved claws at the end of each arm. On its back were an enormous set of leathery bat wings, ends tipped with talons. But its head…the monster had blazing yellow eyes that screamed maliciousness, and a wide dome with a mouth hidden by a plethora of tentacles that writhed consistently.

As the titan approached, it began to slow down. Five hundred meters from shore, it stopped completely. Fresh couldn’t help but look up at the massive blurry being, noting how terrifying his last hallucination was. The creature stood there, and, with a voice that made Fresh involuntarily shudder, began talking in an indecipherable language.

“~ I know you are here, whatever you are. ~” Almost instantly, a sphere of the darkest black appeared in front of the titan, suspended in midair. Tendrils unwrapped from the sphere and slowly flowed outward in every direction. There were many, moving seemingly at random, but even in Fresh’s addled state, he noticed two small tendrils seep down low, near the water, and move behind the colossus. Five tendrils made themselves obvious by thickening and vibrating at different frequencies.

“~Cthulhu, ~” The mass of black spoke, “~ You aren’t supposed to be here. Your place is in the Beyond. ~”

The giant let out a bark that Fresh could easily identify as laughter.

“~I choose where I go, creature. If I want to come to a world to eat, to hunt, to destroy, all for my amusement, then I will do so. And with so many realities connected, my brethren and I should do so with ease. Yet…~” The hulking figure took a step forwards, but failed to notice as the low black tendrils closed into a loop surrounding it. “~…for some reason, the armies refuse to go into any realm, save the one with the Beyond we have been trapped in since the beginning. I have traced this realm by finding out where my minions refuse to go the most. Do you know why, creature? ~”

The floating being’s tendrils slowed.

“~ I do. Because despite being from beyond the Veil, you still belong to that universe. Errant shoggoths and other demons can exist far away from their native Beyond, but entire populations know instinctively that to do so would mean annihilation. ~”

“~ So what is stopping me from simply ignoring these idiotic instincts and destroying you, as well as everything in this world? ~”

“~ …I must ask you, leave, please. ~” There was a thunderous laughter from the titan, while another tendril split off from the unnoticed loop and rose up behind the behemoth.

“~ So, ~” the giant continued, “~ Nothing can possibly stop me…save for those two beings I could sense, of great magical prowess. No matter. I will crush them. ~”

“~ What do you want? I could give you anything for you to return to your realm and stay there. ~”

“~ I wish for nothing more than death and destruction. ~” The two stood there silently, observing one another. The sphere floated back, then slowly moved forwards, near the creature’s chest, moving along to its right arm.

“~ Your physical body is impressive. Skin as hard as steel, with natural and magical regenerative abilities that allow you to survive the harsh Beyond. Survive, not live. But would the same be said about you in the Void? ~”

“~ What are you insinuating? ~” And the rising tendril, faster than Fresh's eyes could follow, fell forwards and passed cleanly through the monster’s right arm at the shoulder. As it roared in pain, the same tendril caught the arm before it hit the water, and the loop began to coalesce into a thicker tendril, before it separated behind the monster, and with a sound that was not heard, but felt in the bones of the old fishercolt, a fissure opened behind the monster. It was not pitch black, but the color that all blind people see, the sound that deaf people hear, and what rocks think. Nothingness.

The sphere pushed the monster into the tear, almost effortlessly, and carelessly tossed the arm of the beast after it. Its tendrils took the edges of the tear and, slowly, inexorably, closed it. And as quickly as the black sphere came, it disappeared.

A few moments passed, and Fresh looked at his bottle in bewilderment.

“Feather Dawn would be ashamed to see me like this.” He muttered as he threw the half-full bottle far into the sea.

<><><>

Windell biked to Benny’s house, distracting himself with some music on his phone. He was depressed, but now that he thought about it, he was angry at himself for not seeing the signs.Veronica...she...I should have been smarter. More emotionally guarded.

He dropped his bike on the lawn and let himself in. Benny was pretty okay on him dropping in whenever he felt like it, and today, Windell just didn’t care for the general civility of knocking. He found Benny frying some bacon on his gas stove, not a care in the world.

“Hey, Windell! How’d your date with Veronica go?” Benny turned to face Windell, wearing an apron that read ‘Please the Cook’, with an arrow pointing to his crotch. Classy, thought Windell.

“Are…are you frying bacon at five p.m.?”

“It’s never too late for bacon!” Benny gave him his trademark smile. “You want some while you tell me what’s up?” Windell threw his arms in the air, but couldn’t help giving a smile to his best friend.

“Sure. What do you want to know first?” Benny scooped some bacon out of the pan and put eight strips on two plates.

“How about why you’re so glum after a date with the lovely Veronica?” He passed Windell a plate. Windell’s smile disappeared.

“I had to break up with her…” Windell couldn’t help but cast his eyes downwards. “Apparently she’s been cheating on me with two other guys. I found out when one of the other guys saw her there with me. Worst part is, she told us both that we were ‘easy lays’ and that our ‘performances’ were probably the worst she’d ever had.”

“Wow, so you two actually got intimate?”

“Twice.” Windell sighed “But it was really involuntary the second time. I didn’t really feel like it, but she was forceful and got me to do it. Afterwards, when I told her how I felt, she said ‘guys always want it’. She tried a third time a week later, but I pushed her back, successfully. She slapped me, but at least we didn’t do it when I didn’t want to.”

Benny gave a low whistle.

“What a bitch.” He nabbed one of my bacon strips and started munching on it. “Cheer up, man, you’re better off without her. There’s so much more to life than getting hung over some bad girl. Life can only get better from here.” Windell looked up to him.

“Are you sure?” He asked. Benny beamed.

“Trust me.”

Chapter 5: Fire From the Heavens

I know that sometimes, I make really stupid decisions. For example; heating a burrito in the school microwave with the aluminum foil still on it. Stupid, and loud. Deciding to try and clean myself after nature called with a plant I didn’t recognize. Stupid, and very painful. Thankfully, Zecora showed me a suitable substitute, the Bui-Bui plant, when I asked for soft leaves. Now my TP and my bed is made of the same material. However, going after what I perceived to be a Diamond Dog from the air while I was picking Sky Mushrooms, only for him and his pack to surround me the second I landed, could really be the stupidest thing I've ever done.

“Why does winged pony follow me?” The small one in a red vest screeched. This could be a variety of things in the real world. I could have followed some poor woman menacingly, and the neighborhood watch surrounded me. Or, seeing as how they approached me with malicious intent in their eyes, cracking their knuckles, waving their spears around, sneers present on all of their butt-ugly faces, I stumbled onto a gang. And not the juvenile ‘Gimme your Yu-Gi-Oh cards’ kind. Luckily for me, I knew a trick that would get anyone off my case.

“BACK THE FUCK OFF! I’M BATSHIT CRAZY!” Perfect.

Instantly, they flinched and stopped approaching, a few even stepping back anxiously. I had to press the advantage, and maintain an unstable persona. And I doubted these people were the types to go to the authorities.

“Listen up, shitfaces, I’m going to be honest with you, I am utterly insane. In fact, I could probably kill and eat one of you with no qualms at all.” A bluff, but a very good intimidation tactic. Among humans, death is scary enough, but being eaten brings up a type of primordial terror. And diamond dogs hearing something like that from a peaceful, cute, herbivore? Needless to say, it was even more unnerving. On the slim chance these were actually diamond dogs.

“But I won’t, because, for some reason, my brain is telling me that we could help each other.” A few relaxed at that, but most were still tense and disturbed. The tall, lean one treaded forwards carefully.

“How we do that, pony?” he asked. I gave him a wide smile that made his eyes dart around fearfully.

“Easy.” I responded. “I’m pretty sure you guys do something involving a lot of waste products. I’ll come by and get them off your hands. And that’s it. You leave me alone, I leave you alone.” The tall one cocked his head.

“Waste…products?”

“What that?” asked the small one I had followed.

“I think he mean he take rocks we not want.” stated the big one. The small one and the tall one turned to look at him, then to me.

“That what you mean?” asked the tall one “You take rocks, and bad minerals like heavy gray rock, silver star rock, fake silver?”

“Nothing else?” squeaked the small one. I nodded. The three looked at one another.

“And if we want use you as slave, to carry rocks away?” inquired the small one, with a smug grin on his face. I leaned in closer to him, and he scuttled backwards as my cold eyes met his.

“If you are implying what I think you are, then you’d best develop a damn brain.” He whimpered and turned away. But I wouldn’t let him. I walked closer to him, forcing him back. “If you do that, I will escape, and you will find the half-eaten corpses of your brothers, rotting in the sun.” His back bumped into a tree as I approached. “And you will find one, every day, without fail.” I was over him, blocking the sun from his face, casting my shadow. “Until…” I leaned in to whisper in his ear. “You are the last one left. And I won’t give you the mercy of death before I consume you.” His legs gave out from underneath him, and I turned to the other dogs, pacing nervously as they watched. I couldn’t help but remember a poem by Maurice Ogden. Among them, I had the illusion of power, even if they outnumbered me. I was their Hangman.

I gave a wide smile, a complete turn from my behavior seconds ago, and continued talking in a jovial tone. “Additionally, nobody will get rid of the waste of your work. And it’s not like I can find stuff for you. I’m crazy, not magic” I tapped my head sarcastically. “I am willing to do so, every week, for as long as I’ll be here.” I walked towards the big one, who proved that he was slightly smarter than the other two leaders. “I’m confident that if you have two chariots, I can use one to take away the discarded products, and bring it back empty the next week to replace it with the other one, which you will have filled. Like that, I get to help you guys get rid of the stuff, and you pay me with a single thing.” I shouldn’t let them know that their rocks are what I need. And doing this for free would be too suspicious. So I need to ask for something, and something that I can’t easily find. Oh, I know!

“What you want?” The big dog grumbled. He probably thought I was going to ask for something ludicrous. I grinned and gave him my answer.

“A weapon.”

<><><>

I watched as the diamond dogs loaded a variety of rocks, from normal minerals to things they couldn’t use for tools in the cart. I kept smiling creepily around them, and I prepared to pull the thing. Okay, that’s a lot of rocks. Maybe I can trick myself into not feeling exhaustion by channeling the ‘flow’ from my wings to my hooves. More magic means more strength, right? I felt the inner flow, and tried to redirect it. I had been practicing on directing more flow to my wings the past few days, and I could do more, faster, the more practice I got. Now, I only had to do it in the opposite direction. Steadily, I felt my wings get weaker, while my legs felt more invigorated.

“Is big cart, with heavy rocks, pony.” The big dog looked at me. “You no need help?”

“I’ll be fine.” I latched myself to the cart and pulled. It was pretty heavy, but it would not be too hard. The small one gave me a spear, which I haphazardly threw in the cart. I waved to the dogs, my manic grin still stretched across my face. “I’ll see you all next week!” A few dogs nervously looked away, and one or two gave a half-hearted wave as I trotted away.

“Scary pony strong” I heard one say. I could practically hear the nods.

On my trip through the forest, I had time to think. That went better than expected. If it was a more jumpy gang, I would have probably been riddled with holes. I may be smuggling drugs…whatever. As long as I don’t snort the bricks of my house, I’m pretty sure I’ll be fine. Or maybe that was a false memory, and I ended up with stones. Stones I shouldn’t be able to logically carry. I slowed my pace. And I’m pretty sure my dream would have been either completely lucid, or simply an extension of false memories. But I remember all of my lucid dreams, which I never had, or dreams period, in my first delusion. Not to mention the sensation of the ‘flow’ through my body. I may really…I shook my head violently.

“No,” I said to myself, “I won’t believe it. It is indeed possible, and there is more evidence of the truth of what I see than ever. But I need more evidence. More than what I feel. Nonetheless, I should continue to act as if I am in either reality. It seems, well, more, than a simple delusion. I feel the ‘flow’ all of the time, the same way one becomes conscious of wearing clothes, so it can’t be a falsified memory, but it may be a fake sensation.” I took a deep breath. Enough of those thoughts. I need to plan the rest of my house. I already have enough wood for the roof and the supports. I’ll start digging an outhouse pit far enough away from my house, so it doesn’t reek. I should also remove some wood from the floor to make a fireplace and stove. Dual purpose! It’ll be super during winter…Crap! Insulation! Thick stone walls are nice and all, but it won’t keep heat as well. Maybe if I set up the walls to be mostly hollow, with bigger stones acting as both supports and separators…but what would I use to fill the hollow interior? A textile, like cotton, would work…Shit. I’m going to have to go to Ponyville for that. Maybe I could sell some of the rocks of value.

...I should apologize to Luna. It wouldn’t hurt.

I approached my half-finished home and my tent. The turning of flow, and the consistent use of it to pull the heavy load, had left me tired and very hungry. “Maybe an early lunch first.” I said to myself as I brought out a canteen of water, some lettuce, and a potato that I would cook over a fire. I was unaware of the icy blue eyes watching me from the dense underbrush.

<><><>

It would have been easy for the wolf to attack his prey then. It was vulnerable; tired from its journey, hungry, and most of all, it felt safe. It was weak. But the wolf knew better. He fought his instinct to jump out now and tear the prey limb from limb, to taste its flesh, to gnaw on its bones. He would never be able to eat it all, and the stallion would have died for nothing. He was still full from yesterday’s deer, after all.

The wolf didn’t just stalk his prey, he knew more now. He scouted his prey’s territory, explored beyond the forest. He found many things, especially in the direction the sun set. There was a small cottage where much smaller prey was being taken care of another similar creature, this one light yellow with a pink mane, but she was far less secluded than the other one. Every now and then, a variety of the creatures, which the wolf learned were called 'ponies', would visit the cottage. So, even if he could have gone in and eaten anything, from the tiny, bossy rabbit, to the bear that was smaller than him on all fours, it would have brought on the wrath of the local populace.

So the direwolf simply sat behind the cottage and eavesdropped. And the things he learned from idle conversation! He was surprised at first to understand the chatter of the rodents and the chirping of birds. It wasn’t full conversation like the ponies were capable of, but a more basic mean of conveying ideas, like “This food is good”, “That was funny!” and even “Thank you!” But not full-fledged stories, ideas, and original concepts, like the ponies talked about. Even if they were prey, he could not help but feel enamored by the tales the ponies spoke. From the time parasprites invaded, to the ‘winter wrap-up’, and then the more recent trip to the town called ‘Cloudsdale’ and the subsequent ‘Sonic Rainboom’. It was only when some of the animals closer to the back of the cottage smelled ‘danger’ and a ‘predator’ that the direwolf decided to limit his trips to the cottage.

But he couldn’t help but feel like he wanted to listen to more, to communicate. It was impossible, though. He was a predator, they were prey. They had to die so he would live, even if it was just a bit longer.

So he sat, he watched, he waited from afar. And when he was hungry enough, he would eat.

<><><>

Shining Armor really understood why the princesses sent him here. Truly, he did. As Captain of the Royal Guard, he was privy to sensitive information. The Hall of Armaments, where Equestria’s most dangerous weapons and artifacts lay, sealed, with accurate descriptions on what they have done, what they could do, who they belonged to, and who brought it in. Apparently a certain Miss Do had the highest count of sealed relics. There was also the Hall of History, where only the most privy would walk and see stained glass murals of important events in history. Shining was quite proud to have his sister on the most recent one. There were other secrets, such as the Hall of Celestia’s Moste Embarrassing Moments (inaugurated by Luna upon her return, as a joke), the Hall of Delicious Cake Recipes, and far more. Shining had only just realized the Royal Sister’s obsession with secret hallways, but chose to chalk it up to odd alicorn behavior, like Luna’s recent ‘perfect cheese hayburger’ mania.

So if Luna entered the dream of a potential danger to Equestria, it was only logical to secure Equestria’s borders in case the dreamer was a scout or capable of calling for reinforcements. And it was only logical that they would send the most experienced and renowned member of their guard to the border with the most potential danger.

But still, he thought, they didn’t need to send me somewhere so hot!

Shining walked across the rampart of the fort on the border of the Badlands, the mighty Fort Alamane. What the fort lacked in comfort, however, it made up in defense, and in spades. Originally built in the shape of a square from the surrounding sandstone two thousand three hundred and eighteen years ago, before the Royal Sisters came into power over the unified pony tribes, it had been destroyed five hundred and eighty four years ago by a marauding tribe of minotaurs, led by the mighty Praised Beast, and his massive warhammer, Ironshock, which called dark lightning down from the heavens. The first Alamane was destroyed by lightning, but the casualties on both sides were the worst in centuries, with hundreds injured and dozens dead. The attack was repelled when Praised Beast was felled by the dying unicorn, Beloved Curl. Beast had fallen, his troops disbanded, his hammer locked away in the Hall of Armaments.

The Alamane was erected once more, in the shape of a hexagonal fan, around a statue of Beloved Curl, with enchanted gems residing within its marble walls, and mithril plating the outside of the twenty meter walls and the thirty meter watchtowers. Celestia had spared no expense on a fort she considered to be on the most dangerous border, and skilled unicorns came annually to redeem and upgrade the enchantments. It was the most protected place in Equestria, save Canterlot itself.

Shining admitted that he was maybe a bit of a history buff, but he couldn’t really blame himself when it came to being raised in a household of scholars. At least he wasn’t as bad as Twilight. Despite the heat, Shining shuddered. She could probably name what Beloved Curl’s last meal was, and Praised Beast’s pet dog’s name. Shining passed by a couple of his troops, out of armor, playing dice, and decided not to reprimand them. There were six lookouts posted at all times, and he was confident that his soldiers could get ready when need be. But still…

“ATEEN-TION!” Within seconds, the three mares and two stallions donned their enchanted armor, and stood in a line. Where there were five ponies of differing ages, genders, and colors, playing a casual game of dice, now stood, in a perfect line, five white coated stallions, mirror images of one another in all but race. Five, stoic, immaculate royal guards. Shining scrutinized the guards, and after five minutes of motionlessness, Shining was satisfied.

“At ease.” The guards didn’t visibly change, but Shining could see their muscles relax somewhat underneath their enchanted coats. “Nice to see you colts are still in shape. Don’t get caught unaware.” The five nodded, and proceeded to get back to their game, taking off bits of their armor all the while.

Shining continued on the ramparts, up to Hawk Eye, the sole gryphon soldier stationed at the fort. Gryphon-Equestrian citizens were rare, and soldiers in Equestrian guard were rarer. They were more frequently found in cities like Cloudsdale or Las Pegasus, working as fishers or weather managers, despite being from a more honor-bound military culture, much like the pegasi. Shining had heard from some pegasi in the military that gryphon-caught fish was often far better than pegasi-caught fish, but he knew that was a minor reason for the small gryphon presence in the guard. As much as Shining hated to admit it, specist hate existed in Equestria, regardless of how it had drastically declined through the effort of the princesses. But ancient cultural ideas clung to the nobles and all those who were in their influence, and even older fears held strong among many ponies. A minority, yes, but still enough for it to be difficult for a non-pony in the guard.

Nonetheless, however much Hawk Eye’s eating habits bothered him, he was still one of his first friends in the guard. The two had moved up through the ranks together, one sometimes finding himself the superior of the other. However, Shining came out on top, becoming Captain of the Royal guard, while Hawk Eye remained First Lieutenant. But Shining Armor believed that Hawk Eye was more deserving of the position, and suspected that he was only Captain because nobles put pressure on Celestia for a unicorn of ‘higher birth’ to be placed in the position. Despite the validity of his claim, Hawk Eye waved it off, and told him it didn’t matter. Now that Luna had returned, Hawk Eye, like most gryphons and pegasi, was moved to the Lunar division, and was often paired with Shining in missions such as this one.

“Anything odd, Hawk?”

“Nothing odd, Captain.” His tone was curt, and his eyes were still on the horizon, but his mocking grin told a different tale.

Giving a good-natured punch to his friend’s shoulder, Shining chuckled.

“I keep telling you I hate it, and you use it even more.” He turned to look out to the Badlands. “What about news from your family? Don’t deny it, I knew you got a letter.”

“How scandalous!” The gryphon cried in simulated despair as he held a claw to his beak, “The Captain is reading our mail! Will the treachery ever end?” The two shared a laugh at his faux-Canterlot accent. “But seriously? Really pluckin’ busy. My cousin is complaining because an old friend of hers realized she was an uppity plothole.”

“Did she really word it like that?” Hawk waved a claw away.

“Psht, creative license. So Gilda’s upset while her mother coddles her like a spoiled little cub. Mum’s friend is going to be laying eggs soon, but she’s under pressure because the father’s a stallion, and some gryphons and ponies are against that kinda stuff. Looks like a few little hippogriffs are going to be born in Equestria.”

“A ridiculous sentiment, but understandable.” Shining nodded.

“Why understandable?” Hawk asked, eyes unmoving from the distance.

“Well,” Shining almost rose a hoof in the air, but stopped himself before he could go into pure ‘lecture mode’. “Hybrids have a really bad reputation because of the Minotaur-Pony hybrid, Tirek, whose evil actions could be more attributed to his unicorn father, who practiced dark magic. Tirek wanted to steal all of Equestria’s magic, but was stopped by his brother, and ̶ ”

“Okay, okay,” interrupted Hawk, “I didn’t want you to get into lecture mode.”

“It wasn’t ‘lecture mode’” Shining grumbled under his breath. “If it was, I would have talked about ̶ ”

“Neeeeerd.”

“Says the one who plays three instruments!”

“That’s not nerdiness!” the gryphon retorted, “That’s culture!” Hawk kept his eyes on the Badlands while he stuck his beak in the air.

“Culture?” the pony scoffed “I’ve seen more culture from Shrimp Jambalaya, the cook from the bayou!”

“That’s a different kind of culture!” Hawk exclaimed, “The fungal kind.”

“Y’all know I can hear y’all right?” a shout came from below the bulwarks.

“Curse his freaky swamp sense.” muttered Hawk.

“It’s called hearing, ya moldy bog sloth!” yelled Shrimp.

“Mane, bat-ponies have amazing hearing.” Hawk commented. “You know we’re ribbing you right?”

“Ya, ya. I can forgive ya, Hawk, cause ya take care of our rat problem. But what’s gonna stop me from spittin’ in Armor’s gruel?”

Before Shining could say anything, Hawk jumped in.

“Just call him Captain. He hates that.” Shining groaned in irritation.

There was a chortling from below.

“Alrighty. Y’all be good now, Hawk and…Captain.” Shining groaned even louder.

“So what did we learn today?” Hawk asked Shining innocently.

“The same thing we’ve learned every time something like this happened, ever since boot camp.” Shining grumbled.

“Don’t mess with the ponies who could mess with your food.” The two said in unison. They sniggered, and Shining began to walk away.

“Your shift’s up in an hour, Hawk.”

“Captain.” Hawk said stiffly. Shining sighed.

“Hawk, you know ̶ ”

“Shining Armor.” The gryphon interjected. “I see something.” The captain stood straighter.

“What?” He teleported to his quarters, found his telescope, and teleported back. “Where?” he asked as he focused the lens of his enchanted scope, a gift given to him by his sister when he was made captain.

“South, twelve degrees east.”

Shining looked in that direction and spotted movement. It was almost invisible, blending into the desolate, rocky, mustard brown of the Badlands, but he found the creature.

“Are you seeing what I’m seeing?” Shining gaped.

“Round, rocky creature? Possibly a golem?”

“No,” the captain denied “It has beady eyes and a wide mouth, and it has no magical glow around any part of it.”

“It looks like a fat, furless diamond dog with a rocky back and a chestnut-shaped head.”

“Yeah. But it has no muzzle, ears, and its legs are bending weirdly.”

“I think it may be female. I found her mammaries. Wait a second. It has a goatee.”

The two paused for a minute.

“What in Tartarus is that thing?” exclaimed Hawk. The two continued to watch the odd, shambling creature.

“We should probably ̶ gnnnnn…” A sharp pain flared at the base of Shining’s horn, interrupting him mid-sentence, and Hawk Eye turned to look at him, worried.

“Shining! Are you al ̶ ” A bright flash. A second of loud, consistent roaring. A shockwave that knocked them from their hooves, claws, and paws. The entire fort shaking. Loud silence. An alarm bell ringing. Shouting. Screaming.

Hawk Eye shook his head, clearing stars from his vision. He found Shining in a crumbled heap next to him.

“Shining! Get up, colt!” Hawk shook his friend desperately, “You’ve got a special mare in your life, colt!”

“Don’t call me cooooolt.” Shining moaned, and Hawk let out a sigh of relief. He helped his friend to his hooves as Shining blinked blearily. Hawk stopped a pony running by in a frenzy.

“Guard! Gather the other lookouts and bring them to the infirmary.” Hawk ordered. “That flash could have damaged their eyes, and if you want them to see again, you’d best get them to medic Strong Recovery.”

The guard looked to Shining, who was stumbling to his hooves.

“Sir?”

“Do what the lieutenant says, soldier.” He grumbled.

The stallion saluted and galloped off. Stallion and gryphon turned to look where the flash originated. Where the creature once stood, kilometers away, was nothing more than a perfectly smooth crater of glass, a kilometer wide.

“If I had been looking at it, I would definitely be blind.” Hawk Eye gulped, his throat dry. The other lookouts, being ponies, would heal. But gryphon eyesight is far more sensitive, and he doubted Strong Recovery would be able to fix the damage.

“As I was saying,” Shining dusted himself off, “we should definitely report this.”

<><><>

Ah, Ponyville. The bright, cheery, little town that, besides from the occasional monster attacks, was basically the typical small village utopia.

One I really did not want to enter.

I had passed Fluttershy’s cottage and stood right by the bridge that led into Ponyville, which I knew was the official ‘border’ of the small town. Apparently Fluttershy’s been skimping when it came to property tax. No judgment, I was doing the same. But that is not where the problem lay.

The second I entered, the friendly inhabitants would force me into the most difficult position. Forced, extended social contact. I didn’t mind social contact, but I really had to measure my words to not seem completely bonkers, and after a while, it became exhausting. And I could not afford to slip up. So I prepared myself for a very controlled dialogue, and I stepped onto the bridge.

Halfway across, I could help but have an errant thought. I wonder where Pinkie is. She should have assaulted me by now. Never invoke the pink.

“HERE I AM!” Pinkie leaped out of the water like a neon pink shark attacking a poor piñata, and landed in front of me, on her back hooves, forelegs in the air, perfectly dry. My eye twitched, and I decided to write her off as a hallucination. I walked past her and headed off towards where I thought ‘Carousel Boutique’ was. Of course, the pink pony bounced after me. After a few minutes of humming, I decided to pander my imaginary stalker.

“Sooooo,” I began, trying to strike up conversation with what was likely the insane part of my subconscious, “Why are you following me?”

“Oh, that’s easy!” she started hopping backwards as she faced me. “I felt itchy hooves, and I knew somepony new was in town! Then I felt my spine prickle, my nostrils twitch, and my tail twist! That means that somepony believes that everything they see is fake, and that's really sad.”

“How do you have a combo for that last one?” Realizing that I could be talking to either nothing more to air, or a curious passerby that I just confounded, I decided to add, “And yes, I am crazy.”

“No you’re not, silly! And I learned that combo after I spent a full month following Papa around!”

“Figures,” I muttered. And an idea came to me. “If you are real, Candy, wouldn’t you be able to point me in the direction where I can get some cotton? I already know my way to Main Street but ̶ ”

“You mean Mane Street.” Pinkie piped, ignoring my chosen nickname for her. “And Carousel Boutique is on the second left!” I had to stop walking at that. She knew where it was, so she was likely a ‘translation’ of a sociable pedestrian. But how…

“How could you tell the difference between 'mane' and 'main'?”

“I read it, duh!” She giggled.

“Wha…buh…what!”

“I have good eyesight! Cause I eat a lot of carrots!” Pinkie pulled a carrot out of her mane and started munching on it.

“Uuuuh…thanks for keeping me company.” I trotted away, and tried to not look to panicky while doing so. Pinkie gave a wide smile and an energetic wave before she hopped away. Soon enough, as I tried to fix the damages to my perception of reality, I arrived at Rarity’s doorstep. Being ever the gentleman (in public), I knocked three times and waited.

“Cooooomiiiiing!” a sophisticated voice sang. The door opened and the silk-white unicorn stepped aside to let me in. “Welcome to Carousel Boutique, where everything is chic, unique, magnifique!”

“Hello, I’m actually not here for clothing.” Thinking about the fact that I may have been naked, I decided not to push it. I saw this woman as Rarity, and one wrong phrase like “Unless what I’m wearing is taboo” would trap me here for hours as a glorified mannequin. Or, as I saw it, a ponyquin. Equiniquin?

Rarity rose an eyebrow, and gave me an inquisitive look.

“So, darling,” she began as her eyes skimmed over me, dressing me with her eyes “What would a windswept stallion like you need from little moi?” She batted her eyelashes.

“I actually need cotton. A lot of it. I have the money to pay for a bit, but I believe I have…raw goods.” Time to see if what I’ve got on me is actually worth anything. If not, it’s likely I’d be going in for possession. I unfurled my right wing to reveal about seven hundred grams of what the diamond dogs called ‘false silver’, which was utterly worthless in their eyes. However, since I took an interest in my mom’s work while I was in middle school, I knew enough geology to be able to properly identify it. Rarity examined the assorted rocks.

“And…exactly how much cotton do you want?” I did a minute of mental calculations, and winced.

“About sixty-four thousand kilos.” Rarity gaped and took a deep breath.

“A…fan of metric, I see! As am I. As for the cost…” She bit her lip. “I don’t think this much silver will be able to pay for that much cotton.” I shook my head.

“This isn’t silver.” I stated.

“Really?” She lifted one of the rocks in a blue glow and furrowed her brow in concentration. After a moment, her eyes opened wide and her jaw went slack. “P-pla-platinum?” She blinked in confusion a couple times. “This is more than enough to pay for that much cotton.” Her gaze settled back on me. “Where did you find this?”

“In a pile of other rocks.” It was true, except that pile was given to me by the diamond dogs.

“Fine.” She huffed. “Where do you want to get the cotton delivered? I can give it to you right here and you’d have quite a few bits extra, but that much cotton would be difficult to carry by yourself, dear. But if I hired delivery, you’d only have about a hundred and fifty bits left over.”

“Just deliver it by the eastern bridge,” I answered, “I’ll take it the rest of the way. Could I have a written voucher?” Rarity gave me another quizzical look, but nodded.

“I’ve never had somepony ask for proof.”

“I’m just from. . .elsewhere.”

“Ah.” Her tone was short and non-committal, likely because she noticed my own, more reserved, word choice. She levitated a paper and quill, wrote something on it quickly, rolled it up, and passed it to me. I grabbed it and put it under my left wing as she levitated the platinum off my other wing.

“Thanks, Marshmallow,” I called as I strolled out, “Nice doing business with you!”

I failed to notice the confused look on the mare’s face as I left.

“Marshmallow?”

The walk back to the bridge was fairly uneventful, save for seeing Snips and Snails crash into Spike. When I saw the three together, I couldn’t help but draw a couple similarities between them and the Three Stooges.

“Hey, Spike, I heard there’s new entertainment in town!”

“Oh yeah? What is it Snips?”

“I dunno, Heh heh, but you’d really fit in with the clowns!”

“Why I oughta…!”

“Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk. Woop woop woop!”

Classic.

When I got to the bridge, I ran into Fluttershy. Literally, because I was too busy imagining the shenanigans the Equestrian Three Stooges would get into, and she was too busy looking at the birds. When we had first met, I had gone back to her cottage to introduce myself and explain the basics of my condition. She was really quiet, shy, and pretty much everything you’d imagine Fluttershy to be. She looked worried, but more for my sake than hers, when I described the basics of my condition.

But she really started talking when I told her I had studied biology, and was concentrating on avian biology. We got into a lengthy discussion of animals, ecosystems, and bird care in general, and she really warmed up to me. She really took it to heart when I explained the importance of bird down to conserve temperature, and I learned a lot about the local fauna. I was comfortable in her presence, and she didn’t run away screaming when I told her about my disorder, so we were pretty much buddies at that point.

“Oh, um…hello, Windell.”

“Hi, Effie, it’s nice to see you.”

“You too…I’ve never seen you coming from Ponyville.”

“I just had some chores to do.” Looking over my withers to Ponyville, I couldn’t help but continue. “And I hear there’s going to be some kind of show.”

“That’s…nice. But, um, I wanted to ask, would you like to join me, Rainbow, and a couple others through the Everfree tomorrow? If you don’t mind that is…” I cocked my head.

“Why?” I asked as Futtershy looked away.

“If you don’t want to…” she barely whispered.

“No, I do, I just want to know why. Isn’t it a bit dangerous?”

“Oh, yes,” Fluttershy nodded vigorously, “but that’s why Rainbow Dash is there. After some ponies I know decided they wanted to see the unique wildlife and ecosystem of the Everfree, Dash insisted on coming along in case we need help. And I’ll be there to tell the animals everything will be okay, so we should be fine.”

“Not to mention we would be safer in a large group” I noted. “Sure, I’ll come along.”

“Really?” the mare gave a tiny squeak as she smiled. Going to ignore that. “Oh, thank you! We’ll have so much fun, talking about all the flora and fauna, and the unique workings of the Everfree, and we’ll have so much fun!” She flapped into the air excitedly. I chuckled at the sight, and began to walk towards my clearing.

“Nice seeing you, Effie!”

“You too!” she yelled as loud as she could. It was barely more than a normal speaking tone, but it was quite loud for her.

Today was a progressive day.

<><><>

Luna’s moon began to rise into the sky when Lyra knocked on her roommate’s bedroom door.

“C’mon Bon-Bon,” the mint coated mare said through the door, “You’re going to love this! I went there last week, and it was really mysterious and beautiful and really, really cool!”

“Euuugh.” Something grumbled from the other side. “Lyra, you know, I worked all of last night to cook that batch of caramel and chocolate candies. Can’t we do…whatever this is…tomorrow?”

“But Boooooooooon-Boooooooooooon” Lyra whined, “Please? You’ll love it, I promise.” The door opened to reveal a disheveled cream coated mare with a two tone mane of dark blue and neon rose.

“This better be really bucking amazing, Lyra.” Said mare started bouncing about in place, eyes closed and a wide grin plastered across her face. Bon-Bon grinned at the sight, but averted her eyes and let the smile fall from her lips as soon as she realized she was doing it.

“Comeoncomeoncomeon! We’re going to miss it!”

“Alright, alright,” Bon-Bon relented, “Let’s go.”

The two mares walked out of their home, cool spring wind nipping at their ears. Bon-Bon saw that they were heading out of town, towards the northern lake that she heard some of the locals refer to as the ‘Singing Lake’. Bon-Bon watched the houses as she passed them, remarking how different Ponyville was at night compared to her home town of Fillydelphia. She’d never really had the time to explore Ponyville the evening in the past few years she’d been there. The candy maker looked at the mare walking on her left. She’d first met Lyra when they bumped into each other at the Ponyville station, then they became quick friends at the book club, and they found it quite funny when Lyra had applied for an offer to share a home, and ended meeting a surprised Bon-Bon at her doorstep. Lyra had called it destiny.

Bon-Bon realized she was getting a bit too close to Lyra, and slowly scooted a respectable distance away from her side. Lyra didn’t notice; in fact, her eyes lit up as they came upon the lake, a small crowd of ponies already gathered there. They all stood still, in silence, staring out to the center of the lake.

“Lyra, what’s going on?” Bon-Bon whispered.

“Shh. Watch.”

The silence was palpable, but an odd, plucky tune began to play. An airy stallion’s voice rang out from the center of the lake. Tiny lights from Rambling Rock Forest appeared, and they began to flow towards the center of the lake.

Fireflies? From the song? It was with that thought that Bon-Bon snapped out of her reverie and noticed something different. Nopony’s singing. And I don’t know the lyrics, I can’t feel the harmony. But…it’s still nice. It’s different, and I…like it.

The lights flowed towards the crowd of ponies, moving to the rhythm, and moving between ponies like drowsy parasprites. A few passed by Lyra and Bon-Bon, and the cream coated mare could not help but let her gaze linger on the lit-up unicorn. She shook her head, dispelling the errant thoughts. No. Nopony thinks like that. It’s…it’s wrong. But a little voice at the back of her head made itself heard. ‘It’s different, like this song’. Bon-Bon listened to the rest of the song in silence, trying to ignore her tumultuous thoughts.

“So,” began Lyra as they walked back to their house “Was it good?”

“No.”

Lyra’s ears drooped, and she slumped a bit.

“Oh. Okay, I guess ̶ ”

“It was fantastic.” Bon-Bon beamed. Lyra instantly perked up and bounced in place.

“I knew it! I told you Bonnie, I told you!”

Bon-Bon smiled, and found herself a bit close to Lyra, the brisk air having pushed her closer to her unicorn roommate, seeking warmth. She didn’t move away.

Chapter 6: The Corpse

Lunchtime in the cafeteria was always a bit chaotic. The incessant chatter was a constant in the old room, and Windell could feel the slightly sticky floors grabbing at his shoes. He had brought his lunch money and a couple dollars extra, having had to skip buying lunch meats this week. Normally, he wouldn’t buy lunches in these cases, but Amadeus insisted. So, ignoring the occasional insult from some of the students, he set himself in line. Those that tried to skip him were gently pushed out and glared at. After a long enough wait, Windell bought his lasagna and energy bar to a secluded table. It was as good a time as any to read a little.

Setting himself down, the teen took out his book and began to read while absentmindedly eating his lasagna. The table shuddered slightly as Ferris sat in front of him, two trays full of food, and he grumbled a hello. Windell nodded, twirling his fork in one hand, ignoring Ferris’ massacre on the food he had brought. Windell noticed he had gotten heavier over the months he’d known Ferris, but decided it wasn’t rightful of him to judge. It wasn’t his problem.

“You going to eat that?” Windell heard Ferris mumble. He looked down from his book to see Ferris’ two plates devoid of food. He looked back to Ferris’ expectant eyes. Windell had promised his father he’d eat, and if he kept skipping meals, it would only hurt him.

“Sorry, Ferris. I have to eat eventually.” Windell shrugged and went back to reading, occasionally taking a bite of his meal. He saw Ferris shift tirelessly in his peripheral vision, but kept his gaze on the novel. It was only when he tried to grab another bite that his fork hit the table, and Windell finally set down his book. He looked up to see Ferris cleaning out the dish with his finger. Windell dropped his hands down on the table with a loud ‘THUMP!’

“Ferris! What the hell, man!”

“But…I needed it more!” He blubbered as he reached for Windell’s energy bar. Windell batted his hand away.

“No,” Windell scowled, “you didn’t! You just don’t know how it feels to be hungry!”

“Yeah I do!” Ferris exclaimed, “Which is why I need it more! I need it to keep up my muscle!” Windell facepalmed violently enough for him to leave a red mark on his face. He took a deep breath and shook his head.

“Just…whatever, Ferris. Don’t steal my food.” There was a pause as Windell pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Can I still have your energy bar?”

Windell glared at him, unwrapped the Cliff Bar, and,all while maintaining eye contact, ate it in front of him.

“No need to be such an asshole about it.” Huffed Ferris. “You stupid prick. Whatever. Just know that for that, I vow to screw you over. I'm not friends with selfish asshats.” He stuck his nose in the air, turned around, and waddled away.

Windell sat there for a minute, mind attempting to wrap around what just happened.

He's got to be kidding. Right? Did I lose a friend and start a feud because I wouldn’t let him steal from me? He shook his head. Should I have let him?

<><><>

I’ve never really had the time (or money) for tea. Some may think tea is ‘unmanly’, but I find a cup of tea to be nice enough to help pass the time. I never realized how much I enjoyed it until the day I met Fluttershy at her cottage as we sat and waited for the others to drop by. It was actually pleasant to stop and relax, rather than fetch things for Zecora or spend time and energy building my house. The bunny seemed to be glaring at me, but I suspected that was because I told Fluttershy that he seemed in dire need of a hug. Squeezed between the mare’s forelegs, he gave me a look that said ‘I don’t know who you are, but you will pay for this’.

If he was the real Angel, then I may have been intimidated. Then again, if he is really the psycho bunny, I’d probably threaten to eat him…Yeah, I can’t help but think of the consequences whether or not what I see is real.

After a half hour of chatting, I spotted the small crowd of ponies led by a cyan pegasus from the cottage window, chatting among themselves while they crossed the bridge to Ponyville.

“Come on, slowpokes!” Yelled Rainbow “We’re not going to explore the Everfree at this pace!” After I grabbed my satchel, Fluttershy and I walked outside to meet them, and Rainbow zoomed towards me, hovering inches away from my muzzle. “Hey! You’re…um…Windy? No, Windell! You’re coming with?”

“Of course.” I replied. “I’d like to learn more about it, after all.” Rainbow nodded and flew up in the air above the crowd of ponies. A few noticed her and went silent, but the majority kept talking.

“HEY!”

That got their attention. The crowd’s hubbub quieted down and they all looked up to the mare expectantly.

“Listen up guys!” She yelled despite the quiet, “We’re going on an adventure through the Everfree. Some of you want to explore it to see danger and awesomeness. Although,” She grinned arrogantly, “You could just watch me for awesomeness.” The ponies in the crowd rolled their eyes and a few chuckled. “Others,” Rainbow continued with a passive expression, “the eggheads, want to learn about it. But, it’s still dangerous in there, so we stay in a group. Stick to me or Fluttershy-” said mare crouched nervously so she wouldn’t be seen “-if you want to stay safe. Now who’s ready to kick some monster flank?”

“Actually,” Fluttershy spoke up, but quickly receded when she noticed all the eyes directed in her direction. “Eeep!” Rolling my eyes, I stepped forwards. For many of them, this was the first time they’ve seen me, and a few cocked their heads quizzically.

“I think what Effie is trying to say,” I started as the ponies looked at me inquisitively at the nickname, “Is that we should try not to disturb the wildlife, from something as simple as aggravating the animals for no reason, to messing with the various plants. If you need some herbs, I could properly pick them for you.” Fluttershy nodded, hiding behind her mane.

“Thanks for clearing that up, Windell.” Rainbow turned back to the ponies below her. “You heard him, guys. Any questions before we go in?”

A tan stallion with a brown mane rose his hoof up in the air.

“Caramel?”

“Yeah,” he began, “Who is this guy? I’ve never seen him around Ponyville or the farms.”

“Oh! Oh!” a gray pegasus mare exclaimed waving her hoof in the air, “I know him! He visited Carrot Top’s farm. She said he smelled nice,” That lady needs her nose checked. “Then, he bought a bunch of carrots for more bits than they cost, and called her ‘Ginny’. And I saw him visit Rarity’s yesterday while I was delivering mail.” The ponies looked at her, then back to me.

“What can I say?” I shrugged. “I like seclusion and nicknames.” The group seemed to accept this. I looked over the ponies, and of the dozen, I recognized a few from the show. Ditzy, Caramel, Lyra, Bon-Bon, Minuette, Cherilee, Roseluck, and what seemed to be an oddly shaped pony in an overcoat, hat, and sunglasses. Wait a second…Really?

I moved closer to the mysterious figure as we began to walk towards the Everfree and discretely poked the middle. There was a muffled giggle, some shaking, and the pony just…fell apart. The rest of the group turned around to see the figure land in the dirt in three separate pieces. Roseluck gasped and fainted, Rainbow zoomed over, and the rest just stood there, gaping. The lumps began to move, only for three little heads to pop up underneath the discarded overcoat. Of course. The Crusaders.

“You three?” Fluttershy trotted over. “Don’t you girls know it’s dangerous to go in the Everfree?”

“Yeah, but ̶ ” began Scootaloo

“Don’t make excuses girls.” Interrupted Fluttershy. “Don’t you remember what happened when we ran into that cockatrice?”

The three fillies looked dejectedly to the ground, avoiding her gaze.

“Sorry, Fluttershy” they mumbled.

“Now run on home, girls. You could actually get really hurt in the Everfree”

They nodded and walked away. Heads hung low. I turned around to see Caramel prodding the comatose Roseluck.

“Nice to see you’re good at dealing with all sorts of small creatures, Effie.”

“Oh…well, they’re nice girls, they’re just a bit…”

“Curious, rambunctious, hyper, prone to make trouble despite their best intentions?” I put in.

Fluttershy hid behind her mane and nodded.

Caramel and Rainbow were both trying to gently shake Roseluck awake. I walked to their side and looked down to the cream coated mare.

“Let me try, Skittles, Carambar.” I said as I grabbed her with my forelegs and began to shake her violently while yelling “SOMEONE SAYS THAT ROSES ARE THE INFERIOR FLOWER!” Almost immediately, her eyes shot open and she frantically got on her hooves.

“Who!?” she cried “Where?” She shook her head violently. I let her go and turned to the rest of the group.

“Alright, let’s go.” Stunned, they followed me into the forest. Rainbow flew by me as we walked deeper into the forest.

“How did you know that it would work?” she asked as we followed the beaten path.

“I didn’t.” I answered. “I just had a crazy idea that it would.” I looked behind me to see the group looking around the forest in a mixture of awe and fear. And Roseluck was glaring at me. Whoops.

<><><>

His prey was going into the dark forest, followed by a large group of its own kind. It was odd that they would go somewhere where there were so many predators, and he wondered why they would put themselves in such needless danger.

Perhaps the same reason I followed the smell of smoke a few days ago, he mused, curiosity. We aren’t so different…but it will soon be time. He narrowed his eyes. Tomorrow, I will eat hi ̶ it. I will eat it. But after…? What will I eat? How could I survive, if my own existence means death? Am I a coward for choosing my own life over those of other sapient creatures? Do I have a choice? Why must I be forced to feel these things? If I had a packmate to talk to, I would feel better. But I am alone. Alone in a…realm, yes, a realm, similar, yet different to my own. More solitude and sorrow is a price for sapience, and even if I could return it, I do not think I would. No matter how much it…hurts.

He shook his head. Save those thoughts for later. I must make sure my prey comes out alive. I would like it fresh.

<><><>

I neatly picked a few leaves from the Bui-Bui plant and put them in my satchel. The neat thing about these plants is it takes forever to decompose, so they would stay nice and soft in my makeshift mattress for months to come before they even began to rot. Every now and then, when the group passed a particular patch of plants, a pony or two would ask me to pick a few for them. I mostly kept to myself during the trek through the Everfree, nodding and smiling to the ponies that looked at me. And since nobody said anything when I flew over the patch of Poison Joke, I assumed whatever I did when I thought I flew was perfectly normal. Once I had brought back the indigo cubes, I concentrated on diverting the flow to my legs, the branches being too low and tangled for an unskilled flyer like me to go through, so it was best that energy went somewhere useful. It felt very convincing.

Or this is actually real. The errant thought bubbled to the surface of my conscious. I don’t think what I did would normally wake a passed out person, and these people seem generally accepting, even when I do things in which I don’t know what I’m actually doing, like flying. It’s possible that I ended up in an idyllic small town, but I’ve either been walking around in the nude, or bathing in the river with my clothes on. Despite all the misguided senses, logic is starting to override probability. And that means ̶

“It’s really unnatural here.” A voice interrupted my thoughts. Jumping at the opportunity to escape my thoughts, I decided to cut in.

“Unnatural is a matter of perspective.” I responded. The three mares deep in a conversation turned to look at me.

“What do you mean?” asked the one I recognized as Bon-Bon.

“Well,” I began, “This forest has been around longer than the town, and I think it used to be a lot bigger a long time ago. Therefore, it is far more natural than the town.”

“But…the weather, the animals, the plants, they all go about, without any help from ponies!” Interjected Minuette. “It just isn’t the right way.”

“Well, I’m sorry, Colgate,” I shook my head as Lyra chuckled and prodded Minuette, whispering ‘Colgate.’ “But that’s how it worked before, and how it works now, here. There is order to what you think is chaos. The herbivores eat the plants, the predators hunt and eat the herbivores, and the apex predators hunt and eat them. The saprotrophs and the detritovores eat dead organic matter, and their waste feeds the plants. All the while, the weak die, the strong survive. A beautiful cycle.”

Fluttershy and couple ponies turned to look at me during my lecture, and Cherilee seemed particularly interested. Lyra started waving her hoof in the air with a wide grin. Deciding to let her ask her question, I pointed at her with a wing.

“Yes, Mint, you have a question?” I heard her squee and she hopped in place.

“Yes!” she beamed, “Do you know why everything here is so deadly, and why they won’t attack us?” A few of the ponies looked around and paced nervously.

“Easy,” I answered, “because over time, predators who were deadlier were more successful in their hunting, so they had more offspring. And the herbivores had to develop defenses over time so they would survive to have offspring, so anything ranging from poison to claws were developed in animals over time to either attack prey or defend themselves. More favorable traits survive and change over time, while the less savory traits disappear. For example, if an animal with small wings could glide, over time, those that could glide longer distances would become more predominant, and eventually, gliding would become flying.”

The crowd had actually stopped to listen what I had to say midway through, and a couple actually sat down. Several ponies actually paled at my example. Rainbow hovered about, gazing into the distance, probably imagining an aerial battle with a manticore, if the grin on her face meant anything.

“So,” a stallion asked “Manticores will eventually be able to fly?”

Not knowing what he actually said ̶ If he actually said anything different ̶ I quashed the thought quickly and answered him.

“Sure,” I shrugged and many of the ponies trembled at the thought, “In a couple hundred thousand years. It’s a very slow process.” They relaxed once more, a few releasing their breaths. “As for why predators don’t attack groups, they know it would be more trouble than it’s worth. It takes energy, and thus food, to heal, so it would be easier to hunt for stragglers, where there’s less of a chance for the rest of a group to team up on a predator. And we’re not exempt from change over time. Heck, the reason we’re around is because we’re smarter, and we have the tools to prove it. There’s only so much claws, fangs, poison, and wings can do at the end of a spear. Anybody else have any questions?”

Bon-Bon rose her hoof, and I nodded in her direction.

“Why do you say ‘anyone’ and ‘anybody’ instead of ‘anypony’? It sounds a bit odd.” Shit. Thankfully, Cherilee came to my rescue.

“Bon-Bon, he obviously is well traveled. The term ‘anypony’ just doesn’t apply to minotaurs, mules, or any of the other races.”

Rainbow nodded, and looked at me.

“Yeah, Gilda talked like that. I guess it’s a hard habit to kick for someone who wanders around.”

“Pretty much” I affirmed. I paused, and I noticed something. The usual sounds of the forest had fallen into silence. The chirping of birds. The unseen movement in the branches. The distant growls…all gone. “Speak of the devil,” I muttered as the others tensed up, “And he shall appear” I moved closer to Lyra and Bon-Bon. We needed to bunch up. We would be safer together so-

Something big lunged out of the bushes, roaring. It swiped its paw at Ditzy, which sent her flying into me, knocking Lyra and I far away, down the hill. There is physics involved in billiards, people. The sounds of conflict and roaring faded into the distance as we tumbled over one another, until we came to a standstill at the bottom, tangled in one another’s hooves. Shaking myself and dusting myself off, I got up and looked in the direction we had been thrown from. This seemed like the cliff Nightmare Moon had made in episode two. I turned to look at Lyra to see if she was okay, but she was transfixed on something.

“What…is that?” She pointed a hoof at a rotting collection of bones. As I approached them, I recognized the form. Impossible. A skeleton. A human skeleton. It still had tattered, loose-fitting clothes on, and bits of decomposing flesh stuck to both the clothes and the carcass. It was leaning against a tree, a visible hole from a puncture wound visible on the shirt. From what I see, they managed to escape the manticore after it had poisoned them. Couldn’t have happened more than a few months ago.

I walked over to it, and with some effort, took the skull off, ligaments tearing easily. Lyra looked on, eyes wide. I looked at the teeth.

“No need to be scared, they’re dead.” I said as I turned the skull around, looking for clues. It’s obvious now that I’m hallucinating. The odds are just too much against a real human being here. And me not being one. There is probability, and then there’s bullshit. This is the latter. So…Who was it?

“What is it?” she approached, looking at the skull. I guess she wasn’t squeamish.

“Length of the tibia, the jaw structure, blunt orbits, temporal lines, thick skull, all of them point towards a human male.”

“A…what?” Curious one, aren’t you? She looked at the skull, eyes flicking between it and the body repeatedly. Ignoring the obviously ‘manipulated’ question, I decided to talk about anatomy to calm myself down.

“Location of the foramen magnum indicates bipedal structure, being parallel to the ground. Dentition, optimal for an omnivorous diet. Large cranium indicates advanced intellect.” I took a few deep breaths to slow my labored breathing. I am in a delusion, and I may have a murder victim on my hands. With my record, I’m so screwed. Lyra walked over to the corpse and poked the clothes.

“He was wearing clothes, so he was definitely civilized.” She remarked. “And he has hands like a minotaur, except with an extra metacarpal, so unless he was dropped here, randomly, he should have a weapon to protect himself.” Lyra bounced in the air with a giddy smile. “An intelligent species I’ve never heard of! Full of legends of a faraway lad! This is so awesome!” She stopped. “Except that he’s dead. But there’s gotta be more somewhere!” The unicorn looked around, and spotted me holding the skull in one hoof, staring into the holes where his eyes once were. “I’m going to get the others! Protect the bones!” She started scampering up the cliff, calling for Bon-Bon.

People are going to be coming soon. They may think I killed him. Wait. He’s already mostly decomposed. And I have a witness. There was a slight prickling along my spine. Or the corpse is fresh, and I actually killed him, but I don’t remember it. And Lyra is part of my imagination. Her going to get ‘help’ is probably my subconscious picking up on cues of the authorities approaching. I’m so screwed. The prickling flared up, becoming uncomfortable. Unless…unless I get rid of the evidence. Destroy the body. But I can’t do that. It’s someone’s corpse. It’s…wrong. The prickling increased, starting to cause pain. It’s him or me. Him or me. And he’s dead. But what about his loved ones? The pain increased tenfold, almost bringing me to my knees, but through some unknown strength, I still stood. It’s wrong. He shouldn’t be here. HE’S WRONG. HE SHOULDN’T BE HERE. A red haze descended over my eyes. I threw the skull against the tree with all of my might, shattering it into pieces. I tore the clothes off in fury, stomped the bones underfoot, tore apart the ribcage, I crushed bones to dust. I kicked the remains around, spreading them so nobody could find all of it. I scattered dirt, plants, anything to hide the bones.

And when I was done, I was panting, standing amidst some torn clothes and a few visible bits of bone. Why did I do that? Why was I so…enraged? I’ve never experienced something like this. Is this another aspect of my disorder? I looked to the torn clothes strewn about. I already ruined the crime scene. They’re going to think it’s me for sure. I should at least finish the job. I carefully gathered the clothes and tightly bundled them up. I would come back for it later, to get rid of it properly. I threw it in the air, making sure it got caught in the densest branches. Okay, the evidence is gone…and I’m a witness. Shit! I don’t have a cover story! I heard voices getting closer.

“What did you find, Lyra?”

“The skeleton of an intelligent species I’ve never even heard of before! Windell decided to call it a ‘human!’”

I’m such a bumbling moron. My hoof met my forehead. And that was all I remembered for a while.

<><><>

“Okay, he’s waking up.” I heard a familiar voice say as I came to. “I need you all to leave please, while I tell him why he’s in here…again.” Crap…did I get arrested? Wait. Again? And that voice…I struggled to open my eyes, and when I did, I found myself in a very familiar situation.

“Hey, Doc.” I greeted the tan stallion. “Ever heard of déjà vu?”

The doctor chuckled and picked up my chart.

“Hopefully I won’t have to reserve this room for you in the future.” He joked. “Anyways, your friends tell me you got knocked out by some creature in the Everfree.” Friends? I guess they enjoyed my company on that walk. And knocked out? What the hell happened? “Now, it seems you are suffering blunt force trauma to the head, we’ll need to keep you here for a couple days. The blunt force trauma is reminiscent of a well-placed earth pony punch.” I wonder…I felt within for my flow, and it was still flowing towards my legs. Holy crap. I’ve managed to keep it while unconscious. And that explains how I knocked myself out. “Normally, a mere punch would only daze a healthy pegasus…which brings me to my second diagnosis. You seem to be calcium deficient.”

“I knew I forgot to buy something.” I groaned, holding my head in my hooves. “The damn milk.”

Chapter 7: Visitors

Henry 615 lived a pretty good life in his little home. Sure, it was small, but it was more than enough for him and his family. He was soon becoming the oldest, but he was surely among the largest. Henry had lots of kids from many mates, and they lived happily in the Dome, fed and cared for by the Guardian.

They revered the Guardian. He had been there for a long time, longer even than their great-great-grandsires. He came every day, bringing food, water, and cleanliness. He was always silent, with a hint of sadness in his golden eyes. He sheltered them in His Dome, fed them, named them, and every other day, He would take the oldest or the biggest with Him. Where they went, the inhabitants of the Dome never knew, but it must be good. Why else would He care so fondly for them? They all ate as much as they could, so they would become the next to be Chosen.

The door to the Realm outside of the Dome opened, and the populace stopped what they were doing. He was here. He strode into the Realm, dropped His bag by the door, and slowly walked over to the Dome. The excited chattering from nearly a hundred of the Dome’s inhabitants increased as He stopped in front of the Dome and opened the top by using His mighty brown wings to fly there, reaching the top in but a flap. They sat still as He looked down and Chose. After moments of indecision, which seemed like a lifetime for them, the Guardian leaned down and gently picked up Henry 615 in His claws. Henry squeaked in joy as the Guardian took him out of the Dome for the first time in his life. Finally, Henry would see the beauty of the outside Realm! The Guardian closed the hatch and took the Chosen away, heading towards the door, like all those Chosen before Henry. As the Guardian closed the door behind them with his hind paw, he began to softly caress Henry on his furry back. The stroking sent Henry into a deep sense of bliss, and he never felt the Guardian’s claw pierce his skull, killing him instantly.

Hawk Eye, like many gryphons, found guinea pigs to be a perfect source of protein. They were the perfect mix of healthy, delicious, easy to breed, and barely sapient. Fish was good, morally and nutritionally, but they were difficult to catch and breed, and it was harder to get fresh fish deeper inland. So it wasn’t uncommon for gryphon households inland to have some sort of rodent farm to covert the food ponies eat into food gryphons eat. So Hawk Eye’s farm in his Canterlot Palace quarters was quite well-furnished, and he sometimes traded his pigs with the other, few, gryphons in the guard, to increase diversity. Hawk Eye had learned long ago that a completely secluded population of rodents without the introduction of ‘new’ rodents would rapidly begin to deteriorate in quality and quantity. He didn’t know why it happened like that, but Hawk was glad others found the taste of inbred mouse disgusting.

As he began to boil some water and skin Henry 615, he made sure he still felt regret for killing the guinea pig. Those gryphons who became nonchalant in killing eventually escalated, and began to kill the more sapient creatures of the world with no remorse. Some even found joy in killing. But Hawk Eye’s father had taught him better. He was taught to always feel remorse for killing, even just for eating, so he wouldn’t become one more bloodthirsty gryphon all too common in history. Valor Redwing had called his own species victim of the ‘carnivore’s dilemma’. Eat something that could think for itself on a certain level, or die of malnourishment. This dilemma led to the more civilized gryphon tribes to settle on coasts to eat fish, which could be barely called sapient, sharing that distinction with most bugs. While Henry continued simmering, Hawk cut some carrots and cucumbers, sticking out his tongue in concentration as he leaned on the counter, using his claws to hold the vegetables while his sharpened talons cut through them.

Shining Armor chose that moment to burst in, surprising Hawk, causing him to nick his cutting board.

“Hawk Eye! Can you believe they relieved me of duty?” he practically shouted.

“Can you believe how much this cutting board cost?” Hawk held up his damaged cutting board.

“That’s not important right now,” Shining waved his hoof dismissively, “Celestia has put me on paid leave! Can you believe it? This is outrageous!” Hawk massaged his forehead as he put his cutting board down.

“Yes, Shining, I can. For so many reasons.”

“I can’t believe you’re siding with them! My own friend!” Shining grumbled.

“Shining, you’ve never been on leave. Ever. You need a break.”

“Equestria needs me!”

“Yes,” Hawk Eye sighed, “Equestria does need you. And it needs you at your best. You’ve been running yourself ragged ever since you’ve become Captain. Not to mention,” Hawk plowed on before Shining could try to interrupt, “That you’re important, so you can’t be sent to the front lines. I know you’re worried about that…event, but it was outside of Equestrian jurisdiction.” Shining drooped. “You saw what it did to you. Imagine if we were closer. Equestria needs you here, well-rested and in a good state of mind. So calm down, and let me finish the salad.”

Hawk grabbed a few more carrots and a head of lettuce from the fridge, while using his wing to fling a few spices in the boiling pot. Shining trotted over to the scratched cutting board, preparing a spell to fix it. With a small flash, the cutting board was as pristine as the day it had been made.

“I always forget that fixing simpler things falls under your defensive specialty.” Hawk commented innocently.

“Yeah, but remember, the entire thing became slightly weaker, so if I do it repeatedly, it loses its strength.” Shining scrutinized the cutting board. “And yet you keep getting me to fix this one because you’re too cheap to buy a new one.”

“Money better spent on guitar strings and varnish.” Hawk rang. “And you give me that freaky magic explanation every time, but it doesn’t seem to degrade any faster.”

“That’s because it only changed it a really small amount.” Shining rolled his eyes. “And if you want a ‘freaky magic explanation’, you should meet my sister. She’s the magical prodigy.”

“You sure talk about your sister a lot” Hawk noted as he sniffed the pot.

“And I bet she gushes about her brother to her friends all of the time.” The unicorn stated as he looked at the boiling pot. Against his better judgment, he decided to ask about its contents.

“So, what’s cooking?”

“Henry 615” the gryphon answered.

“What?” Shining scrunched up his muzzle “I thought you called them Ron.”

“I change it every few years so it wouldn’t become synonymous with food.” Hawk began throwing the salad into the bowl and tossing it about. Knowing that his friend was uncomfortable with the subject, Hawk decided to change it to a different uncomfortable subject. A hilariously uncomfortable one. “And think about your break this way; now you have nowhere to run when you need to delay your proposal.”

“Wha…?” Shining’s coat turned a pink tint. “I can’t do that now! It needs to be perfect!” Hawk Eye sighed.

“How about this,” he proposed, “You take Cadence around for a bunch of things couples normally do, and after a month or so, you pop the question, preferably in a romantic setting.” Shining rubbed his chin with his hoof, deep in thought.

“Yeah, that could help me ease into the situation,” The stallion admitted, “But, no matter what Cadence says, she still has some old-time ideas, such as winning favors in contests…maybe if I went to the chess tournament in a couple months?”

“Good idea.” Hawk nodded. “But I think she’d say yes even without that. But if you want to, I’m not going to stop you.”

<><><>

“And that’s when I flew in, and gave the manticore a buck that sent him flying! That one didn’t need to wait a mega-long time to really fly!”

“Oh, but Rainbow, you know he was very hungry. He was just desperate.”

I was laying in my bed, listening Rainbow and Fluttershy tell me what happened to the manticore. I was genuinely surprised to see the entire group come see me when I woke up, but the doctor, who I had finally learned was named Steth Oscope, told them to make it short, and I would need my rest. The second evening I was in the hospital, Fluttershy and Rainbow dropped in to tell me what happened.

“Well,” I said when they finished, “I’m just glad that nobody else got hurt. And I’m really touched you two would visit.” Fluttershy smiled and Rainbow flew a bit closer.

“Say,” the athlete began, “Do you remember what happened after you and Lyra were sent flying? Lyra said you two found a skeleton of some smart creature you’ve never seen before, but all we found was a bunch of pieces of bone and a knocked out pegasus.”

“Sorry, I don’t.” I lied. I found playing the amnesia card really worked out, and I didn’t even need to pretend my head hurt. Silver lining, but my head still feels like someone stuck their hand in there and murdered my brain through strangulation. “It gets fuzzy after we fell down the cliff.”

That’s really odd.” Commented Fluttershy. “You were knocked out, and nothing else, and the unique skeleton just disappeared.”

Rainbow perked up. “Hold on!” she exclaimed “Do you think there’s some sort of secret going on? Are there spies?”

I shook my head. “I think it’s more likely we were both a bit out of it. I don’t think there’d be a conspiracy over a set of bones.”

We heard someone clearing their throat, and turned to see Steth at the door. “Visiting hours are over, you two” He stated. “Come along, Windell needs his rest. Even with natural pegasus magic, it would still take him a week before he get can get back on his hooves.”

That’s interesting. Maybe I can trick myself into thinking time has passed if I send the flow to my head? “Hey, Doc?”

“Hmm?” He turned to me as the two mares left the room, Rainbow waving as she left.

“I intend to get out of here. So can you bring me, say, five liters of milk?” Steth cocked an eyebrow, but nodded, and left the room.

Time to practice redirecting the flow. Pulling the flow away from my limbs and directing them to my head required some effort, and left the familiar feeling of exhaustion throughout my body. I don’t feel any different. When I tried to move my limbs, they felt sluggish…more sluggish than they ought to be. What is up with that? Did I divert more flow? Wait…is that clock broken? I looked at the clock facing my bed, and noticed the seconds hand wasn’t moving. Figures my clock would break. Now it’ll feel like ̶ wait. It moved. Maybe… I counted in my head to see if my theory was correct. …Nine Mississippi, ten Mississippi ̶ There! It moved. I’m not sluggish, I’m just experiencing time ten times slower. Holy crap. I’ve got bullet-time…exactly the opposite of what I want right now. I’ll look into this later. Maybe if I want it to work, I have to be more precise. So direct the flow to the front of my head, where my injury is. As I directed the flow, I felt the throbbing I’d had to deal with for the past twenty-four hours finally subside, and time began to return to its normal pace. Bullet-time, huh. I guess that’ll be useful. What other benefits are there for directing the flow to my brain?

<><><>

Lyra leaned closer to me, golden eyes shimmering, as she levitated a yoyo by its string in front of my face, moving it like a pendulum.

“Yoooooooouuuu wiiiiiiilllllllll reeeeeeeeeemeeeeeemmmmbeeeeeeeerrrr…” She enunciated slowly, as Bon-Bon rolled her eyes in the chair by my bed.

“Not working, Mint.” I tried to scratch my head, but the combination of bandages and a hoof made the task futile.

Lyra groaned in exasperation. “Bon-Bon, there’s got to be a way! I know I saw something new, and the doctors tell me there’s nothing wrong that’s not normal. So I saw it, and Windell decided to name the species as ‘human’. He even figured out it was male by looking at its bones!”

“Lyra, you’re my best friend” Did…did Bon-Bon flinch slightly when she said 'friend'? “And I’ll believe you no matter what. But you know how…obsessive you can get sometimes. Remember when you took classes to walk and sit like a minotaur to properly tell their legends? Or when you tried to adopt their songs on the lyre? We know now that horns don’t really translate to the lyre. I care about you, Lyra, fondly, and I know that you should let this go.”

“Awww…thanks Bonnie!” Lyra hugged Bon-Bon, but quickly let go, and I noticed a glimmer of disappointment pass through the cream mare’s eyes. “And I promise I won’t get obsessed by it. I’ll just take a short trip to Canterlot to scour all of the libraries for any hint of a human!” The green unicorn zoomed out of the room, leaving a disgruntled earth pony and a pegasus in a precariously perilous position next to said earth pony.

“Why didn’t you just say you saw it!” she turned to me and hissed. I held my hooves up in deference.

“I’m sorry, I just don’t remember! It can’t be that bad, right?” I smiled weakly.

"Noooo...of course not." She rolled her eyes and jumped off the chair by the window. In my defense, I was never really good with sarcasm.

"R-Really?" Hope glimmered in my eyes. She turned to face me once more, glaring.

“OF COURSE IT GETS THAT BAD,” she practically screamed,"HAVE YOU EVEN MET HER!?" Bon-Bon turned away and took a few deep breaths before continuing in a more placid tone. “She can be very obsessive. Last time I hinted at her surprise birthday party, she rounded up everypony in Ponyville and interrogated every last one of them for every detail about the party. But she’s still so kind, so devoted…” She got a dreamy look in her eyes, and shook herself out of her stupor. Holy shit. Either my senses are trying to ship those two together, or I have to deal with a frustrated, closeted lesbian. This is how I die. She turned to me with a fire in her eyes. “And now you’ve filled her head with fantasies of weird creatures and myths!" Her voice rose steadily, "Don’t think you’ll get closer to her like that, teaching her things, making her laugh, and actually being there when she’s in trouble!” At this point, she was yelling, and I was trying very hard to burrow myself deeper under the sheets. But I still saw the tears in her eyes.

“So what’s eating at you?”

“Nothing.” She said in a curt tone.

“Oh, so not Mint, huh?” I smirked. And when I realized what I said, the smile fell from my face. And that was an unintentional innuendo. Please let it fly over her head...Okay it seems like I'm safe. But she’s not going to be easy on me here, so I can’t skirt around the issue.

…Screw it, I’m going to trust what I see on this one.

“Sweets,” I began, praying I wouldn’t incur her wrath. “You love her as more than a friend, don’t you?” I hate having to deal with these emotions, but if I can get her through this, I’ll be in the clear, she’ll be happier, and Doc won’t have to clean up what’s left of me in the bedpan. “And you feel guilty you weren’t there when she needed you.” The turned head and the nervous shuffling was all the answer I needed.

“But…it’s unnatural.” I heard her murmur. I threw my hooves in the air and almost gave myself another concussion.

“Again with that crappy argument!” I exclaimed, causing the mare to jump. “What did I say about the forest? It’s different, not unnatural, not wrong, and not ‘impure’. And it may be rare, but it exists among mammals all over the world. Heck, ask Effie about it, if it doesn’t cause her to faint out of embarrassment.”

“But…”

“No buts! Love whoever you want, as long as they return that love. If not, be there for her! Who cares what others think! Now get out!” I threw my pillow at her. “Get her, be there, be sappy, just do it!” Baffled, Bon-Bon hurried out of my room before I finished reaching for my bedpan. I can’t believe that worked. That was less coaxing her out of the closet, and more setting fire to the house. But from what I’ve seen of Lyra, Bon-Bon’s going to have to get through that dense mind of hers, and Bon-Bon lacks the confidence to do the right things in public. But she’s got drive, I could tell from the fire in her eyes, and she’ll be at it for months, years even. I leaned back, regretting having thrown my pillow.

I trusted my senses, and they paid off. I can only assume that my brain is ‘translating’ really close to what is real, which would be an odd coincidence, and the corpse I found was indeed and old corpse, not a victim of mine. I remember killing foes in my previous delusion, and the ‘most genuine’ one was actually real. I’ve made sure not to commit any dangerous actions since I’ve gotten here, and that follows along the guidelines of ‘altered memories’ rather than ones that have been erased. And since I’ve been tracking the days, I haven’t missed anything, so no extra conditions…with the exemption of that odd outburst in the Everfree. Hopefully, I won’t do that to a living person if it happens again. What was it about the skeleton that set me off?

Seconds passed as I sat there, pondering. Seconds turned into minutes, minutes into hours. And when the sun was high in the sky, I came upon my revelation. I’m missing information. There’s something I don’t know, mechanics of either my delusion, or even how the multiverse works. If I really am in Equestria, I don’t know if I follow the same rules as that other guy did, or came the same way. There’s more than one way to skin a cat, after all. I may know more if I get his clothes that I stuck in the tree, and I’ll have one more puzzle piece to this convoluted puzzle. Now if ̶

My thoughts were interrupted by a loud ‘THUMP’ at my window. I turned to look at the window to see a familiar pegasus splayed across the windowpane. With a slow squeaking sound, she slid down, out of sight, before she flew back up and opened the window.

“Hey Windy!”

“Hey Blondie!” I smiled at her bubbly attitude. Her happiness was quite contagious, but Ditzy was quick to change her attitude. She landed in front of my bed, one eye looking down while the other looked at the window, and began to kick at the ground like Fluttershy.

“I’m sorry I sent you down the cliff. I should have been more careful.”

“I don’t see why you’re apologizing” I cocked my head. “It was just a series of events that nobody could control that led to Mint and I tumbling down a cliff. You’re not at fault here, Blondie, no need to feel bad. And look at me!” I smiled and pointed my hooves at myself, “I’m being fed, I have a bed, I have a bathroom, and I don’t even pay rent!” Ditzy giggled, her sad demeanor vanishing.

“Thanks, Windy.” She reached into her saddlebags and took out a muffin. “I made this to say sorry, but I guess you’d like it anyways, huh?”

“Of course!” That made her smile wider, and she passed me the treat. The doctor walked in and shot Ditzy a look, which caused her to sulk towards the open window.

“Okay, I guess I’ll go now.”

“Blondie?”

“Huh?” she turned back to look at me, her lazy eye rolling about.

“No matter what the others say, I think you’re very kind, and being a little bit of a klutz doesn’t change that. You’re great, don’t let what anybody else says about you get to you.”

Ditzy beamed, tripped when she jumped out the window, but managed to fly off into the distance. I turned to Steth, who was grinning at the sight.

“Not what you think, Doc.” I interrupted his own shippy thoughts, “She just needed some positive comments in her life. If she goofs up, try not to scold her, positive reinforcement works better." Dr. Oscope gave me a sheepish smile before clearing his throat and pulling up my chart.

“Well, Windell, according to our tests, you seem to have healed a lot faster than we have anticipated. And our Magical Resonance Imagery scan says you are in the clear, brain wise, although we couldn’t find the cause of your…disorder.” Of course they can’t. It took five scans and two months of searching before they even scratched the surface. “Considering how fast you healed, we’d like to take some precautions by leaving the bandages on.”

“So I can leave?”

“Of course. Just leave your bandages on for the rest of the week.” I threw my covers off and trotted out of the room. Time to get back home. I strode out of the hospital, glad to finally start getting out of Ponyville, where I had to make sure whatever I said wouldn’t either land me in the psychiatric ward or in a dark interrogation room. I would be safe at home.

<><><>

The direwolf had seen what had happened to his prey. He had considered jumping on it and eating it after it knocked itself out, but he wasn’t quite hungry enough to eat all of it yet. Considering it managed to knock itself out, it wouldn’t be much of a challenge at its full strength, so he could attack it at his leisure. The wolf saw the other ponies take it back with them, likely to tend to its wounds. But the predator was convinced now. If it could knock itself out, it would likely come back to its home, recovering from its wounds.

And it would be weak.

The silence of the forest followed him as he made his way to the shack, and he lay in the bush, hidden from all but the most astute. So he waited. Hours passed. He waited in the dark, he waited in the light. He lay there, memorizing the future site of his feast. The stone house with half a roof, the teepee, every tree, every rock, every root. Two days passed in his wait, wildlife long having returned, barely seeing the predator. Until, finally, the pegasus returned to its half-finished home.

The wolf was ravenous.

The prey looked about, and entered its incomplete hut.

There is no escape for you in there, prey. The wolf curled up his lips in a snarl, and slowly moved towards the cabin, his body low to the ground. The other animals in the trees quieted, leaving the silence to act as a canvas for the sounds of the coming massacre. The wolf approached the door of his height, and slunk inside. He saw the pegasus investigating one of the beams, and despite his padded paws, the wooden floor creaked slightly when he entered. The pegasus whipped around in the air, only to see the wolf, twice his height and more than twice as long, fully fill any form of escape.

The wolf crouched.

“What the fuck.” The prey muttered, its pupils shrinking to pinpricks. It backed up to the beam, mouth agape.

He pounced, jaws wide open, snarling.

THUNK!

Chapter 8: Where Wolf?

“Ah’m tellin ya, Sweetie Belle, we could’ve gone in there if it weren’t for that weird pegasus!” Applebloom stated as she paced around the clubhouse.

“I dunno Applebloom. Maybe it was a good thing that he tickled me. You know that Fluttershy is right when she says the Everfree is dangerous.”

“So what?” asked Scootaloo, “We’re the Cutie Mark Crusaders! We could have gotten our explorer cutie marks, or even our manticore tamer cutie marks!” She plopped down on her rump and crossed her forelegs, grumbling. “I could’ve even impressed Rainbow Dash when the manticore attacked.”

“You know what ah think?” Applebloom rubbed her chin with a hoof. “Ah think he’s hidin’ somethin’.”

“Oh?” Sweetie Belle squeaked, “Why?”

“Applebloom’s right!” Scootaloo exclaimed, stomping her hoof down. “What kind of pony lives all alone? Nicknames, I understand, but living away from other ponies is suspicious!”

“Well…” Sweetie Belle said, looking away, “maybe…”

“Ah think we should figure him out. This is a mystery!” The three fillies looked at each other, and an eerily ominous silence fell.

Far away, Big Macintosh was pulling a cart of apples, the harvest from the east fields. Few know this about Big Mac, but the only thing stronger than his superb muscular body, that many mares fawned over, was his impeccable hearing. He has long had sensitive ears, which led to him being a stallion of a few words, often having found himself listening carefully to the subtle music of the orchard. The slight whispering of leaves, the chirping of faraway birds, the creaking of good, old, sturdy, Apple family carts, and the beautiful sound of ̶

“CUTIE MARK INVESTIGATORS, YAY!”

Macintosh flinched and nearly tripped. He shook his head, and continued on, ears still splayed back. He sincerely hoped his sister wouldn’t get into too much trouble.

<><><>

The Entity doesn’t like it when too many universes are close together. Especially when a universe like this one involved. It generally complicated things, and despite its intelligence, the Entity was a firm believer in ‘simpler is better’. The worst part is that the entity jumped in without properly investigating the other universes, so it doesn’t know what will come through, and it could not jump out and jump back in, for fear of intersecting with itself in the past. It is quite accurate when it wants to be, but it is a necessary precaution. It has no idea what would happen if it does intersect itself, but the worst case scenario would have negative repercussions throughout existence. And the universe it would do it in would most likely cease to be.

So it has to tread carefully, due to the variety of effects the natural magic of Equestria on creatures from other realms. At least it could pinpoint locations where the incursions would appear. The Deep Badlands, the Everfree Forest, among others on Equus, they all were filled full of violent chaotic magic, thus making the Veil weaker in those areas. However, magical beings would be able to appear in more locations, on ley line intersections.

Which is what happened to Windell.

The Entity hypothesizes that Windell was mostly vaporized when his universe ‘glitched’ and sent him into the Void. However, since his universe was so close to another, the Void was nothing more than a bubble between their Beyonds, and despite the non-eternity he spent in the Void bubble, pieces of him managed to pass into the Beyond. Normally, souls that spend time in the Beyond would eventually or immediately turn into abominations (time exists in the Beyond, but it is wonky). Despite this, Windell’s soul, with a few bits of his original body, managed to come into contact with the Veil. While most Veils would construct a body from bits of organic matter that had found itself in the Beyond, and bind a soul to the body, most would neglect something trivial like memories.

But the Equus Veil was more ‘intelligent’, again due to the inherent and unique magic. So Windell was fully reconstructed, quite similarly regardless of the Veil’s law of averages, with an interesting glitch of his own. And due to Spike’s messages and the proximity of the Everfree, a ley line intersection had formed in the library foliage.

Already, Void bubbles are exceedingly rare, and for one biological sapient to survive the Void is even rarer. Of course, it is more common for the Equus Veil to form full ‘ponies’, but still rare. The Entity had even observed an individual pass from a dying Terra universe to an Equus universe via the Void, carrying a particular hitchhiker with it. So the way Windell passed was so close to impossible, it was practically so. But Windell is not impossible, it muses. Just highly improbable.

Still, the Entity thinks as its black hooves landed on a cloud, it would be so much easier if the Entity knew all that was bound to happen. Nonetheless, even without magic, it had managed to properly eradicate the sapient creature in the Badlands. Creating a wormhole to the surface of the sun gave the illusion of magical energy similar to that of the chaotic energies of the Badlands, and even managed to push the Captain to do something. If only the following incursions would be so easy.

<><><>

“Oh no!” he heard a soft voice say, “What happened to him? The poor dear looks like a house fell on him!”

“Well, Effie,” he heard the prey say, “It kind of did.”

“What!” the effeminate voice squawked, “What did you do?”

“I did nothing. Except try to build a house without a degree in architecture. Or following proper zoning laws.” There was a shuffling, and his nose twitched. His eyelids felt so heavy… “Apparently one of the beams wasn’t properly secured, and it knocked him cold.”

“Poor dear…” There was a pause.

“…I haven’t even finished my house, and I love it already.” There was a gasp.

“How could you say that? He could have died!”

“Wait, is this not a giant carnivore, capable of tearing me limb from limb? My condition may be obscuring the truth from me.”

“Sarcasm is unbecoming of you, Windell.” The lighter voice was curt.

“Sarcasm?” The prey asked. He heard the female sigh.

“Well,” she continued, “I’ve read about his species in books. He looks like a mix between a gray wolf and a direwolf. Or a very odd direwolf. I thought they were extinct!”

“I guess he didn’t get the memo.” There was a bit of shuffling, and he heard something approach. He tried to stir, but his movement was restrained, and his mind was a bit groggy. “Don’t worry about him escaping. I tied him up with Bui-Bui vines, and they’re nearly as strong as steel cable. Only a sharp edge can get him out.”

“The poor dear has a nasty bump on his head. I’m going to have to bandage him, but he needs some rest…Ooooh, I can’t take him home, he’ll scare all of my other animals!” There was another pregnant pause.

“Alright, alright, stop staring at me like that.” The prey took a deep breath. “I’ll take care of him.”

What? The wolf thought as his mind cleared of cobwebs, I knew the prey was strange, but nursing me, the predator that nearly ate him, back to health? He truly seeks his own death.

“I have to start trusting my senses, and although he may seem like a very big wolf to me, he’s still a canine, so he can be moderately intelligent. Or very intelligent, seeing as how he cornered me. But he’s still predictable. So if I feed him enough, while maintaining enough caution, I won’t find myself having dinner with Red Riding Hood and her grandmother.” The prey sighed. “I guess I’ll have to set up a hammock in the trees for me to sleep on. As for feeding him…I suppose I’ll get something for him now.”

The wolf heard the prey walk off into the distance. Meanwhile, the other pony approached him and began wrapping something around his head.

“Don’t worry,” she cooed, “Windell may be a bit rough, and a teensy bit odd, but he’s really kind to a lot of ponies. He’ll take good care of you.”

What is a ‘Windell’? Is that…a name? Do I have a name? How can my prey have one and not me?

“Shhh…Shhh…” the pegasus continued, “Don’t worry. You’ll be okay.”

The wolf found himself relaxing at the touch of her hooves. This…kindness that she shows me…The wolf felt an odd warmth near his center. I would rather starve than hurt this one. I owe my life to her. Suddenly, the demure pegasus paused in her care.

“Wait a second…food for him?”

<><><>

All I want is some seclusion so I don’t hurt anyone, I thought as I wandered about the forest, spear in hoof, But things keep happening. It will be harder to continue building my house with me taking care of that wolf…or whatever it actually is. I stood still atop a branch, spying a rabbit peaking its head out of the den. I grimaced. Not much for the big guy, but it’ll have to do. I slowly spread my wings, waiting for the rabbit to crawl further out of his den. He hopped out, his tiny nose sniffing about, unaware of the danger that lay upwind. The small breeze is working against me here, it’ll slow me down a bit before I get a chance to soar down there and skewer him. Maybe if I diverted more flow to my wings, and constantly emitted the flow rather than releasing it in flaps. I’ll come in quickly and silently. Taking care not to flap my wings, I glided down swiftly. I took aim…Spear ready. The rabbit turned his head. His eyes widened as I came upon him.

And he jumped back into the den, my spear narrowly missing him.

Well, crap. I was silent, but I wasn’t fast enough. It seems like even by diverting the flow, I don’t have enough power. I concentrated on the flow to see where it came from, tracing it back to its source, which was difficult, considering it was like a second circulatory system. A lot of it seems to wrap in and around my heart and my brain, but they just seem to be hotspots rather than where it originates. As I had previously thought, it seems to concentrate around my core when not in use, like a reservoir. But the flow seems to come from my stomach and a bit from my lungs. So I have to figure out a way to increase the amount of flow I receive, so I can store more, and use more.

But first I need some meat for my guest. I frowned. I couldn’t keep calling him ‘wolf’ or ‘guest’. I’m going to need to figure out a name for him. Gévaudan? No, I shook my head, that just doesn’t bode well for me. How about Fenrir? Nah, too cliché. Romulus, Remus, Warg? Eugh, none of them fit. How about White Fang? Ooooh, that’s nice, and although I am a fan of Jack London, it isn’t quite right. Hmmm. Maybe…maybe steel, for the color of his fur?

Steel Fang. That sounds nice. As for your food, Steel, I trotted towards Sweet Apple Acres, circumventing Ponyville, I know where to find a lot of it.

As I made my way to the farm, I couldn’t help but think back on the past. If only I had known, I would have seen the first signs of my disorder then. Think about the mistakes of the past later. Time to focus on Steel’s meal. I came upon an open pasture, surrounded by a wide, wooden fence. In the pasture, the perfect food for Steel stood, milling about, complimenting one another on their hats.

Cows.

I slunk a bit closer, keeping close to the tall grass. My spear was ready. They had nowhere to run. Soon their meat would belong to me, so I could domesticate Steel Fang. I poked my head out of the grass, waiting for the opportune moment to strike. I rose my spear above my head, ready to dive it within the sow closest to the fence, and ̶

“Excuuooooooooooose me, young stallion, but what are you doing?”

I turned to find myself muzzle to muzzle with another cow, a curious expression plastered on her face. Holy crap, I forgot they spoke. Seeing the cow, I diverted the flow to my brain so I would have time to think. And since I knew where the flow originated now, I could divert all non-essential flow to my head. Thank you bullet-time. I thought as time slowed down around me. Okay, I can see how this could help me get out of social faux-pas. Nevertheless, I have to remember time is slowed, not unlimited, so I have more time than usual to craft a believable lie. So wherever I am, my senses are telling me I’m dealing with sapients, and as I’ve learned, they may deceive me, but all of the greatest deceptions hold grains of truth. I may have almost gone on a killing spree. Shit. I can see the headlines now: “Psychopath kills fifty slightly overweight women at McDonalds! Murderer played video games, proof video games cause mass homicide!"

Okay, new rule, no hunting anything that walks on land. Small to medium sized fish are fair game, then. New problem though; what do I say? I’ve got a pointy stick raised towards one of her friends…shit, I’ve got nothing…what if I…

“Uh,” I smiled weakly as time resumed its normal pace, “I was going to…scratch her back?” The sow looked at me, frowning slightly. Shit, shit, shit, shit ̶ Wait, why is she smiling?

“That’s so kind of you, don’t cha know!” She leaned a bit closer, “Could you do me first?”

A half-hour of scratching bovine backs later, Applejack came into the pasture, Stetson and all. She watched me continue scratching their backs with the spear, which was a lot duller than I had originally thought, before approaching me.

“Howdy, Windell!” she greeted, “I learned ya decided to stick around, and now ah find ya helping mah friends in the pastures. It’s nice to see somepony who helps those in need.”

“Sure, Jackie” I laughed nervously, “I just saw they needed a bit of help, and I just happened to have this backscratcher nearby, so I volunteered myself.”

“Well, ah thank ya kindly.” Applejack looked to the cows in the pasture. “I guess ya do know a lot about all sorts of critters, like Fluttershy said, seeing as y’all are helpin’ those that aren’t flexible enough to scratch their own backs.”

“If you want,” the cow I was scratching said silkily, “there’s something else you can help us with.” She turned her half-lidded gaze to me and continued in a sultry tone, “You could scratch me somewhere else, with something a bit…bigger.” I felt the blood drain from my face, and Applejack’s face flushed a bright crimson.

“I…” I started, mouth feeling dry, “I have to…go.” Diverting the flow from everywhere in my body to my wings, I zoomed off in the direction of my hut.

“Consarn’ it, Betty!” I heard one of the cows in the distance say, “I didn’t get scratched yet!”

Arriving at my clearing, I allowed the flow to return down its normal circuits. I found Fluttershy looking at me with a worried expression. I smiled sheepishly, having a lie prepared from my time scratching the cows.

“I went, Effie, but I kind of don’t know what I should get Steel Fang.” Fluttershy cocked her head.

“Steel…Fang?” she asked.

“Yeah,” I waved a hoof dismissively, “It’s what I decided to name him.”

“Ummm…But…what if he already has a name?”

“Then I guess you could ask him when he wakes up.” I stated simply as I walked towards the tied up wolf. “Any idea what I should feed him?”

“Oh!” She perked up. “I suggest that you feed him a few vegetables, some fish, and maybe a bit of milk. I guess you should…um…let him go so that he could walk around.”

“Can you cut off the vines? I’m feeling a bit nauseous and I may be a tad clumsy.”

I had three reasons to make Fluttershy do it. The first was because she may not have actually asked me to free Steel, and I just wanted to be sure. The second was because I ‘knew’, from what my perceptions told me, that the mare could handle (hoofle?) Steel if he got vicious, thus whoever Fluttershy could have been must have been able or trained to do so. Third was because I was actually somewhat green from the mention of milk. Well, more green than normal. I handed the spear over to Fluttershy, and she picked it up nervously. Slowly approaching the wolf, she flew up to Steel’s ear.

“Please be still, okay? I’m going to be using a sharp object to get you out of these vines.” I heard her whisper tenderly.

She carefully sawed off the vines, sticking her tongue out in concentration. How is this more adorable from here rather than from the screen? Once the first vine snapped, the rest of the vines that were taunt and restrictive grew loose, and quite a few fell apart. I’ll admit, I was a natural at accidental knots, and when I tied Steel up in a desperate panic, I may have accidentally created a giant, eight-limbed, four-dimensional Chinese finger trap fit for a direwolf. That thing could have probably held a Hekatonkheires for all eternity. Once Fluttershy removed the vines, she passed my spear back to me.

“Thanks Effie.” I beamed at her, and she smiled and hid behind her mane. “I’ll go get some fish for Steel here.” I flew towards the river, hoping to spear some fish.

<><><>

The wolf blearily opened his eyes. He could move now, but a combination of hunger and dizziness made it hard for him to stand. He shook his massive head, stumbling a bit.

“Ooooh, don’t put too much stress on yourself…” he heard the caring voice say. “You could really hurt yourself.” The wolf blinked a couple times to clear the fog from his vision, and met his savior. A butter yellow pegasus with a pink mane, and soft teal eyes that seemed to pierce his soul. I have to show her my gratitude. Doing what felt right, he leaned forward and gave her a big lick on the face, as if she were one of his pack’s cubs. She giggled mirthfully, and the wolf felt his heart swell. She turned to look at him in the eye, without fear.

“Do you have a name?” she asked. Name? No…I don’t. How do I tell her that? I…shake? Shake my head? Yes. The wolf shook his head sadly.

“That’s okay,” said the pegasus, “Windell, the stallion who will take care of you thought that ‘Steel Fang’ would be a good name. Do you like it?” Steel? It’s…sharp, strong. The color of my coat. Steel Fang. A name for one who had so recently become aware. He nodded. The mare smiled again. Wait a moment. Windell? My prey will take care of me? He gave me a name? What?

“Now,” she mare chided, “You have to remember Windell will be getting food for you, so you can’t eat him. He’s very lonely, like you, so you can keep each other company. He wouldn’t have given you a name or have gone to get some fish for you if he didn’t like you.”

The newly christened Steel Fang stood up on his four paws, trembling slightly. He looked around and tried to walk towards the fire pit, now that he could do so without fear of danger.

“Oh dear,” the savior squeaked, “You seem to need a few nutrients. I think I’ll get some medicine from my cottage. And maybe a bit of ice.” She tapped a hoof to her lips in forethought. “Stay in the clearing Steel, and don’t take away those bandages I wrapped.” Bandages? The things she wrapped around my head? Why? It does not matter. The savior knows best. Maybe I should look inside the hut to see what happened.

His head hanging low from exhaustion, Steel padded into the half-finished cottage, his body framed by the door. Inside, he saw what the prey had been working on. Wood flooring covered the interior, carefully placed so that there was nearly no space between each board. But seeing how there was a very slight give to the floorboards, they were placed over another layer of wooden panels, except these seemed to be more space between each of those. The walls were made of stones cautiously placed in a manner that gravity pushed them into place, likely supported by wooden beams within. There were two triangular windows on each wall, lacking windows, but already with wooden frames. In the center of the single room was a circular fireplace, which extended up high, supporting a series of beams that already held up more wooden columns that braced a tilted, half-finished roof. There was already the main thatching, but it needed a proper ceiling that wouldn’t let rain in. The wolf failed to notice most of this, only seeing the haphazard beam on the floor, and he saw where it once belonged, directly over where he stood the last time.

His ears twitched as he heard something approach the clearing. Ever the eavesdropper, Steel listened in.

“Ah tellin’ y’all, he’s gotta be at his cottage. He got out of the hospital this afternoon, and the ponies we asked in town said they saw him walking back with a buncha bandages 'round his head.”

“I dunno Applebloom, the sun’s going to set soon.”

“Who cares! Investigators investigate! Day or night!” Steel Fang heard a bit of buzzing then.

I could take a peek at what’s coming towards the clearing. Steel slowly walked out of the cottage to see three stunned little fillies just outside of the cottage.

“Applebloom, that’s a really big wolf.” The white one said, nervously backing away.

“Girls, he…” the yellow one stuttered “He has a buncha bandages around his head.”

“I…I…I think I know why Mister Windell wanted privacy” the orange one stammered.

“WEREWOLF!”
“WOLFPONY!”
“WEREPONY!”

They all ran screeching as Steel crouched down and held his paws over his ears in pain. If Steel knew anything about what he had just witnessed, those three meant trouble.

Chapter 9: The Bird Way

Humanity, in its infancy, was not a race of hunters. It consisted of weak, lightly furred, primordial hominids, without sharp claws nor strong jaws. But change is a magnificent thing. An error in their own genetic material, occurring perhaps generations before, had given them the blueprints for the mightiest weapon that would ever grace Terra Firma.

The sapient brain.

Of course, for the blueprints to become a reality, it needed the materials. And the blueprints called for a major change in diet. Meat. And, oh, how the early hominids managed to procure that meat. Their bipedal stance and forward facing eyes gave them the advantage of finding prey in the African savannah. Their sweat glands and sad excuse for pelts allowed them to lose heat easily, and thus chase prey for days on end. Their dentition supplied them with a varied diet that allowed them to eat nearly anything while they hunted. And so they ran…either until they were able to bash their prey’s head in with a rock, or until it died of exhaustion. From then on, meat supplied the brain, and the brain supplied the means to get that meat. Sticks, sharpened stones, spears, all were born of humanity’s desire for meat.

Since then, the means of killing had evolved, as had the reasons. Truly, humanity conquered their world using only their brains, their hands, and their endurance. Humanity had become Earth’s most fearsome hunters.

So why can’t I hit anything? I thought crossly as I stood in the middle of a shallow stream, spear in hoof. I had tried to sit still, and carefully stab where the fish would be, but they were intelligent enough to keep beyond my spear’s reach. I had only gotten two, and that was only because I activated bullet-time while directing some of the flow down my foreleg so the nerves would react as fast as my brain did. Apparently, doing this drained me significantly, and placed great strain on my muscles. Thus, the effort left me weak-kneed and out of breath, and with barely any food in the basket to show for it.

“Stupid fish! Why can’t you just ̶ ” WHAP! Apparently, a fish took offense to my exclamation and slammed into my face. “That’s it! I’ve done it the human way, but now I’m going to do it my way. The bird way!” I flew into the air with my spear, my eyes following the shadows in the small river.

“CANNONBALL!”

<><><>

“Why won’t anypony believe us?” Scootaloo sat at the table by the Cutie Mark Crusader Clubhouse, supporting her head in her hooves. “It’s obvious that Windell is a werepony!"

“Well maybe they’d believe us if we all said it was a wolfpony!” Applebloom exclaimed.

“It can’t be a wolfpony! It looked completely like a wolf, not half-pony half-wolf.” Scootaloo countered.

“Well he can’t be a werepony, or else he’d only be a pony during a full moon.” Applebloom responded, slamming her hoof on the table.

“What about a werewolf?” Sweetie Belle interjected. The other two foals looked at her, then back to each other, and shook their heads.

“It isn’t a full moon, Sweetie! Hay, it’s still day!” Scootaloo said.

“Maybe he has control over it?” Sweetie smiled sheepishly.

“But then he could be a wolf bitten by a werepony, or a pony bitten by a werewolf!” Applebloom said, rolling her eyes. She brought a hoof up to her chin in deep thought. “If only we were able to know what Windell is…who would know?”

The three fillies looked at one another as an idea hit.

“Twilight!” they realized in unison.

<><><>

“Come in, Lieutenant.” A regal voice called out from the royal hearthroom. Ever the soldier, Hawk strode in, posture rigid and eyes forward. Both of the princesses were drinking tea, while Luna was daintily eating a fruitcake, humming an odd tune.

“At ease, Hawk Eye,” Celestia ordered, “Come sit with us. We have tea, cake, biscuits, and Luna insisted on the fruitcake.” Hawk relaxed and sat on a plush chair by Luna. He decided to forego the tea, and nabbed a piece of fruitcake.

“Hawk Eye, dost thou know why thou art here?”

“Because I’m the only guard here who truly is ‘at ease’ with you two when ordered?” Celestia chuckled at his response, and Luna allowed herself a small smile.

“That may be true Lieutenant, but we need you here to discuss the events of the Alamane,” Celestia said, “as well as what we’re going to do. So please, go over the important details.”

“From what I’ve seen, whatever happened in the Badlands was some sort of magical anomaly that hit an odd shambling creature. It was potent enough magic that all of the more powerful unicorns felt excruciating pain at the base of their horns, while the weaker ones simply passed out. There was enough saturation to make it difficult for the pegasi and I to fly, but the earth ponies were relatively unaffected, save for a few with sore muscles and hooves. Those who saw the event would have been blinded, or have permanent damage to their eyes, were it not for the effort of Strong Recovery, who, despite the pain to his horn, managed to tend to them. The zebra, Zahid, was also a great help in tending to the wounded. My suggestion would be to equip lookouts with tinted goggles and binoculars, and remove the less capable unicorns.”

The two alicorns nodded in agreement, muttering something about ‘primal energy’, but Hawk Eye continued. “And honestly, I think it would be best if Shining had an extended paid vacation. I know he’s a bit obsessed with being the ‘Shield of Equestria’, but that guy needs to spend some time with Cadence.” Luna snorted and rolled her eyes, while Celestia gave a sly smile.

“You will not believe how hard it was for him to accept the paid leave.” Celestia giggled, “This is the first time we can truly give a real excuse to get him to spend time with Cadence, and we jumped on it.”

“Dear sister, thou neglected to mention Cadence’s reaction when she heard of what happened at the Alamane” Luna laughed aloud, “It looked like she was about to unleash the deepest depths of Tartarus upon us!”

“In any case,” Celestia continued, “We’re willing to give Shining several months of paid leave.”

“Unless he proposes to her,” Luna said, “Which is what we hope will happen.”

Hawk Eye shook his head, seeing the deviousness of female planning. “You’ve been First Lieutenant for five years now,” Celestia said, “And yet I know so little of you! Please, tell me your story, my little gryphon.”

“If you insist, Princess.” Hawk acknowledged, “But it isn’t a very interesting story. My name isn’t quite a gryphon name, because my grandfather, upon coming here from the Great Isles of the Gryphonic Union ̶ ”

“Pardon,” Luna interrupted, “But what dost thou mean by the Gryphonic Union? I thought it was an Empire?”

“Luna! I thought I told you to read up on history!”

“But Tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiaaaaaaaaaa…History is boring!” Celestia rolled her eyes as Hawk stifled a chuckle.

“Well Luna,” Celestia rose a hoof in the air, “Shortly after…the Nightmare incident, the Gryphonic Empire attempted to seclude itself from all the other nations, but because of lack of trade, it fell apart within a decade, and the next few generations consisted of a maelstrom of political chaos and failed attempts at a stable government, so it fractured into several countries with different forms of government. It was divided into, from east to west, Neighpon and the Great Isles, the island nations, Prance, Germane, and Beaks, the coastal regions, Clawstria the landlocked, Downcroft the cold, costal lands, and Rawrssia, the vast mountainous lands that are known by its residents as the Gryphon Kingdom due to gryphon origins, populations, and cultural roots. The coastal countries even became quite receptive to ponies, minotaurs, and many other species. Clawstria and Rawrssia, however, remain, to this day, wary of foreigners. Despite this, two hundred years after the schism, the Gryphonic Union was formed to better coordinate trade and international agreements. The Union’s senate is led by the leaders of each country, who come into that position through different means. Election, heritage, education, all save trial by combat, which was outlawed when the Rawrssian representatives were constantly challenged and killed on the Senate floor. As such, they elect a member of the Senate to acting Prince of the Union, the highest executive position, but limited to three terms of five years. And so it has remained for the past six hundred and sixty-two years.”

The two others in the room looked at one another when she finished, trying hard not to react. They failed miserably as they fell over each other, convulsing in laughter. Celestia maintained her pose, a faint blush staining her cheeks.

“Thou still goes into thy ‘lecture mode’?” Luna guffawed.

“Worse yet,” Hawk said, wiping a tear from his eye, “She does it exactly like Shining Armor!” Celestia, stuck her nose in the air dismissively, but her small smile betrayed her.

“Anyways,” Celestia coughed, “Where were you in your story?”

“Well,” Hawk continued, “My grandfather on my father’s side, upon immigrating to Equestria, decided to give his hatchlings Equestrian names, rather than old Isletongue names. He said it would make them more culturally diverse. Some gryphons said that his offspring were going to forget their origins, to which grandfather responded ‘We’re plucking gryphons, mate. They’re not going to forget where they came from.’ Of course, my father, Valor Redwing, continued this tradition with his hatchlings. As for me, I was born in Equestria. Sure, I’ve visited the Isles, but I was raised here, I first flew here, I’ve decided this is my home, no matter what other gryphons or ponies say. So I got in the guard. The instructor was hard on me, but by Tartarus, he was hard on everyone. I got in, and on the first day, I got in a fight with some upstart colt who called me an ‘overgrown chicken’. Of course, we both had to clean the mess hall, and that’s how I became friends with Shining Armor. Apparently, he was trying to fit in with the others, but the colt had ended up with me as his best friend. The rest, you already know. Not much of an adventure, but hey, its my life.”

“How would you like to go on a real adventure?” Celestia asked.

“What do you mean?”

“I’ll be the first to admit we’re a bit short-hoofed, with our increased patrols along our borders, so guards of your caliber are very hard to come by. But we still need to find the dreamer, Lucid. It may be like finding a needle in a haystack, but I need you to assemble a team to prowl Equestria for Lucid. You will be undercover, so you will be out of uniform. Keep in mind, you will need to be combat ready, stealthy, and self-sustaining. And considering you will be out of uniform, it is encouraged that your team won’t be very, for lack of a better term, rigid, but capable of participating in civilian activities, to better fit in.” Celestia gave a knowing wink.

“So all I have to do is convince several members of the force to go on paid leave with me all over Equestria while looking out for suspicious characters?” Hawk grinned.

“Only the best could pull it off.” Celestia said, keeping her composure before letting a small smile escape her.

“Okay then,” the gryphon chuckled, “I’ll go assemble my Equestrian bar crawl team.” Hawk saluted and practically skipped out.

Celestia watched the door close and turned to Luna. The younger sister gave a sheepish smile as the eldest shook her head.

“Anything else you neglected to read?”

“Ummmm…” Luna blushed, “We still do not know how Cadence came to be once more. We thought that Sombra banished the Crystal Empire beyond time and space?”

“He did,” Celestia sighed dejectedly, “But apparently, she escaped through an obsidian mirror, a creation of Sombra’s as he tried to perfect Starswirl’s magic. I was trying to manipulate our mirror’s coordinates to find my previous student, but it ended up with little Cadence flying out of the mirror. You would not believe how shocked I was.”

“We can. But we wonder, did she adapt quickly to this time?”

“Unbelievably so, Luna. I suppose it was because she was so young. Even today, she is very ahead in her thinking, introducing social concepts we could have never thought of. But she refuses to tell me where these ideas come from, or what happened after Sombra took over.”

“Odd.”

“She will tell us in time, sister. I know you are curious, but patience is the key, especially with the potentially traumatic events that occurred.”

“Pity. We hope she gets better, we are sure there is a story there.” Luna took another bite out of her fruitcake.

<><><>

I walked along the river towards my clearing, basket filled with fish held on my back, secured by my wings. My legs were sore, I was tired, hungry, and an odd mixture of pissed and amused. The fish had seen my cannonball coming, and only two had been blown out of the water. When I got out of the stream, cold and frustrated, I was on my last legs. Tired, delusional, and maybe a bit high from exhaustion, I tried something I didn’t think would work. Then again, I could probably stack a few more fish on top of the basket. Maybe I can eat some. I turned to the river, and held the basket at an angle towards it in such a way that the fish would not spill out.

“Here fish!” I called.

One, two, three…seven more landed in the basket with wet slaps. I didn’t question it. In this delusion, the fish were smart enough to understand connotations and react accordingly, a step below canines of reality. But they were stupid enough to follow food and ‘crowds’ with a positive suggestion. I should not have expected any less. On the bright side, all I would need to fish in the future would be two fish in the basket, so other fish would ‘follow’ the crowd. I was looking forwards to feeding Steel Fang and sleeping comfortably in a hammock. I could be done with the day and fall into the blissful realm of my dreams. Or old memories I thought I let go. I grimaced. And they seem to be approaching the time I entered my first delusion. I’m not looking forwards to it.

I stopped just outside my clearing. Now, I need to describe what my clearing is usually like. When I found the spot, I was enamored by its stillness, its life. Civilization had not yet perverted the area, and in my construction, I hoped to keep it that way. The clearing itself was unremarkable; a small spot, no larger than the width of a suburban house, the flat ground was covered in ankle-high grass, with trees and shrubbery looming along the sides. Sunlight filtered through the edges and shone bright in the center, where my house was being built. Birds frolicked in the higher branches, and my brown teepee sagged underneath an old oak tree, its top secured by a rope to one of the lower branches of the venerable tree, making my temporary home seem like an extension of the tree. The stones I had chosen for the outside of my house were gray and mossy, the lumber for the roof a rich chocolate color. I had expected to see Fluttershy with a few medical supplies, tending to Steel as the injured direwolf sat there, calmly, letting her replace the bandages or feed him medicine. This is not what I came upon.

This was mayhem.

Rainbow Dash was arguing with Twilight about what seemed to be werewolves, behind Twilight, Steel Fang was on his back, dazed, as Fluttershy nervously patted him and seemed to be giving him medical attention, the door to my house that I had just installed was broken in and leaning off a hinge, Sweetie had somehow planted herself into the ground, Applebloom and Scootaloo managed to get themselves stuck in a tree with sap, Pinkie was just sitting there, yelling at the air, my teepee was on fire, and Cherilee just looked on, a hoof pressed firmly against her forehead.

Now, normally, I would just close my eyes, turn around, and walk away. But it was my home, dammit! I had nowhere to turn to. I gently put my basket down, and, with great effort, directed some flow to my throat, where I believed my vocal cords were. Logically, if the flow is sent to my brain increases my reaction time, being sent to my wings increased my speed, and sent to my legs increased my strength, then if sent to my vocal cords, the volume would increase.

“WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!” Okay, an ‘increase in volume’ may have been an understatement.

All of the ponies turned to look at me in surprise. Except the crusaders, who seemed to be physically incapable of doing so.

“SIT!” I commanded. The ponies plopped down, giving me a few nervous looks. I stomped over to the middle of the clearing and pointed to Sweetie Belle.

“You!” I fumed, “Turnip. Tell me how…how all of this-” I waved my hoof to show the carnage they had wrought, along with the now smoldering remains of my tent. “-came to be.” My eyes bored into hers, and she anxiously looked away.

“Weeeeell…” she began, “We came here earlier and saw the wolf and we thought it was you because he had bandages in the same place so we ran away and tried to warn the town of a werewolf but we couldn’t agree if you were a werewolf or a wolfpony or a werepony so we went to Twilight and she told us we were silly because werewolves don’t exist but Rainbow crashed in and heard there was a werewolf so she offered to protect us and we saw the wolf and he growled at us so we panicked and Applebloom and Scootaloo jumped reeeeeeaally high into a tree and I had a magical surge so I accidentally set your tent on fire after I teleported into the ground while Rainbow tackled the wolf into your door we’re sorry she broke it but then Fluttershy came and argued quietly with Rainbow then Twilight came and started yelling at Rainbow about endangered species and dangers of attacking a wolf and Rainbow said he was a werewolf and Cherilee was there and she tried to calm them down and Pinkie came out of nowhere and started yelling then you came and told us to sit down in a scary loud voice but I can’t because I’m stuck can you help me now I’m so sorry!” The little unicorn started gasping for breaths from the impressive run-on sentence.

“Do any of you have anything to add to this tale?” I asked out loud.

“Umm I went to get some medicine for Steel,” Fluttershy said, “but I came back to see Rainbow tackle him. I tried to tell her that Steel wasn’t you, but…oooh, I should have been more vocal about it!”

“That’s fine, Effie,” I waved my hoof dismissively, “Nursing him back to health is fine. I also understand that Skittles was trying to protect those three.” Rainbow nodded sheepishly as I looked back down to Sweetie. “Nickname pending, could you get them out there while you explain your actions?” Nobody moved from their places while they looked at each other with puzzled expressions.

“Who the hay is ‘nickname pending’?” Rainbow asked.

“Okay then,” I conceded, “Smarty, could you get the three young ones out of their difficult positions?” The ponies turned to look at Twilight.

“Wha-Fine.” She telekinetically brought down two of the Crusaders and removed their sap in a flash, then trotted over to uproot Sweetie. “I mostly just followed a hunch that these three would get into trouble when they yelled ‘Cutie Mark Crusader Werewolf Hunters’ outside my library. I didn’t know I’d find a species I thought was extinct! Of course, he seems a bit…ferocious.”

“Yeah, you’re only safe if Effie’s with you. Which is why I brought all this fish. I’m hoping he’ll stop trying to eat me.” They all stared at me, a few had their mouths gaping. Except Pinkie, who nodded as if my half-baked plan was actually the wedding cake of schemes. “Don’t look at me like that, I know what I’m doing.” Not really. Or at all. I turned to Pinkie, hoping to change the subject. “So why are you here?”

“My friends were yelling!” she chirped.

“And…?”

“What kind of friend would I be if I didn’t join them?”

“But…whatever. Moving on. And you, Teacher?” I looked to the mauve mare.

“I actually came here a few seconds before you did. I wanted to ask if you could come teach the class about biology for a day. Normally, I’d go to the library for information, but it seems like you’ve read a lot on the subject.”

“Sure,” I shrugged, “when would you like me to drop on by?”

“A week from now would be perfect! Unless…are you going to the Gala?”

“No worries, I’m staying around.” I looked around, noticing that Pinkie had disappeared. “Now, if all of you don’t mind, Steel Fang is hungry, and I need to feed him and set up a hammock high in the trees since my teepee is...Never mind. Now shoo!” The three fillies left with sheepish expressions, Rainbow looked a bit downcast and muttered a ‘sorry’ to me as she flew by me, Cherilee went with a wave, and Twilight reluctantly departed. I knew she wanted to study Steel, but now was not the time.

I stomped out the embers of my tent and collected a few extra sticks, sheets and ropes to create a bungalow in the trees. I looked as Fluttershy reapplied some bandages to Steel, thankful that she stuck around to help him. Flying up to three nearby trees, I did my magic with the ropes to create some sort of trigonal pyramid that would support the sheets I had brought with me. After a good thirty minutes of building, cussing, and getting wrapped up in rope and canvas, my terrific tree teepee was ready for use. I glided down and silently started building a fireplace to boil some veggies.

Fluttershy finished with Steel, at around the time the sun set, and walked timidly to me. Before she could say anything, I spoke up.

“I’m sorry for yelling at all of you earlier. I was tired, hungry, and pretty cranky. To add to that, a bunch of people came here, a place I thought would be secluded. I find it’s great you stood up to Skittles like that for Steel Fang. That was very brave.” Fluttershy’s cheeks tinged pink.

“O-oh. N-not really…” She kicked some dirt.

“Don’t sell yourself short, Effie.” I looked up to the rising moon. “It’s getting late. You should get back home. I’ll be setting the fish in front of Steel so he has something to eat.”

I sat up and dragged the basket to Steel, watching as he stirred back into consciousness. I waved to Fluttershy as she daintily flew away and kicked out the fire. I spilled the water onto the charred remains of the wood and brought the pot up with me to my sky-tent.

Minutes passed as I waited for Steel to wake. My eyes adjusted to the darkness, and eventually, I saw his dark form move and sit up. He looked about, then down in front of him, where I placed the basket, and began eating. I allowed myself a breath of relief, and bit into one of the potatoes I’d boiled. Now let’s see if I can get more ‘flow’ out of what I eat before bed.

Chapter 10: Slip

Warning: Minor Gore

Potatoes and milk. The breakfast of champions with very low standards.

I didn’t want to get out of my tree tent in the morning to make some proper hash browns because I still didn’t completely trust Steel Fang. Sure, he had eaten all of the fish, but I wasn’t completely sure I could trust what I saw. I had already established that even in my delusion, I had a sense of self-preservation, but I didn’t know if I could poke it with the ‘logic stick’ quite yet.

I took another bite out of the potato and concentrated on my flow, trying to ‘see’ more. Before falling asleep last night, I had established the existence of ‘flow’ in my dinner as it settled in my stomach. However, I couldn’t pull more from my food than my body normally would. As soon as my reservoir was filled, it wouldn’t take any more energy from the food, letting it go to waste. And apparently, this energy could not be absorbed through the small intestine’s duodenum, like the nutrients obtained from food. As soon as it was broken apart, the energy ̶ Wait. As soon as the food is broken apart, the energy escapes into my circuits naturally. What if it operates by osmosis? Feeling the flow within my core, I concentrated on redirecting the flow to the most outer edges of my body without letting any of it escape. Instantly, my core let some more flow out to compensate for the areas that I had vacated of energy, allowing more energy from the potatoes that I had eaten to enter my core. Interesting. But is there a way of ‘stretching’ my reservoir so I would not have to concentrate on keeping extra energy elsewhere, where I might potentially waste it?

I tried directing the flow back into my core, and there was a bit of give as it accommodated slightly more energy than before. It didn’t even diffuse back into my half-digested food. But after a bit, I felt a bit of bloating, followed by spike of pain in my core. Well, I winced, I suppose I can’t force a lot of energy in there at once. I guess if I want to make any real progress, I’ll have to do this every meal. The way I see it, this will only mean short amounts of pain in exchange for the illusion of security or actual security. Both of which I would like. I laid back and stretched my limbs. I’m almost done with my house, but I still have to build an outhouse since I lack plumbing, as well as a hut or two to store the stuff I get from the diamond dogs. And with the money I get from Zecora’s tasks, I could slowly supply my house with basic furniture and other necessities. I still have to pull water in buckets from the river, but since I bathe there, it shouldn’t be much of a problem. I rolled over and looked outside of my tent. Down in the clearing, there was no indication of Steel Fang, other than the unnatural silence, a sign that he was up and about, prowling. He isn’t hungry, he ate a good dozen fish, and then some. I know he’s sticking nearby, so it would be best if I gave him space and went fishing this afternoon for both him and I. I need to know how much more energy fish brings compared to potatoes.

I suppose I should eventually take a leap of faith.

I gently glided down from my tent to the front of my house. I didn’t have time to fix any of the damage, and the chaos yesterday had ruined my door.

“I suppose I’ll have to rebuild the door and bum a few bits of metal to reinforce it from Jackie.” I sighed. “And make a proper roof. I’ve got a lot of work cut out for me, but I’m very close to finishing.” I perked up and began to head towards Sweet Apple Acres…until I noticed three little fillies heading my way. Whrooooah boy. I stood there, like a statue, hoping their vision was based on movement. No such luck.

“Hi Mister Windell!” exclaimed Sweetie Belle, before she looked away and started biting her lip. “We’re sorry about yesterday…” she mumbled.

“Ah’m really sorry, Windell. We should have given more thought to what we saw.”

“Yeah…we kinda jumped to confunctions when we first saw your wolf with the same bandages as you.” Scootaloo said, moving her hoof in circles in the dirt. Sweetie and I turned to look at Scootaloo, but we didn't bother correcting her.

“We’re sorry!” they chorused.

“Thank you girls, that was very decent of you to apologize.” I was about to ask them to return home, but then I remembered that I could probably use a little child labor. “Say, could you three help me out a bit? I’ll even pay you three a small allowance for your task!”They jumped up, excited for a chance to help me. “All I need you three to do is go to Jackie’s and ask her for spare pieces of metal. I really need door hinges, nails, bolts, and strips of metal. Maybe a doorknob.”

“Jackie?” Scootaloo cocked her head.

“That’s Windell’s nickname for mah sister!”

“Right you are, Eden.” I put in, “Just ask for a general price so I can pay her when I pay you three. I don’t do communism, after all.”

The three fillies looked at one another.

“Communism?” Well, shit.

“What’s that?” asked Sweetie. I shook my head.

“It’s complicated, Turnip. Ask your par ̶ errrr…” My eyes flew to Scootaloo and Applebloom, and I cleared my throat. “Ask the adult figures in your life.”

“Oh. Okay!” Sweetie Belle piped as the three began to head over to Sweet Apple Acres.

“Thank you, Turnip, Eden, and Emu!” I yelled as they galloped into the distance. “Alright, now I can get started on Ze’s task. I think she asked that I get her some fire brambles and a batch of ramananas. Now I just have to ̶ ” Rainbow Dash decided to drop in then. And by drop in, I mean crash through my sky tent, tearing the ropes from the trees and bringing the canvas to the ground in front of me. The entire thing was shaking as Rainbow tried to free herself from my tent.

“Welcome to my parlor, said the spider to the fly.” I sighed dejectedly. Not how I pictured saying that nursery rhyme.

“What?” Rainbow muffled from within, stopping her struggle to listen.

“Nothing…just something I’ve wanted to say for a long time. So what brings you to my neck of the woods?” I asked as I untangled the pavilion pillager.

“Weeeeeeell… I wanted to say I’m sorry. I was a bit quick to use hoof combat.” I finally freed her from her canvas prison, and she looked away in shame. “I shoulda used my head first before attacking your wolf.”

“I accept your apology, Skittles, I know you thought you were saving lives. It’s very noble of you to do so.”

“Yep! That’s me!” She smiled a bit, her usual attitude coming back slightly. “The loyal protector of Ponyville’s ponies!”

“Neat. Now, before you fly off with that hot air balloon head of yours, could you help me set my tent back up and secure the beams? I need a bit of help, and I suspect you’re strong enough to help me out.”

“Pff!” Rainbow waved a hoof. “Is that all? C’mon let’s make this place awesome!”

We flew up to the trees and started tying the ropes back in their places, setting them taunt, and closing it all with canvas.

“So why’d you set up here?” she asked.

“I like solitude. I’m just strange like that.” I shrugged.

“Oh. So no friends?”

“I had friends. It just…didn’t end well.”

<><><>

“And so we, the three musketeers, have gathered here to celebrate our last high school midterm!” Benny rose a glass of cola in the air, smile reflecting those of Scott and Windell, who held cold glasses of orange soda and lemonade respectively. “We’re halfway there guys!”

The three clinked their glasses together.

“I don’t understand why we’re drinking cold beverages at Benny’s.” Windell mused. “It’s cold as hell here.” Benny chuckled and rolled his eyes as he left to get a straw.

“Oh, be quiet and drink your lemonade.” Scott said as he took a sip from his glass. “It’s stupid that you still think lemons are better fruits then oranges.”

Windell smiled. It was a mock argument they’d had so many times before.

“Lemons are awesome! Haven’t you listened to Portal's Cave Johnson? They have so much potential! The golden yellow color, the way it can be used to accent so many foods, and it’s the primary accessory for every drink!”

“And that is where the lemon fails,” Scott scoffed, “It’s nothing more than an aid in food. Never the main, only the accessory. Oranges, however, need nothing. Orange juice doesn’t need sugar, orange salads are exotic and delicious, and unlike your pitiful lemons, they can be eaten right after they’ve been unskinned.”

“Why can’t we all agree-”Benny fell onto the couch, straw in his barely spilling drink, “-that melons are the superior fruit?”

Windell and Scott unanimously shook their heads. “Citrus master race” Scott said, and he loudly slurped his orange soda.

There was a buzz from Windell, and he reached into his pocket to pull out his phone. Satisfied, he was about to put it back, when Scott stopped him.

“Hey, is that a new phone? Can I see it?”

Windell shrugged and let him play with it, then turned to Benny.

“So what are you planning on doing for college, Benny? I haven’t actually heard.”

“Not much,” he said nonchalantly, “just business and finances.”

“Huh. I can’t really picture you doing business.”

“Trust me Windell,” Benny gave a familiar grin, “I’m a people person.”

“Whelp!” Scott stood up and tossed Windell’s phone to its owner. “I’ve got to go. See ya guys.” And the teen picked up his bag and left out the front door in a barely repressed hurry.

“What was that about?” Windell asked aloud, before his phone started swarming with texts. “What? Why am I getting all of these…” his eyes widened at the last message sent on his phone.

“What?” Benny asked the nearly catatonic Windell. He pulled the phone out of his grasp and stared at the screen with a neutral expression.

I want to rape you

“Bastard” muttered Benny. “He sent it to everyone except Amadeus. Your reputation is fucked.”

“…I’ll say my phone was hacked.” Windell rasped, shaking himself from his stupor, weakly trying to get off the couch. Benny whipped around to look at Windell.

“Windell, that’s nine kinds of retarded. Why would you defend this? If you say that, few people will believe you.”

“But maybe Scott will stay. He’s been with my friend for almost as long as you, Benny. I don’t want to lose that. Everyone else either doesn’t care or hates me for some reason. This could have been a prank gone wrong. There’s nothing wrong with a little white lie, right?”

“Listen, Windell,” Benny sighed, “Friends don’t do that to friends. You were nothing more than a toy to him. He just threw you away and watched the shitstorm.” Windell curled up into a ball.

“Why?”

“Because he could.”

<><><>

Many things could be said about Big Macintosh. Silent, strong, dependable, sturdy, big, a family colt, and as he has heard mares whisper that he was, as bashful as he was to admit it, handsome. And red, although that wasn’t really said in undertones.

So when his sister came to the farm with her friends looking for some scrap metal, and she asked him what ‘communism’ was, he was a bit stumped. It certainly sounded like a few words he knew, several of which he hoped weren’t relevant. So when she clarified that she had already asked somepony what it meant, and they responded with ‘Ask and adult figure’, Big Mac couldn’t help but feel thankful that his red coat hid his blush quite well.

“So Big Mac,” Applebloom asked, “Do ya know what ‘communism’ is?”

“N-nope!” Big Mac smiled sheepishly and trotted off to warn Caramel and Thunderlane of the new word. It was best they knew before their siblings. He just hoped the term would not spread.

<><><>

Celestia sat at her desk as she looked over the files of the guards that Hawk Eye had requested for his ‘Equestrian Bar Crawl’. Luna was peacefully sleeping in her chamber, so she would have to be the one to approve for the night guards he had requested.

It was unfortunate that she had to refuse his request for Zahid, as he would be far more resistant to bursts of primal magic than a unicorn medic, so he had to remain stationed at the Alamane. Strong Recovery, however, was a unicorn she could spare for his quest. Sergeant Recovery had an admirable record as a field medic. A powerful unicorn capable of healing the most grievous injuries, he excelled above other medics due to his own strict physical regimen, leaving him a tier above the average earth pony guard in terms of physical strength. His attack spells may have been lacking, but he could form a decent shield around a small town, so he could easily protect a small team. It would be a small loss to remove him from the circulatory system Celestia had set up between the Alamane and the Canterlot guards, but she doubted primal bursts would be common enough for his absence to make a difference.

Next was a member of the Lunar Guard, Midnight Azalea, the bat-pony mare with an affinity for stealth and all manner of poisons. Celestia had been reluctant to accept her as a guard, but she had also shown considerable skill in anti-toxins to all manner of creatures. It wasn’t Celestia’s place to accept or deny this request, so she moved on to the next file.

Red. Celestia smiled. She knew of Red, who had renounced his title as noble at a young age before deciding to earn his own title in the guard. Blueblood’s younger brother and one of the two black sheep of the Platinum dynasty family. Formerly Redblood, Red had revoked his own heritage to become the Solar Guard’s prodigal attack mage. The lithe unicorn was as fast as a pegasus on the ground, and was often seen as nothing more than a red and white blur before unleashing a plethora of spells at his targets. The only complaint that his drill instructors had listed was that he ‘couldn’t take a hit’. Red would make a fantastic addition to the team.

Another Lunar Guard, so outside of her jurisdiction. Even then, despite this one’s fantastic record, he seemed a bit…odd. How does one go from studying musical theatre to the guard with a cutie mark like that? The next night guard was Silent Foray, one of the rare earth ponies in the Lunar Guard. A martial artist with an adequate record. Another Solar Guard, a pegasus by the name of Thunder Strike. Martial artist as well, and quite proficient in blades. He was one of the few pegasi capable of handling wingblades as well as hoofclaws. Add that to his impressive weather manipulation, and Thunder was a pegasus that one would be hard-pressed to act without. Celestia nodded. This one, she approved of.

This day guard seemed quite average, but looking over her, Celestia could not help but admire Hawk Eye’s intelligent choices. Whereas Lake Lily was an earth pony mare who had passed the guard exam with a perfectly average score, she excelled in all manner of things. Her skills included cooking, medical know-how, planning, financial knowledge, signs of leadership, and being a very social pony. Both Celestia and Hawk Eye recognized the importance of her skill set for this mission. Another earth pony night guard, a stallion by the name of Titanium, displayed an interesting combination of brute strength and incredible intelligence. Titanium was as tall as Luna and was known throughout the guard as ‘the one who wrestled two minotaurs into submission’. No thought necessary, Titanium would be an invaluable member of the team.

The only files that needed to be approved or denied now were those of the Lunar Nights, and for that, Celestia needed Luna’s ̶

“Hello, Tia. We hath awoken early this day to properly choose Hawk Eye’s roster of companions. Have you chosen thy proper guards for the quest for Lucid?”

“I’ve already chosen which requests I’ve accepted.” The white alicorn floated over the files into a pile. “Have you had any luck finding Lucid in the dreamscape?”

“Nay, sister.” Luna shook her head sadly. “You know how lucid dreams work. They can appear anywhere in the dreamscape, and they may even move. I’ve seen glimpses of Lucid’s dreams, but they always slip out of sight. It is possible that Lucid is actively repressing my presence from its dreams.”

“What incredible mental fortitude.” Celestia murmured. “Anyways, would you please go over the files?” Luna picked up the pile of night guard files in a blue glow and began to quickly skim over the pages.”

“Yea. Yea. Yea. Nay. I need Silent Foray here, he is third in command of my night guard, and we are already sending Hawk Eye. Night Shade will need a right hoof stallion, for which Silent is perfect.”

“So the final roster is Hawk Eye the gryphon male, Strong Recovery the medical unicorn stallion, Midnight Azalea the bat-pony mare, Red the combat unicorn stallion, Titanium the earth pony stallion, Lake Lily the earth pony mare, Thunder Strike the pegasus stallion, and Tron…the odd unicorn.”

“Yes,” Luna giggled, “Tron is quite entertaining. But we cannot help but notice you refused to let Zahid go with them. Why is that?”

“As much as he would be helpful to them, he, and all other zebras in the guard are needed at the Alamane, as they are more resistant to bursts of primal magic.”

“It is amazing that they would be able to endure primal magic. Such ancient magic is dangerous.”

“Dangerous, yes,” Celestia conceded, “But we must remember that is the energy that makes up the heavenly bodies, the magic found in the sun, the stars, the moon, and deep within Equus. It is a magic of both creation and destruction. These bursts are but signs of unstable times that will come to pass. Respect it, Luna.”

“Of course sister. We remember the days long gone when primal magic was far more common, when beasts such as Fenrir, Echidna, and Typhon roamed. Even those who merely dabbled in it, such as Grogar caused trouble. Or those that fought alongside us, such as Leah’par and Yazi of the Nine. We remember that primal magic is nothing more than a soulless blade, used either to slaughter or protect the innocent.”

<><><>

“So long!” I waved to Rainbow as she flew away. “And thanks for all the fish!” I steadied the basket on my back full of what would be Steel Fang and I’s meal. After Rainbow had helped me properly set up the roof of my house, I casually mentioned I would get some food for Steel. Apparently, Gilda had taught Rainbow how to fish in streams during flight camp, and she managed to get a few before I did the ‘Here fish!’ trick.

The way she stared at me…it was like I told her that things could go past two times the speed of sound. And then she started laughing like crazy! Maybe I just stood there like an idiot while no fish landed in my basket…Meh, whatever. I know I have food because my senses tell me so. It may not be fish, but it is edible because I see it that way. I just have to trust myself. I shook my head. Going down that road led only to pain. I approached my nearly completed cabin and noticed a trio of tiny ponies.

“Hey, you three!” I gave them a smile, “Did you get my scrap metal?”

“Yup!” Applebloom exclaimed, “We asked mah sis and she said it would be ten bits.”

“And don’t forget our cuts!” Scootaloo put in.

“No worries. I see the scrap’s in a pile by my cottage, so that’s perfect. I’ll give you twelve to give back to Jackie, and three each.” I flew up to my tent, where I left my bits, and gave them twenty-one coins. “You three be good now, I’ve got to get fixing.” I headed over to the scrap, the chattering of three girls fading into the distance. “Soon, I can finally finish my sanctuary.”

“Good afternoon Windell.” God damn it. I turned around to see Bon-Bon approaching me with a strained expression. “Sweets. You’re here. Why?”

“Listen,” She snarled, “I don’t want to be near this smelly forest any more than you would a manticore. But I had a choice between you and Rarity, and I decided to come to you for romantic advice, since you know of my…affliction.”

“What the-Okay, first off, it’s less of an affliction and more of an affiliation. Second, what died in your cereal bowl this morning? Third, it’s a good thing you came to me instead of Marshmallow, because at least I’ve been in a relationship, not read sub-par novella on the subject.”

“Sorry,” Bon-Bon sighed, “It’s just…now that I’ve fully realized how much I would enjoy Lyra as more than a friend, I’m stuck. I don’t know how to flirt with a mare! I want to be with her, but I’m afraid of what she’ll think, what she’ll do…”

And with that, a melody began to play. Bon-Bon closed her eyes and took a breath.

Oh, come on. Don’t do this to me, brain!

I'm not strong enough to stay away.
Can't run from her
I just run back to her.
Like a moth I'm drawn in to her flame…
Says my name, but it's not the same.
She looks in my eyes, I'm stripped of my pride.
And my soul surrenders, and she bring my heart to its knees.

It went silent, and Bon-Bon opened her eyes as they shone with passion.

And it's killin' me when she’s away, I wanna leave and I wanna stay.
And I'm so confused, so hard to choose.
Between the pleasure and the pain.
And I know it’s wrong, and I know it’s right.
Even if I try to win the fight, my heart would overrule my mind.
And I'm not strong enough to stay away

I'm not strong enough to stay away
What can I do…

Bon-Bon turned to look at Ponyville and reached with a hoof.

I would die without you
In her presence my heart knows no shame
I'm not to blame
Cause you bring my heart to its knees

There's nothing I can do
My heart is chained to you
And I can't get free
Look what this love's done to me!

Not strong enough, strong enough
Not strong enough, strong enough
To stay away
Not strong enough, strong enough
Not strong enough, strong enough
I'm not strong enough to stay away

Just roll with it.

“…feel better?” I asked. Did not expect her to sing some orchestral metal. Or to do it better than Doug Robb.

“A bit, yeah” the mare intoned.

“I would tell you how to flirt, but in the short time I’ve met Mint, it just seems like it’d fly over her head. The best I can suggest you do is continue being nice to her, maybe throw in a bit of physical contact, and eventually, she should realize. You can’t carve canyons in a day.”

“I know.” The confectioner looked down. “I just wish I wouldn’t have to wait. What I feel…it just…I can’t explain how much she means to me. I can’t imagine living without her.”

“That says a lot. How about you be, well, you. I’ve got a hunch that you two will end up together.” A small smile graced Bon-Bon’s muzzle. “Just be patient. Heck, if you need any indication in how important you are to her, look at her actions. Remember the event in the forest, Mint stepped between you and the danger. She cares about you.”

“Thank you, Windell." Bon-Bon said as she began trotting away, "I’ll be seeing you.”

“About that. I kind of like my solitude, and others seem to think I’m some sort of guru. I’ll be around, I would just like to be alone.” Bon-Bon scoffed and rolled her eyes.

“You’re an odd pony.”

“I sure am, Sweets. Now shoo!”

<><><>

Rainbow Dash was having an awesome day. There were only four days left until the Grand Galloping Gala, four days left until she could meet her idols, the Wonderbolts, four more days until they induct her into the team because of her pure awesomeness. Because of that, she was clearing the sky as fast as she could so she could train and show ‘em her stuff.

Two, four, six, twelve clouds in less than three seconds. She was on a roll!

“Hey Rainbow Dash!” The prismatic mare looked down to see her biggest fan, Scootaloo, waving at her as she filly buzzed by on her scooter. “Can I ask you something?”

Rainbow shrugged and landed by the orange filly. “Sure. What’s up, squirt?”

“Everypony else has been avoiding the question, and I want to know: what’s communism?”

Rainbow Dash froze, looking off blankly in the distance. She’d overheard the word when she listened to Thunderlane warning Cloudchaser about it. Now, Rainbow Dash considered herself a lot of things...

“R-Rainbow? Are you okay?”

Awesome was definitely one of them. Fast was another good adjective. Cool, radical, maybe a bit arrogant…But come on! Have you met her? She’s her!

“Shou-should I get help? Blink if you don’t need help Rainbow Dash!”

…Colorful was also another word that fit her. But all that was on the outside. On the inside, she was something absolutely nopony must know. It would ruin her reputation, her entire image. On the inside, hiding from everypony else, Rainbow Dash was…

“O-oh my gosh Rainbow! I’ll get a doctor!”

A prude. It wasn’t just mushy relationships that made her uncomfortable, it was everything that went with it. And while talking about…that to a little filly was awkward, it was a whole lot more uncomfortable for her. Especially since she couldn’t…wait a second. Rainbow blinked a few times and noticed that Scootaloo had left her in the middle of the empty road. Rainbow held her chest out in pride.

“Rainbow awesomely avoids awkwardness!” she proclaimed before flying away.

<><><>

On the morning of the Gala, I had found myself standing by Cherilee in her small classroom, in front of two dozen students. Thankfully, I had removed my and Steel's bandages, so I didn't look completely ridiculous. I didn’t quite know where to start, so I decided to start small.

“I was asked to attend so I can teach a bit of biology. So I guess I’ll start with the basic components of every biological organism. Keep in mind, I’m old, so this information could be a tad outdated.” There were a few chuckles. “So today, I’m going to talk about the cell.”

With Cherilee’s help I was able to draw a diagram of the cell, and even drew cells with different functions; from your run-of-the-mill plant cell, to the neuron and how messages are sent. Cherilee even stopped to take a few notes for herself, and the children caught on quite quickly. I described a basic rundown of the Krebs cycle, the Electron Transport Chain, and DNA replication, without going too in depth with the chemicals involved, sure that they wouldn’t quite grasp that. The entire class was quite interested in DNA, and I introduced a bit of genetics to them. To finish off, I made them do a few problems using Punnett squares by themselves. All in all, I was pleasantly surprised to see that I enjoyed teaching. It felt so right.

As class finished and the little ones filed out of the room, I couldn’t help but feel satisfied on what I’d taught. “You did very well!” I turned to look at a smiling Cherilee. “I even learned some things. And I could tell you measured yourself so it wouldn’t be too complicated.”

“Yeah,” I admitted, “And it felt really…nice to give them my knowledge.”

Cherilee beamed. “Say, have you ever considered becoming a teacher? You’ve got the cutie mark for it.”

“Maybe one day.” I shook my head. “But not soon. I still have issues I’d like to deal with, and the only solution is solitude. I enjoyed this, but being alone is good for my well-being.” And that of others.

“Okay,” Cherilee granted, “But if you ever want to teach again, you’re welcome to come here.”

I gave her a nod and headed back home to put the finishing touches on my abode.

<><><>

Jason Halles was scared. He was nothing more than an engineer on deck, another drone in the large machine that was the maintenance staff of a military vessel. Sure, they were a bit nervous about the most recent reports of first contact, but he was skeptical. Aliens wouldn’t do that! They would surely be very logical beings.

And then they came.

Their strange, sleek, ship contrasted the human’s blocky vessel starkly, like the difference between night and day. And their weapons were vastly superior. Only one salvo was fired before the Lincoln was incapacitated. Then, they sent the boarding parties.

Jason could barely see them through the red, dimmed emergency lights, but they all moved on two legs, and several towered over the humans they mercilessly slaughtered. There were some other species that were smaller, but they scared him with their bird-like features. These often scavenged the human bodies, tearing into flesh with their beaky mouths, blood splattering onto their reptilian skin. Jason had stumbled across one a few minutes prior, eating Leroy, another engineer Jason frequently found himself working with. He quietly brought up his gun and fired a shot into the back of its skull. Its gray matter splattered over Leroy’s face, and Jason ran into a bunk room before anything could follow the gunshot’s sound.

He leaned back against the steel door, unable to comprehend how this had come to be. He would never see home again. He looked directly ahead, contemplating the bay window. His face wet with tears, he looked to his pistol. It still had eleven rounds. Maybe if he shot the window enough, he’d break it. Go out on his own terms.

He shook his head. Nothing less than a rocket launcher could pierce that glass. Without a warning, a familiar humming began. The slipspace drive was working! But…there were still invaders on the ship. Were they planning on going to a secure base to interrogate prisoners? But what if they had means of tracking their soldiers? There were too many unknowns!

There was a familiar jolt, and the Lincoln entered slipspace. Jason was wondering what the hell his superiors were thinking when a series of explosions echoed through the ship. The lights turned off completely, the bright fluorescence of slipspace providing Jason with the realization. They quarantined the part of the ship the intruders had boarded, and blew it off. Jason’s hair began to float as the last vestiges of artificial gravity left.

Jason knew that out of all the tests, a tracker released in slipspace only very rarely was found. The rest just…fell out of space.He pushed off towards the window and managed to orient himself towards the working part of the ship, which seemed to be moving exponentially faster.

For humanity.

His piece of the ship started 'falling down', the brightness of slipspace dimming. The active part of the broken ship was accelerating, until it was nothing more than a dot, a memory, a dream. Darkness consumed the ship. It wasn’t space, there were no stars, no lights, no hope. Just darkness. A darkness that seemed to move, shifting to Jason’s peripheral vision. Something was out there, moving, surviving.

Jason’s heart began to race. There were things out there. Not like the things on the ship. Given enough time, he could understand them. But these, these were beyond that. They coiled about, whispering, invisible, malicious. He could not see them, but he knew they were there. And more importantly, they knew he was here.

But the creatures skirted away, their whispers disappeared, their desires did not come into fruition. And Jason saw the Veil. The white expanse became visible as tendrils of darkness slithered away, revealing the surface of the Veil. The surface of another universe entirely. Slowly, the broken ship approached the white expanse. A speck of dust on the vastness of a reality. Jason saw the tip of the ship touch the Veil, and with the sound similar to that of one tearing a sheet of paper while slurping through a straw, Jason entered a new world.

Instantly, his stomach plummeted as he felt gravity reassert itself a kilometer above what seemed to be a swamp. Letting his training take control, Jason used the seconds left of zero-G to push himself into a bunk and brace for impact.

When he came to, Jason blearily looked about a minute, wondering why his bunkmates hadn’t woken him up, before recent events rushed to his head. He stood up quickly, but winced as his left arm flared in pain. Broken. He tore some sheets with his teeth and some clever maneuvering and he was able to make a sling. Magnum in hand, he moved towards the window. There was some light peaking at the top, but the rest was below mud level. The only sign of the crash was a crack at the bottom right of the window, a testament to human engineering.

Holding his pistol in his teeth, the engineer used a spare crowbar to pry open the door before squeezing through. Looking in both directions of the hall, Jason decided to go against the slight incline, reminding himself that there may have been more survivors, and that may have not been a good thing. As he came closer to the topmost part of the ship, he crossed a few corpses, dead by either plasma burns, fire, or from the crash. Jason came across one other survivor, a bird-thing with less broken limbs than he deserved. Jason crushed its last arm before he broke its neck on the heel of his boot.

“Suck on that, you birdy freak.” He muttered.

Finally, Jason came across an opening. He looked out to the swamp, relishing the smell of stable ground. He leaned against the side of the opening and sighed.

“I guess I have to either live off the land or call for help.” He stood back up. “I’ll survive this.”

He felt what seemed to be an impact on his back.

“Huh…?”

The engineer felt a burning in his abdomen as he was lifted from his feet and carelessly tossed into the mud. Face down in the muck, Jason felt tired…so tired. He closed his eyes to rest as the cold numbness spread throughout his body.

Chapter 11: Killer

Warning: Mild Gore

As I stared at the corpse of the strange bird creature, I pondered on whether or not it was a wise move. Yes, it looked like a spawn of an ill-fated union between a bird, a dog, and a dying human being, and it was shooting at everything that moved, and yes, I sort of panicked when it started shooting at me, but I had to wonder what it really was, and if I was right for what I had done.

Its strange skull had been obliterated by a stone I threw with all of my strength, a testament to either how much energy I had managed to absorb and properly store, or how frail it really was. Its brains had been spread across my clearing, bits having been blown through the skull from the impact. If one had approached the corpse from its left, they would have wondered what could have been the cause of its death. Getting closer, they would notice a third of its face gone, its lifeless eye staring up to the sky, as if wondering if there was a heaven or a hell, and hoping it would get into the former. Its jaw was intact, its snarl etched into my brain. Its last expression was one of hatred. My gaze wandered across the body, hoping for a sign, a clue. Was it for me? Was it someone I’d hurt? Oh? My eyes found a bit of chrome behind its eye ridge. Hello…what is this? With some effort, I managed to wedge it out using my dexterous feathers. It seems like it was fitted into a hole behind the eye ridge. Wait. I brought it up to my ear and listened. Voices. This is an earpiece! And there are others…

“They may be just as hostile as he was.” I realized. I nervously paced about. Stepping over the corpse, I ran over to my cottage and grabbed the spear that lay by the door, the only thing inside the house aside from the Bui-Bui mattress. It’s possible that it’s nothing more than a criminal, one that had been properly monitoring the authorities. I surveyed the weapon in its three-fingered hand. It looked like a ‘ʊ’ with white ends that nearly met. The rest of the strange weapon was a crimson red with a glossy hexagonal pattern. With some difficulty, I picked it up in one wing and managed to push down on the trigger with a hoof. A green glow lit up the ends of the weapon with a buzz, and a ball of energy came into being. I tried to let go of the trigger, but my hoof was stuck to the inside. Shit, shit, shit! The energy ball’s growing, and I’m stuck! This thing’s going to explode! I wiggled my hoof around, waving it about, but it was stuck on the trigger, and I didn’t want to use my teeth, because it might blow up in my face. Suddenly, the ball stopped growing and started undulating. Oh shit, there goes my arm. I clenched my eyes shut, and the buzzing stopped. There was a distant sound, and I looked down to see my hoof intact. Using my teeth, I pulled off the weapon and dropped it next to the body of the creature. I couldn’t fire that thing at all. I glanced to a tree that now had a smoldering crater deep in the bark.

Whoever they are, they have weapons. This one could be a scout. I turned to study the body. I could leave this for Steel, but… I felt uneasy thinking about the possibility that someone would come to my home and see the corpse. A small prickle settled down in my spine. I’ll set the body on fire. Then I’ll try to find others like…it. The prickle left me as I started to gather branches for the pyre. I made sure none of the bits were visible, and I wet the grass in a circle around the body so that the grass wouldn’t be consumed by the flames. The branches were set up, and with a flint, the pyre took and the evidence began to burn. Leaving it burning, I picked up my spear once more and headed in the direction the thing came from. And as the sun began to set, the flames receded behind me as I headed into darkness.

<><><>

“I’m so excited, Shiny!” Cadence exclaimed as she pranced in a very unprincessy manner. “First time you get a break and we’ll explore the best the known world has to offer! First Fillydelphia, then Manehatten, and then…” Cadence paused to look back at Shining. “Where are we going after that?” Shining was still smiling at Cadence’s manner.

“Well Cadence, I thought it would be interesting if I won the Canterlot Chess Tournament in your honor. Then we’d go visit Vanhoover so we can go do some skiing, and maybe do that stuff you’ve always liked to do.”

“Wow, Shining,” Cadence smirked, “I didn’t know you were so…old-fashioned.”

“Anything for you, Cadence.” Shining said with a straight face as he blushed. Cadence took notice and nuzzled him affectionately.

“Don’t worry, Shining. I don’t mind. I think it’s very sweet of you.” She gave a small peck to his cheek, and his alabaster coat reddened further. “Plus, getting to drink hot chocolate in front of a fire while we snuggle is something I really look forward to.”

As they approached the train to Fillydelphia, Shining turned around and looked towards Ponyville. “What’s wrong, Shiny?” Cadence trotted to the worried stallion’s side.

“I can’t help but feel as if somepony’s in distress. And that a lot more trouble will be coming our way.” Cadence grabbed her coltfriend’s muzzle with a hoof, and turned his head to look her in the eye.

“Sweetie, the Princesses have got this.” She closed her eyes and kissed him. “Relax. It’s our time now.” She turned and entered the train, and Shining followed. He couldn’t help but glimpse over his withers and bite his lip.

“Be safe.”

<><><>

I crouched low on the tree branch, thankful that my dull turquoise coat provided a good camouflage in the dark trees. I had been sitting there for the past five minutes, spear in hoof, waiting for the last rays of sunlight to finally disappear so that I could explore the sinking wreck in the bog. At first, I backtracked the footprints of the creature, which I had decided to name ‘Tweety’, until I noticed a large shadow against the dusk sky. Deciding to investigate the new landmark, I made sure the footprints led back to it before I flew underneath the higher branches to get there. The massive construct of metal was blocky, had a few windows, yet seemed…incomplete. It only took me a minute before I realized that it was sinking at an incredible pace, and it would be too risky for me to explore the inside.

When the day’s last light finally disappeared, I flew down and walked to the construct. I looked down to see loads of footprints. And not just Tweety footprints, but big ones with three toes. As I observed the towering build, it slowly dawned on me that it was a ship right out of sci-fi. I walked closer to it, and began asking myself questions. Where are the thrusters? And the main deck? It looks like a piece was cut off and just thrown here without care. What ̶ “Ooof!”

I had tripped over something lumpy, covered in mud. Picking myself up, I wiped a part off and noticed it seemed to be a cloth of some kind. Curious, I dug the mud off of the armor until an entire body was revealed. A human body. My legs trembled and collapsed under me. Not again. I stared at the corpse, lying face down in the sludge. It has something on its back. I shakily got up and got close enough to see a perfectly vertical line filled with mud in the armor. Carefully, I scooped the mud out until I reached cauterized skin. He was stabbed. I walked back a bit to look over the body. It was burned through, like the bolt did to that tree. Except this wasn’t a bolt, it was like…a sword. A sword of energy…a plasma blade. I looked to his hand, which seemed to be holding something. Clearing off the mud, I managed to wrest the pistol out of stiffening hands. Still useless, but maybe I can salvage it for parts. I’ll pick it up later. I turned my attention back to the body. I want to see your face…but it’ll only hurt me more. I’m sorry. I planted the spear in the mud and grabbed the dead man by the arm to drag him to the ship entrance, where mud was pooling in quite slowly. I dropped him just inside the entrance and stared at him. I’m sorry. But you have to go down with this ship. If others come to recover the ship, it should have all of the victims on board.

With that, I walked out, paying attention to the footsteps of the other survivors. Noticing a few mud stains on the side of the ship, I flew up the side of the ship to where one of the creatures had climbed. I followed the mud tracks until I reached the highest point of the ship. I could see Canterlot from here. I looked down to the tracks. Logically, if they wanted help, they should have been going directly to the mountainside city. But they seemed to veering off to the right of the mountain. But that’s the blind side of the mountain. They would only go to that side if they were planning on…attacking. Holy crap. These guys are definitely the ones who killed that man. And they plan on taking the city. I flew back down, wondering if I had to get involved. If I do, there’s a chance I might get hurt, and an actual military would be able to take care of them. But if I trust my senses, then I know that they far outclass any nearby militaries. I took a deep breath. Okay then, what do I know for sure? These guys are dangerous. That much is true. From what I’ve seen, they attack any civilized life. And if they stumble across a group of innocent people…shit. I felt that familiar feeling in my spine. I’ve got to act. I looked across the forest and the far off Rambling Rock Ridge. I’ve lived here for a few weeks now. I’m in home field. It’s time to use that to my advantage.

An hour later, I had finally found the group. As I had suspected, they moved in a straight line towards the right side of the mountain. This had given me the chance to set a couple traps along their predicted path. Most of the time, it was nothing more than simple snares and swinging rock combos, but there were two traps that I knew would eliminate a good majority. As I watched the group of thirty-two Tweeties and six Saurians, named so because of how they were two times the size of the Tweeties, with different sets of armor. Obviously higher rank. They’ll be harder to kill. It’s a good thing I set up the swinging rock traps appropriately. I watched on and grinned maliciously as the creatures began to wade through some bog. Time to enact phase one: Boys are Back in Town. I redirected some flow generously to my wings so they could provide lift, and silently flew high above their heads. From what I could tell when I approached them somewhat, they had some sort of motion sensors that reached within ten meters. It really scared me when I tried to get a better view and half of them turned to face me. Let’s get them something bigger to notice.

I landed on some rocks I the middle of the bog, far enough behind the creatures that they would not notice what I was doing. The second time I went to the Bog for some ingredients, I had to stop for a bathroom break. Not having anywhere else, I just let loose into the mud. Now apparently, one of the creatures in the Bog had a sense of smell similar to that of a shark. And pissing in his swamp was basically an invitation for him to eat me. Luckily for me, I’m not a moron, so the second I saw one of his heads start to breach the surface, I flew out of there fast, before he got a chance to fully pull himself out. This time, I was going to act like a moron. As his heads breached the surface, I decided a taunt would help me. Or kill me.

“Hey, fat, stupid, ugly, and Clarence!” I pointed to each of the heads in turn with my spear. Oddly enough, the rightmost head seemed almost happy to be given a name. The other three growled and worked harder to pull themselves out of the slime. “You’ll never catch me if you stay that slow!” I jumped into the air and flew at a manageable speed, careful not to burn too much energy. With a triple roar and a whine, the hydra chased after me. It was time to thin the numbers.

<><><>

“So all of thou understand thy mission?”

The assembled guards nodded. It was simple enough: travel across Equestria as civilians, ask ponies about strange occurrences or beings, find Lucid, and bring him in for questioning.

“Are there any questions?”

Hawk Eye raised a claw, and Luna nodded in his direction.

“Princess, if you end up finding more information on Lucid, how are you going to update us?”

“Thou asks a very good question, Hawk Eye. For that, I have prepared a Starswirl Crystal Screen for us.” There were some gasps. Luna nodded. “You know now how important this mission is for us. Be careful, there are only four left in existence.” Thunder Strike rose a hoof, to which Luna nodded.

“I’m sorry if I don’t quite understand as well as these nerds do, but what is this Starswirl contraption again?”

“The Starswirl Crystal Screen, or the SCS, is one of Starswirl’s last achievements. Using space distortions, it transmits images and sounds between two linked SCS’. Thus, we can speak face to face, allowing us to properly coordinate. Thou shall be given one, and we shall keep one, so we can communicate without lugging about bottles of green dragonfyre. And thou hast a question, Midnight?” The bat-pony put down her hoof.

“I’m wondering what our duties on the team will consist of. I know a lot of you from reputation, but I am unaware of how it’ll work.”

“Actually,” Hawk Eye put in, “I can answer that. I chose this team because we could work great together. We have all the necessary ponies for all manner of operations, from survival to stealth. If we need to split up, I would lead Midnight, Titanium, and Strong, where the second in command, Lake Lily, would lead Thunder Strike, Tron, and Red.”

“What!” exclaimed Midnight, “For what reason does she get to be second in command? She scored average in everything, I was surprised she was even here!” Lake Lily noticeably bristled and opened her mouth to retort, but Hawk Eye beat her to it.

“The reason,” he began with an edge to his voice, “is because her aptitude tests scored her as phenomenal in a surplus of other skills, including leadership and tactics. She knows what she’s doing.”

“If I may?” asked Strong Recovery, “Why did you choose somewhat unbalanced teams? Our team has no strong magic users, and Lake Lily’s is somewhat lacking in the strong-hoofed. Thunder is strong, but I could tell from his musculature that he is built more for speed and flexibility, and Tron is just…pudgy.”

“Ech.” Confirmed Tron.

“Ours is a striker team.” Rumbled Titanium. Everyone else turned to Titanium, surprised that he would talk.

“Titanium is correct.” Hawk Eye cleared his throat. “Strong Recovery is a good enough healer to cover us all, but if he is paired with Titanium in battle, he could heal the damage Titanium takes as he tanks through our enemies. In the meantime, Midnight and I would attack quickly from up high, or stealthily. Lake Lily and Tron know enough about healing to help, but I expect you to try to avoid harm. Tron and Red would be a superb magic attacking team, Lake determines strategies, and Thunder will have the skies to himself.”

“Are thou all satisfied?” Luna asked. The team members looked at one another and nodded. “Dismissed. And good luck.” The guards saluted and filed out.

<><><>

Crunch.

Another one of my traps had been tripped, and four rocks swung into one of the remaining four Saurians, reducing its head to red paste while causing massive damage to its midsection. This trap was a deviation of the manticore trap Zecora had taught me. With heavier rocks swinging together, as well as another pair of rocks situated lower in case the one who tripped it was a Tweety, the trap designed to stun was quite effective at killing.

When I had flown over the creatures, they were curious as to what had just passed over them. When they heard the thumping, they looked around in confusion. And when the hydra burst through the foliage, it had caused utter chaos. Instantly, they fired upon the beast with bursts of green and blue plasma, one even firing from a pistol. While damaging against smaller foes, it proved to be ineffective against the behemoth, only enraging it further. Stomping about, it flattened about a dozen Tweeties, Its four heads swung around, chomping up the creatures who tried to flee or fight. It had managed to swallow a blue-armored saurian whole, and had grabbed the golden-armored one when the gold Saurian pulled something out and stuck it in the head’s right eye. In a bright blue flash, all four heads wailed in agony, the one chomping on the gold Saurian thrashed about, blinded, until the gold Saurian’s arm was torn at the shoulder, sending it flying in an arc dappled with violet blood. Deciding it wasn’t worth it, the hydra retreated back to the depths of the bog, leaving little more than a dozen Tweeties and four Saurians; three blue ones and one red one.

As they trekked through the ends of the Everfree, it became increasingly apparent to them that there was a force opposing them. Fallen tree branches would squish two Tweeties, a marauding timberwolf would maul another, and beehives would endanger them by falling precariously close to them. I’m pretty confident that by the time they set off my first rock swing trap, they were sure there was someone trying to stop them. And as they walked through a rocky valley within Rambling Rock Ridge, I revealed myself. Of course, they failed to notice the brambles of fire briar hidden underneath the dry grass I had carefully spread.

Fire briar is pretty much a plant that really deserved its name. Its vines are a vivid red, its thorns are a warm orange, and its toxins felt like fire underneath the skin. The first time I had nicked myself with fire briar, I had to go to Zecora holding back tears. Now all I need to do is send a flow to the afflicted area and apply aloe at some point. But fire briar doesn’t just act like fire, it relies on it. Fires allow the seeds to spread easily, breaking them out of the thorns and leaving them in the fertile ashes that the fire leaves behind. As a result, fire briar is incredibly flammable, so it would end up lighting everything else nearby on fire. That’s why fire briar patches are the first things to grow in after a fire.

So when I appeared behind a corner, spear held by my wing, a ball of fire brambles in one hoof, the creatures stopped. I looked back at them. They tensed, a few raising their weapons, preparing to fire. But I acted first. I threw the bramble at the closest Saurian, a blue one, and jumped behind a rock. Instantly, he started firing back, and one of the shots hit the ball, setting it alight a second before it impacted its chest and burst into flames. It fell backwards into the dry grass, setting it alight as the other creatures began to fire at me. Save the two unburned Saurians and a Tweety, the group failed to notice the fire take and immolate at a devastating pace. The three smart ones started running out of the fire as I flew in towards them, spear in hoof. I managed to catch the last blue Saurian in the throat, using the flow to send it deep into his throat. Too deep. Shit, I have to let it go. I abandoned the spear, bucked the last Tweety into the raging inferno behind it as it turned to fire on me. I’m starting to run low here. A small retreat is necessary. I jumped into the air, flapping quickly, hoping to escape without injury, and flying by the walls of the small valley to escape.

A few shots to the rocky wall ahead of me sent dust flying into my eyes, tripping me up midair, giving the red Saurian ample time to get a good shot in. A flaring pain arched through my left wing, and I found myself spiraling out of control. Sending flow there only made it burn and I couldn’t seem to catch any air. Spiraling downwards, I directed the flow to the front of my body to lessen pain and damage of the impact. With a loud thud and a couple bounces, I managed to land by one of the valley’s nooks. Weak and nearly out of my flow, I crawled into the cranny and set on trying to heal my wing. Looking at it, my heart sunk. At least my bones are completely intact.

My bones were visible underneath a thin layer of burned muscle and sinew, my secondaries were gone, a few primaries had burned off, and my tertiaries were mostly intact. However, there was a hole in my wing, a few centimeters from the bone. Crap. That is not good. A bit higher, and my wing would be gone. Will sending flow there help? I pulled the last vestiges of my reservoir and sent it towards my wing. The pain doubled and tears streamed down my face. I would have stopped, but I noticed that slowly, the wound started shrinking, leaving a bit of scar tissue, exuding a bit of steam. I whimpered as the flow began to slowly heal my wing. My ear twitched. I stymied my whimpering, but was unrelenting in the flow. Something was approaching. Something on two legs. Shit, the red Saurian! He saw where I fell. He knows I’m screwed. The steps were slow, methodical. Like a predator that knew it had its prey.

I raised my eyes to see it, standing at the entrance, far-off flames reflecting on its red armor. It raised its weapon, aiming for a kill shot. Woozy from lack of flow, I closed my eyes. A snarl, a shout, something hitting the ground. I opened my heavy eyes to see Steel Fang, one paw holding down on the weapon as his jaws tore into the Saurian’s throat. The Saurian struggled, but couldn’t do anything underneath Steel’s massive frame. Finally, with a mighty jerk, Steel managed to rip out its throat, coating himself in purple blood. The Saurian convulsed once, twice…and lay still. A purple puddle expanded underneath the corpse as Steel turned around, maw purple with blood. I faded into unconsciousness, my last sight was of him opening his mouth as he approached me.

<><><>

Steel Fang licked his chops and approached Windell. He growled in anger at the sight. Gently, Steel picked him up by the nape of his neck and managed to sling Windell across his back.

The one he saw once as prey had proven to be anything but. Instead of killing him, Windell had helped bring him back to health. Instead of letting him starve, Windell had brought him fish. Instead of running away, Windell stood by him. Steel Fang saw what Windell went through to get him food, to care for him. Even when Steel growled at him, Windell did not back away. When Steel snapped at him and nipped hard enough to draw blood, Windell did not stop caring. Steel gave him nothing, but Windell showed him a new way how to live.

Steel only began to understand Windell’s importance as he saw what he did to the band of marauders. He had first noticed them as he stalked the undergrowth. They moved in a group, and walked like them, but they weren’t them. They were far worse. Creatures that had approached fell to bursts of blue and green. And, despite the fact that Steel knew they were speaking to one another like the ponies, they killed without remorse. Without purpose. Not for food, not out of fear. But from nothing more than a desire to destroy. And they were heading to the city-on-the-mountain.

Then Steel observed Windell, setting things up, trapping the monsters, killing them, one by one. The wolf couldn’t help but feel impressed by his efforts, stopping the creatures before they had a chance to inflict harm. Steel followed the pegasus’ progress from afar, watching, lurking, thinking. Steel saw as Windell set an inferno that resulted in the deaths of all but one of the creatures. Steel watched as Windell was injured, watched as he fell from the sky. And he felt something new. The direwolf approached the cliff leading down to where Windell lay. And when he saw the red creature, Steel Fang decided. With a leap, he sent it to the ground. With both of his paws pinning down the creatures arms, Steel snapped his teeth onto its throat. It managed to struggle free of his grasp, but another bite on its throat and Steel pierced its skin. Crunching down, the predator tore out the abomination’s throat, a gruesome death for one who led a gruesome life.

Steel walked by the blaze, the smell of burnt flesh invading his nostrils, laying heavy on his tongue. Windell was on his back, where Steel Fang could protect him.

You truly are one of my pack.

<><><>

The gold-clad creature climbs up the cliff, a series of vines hastily placed around its chest to ebb the flow of his purple blood. The being watches as he climbs up the incline, his beady eyes blazing with fury. It muses that the ascent of the foreigner is futile, but it chooses to let it do so. After all, it would indeed help cover up the cause.

When the creature finally climbed to the top, it can’t help but look at back at the forest it believes it has conquered. It is likely that he is planning how to get back to his subordinates, which, unbeknownst to him, were already dead. He would soon be joining them. The Entity sends a minor kinetic burst across an invisible tendril touching the creature’s back, sending him flying back down the cliff in a series of tumbles, before he lands deep into a pit of boggy quicksand.

“~Who dare attack me from behind?~” he rages as he struggles to get out. The being internally winces, surprised that he could survive the tumble. It was supposed to both kill the creature and hide the body in quicksand, but he was more durable that it thought. Mimicking another sigh, the being descends and shapes a form that would be best suited to dealing with him. Appearing before him as a member of his own species, it steps forwards. “~Betrayed by one of my own!~” He screeches, “~Have you no honor?~” The consciousness reaches an invisible tendril through his mandibles, into his throat before it moves upwards, towards the brain.

“~No honor for the damned.~”

It releases a kinetic pulse and his brain is reduced to mush inside his skull, without damaging any bones. If any were to find the remains in the bog, one would logically conclude that he fell down the cliff and lost consciousness in quicksand. The corpse sinks deeper into the bog as the Entity leaves. The decomposers would take care of the rest.

<><><>

Windell collapsed on his friends couch. It was almost over. The end of the school year was fast approaching, and he could finally get into a college far away from everyone else. His only regret was that he and Benny wouldn’t be able to see each other very often. It hurt Windell to think of that, but he knew that Benny would do fine without him. He just hoped college wouldn’t be as bad as high school. The jeering, the mocking, the snide comments…Windell has always wondered what he’s done to annoy them. Why, just that day, he was ambushed by a volley of spitballs. It couldn’t have been his hair abnormality, which he had long since dyed over. Why, then?

“Seems like someone’s having a crappy day!” Benny said in a sing-song voice. “Cookie?” He offered one to Windell.

“Thanks Benny.” Windell grabbed one, but instead of eating it, he just scrutinized it, flipping it over and over in a hand. “It has been a pretty crappy day. My only solace is that it’ll end soon.”

“Oh?” Benny’s smile fell somewhat, “How so?”

“School year’s ending. I’ll be out of this hellhole. Father wants me to go to a good college, and with my grades, I can go to Duke, or WU. After all of the…engagements of the student body here, I’ll be happy to go far, far away.”

“Yeah,” Benny conceded, “You’re one tough nut to crack.” Windell squirmed at the icy undertone and the odd connotation of those words.

“Thanks…?” Windell rose an eyebrow, “I…guess?”

“It wasn’t a compliment” his voice was flat, devoid of his usual happy tone. Windell turned to look at his friend with a worried expression. Benny casually threw his phone down onto the couch.

“What are you saying, then?”

“I’m saying that after everything I’ve put you through, you haven’t snapped yet.”

“Put me through?” Windell’s eyes widened as he felt a coldness seep throughout his body. “Was it you…?”

“It was easy enough,” Benny paced about, a sick perversion of the smile he usually wore etched on his face “Scott and I started out by telling Roland how much of an ass you were. Of course, we had to get creative, but once we got going, we couldn’t really stop.” Benny let out a dark chortle. “After that, that dumbass started seeing dick moves where you acted completely normally. And being the blabbermouth he is, he told all of his other friends. Scott got really creative with spreading the rumors. It spread like wildfire over the years, your future actions giving them truth.” Windell stared at the teen with a gaping mouth, Benny continued onwards, ignoring his reaction. “Veronica was just a whore Scott and I convinced that you would be an easy lay. By then, we knew you were a pushover, but would strike back if pushed too far. So we started stress testing you. I told Ferris and Jessica you were rich, so you wouldn’t miss food or notes that you could sell.” Windell felt cold tears flow down his cheeks, but he was frozen. “Then the masterpiece. We wanted to break you, so I devised the perfect trifecta. I manipulated Julian into a relationship with Glenda. Then it was all about stoking the flames. I got Glenda to bitch at you giving her a few of the personal tidbits you told us, which pushed you too far, which led to Julian retaliating. Of course, I had to subtly convince him to bring Robert along as a false witness. Hell, I even convinced Lenner that he was a mutual friend of both of yours by just mentioning it in passing.” Benny let out a sharp laugh. “I hadn’t expected for you to beat the shit out of him, but it worked just fine. Hell, even if you had let yourself get beat up, it’d still be on your record. After that, you befuddled the fuck out of Scott and I. You refused. To. Fucking. Break. So here we are.” Windell finally managed to wipe his eyes with his forearm.

“Why?” he croaked. Benny leaned in with a sadistic smile.

“Because I could. Because I have all of you tied around my little finger. Because it’s funny.” Windell got up, his knees shaking.

“…bastard.” He lunged forwards, grabbing Benny by the hem of his shirt, and cocked his fist back to punch him. But stopped. “No…”

“Of course you can’t, you freak.” Benny laughed. “You really are a mistake.”

Windell closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He let Benny go with a small shove.

“I can’t believe Benny did this to me…I can’t believe I didn’t remember this. Wait. How am I thinking? This is a memory…”

Windell opened his eyes once more, but his posture was off. “Bye Benedict.” He began walking out, ignoring the chuckling teen, but the things he did, the things he said…they were not from Windell. “‘Through me you go into a city of weeping; through me you go into eternal pain; through me you go amongst the lost people.’”

“Dante’s Inferno…”

Windell left the slightly confused Benedict behind as he hopped on his bicycle to home. Once home he waved to his father. “I’m going to bed. Maybe play on my computer a bit.” Amadeus nodded as he went to his room. He set up a Civilization V game between five computers and left his mouse on his phone, which was connected to the charger as it played a ten hour loop of some video. Locking the door, he grabbed his mittens and slipped out by the window as the sun began to set. He got on his bike once more and rode back. There was no fatigue. No emotion. Just the mission.

“What am I doing? What did I do?”

Windell parked his bike a block away from Benedict’s house, close enough to see the lights. He leaned against a tree and waited. The stars came out, and slowly, the lights from the houses on the street began to turn off. And Windell stood there, still as a statue, until the lights in Benedict’s home went out. And he waited some more, about another hour, before he walked towards the house. Underneath the potted plant by the door lay the spare key that Windell had spotted ages ago. It was used to quietly open the door, letting in the emotionless young man. He headed directly to the kitchen, careful to not make a noise as he slipped on the mittens. He reached towards the lights of the kitchen and unscrewed the lightbulbs. Careful not to damage the inside, he broke off the bottom of the bulb and left it on the table as he went to the alcohol cabinet. He picked up the Everclear and soaked the kitchen rag with it. After having put it back in its place, Windell ripped the rag into strips, stuffing one inside the lightbulb gently. Screwing the lightbulb back in, he repeated the process with a number of other lightbulbs around the kitchen and the adjacent living room until there were no strips left. He grabbed a pair of scissors and manipulated the nozzles of the oven a bit before they began releasing a steady stream of gas.

“What are you doing? You know very well that Benny and his family didn’t bother to replace the batteries on the detectors!”

Picking up the phone that Benedict had discarded earlier, he easily unlocked it and set an alarm for three hours from then, two hours before dawn. Setting it to the highest volume, he laid it face down on the couch. He looked about and began whispering to himself.

“Benedict must die. His parents are the cause for his behavior. They most likely failed with his little sister as well. This lineage must die.”

“What? No! What did I do…no…When that alarm goes off, someone will come downstairs…and turn on the lights. No, no, no! They had to have escaped. Right?”

The young man left the house and locked the door behind him, putting the key back exactly where it was, as if he hadn’t even touched the potted plant. He casually walked back to his bike and rode back home. He looked back in the direction of Benedict’s home.

“And in the coldest depths of hell, I will bring the purifying fires of salvation.” He whispered.

Putting his bike back, he climbed through his window once more, removed his mittens and watched the AI play the game for a few hours. He peeked out the window and saw a faraway fire burning. He gave a wide grin and shut off his computer.

“So I’m in a whole new world now, huh?” he said aloud, his eyes glazed over. “That’s neat. I’m going to have fun!”

*/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/*

Amadeus knocked on the door, worried for his son.

“Windell, come on! I know you’ve been grieving for your friend, but you haven’t left your room in two days! I know you can’t survive off your secret stash for long!”

He put an ear to the door and listened. Instead of sobbing he heard something odd. Chatter, giggling, talking. A spike of fear flew through Amadeus.

“No, no, no…”

He tried to open the door. Locked.

“Sorry Windell,” he muttered, “but your old man needs to get in.”

With a mighty kick, the door burst off the latch and opened in a loud bang. The room was a complete mess. The drapes had been ripped, the bed tossed, the desk was in shambles. There was a pile of excrement in the corner of the room. Windell was babbling and giggling as he waved his arms like a bird in flight.

“RAAAAA!” He roared, “I’m a dragon!” Amadeus watched on as his son continued speaking nonsensically, as if what he saw was different from what was real.

Amadeus fell to his knees, breath shuddering. He stared at the scene before him for an hour before he tried to get him out of delusion.

“Windell, wake up! Snap out of it!” He shook him, but his gaze remained empty, and the father’s heart fell.

“Windell…” he sobbed, “You’ve lost it.” He took his son into his arms and cried as the oblivious teen rambled. “I won’t let them take you away from me. You’re all that I’ve got left.” He caressed his son’s black hair. “I’ll take care of you. Don’t worry.” He said weakly, voice dying. “Shhhhhhh. Everything will be alright.” Tears flowed as he rocked back and forth.

I screamed.

“Amadeus, no! Get away from me! I’ll hurt you! I’ve already hurt you! I’m dangerous, get rid of me, kill me!" I bawled. "I’m a murderer.”

<><><>

Steel Fang was curled around Windell as he struggled in his dream. And then he started crying. Steel didn’t quite know what to do then.

Why is he crying? Was it a terror of dreams-a nightmare? What could frighten one that had gone headlong into danger to prevent the deaths of many?

Steel Fang curled closer to his packmate.

Sometimes he is as wise and as caring as a venerable oak that has seen many winters and housed many creatures. But as far as I know, he is but a pup. No matter. He needs me, I need him, and together, we are strong.

Together, we are a pack.

Windell opened his wet eyes and sniffed. “Oh god…” he rasped, “I’m a murderer. I killed those people because my senses told me they were dangerous! How can I trust myself?” Steel answered with a long lick to the side of his face. Stunned, he looked around to see where he was. He gave a wry grin. “I guess I trusted myself with you…but..." he stares to the ground dejectedly. "I still killed, even if they were dangerous.” He studied his surroundings and noticed the pyre that he had cremated one of the creatures in had long since burnt out. “I suppose we should bury the rest of the bodies…” he turned to Steel Fang, “Unless you want to eat some of them?” The direwolf shook his head similar to how he saw some ponies do when they denied something.

The creature’s blood tasted awful.

“Come on then,” Windell got up to his shaking hooves, “I’ll grab a few veggies to eat while we get the non-burned bodies into the bog.” He stumbled over to his cottage to get his sack of food before he set off to bury his victims.

<><><>

“So, sister, how was the Grand Galloping Gala?” Luna said with a barely restrained grin. It was well-known by the two how dull the Galas were, even in Luna’s day.

“Actually, quite fun,” Celestia smirked, “I knew giving Twilight and her friends those tickets would liven up the Gala, but they really exceeded my expectations.”

“What?” Luna exclaimed, “Thou made the Gala entertaining? Impossible!”

“It’s true!” Celestia chuckled as she poked Luna, “Rarity even yelled at Blueblood!” Luna gawked. “It was glorious!”

“Can we invite them next Gala?”

“I don’t know Luna, they might have angered the nobles somewhat…” Luna gave her best pouty face in response. “Of course we’re inviting them next time! And this time, you’ll be there!”

“Huzzah!” the younger princess yelled ecstatically. “Now, sister, can thou tell us what thou did for thy demonstration?”

“Demonstration?” Celestia blinked.

“Yes, the demonstration.” Luna insisted. “We felt a magical disturbance of great magnitude earlier this evening, obviously a show of power.” Celestia tried to find the words, but stood there, gaping like a fish.

“Luna, I thought you were the one performing advanced magic as you prepared the team. I wasn’t the one who was responsible for the disturbance.”

The two looked at one another for a few seconds. Silence. And then they scrambled about in panic.

“Preparing Thaumatic disturbance detection Array!”

“Where is the SCS!? We must warn the team!”

“Wards have been set, Luna, help me supply the aether runes with more power!”

“Aye sister! Thou hast our horn! Let us work into the team’s SCS frequency!”

“Got it!” they chorused.

“Hawk Eye, we have news. It may or may not be related to Lucid, but there has been a magical disturbance.” Luna spoke into the flat crystal. Hawk Eye’s head nodded.

“Where did it happen, Princess?” the lieutenant asked.

“Sister?” Luna inquired.

“The image I’m receiving is of the area before the magical disturbance ended. It seems to show some sort of swamp.” Luna turned back to look at Hawk Eye.

“Did you hear that?”

“Affirmative, Luna. If I had to guess, a hotspot would be in the Hayseed swamps, considering their proximity to the Badlands. Should we investigate?”

“’Tis the best lead we have.”

“I understand, Princess. We’ll head that way.” His image blinked out.

“We hope you find it, whatever it is.”

<><><>

I pulled the last body past the pile of ashes that had once been a trap for my foes. Now it was a graveyard, cinders barely hiding the blackened bones. In three days, the first hints of fire briar would show. In a week, it would be sprouting all over. In a month, the bones would be completely hidden by the young fire briar patch. By then, the skeletons would be unrecognizable.

I was hauling the blue Saurian that I had stabbed through the throat with some effort, because I was still diverting a lot of my energy to my wing so it would heal. It was slow going, but the hole had closed completely, and healthy muscles had begun to cover what was once a devastating injury. My other wing was holding the spear I had to wrest out of the corpse’s throat. After an hour trek with Steel Fang following as he dragged the red Saurian by the throat, we had finally arrived to the sinking vessel. The entrance had once been big enough to stack three Saurians in it, but we now had to slip them horizontally through the gap. I pushed the red Saurian in after I had pushed in mine, barely able to make it fit between the top of the hole and the mud.

I walked back, admiring my work. We had collected all the corpses, along with their weapons, leaving nothing more than a few smudges of blood that would easily be passed off as a spot a predator had caught its prey. I don’t quite know why I feel the need to hide the bodies. I suppose it’s better safe than sorry. I don’t want to be sent to the asylum again. Noticing a misshapen lump in the mud, I lumbered over to it, only to realize it was the pistol I had pried from the human’s hand. I can use it for spare parts…or I can learn to use it to ensure my security. I looked back at Steel Fang. When he saw me staring he started wagging his tail and he walked over to slurp the side of my face. Smiling, I decided I was safe enough, and I kicked the gun into the closing hole of the ship.

“Come on, let’s get us some fish to eat.”

End of First Arc

Extra: With friends like these...

Author's Note

I like to reread chapters I've written. Sometimes I'm satisfied. Sometimes not. But every time I read back, I just couldn't find myself liking these parts. They're unnecessary, they're clunky, they mess with the flow and *shudders* angsty. To think I just taped them in for symbolic reasons, namely Dante's Inferno. So I cut out all those that have no relation to the overarching plot or show barely anything of Windell as a character. If you think any of these deserve to be put back in their respective chapters, do tell me.

Oh yeah, and this is canon to the story. Sucks to be Windell.

Extra: With friends like these...

Windell walked back from class early in empty hallways, satisfied with his marks. Amadeus will be quite proud to see him bring home 100% on his midterm. Maybe he’d even forget about all the wallets Windell had lost. First and second times were understandable, but eight times was just too much. Windell rarely carried money on him anymore, for fear of losing it. The teen neared his locker in the hallway, only to notice the lock had been opened using a hairpin. He frantically ran over and opened the door, only to find absolutely nothing in his locker.

“What the hell,” He murmured aloud, “there was no money in there, just a bunch of notes. Why would they take that?” He shut the locker door, albeit a bit forcefully, and marched down the hallway. A loose sheet fluttered by him as he walked outside, carried by the wind. Another flew by him, and a third caught him in the face. He took it off, and looked down to see a sheet straight from his biology notes. Talk about leaving a paper trail. He frowned as he followed the flying sheets back where they came from. He heard a ripping sound and some muttering as he approached a corner.

“Jess?” He asked. Jessica yelped and started stuffing her bag full of papers stolen from Windell’s locker.

“It’s not what you think, Windell!” She yelled as she zipped up her backpack.

“You stealing my notes and throwing away what you don’t like? I can’t believe you did this! We’re friends!” Windell looked at the sheets scattering in the wind. “Why?”

“Listen,” She began nervously, “I’ve been selling your notes. We all need an income ̶”

“You don’t!” He interrupted “Your parents are rich, they spoil the crap out of you! Why do you assume that stealing from me is okay?”

“Well, you weren’t selling them,” Jessica shrugged “Someone had to.” She took her phone out of her pocket and looked at the time. “I have to go. Dad wants to take me to ̶” Windell’s hand leapt forwards and grabbed the wallet that Jessica had unintentionally pulled out of her pocket. His wallet.

“What is this?” He asked coldly.

“Well…y-you s-see…” the thief stammered. She had never seen Windell, the cheery, optimistic kid, go so cold, and she knew it was time to tread carefully.

“I don’t care about your lies.” He continued in the same tone. “You are going to give me the wallets you haven’t sold or gotten rid of, back to me. You will give them back to me before noon tomorrow, with all of my pictures, all of my identification. You will not try to trick me, because I am not in the mood for your bullshit. You can keep the damn money if that’s what you want. I just want my family pictures back. Do all this within the allotted time, and you will get to see tomorrow’s sunset. After that, never speak, look, or breathe in my direction. Is that clear?”

Jessica whimpered and nodded.

<><><>

“’Sup fuckface.”

“Hello Glenda. As always, your vocabulary impresses me.” Windell gave her a coy smile as she snorted. That was just how Glenda worked, after all. Three years he’s known her, and she’s always been fiery and insulting. Windell never took it to heart. It was part of her charm. But that day, she didn’t seem to be in such a good mood. It was difficult to tell angry Glenda apart from normal Glenda, considering she was never not a degree of angry. Most of the time, she just sought out Windell for whatever reason, and she would normally find him at lunchtime underneath the oak tree by the science building.

“Can you stop reading your shitty erotica and pay attention to me when I talk to your cunt face?” Windell sighed and closed his novel, choosing to ignore the ‘erotica’ comment. Apparently Glenda knew how much it annoyed him the first time, so she continued saying what he read was erotica, no matter how much he asked her to stop.

Glenda leaned by the tree, and just vented her problems in varying degrees of irritation and coarse speech, and Windell sat there, letting her dump her rage on him. He was used to it. The insults didn’t hurt anymore.

" ̶ And can you believe that they didn’t want to go to my party? They’re almost as shrimp-dicked as you, Windell.” Said teenager stood up at this, leaning against the tree by Glenda.

“Actually Glenda, I have some pretty bad news. I can’t go to your little get-together.”

“…What.”

“Listen,” Windell rose up his hands as he tried to look away from her scalding gaze. “I know you’re upset. But I need to get a job so ̶”

“Upset?” She interrupted, taking a deep breath, “UPSET DOESN’T EVEN BEGIN TO DESCRIBE HOW I FEEL RIGHT NOW! CAN YOUR DICK GO ANY FURTHER UP YOUR OWN ASS, OR ARE YOU GOING TO START USING IT AS A TONGUE?” Didn’t she just call me ‘shrimp-dicked’? She isn’t being very consistent. “I’VE SEEN DRUGGED UP HOMELESS SACKS OF SHIT CRAP THINGS BETTER THAN YOU!” That one’s new, but a bit repetitive, “YOU’RE SO DISGUSTING IT’S NO WONDER YOUR MOTHER DIED SO SOON AFTER GIVING BIRTH TO ̶ Gluck!”

At that point, Glenda found her throat lacking air, courtesy of Windell’s iron grip on her throat. He stood a few inches shorter than her, but his emotionless eyes made the redhead feel so much smaller.

“You can insult me, degrade me, yell at me, but you can never say things like that about my parents.” He brought her closer as stars danced in her vision. “Am I clear?”

He released his grip on her slightly, letting Glenda take a few rattled breaths of air. She looked at him, eyes filled with fury and fear, coughing, “Crystal.” She managed to say. Windell let her go, pushed her, and she sulked off, trying to walk away with what was left of her pride.

“Mama’s boy.” Glenda rasped under her breath.

“You bet your ass I am, scat whore.” Windell called out to her in response. He watched her walk away, and sat back down, flipping open his book to continue reading. A few moments later, he blinked repeatedly, and looked to the hand he had choked Glenda with.

“Did that really happen?” he muttered, turning his hand about, “It didn’t feel like it did.”

<><><>

“Do you know why you’re here?”

“Because I got in a fight, sir.” Windell answered. The balding man facing him nodded, looking over his half-moon spectacles.

“Now, the way Julian tells it, you started the fight. Despite what I’ve heard from other students, nobody has ever seen you act violently or rudely. In fact, when I’ve asked the teachers, they always commend you on both your conduct and your grades.”

“I’m thankful that they think of me that way, sir.” Windell paused, and opened his mouth to go on, but couldn’t quite find the words. Principal Lenner motioned for him to continue. “What do you mean by what you’ve heard from the students?”

Lenner winced ever so slightly, but it did not go unnoticed by Windell. The principal leaned back in his chair and twiddled his pen.

“It doesn’t matter what they say. The fact of the matter is, you and Julian Andrews fought by room 213 shortly before lunch. Did you instigate it?”

“No sir. There were witnesses, sir.”

“Alright.” Lenner acknowledged, “I’ll bring one in, a friend of both you and Julian’s. He should be impartial, and thus, truthful.” He turned to an old microphone on his desk and pressed the PA button. “Would Robert Bellows come down to the principal’s office. Robert Bellows, principal’s office.”

Lenner turned to face Windell once more, his unnaturally large eyebrows coming together like two gray caterpillars meeting to battle. Windell’s face was impassive, but his wringing hands and white knuckles told a different story. Minutes passed, and Windell began to wonder if this is what purgatory was like. Endless tension, ignorance of your own fate…and waiting…so much waiting. Apparently, Lenner was more impatient, and he leaned to the mic to call again, but the door opened, and in walked in Robert. And there he stood. Apparently he refused to take a seat. And his eyes refused to meet Windell’s.

“Robert,” Lenner spoke in a tone that demanded compliance, “Would you care to tell me what you saw again?”

“Sir, Julian was minding his own business by our classroom when Windell lashed out at him as soon as he left the class, yelling something about Julian’s girlfriend.”

“Wai-That’s false!” Windell interrupted, “I was ̶ ”

“That’s enough.” Lenner cut him off icily. “You had your chance, and your witness has already told us what happened. You may leave now, Robert.”

Robert walked out silently, refusing to look at either of them in the eye.

“You should know, Mr. Green, the only reason I’m being so lenient with you is because of the teacher’s praise. This student’s testimony is enough for me to enact the zero tolerance policy and expulse you from our school. But you have potential, if you keep your temper in check. I don’t know how you’d think to get away with this seeing the difference of injuries between Julian and you. So I’ll give you a choice. Admit the truth and get a week’s worth of suspension, or the next student’s testimony will determine your fate.”

Windell’s head sunk as he looked to his knees. Most of the student body is either ambivalent towards me or outright dislikes me. And now I know that people are saying odd things to me. This is not going to be good.

“Yes, sir.”

“’Yes, sir’ what?” Lenner said smugly.

“Yes, I started the fight, sir.”

“Your suspension starts next week. Don’t bother coming to school.” Windell stood up, hanging his head as he walked towards the door. “And a word of advice? Perhaps your classmates would be more accepting if you washed that silly white dye out of your hair.”

“Sorry sir, but this isn’t dye. I was born with a bit of white.”

“Then why don’t you dye it?”

“Father said my mother liked it. And I never liked lying about who I am.”

“Well then, maybe a little lying would help.”

“I think I’ve learned that today, sir.” Windell tonelessly said as he closed the door behind him. Lenner leaned back and mentally high-fived himself. I’m such a good principal.

Later that day, Windell collapsed on Benny’s couch as Benny microwaved some pizza rolls. He would have preferred to just lay down in the middle of an abandoned road and collect mold, or whatever grows on people that don’t move for years, but Benny refused to let him do so.

“C’mon man,” he whined, “you’ve got to tell me how it went down!”

“No, Benny, Jeez. I already got in trouble. I can’t believe Rob just lied about something like that! I thought we were friends…”

“Apparently not. He and Julian are best buds.” He gave a wide grin. “Kinda like us! So if you wanna bitch about it, you’ve got to tell me the full story.”

Windell moaned, throwing his arm over his eyes, but his small smile told Benny he was feeling a bit better. The microwave was about to beep, but Benny opened it on the last second.

“Will you tell me for a…Windy snack?” Benny taunted, waving a pizza roll in front of his nose. Windell moved his arm ever slightly to peek. He rolled his eyes and chortled.

“Alright, alright. Toss me one first.” Windell opened his mouth, and his friend dropped a roll into his mouth. “Mmmgn. Perfect.” Windell sat up against the couch and popped another snack into his mouth.

“It started normally enough,” he began, wiping his lips with a sleeve, “I was exiting algebra and Julian was waiting for me outside. Apparently, Glenda told him of our…altercation.”

“Oh, you mean that time where you completely owned her, and almost choked her out?” Benny asked, chuckling, “I could barely believe you! But she stopped bothering you, and she told her boyfriend? Julian must have been pissed.”

“Pissed doesn’t even begin to describe it. He was livid, his face was practically red, and he was yelling at me so much, it was pretty much indecipherable. Of course, the other students just gave us a wide berth, and when I tried to walk away, he pushed me back. He poked me hard in the chest, and he was screaming so much, there was spittle all over. Pokes turned to hard shoves, which turned to punches. I managed to dodge a lot, because he was basically wildly wailing on me, swinging rather than seriously punching. And that’s when he delivered a hard blow to my nose, and then followed up with one to my eye. That’s when I sort of…snapped.

“I’ll admit I’ve never been in a fight before, but I know enough from ̶ you’re going to laugh at this ̶ books. I’ve got the endurance, I’ve got the muscle, heck, I run every morning and swim five nights a week. I know how to punch, and most importantly I know where to punch. So when I fought back, I fought back hard. The chatter around us kind of, uh, disappeared. Emotionally, I felt kinda, well, cold, distant, there but not there. It’s hard to describe. Anyway, I started with a straight punch to his nose. Put half my body into it, taking a step forwards, the whole technique. And I didn’t relent. I followed up with a knee in the groin. Yeah, I know, vicious, but I didn’t care. A jab to the stomach was followed by a strike to his neck, and when he arched by in pain, I delivered another haymaker to his throat. At this point, he was staggering back, and I just kept pushing forwards until he was leaning against the wall. I was going to deliver a kick to his chest, but that’s when I was pulled back by security guards. Apparently, it took two of them. Adrenalin is a hell of a drug.”

“Sounds like you kicked his ass.”

“I still feel bad about it. I should be more in control.”

“Don’t worry about it, Windell.” Benny patted his back. “Tell you what. Let’s go play some Brawl. Maybe we can finish subspace emissary in one day!”

“Thanks Benny.” Windell looked up to Benny and beamed. “You’re awesome.” The two began to set up the console for some serious gaming.

“Hey Benny?”

“Yeah?”

“You believe me when I say I didn’t start the fight, right?”

“Of course. I’ll always believe you.”

<><><>

The three clinked their glasses together.

“I don’t understand why we’re drinking cold beverages at Benny’s.” Windell mused. “It’s cold as hell here.” Benny chuckled and rolled his eyes as he left to get a straw.

“Oh, be quiet and drink your lemonade.” Scott said as he took a sip from his glass. “It’s stupid that you still think lemons are better fruits then oranges.”

Windell smiled. It was a mock argument they’d had so many times before.

“Why can’t we all agree-”Benny fell onto the couch, straw in his barely spilling drink, “-that melons are the superior fruit?”

Windell and Scott unanimously shook their heads. “Citrus master race” Scott said, and he loudly slurped his orange soda.

There was a buzz from Windell, and he reached into his pocket to pull out his phone. Satisfied, he was about to put it back, when Scott stopped him.

“Hey, is that a new phone? Can I see it?”

Windell shrugged and let him play with it, then turned to Benny.

“So what are you planning on doing for college, Benny? I haven’t actually heard.”

“Not much,” he said nonchalantly, “just business and finances.”

“Huh. I can’t really picture you doing business.”

“Trust me Windell,” Benny gave a familiar grin, “I’m a people person.”

“Whelp!” Scott stood up and tossed Windell’s phone to its owner. “I’ve got to go. See ya guys.” And the teen picked up his bag and left out the front door in a barely repressed hurry.

“What was that about?” Windell asked aloud, before his phone started swarming with texts. “What? Why am I getting all of these…” his eyes widened at the last message sent on his phone.

“What?” Benny asked the nearly catatonic Windell. He pulled the phone out of his grasp and stared at the screen with a neutral expression.

I want to rape you

“Bastard” muttered Benny. “He sent it to everyone except Amadeus. Your reputation is fucked.”

“…I’ll say my phone was hacked.” Windell rasped, shaking himself from his stupor, weakly trying to get off the couch. Benny whipped around to look at Windell.

“Windell, that’s nine kinds of retarded. Why would you defend this? If you say that, few people will believe you.”

“Why?”

“Because he could.”

Extra: Lyra's Journal Entries

Author's Note

Hello readers!
I had always planned on doing extras, or chapters that don't need to be read. However, 'canon' ones, like this one, work with the story despite adding nothing important to it. Non-canon, like the one I'll need your help on, will just be general silliness. Semi-canon is only canon if you want it to be. You'll see what I mean.

Now for where you guys help me. I know I have quite a few characters, so I will be accepting questions in the format of 'Dear [X],' to ask the characters questions however inane. Keep in mind, spoilerish questions will not be answered, and if you're feeling scared of asking a potentially spoiling question, don't hesitate to PM the question. The questions will be answered in a couple months, or even have several over the course of the series. So ask away! But remember, spoilerish questions will be ignored, and outright spoiler questions like 'Does X kill X?' will be removed. Sorry. :fluttershyouch:

As for the timing of this extra, it's to make up for the small size of the chapter I'm uploading soon. Again, sorry.

Love you guys, enjoy Lyra's minty goodness.

Extra: Lyra's Journal Entries

DAY 1
This is the first day of my investigation into the odd skeleton Windell and I found in the Everfree. When we first stumbled across it (very literally, Bonnie fussed over my bruises like crazy), Windell decided to call it a human. I’ll try to include a sketch of what I saw before I went to get Bon-Bon and the others. If I ever get my hooves on the creature that destroyed the bones, I’ll knock some sense into them!

Thankfully, Windell and I managed to properly identify a few traits from the skeleton. I’ll be honest, I was really scared when I first saw it, but then I remembered: I have a skeleton inside me! And obviously it isn’t dangerous to me, so the mushy pony bits are stronger than the bony pony bits. Anyways, Windell wasn’t scared at all, and he seemed to know a lot about bones in general. So much, that he figured out that they were bipedal, intelligent, and omnivorous! I had even noted that instead of having the usual four total digits found among gryphons and minotaurs, they have five. The fact they were bipedal and intelligent led me to believe they were related to minotaurs, but the skull lacked horns and was very oddly shaped. But all the signs point to a very intelligent species that I haven’t heard of before. And a new species means new stories and new music and new ideas and everything!

I have a few ideas based on what I saw of the skeleton. I know that the human had five digits similar to a minotaur’s except not as thick. Considering minotaurs far surpass any other species in crafting things (explains how they manage to produce enough metalwork for the entire known world. Gryphon and pony doorknobs just can’t compete.), I wonder what level of prowess humans have in making things with their finer, more dexterous fingers. All in all, I’m pretty much in the dark about this species, which is why I’m currently on the train to Canterlot, so I can go through the Archives and the library.

DAY 3
I’ve successfully infiltrated the Canterlot Royal Library! I forgot my library card at home, but I had a spare latex suit so I managed to sneak in. It’ll be harder to sneak in again and again, so I smuggled in some food and a blanket. I now live between the onion recipe and snozberry recipe shelves of the dusty culinary section. (Note to self: ask Bonnie if she needs any snozberry candy recipes)

I’ve begun searching through ancient legends; I’ll work my way up the timeline to see if I miss anything. So far I’ve read of the Nine Dragons, the Winged and their leader Leah’par, and even the tatzulwurm-sea serpent wars. So far the closest I’ve come to them are the Winged, but considering their forms are inconceivable to mortals, save for their white wings, I don’t think I’m any closer. However, I did come across a minotaur legend of Forge the Skilled, a bull that had single-~~hoofedly~~ handedly turned the tide of a war by manufacturing weapons so perfect, the enemies that did not flee in fear were cut to pieces as easily as a hawk soars through the air. Eugh. Anyways, this minotaur was mentioned time and time again through not just minotaur legends, but pony, gryphon, and even a few zebra ones, in reference to a mighty weapon that Forge had made.

Here’s the thing: he was born with a defect, so he lived his life with five fingers on each hand. I wonder what an entire species with five fingers on each hand could do.

DAY 7
I’ve run out of food, so I’ve resorted to eating food stolen from the kitchens. They cook quite well, but I feel like they’re missing something. Bonnie always makes awesome meals for us with a smile. As for my studies I’ve scoured legends over and over, and I can’t find anything. So I decided to go through old historical records, and let me tell you, they’re a lot of crazy stuff in there. Anything from the price of off-whitish green yarn over two centuries to claims of the return of Discord. Complete hash.

I will not give up.

DAY 12
they're onto me, i've got to go! a stallion walked in the library looking all menacingy and im so scared. i still havent figured this mystery out!

DAY 12 (part 2)
Never mind, he was just here to get a book somepony checked out. Funny, I didn't even consider doing that. Oh well, I'm comfy in my shelf bed.

DAY 20
nothing nada zilch null! THERES NOTHING B :applejackconfused: KING HERE. WHY CAN'T ANYPONY GET ANYTHING THAT I NEED? I JUST WANT SOME B :fluttercry: KING INFORMATION IN THIS STUPID B :applecry: KING LIBRARY, BUT APPARENTLY, THAT'S TOO MUCH TO ASK FROM B :pinkiesad2: KING STUPID CANTERLOT, BECAUSE THESE PONIES HAVE GOT THEIR HEADS TOO FAR UP THEIR RUMPS TO SEE ANYTHING BUT THEIR OWN DIAMOND-STUDDED GOLD FILLINGS. THESE B :rainbowderp: KING JERKWADS WOULDN'T KNOW PROPER RESEARCH IF IT KNOCKED DOWN THEIR B :raritydespair: KING MANSIONS AND WAVED ITS P :eeyup: IN FRONT OF THEIR MONOCLED MUZZLES.

I JUST WANT SOME B :facehoof: KING RELEVANT ARTICLES BUT THE ARCHIVES ARE FILLED WITH NOTHING MORE THAN STUPID COMPLAINTS AND ECONOMIC REPORTS. WHY IS THERE NOTHIG ON ANYTHING RESEMBLING HUMANS. DID THEY JUST B :derpyderp2: KING POP OUT OF NOWHERE?

DAY 26
Humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans HANDS humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans FIVE DIGITS humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans I miss Bonnie humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans humans.

DAY 27
Wow, I went a bit crazy there. But I got better. I think I'm coming up on a breakthrough. Starswirl has mentioned parallel worlds, which would explain the emergence of a human from nowhere, and without a weapon to protect himself. But he couldn't have been alone. I will figure this out. I have a feeling Starswirl's texts will help me.

"Bonnie!" Lyra yelled as she entered the house without wiping her hooves, again. "I'm back!"

"I can see that." I deadpanned. "How'd your trip go?"

"The usual." Lyra shrugged.

"So you got exiled from Canterlot for all eternity?"

"No, the library gave me a warning..."

"But...?"

"I'm banned for a year...and if I camp out at the library and eat the books again, it'll be a lifetime ban."

"Alright." I sighed. "I'll get dinner ready."

"Awesome!" Lyra beamed before trotting over and giving me a hug. Where she was, she couldn't see the blush that had appeared on my cheeks. "I missed you."

"Me too, Lyra." I hum in contentment, closing my eyes to enjoy the moment. "Me too."

Extra: Fiddlesticks

Author's Note

SEMI CANON

Extra: Fiddlesticks

Discord went down to Ponyville. He was lookin' for a soul to steal.
He was in a bind 'cause he was way behind. He was willing to make a deal
When he came across this young mare sawin' on a fiddle and playin' it hot.
And Discord jumped upon a hickory stump and said "Girl, let me tell you what."

"I guess you didn't know it, but I'm a fiddle player, too.
And if you'd care to take a dare I'll make a bet with you.
Now you play a pretty good fiddle, girl, but give dear Discord his due.
I'll bet a fiddle of gold against your soul 'cause I think I'm better than you."

The girl said, "My name's Fiddlesticks, and it might be a right din,
But I'll take your bet; and you're gonna regret 'cause I'm the best there's ever been."

Fiddle, rosin up your bow and play your fiddle hard.
'Cause Chaos broke loose in Ponyville and Discord deals it hard.
And if you win you get this shiny fiddle made of gold,
But if you lose the spirit gets your soul.

Discord opened up his case and he said, "I'll start this show."
And fire flew from his clawtips as he rosined up his bow.
And he pulled the bow across the strings and it made an evil hiss.
And a band of minicords joined in and it sounded something like this.

When Discord finished, Fiddle said, "Well, you're pretty good ol' son,
But sit down in that chair right there and let me show you how it's done."

"Fire on the Mountain." Run, girls, run!
Discord's in the house of the rising sun;
Chicken's in the bread pan picking out dough.
Granny, does your dog bite? No, child, no.

Discord bowed his head because he knew that he'd been beat.
And he laid that golden fiddle on the ground at Fiddle's feet.
Fiddlesticks said, "Discord, just come on back if you ever wanna try again,
I done told you once—you mangy mutt—I'm the best that's ever been."
And she played:

"Fire on the Mountain." Run, girls, run!
Discord's in the house of the rising sun;
The chicken's in the bread pan picking out dough.
Granny, will your dog bite? No, child, no.

Fiddlesticks squee'd once more as she looked upon her prize. Now that she was far away from that varmit, Discord, she could play in peace. Her hoof trailed gently across the curves of the golden fiddle, admiring its beautiful shape and luster. Slowly, she picked up the golden bow, gently swinging it about to get used to the weight. She took the fiddle and stood up on her hind legs to play.

This was it. The moment she would play the most beautiful music, the beginning of her tour across Equestria showing all of the ponies the magic of the country fiddle.

She took a deep breath and rested the bow on the strings. It was time to play.

Scrrrreeeeyaaaayyeeeeeyeeeyyyyaaaaayah!

Fiddlesticks nearly dropped her prize in agony. This wasn't at all like the music Discord had been playing on it! How could he play so...

Discord.

He tricked her! This wasn't acoustically sound at all!

"Ffffffffffiddlesticks!" she cussed.

The mare took a deep breath. She still had a fiddle made of gold that she could sell for a hefty price. Or she could keep it for bragging rights. She did beat Discord, after all. Fiddlesticks felt a grin grow on her muzzle.

Until a wave of rainbows passes across her, turning the golden fiddle into a fish.

She couldn't brag with a fish. She couldn't sell a fish.

Hay, she couldn't even tune a fish!

"FFFFFFFFFFFFFFIDDLESTICKS!"

Extra: Jeune

Author's Note

SEMI-CANON

I just wanted this out of my head. Sorry.

Extra: Jeune

It was one of those days: Zecora had no jobs for me, no renovations were necessary for my home, all of my chores were done, and I was too scared of the Pink Terror to go near the library. All that was left was thinking. Thinking about the evidence for and against my delusion. Thinking about the possibility that what I see may be real, and that everything was ̶

There was a knock at the door, interrupting that train of thought before it arrived at the next station.

Thank God.

I opened the door to find a familiar mare with a weasel in her hair and a fox by her side.

“Effie, how nice to see you here!” I smiled, grateful that she managed to provide a distraction from my errant thoughts. “What’s going on?

“Well, um…” Fluttershy hid behind her mane. “Rarity insisted she take us to a Prench restaurant, and I needed to find somepony to take care of the more…lively…carnivore friends of mine while I’m away from my cottage. This is Robert the fox, and this ̶ ” she pulled the weasel out of her hair, but it didn’t seem to want to let go. With a mighty pull and a pop, the weasel faceplanted on the floor of my cottage. Fluttershy winced, and leaned down to make sure he was okay. She got back up and pointed to the weasel. “ ̶ And this is Linneus the weasel.”

“So you just want to make sure they don’t eat the others?” The weasel somehow frowned while the fox took an innocent air.

“What? Um,” the pegasus avoided my gaze. “Maybe…They’re a bit new, so they don’t really know the rules. So when Rarity invited me, I thought of somepony with a lot of experience with carnivores.”

“So you thought of me,” I nodded. “A logical decision. Sure, Steel and I can watch over them.”

“Oh, thank you!” Fluttershy leaped to me and wrapped her forelegs around me.

“Yeah, no need to get so excited.” Fluttershy stiffened and leaped back, blushing profusely.

“Sorry…” She squeaked. “I…just…”

“It’s fine.” I waved a hoof. “You just really love your animals. Anything you should tell me about Robert and Lenny?”

“Well, they are pretty tricky sometimes.” The fox stuck out his tongue. “So keep an eye on them. They like causing trouble.”

“Steel’s prowling around, so I’ll keep my eyes on both of them until he gets back. They won’t outfox me or weasel out of their situation.” Realizing the pun I’d just made, I facehoofed.

“Um…alright. I hope this isn’t too much trouble for you…”

“No, it isn’t.” I gave her a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, I’ve got this.”

<><><>

“I can’t believe they tricked me!”

I raced to the door that the weasel managed to open for himself and the fox, cussing profusely.

I had one job, one! And I screwed it up big time!

Bursting through the half-opened door, I found Steel Fang looking towards the Everfree with his head cocked to the side.

“Did you see them?” I asked as I galloped towards him. “A fox and a weasel?” Steel Fang turned to me and nodded, wagging his tail somewhat. “Effie told me to watch over them. We need to catch them before they cause or get into trouble. No eating them.” Steel nodded, but I was feeling particularly vicious, so I continued. “But feel free to make them piss themselves in fear.”

The hunt was on. I followed Steel as he ran through the forest, nostrils to the ground, picking up their scent. Alone, running, I felt a familiar feeling bubbling within me. I had to…it was a damn song. Looking about, I saw nobody, nothing more than the dark trees and the tense atmosphere.

To hell with it. I shrugged. I’ll sing. But I'll choose the song. A song Father taught me.

And I let the lyrics coming from within to spill out.

"C'est dans dix ans je m'en irai

J'entends le loup et le renard chanter

J'entends le loup, le renard et la belette

J'entends le loup et le renard chanter

C'est dans neuf ans je m'en irai

La jument de Michao a passé dans le pré

La jument de Michao et son petit poulain

A passé dans le pré et mangé tout le foin

L'hiver viendra les gars, l'hiver viendra

La jument de Michao, elle s'en repentira"

After only a few minutes of running, we finally caught up to those two furry jerks. Seeing us burst out of the foliage sent them into a panic and they split in two different directions.

"I'll get Linneus, you get the fox." Steel yipped and bounded after Robert. I grinned wildly and began singing again before giving chase.

"C'est dans huit ans je m'en irai

J'entends le loup et le renard chanter

J'entends le loup, le renard et la belette

J'entends le loup et le renard chanter

C'est dans sept ans je m'en irai

La jument de Michao a passé dans le pré

La jument de Michao et son petit poulain

A passé dans le pré et mangé tout le foin

L'hiver viendra les gars, l'hiver viendra

La jument de Michao, elle s'en repentira

C'est dans six ans je m'en irai

J'entends le loup et le renard chanter

J'entends le loup, le renard et la belette

J'entends le loup et le renard chanter

C'est dans cinq ans je m'en irai

La jument de Michao a passé dans le pré

La jument de Michao et son petit poulain

A passé dans le pré et mangé tout le foin

L'hiver viendra les gars, l'hiver viendra

La jument de Michao, elle s'en repentira

C'est dans quatre ans je m'en irai

J'entends le loup et le renard chanter

J'entends le loup, le renard et la belette

J'entends le loup et le renard chanter

C'est dans trois ans je m'en irai

La jument de Michao a passé dans le pré

La jument de Michao et son petit poulain

A passé dans le pré et mangé tout le foin

L'hiver viendra les gars, l'hiver viendra

La jument de Michao, elle s'en repentira

C'est dans deux ans je m'en irai

J'entends le loup et le renard chanter

J'entends le loup, le renard et la belette

J'entends le loup et le renard chanter

Finally, I managed to corner the little git at a ledge. I don't think he wanted to go through the tumble. Smiling viciously, I approached Linneus.

"Nowhere to run, buddy. Just come with me, it'll be easier."

"C'est dans un an je m'en irai

La jument de Michao a passé dans le pré

La jument de Michao et son petit poulain

A passé dans le pré et mangé tout le foin

L'hiver viendra les gars, l'hiver viendra

La jument de Michao, elle s'en repentira…

Wow, that felt good. I guess I just need a bit of ̶

Unbidden lyrics began spilling out of my mouth without warning.

Comme vous êtes naïf

Voyageant de pâtures vertes

À de villes grises

Et des friches empoisonnées

I was panicking, I didn't know these lyrics!

Vous croyez que ce monde

Est à vous a voir

A sentir

A prendre.

A multitude of voices began to echo in the last verse.

Mais vous ne sachiez pas mieux!

Parce que vous n’aviez pas vu

Ce spectre qui vous suit

D’endroit à endroit

Comme un chien fidèle

Ou véritable chasseur

Linneus just stared at me in confusion as I finished the odd song.

"What was that all abou--" A red blur rushed in between my legs and collided into Linneus, sending them both careening down the cliff. "Hey!" I exclaimed before something twice my height barreled into me and made us tumble down in the same manner Linneus had. When I finally shook myself from my stupor, I saw Robert, Linneus, and Steel in a mish-mashed pile of catastrophe. And we were all sitting in a bunch of blue flowers.

"Fuck."

<><><>

There was a knock at the spa door. Aloe walked over to the door for more customers. It may have been an odd time, but she and her sister would provide premiere pony pampering, no matter the hour. What she saw on the other side of the door elicited a strangled gasp, followed by a snort as she struggled to contain her laughter.

First, the stallion. It seemed as if he had gone through a lot before arriving at the spa; his dull teal coat was matted, his black and white mane ragged and messy. He wore a bored expression on his face, almost masking the exhaustion he felt. But where wings normally would be stuck out two ridiculous unicorn horns, while a lone chicken wing flapped on his forehead.

On his back, nestled between the two horns, lay a tiny gray cub with the most adorable paws and eyes. He tried to look intimidating, but that only made Aloe coo more at the sight.

Batting at the wing on his his head was a weasel with a very strange body. However, upon closer inspection, Aloe realized its entire midsection had been replaced by an accordion, and every movement it made was accompanied by a musical tone.

In between the stallion's legs was a garish fox, who positively glowed from all the neon colors its coat consisted of. It tried to slink further back from Aloe's gaze, but she couldn't not look at it.

All of them were covered in blue dots.

"I'll get a bath ready." Aloe stymied a snort.

"Please."

Chapter 12: Chaos Dawn

ARC II

WHEN YOU try to escape insanity, it comes to find you.

Ever since the gala, I had been dreading what my mind would cook up for Discord. If this was indeed a hallucination, then I would be dreaming, and I would have no control. Luna was proof enough that my delusion extended to my dreams, although it seemed like I had some modicum of control. However, if this was reality, I would just avoid Ponyville. In both cases, I wouldn’t have to deal with Discord. Of course, I failed to remember something.

Chaos is not restricted by borders.

My first glimpse of the draconequus was when I tried to visit the library. Once I had cleared through the dense forest, I saw Ponyville consumed by the chimera’s antics. And Discord himself was near the border of the village, playing a golden fiddle on a stump in front of a pony with a light yellow coat, green jacket, and blue mane. Fiddlesticks. I couldn’t help but watch as Discord played the fiddle as a band of mini-Discords joined in to provide backup. Of course, when it was Fiddlesticks’ turn, she utterly dominated him. Discord, ever the gentleman (gentlequus?), laid the golden fiddle at her hooves as she squealed in delight. The mare took the fiddle and galloped off. The lord of chaos watched on impassively. Slowly, he began to grin and turn his head in my direction. After he had completed a full one hundred and eighty, with a creepy smile to match, his disturbing eyes locked onto me.

So I turned around and walked away. But Discord won’t lose a potential toy so easily. I felt his presence first. If I were to describe it, it would be like the feeling you get right before you solve a particularly difficult problem, mixed with the feeling right before a panic attack, and a hint of nougat. The presence of impending madness.

“Oh,” I heard a silky voice reverberate around me, “What do we have here? A pony who lives all alone? How…unusual.” I snorted. “And how he scoffs! Apparently we have one pony who doesn’t quite live to Celestia’s ideals.” Discord’s face grew out of all of the trees around me, but I continued walking to my clearing. “What? You aren’t going to giggle at the ghostie?”

“Pass.” I grumbled. I have to stop myself from having a full conversation with what might be nothing more than a figment of my imagination.

“A grumpy one, aren’t you?” A bird with his face said as it landed on my head. “It seems like your life needs a little…chaos.”

“There’s enough madness in my life.” I stated, arriving at the clearing. Discord flew off my shoulder, and with an explosion of feathers, he appeared before me, in all of his screwy glory. Steel Fang looked at him and began growling.

“What a cute little puppy!” the draconequus squealed, “Too bad he’ll try to interrupt our conversation.” With a snap of his talons, strands of licorice wrapped themselves around Steel’s legs and snout. “There we go.” He dusted himself off and glitter dispersed off of him. “Pah, glitter.” He grunted, “Use it once and you find it everywhere, even millennia later.” I just stared at him, waiting for him to either cause chaos or leave. Discord’s eyebrow did a somersault. “What is with you? You’re not panicking, you’re not laughing, you’re just…here.”

“Because reacting to you means the delusion wins. I will not let it beat me.” His head spun a few times on his head as he cocked it.

“Delusion?” Discord took out a magnifying glass and started looking over me. “Interesting…” He turned to look at Steel Fang with the magnifying glass as the direwolf growled and tried to snap at him from his restraints. Discord casually began to use the magnifying glass to blow glass bubbles that floated off into the sky. He turned to stare at me with a serious expression for a full second before bursting out laughing, rolling in the grass in glee. “You’re Outworlders! Both of you!” He cried, gasping for breath. “I just have to tell the others.” The spirit of chaos pulled a banana out of his ear before tapping on it a couple times.

“Yes, hello, Dissy? You won’t believe what I’ve got here. Outworlders! Yup!” There was a pause. “You know very well I’m not one of those who can pull them here. And even if I could, it would be very risky with the state of the multiverse where I’m at. A real Charlie Foxtrot…What do you mean that gives you an idea? Well, hopefully the other immortals in your neighborhood don’t jump on that bandwagon, it would be a mess. Oh, who am I kidding, that’d be hilarious! Just be careful for the ̶ ” The banana’s stem broke off. Discord observed the broken antennae.

“Oh dear. I probably should have upgraded earlier.” He peeled the banana to…an apple. He took a chomp, revealing a dial, and turned to face me. “That Discord is a bit different than I am. But what fun would there be if all Discords were exactly the same? Hay, that one ended up with a son with Celestia. Normally, I would ask how, but knowing him, he doesn’t know either. A lot of us like to keep contact with each other, except maybe that one really old Discord. He’s an odd one. Born from something called ‘Cain’” Discord shrugged. “We leave him be.”

“So why don’t you leave me alone?” I finally speak. Of course, the lord of chaos giggled.

“Because you have so much potential to do chaos here! It’s not as if I can open a hole to another realm-” Discord pulled a zipper out of nowhere and unzipped it, cleaving space, “-and remove something interesting with surgical precision-” He stuck his lion paw in the hole and pulled out a bleeding black book, “-just to cause some minor chaos!”

I gave him a deadpan stare and pointed at the book. He gave it half a glance before scoffing. “This? I just pulled this from somewhere on this realm. Although…it does seem to be giving me the heebie-jeebies. Well, might as well give it back to whoever was using it for whatever malevolent intent.” He stuffed the book back in the hole and closed the zipper before it fell to the ground and slithered away. “But for you, it should be easy!” The grass around him grew into enormous, vertical sandwiches, obscuring him front sight. Discord reappeared, cleaving through the five-foot long subs with a fish as he wore a pith helmet and smoked a bubble pipe. “You just have to go on an adventure! There’s a wide world out there, just waiting for you to explore it!”

“A dangerous world.” I answered. “Which may or may not be my world. I’d prefer to stay here and know what’s coming than go out there and rely on nothing more than my deceptive senses.”

“From one of those worlds, huh?” Discord threw away his bubble pipe and removed his helmet, patting on the top to get rid of any excess. A tan pegasus with a black and gray mane fell out of it and landed on her rump, rubbing her hoof against her head.

“Hey!” she shouted, “Give it back!” Discord rolled his eyes and dropped the helmet on her head. As she stabilized the hat, Discord pounced, stuffing her in a deflated balloon. He blew into the balloon as she struggled, before he popped it with a claw, leaving nothing behind.

“You don’t want anything more? Money, power, friendship, memories?” Discord prattled on as if nothing had happened.

“I have a home, I have a stable income, I have a friend I can talk to,” I pointed to Steel, “and soon, I’ll have books. I don’t want anything more.”

“And what’s to stop me from turning you into the opposite of yourself?” he innocently asked.

“If you are real, then you would know that I’m not what I seem. If you do that, you won’t know what I would do. I could go on a homicidal rampage, I could walk about, yelling to the world my secrets, or I would find a way to stop you. But you know what?” I stepped towards him. “I don’t believe you’re real. You are nothing more than the representation of my madness. You are not chaos incarnate, but my delusion given form to mock me with.” I snarled, “You’re nothing more than a mistake, something we all wish didn’t exist. Yet here you are,” I spat, “mocking me.” Discord laughed in an uproar, wiping tears from his eyes.

“You’re right.” He admitted, gasping for breath, "There’s nothing I can do that will make this any better. Someone believing their reality is false is quite a decent example of what I want to do: blur the line.” Discord picked me up and slung his eagle claw across my back. “You sir, are quite an inspiration!” I felt something walking across my back and saw a multitude of eagle claws doing the French Can-Can as they moved along my spine, before those at the end jumped off my rump and into the ground, where they disappeared in splashes of dirt. “Why you ̶ oh? What’s this?” Discord squinted as the eagle claws stopped the dance, pulled out construction helmets, and began investigating my back. One of them, wearing a blue helmet, brought up a tiny clipboard for Discord to look at. As he read over the tiny script, his usual smile fell. He began looking more and more morose, until he put me down gently with eyes that I had not expected to be filled with sadness.

“I’ll leave you alone now.” And he was gone. No flash, no tricks. Steel Fang, now free of his delicious restraints, came over to me and whimpered in confusion.

“I don’t know, Steel.” The wolf gave me a comforting lick on the cheek, which managed to pull a smile from me. “Thanks, Steel. Let’s stay inside for today.”

<><><>

“And after that,” Shining continued as he looked over the list, “we’ll book into the Riddenhouse Hotel to spend to night.” The couple had stopped at a café in Fillydelphia to go over the plans for the rest of the day.

“Oooo!” Cadence noted amusedly, “A romantic hotel! I knew you had good taste Shining, but you should know we bring enough romance wherever we go.” She grinned mischievously when she managed to make Shining blush. Shining tried desperately to use his guard training to remain stoic, but Cadence knew exactly which buttons to press.

“Well,” Shining cleared his throat, “I suppose you could say that. It would be nice after all the difficulties at the Alamane. I couldn’t get a wink of sleep on most days.”

“Aren’t you exaggerating a tad?” Cadence asked, “I know your last day was very stressful, but I’ve heard you spent a lot of nights playing Ogres and Oubliettes with some soldiers.” The alicorn gave a small smile as her coltfriend sputtered.

“What!” Shining yelled before shrinking down from the glares of the other patrons. “Who told you?”

“Who do you think?”

“Hawk Eye.” He hissed. “I made him swear on his bass not to tell you!”

“Well, that’s why.” Cadence rolled her eyes. “You keep mistaking his instruments. I’ve met him once, and I know he has a guitar, a cello, and a violin. No bass.”

“Any more embarrassing secrets that he told you?”

“No need,” Cadence purred, “I figured out a lot of stuff for myself…like what’s underneath your bed at your parents’ house.” Shining slammed his head on the table and moaned. “I’ll admit that was some prime material, and it’s nothing to be embarrassed about. First edition Batmares are pretty hard to come by.” Shining peeked an eye open.

“Really? I thought you would find that too nerdy.” Cadence leaned over to nuzzle him on the cheek.

“Oh, honey. I knew what I was getting into when I started dating you.” She looked at him in the eyes and gave him the smile that he loved so much. The slightly cocky one, where her lips slightly upturned at the ends that said she was perfect, but with her soft lilac eyes showing that she cared about him. “What was embarrassing was the fact that you only had three non-magical locks protecting them. My first edition Supermares are protected by two normal locks and three magic locks.”

“You just love teasing me, don’t you?” Shining deadpanned.

“Of course I do.” Cadence said smugly “And I know you love it too.” Their chuckles were interrupted by the sun being replaced by the moon in the span of a second. Instantly, a tense atmosphere fell over the city, ponies walking about skittishly while staring at the sky and conversations either stopping or dropping into hushed tones. Whereas Shining sat straighter, his eyes alert, Cadence just looked to the sky with a cocked eyebrow. “So they’re doing that again, huh?”

“You’ve seen this happen before?” Shining asked, keeping his voice calm, quashing any panic.

“Yes, back in my…time,” Cadence waved a hoof dismissively, “When I was a little filly, there was a day when the sun and the moon switched places in the sky quite often. The official announcement released later was that Luna and Celestia had to adjust the sun and the moon to properly adjust the chronometric cycle, but my mother had received a personal letter admitting their hoof-wrestle went a bit, well, more extreme than normal.” She chortled.

“Maybe you should give an explanation to the populace before one pony trips and starts a riot.” Shining nervously looked at the anxious crowd in the street. “You know how panicked ponies can be.” Cadence nodded and walked into the middle of the street before removing the enchantment hiding her wings.

“Attention residents of Fillydelphia!” She demanded. The crowd turned to look at her and a few even bowed when they noticed her wings and horn. “I am Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, but please call me Cadence.” The growing crowd eased up at her familiarity. “I know you are all worried, but this is nothing more than a scheduled adjustment to the chronometric cycle, and it’s the first one since Princess Luna’s return, so they’re probably a bit rusty.” As she talked, the sun rose back into the sky. “There is no need for concern. You can expect this to continue until what is normally sunset. Have a nice day.” The sun fell and was replaced by the moon. “Or night.” The crowd, content, dispersed. With a flash, Cadence reappeared by Shining, her enchantment once more in effect.

“Nice to see you doing your Princess duties.” Shining smirked. “You are really fantastic at it.” Cadence’s face reddened at the praise and an invisible wing poked Shining. But his smile fell and he looked away in shame. “Listen…Cadence. You know I love you, right?” Sensing this was not the moment she anticipated, Cadence adopted a serious expression.

“Of course, Shiny.”

“And you know I will never intentionally hurt you, right?” the alicorn was puzzled, but let him continue. “And when you mentioned your…past…I can’t help but feel like something I might do might remind you of those difficult times-”

“Shiny.”

“-and I really love you Cadence, but I can’t imagine hurting you. It would ruin me, and-”

“Shiny.”

“I…just can’t do this without you, Cadence, I don’t want to lose-Mphf.” Cadence interrupted the unicorn with a kiss on the lips. When they finally separated, Cadence was giving Shining another one of her smiles. The one that said ‘you silly stallion. But that’s why I love you’.

“Shiny, you can’t hurt me. It was bad in the Crystal Empire, but I wasn’t hurt too bad.”

“Cadence-”

“Apapapap!” Cadence interrupted, holding up a hoof. “If you want to feel better, I’ll tell you about it. But only if you promise not to tell anypony else. Not even the other Princesses.”

“I promise.” Shining stated without hesitation. Cadence nodded and cast a silencing charm around them.

“The events leading up to the fall of the Empire began a couple years before my birth. Many of the noble houses wanted a more official role in the government, one where nobles would vote upon issues, much like they do today, but votes held more weight depending on the actions of the nobles. In those days, it was easier to become a noble, and they held a far more active role with the populace. Titles could be bought and sold, but noble ranks were earned. It was at that point that a small but influential group of well-meaning nobles elected to make a Chancellor position to help my mother in her administrative processes. The Chancellor would deal with most of the paperwork and taxes while my mother had final say on important documents and interact with the populace as a part of her alicorn duties, reducing her to an important figurehead in the government rather than the sole proprietor of the executive powers.

“Of course, mother was happy that the nobles wanted to have a more active role, so she didn’t veto, and allowed it to pass. And it seemed to really work. Nobles worked hard to do notable things so their votes would weigh more, and those that did the most good eventually had the most sway in the Empire. A prominent young earth pony rose to power as Chancellor. The Parliament was easy to follow behind this pony’s speeches and fantastic charisma. All seemed well. It was only later did we see what had truly happened. In between these honeyed words and shows of affection towards the populace, Sombra was an ambitious stallion. Worse, he was an ambitious stallion that wasn’t afraid to break the rules. He had made his way into Chancellorship through bribes, threats, and even acting upon those threats. All to get to a position of power. But he wanted more.

“While he did respect unicorns, he absolutely loathed pegasi. So when he tried to woo my mother, only to find her heart belonged to a pegasus, he became incensed. Enraged, he started tweaking legal forms, working in the dark, and experimenting in forbidden magic to obtain more power. Years passed as he seethed. In the meantime, my mother was married to my father and had me, a pegasus foal. I think it’s safe to assume that Sombra worked harder then. I don’t think he could ever accept the idea that an Ascended pegasus would rule the Empire, even as a figurehead. Sombra finally came to a breakthrough in thaumatic crystals. He had learned how to control their growth using his own innate earth pony magic, so he had a cast built in secret. Before Sombra, a good two dozen Equestrian unicorns lived in the Empire. But before he quickly took power, all of them disappeared. A few days after the disappearances, he strode into the Parliament with a blood-red horn adorning his forehead.

“Somehow, he had managed to not only form a perfect crystal horn, but imbue it with the power of twenty-six unicorns and his own crystal magic. Add that to a madcolt with an obsession with power, and you get what happened at the Parliament. A messenger who survived the Parliament slaughter warned my mother and father of Sombra’s actions. Thinking quickly, mother placed an enchantment on me to hide my wings and entrusted me in the care of one of her maids. She snuck out of the castle with me as my father flew away, holding a bundle of clothes to distract Sombra should my mother be defeated. She was, and Sombra fell for the distraction.” Cadence’s eyes moistened, but she continued. “I never knew what happened to him. I was separated from the maid in the panic following Sombra’s ascension to power. The next year was…difficult. I and so many other orphans scrounged for food, trying to survive the harsh life the ex-Chancellor had instilled upon us. I had to take jobs where I could, hoping that one day we would be freed. We wondered why the royal sisters hadn’t come for us. We wondered why the good Chancellor had gone bad. We wondered if we had been abandoned. And then, I was discovered.” Shining, on the edge of his seat, leaned forwards and drew a sharp breath.

“I had met our savior. While you may be my Knight in shining armor,” Shining blushed and chortled at her little title for him, “this one was my knight in dirty, used, scratched armor. He looked young, but he sounded so old. He managed to figure out who I was just by looking at me serve his food. He stole Sombra’s journals, detailing how the events had come to pass. He was wise, and completely unfazed by the King. He figured out that Sombra spent time forging letters to the Princesses, even going so far to write to ponies’ relatives outside the Crystal Empire every now and then. He told us how Sombra was using our own ancestral instincts against us. He told us how Sombra ruled through fear, possibly threatening his living guards’ families if they weren’t as callous as he was. His contributions to the Resistance allowed us to fight back. I never saw how the conflict ended, but the knight managed to face down and distract Sombra while the others secured the palace for the Sisters. Of course, we hadn’t anticipated the curse, but I was already through the obsidian mirror.” Cadence’s eyes fell. “Celestia told me she and Luna found Sombra screaming in rage on the porch of the palace. I can only assume the worst has happened to the knight. But you know what his last words were to me, as he fought Sombra?”

“…What?” Shining asked, his throat dry.

“He told me ‘Run, I’ll be fine. Go find your knight in shining armor.’” Shining Armor blinked and gaped.

“Is that why you have that nickname for me?” he managed to ask.

“Yup.”

“I guess I have some pretty big horseshoes to fill.” Shining noted.

“You’ve filled them quite well.” Cadence turned off the silencing charm and leaned towards him to give him a peck on the cheek. “Now it’s getting close to night.” Cadence paused to see the sun and the moon switch places twice in the span of a few seconds. “I think. And I just want to cuddle on a couch at the Hotel.” Shining nodded with a small smile and a faint blush. How did he ever get her to fall for him?

<><><>

Thunder paced about the cabin restlessly, his messy white mane shaking about each time he turned around. He hated going on trains. He could go faster than a train any day, but now he had to be lugged behind by the stupid ground-pounders. There was that huge steel-gray coated lug, Titanium, sitting quietly with his eyes closed. Thunder Strike thought he was asleep and was about to poke him when the stallion simply said “Don’t”. Midnight would have been the type of mare he would flirt with…if she wasn’t a bat pony. They, like gryphons, unnerved the pegasus because they were meat eaters. He knew that many pegasi living on the coast or near rivers were omnivorous as well, but not all pegasi were like that. Gryphons and bat-ponies, however, were obligate omnivores.

And the fact that Hawk’s bag full of jerky would eventually run out scared him. He observed Midnight as she used a mortar to crush some leaves into a blue paste. Apparently, she was also a poison specialist. Now all he needed was a madmare with a sword and his fate was sealed. He turned to walk to the other end of the car once more, noticing Hawk Eye reading a book, casually tapping his claws on the seat to some rhythm heard only by him. He respected Red, despite his odd position as he slept on the seat facing Hawk. They had been in the same training regiment, and he heard how abandoned his family name to join the Guard, and his magical abilities had earned him renown in the Guard.

In the next seats sat Strong Recovery, the yellow coated medic unicorn, and Lake Lily, the aquamarine mudpony with a neat green mane tied up in a bun. The two were in the middle of a game of chess, and Strong seemed to be winning. Two moves later, his hooves were deep in his ragged, two-toned cyan and violet mane, as Lake simply sat with a smug expression on her face. Sighing, the medic took off his spectacles and tipped over his own king.

“Why can’t something interesting happen?” Thunder exclaimed, waking Red up with a loud snort. Almost instantly, the SCS chimed, signaling a call from one of the Princesses. Hawk bookmarked his page and picked up the crystal tablet before answering.

“Hawk Eye and crew,” Celestia’s voice rang out, “There is an emergency. Luna is currently unavailable. She has gone to warn the cities of Equestria of the current crisis.”

“What crisis?” Hawk asked. As if in response, the sun disappeared below the horizon. The passengers looked about in surprise.

“That one.” Celestia stated grimly. “Discord has escaped his stone prison. You are not to go after him. Continue your mission. The bearers of the Elements of Harmony are on this.”

“Sorry your Highness, but are you saying you sent civilians to deal with Discord? Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“I am aware of the implications, Midnight Azalea. But you must remember, even as alicorns, my sister and I never stood a chance facing Discord. But with the Elements, he was finally sealed.”

“So we don’t need to get back?” Thunder asked.

“Not at all, Thunder.”

“If I may, your Majesty?” Intruded Strong Recovery. “I’m worried about Princess Luna. I’m aware that her reputation may be somewhat lackluster due to the Nightmare event, and I do not doubt you are aware of it as well. Are you sure it would be wise to send Luna out to warn the populace while the sun and the moon are switching places so often. Ponies might think it’s the return of Nightmare Moon.”

“Rest assured, Strong Recovery, Luna was the best for the job. Ponies need an authority figure right now, and Luna has always been the faster flyer of the two of us. Additionally, she will be up in the sky using the Royal Canterlot Voice to comfort the entire populace at once from afar. She is currently telling ponies that the Bearers will defeat the prisoner that had escaped. Good luck on your mission.” And with a bleep, the screen only showed the reflections of those that gazed into it.

“Fantastic.” Thunder snarled. “Discord is loose, we’re going to a disgusting swamp to search for who-knows-what, and we’re not getting any support. How are we going to do this?” On cue, the bathroom door struck open, and out strode Tron. The pudgy gray unicorn was wearing a suit, and had even trimmed his curly black chinstrap beard.

“To take on this challenge, I’ll have to think like Lucid, dress like it. Be it.” The solar guards just stared at Tron, while the lunar guards ignored his antics. “Don’t ask how I know they get up in a nice tie and suit. They just seem the snazzy type to me.”

“Even better.” Thunder stated. “We’ve got the madcolt, the bloodthirsty gryphon-” Hawk rolled his eyes as Thunder pointed at him “- and the vampiric bat-pony. Luna knows how to pick her guards.” The rest of the team just frowned at him, and Lake Lily, seething, opened her mouth to say something, but Tron beat her to it.

“Now you listen here, pip-pip. A racist mind is a racist kind. You, you take that to sleep with you tonight ‘cause I know, it's not gonna change hearts and minds in a day. You don't give a mare a peanut, expect her to have a farm the next day. But it's alright. It's alright. One day, we will all be equal on this earth. Until then, I'm gonna give you a kiss, muffin.” Tron brought his hooves up to Thunder’s befuddled muzzle and pulled him down so he could kiss him on the top of his head.

“What. The buck.” Thunder tried to wrap his mind around what Tron just did.

“All’s that nice and good.” Lake Lily continued as she regained her wits, “But I’m still in command of your squad. So I say…DROP AND GIVE ME FIFTY, MAGGOT!” Lake pushed him down to the ground and beckoned Titanium over. “Put some weight on him, please.” The huge stallion nodded and complied. As Thunder struggled under the stallion’s massive weight, he couldn’t help but wish it was a bit less exciting in the train.

<><><>

Celestia watched in silent horror as Ponyvville became more and more consumed by chaos. She knew trying to guess Discord’s reasons for anything would most likely result in a headache, but as for why he chose Ponyville, it was as obvious as a hoof to the face. He wanted her to be helpless, to watch from her balcony as chaos was seeded and dominated her world. She could only hope now.

Her ear twitched as the sound of slow hoofsteps reached her. Probably another maid, trying to comfort her, despite Celestia being more worried for the ponies’ well-being than her own.

“Please, leave me alone.” She asked.

“I apologize,” an unfamiliar stallion’s voice rang from behind her, “but I only wish to talk.” Celestia turned around to see a stallion she had never met before. So not a palace worker, and most likely not a Canterlot resident. He was a black-coated pegasus stallion with a stark white mane. Despite his appearance, something seemed off about him.

“What is it you wish to ask me, my little pony?”

“Actually,” his voice, Celestia realized, intimidated her somewhat, “I was thinking I may act as someone for you to talk to right now. I know you are stressed.” It was as if he was holding something back, in his speech, his manner, and his being. But Celestia was surprised at the lack of formality, and decided that to humor the stallion would do no harm.

“You read me better than most ponies ever have.” Celestia idly commented.

“I do. I’m good at many things.”

“As for being worried, I have a reason. I have utmost confidence in the Bearers. But this is Discord, avatar of Chaos magic itself, the magic most closely related to primal magic. I can’t help but feel a bit of doubt when I look at Ponyville.”

“Maybe you just need to remember who they are. Maybe they need to remember who they are. Good luck to you, Cherubim.” And with that, the goggled stallion began trotting away. Celestia’s eyes widened in realization as to what she needed to do. She turned around to thank the pegasus, but he had disappeared without a trace. The alicorn teleported to her room, and began sending her favorite letters back to where they came from.

“Forgive me Spike. It may hurt now, but this will only help us.”

<><><>

It moves away from the palace at a sedate pace, taking in the view of the streets. It zooms over Canterlot and into the Everfree. The barriers are weakening once more, and that means that something else would be coming through. It would be best if this one came here, despite the danger. It rises slightly above the foliage, only to see a grumpy Discord hovering there. It has met many versions of Discord in the multiverse, but every now and then, it would find one with some sort of vendetta against it. The being decides to become visible, appearing as an oily mass.

“Hello there. Am I bothering you?”

“The fact you don’t know what you’ve done is what irks me, dear…blob.” Discord intoned. In response, the entity shaped itself into a pitch-black pegasus shape, lacking any features. It just seems like someone had cut out the outline of a pegasus and left nothing more than darkness. “That doesn’t seem evil at all.”

“It requires less concentration than an incognito form, and it tends not to blind everything that looks at me.” Discord watches as a few tendrils split off from its barrel, vibrating at different frequencies to mimic a voice. “Is there a reason you came to find me?”

“If I told you, that would defeat the purpose, wouldn’t it?” the draconequus sneers. The thing expands and contracts slightly. A sigh.

“Aren’t you supposed to be causing chaos throughout Equestria?”

“I’ve already done a bit of that.” Discord waved a claw. “I just finished, I was coming back from Manehatten when I sensed you.”

“Good for you. You should probably get back to your ‘Chaos Capital’. The Bearers are getting close to your throne.”

“Them again?” He scoffs “I wonder why I just don’t send them to the other side of the planet.” He prepares to snap his claw when it flows over to him in an instant and closes a tendril around his claw, controlling the kinetic energy in the tendril to both hold him still and prevent him from snapping his claws.

“Do not.”

“Why?” He hisses as his brows furrow. "And how can you stop me?"

“I am a constant in the multiverse. For there to be Something, there must be Energy. And I am all types of Energy. I may not have magic, but I could easily stop you and replace you so that events go as they are supposed to. You are aware of the state the multiverse nearby. Certain events must come to pass. And soon, you should be on your throne, facing the Bearers.” It releases the draconequus from its grip.

“Fine.” Discord grumbles. “But I don’t have to like it.” With a snap of his claws, he is gone. The consciousness watches as Discord is turned to stone. It watches as Equestria celebrates deep into the night. But it has somewhere to be, like every night.

It finds itself in Manehatten, watching late-night party-goers return to their apartments. And it spots her. A gray mare with a dark mane, lugging a case through the dark streets of the city. The cellist. But the entity also spots three stallions following her. It could tell that their blood-alcohol level is quite high, and their intentions impure. The unicorn stallion trots far ahead of the cellist and sneaks into an alley. As she passes the alley, he calls to her.

“Excuse me, Miss? I have a question.”

The naïve mare approaches the stallion. It understands why. Crime in this society was exceptionally rare, although it was more common in big cities far away from the capital. Add to the fact that half of the crimes go unreported due to ridiculous herd instinct and pony guilt, and it was practically unheard of. So the entity watches as the other two stallions block the entrance. However, Octavia is not a stupid mare. As soon as the other two block her only exit, she becomes skittish. And when the ‘bait’ stallion made his move, preparing a spell to use on the cellist, Octavia acts. A swift buck to the face, and the unicorn is knocked unconscious. But even with her earth pony strength, Octavia is helpless in the face of the other two leering unicorns.

Or she would be, if the consciousness hadn’t taken a basic pony form behind them.

“Excuse me,” it asks “what are you doing?”

“None of your business.” One says, keeping his eyes on the terrified mare. The other one turns around and sees the pony-shaped blot and backs away.

“Uh, High?” he stammers, “You might want to see this.” The other unicorn, High, turns around and gasps.

“…What are you?” High asks. He shakes his head and continues. “No matter. Two high class unicorns should be able to take care of you, monster!” High fires a stunning spell, but a hole opens up in the being, allowing the magic to pass right through it.

“Octavia Melody,” It states, “please close your eyes.” Octavia, panicked, decided to follow its suggestion and closed hers as it opened its own.“They say that the eyes are a window to the soul. And a soul is comprised of memories, personality, and emotions.” Two glowing dots stared from the abyss that was its essence. The two stallions stood still, unable to tear their eyes away from its orbs of light. The unicorns’ minds had flooded with memories; memories of impossible creatures, beings from different planes of existence, and from different dimensions entirely. They saw the birth of worlds, the death of gods, and the end of all of their beliefs. After two milliseconds, they had experienced two centuries of memories. The entity closed its eyes and the stallions slumped to the ground, unconscious.

“You may open your eyes, Octavia.” The cellist opens her eyes and sees the creature by her side and the two assailants on the ground.

“What did you do to them?” she asks. “Are they…?”

“No,” it shakes its black head, “merely unconscious. I showed them some memories of mine. I’ve learned that if I push in an approximate amount of memories in a specific amount of time, it overloads the brain, leaving them in a small coma similar to anesthetic. They will not remember my presence, and they will most likely remember up to the moment they cornered you. They will get strange dreams for a time.” It offers a dark foreleg. “May I walk you to safety?” Octavia gapes at the creature. It had come to save her, and its presence scared her, but it has only shown care for her. She gingerly grabbed its foreleg and smiled.

“Are all of your kind such gentlecolts?” she queries. The foreleg was eerily smooth, but gave off a comforting amount of heat.

“I believe so. I’m the only one of my kind I’ve ever met.”

“Oh, I-I’m sorry.” She stammers. “It was uncouth of me to pry…”

“No matter. I’ve accepted it long ago.”

“It must be quite sad.” The two trot the dark streets in silence for a while before Octavia asks a question that had been in her mind since she had first seen it.

“Why did you help me?” Quiet reigned in the street before it answers, interrupted only by Octavia's muted hoofsteps on the street.

“I could tell you that it is because music is different to me than to others. The movement of the air caresses my essence in a beautiful pattern, which I manage to translate into sound. Add to the fact that I ‘see’ using echophotolocation, and it becomes a synesthesia of three senses that most biological creatures take for granted. But it goes beyond that.” It stops in front of a booming nightclub. “I know this place may seem a little out of your comfort zone, but it closes early in the morning. And you might find a friend in there.” Octavia looked to the neon lights decorating the club. Normally, she wouldn’t dare go in a place such as this, but she couldn’t stand the thought of being alone after her run-in with those…stallions.

“May I at least have your name? To remember you by.” The being cocked its head.

“What do you think my name should be?” Octavia recoiled. It has no name? The more she learned about it, the more she felt sorry for it.

“Enigma seems a tad too feminine for you. Mystery may be too masculine…” She noticed the odd lumps on the sides of the entity. A pegasus? “I trust you like exploring the world?”

“More than you can imagine.”

“Then I shall remember you as Traveler.” Octavia smiled as the creature cocked its head and vibrated.

“Thank you.” It bowed its head and vanished from sight. The cellist turned around and took a deep breath. Surviving a nightclub was a small price to pay if she wanted to be surrounded by potential witnesses until morning.

Chapter 13: Found

I’m normally not one to complain about things, but the latest shipment I brought back from what I saw as the Diamond Dogs perplexed me. I no longer really needed rocks to build my home, but that didn’t throw me off. There weren’t nearly as many usable metals, but I didn’t particularly care. But when I spotted some of those rocks in the pile, I unhitched myself and scuttled away as fast as I could. I now knew what I would do with my extra rocks and lead. Are they trying to kill me?! Maybe. I’ll talk to them, I have to remember either these guys are really stupid and were unaware of what they gave me, or drugged up thugs. I knelt to the ground and held my head in my hooves. Some of this makes sense, but a lot of it doesn’t. Is this some sort of advanced psychological warfare? Do they know how it relates to me? I slowly got back up and shook my head. I’m taking precautions. More than necessary, but I don’t care. I will not die the same way my mother did. But to be completely safe, I need more funds. Therefore…

“Steel Fang!” I called. “I’m going to visit Ze’s to do some work. Would you like to come with me?” The direwolf’s head popped up, his ears perked at the prospect of going somewhere. He strode over to me, but recoiled when he got close to the rock pile. “So you can sense it huh? I honestly don’t know how they got a hold of this stuff. Did the thugs steal it from a facility or military, or was it really mined? I don’t know, Steel, and it scares me.” Steel approached me and licked the side of my face with his huge tongue.

“Alright, alright.” I chuckled, scratching the top of his head to the best of my abilities. “Let’s go see Ze. I haven’t introduced you two yet. Maybe I can get something for my…wing.” I stretched out my injured wing and winced, revealing a hole of scar tissue that had hidden itself when folded. A few feathers were growing back here and there, but magic redirection seemed to do little for them. The muscles were a bit stiff, but a few days of exercise would fix that. I just hoped I wouldn’t fly lopsided.

Steel and I trotted through the Everfree’s edge without a problem. I suspected that Steel’s presence was still known by the inhabitants, and he had long since proven to be a dangerous adversary to them. It wasn’t long before we reached Zecora’s hut.

“Hey, Ze?” I yelled. “Can you come out for a moment?” Zecora poked her eyes out of her tree home with a smile, only for it to fall when she saw Steel.

“Begone foul giant wolf! Else you will taste my hoof!” she squawked from inside her hut.

“Relax, Ze. He’s with me.” The zebra poked her head once more, a wary expression on her face. “I’m actually here for two reasons. I would like some more jobs so I can pay for a storage hut and a few other things, and I was wondering if you could do something about my injury.” I extended my wing, showing her the damage. Her eyes widened and there was a sharp intake of breath. Steel Fang even whined a bit when he saw the scar tissue. “It used to be a lot worse, and I had planned on going to the doctor…eventually. But I’m here now, and I would like some help with it.”

“It seems to be severe.” Zecora approached slowly and examined the wing. “Is it from a hot sear?”

“You could say that.”

“What manner of creature did this to you? The monsters that could here are very few.”

“They won’t be a problem anymore.” I said with a tone of finality. Zecora stepped back, but nodded. “Obviously, I can’t get the usual herbs from the forest. So do you have anything you need? Don’t worry about my well-being, Steel Fang’s really good at keeping me safe.” We turned to look at Steel, who cocked his head before baring his teeth and upturning the sides of his mouth as he wagged his tail. “Not quite a Winn-Dixie smile, but I like it.” His tail wagged a bit harder. Zecora sighed.

“You seem to be acting aplomb. So be it, I will get my balm. The concoction, I will apply. But you must wait for it to dry. After I am done acting as your physician, you may begin your Everfree expedition.”

After a lot of squirming and prodding, I could finally head into the Everfree to get several herbs for Zecora. The timberwolves we ran into were easily dissuaded when Steel and I ripped half of their pack to little more than useless twigs. It was quite interesting to see them try to put themselves back together, but I made sure to destroy all the twigs into smaller pieces, which apparently made it harder to gather together. I mentally stored that information away. It’s either a matter of surface area or number of pieces. In other words, beat them until they can’t get up. Either way, the small pack of timberwolves were no match for us. It was a bit tricky when we stumbled onto a manticore.

Steel Fang just stared at it. And it stared back. It looked to me and licked its chops, to which Steel growled. The two continued their staring match for a while, before the manticore decided it would be too much trouble and it walked away. I mentally reminded myself to get Steel some extra fish.

“Have I ever told you how much I appreciate having you with me?” Steel stared at me silently. “I know you can’t talk, but I am pretty sure you understand me.” Steel nodded and a smile flowed across my face. “I know that sometimes I may seem like a madman. Well, I am, but I truly care. I haven’t had anyone to talk to about what I see, and how I feel about all of this…” I looked down dejectedly. “Truth is, I’m scared. Whichever one is true; the delusion or the reality, it scares me either way for so many different reasons. So the best I can do is exist in this limbo and simply do, rather than think about it. I would find things to occupy my body, my mind, to pass time, hoping the truth would come for me, and yet hoping it won’t.” I hopped over a tree branch as Steel Fang simply stepped over it, continuing to listen to me. “I’m scared, Steel.” I muttered. “Terrified by death, petrified by life, frightened of the truth, afraid of the lies. Scared of both the worlds outside and inside my mind. All of those fears are pushing on the boundaries of my mind, whispering doubts and paranoid thoughts. And yet here I am, in a forest either deemed terrifying by the locals, or one built by my psyche. Thankfully, I’m not alone.” Steel Fang wagged his tail and moved a bit closer before putting a paw on top of my head. I gave a small giggle before we stumbled upon a clearing.

In the center was the Redstar flower, a very rare ingredient that bloomed once a year said to give incredible powers to all those that ate it. Zecora had explained to me that it was bull, a joke perpetuated by those who knew of its foul taste. It actually acted as a magnificent cure-all poultice when crushed. But that wasn’t the interesting thing about the clearing. Right next to the flower was the body of a slightly burned woman. Her clothes were singed, and a few patches of her skin were either red or burned. Her long auburn hair was blackened at the edges and obscured her face from me.

When Steel saw her, he crouched and growled.

“No, Steel.” I managed to croak out as I approached her.

Is she dead? What the hell happened? Where the hell did she come from? I felt my spine start to itch as I got closer. Is she dangerous? Should I make sure that she won’t hurt us? I shook my head, but kept getting closer to the mysterious woman. My eyes were glued to the back of her head. She’s breathing. The itch in my spine elevated to uncomfortable levels. I should stop her from that. I shook my head again and took a few deep breaths. What is it with these thoughts? They were with me at the skeleton, they were with me with the aliens, and now they’re with me here. But she’s alive, she’s hurt, and she has done no wrong. A burning sensation steadily increased along my back. But she will. She’s human after all. And to be human is to err. She will hurt me. A few more calming breaths. I’ve been hurt before, true. But those were outliers, rare people that I was unlucky enough to encounter. The pain in my vertebrae was hardly bearable. I have shit luck. History will repeat itself. I will prevent that. No. No, no, no. We all deserve a chance. As long as there is life, there is a chance. She groaned and the pain increased as I stood over her, poising my hoof over her head. I have a choice. The screaming, the burning, the hell in my spine commanded me. And I brought the hoof down, like a guillotine.

CRUNCH.

I choose life. I managed to clench my eyes shut as I brought my hoof down next to her head, crushing a stone and reducing the sensation in my spine to an annoying itch. Annoying, but bearable. As I thought, not seeing her made it easier. Turning my head to where the flower was, I trotted to it and gently picked it from the root, before dropping it into my saddlebag

“Wha…? Where am I? Ho-how did I get from New York to a forest?” I heard a slight rustling as she turned to me. “Is that a…horse? The proportions are all off! The hell is going on here?” Closing my eyes to face her, I turned around and blew her mind.

“Come with me if you want to live.”

I wish I could have seen her face.

<><><>

“Rarity!”

“What, Sweetie Belle?” the white unicorn grinded her teeth. “Can’t you see I’m in the middle of another order? Honestly, why Carrot Top needs such drab colors is beyond me.”

“But Raaaaaarity!” the filly whined. “Applebloom, Scootaloo, and I can’t find out what this word means, and we’re trying to get our cutie marks in it.” Sighing, the older unicorn put down the various needles and strips of cloth she had been levitating and turned towards her younger sibling.

“What is it, then?”

“Communism!” she chirped.

Rarity froze. She was dreading this day. She had promised, no, sworn, that she wouldn’t let it happen again. But it was too early. Far too early. Neither of them were ready. Sweetie was too young, too innocent, to be subjected to it. The Talk. Rarity felt an involuntary shiver pass through her. Their parents, Hondo Flanks and Cookie Crumbles, were absolutely dreadful at the talk. So dreadful, they used what they had on hoof for visual representation. To this day, Rarity could never look at zucchinis or jelly doughnuts the same way. Tears in her eyes, Rarity made her decision. She couldn’t bear it. But she had no choice.

“Sweetie…ask our parents. I hope you could find it in your heart to forgive me.” Rarity sniffled and ran into her room, slamming the door, before a orchestra of wails and whimpers emanated from the distressed dressmaker's den.

The befuddled filly cocked her head and made her way out of the boutique and towards her parents’ house. She found her father eating his favorite jelly doughnuts as Cookie was preparing something in the kitchen. Poking Hondo in the back, she steeled herself for the answer she and her friends had been searching for.

“Dad, what’s communism?” Hondo turned to look at her.

“Eh, you’re only a little bit younger than Rarity when we told her.” He shrugged. “Honey, do we have any zucchinis left?”

“No, sorry!” she called back. “But we do have a slightly overripe banana and an old jar of mayo!”

“Those two are perfect!”

Later, Sweetie Belle was found walking aimlessly through the streets of Ponyville, covered in flecks of jelly, mayo, and banana mush. Her thousand yard stare met the eyes of her worried friends as they tried to ask her what happened.

“Girls,” she rasped, “I don’t think we want communism cutie marks.”

“What?” Scootaloo exclaimed. “Why no ̶ ”

“JUST TRUST ME, OKAY?” Sweetie took a few deep breaths as her friends nervously backed away. “Let’s just…see if we can get cutie marks in erasing memories. Twilight would help.”

“Cutie mark memory erasers, yay?” the other two chorused half-heartedly.

<><><>

Hawk Eye flew above the forest canopy, keeping his eyes straight towards the swamps. Since the Hayseed swamps were notorious for quicksand, firepits, and dangerous monsters, the Equestrian Railroad Service refused to extend into it to reach the far off towns inside the swamp. So Hawk Eye and the rest of the ‘Bar Crawl Team’, as Hawk had jokingly (and officially) named them, had to trek from Dodge Junction and through the forest. At first it had been more similar to White Tail Woods, but the air grew steadily more humid, and became imbued with the smell of earthy compost and sulfur. The chattering of birds steadily disappeared until there was nothing more than an eerie silence. Strong Recovery and Thunder Strike became more and more wary, whereas Red simply tried to avoid getting his hooves too deep in mud.

“We’re just on the border of Hayseed Swamp.” Hawk mentioned neutrally. “Keep your eyes peeled for anything different. We’ll be heading to one of the towns to ask if they’ve noticed anything interesting.”

The others nodded, and they continued on their way through the swamp. Gradually, the earthy smell was choked out by the sulfurous stench that permeated the swamp. The ground got wetter, the little light that managed to penetrate the dense foliage provided just enough to see a few meters in front of them. Glowing eyes began to appear nearby, watching the group.

“Tron, it would be best if you cast an illumination spell.” The gryphon said casually. “We would like to find Lucid in one piece.”

“P-p-please do what the Lieutenant says, Tron.” Strong stumbled over a root submerged in the muck. “Before something worse than me tripping happens.”

“Alright, alright. Don’t get your horseshoes in a bunch.” A flash, some growling, and the darkness had been illuminated. Midnight blinked a few times to get her vision working again, and the others sighed in contentment.

“That’s good, Tron, thank you.” Hawk stated. “The light should scare away most creatures.”

“Most?” asked Thunder Strike from above them.

A squawk boomed through the swamp, echoing through the trees. A loud thumping could be heard, getting closer.

“You just had to ask, did you?” Lake Lily hissed.

Branches rustled. Closer. Closer. Closer. A huge shrub started shaking. Violently, consistently shaking. Until something jumped out.

An iguana.

The team relaxed ever so slightly as the small reptile approached them. The gryphon’s eyes flashed in realization.

“Behind us!” he shouted, leaping out of the way as something landed where he was but a moment before.

The dark bird stood tall, well over thrice the height of a normal pony, looming over Titanium as if he were a mere runt. Its wings were small, too small to carry it, but it wasn’t its wings that made it what it was. Its muscular saurian legs were devoid of the midnight plumage, revealing to all its sharp claws capable of grasping two pony heads at the same time. The creature’s long neck rippled with unseen power, and its sturdy beak, similar to a parrot’s but longer, clicked ecstatically.

“A corvus.” Hawk Eye muttered. “Rare, intelligent, and deadly.” The seven ponies and the gryphon stood still as the corvus looked over them.

And it screeched.

Red prepared a spell, but the bird saw and charged him and head-butted him, sending him flying into a tree, before he slumped down, unconscious. Thunder Strike swooped in, but the predator jumped into the air, grabbed him by the head in one claw, and slammed him into the ground. Tron broke out of his stupor and charged a spell, only for Thunder Strike’s unconscious body to be thrown at him with enough force to send him into a pit of quicksand. Hawk Eye, after waiting for the right moment, lunged and managed to scratch out its left eye. Squawking in pain and anger, it grabbed Hawk by the chest and pinned him to the ground, only for Lake Lily to leap onto its back from its left. Straddling it from the neck she steered it away from Hawk Eye before she was knocked off. The corvus had only a moment’s respite before Titanium bowled it over. Shaking its head, it got back up and charged the earth pony, who got on his two back hooves to brace it. When they collided, Titanium managed to keep its beak from closing around his head by grabbing it and pushing against the ground. Two long grooves in the wet dirt were made as Titanium succeeded in stopping the bird, which allowed Midnight to jump in and inject it with one of her paralysis poisons. After a few seconds, the monster bird slumped over, unable to do anything.

Hawk Eye coughed a couple times and managed to get up.

“Status report?” he called.

“Here. Uninjured.” Titanium rumbled.

“I’m fine.” Midnight muttered.

“Nothing but a bump on the head, sir.” Lake said, rubbing the back of her head, below her bun.

“I’m stuck!” Tron exclaimed.

“I’m fine as well.” Strong Recovery’s head popped out of a pile of wet leaves. “Thunder Strike and Red seem to be unconscious.”

“Help them up.” Hawk Eye sighed. “But Strong, you know you will have to fight someday.”

“Noted, Hawk Eye. But I’ll try to keep my vow of pacifism as long as I can. After all, you have me to take care of you all.”

“Midnight, could you fly above the trees and see if we’re near a village?” she saluted and flew up high. “Lake Lily, help Tron get out of the quicksand.” Hawk Eye let out a breath and laid down. He could tell he cracked his ribs, but he would rest when the team was safe. He watched as Lake Lily tried to get Tron out of the quick sand. But no matter how hard she pulled, Tron remained unmoving.

“I can’t do this, Tron.” Lake stated.

“I can’t either!” Tron wailed. With a mighty heave, Lake landed back on her rump.

“I can’t pull you out!” Lake huffed.

“Well I tell you what, Lake!” Tron hollered. “You can give up now, or you could figure it out, because I certainly can’t do it without you, and I know you can’t do it without me!” Hawk rolled his eyes.

“Titanium.” The titanic pony turned to the lieutenant. “Help the melodramatic unicorn out of the quicksand.” Titanium nodded and simply reached over to Tron and pulled him out by his outstretched hoof.

“I’m out!” Tron cheered and stuck a pose. “I’m supermare!” The other three just stared at his legs until Strong Recovery came over.

“So they’re both going to be fine, but we need to get to shelter so I can clean their wounds and properly ̶ Wow that’s a lot of leeches.” Tron opened one eye and looked down to his legs.

“Ech! Ack!” He yelped. “Get them off!”

He pulled a few off with his magic, and Strong rolled his eyes before helping him.

“Normally, I’d admonish you for pulling them off, but by the time I would have gotten a fire started in this wet place, they would have dropped off on their own.”

After a minute of removing leeches and tossing them back in the quicksand, Tron was finally clean, and Midnight was struggling to keep a grin off her face.

“So, should I start therapy now, or should I wait for the nightmares to set in?” Tron asked.

“Sir, there’s a clearing a ten minute’s trot east from here. I suspect it was a small town.” Midnight stated with a barely constrained chuckle.

“Good job, Midnight.” Hawk Eye nodded. “Titanium, can you carry Thunder and Red?”

The earth pony nodded and picked the two, tossing them on his back. With that, team Bar Crawl practically crawled to where the village was. It wasn’t long before they stumbled onto an odd fog. Buildings emerged as shadows, and almost all sound was muted by the deep white canvas. A moan.

The team stopped.

A shadow of a pony appeared in the distance, the first they’d seen since entering the unnerving village. And he had something on his head. Slowly, he stumbled towards them. Moaning. Groaning.

“Oh no.” Tron whispered.

The moaning grew louder. The shadow darker. The steps, hushed before, sounded erratic, almost tripping.

“Oh, here he comes.” Tron panicked as the rest of the team looked on, frozen in confusion and horror.

His features became visible. His lifeless, yellowed eyes. His emancipated body. His drooling, slack jaw. His green coat and mane. The…sunflower with a happy face sprouting out of his head?

“OH, NO!”

BZOOM!

The moaning pony was blown back by a magic blast, vaporizing the flower on his head. The team turned to look at Tron and his smoking horn, who smiled sheepishly.

“What? It was a zompony, right?” the unicorn managed to say through his toothy grin.

“You may want to see this, Hawk Eye.” Strong called out.

The team walked over to the body of the supposed zompony, a few noticing that he was still breathing. Slowly, the green in his coat and mane disappeared, leaving a beige pony with a wild neon green mane.

“The princesses were right. There is something strange going on here.” Lake Lily said under her breath.

Chapter 14: Turn to Flames

“Sooooo…what’s your story?” I asked as she sat in front of my fireplace in my blanket. I was sitting on my rump, my back to her so I wouldn't see her.

“I’m speaking to a damn talking horse,” she deadpanned. I could practically feel the young woman glaring as if it was my fault my mind decided to construe myself as such.

“That’s not your story, that’s mine. If you’re going to live here, I might as well know who you are and what silly backstory my mind has concocted of you.”

She sat up straight, probably scowling, and held her arms out as if to ask to give me a moment. There was a deep breath…Oh, this is going to hurt my ears.

“WHAT?!” she shrieked. “FIRST, WHY WOULD I WANT TO STAY HERE?! YOU’RE A FUCKING COLORED PONY-HORSE-PEGASUS-THING…THAT CAN TALK!”

Racist.

“SECOND, ARE YOU SAYING THAT YOU, SAID ABOMINATION, ARE REAL, WHEREAS I, THE LOGICAL, NORMAL HUMAN BEING, AM NOTHING MORE THAN A FIGMENT OF YOUR IMAGINATION?” She was practically foaming at the mouth at this point. She stopped her screaming and started heaving, her auburn hair all over the place, and her green eyes wild with fury.

“Okay, I see how you would react like that, so for your sake, as well as my ears’ sake, I’ll pretend you’re real.” She rose a finger to interject, but I closed my eyes, turned to face her, and put my hoof up. “I’m not finished,” I continued. “I have a very good reason to believe I’m imagining you. You see, I’m a pony.”

“No, really?”

Ignoring her snarkiness, I plodded on. “Problem is, I remember being human, in a human world, surrounded by human things.” Now she was listening. “One day, I’m simply walking across the street, and boop, I find myself in a tree, in the body of a ‘colored pony-horse-pegasus-thing ̶ ’” Air quotes will never be the same. “ ̶ convinced I was having another…psychotic episode…I got the hell out of the town as soon as possible.”

“Are you saying there’s a normal town nearby?” she rudely interrupted once more.

“I wouldn’t know.” I shrugged. “As far as I see it, you are the first real, living human here. They were all ponies. This is a damn country full of ponies and magic.” She leaned back and pinched the bridge of her nose.

“Disregarding the fact that you admitted that you are completely crazy ̶ "

“Oh, I am. I’m talking with an imaginary woman right now,” I clarified.

“DISREGARDING THAT…Are you basically saying that this entire country is populated by sentient ponies? How has humanity not discovered this country?”

“You came out of the Everfree. If you’ve seen any of it, then you’ve probably noticed you’re no longer on Earth. There are no humans here but crazy me and little old you.”

She shifted nervously in her place. Her eyes began to flick from place to place. “How do I know if I’m not in some coma, or in a mental ward?” she asked quietly.

I raised my forelegs in the air. “Well, I promised I wouldn’t treat you as a part of my delusion, so I have to answer as if this were real. Thus, I can tell you that you aren’t in a coma, or crazy like I am, was, whatever. Since the only explanation left is that we’ve somehow come here, another universe entirely, and I’ve been turned into a technicolor equine. I think you can see why I’d prefer to think I’m crazy.”

She looked down dejectedly. “Yeah...but what makes you think different universe?”

“Three reasons.” I pulled up a hoof. We both looked at it, and I sighed. I miss my fingers. So very much. “Alright. First off, this system is geocentric.” Her eyes bugged out, but she let me continue. I rose another hoof to make my second point. “The night sky changes every so often, for aesthetic purposes.” She opened her mouth to interrupt, AGAIN, but decided to let me finish. I raised a rear hoof in the air by the other two...and promptly fell on my muzzle. I heard her suppressing a chuckle. Groaning, I continued. “Finally, magic, which causes the other two.”

She stopped stifling her laughter. “What.” She probably thought I was kidding the first time I mentioned magic.

“Yup. Magic is real. And it takes the corpse of physics and dangles it about like a demented meat marionette. Or sock puppet, depending on how much magic wants to screw physics.” The young woman went silent. I heard the shuffling of burned clothes as she turned around and stared into the hearth. She chuckled.

“What’s so funny?”

“I...I figured that if I’m crazy, or in a coma, I might as well laugh about the ridiculous things I’ve seen.”

“You didn’t answer the question.”

“Oh, you know… geocentricity. Different universes. Talking ponies. Magic. The way you tried to count to three-”

“Hey, I’m used to fingers, okay?” I grumbled, “All the marvelous things you can do with that dexterity...reading books, writing, whittling, not to mention how I mastered the nines tables with my hands.” I didn’t know why I mentioned that last one. I just thought the trick was interesting. Apparently, so did she.

“Wait, what was that last one?”

“You don’t know it? It’s quite common.”

“Well, not to me. I’ve always been a sucker for math cheats." She giggled with a hint of hysteria.

“Alright. Give me your hands.” She hovered her hands over my outstretched hooves as I tried to resist the ‘urge’. It’s odd how an imaginary woman could make you want to hurt something so much. The hands seemed so unnatural, so wrong, but so intimately familiar. Now for me, tying knots was a pain, itching myself was annoying, and whenever I held my spear, it felt unnatural.

“Uuh...is staring at my hands the trick?” I shook my head, both as an answer and to clear my head.

“Okay. Say we do… nine times eight. Count on your fingers from left to right until you reach eight. Good. Now fold it down. How many fingers are on the left side of the separation?”

“Seven.”

“And on the right?”

“Two. How does this help me?”

“Dunno. What does seventy-two have to do with nine times eight?” I could see the gears turning in her head and she gasped. I cock my head at her. “Seriously? All this excitement for a simple math shortcut?” She looked to her hands and to my hooves. And then to me. There were tears in her eyes and her pupils were pinpricks.

“I didn’t know that...but you did.”

“Yeah? And?”

She shook her head, shivering. “This is real. You couldn’t possibly know that if you were a horse, or if you were a delusion I cooked up. You were human. And I am no longer on Earth.”

<><><>

Hawk Eye had insisted that Strong Recovery tend to the others before he healed him. They sat in front of the hearth of the abandoned inn, the gryphon lying on his side as Strong mended the cracked ribs he had received from the corvus. The others were wide awake, Midnight making sure none of her vials had cracked, Red trying to comb his mane, and Tron just staring at the ‘zompony’.

“What can you tell us about the, eugh, ‘zompony?’” Hawk asked, making quite sure to make his disgust for the word evident in his voice.

“From what I could tell, sir, our victim is dehydrated, nutritionally deficient, and exhausted.” Strong Recovery pursed his lips. “If I had to guess, that odd flower that Tron blew off his head was stealing water, nutrients,and was possibly even controlling him. Any other pony would have collapsed from such a strenuous lifestyle.”

“It was," an accented voice rasped. Everybody turned to look at the stallion as he struggled to get up. “I was trapped in my own body as the flower took control. It made me walk, eat, and do, only for itself. It wouldn’t let me sleep, and whenever I came close to one of y’all, the uninfected, it reached over and gave them a kiss.” He shivered as tears threatened to leave his eyes. “But it ain’t one of them loving kisses, no. It plants a seed in your mane, and it grows into another cursed sunflower.” The earth pony collapsed and began sobbing softly. Hawk Eye grunted softly as he got up and walked towards the stallion before placing a claw on his withers.

“I understand this was a very difficult experience for you. I’ll give you time, but we need any information you may have. We’re going in blind, and others need our help.”

“No, no.” He stood up. “I have to talk now, no matter how much it hurts me. T’others are in big trouble.”

Hawk Eye nodded and turned to the team. “Midnight, take Tron and Titanium and find something to eat. Red, Thunder, you two are on watch. Strong Recovery, make us some tea. Lake Lily, help me out.” Team Barcrawl nodded and went to do their duties. Hawk Eye turned back to the stallion as Lake took out a pencil and a notepad. “Tell us what happened.” The pony nodded and began his story.

“It all started when an infected pony done walked into Gator Bog Village, where y’all are now. At first we were really curious, and we approached the sick pony, and everypony that got real close got kissed by the flower. A lot of us found it really funny, and a lot of us got kissed by the flower. The next day, we done realized it was a grand mistake, ‘cause more n’ half the village was shambling around wit flowers on their head, moaning and groaning. Even…even the foals. The rest of us corralled them into the infirmary, and a few of us got kissed then. The third day, we realized it was the flower kisses that done this, but by then it was too late. They started trying to shamble to us, so we locked ourselves in the bar. O’ course there were only ‘bout ten of us left at that point, and the rest of the village was beating at our door. It was hard, looking outside and seeing our kin act like that. Eventually…they broke in. Or one of us cracked and opened the door for ‘em. I don’t know. But I know I wasn’t the only one considerin’ it. The next day, we were all infected, and we just shambled around. It was…horrifying.” The stallion took a few deep breaths, and Strong Recovery passed him a teacup. He took a quick sip and smacked his lips.

“Thanks. Ahh...Just like Mawmaw used to make. Anywho, five days after the infected pony came into our town, another came in. We started goin’ towards him, and I wanted to yell, to tell him to run away, but I just couldn’t. But then we stopped. It was a blue unicorn stallion with a mane of the darkest black with a few streaks of blue. And his red eyes…” He shivered. “He was holding this black book that seemed to be leaking something. He pointed at me, and I sat down. He pointed to Ivy Soup and she just started trotting to the next village. Then he just…walked away. And all of the others followed him, like a bunch o’ ducklings following their mother. I’ve been here for two days, and am I happy to see you!” Hawk Eye was too busy thinking of the ramifications of what he’d just heard.

“Where’s the next village?”

“A day’s trot east, or a half-day’s gallop.” The stallion’s eyes widened. “You’re going to help them? And stop this?”

“Of course.” Hawk Eye grinned. “And we’ll be catching that unicorn too.”

<><><>

I walked away from my shack slowly with Steel Fang, who had waited outside while I explained to the possibly real woman I had brought home. After she had realized she was not, in fact, dreaming, she did not respond to any more of my questions and wouldn't move from her place. I spared a quick glance before forcing my eyes shut, only to find that she was staring at the fire, dead to the world.

“She needs time, Steel,” I said. “And it would probably be better for my sake if I act as if she is real, unless others are around. But I want her out of here eventually, so I have to prepare her. A disguise, so I won’t feel that damn urge anymore and so that she can eventually walk in public. That’s going to be tricky.” Steel bounded ahead of me when he saw the river. Still lost in thought, I followed him. “And if I want her to stay away, I have to make sure she’s self-sufficient. Exercise, survival training, the works.” I was so distracted, I didn’t notice that I was walking into the river. “I guess I could ̶ ”

A loose stone was all it took for me to lose my balance, and I fell into the deep end of the stream. After a few seconds of confusion, I swum up to see Steel Fang wearing his attempt at a smile as he moved his jaw up and down. Is that a…laugh? Normally, I would grow cold at someone laughing at me, but his face was so weird, so innocent despite his teeth, I couldn’t help but smile at the sight.

“Alright, I messed up.” I conceded as I pulled a guppy stuck in my tail. I tossed it to Steel Fang, who snapped the treat out of the air. I was still drenched when I pulled myself out of the water, and Steel Fang decided to lick me down. By the end, I was less wet, Steel was less thirsty, and we were both laughing.

“We should head to Ze’s place. She’s got more salve for my burns, and I think they’ll help the woman’s own wounds.” A thought occurred to me. “I don’t know her name. But that brings up a few more questions. Should I use her name and get attached to her? Well, calling her anything but her name is going to get confusing, but it’s likely she has a name that wouldn’t fit here.” I was silent for a few more minutes.

“Valentine.” Steel turned to me with a blank look on his face. “Like the main character in ‘Stranger in a Strange Land’. She could use ‘Val’ as a nickname, but to others, her name would be something like ‘Valiant’. This is the best possible solution for her name. As for her disguise, Valiant works well as a minotaur name. But she needs a long cloak that could hide her face. So we can get salve and a cloak from Zecora.”

As I continued on my trek towards Zecora’s hut, I remembered the effort I had gone through to get ‘Val’ to follow me. At first, she refused to believe what she saw, but a small buck to the gut denied that notion. She followed behind Steel Fang and me, far enough that I couldn’t see her in my peripheral vision when I turned my head, but close enough for me to hear her steps on the dirt and dead leaves. We were lucky enough to get out of the Everfree without any trouble, but when she tried to follow me into my home, Steel tensed and even growled at her. After a few moments spent easing Steel, she sat by the fire I had started, and we talked. A rocky start, but I had a feeling this was going to be a rocky relationship from start to finish anyways.

Zecora’s hut was already quite familiar to me by then, so it was only a few minutes’ walk from the river. She was actually outside, having just returned from picking some flowers. Or lunch. When she saw us, she only mildly stiffened when she saw Steel Fang. Progress.

“Hey Ze!” I waved. “I was dropping in to see if you’ve got some extra salve. I need to stock up on it, you know, just in case. Also, how much for your nifty cloak you used to carry around with you? Totally unrelated.”

<><><>

Traveler floats in the room, invisible to all, listening to the mare practice her cello. To some, Octavia’s lifestyle would be mundane, repetitive. But to a being that has spent the majority of its existence doing the incredible, the mundane is a beautiful thing. Already, her most base functions are a work of art to it. If it made its tendrils small enough, it could observe each individual cell in her body, working in perfect unison to create something living, breathing, thinking, capable of making such divine music.

Sound, at its base level, is nothing more than the vibration of molecules in the air at different frequencies. For an entity such as Traveler, a bundle of energies tied to a soul held together by will, ‘seeing’ would be either allowing light to register in its consciousness or using its own individual, invisible wavelengths to reflect off the environment to see. But since sound and touch is registered the same way, through contact with Traveler’s being, a song would be the equivalent of watching a massage, feeling a song, or listening to a painting.
Traveler thinks music to be better than anything else it has found. Music is so common in the multiverse, but the variety is incredible. But if it could choose which one to listen to the most, no matter which artist would offer to play for it, be it Xanthis, Uparalani, Beethoven, Fi, or even the legendary Hormanalukatherkanti, it would always choose Octavia Melody. Or Octavia Philharmonica, depending on the universe.

The being regretfully decides it is time to check up on the newest arrival, a woman from a universe Traveler had a difficult time cataloging. Is it a U2 or a U3? It fills some parameters for both designations, but not all of them. No matter. In less than a tenth of a second, it is inside the cottage Windell had made.

The woman, soon to be rechristened Val, is crying by the fireplace, realizing she is truly alone in the universe. It is highly probable that she thinks of the family and friends she has lost. Traveler understands her pain, and chooses to remember all the other lifeforms that had died due to cluster instability. A sad fact is that the majority of organic beings died hours, if not seconds upon entering another universe. A four-dimensional being collapsed upon itself, a creature incompatible with the atmosphere drowned on oxygen and nitrogen, one that had disintegrated upon contact with light, another crushed by the gravity. Not to mention the few that were compatible often found themselves in inhospitable environments. In the deep-sea rifts, were chaos magic churned, at the height of entropic storms in the far east, in the middle of a wild blizzard, underground, were a few ley-lines met. There was even one that had appeared in the planet’s core. A quick and painless end, but an end nonetheless.

Traveler may be quasi-immortal, it may have committed foul acts to ensure the continued existence of universes across Yggdrasil, but it still cares for all that is alive, and more so for all that is sapient. How could it sacrifice so much otherwise?

Val continues to sob quietly, and Traveler watches on, unable to help. She is strong, she will get through it. And despite the fact she is disadvantaged in this strange world, it knows that she will carve out a place for herself in this world. Traveler internally nods as Val wipes her tears away, and then it blips back into Octavia’s living room, eager to hear more music.

<><><>

“Wear this, Val.” I tossed the cloak I bought from Zecora in her direction as I walked into my cottage, leaving Steel Fang outside so he wouldn’t feel nervous around Val.

“Wait, what?” I heard her stand up. “Why can’t you just hand it to me like a normal person instead of closing your eyes? And my name isn’t Val, it’s E ̶ ”

“I’m sure your name isn’t Val,” I interrupted. “And I’m not sure if you’re real or not. “ I trotted over to the cloak on the floor and picked it up. “But I’m going to help you nevertheless. So first, we’ll have to disguise you. Therefore the cloak and the name you’ll use as your own. Val, short for Valiant.”

“I…uh…what?” She sputtered. “Why the disguise? And can’t I keep my name?”

“From what I know, there are no humans here. So you’ll use this cloak to hide everything, using the guise of a minotaur female named Valiant, a member of a sect that chooses to hide the body to all. We’ll come up with a more defined story as we go.”

“Do I really have to disguise myself?” I headed towards the sound of her voice while keeping my eyes shut.

“From what I can tell, the inhabitants of Equestria are a kind folk, but are skittish to the new and unknown. Not enough to outright attack on sight, but enough to make relations strained. But from what I’ve seen, with enough dedication, hard work, and kindness, one could overcome the boundaries of race and form friendships with the natives.”

“That doesn’t seem so bad.”

“But you’re currently getting input from a guy who is currently most likely on his second psychotic break. Make of that what you will, eschew caution if you’d like.” There was a pregnant pause as I held up the cloak in her general direction.

“Give me the damn coat,” She grumbled. I felt her hands grab the cloak, and by chance, one of her fingers brushed against my hoof. In an instant, it felt as if all the warmth left my body, like I had drunk hot soup that decided to freeze over in my stomach. I collapsed on the ground, aware of what was going on, but too tired to move. Panicking internally, I tried to find the flow of energy in my circuits, only to find myself without it. I see magic as a necessary part of my organic self. I realized. It’s only natural for a creature evolving in a ‘magic’ environment to use magic to make the biological process as efficient as possible. Slowly, I felt the magic come back into me, and I noticed I wasn’t the only one panicking.

“Ohmygodohmygod! What happened?! What did I do?!”She stopped pacing around and looked at me in the eye. “What’s going on? Your butt tattoo is gone! Blink if you understand me!” I managed to blink, albeit slowly. Val let out a sigh of relief. Slowly, I was able to pull more energy from the air, and it seemed to be more saturated with magic than usual. It even seemed to want to come back. Eventually, I was able to stand up once more.

“Okay, new rule,” I moaned, clenching my eyes shut again. “No bare contact with anyone. Apparently it screws up my own magic. It felt like you pushed it out of me in one fell swoop, but the magic just orbited around me until it flowed back.”

“I don’t understand. You’re saying I pushed the magic out of you?”

“It seems that way.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Then how about an experiment?” She looked at me inquisitively. “Touch me again, and I won’t try to absorb the magic any more than it would naturally. So we know that if manipulated, it takes about one minute for someone to get their magic back. Test it on me now, and you might have a good emergency ploy.”

She threw her hands in the air. “Fine,” she huffed. “Are you ready?”

“Go for it.”

“Boop.” She poked me on the muzzle and I felt the coldness wash over me again. This time, I had tensed up somewhat in preparation. So when the energy left my body, I was locked into my position. I quelled my rising panic and took a few deep breaths.

“See?” She said haughtily. “What did I tell you?”

THUNK!

Apparently, I lost my balance, and I tipped over, still locked in place. Ow. Note to self: being drained does not remove or numb any sensation of pain.

“…and I was wrong. Your mark’s gone again. I guess it’s a magic butt-mark, then. So…I just wait here, huh?”

After thirty agonizing minutes of motionlessness, I finally able to stand up. It took another fifteen minutes for me to recover all of my magic.

“I guess we’ll have to get you more clothes so you can actually touch others without doing…that. Put the cloak on for a second, will you?

Val groaned, but from the rustling sound, it seems like she complied. I allowed myself to open my eyes for a second to see her in the dark cloak. It covered all of her body save her face. I felt the itch in my spine start to grow, so I quickly closed my eyes once more.

“Alright, now take the bed sheet off from the bed, wrap it around yourself so that none of your skin is touching the cloak.”

“Fine. I don’t know why you’re trying to play dress-up.” There was some more swishing of fabric. “Done. Now what?”

I opened my eyes to see a cloaked figure, her face obscured by shadows and her eyes to glowing dots within the hood. I no longer felt that annoying itch in my back, so I managed to stop those urges. For now.

“As I suspected, you pushed the enchantment out of the cloak through skin contact. The cloak Ze used to go through the Everfree would normally obscure your features to scare away the creatures of the Everfree, but you managed to negate it. You have to make sure never to touch the cloak directly in public. Heck, after I fashion some wooden horns to wear underneath the cloak, you’ll look like a very shy minotaur.”

“A lot of what you just said passed clean over my head.”

“Of course,” I nodded. “You must have loads of questions. I have a few myself. How about we take turns, with you starting.”

“I guess I’ll start by asking you to explain magic to me. It seems like a lot of mumbo-jumbo.”

“Not really a question, but I can work with it. From what I can tell, magic flows everywhere and is connected to everything, but higher concentrations bind to living things. It’s sort of like the Force in Star Wars, without midi-chlorians.”

“What are midi-chlorians?” Val asked. “I’ve seen the trilogy and there’s no mention of them.”

So she’s that type of Star Wars fan, huh? Eh, I don’t care. “Never mind that. So just like the Force, because everything has it. However, ponies, such as I, come in three main races, with different concentrations of magical energy in their circuits. Unicorns have more in their horn, allowing for them to perform spells. Pegasi have a higher concentration in their wings and a little in their hooves, allowing flight and weather manipulation.” Seeing her eyes widen and her head lean forwards, I rushed on before she could interrupt. “I’ll get to that. Earth ponies, or normal ponies, have a higher concentration in their legs for increased strength and a green thumb. Hoof. Whatever. Then there are the alicorns, which are basically those three combined, and the balance of those three magics makes them exponentially more powerful. There are currently three, soon to be four of them. Magic flows into their circuits mostly from the food they eat, but a little comes in through osmosis with the air. I’ve found that the more complex the organism, the more magic it contains. However, magic brings in an added bonus to some form of sapience to most animals, which is why you must never touch Steel Fang.

“Magic plays a huge role in the ecosystem. Since the sun and the moon orbit the planet through the effort of two immortal alicorns, the world relies on their duties. We can basically assume that gravity doesn’t quite work the same way. Weather itself is really weird because they have to manufacture clouds.”

“So does water not evaporate or something?”

“Or something. If I had to guess, the pegasi keep the atmosphere too clean. Remember, clouds are water droplets that condensate on dust particles. As a result, pegasi replace dust with some form of magic in the factories so water forms clouds, while also making it possible for pegasi to push clouds around and manipulate them with their hooves, while pushing magic out of their wings with each flap to fly. Earth ponies can send magic down their legs into the ground to make it more fertile, and unicorns consciously control their magic using their horns. This gets sort of confusing unless you think of magic as some fluid energy source that can act as a catalyst for itself, thus drastically reducing the amount of energy necessary for what it would cost to make a spell work. That’s about all I can tell. Now for my question. How did you get here?”

The two glowing dots within the hood closed as Val thought upon the circumstances of her arrival.

“I don’t know,” she breathed. “It was evening, and I was walking through the streets of New York when there was a bright blue flash. Suddenly, I’m feeling as if I’m being sucked through a burning straw, and I passed out. You know the rest.” Her eyes slimmed into lines as there was a small yawn. “Can I get to bed? I’m beat.”

I looked out my window to see the sun still high in the sky. “Funny that when one travels to another universe, they’d often forget about jet lag,” I muttered. “Sorry, Val. If you want to get acclimated, you’ll have to wait until night to sleep.”

“Oh, come on!” She crossed her arms. “This is bunk!”

“Yeah, well, at least you know what’s real and what’s not. I won’t bore you with more questions, so we’ll start our training regimen. That’ll keep you awake.”

“Training regimen?” The two glowing dots blinked.

“Yeah,” I affirmed. “You may have a way of negating magic, but that’s a last ditch thing. Without magic, you’re woefully weak compared to any potential foes. So we’ll be using every natural advantage humans have: agility, endurance, and weapon use. Do you know any self-defense techniques?”

“Duh,” she snorted. “I’m a girl from New York. Mom insisted when I moved there.”

“Awesome, then you know how to run. Follow me, we’re going for a jog. No breaks.”

Val groaned, but followed.

Chapter 15: The Necronom-nom-nomicon

Titanium had carried the weakened stallion without as much as a grunt through the entire trek across the swamp. Tron, in his odd, outgoing fashion, had made the stallion comfortable enough to divulge his name (Wet Patch), his job (red swampfern agriculture), and even his favorite food (roasted daisies). So he was reasonably comfortable when they stumbled into Bluegrass Town as dusk began to set in.

Bluegrass Town was a little bit bigger than Gator Bog Village, and substantially clearer. Clear enough to see greenish ponies shambling about with flowers upon their heads. While some were wandering aimlessly through the town without a clear purpose, the majority were coalesced at the center of the town, seemingly trying to get in the run-down building. The entire town was eerily silent, with only a sparse moan here and there. Team Barcrawl, for the first time, w stunned into silence. Stealthily, they tip-hoofed back into the dense underbrush.

“Okay, we need a plan.” Hawk Eye stated. “I’m thinking we get a distraction and lure the majority of the ‘zomponies’ towards the bait. Then we’ll flank them from the sides and burn off the flowers. Thoughts?”

“Whoever the bait will be will have to be able to defend themselves, or else we’d just funnel the zomponies towards them.” Lake Lily noted, tapping a hoof on her muzzle.

“Can we use lightning?” Thunder Strike asked. Hawk and Lake simultaneously shook their heads.

“Most of them are earth ponies; we might actually hurt the hosts too much, since they don’t have any pegasus or gryphon magic.” Hawk said. “And even if you do manage to hit the few batponies and pegasi in the crowd, the lighnting will spread to those nearby.”

“But just in case they do fly, zap them.” Lake added. “But I doubt it will be necessary. The townsfolk that seem capable of flying don’t seem to be doing so. Maybe they’re not coordinated enough?”

“Then why have the pegasi been infected? They could have just flown up and rested on the clouds.” Thunder snorted.

“Dimwit!” Midnight Azalea interjected. “We’re in the Hayseed swamps! Cloudsdale doesn’t send clouds here because we’re surrounded by chaotic magic. The clouds would either lose their magic or go rogue.” Thunder scowled and opened his mouth to argue, but was interrupted.

“Simmer down, both of you!” Hawk Eye barked. “Midnight, you may be right, but that’s no reason for insults. Thunder, don’t be a condescending pellet.” Hawk Eye took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of his beak. “Obviously, Red will be one of those flanking while Thunder and I watch from above. Strong Recovery, do you know any good fire spells?” The unicorn shook his head.

“Nothing large scale. Only a cauterizing spell.”

“I may have a flammable venom on me.” Midnight said. “I’m reasonably sure wyrm poison is flammable, and if I time it right with Strong, we can get rid of a lot of those flowers.”

“Good.” The gryphon scratched his chin. “Now all we need is a good distraction.”

All eyes turned to Tron, who had been eating a gyro he had somehow procured.

“Mwaht?” Tron swallowed the last of his meal. “You want me to be the distraction?”

“Mmmh hmmm.” Hawk Eye affirmed.

“Hmmm hmmm.” Tron repeated. He blinked at looked directly at each of them in turn. “HMMM HMMM!?”

“Tron,” Hawk raised a claw to stop his impending rant, “I know you’re upset. But you have to admit, you’re the most distracting one here, and you know enough spells to defend yourself.”

There was a chorus of nods and agreements from the rest of the team. Even Titanium gave an affirmative ‘yes’ in his rumbling tone. But Tron turned his muzzle up and crossed his forelegs.

“I don’t wanna.”

“You owe me for the bar incident with Shining Armor.”

Tron groaned, but sat up and began combing his mane, shooting angry glares at Hawk Eye.

“What are you doing, Tron?” The lieutenant asked in deadpan.

“Just because I’m doomed doesn’t mean I can’t be beautiful.”

Hawk Eye just shook his head and prepared himself for the attack.

<><><>

It was just another night in the zompony-infested town. The moon was high in the sky. The crickets were chirping. Green ponies shambled about, led by the flowers planted atop their heads. A dozen ponies were muffling their sobs from inside their homes as the infected banged on their doors.

And then the savior came.

A gray unicorn with a neatly combed black mane and chinstrap beard trotted out of the trees and made himself known to the monsters that had taken over the town.

“OI! GREENIE MEENIE WEENIES!” He bellowed eloquently. All of the zomponies stopped in their tracks. In unison, the sunflowers atop their heads turned towards the unicorn. The stallion turned around and slapped his flank a few times, letting the force ripple across his body. “COME GET SOME!”

The zomponies began blundering towards him, slowly gaining speed at the prospect of n easy target. As they were about to reach him, there was a purple blur in the sky and a foul liquid began to drizzle from the sky. Two more unicorns jumped out from the sides of the horde, and something flew from their horns. The first unicorn prepared his own spell, and the world was consumed by fire. A raging inferno blazed over the heads of the ponies, incinerating manes and flowers alike. In one fell swoop, team Barcrawl had ended the Bluegrass Town infestation.

“Report!” Hawk Eye yelled as he landed.

“Most, if not all, of the civilians are unconscious,” Strong Recovery said as he waded through the mass of unconscious bodies, “a few have burns, and all are showing the same signs of exhaustion that Wet Patch had.”

“Sir, it’d be best if Thunder and I searched for stragglers.” Red saluted.

“Good idea, Red.” Hawk nodded. “We’ll do a buddy system to be safe. Titanium and Strong can escort the injured to a building so they can protect them and tend to their wounds. Midnight and I will be the eyes in the sky, and Lake and Tron will try to coax the non-infected out of their homes.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Lake Lily asked, violet eyes flashing towards the unicorn, who was doing an odd victory dance in the prodigious pony pile. The gryphon nodded.

“They’ll be so confused, they’d forget suspicion completely.”

It was surprisingly easy to get the ponies out of their homes to help the injured. While the majority of their troubles were over, there was still an air of fear that saturated the swamp town. Ponies milled about, blank eyes, filling their necessary duties. There was no laughter, no heartsongs of hard work and unity. Just an oppressive atmosphere, hushed speech and murmers the only sound in the night. They all knew the perpetrator was still out there, lurking in the shadows.

He could strike at any moment with an army of zomponies.

But the night dragged on, and despite the watchful eye of the eight of the guard there, they could find no sign of the blue unicorn.

Until midnight.

Everypony was in their homes for the night, doors barred far more than they used to be, when three silhouettes snuck into the village. Had it not been for Midnight Azalea’s vision, they would have completed whatever nefarious plot.

The fact the unicorn was screaming in anger did not help him either.

It took less than a minute for the team to wake up and surround the stallion, the unicorns providing light and those that were capable of flight covered him from the top. It was as Wet Patch had said: a blue unicorn stallion with a black mane and demented red eyes. But he neglected to mention the strange creatures at his sides. They seemed to be canine in form, but with a rather boxy head compared to most dogs. But rather than being made of living flesh and bones, or even wood and leaves like the Timberwolves, they seemed to be comprised mostly of white bones that had been broken into shrapnel and shaped to make a body, with a few bits of rotting flesh sticking in between each of the fragments. Their eyes glowed with a dreadful red light, and putrid drool constantly dribbled from their maws.

“Where is my Legion?!” The unicorn hollered. “I sent one here to convert this village, yet none comes to my call! What is the meaning of this?!”

“By Her Royal Majesty’s decree, you are under arrest ̶ ” Red began before he was interrupted.

“That imposter?” The unicorn growled. “I will reclaim my rightful place on the throne after generations of the lies that usurper has fed the world. My Legion will crush the Guard, and all will bow! She holds no power over me!” A blue aura surrounded the crazed stallion and lifted him in the air. Immediately, he began screeching incoherently, moving his legs uselessly in the air. The two canines just stared up to him.

“Good job, Tron.” Red nodded to the gray stallion as Hawk Eye stared into the madcolt’s eyes. “I do believe we’ve caught Lucid.”

“I don’t think so.” Hawk Eye shook his head. “I’ve read the reports on Lucid that Luna wrote. This one may be mentally unstable, like Lucid, but that may be the only similarity. Lucid was well-mannered enough until Luna began asking questions. And when he struck her, it wasn’t with magic, but with words aimed directly at Luna, preying on her own doubts and insecurities. This one just doesn’t seem that intelligent.”

“WHAT?!” The suspended unicorn roared.

“Additionally,” Hawk Eye continued unabashedly, “Lucid didn’t seem the type to use an army. It just doesn’t conform to what we know of its moral standpoint of Harmony. One thing that gets me is that Lucid seemed to care for species other than ponies. So either it isn’t a pony, or has had relations with a non-pony. This guy ̶ ” He waved a claw towards the pouting pony, “ ̶ doesn’t seem to be like that.”

“I suppose it’s a good thing Luna found Lucid.” Lake Lily mused. “Or else this madcolt could have caused a bit of trouble.”

“ENOUGH!” The unicorn bellowed. “The mighty Rising Dark will not be treated as such!” He clenched his eyes shut and his horn glowed a bright red before he disappeared in a flash.

“I did not factor in the warp ability!” Tron exclaimed as Rising reappeared at the edge of the town.

“Rottwilders!” The nefarious unicorn yelled. “Tear them apart!” Rising Dark ran into the swamp as a dozen more bone canines rushed out of the trees, snarling.

The dogs, apparently called rottwilders, charged towards the team and they were forced to separate to escape from the two dogs they had surrounded along with the twelve other dogs converging on them. Titanium picked up Strong Recovery and threw him on his back before gaining distance on the rotting creatures. Red backpedaled at a ridiculous speed while letting loose jets of flame that rolled over the monsters without affecting them. Lake Lily, Hawk Eye, and Tron stood their ground while Midnight and Thunder took to the skies. Lake Lily stood on her back legs, caught a lunging rottwilder, and redirected it so it spent all of its force burying its head into the ground. Hawk waited until the right moment before unsheathing his sword and slicing clean through the neck of a rottwilder, then jabbing another directly in the eye, before punching his free claw through the other eye and tearing apart its head from the inside. Hawk Eye flinched, feeling bits of rotten flesh and sharp bone touching his claws before wiping his claw on his satchel. Tron was having the time of his life, having grabbed a vine and used it as a muzzle before hopping on the back of a dog and using it as a steed as he sent magical blasts into the crowd of rottwilders.

Thunder dive bombed the creatures with his hoof-claws left and right, slicing to and fro, whereas Midnight swooped in and used her knife to quickly slice joints and sometimes necks, weakening them enough for another member of the team to pick them off. Everything changed when Titanium had gained enough distance.

“Buff me.” He told the unicorn riding his back.

“Well…” Strong smiled sheepishly. “If you insist.” Strong cast a spell that would reduce the amount of damage the earth pony would take for a time. “Now if you could let me off before you do what you’re about to ̶ aaaaand we’re running.”

Titanium began at a trot, then a gallop, then a full on charge towards the largest concentration of rottwilders, all while Strong Recovery held on for dear life. With a force of a runaway train, the monstrous earth pony barreled through five rottwilders before slowing down. Even slowed, he managed to deliver punches that passed clean through the creatures, leaving prize-cantaloupe sized holes in them. When the dust settled, there were only bits of bone and decaying flesh left.

“Well, this went south.” Thunder noted.

“We underestimated him. It won’t happen again.” Hawk Eye clenched a claw. “We’ll track him to his base and free those he’s taken. I’m thinking that Team A, led by myself, should go after him directly, while team B splits into two groups and takes care of the zomponies and the rottwilders.”

“With all due respect sir, you’re still underestimating him.” Red said. The team turned to look at him. “I’ve noticed a few key things about those creatures. For one, they are relatively immune to fire. But mostly, they are only a small part unicorn magic.” Hawk eye cocked a brow, but waved a claw for him to continue. Red whipped back his immaculate crimson mane before continuing. “I believe that their creation was aided by Rising Dark, but did not originate from him. It is likely he’s harnessing the chaotic energies of Hayseed Swamp and maybe even the nearby Badlands to create them. Which means that not only does he have an immobile base of operations with a runic array matrix, but he has the means of creating more than just rottwilders and flowers. Furthermore, the proximity to the array would allow the rottwilders to act more like timberwolves: they would be able to regenerate due to the nearby complimentary magic.”

“That’s a valid point.” Hawk Eye nodded. “But we don’t know for sure. In case you’re right, we’ll revert to plan B, which would be Team A taking care of whatever he summons, while Tron and Lily disable Rising to destroy the rottwilders and Thunder goes with Red to get the flowers off the heads of the victims.” He stared into the eyes of each member of the team. Lake Lily and Red had looks of steely dedication, Thunder seemed raring to go, Strong Recovery had his head held high, but the slight flicking of his ears betrayed his nervousness. Titanium was, at first glance, as dispassionate as always, but the fire in his onyx eyes told another story. Tron was hopping about on his back legs, throwing punches at an imaginary opponent with a giddy smile on his face.

“Let’s do this.” Hawk Eye grinned.

<><><>

Oftentimes in tales of old, when the villain escapes, the heroes have to go on a long journey, one full of danger, intrigue, betrayal, and maybe even a few romantic elements to tie together the character development. They would probably have to find some ancient relic (or six) that would allow them to defeat the evil lord, but only after they went on another long journey to either find the hiding antagonist or to smuggle themselves into the dark lair. However, those few tales that were not notoriously over exaggerated were simply blatantly false. Evil villains rarely found themselves in a stable position for long in Equestria, and the few that cropped up in the magical land were often revealed, captured, and counseled within the month. Not necessarily in that order. The scarce few that did not follow this pattern were mostly irredeemable, and sent to Tartarus, along with all the other captured evils of the Known world, under the watchful eyes of Bi’an of the Nine.

Suffice to say that Rising Dark may have been a very low-tier villain. It took less than an hour for Lake Lily and Hawk Eye to track him back to a sunken ruin deep in the swamp. All that was left was a two crooked stone towers peeking out of the bog, a mere shadow of what might have once been a mighty castle. What was once a window had been widened, revealing a staircase that spiraled into the darkness. Even from where they stood, the team could smell decay with a hint of raspberry emanating from the deep. Written of the wall of the tower in a murky brown, partially obscured by growing moss, was a single word.

“Der?” Tron broke the silence. “That’s not scary.” Hawk inched forwards and wiped the moss off with a claw, revealing the rest of the word.

MURDER.

“Ooooh!"Tron jumped back, covering his mouth. "There it is!” Hawk Eye stepped in front of the entrance, facing his team.

“A few of you may be thinking we’re in way over our head.” The gryphon closed his eyes and shook his head. “We’re not. We are the best of the best.” His golden eyes flashed and he pointed to each of the members in turn. “We are all different, from all walks of life, but here we stand. Together, on the precipice of darkness.” Hawk turned and pointed down the stairs. “We know who waits for us down there. We know what he has done. And we know what he intends to do. We are all that stands between what is right ̶ ” Hawk waved a claw in the direction of Bluegrass town. “ ̶ and what is wrong.” Hawk Eye turned to face the darkness. “We may be different. But we all stand for the same thing. We all wake up in the morning for the same purpose. We all train, we all sweat, we all breathe, and we all bleed so that the citizens of Equestria see the morning, laugh, talk, fall in love, and even make pluckin’ fantastic sandwiches without a smidgeon of fear in their hearts. And so I ask,” Hawk Eye turned his head sideways to look at them, his eyes filled with a blazing fire that made what they had done earlier look like a mere candle. “Will you come put a light in the dark with me?”

The gryphon walked down the stairs. And the soldiers followed.

The stairs seemed to go on forever. It was only by the light of the unicorns present did the team, namely Tron, did not tumble down the stairs in an avalanche of mismatched limbs. The tower seemed to stretch on forever, until a red light was seen, reflected off the walls. The unicorns cut the glow off of their horns and the team slunk around the corner. The room they found almost took away their breath. It rivalled the Canterlot castle’s throne room in size, even in its derelict state. The main room was as long as a hoofball field and nearly twice as wide, and overhanging at the end was a large balcony where a broken throne lay on its side, battered by time. The ceiling was arrayed with cracks that constantly dripped foul swamp water. The entire room was lit up by flickering torches set up on the walls.

But it was moved in the room that nearly made Strong Recovery squawk, were it not for Midnight, Lily, and Red’s hooves. Despite all of the movement of the zomponies in the room, or the malicious circle of glowing runes right below the balcony, one could still hear Rising Dark whispering on his balcony holding a black book telekinetically, surrounded by a pack of rottwilders. The red glow on his horn flowed to the dogs and to the runes, and some of the glow flowed from the runes to the dogs. To those that had studied powerful magic, they would have recognized a runic array doubling as a summoning circle and a magical construct essence generator. Unstable, but very effective. If Rising Dark had been smarter, or even a bit stealthier, legends of team barcrawl would have been passed on and exaggerated in tales of their own right, except without any mention of military training, Hawk Eye’s and Tron’s positions would be reversed, and Lake Lily would slowly warm up to the protagonist and fall in love with him. Luckily for Hawk Eye, Lake Lily, and Tron’s dignity, Rising was a C-grade villain with extraordinary assets, not worth writing a ballad for an hour-long journey.

Hawk Eye looked about the place and used the designated Guard sign language to communicate with swings of his head and waves of his legs.

‘Plan B. Tron Lake take target. Team A take potential monster. Thunder Red distract hostages far away. Guerilla tactics. Careful. Go in thirty. Others hide there.' Hawk pointed to a collapsed pillar only a few meters away.

“Used, uoy nommus I nahc-ergo. Akab! htarw-ibihc ruoy esaeler dna su otnu emoc esaelp, iapnes-iiawak emosdnah, ho.” Rising’s incantation grew louder.

‘Fifteen’ Hawk Eye signed. The team, save Thunder and Red, snuck behind the collapsed column, hiding them from view of the zomponies and the chosen distractions. Midnight prepared a vial and her knife, Hawk unsheathed his blade, and Lake tightened the straps of her steel horseshoes.

“Ecneserp ruoy rof sksa nuk-oobaeew ythgim eht, I!”

‘Go go go.’ Thunder leapt out from the stairway and began shouting.

“Hey, chompers!” He waved. The sunflowers pivoted on the heads of their hosts while Rising continued chanting. “Over here!”

“Yes,” Red daintily stepped out behind cover. “You will find no better hosts than us.” The zomponies began jogging towards them. “I suppose it is normal they’d be faster here.” Red noted as he began to run up the steps.

“You couldn’t have told us earlier?!” Thunder glared and threw up his forelegs before following him up to the surface, followed by the entire horde of zomponies. Rising Dark did nothing but continue chanting.

“Now!” Commanded the lieutenant. Tron and Lake began racing towards the stairs leading up the balcony while Midnight, Hawk, Strong, and Titanium charged to the rune circle.

“Iogus-esaelp!”

A loud rumbling was heard as the runes turned a bright red. The team stumbled to a stop to look upon the form that was appearing. It began as a mere shadow. But it began to take shape. Huge arms, stunted legs. A tiny head with eyes filled with hatred. It lacked a bottom jaw and a nose, so yellow spittle flowed down its neck with each breath it took. It rippled with muscles underneath its hairless pale skin. It was shaped like a disproportionate gorilla that had paid too much at the barber shop. But a gorilla that had actually gone to a fantastic tailor. It wore a top hat and monocle, perfectly adorning its molted face, and a beautiful form-fitting suit and tie. Its arm buttons shined as if they were shined specially for the summoning. All in all, the monster was supremely well-dressed for a fight.

Rising Dark shook himself and gave a discordian smile.

“Destroy them!” He ordered, and the creature complied. He turned around to see several piles of what was left of the rottwilders, evidence of Tron and Lily’s actions while the mad unicorn was distracted. “Pull yourselves together and get rid of them!” Rising screeched.

In response, the bone piles reconstructed themselves almost immediately, surrounding the two ponies with snarling rottwilders. Meanwhile, Hawk and Midnight were flying around the monster, slicing where they could while avoiding its wide swipes. It was already limping from the poison the batpony had injected into its leg. Whenever it stood up on its small back legs to try and swat them both, Titanium would rush in and deliver a buck to a knee so it would tumble to the ground. Strong Recovery ran about healing and shielding them when he could, protecting them from glancing blows and even managing to slow down the behemoth a few times. Lake and Tron fought back to back, surrounded by the bone dogs as Rising laughed maniacally.

“Let's do this, Lake, we’ve got th ̶ oof!” Tron was sent flying down the balcony, directly into the hand of the monster, which turned to stare quizzically at the unicorn that had landed in its open palm. “Erm…hello?” The corners of the titan’s mouth turned up in a smile, revealing its sharp teeth. Tron laughed nervously…and was thrown at full speed towards a wall.

“Holy salamander cuttlefish!”

Tron reacted instantly, spawning a blue shield around himself as he broke through the age-weakened wall, and he landed, bounced, and screeched to a halt in what seemed to be a pile of twigs and feathers. The unicorn rose his head up to see a faint blue light leading upwards of the tunnel. An open cave. He blinked a few times to see he wasn’t alone. Tall birds walked about, staring directly at him. Tron stared back towards the dozens of corvi. And they began to steadily walk towards him.

“Come on Tron, think, think, think!” The stallion put his hooves in his hair. “I’ve got it!” He pointed towards a random corvus, which paused and cocked its head. A bright blue flash from his horn, and the corvus was turned into a pig.

“Ham. The harbinger of gout.”

<><><>

Lake Lily was in trouble. After Tron was sent flying through the wall, she couldn’t protect her six as well, and she was eventually grabbed by the leg and thrown over the balcony. She managed to grab onto the ledge as her uninjured back legs tried to scrabble up, knocking dust and rocks onto the glowing circle below. Worst of all, Rising Dark was standing over her…monologuing.

“Do you see the futility of your actions? What loyalty to your false queen has brought you? It is my right, my privilege to rule over Equestria! I am the direct descendent of Princess Platinum’s second born, not her sickly firstborn that had bowed the head to the abominations! Silverblood was never supposed to come to age. I was supposed to rule, I was supposed to lead the ponies under the wisdom of the unicorns!” Lake Lily continued to glare as she sent more stones down trying to climb back up. The rottwilders began to growl, standing closer together. “Look upon your friends. Useless. The ogre is as powerful as he is well-dressed. You will fail.”

Lake Lily resisted the urge to roll her eyes. The others were doing quite well. Any injuries they may have gotten were swiftly healed, and all of the most dangerous blows were either avoided or shielded. In fact, the monster’s left arm was stiff at the joint, evidence of Midnight Azalea’s agility. Lake continued scratching the bottom of the balcony with her uninjured rear hoof, keeping her eyes on the rottwilders as they acted more sporadically, and her ears turned to the blue unicorn as he ranted.

“And when Canterlot is in ashes ̶ what’s that sound?” Rising turned his head to the hole Tron had made, where a distinct squealing noise could be heard. And Tron burst forth from the darkness, riding a shrieking pig, followed by a flock of corvi. The pig ran in between the legs of the monster, which tried to swing a meaty fist at the poor animal, only to hit a younger corvus that had been running after it. Immediately, the corvi turned their black eyes to the behemoth and circled it.

“Looks like you’re out to lunch!” Cackled Tron as he trotted over to Hawk Eye.

“What?!” Yelped Rising Dark. “Impossible!”

“Not really.” Lake said, standing behind him. Below, the runic array had been interrupted by a small pile of rocks and dirt that Lake Lily had managed to scrape off of the balcony’s bottom. The rottwilders were in a frenzy, eyes changing all colors of the rainbow as they attacked one another, tearing what was kin to piles of discarded bones. And this time, they did not come back. She cocked a hoof and hit him right below the horn, knocking out the unicorn in a single strike of her iron-shod limb. She pulled him onto her back and watched as the flock of corvi took turns biting and clawing the monster before it finally succumbed to its wounds. She took the black book Rising had been carrying around and brought it to Hawk Eye.

A corvus had pinned down the terrified pig before a blue blast from the stairway turned the pig back into a corvus.

“Be free, my hamma.” Tron whispered as the two birds joined the feast that the dark unicorn had summoned. He walked up the stairs, following the others into the open night.

“We’ve captured what was most likely the magical disturbance, but it wasn’t Lucid.” Midnight stated as they walked back about, trying to find Red and Thunder. “What now?”

In response, Hawk Eye pulled a mithril ring out of his bag and put it on the unconscious unicorn’s horn. He held the black book in front of Tron, who understood the message and lit the evil book on fire.

“The book is probably his notes on dark magic.” Hawk noted. “The ring will create a magic negative feedback loop, nullifying his magic until it crumbles away, which depends on how much magic he pumps through his horn. So minimum, one week until he needs a new one. Right now, we find Red and Thunder Strike, and help them take care of the rest of the zomponies if there are any left.”

“Well, there aren’t.” A voice said from above. The team turned to see the brown pegasus with a satisfied grin on his face. “On the negative side, we owe a dragon a lot of gems.”

Red stumbled out of the trees.

“I apologize sir, it just seemed to be the quickest solution. We planned on ambushing them in a cave, but it was apparently occupied. I managed to convince the dragon to help us, and when he saw their state, he was all too eager to be rid of the flowers. Something along the lines of ‘odd dark magic that just don’t taste right’. We promised gems for his help, and we both swore a Guard’s Oath that he would get his gems within the month.”

“I’m sure the Royal sisters would be happy to reward a dragon that helped us.” Hawk Eye nodded. “It sets a good precedent. Where are the victims now?”

“We got the townsfolk to lend a hoof.” Thunder said.

“Perfect. Let’s go help. Then, we can celebrate.”

<><><>

It could hear the celebration from the depths of the sunken castle. No doubt the Barcrawl team had been accepted by the ponies of Hayseed swamp with open forelegs. But Traveler would not take the guise of a pony to celebrate with them. It has a duty. And this one is far more complicated than usual.

Traveler has encountered weapons from other universes before. Oftentimes they were used for their original purpose. But it was interesting to find civilizations that discovered how it worked and used it for reasons other than killing. It remembers a time a space program was started because a species found a type of gun. Very interesting spaceships.

Living weapons, however few, rarely found themselves outside their own universe. Even then, it was easy for the being to dispatch them; they were born to kill, and they reveled in it. But the creature before it now…it is not a living weapon. The book crawls across the floor using its bookmark tongue, leaving a red streak on the floor. This is not the book Rising Dark had written, the one that Hawk Eye had burned. This is the one Rising learned from. Within the living book lay dark secrets, knowledge that can be used as a weapon. But also knowledge on magic, knowledge on life and death, knowledge that could potentially help millions on the world.

So lay the dilemma: hide the book and allow it to fall into another set of hooves after the Convergence to do as the owner would like, good or evil. Or destroy it now and prevent any chance of splitting into another nearby universe.

“*There you are!*” An odd voice says. “*I’ve been looking all over for you! With the multiverse as it is here, I’m lucky I didn’t lose anything else in the Between.*”

A purple squid with five blue eyes wearing a mismatched outfit scuttled over to the book and picks it up before slapping its tentacles together in happiness. Traveler decides to determine to odd deity’s intentions.

“*Excuse me. Is that your book?*” The entity asks, making itself visible to the cephalopod. “*If so, please remove it from this realm. It may cause a split. As you are aware, a split right now would be troublesome to say the least.*”

The god turned around and its eyes widened.

“*It’s you.*”

The entity rears back. The squid recognizes it? Does that mean it grows careless in the future? Or was it before? Does it know?

“*I have taken the name of Traveler. May I ask who you are and how you recognize me?*”

The squid smiles and bows.

“*I am Reus, Cepha god of minstrels.*” It rises once more to look at Traveler. “*I do remember you. And I fear you for that. I’ve talked to others connected to the multiverse about the event, and only maddest among them realized.*”

Traveler flows around Reus, curious as to what the gods of the multiverse know of it. It already knows of Discord’s opinion, and he was the only thing ever to recognize it before.

“*They said that ‘reading’ the multiverse was like reading a never-ending story. But only the most astute among them would notice a letter missing. The problem is, none could ever guess what letter it was.*”

The entity freezes. They know.

“*I saw what happened to them. I don’t remember them, anything about them. But I know it happened. And others do too.*”

“*I tend to the branches of the multiverse.*” The entity pauses and forms in front of Reus. “*Sometimes that means pruning the more diseased branches if I’ve tried everything else.*”

“*I’m not angry at you.” Reus rose a few tentacles in the air as a sign of surrender. “*I know that sometimes, for the sake of others, awful things must be done. I just didn’t know it was possible…erasing an entire species from Existence.*”

“*The were predisposed to failure. Every time they were given enough time to evolve, they made things that would spell the premature end of their universe, and sometimes even those nearby. So I went in, manipulated events so they would never come about as the primary species, or even as a sapient one. They went extinct before they could form ideas. But sometimes, despite my best efforts, they survived until the verge of their final discovery. Destroying planets would not have been enough. I had to destroy the idea. It took a long time. But the were finally erased, no longer a danger to the multiverse. I hated it. But it was necessary.*”

Reus tires to pet Traveler in a comforting manner, but its tentacle passes right through the being’s essence.

“*Listen Traveler. I do fear you, but I also admire you. Not for your acts of destruction, but for what you’re willing to do to help species that are not even related to you. What you do is thankless, but necessary. I recognize that the reason some of us still exist is because of you.*”

“*Thank you.*”

“*A word of warning though. Other beings have an inkling of what you can do…so they’re doing risky things in the multiverse to get a feeling of danger they would not normally get.*”

“*I suppose there should be rush-addict gods as well. One question before you leave. What is that book?*”

Traveler points a tendril at the bleeding black book.

“*This? I got this from a necromancer some time ago. It’s a parody called the Necronom-nom-nomicon. A weaker version of the incantations, with a hilarious twist. Like disco liches, flowerhead zombies, all that stuff.*”

“*Interesting. Still dangerous, but interesting. You should probably get it out of here before another sapient figures out how to use it.*”

“*You don’t need to tell me twice.*” Reus waves a tentacle before opening a door it had summoned. “*Good job on keeping us stable in the cluster.*” Reus snorted. “*Get it, stable?*”

If Traveler had eyes, it would roll them. But it still feels nice hearing gratitude. After Reus is gone, Traveler brings a tendril to the streaks of red on the floor. It reflects different wavelengths over the liquid to determine its chemical composition. No iron, but magnesium?

Traveler vibrates mirthfully.

Raspberry juice.

Chapter 16: Comparing Notes

Val slept in my bed when we came back from the run.

She was so exhausted that she just stumbled over to it and collapsed, still completely dressed, and dead to the world. I didn’t have a couch, and I did not want to make it awkward with a woman who may or may not have been real, so I improvised. Using spare sheets I had pilfered in case of a cold night, I constructed a hammock attached to the roof’s support beams. Steel Fang looked up to me, and I couldn’t help but feel as if he should be sleeping more comfortably; He had been sleeping in my bed with me, after all. I brought out a bunch of my extra Bui-Bui leaves and left them in a pile below my hammock. Steel wagged his tail and turned in circles a few times before getting comfortable. Smiling at the sight, I flew up to my hammock and fell asleep.

I was asleep, but I wasn’t unaware. Every night had been like this. I had learned to ‘feel’ whenever a presence was near me, and I simply willed us to be apart. I didn’t want to think about it. One night, I would be able to. But not that night. Until then, I would recreate settings from the various stories I’ve read, seen, or listened to. A vast countryside filled with foreign beasts. A massive stalactite reaching down from a gargantuan cavern with settlements hanging off the edges of the massive stone pillar. A cozy camp by the sea, smelling of strawberries, cabins in the shape of a ‘U’. A city consumed by nature flying high in the sky, metal golems flying around it. Odd, but beautiful. I continued changing settings until it was time to wake up.

Breakfast was what I had for breakfast every day. Eggs, hash browns, and a bit of fish. I had managed to double the amount of energy I could store simply by having fish for every meal and ‘pulling’ the more from it every time. It didn’t help that I couldn’t fly for another couple weeks, maybe days if Zecora’s salve worked wonders. But much of the energy went to waste, and now I had another mouth to feed. Maybe. I could be serving food to nobody. Better safe than sorry.

“Do you not get tired of fish and potatoes?” Val walked over, rubbing the sleep out of her hidden eyes. “It’s what we’ve had for both lunch and dinner.” She grabbed a fork and the egg I had prepared for her began to disappear into the darkness of her cowl.

“I don’t see why I should. It fulfills all of our dietary needs, not counting what we get from the occasional salad. As for the lack of diversity in meat, let’s just say that there are potentially many degrees of sapience in animals. Watch.” I turned to Steel Fang, who was yawning as he stretched. “Steel, you want some fish?”

Steel nodded in response, and Val’s eyes widened. I placed a plate on the table with three sizable fish as Steel came to the table. Val watched him eat and I continued talking.

“That’s why you should never touch him.”

“Because there’s a chance I’d push the sapience out of him? How do you know it’s based on magic?”

“Would you like to test my hypothesis?”

Val stared at the direwolf, who stood taller than her on all fours than she was standing up.

“I’m sure your hypothesis is legit.”

“Thank you.” I took another few bites of my breakfast before turning to Val once more. “Now that you’re actually awake, a bit early I might add, do you have anything else you’re unsure about?”

“Yeah. You mentioned different universes. Could you explain that a bit more?”

“Okay then.” I said. “Have you ever heard of multiverse theory?”

Val’s eyes squinted in a frown.

“Isn’t that the idea that every time you make a decision, another reality is formed?”

“No, that’s stupid.”

“Wait a tick, wh ̶ ”

“Think about it.” I interrupted. “If there were two versions of you that lived the exact same lives, in the exact same conditions, would you choose the same cereal in the morning?”

“I guess.” She fidgeted.

“I’m not saying predestination is a thing, what I’m saying you are the way you are because of the environment around you. Nature and nurture both come into play here. But say everything was the same for two versions of you, except one smelled your neighbor making some hot chocolate, a stray current of air having brought that odor to your nostrils. One of you is now craving chocolate, even though both versions of the neighbor have made hot cocoa.”

“But you said everything was the same.”

“It was when you started making your decision. Then something changed. A slight wind current, either a result of the butterfly effect of a stray photon or quantum teleportation or whatever other tiny thing that is reliant on probability. Probability is what makes the multiverse infinite. I could go into layered universes and unstable zones, but that’s somewhat out of my understanding. Either way, probability reaching back to how the Big Bang makes a massive divergence in universes, from conceivable to inconceivable. And that’s only counting the universes that started the same way.”

“That seems like a really incomplete answer.”

“And we’re very small in comparison. It would be like a colony of ants trying to make a census of the human world population. Except more than that.” I swallowed a huge piece of fish before continuing. “Okay, my turn.”

“Shoot.”

“How tall are you?”

Val cocked her head and looked to Steel Fang. Steel just stared back and cocked his own head.

“I ask you a question about something as big as the multiverse and you give me that whole spiel, but you ask me as something as boring as my height?” Val shook her head and shrugged. “Fine, whatever. Five nine. And I guess that makes Steel here a solid six foot tall wolf. Not scary in slightest.” Val faced me once more. “Why would you want something like that?”

“Which makes me three and a half feet tall at the ears.” I muttered as I rubbed my chin. “Crap!” I struck my hoof onto the table. “I messed up on the measurements!”

“What?”

“When I built this house!” I groaned. “It was supposed to be one hundred square meters, not one hundred and forty-four!”

“You’re upset…because your house is bigger?” Val deadpanned.

“Yes! It’s the principle of the matter.”

Val rolled her glowing eyes.

“Before you go nuts, can I ask my question?”

“Fine,” I waved a hoof. “Go ahead.”

“Why are you a pony?”

“No clue. But if you’re real and indeed a human as you were before, my best guess would be that I died.”

Val reared back, shocked.

“Either it was so traumatic that I forgot it, which I doubt, or my body did not survive the journey here. It may be my body, alongside a very close approximation of my brain, was reconfigured for this reality. It can’t be my original brain, since I’ve got an extra set of limbs my brain can control. So either I think I was the human once named Windell, and I am gifted with his pathetic life’s memories, or I am the prime evidence for the existence of souls.”

“Yeesh, no wonder you’re not sure what’s real.”

“That’s just the tip of the iceberg, Val.”

Val leaned back somewhat on her stool, eyes shifting from side to side before settling on me.

“How could you be so…”

“Nonchalant? I’ve had these thoughts before, in my first psychotic break. I was far more accepting of what was real then. To me, it felt like two years had passed. In reality, I was only ‘gone’ for six months. Amazing what false memories can do.”

“What’s keeping you going? You know, why don’t you just give up?”

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

“People often think that the first emotions to come about were love and hatred. But when cells first gained their flagellum, two archaic forms of emotion were born. These two drive us in more ways than you know. Fear is the first. Avoid danger, and you’ll be fine. One would think that bravery would be the second, but bravery is rooted in something for more ancient. Hope. Hope that you’ll get food, hope that you’ll reproduce, hope that your kind will prosper. All living things hope in some way. That is why they don’t simply lay down and die. I know about the long journey of life, from simple cyanobacteria to the wide variety of flora and fauna we see today. As long as there is life, there is hope. And that is the one thing I am sure of. I am alive. Therefore, I hope.”

“Wow…”

“My turn for a question right?” I interrupted Val’s bafflement.

“Oh, um, sure.”

“Have you been rejecting any of the food?”

“What? As in…no, I haven’t puked.”

“Good to know both the food and the atmosphere are compatible with the human body.”

“There was a chance that the food you gave me could have killed me?!” Val screeched as she stood up and her eyes thinned into slits.

“Yes.” Val continued to stare venomously at me. “Or I could have told you about it and you would have either stressed yourself unnecessarily, suffered a placebo rejection, or starved yourself to death."

“I still don’t like that you went behind my back on this.”

“I’m not sorry in the slightest. This was the best possible outcome. But if it makes you feel better, I won’t do it again.” I stared directly into her eyes and maintained a stoic composure. Her eyes narrowed.

“Swear on it.”

She’s either very cautious, or very good.

“Fine.” I stuck my foreleg in the air in oath. “I swear on my life and all that moves in the universe, that I, Windell Green, will never willingly put Val into danger without her permission.”

Val relaxed a bit and sat back down, Steel looked at the both of them curiously.

“That was a bit wordy for a promise.”

“That was a vow.” I answered. “I take those seriously.”

“Fine.” The cloaked woman grunted. “Your turn.”

“Where are you from originally?”

“Small town in Alabama. Left for Manhattan ‘cause I thought it would be better there. It wasn’t.” Val leaned forwards. “You’ve been here for quite some time. What should I look out for?”

“Aside from the various creatures in the forest to the south, there are several natives you should avoid even in disguise. Obviously you’d want to stay away from guards and any government officials.”

“Why?”

“You’re an alien.” I deadpanned. “How do you think they’d react?”

“Good point.”

“Just don’t be too obvious, okay? If they ask you to come in for questioning, politely ask if you can keep your cloak for religious or medical reasons. If they refuse or lie, and you’ll know when they do, I suggest running. Don’t use your ability unless absolutely necessary. And if they ask where you come from, just say that you’re a nomad from southwest of the Badlands. Use your head, think on your feet. Now for individual people.”

“Individual? You mean I have to avoid more than just the government?”

“Pretty much. As a general rule, avoid diamond dogs. I know from personal experience that they’re a tricky bunch. There’s a cyan pegasus with the rainbow hair would be a bit jumpy around you, so don’t antagonize her.”

“And what’s her name?”

“Not going to tell you. If you’re going to learn it, it’s not going to be from me. If you are real, then we shouldn’t be too connected. That could end badly for the other if one of us gets caught.”

“I guess.” Val conceded.

“Moving on, we’ve got the orange farmer, who is actually the most well-mannered of the bunch, just as long as you don’t mess with her family. Then we’ve got the white unicorn; she’s a bit dramatic, but a very good businesswoman. The shy yellow pegasus. She’s interested in exotic animals, no matter how sapient they are. The purple unicorn librarian, may be a bit interested in your story, but I don’t think she’d go insane over you. Finally, the pink menace. She’s nice, if a bit…kooky, but she will say things that will destroy your mind.”

“Ummm…okay.” Val inched away slowly. “Why should I avoid these girls?”

“Unlike the average guard, they are directly connected to royalty. I’m pretty sure you don’t want two demi-gods on your ass.”

"That's...okay..." Val sighed and rubbed her eyes. "Anything else?"

"Yeah." I leaned in closer. "What are your measurements?"

<><><>

“I just can’t believe you’re a fan of Maretallica.”

“There’s a lot you don’t know, Shining.” Cadence giggled. “Isn’t it fun to discover it? It’s like an adventure!”

The stallion snorted, but smiled as he leaned closer to Cadence. The two of them trotted through the Manehatten music festival, moving from genre to genre as the hours passed. Shining was quite surprised to see the effeminate pink alicorn go crazy at the metal bands playing, shaking up the other darker toned ponies there. A bunch of batponies even laughed and held her up so she could get a better view. When they passed the classical section, Cadence teased Shining about missing Hawk Eye, which the unicorn denied.

Cadence could tell he was lying, and remedied his worries with a peck on the cheek.

“Don’t worry about Hawk.” Cadence rubbed the bottom of his chin softly before nuzzling his neck. “You know he could take care of himself. Didn’t he take care of the both of you while you were cadets?”

“Hey!” Shining exclaimed. “That’s not true!”

“Relax, Shining.” Cadence smiled. “You’re just adorable when you’re agitated.”

Shining Armor blushed, and tried to redirect the conversation.

“Hey, we’re at the Electronic section! That wasn’t around when we were in high school.”

The crowd had shifted from the prim and proper to the flashy and jumpy. It wasn’t gradual either, so the few ‘higher class’ ponies that had stumbled into the electronic wilderness frequently thought they had been teleported into an evil cultist’s dungeon as a sacrifice in the name of Nightmare Moon rather than simply walking into the midst of these rambunctious appreciators of the night. Despite a few ponies fainting every year due to the proximity of the two sections, the organizers chose to continue keeping the sections close together. Probably because they got a laugh out of their reactions.

The two lovers watched as a white unicorn mare with a wild blue mane and purple glasses to match began her set, enamoring the audience with her music. The ponies in the crowd hollered, danced, and the unicorns even shot flares from their horns to accompany the light show.

“The Knight once told me that the most interesting things are those we haven’t experienced yet.”

“He seemed like a wise stallion.” Shining cocked an eyebrow. “Speaking of which, why don’t you know his name? He seems like the type of pony you’d remember a lot about.”

“He never told us.” Cadence shook her head. “He told us it didn’t matter. So we called him The Knight. It was The Knight who came to us when we needed him. It was The Knight that planned our offences against Sombra. It was The Knight that sung me lullabies when I cried at night, no matter how gruff he seemed to be to the others. Some of the others in the rebellion didn’t like him, but he didn’t care. He didn’t do what he did for glory or riches like so many other knights at the time. I don’t even think he would have wanted to be mentioned in history.”

The white mare began egging on the crowd, revving the music up for the drop.

“But no matter what, I will not forget him.” Cadence said, looking onto the crowd. “And I will not forget what he taught me about life, about ponies, and about love.”

“Wai-What!?” Shining choked.

“Hmm? Oh you thought ̶ ” Cadence let out a very unladylike snort, followed by peals of laughter. “Don’t worry Shining, you’re the only stallion for me.” Cadence regained her breath and wiped a few tears away. “See, when I was a filly, I could start sensing love ponies felt for one another.”

“That doesn’t sound too bad, but how does that relate to The Knight teaching you about love?” Shining asked.

“Because I felt all types of love. Platonic love, true love, puppy love, old love, dying love…false love. It was bit confusing muddling about through the love ponies felt for one another, and I couldn’t seem to identify which was which for…reasons. So The Knight talked to me and told me about the different types of love ponies could feel. It…opened my eyes to a lot of things.”

“Like friendship?”

“Among other things, yes.”

The white mare finished her set and trotted off stage, signaling the end of the Electronic performance. Cadence began walking towards the backstage while Shining, confused, followed her. The bouncer stepped in front of Cadence to block the way, but with a flash of her horn, Cadence’s alicorn status was revealed. The bouncer fumbled a bit before remembering the pecking order and stepped aside. Shining scurried after the pink mare into the star’s room. The sign on the door said ‘DJ-PON3’, but there were four ponies inside. Two of which were obviously agents, whereas the other two most likely artists.

“Oooh, sweet!” The white mare grinned. “A princess!” She turned to the agents. “I told you guys that I got this. Boom! Princess fan.” The agents rolled their eyes, while the dull green stallion beside her simply chortled. The mare trotted over to Cadence and extended a hoof. “DJ-PON3, but you can call me Vinyl Scratch.”

“Nice to meet you, Vinyl.” Cadence smiled and reciprocated the hoof bump. “I’m Princess Cadenza Mi Amore, but you can call me Cadence. This is my special somepony, Shining Armor.”

“Hello.” Shining nodded in her direction.

“Neat.” Vinyl said, before pointing towards the stallion with the messy mane and the shades. “This is MC-W1SH, or Neon Lights, my...special somepony?” The last part of her statement was directed towards the two agents, who nodded nearly imperceptibly. "While I was in charge of sound, he was in charge of the special effects, and we both worked on the music. These two ponies are our agents, Right Word and Firm Letter. How can we help you, Princess?”

“I was just dropping by to see if there was a way to contact you to play at a venue. You know, in the near future.” Cadence answered.

“Sure!” Vinyl beamed. “Playing for a Princess would be awesome. I’m not sure both of us can play though. We’ve got busy schedules. What’ll we be playing at?”

“Oh, I don’t know.” Cadence stared innocently at the ceiling. “I’m sure something will come up."

“Oh…okay! We’ll keep in touch.”

“Thank you Vinyl.” Cadence smiled gratefully before leaving.

Shining followed, generally confused. But then he saw the signs. Amethyst eyes looking down, ears folded slightly back, and a tiny downward bend in her smile. Cadence may have been trained to retain a royal persona, but Shining could always spot the cracks.

“Cadence? What’s wrong?”

“Remember how I can sense different types of love? The Knight warned me about this, and it doesn’t stop hurting no matter how many times I see it.”

Shining leaned closer to the mare, sharing his warmth to the mare he loved.

“What’s that?”

“False love.” Cadence sighed. “I can tell when a couple aren’t really in love. It’s rare, but it happens. Either a couple forms because both of them are lonely or because they’re forced together by circumstance. And they give up searching for real love. Sure they may be friends, but they aren’t meant for each other. And those agents…!” Cadence stomped a hoof. “It’s obvious they set the two up together to increase revenue. Maybe even for drama.” She shook her head. “A pony’s emotions shouldn’t be used like that.”

Shining took Cadence into his embrace and locked his lips with hers. They melted into each other, enjoying the feeling of oneness with their partner. Finally, they separated, Shining blushing ever so slightly.

“Better?” He asked.

“Much.”

"So…uh…what was that request for?”

“I’m not sure.” Cadence took an innocent air once more. “I just have a feeling that there’s going to be a white dress involved.”

Shining made a fine impression of a fish before he could finally find his words.

“Cadence…I have something important to ask you.”

The alicorn’s heart started beating faster as she tried to keep her composure.

“What’s that, Shining?”

“…I can only ask you after I win the Canterlot chess tournament. To prove myself.”

Cadence calmed down. Shining and his pride. Although it would feel so much better now Cadence knew of Shining’s need to prove himself. She beamed. If it would make him more comfortable, so be it. She could wait a bit longer, and she always did like the idea of a perfect moment to remember.

But still…

“Cadence? Where are you going?”

“Canterlot.”

“But…the music festival isn’t finished yet!”

“Don’t care!” The princess proclaimed. “Let’s go!”

Chapter 17: Chess

Recently, I’d considered myself quite self-sufficient. I’d built my own home, and I was so secluded that zoning laws, property taxes, and door-to-door salesmen were nothing more than annoying memories. However, I had to fetch running water by the bucket, build and maintain my own outhouse, and walk miles to buy groceries from the source. But if it meant less real social interaction, then so be it.

But things had changed of late. I might or might not have a new guest, and I might or might not have dangerous minerals obtained from questionable sources. All these ‘may or may not’s’ forced me to go into Ponyville carrying a bag of lead and a scroll with Val’s measurements. It was difficult enough to get ink, a quill and measuring tape for her, but considering neither of us had any artistic talent, nor any talent at all at using a quill, I thought we were very lucky that we had managed to write something that legible. I decided to drop by the forge first, if I could find it. Unluckily for me, a very excited guide had come to see me.

And by that, I mean Pinkie nearly made me piss myself.

I was walking through the streets of Ponyville, avoiding getting too close to any of the others on the dirt road, when I stopped by an alleyway to get my bearings.

“Where would they build a forge?” I muttered to myself.

“I KNOW!” I jumped a good meter into the air before I landed on my face. Pinkie’s head was poking out of a barrel, a wide grin across her muzzle.

“Candy,” I groaned, “could you please not do that in the future? I’d like to keep my messes in the outhouse."

Pinkie smiled sheepishly as I dusted the dirt off my muzzle.

“Sorry.” Her grin may have said otherwise, but I decided not to bother myself about it.

“Do you know where I could get someone to turn some metals into a crude set of armor?”

“I don’t know why you would want rude armor,” Pinkie said. “You’d put it on and it’d say: ‘Grrrr! You stink!’ and I just can’t imagine armor that will hurt you instead of protect you ̶ ”

“Candy!” I stomped a hoof. “Focus. Forge. Where is it?”

“Oh! Sorry!” She giggled. “Continue onwards to Pine Timber’s place, but turn left before you get into his lumber yard.”

“Thank you.”

I followed her directions, yet the pink pony persisted in pursuing me. She continued following me, prattling on about things I didn’t bother to listen to. I quickened up the pace, and she followed. I began galloping, but she caught up to me in leaps and bound, quite literally, talking all the while. Finally, I stopped.

“Candy!”

“Hmm?” The mare beamed.

“Listen,” I sighed. “I think you’re a nice girl. And you do tend to bring a smile to anyone’s face. But I’m here on business, and your presence kind of breaks that. Not to mention how our first conversation…disturbed me.” I said the last part under my breath, but she still heard me.

“Our first conversation?” Pinkie squeaked. “But it was completely normal! We talked about my Pinkie sense, you told me you were crazy, I gave you directions to Rarity’s, and then we talked about cupcakes!”

“What? N ̶ You know what?” I groaned. “Yes. That’s exactly what happened. It makes everything easier for all of us. I’m just going to accept that as the truth from now on.” No you’re not.

“Okey Dokey Lokey! We’re here!”

“Finally.” I walked into the stone building as Pinkie waved ecstatically before hopping away.

I’ll admit, I’d lived far north for the majority of my life. I’d spent my years living with Father in Wisconsin and Minnesota. I had even moved to Washington to start again. I would have thought that my mother’s Cuban blood would have prepared me for the heat of a smithy. But apparently the owners didn’t know that the furnace was supposed to be, you know, a part of the smithy rather than the entire building.

An orange stallion with a red mane bulging with muscles was striking at a red-hot iron bar. Without a hammer. A diminutive gray unicorn mare with a white mane was firing jets of flame into to furnace, her tongue sticking out in concentration.

“Excuse me?”

They both stopped and turned to look at me. Instantly, the temperature began to drop to manageable levels. The stallion dropped the bar into a trough of water with a loud hiss and walked over to me.

“Howdy,” he said. “I haven’t seen you around these parts. My name’s Hammerstrike, and this is my wife, Anvil. What ‘cha here for?”

“A request. I need something made.”

Hammerstrike visibly cringed and scratched the back of his head. His wife grunted and shook her head.

“Sorry fella. We only sell weapons to royal guards. So unless you’ve got a permit from a commanding officer…”

“I don’t need a weapon. I’d like a special set of armor using this.” I grabbed the bag off my back, manipulating it easily despite the weight due to the flow of energy I directed into my foreleg.

I passed the bag over to Hammerstrike, only for him to almost lose grasp on it.

“You’re stronger than you look.” The stallion noted, before bringing the bag closer to his face. “What’s in this thing, lead?”

“Yup.” Anvil rolled her eyes and facehoofed.

“Why would you want an armor made of lead?” Hammerstrike asked. “That’s all sorts of bad material for armor.”

“It’s necessary for a science thing. It’s not like I’m going to go gallivanting into battle in lead armor.”

“Do you have the bits to pay for a commission work?” He cocked an eyebrow.

“I have plenty. How quickly could you get this done?”

“Hay, right now we’re making nothing but spare wares. We could get started right now and be done by evening,” Hammerstrike said as his wife nodded.

“Perfect. Do you need my measurements?”

“Yup!” Hammerstrike just stood there, staring at me for a while. There was an awkward silence until Anvil jabbed him in the barrel. “Oh, right! The measurements. Give me a minute!”

Hammerstrike dove into a pile of various knick-knacks as Anvil just shook her head.

“Dunderhead.” She muttered.

After a few minutes of prodding and measurements, I made my way to the Carousel Boutique, thankfully without a companion. When I opened the door and the bell rang, prompting Rarity to panic and throw a sheet over a dark purple costume. Chronologically at Mare-Do-Well. Interesting. Rarity nervously turned to look at me.

“Hello again, Marshmallow.” Rarity forgot her nervousness and harrumphed.

“Honestly, Mr. Windell. There is no need for such coarse nicknames. I suppose you were satisfied with the cotton?”

“The cotton was perfect, thank you. I’m just here on the behalf of an… acquaintance.” So much for there being no connection between the two of us. Hopefully it won’t be too noticeable. “She needs an outfit that covers her entire body.”

“Why would I ever make something that hides a mare’s beauty rather than accentuate it?”

“Et pourtant, vous êtes en train de fabriquer un costume pour des raisons moins nobles que les miens,” I said under my breath, learning from my experience with Pinkie.

“Was that…Prench?”

“Never mind that. She just needs it for very personal reasons. Here are her measurements.” I tossed the scroll, and she caught it in her light-blue magic.

Rarity unfurled the paper, and her eyes widened slightly. It may have looked strange, but Val and I had thought ahead and split it into a pair of pants, a shirt, and gloves that could be opened to reveal the palm. Comfortable interior, resistant exterior, and a hood so she could hide her face even further. The pants might look backwards, but she only need to turn them around to fit a human rather than a minotaur. Unfortunately, she would have to wear her old shoes because we couldn’t come up with any reason a minotaur would need human shoes. It was only with superb luck that she had been wearing sneakers when she was whisked away from home.

“Ah, a minotaur,” Rarity said. “I suppose I know very little of their customs. I’ll begin once I’m finished with my current project.”

“Thank you.” I walked out.

I could have admonished her for the convoluted plan. I could have suggested they simply talk to Rainbow. But I chose not to. It worked out in the end, and I would remain an observer in the timeline, so I could know what would come to pass. I made my way back to my cabin only to find Val still swinging the hickory staff I had gotten for her. In the same way. Every time. Steel Fang was watching on curiously and turned to look at me before tilting his head in her direction.

“What are you doing?”

“I was bored, you got me a staff..." she said between swipes. "I want to be good at using it. No hesitation, just good strikes.”

“By making the same movement every time?”

“Bruce Lee once said something about fearing the man who had practiced one punch one thousand times.” Val grunted as she swung the staff once more.

“‘I fear not the man who has practiced ten-thousand kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick ten-thousand times.’ A wise strategy. But remember that you are weak compared to most other creatures. So you’ve got to learn how to improve your own speed alongside your strength. Something you’ll need in spades if you’ll be in disguise the entire time.”

“I understand the need, but I’m just not a fan of lying so much.”

“Deceit is the armor that will protect you from malice and treachery. You’ve got an advantage because you’ve got fewer tells than anybody else. Fewer, not none. We’ll work on that later. As for the whole moral ambiguity of lying, just take solace in the fact that you can trust in yourself. Not everyone is lucky enough for that.” Val slumped slightly, her eyes avoiding mine. “If you want to build more muscle, you can help me with a particular chore.” I entered my home to get some tools I had bought in my last trip to Ponyville.

“What’s that?”

“Building a shed.” I tossed her a shovel. “When we’re done, we can reapply the healing salve. You shouldn’t be completely healed yet; you could also help me get some on my wing."

Val leaned on the shovel a bit before turning towards me.

“Why do you need a shed? And where are we going to build it?”

“See the cart full of rocks over there? In the trees? We’re going to build next to it.”

“Why so far away from your hut?”

“In the cart there are crystals. Do you see them?”

“I guess. The glossy gray ones on top of the pile?” She squinted.

“Bingo. That’s Uraninite.”

“…Gag me with a spoon.”

“And if you thought that was the only radioactive material in there, you’d be sorely mistaken.”

<><><>

“I didn’t know that there were so many competitors!” Cadence bounded about the stadium, dragging Shining behind her. “Are all of these ponies going to compete?”

“No.” Shining shook his head. “Most are going to be spectators. But a lot are going to be in the tournaments because there’s a wide variety of them.”

Cadence cocked her head quizzically before looking over huge crowd in the indoor hoofball stadium that had been refurbished for the event.

“What types are there?”

“Well, there’s Juniors, for the foals competing. Then there’s Intermediate Tourney, for those that haven’t officially competed in anything yet. But since I’m already listed, I’ll be playing in the Expert Tourney. And finally, there’s the Master Tourney, for those with cutie marks related to tactics or chess.”

“Those sound like they’d take a long time.” Cadence mused.

“You’d think that,” Shining said as he walked towards the sign-up, “but ever since Spearchess and Steep Cyan had their match a good century back, the officials realized that true masters would be able to play with a minute per turn. So while every other match has a limit of five minutes to make a move, the Master Tourney usually gets done much faster.”

“That’s pretty interesting. Do you know any other competitors?”

“Well, there’s a few friends from the Guard. Hawk Eye would have loved to play, but he’s on a mission. Good Move may be here. Then there’s our high school friends.” Shining finished signing his name and began walking with Cadence towards the Banner marked ‘Experts’.

“Like Pointdexter and Deep Thought?” Cadence asked.

“Yeah, and if I’m unlucky, then ̶ ”

“Hey! Shining Armor and a pony who looks a lot like Cadence!” a chipper voice rang out.

“Oh, sweet Celestia,” Shining moaned, “not her.”

A beaming mint-green unicorn trotted over to the couple, a cream earth pony mare by her side.

“Lyra?” Cadence rose an eyebrow.

“Lyra.” hissed Shining through gritted teeth.

“Lyra!” Lyra chirped.

“Lyra…” The earth pony groaned and facehoofed. “Could you just introduce us?”

“Okay! This is Shining Armor, and the mare next to him is nearly identical to his special somepony, Princess Cadence.”

“Actually, Lyra, it is me. I’m just hiding my wings.”

“Oh. Cool!” Whereas Lyra didn’t miss a beat and smiled, her friend paled and began bowing. “Oh, none of that, Bonnie! Cadence doesn’t like it when her friends bow to her.”

“Bu-But she’s a Princess!” She stuttered.

“Not right now.” Cadence waved a hoof. “Any friend of Lyra’s is a friend of mine, and friends don’t have to be formal.”

The mare trembled, but nodded.

“Anyways,” Lyra continued, “this is my best friend and roommate, Bon-Bon. She’s the one who suggested I come back here.”

“Oh, really?” Shining glared at her, and Bon-Bon glared in return.

“Anyways…I’ve got to go sign up. C’mon Bonnie.” The two mares trotted over to the sign-up counter.

“Why were you so…like that around Lyra? She was one of my best friends in high school.”

“Because she ruins any game I play!” Shining threw a hoof in the air. “She killed twenty of my characters when she GM’d Ogres and Oubliettes, she’s unpredictable in chess, and somehow, she always beats me on Snakes and Stairs!”

“Wow, Shining.” Cadence giggled. “I didn’t know Lyra was your nemesis. I imagined your arch-enemy to be a bit more…intimidating.” Cadence looked back to the two mares as Lyra signed her name onto the sheet, Bon-Bon smiling at her all the while. “I know she can be a bit obsessive about certain topics, but that’s just Lyra. Say, when she played Ogres and Oubliettes with you guys, how was the…dynamic?”

“It was awful.” Shining moaned. “Gaffer and Eight-Bit constantly tried to flirt with her, but it just flew over her head. And I think she got some sort of perverse pleasure by introducing difficult choices and seeing me fail. After about a month, she got off her ‘Ogres and Oubliettes’ kick and started getting obsessed with chess.”

“Oh, I remember Lyra’s kicks! Usually it would start with some song or some myth, and it would lead to something she’d get obsessed with to understand the music or the story better.”

“I won’t lie, she was a fun mare, but I can’t imagine living with her. That would be exhausting. I pity her roommate.”

“Yeah…” Cadence smiled as she looked back upon the two giggling mares. “I wonder how she does it.”

Shining turned to look at Cadence and recognized her ‘I know something but I won’t say what’ smile. Shining pulled her close and nuzzled her neck.

“Cadence, I promise that after I win the tourney for you, I’ll have something special ready.”

“Oh, really?” She gave a coy grin.

“Really.”

The two separated and got into place. Cadence sat in the bleachers, watching Shining win match after match. Sometimes his match was barely won; sometimes Shining crushed his opponents. But in the championship, Shining found himself facing a smiling green face and golden eyes. His eye twitched. And he moved a white pawn forwards.

On the bleachers, Cadence and Bon-Bon sat side by side, watching the two unicorns move pieces around. There were a few moments of awkward silence before Cadence spoke up.

“Would you mind if Lyra became one of my bridesmaids?”

“Huh?” Bon-Bon did a double take. “Where did that come from?”

“Well, Shining and I have been a couple for a few years, and he’s never gotten the chance to ask…the question. I’m hoping that silly stallion will get on it soon. Lyra…Lyra’s an old friend of mine, and I would like it if she became one of my bridesmaids. Who knows…” Cadence gave a modest smile and turned towards Bon-Bon. “She might catch the bouquet and catch an interest with matters of the heart.”

Bon-Bon blushed and turned away. Cadence considered going further, but decided it would be best to go slowly. It would be the first time a relationship like that one would take place, after all.

Shining was forced to make a choice. Again. His bishop was in place to take either Lyra’s queen or her knight. The queen would put him in check, then checkmate, whereas the knight would need a few turns to get a check. It was so obvious, but Lyra kept looking at her knight. Was it a bluff? Did he really have a choice? Time was running out. So he decided.

Shining took the queen, and Lyra moved her knight.

“Checkmate!”

“What?”

Lyra had moved her Knight in such a way that her rook and her bishop trapped Shining’s king against his own knight. And with his bishop out of the way, Lyra’s second rook had moved into place, putting the white king into checkmate.

Shining facehoofed.

“And the winner of the Expert Chess tourney is Miss Lyra Heartstrings!” The announcer declared as Shining Armor thumped his head on the table.

“If you’ll excuse me, I have to go console my special somepony and try to get him to propose to me.” Cadence trotted down the crowded bleachers before turning back and giving Bon-Bon a knowing smile. “Good luck in the matters of love, Bon-Bon. Don’t give up.”

The candy-maker blanched before nodding and walking down towards Lyra. Cadence quickly lost sight of her in the rustling crowd as the ponies began to go home, the longest of the tourneys done. The crowd dissipated, leaving a dejected stallion and what seemed to be a pink unicorn walking slowly to him.

“I’m sorry Cadence.” Shining stared sorrowfully to the ground. “I couldn’t win this in your honor…I don’t deserve to be with you.”

“Shining, that’s…ridiculous.”

“Whuzzah?”

“Shiny, let me tell you about my favorite color: Blue.” The princess smiled as she looked into Shining Armor’s eyes. “Blue for the skies I want to fly in happiness to after having spent a second with you. Blue is how I feel without you. Blue is the ocean I love to lose myself in when we stare into each others' eyes. Blue is the color I see every time we kiss. Blue is what I want to wake up next to every morning for the rest of my life.”

Shining looked up to her and gaped.

“I love you, Shiny. More than any pony I’ve ever met.” Cadence smiled, one that Shining only knew too well. The simple yet powerful ‘I love you with all of my heart’ smile. “I know the question you want to ask me. Look inside yourself. I think you already know my answer.”

Cadence dispelled the illusion spell hiding her wings, uncaring if there were any stragglers left inside the stadium. Shining gulped.

“Cadence.” He took a deep breath and took out an engagement ring. “Will you marry me?”

“Yes. Yes! A million times yes!” Cadence bounded forwards and their lips met. In the embrace, the two fiancees were smiling, tears of joy pouring down the alicorn's cheeks. Or in the stallion's case, liquid pride.

<><><>

I was human once more. I was in the middle of a city of pure white, perched upon a floating pillar in the wide expanse of the skies. Cloud City was bustling with activity, every creature a memory of the various species that I had encountered across the stories. Mostly humans, but there were a few elves, orcs, trolls, and various other creatures. Heck, there was even an alicorn in the crowd. They went about their business in the dream I had created, flowing around me in a stream of diversity. Ignoring me. No pointing, no mocking, no whispers. Just me, Windell Green, a face among millions.

As it should be.

A presence made itself known. This time, I didn’t push it away, I just willed the entire populace to disappear. Including myself. I was prepared to talk to what might be Luna, but I wasn’t ready to reveal myself to her. The dark alicorn swooped down from the skies above the city, directly towards me. She landed a respectable distance away and stared at me.

“Thou hast let me enter thine dream.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“To apologize for what I said to you.”

Luna stepped back, confused.

“Apologize?”

“Yes.” I let out an audible sigh. “Truth be told, I was in a difficult situation then. I still am, but I realized shortly thereafter that I shouldn’t have lashed out at you like that. I am sorry for that. My burdens are mine to bear.”

“Dost thou have anypony to turn to? A friend, mayhap a lover?”

I snorted.

“A friend, sure. A lover? Heck no. I once had someone I called a lover, but they ended up hurting me.” Luna pouted when she realized I had managed to avoid giving her a clue about my identity. “And that was before I learned of my…condition. When I did learn of it, I promised myself that I would never fall in love, so that there would be no chance of my child suffering the same fate as I had.”

“What!?” Luna squawked. “But…that’s…”

“Necessary. I am flawed, irreparably so. It would be cruel to fall to desire and prolong the existence of this fault. It is for the greater good of the population.”

Luna looked away dejectedly before changing the subject.

“Thy city is quite beautiful. Didst thou make it thyself?”

“It wasn’t my idea, but I managed to give it more detail.”

“A city in the heavens…I wonder where thou foundest such an idea.”

“In a story that takes place among the stars.” I shifted the landscape so that we found ourselves within a stone chamber consisting of an altar and a door that led to an elevated pathway outside.

“Where are we now?”

“In a different city.” I answered, before willing two chairs to appear on both sides of the altar. “Where you may be able to help me.”

“How so?” Luna took a seat, and I took the other. Her eyes followed my presence, but she still didn’t try anything.

“We’ll play a game.” I willed a board into existence on the altar. “Chess.”

“Why should we?” Luna asked, smirking.

“You want incentive then?” I harrumphed. “Fine. I pledge to reveal myself if you win. If I win, you will leave me alone. Which isn’t saying much, but it is quite annoying to avoid you. So…black or white.”

“Black.”

“Confident, are we? That’s fine. Winning isn't my primary objective.” I moved a pawn.

Luna raised an eyebrow but moved a pawn of her own. Time passed as each of us made our turns.

“So how was your night?” I asked, moving my knight.

“If thou dost not wish to share thine experiences with us, why should we talk about our day to thee?” Luna narrowed her eyes.

“Cut it out, Luna. I know you’re as lonely as I am, if not lonelier. And I know the life of a princess isn’t all secret meetings and cake, but tedious bureaucratic sludge.”

“Thou art correct.” She sighed and rolled her eyes. “It was naught more than petty nobles and confused ponies. Aside from the odd dream a stallion was having, there was nothing of note.” She moved a rook.

“Dream?”

“Yes. It was a series of strange images; dark alleyways, shapeless blobs, odd creatures and concepts, and various landscapes on fire. ‘Twas…surreal. I believe the unicorn’s name was High Salary. We must have a talk with him later, as some of those images were quite…suspicious.” A few more moments of silence passed between us as we began to concentrate on the game.

“Hmm.” I stared at the chessboard. “A thought occurs to me. I had originally thought that, as a part of my delusion, I would be able to defeat you in a game of wits, you being nothing more than a subservient personality. But I still know very little of my delusion. You could be influencing my subconscious decisions, or could already know what moves I plan on making. I had thought that if you would win, I would know if this was a delusion or not. I suppose I won’t find out this way.”

Luna shook her head.

“If thou still refusest to accept what is and isn’t, we cannot help thee.” She took my rook.

Sure enough, within a couple moves, all that was left of my pieces was my pawn and my king. I willed the chessboard to disappear and got up. I began to walk towards the outside pathway, the ledge of Minas Tirith. Luna slowly followed, keeping her distance. Once she cleared the doorway and saw the high walls of Minas Tirith, her eyes widened. And they only widened more when I revealed myself to her.

Before her was a creature she had never seen before: a biped with backwards legs, the lean torso of a minotaur and a flat face with a black mane and a white streak on its head. It was clad in odd garments. It had no ears on its head, but on the sides. And when she looked into my eyes and saw fear, she tried to step forwards to comfort me.

“Don’t.” I held out a hand, and she stopped moving towards me of her own volition. I gritted my teeth, trying hard to ignore the openness of the ledge, the feeling of space pulling infinitely outwards.

“Art thou…afraid of heights?”

“Not at all.” I looked to the ledge behind me and to the ground below. Being down there seemed a lot better than being in the open here, even if it was just a dream. I took a deep breath. Just a dream. A dream I need to wake up from. “But I am afraid. So I am alive. It is on the precipice of death that we feel the most alive after all.” I took a few steps backwards. “All you need is to…leap.” I fell backwards into the void, letting myself fall. Luna raced after me. But right before I hit the ground, I woke up.

I touched my muzzle with a hoof.

“I think I fucked up.”

<><><>

Traveler flies across the wasteland south of the Draconic Mountains, following the dangerous radiation back to its source. Despite its name, the wasteland is not normally completely devoid of life, but full of hidden life and odd creatures. It had passed an oasis a few miles back, lacking any sort of life. Nothing more than an empty pool of water.

The being comes upon a lone plateau with an entrance leading inside. Deep within the grotto lies a creature not native to the universe. It is purple, moving about on two trunks that constantly writhe and twist. It has two arms with three digits and an egg-shaped head with wide blue eyes without pupils or irises. Traveler recognizes the creature and feels wary. Something isn’t quite right. It shapes itself into a fiery silhouette of the Onipalian and shifts into her visible spectrum. She jumps back, but Traveler reassures her.

“No need to be alarmed. I chose this form because I found it…poetic.”

“How is taking the form of Jinkara, the god of life and death, poetic?”

“If I am correct in my diagnosis, I am the first living thing you’ve met?” Traveler asks, ignoring her question.

“…yes. How do you know?” She hesitantly answered.

“…Are you aware you are in a different universe?”

“Wh-what? I thought I properly calibrated my teleportation device!”

“You did not. Worst part is, you ended up in a universe belonging to a different ‘set’.”

“What does it mean?”

“Those inhabitants of the same ‘set’ of universes can survive in universes of that ‘set’ because the physics are either identical or nearly identical. Most of the time, when an organism from a different ‘set’ enters one not of their own ‘set’, they ...fall apart. Rarely, they are given different effects, and it is nearly impossible for it to remain unchanged.”

“Does…that mean despite escaping my dying planet, I will still die?”

“Of course.” The Onipalian tenses. “You are still mortal after all. Unfortunately, I will have to hasten the process.”

“What! You’re going to kill me? Why?” Her hearts begin beating faster, and Traveler can detect her sadness and fear pheromones in the air.

“Have you noticed you haven’t seen any biological life? Not even a sprig of grass?” She nods slowly. “It is because of you.”

“Me?” She gawks and points at herself.

“Ever since you came here, you’ve been emitting dangerous radiation that instantly disintegrates everything within miles. It is a byproduct of your foreign biological processes. I am here so that you will not inadvertently kill everything on the planet, by killing you.”

“How are you alive, then?”

“I am not, by the strictest definition, alive. I am a mixture of conscious energies, capable of feeling the world around me through various forms of kineto-echolocation. And I can tell from your tense muscles that you will try to escape, but that would only end in an earlier demise. I doubt you can run faster than light.”

The two stand still, the Onipalain staring at the one that had taken the form of her god of death…to save lives. She could do nothing. She is hungry, she is weak, and this creature is obviously powerful. If it wanted to kill her she holds no doubt that it could, in an instant. So she wonders why it hasn’t done so.

“What are you waiting for, then? Kill me.”

Still, it stares at her.

“KILL ME!” she screams.

“Not yet. You are not satisfied with life yet. I may have a duty to kill you, but it doesn’t mean I do not have morals. I am not like others who have power, who seek to change their world, following their own code.”

The being seemingly summons a glass of water for the female and offers it to her. She tentatively accepts the beverage, as it will help calm her nerves.

“...Thank you for the drink…May I ask why you don’t act upon your morals? Surely one who can create water from nothing would be powerful enough to change worlds for the better.”

“I did not create the water from nothing, I just extracted a bit from the air. The glass is in actuality a part of myself. I’m glad that I could offer you a drink, albeit one your kind takes recreationally. As for why I do not act, it is simple. This is not my world either. I truly believe in a type of balance between chaos and order, good and evil, dark and light. But I cannot let my own ideologies taint a universe, because it is up to the inhabitants to decide their own fate. I cannot kill those I consider evil, because redemption exists, and I cannot praise those I see as good, because power corrupts.

“There is no pure good or pure evil in any universe I have seen, simply actions done by those of varying shades of gray. Some are lighter, some are darker. I do what I do so that the inhabitants will have a chance to find their own balance. Outsiders such as yourself may introduce new ideas, stories, and experiences, but it is up to the locals to either keep them alive and integrated within their own society or shun them until they are forgotten in the winds of time.

“I do evil actions and good actions alike, for one simple thing that everything wants: Existence. And now, this part of Existence is unstable because of the proximity of several universes. Causing a split in the central universe through outsider interference would cause two universes to collide, which would be apocalyptic for all ‘nearby’ universes.”

“So…my death would save billions of lives?”

“Potentially, septillions.”

“Not a difficult decision, I suppose.”

“But difficult nonetheless. I’ve learned long ago that every life is precious, far more precious than one would originally think.”

“…Can I ask you something?”

“That is what I am here for.”

“Am I the last of my kind?”

“Never.” The female sees the being shake its head. “Your kind still exists across many universes, and still in yours. About eight thousand escaped in shuttles before your planet burned.”

“A shadow of our former glory.”

“But you will rise again, just as your kind in all the other universes did when their planets suffered the same fate.”

“So… our legacy will live on?”

“Every species that does not pose a threat to Existence has a legacy. They all live on, throughout Infinity.”

The two stare at one another in silence for a bit longer.

“I think I’m ready now.”

“I know. I could hear your hearts beat slower.”

“Will you remember me?”

“…I could not forget. And even if I could, I would not allow myself to do so.”

After having incinerated her body, the entity zooms back towards Equestria, full of questions. It knows that universes have a particular ‘taste’ from a combination of idea and energy released into the Void. It is true that several sapient species may exist in a universe without ever knowing about one another. Universes are quite huge, after all. In fact, Traveler has never really been able to explore all of the larger universes it has been to. It would be a waste of time, after all. It simply follows ideas back to their source, and Traveler does its duties from there. Occasionally it would find a new world, and it would be able to track them from the ideas they released in the Void.

But something wasn’t right about the Onipalian. It had memorized the ‘tastes’ of all the realms in the cluster before jumping in, and none of them were universes that had Onipalians or could support Onipalian life. Either Onipalians had come about independently in a universe in the cluster, or something had brought her from the Beyond, chosen exactly for the dangerous byproduct of her life processes. It was only by chance that she was deposited far away from true civilization. Not far enough from a few dragons in the southernmost Draconic Mountains, but far enough to prevent any major disturbances in the necessary timeline.

It could be a coincidence ̶ Traveler is very much aware of how nothing is ever truly impossible ̶ but it does not believe that.

Traveler will be wary.

For there is something that seeks an End.

Chapter 18: Feathers

There was a time in my life where Father wasn’t struggling for pay, when we managed to live comfortably in our neighborhood. When friends were made simply by asking if they wanted to be my friend, and crying was a perfectly normal reaction to a scraped knee. Maybe it’s nostalgia, but I would often look back on those days and remember when everything was simpler.

One of my fondest memories of that time is when my Father and I went to the lake as it thawed in spring. That was where he taught me how to skip stones. The first few plops and pelunks were particularly resonant, but not nearly as much as the first thwip of a stone being skipped on the water. My cheers, as well as Father’s warm smile as he ruffled the top of my head, are quite vivid in my mind’s eye. And they drew a sharp contrast to the sounds that I was getting from throwing stones when I was older.

“OW! Ffffffffuck!” Val’s exclamations drew me out of my reverie. “Why do you have to throw them so hard?” She nursed her shoulder, which was likely already forming a bruise. “Do I have to be wearing this stupid cloak while we practice?”

I dropped the stone I was preparing to throw at her and fell back on all fours. We had finished our jog, and Val’s help had been instrumental in the creation of the lead-lined hut where I dumped all the radioactive materials. I didn’t know if the lead armor I commissioned kept me safe, but I didn’t feel nauseous nor was I losing hair, so I supposed I was safe. Having had breakfast, I decided to train Val in the noble art of dodging.

So I basically threw rocks while yelling “Dodge better!” every now and then.

“Yes, you have to be wearing the cloak,” I answered. “You’re not going to be dodging in the nude. And for your information, I’ve been pulling my punches. The opponents you may face will not.”

“Pulling your punches?” Val sat down in a huff. “Why is it that everything here is so strong?”

Steel Fang’s ears perked up, and he stopped gnawing the bone he’d found on our jog to stare at Val. She stared at him back. Steel went back to his bone.

“While magic does give everything a leg up on you, you are more capable of surviving devastating injuries and even walking with such injuries.”

“Huh?” Val cocked her head.

“It takes more force to break a pony’s ribs than it does a human’s, but a human would be able to walk with broken ribs, albeit painfully, and recover from them more successfully.” I sighed. “So yes, it’d be easier to injure you, but harder to keep you down. I can only imagine how devastating it would be if you interrupted a creature’s magic after you break one of their bones, considering humans have remarkable shock resistance. Hell, if you break a pony’s limb and negate their magic, they may just go into shock and die. Nevertheless, you have no magic, so unless you want to be walking around with broken ribs from a crazed minotaur, you’ll learn how to dodge.”

I threw another rock, which she easily dodged.

“See? You’re already getting better.”

Val rolled her eyes and began walking towards me.

“Can’t we take a break? I haven’t washed since…wow, since I was in New York.”

“You certainly smell a bit…ripe,” I replied with a sniff. “Which would explain why Steel Fang had been avoiding you.”

We both turned to look at the direwolf, who was indeed keeping his distance from Val, a wary look in his ice-blue eyes. He picked up his bone and paced about at the edge of the woods, as if he was debating whether to run or to attack.

“He’s usually at ease with me.” I turned around to head towards the river. “I’ll comfort him later. For now, we need to get you clean. I suspect the only reason I haven’t been KO’d yet is because I’ve worked with sewage before. Come on, now.”

Val was stunned for a moment before she shook her head and followed me, not noticing the blue towel I grabbed and carried under my wing.

“Ass,” she muttered.

Ignoring her comment, I trotted onwards, stretching my wings all the while. My wings are practically healed. I gave an experimental flap and found myself in the air. I should be able to fly within three days. Then I can finally start doing all of the tasks Zecora wants me to do. Hell, I could probably get Val to help me. I idly scratched my foreleg to the best of my abilities. Good thing I’m going to get washed; I’m feeling really itchy. Finally, we arrived at the river.

“Val, I’m going to wash first, then I’ll turn around so you can get undressed and clean yourself properly.”

“Fine,” she grunted. “Just hurry up. I don’t want to be compared to sewage again.”

I threw the towel onto a branch, dived into the cold water and began scrubbing myself vigorously. I broke the surface and dunked my head in the water a few times to wash out my mane. I noticed a bunch of white stuff floating on the water around me. Down? Oh, damn it. I’m molting. No wonder I was so itchy.

“Are those…feathers?” I heard Val ask from the riverbank.

“Yup,” I said. “Apparently I’ve got a layer of down underneath my fur. I guess that cotton insulation for my hut was just a huge waste of money.” I grimaced. “And a potential fire hazard.” I dunked myself underwater once more to remove more of those pesky feathers. After a good ten minutes of scrubbing, I was satisfied. I got out of the water and shook myself dry.

“Really?” Val said.

“You would not believe how much practice it took me to do that properly.” Val just sighed and motioned me to turn around. I obliged and sat on my rump, facing Steel Fang. I took the opportunity to preen my wings as she undressed.

“How the hell do you even know how to take care of your wings?”

“Studied avian biology before I came here. I also helped preen young shy albatrosses as part of the program.” There was a pause as Val rinsed herself. Steel Fang came by my side and lay down.

“That’s pretty gnarly…Can you tell me about it?”

“Well…” I took a deep breath and a guitar began to strum from somewhere.

“In the forests of the Northwest,

Fly many types of fauna!

From the loon in the bird’s nest,

To the frigatebird flying to nirvana!”

I sat up and began flapping my wings as Val no doubt looked around in befuddlement and Steel just bobbed his head to the music.

“Oh, you can trust this one’s words;

All life is great, from oceans to skies,

But those that reign are the birds!

If you disagree you must revise!

After all ̶ ”

THUNK!

I fell back down to the ground, nursing my jaw. A solid hoof to the face to keep myself from singing seemed to be the only option at the time, and proved to be quite effective.

“Sorry about that,” I said, clearing my throat. “Apparently that happens a lot here. Funnily enough, I couldn’t carry a note to save my life before, but it just seems to come to me naturally now.”

The muffled snorting from behind me and the odd hacking noise Steel was making told me that both Val and Steel were trying very hard not to laugh out loud. Suffice to say, they weren’t succeeding.

“Maybe if humanity would burst into song now and then, we wouldn’t suck so much.”

“I’m sorry, what?” My ears swiveled backwards to hear her better. Neat. Sort of disturbing, but neat.

“I said humanity’s fucked. Screwed. Nothing more than a big pile of sin and failure.” There was a splash, as if Val wanted to accentuate her point. “We’ve thrived on war and violence, destroying anything that gets in the way of progress,” Val spat. “Even members of our own species, young or old, innocent or not. Humanity was God’s biggest mistake. We are flawed.”

“I thought I heard wrong, but there is indeed shit coming out of the wrong hole. First off, you know very little of history if all you think about are the darker things in human history. Yes, there were crusades, awful wars, and millions of victims of war, disease, and famine. But like it or not, there has been a steady decline in violence throughout the course of history. Hell, the middle ages weren’t as fraught with war as people seem to believe. We’ve had the Renaissance, we’ve performed medical miracles, people have given all they could to charities, we’ve landed people on the moon, and we’ve made endless information and communication a tap away. And despite what the media would have you believe, we are currently in the most peaceful age of human history. And it is our flaws that make us so mighty. We always strive to be better, like a tower that’s always leaning to one side, yet is constantly being built, fixed, and grown. It’s only when we look down that we spot that we’ve surpassed the heavens.”

“Bullshit,” Val shot back. “New York is a damn cesspool for crime, the government is spying on the average citizen’s every move, and the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. are in the middle of a nuclear Mexican standoff. We’re a hair away from a fiery holocaust.”

“If you had read on the Patriot act when it was introduced during the Bush administration instead of being ̶ Wait. The U.S.S.R.? What are you going on about?”

“I’m talking about the end of humanity as we know it, dumbass! The end of the worst goddamn species to ever be born on earth!”

“…Come on, Steel, let’s go.” Steel picked himself up and followed me as I walked back into the forest.

“Hey! Where are you going?” Val called.

“Anywhere but here!” I yelled back. “If I wanted misanthropy, I would’ve gone on the Internet!”

“The fuck’s an internet!?” I heard her ask in the distance.

I shook my head and walked on. Steel Fang padded besides me, looking at me inquisitively. I refused to speak for a few moments, hoping that the crunching of leaves underhoof and the chirping of birds would drown out the silence. But Steel knew me better than that. Despite my stoic expression, he continued staring at me and even nudging me to talk.

“Alright, alright.” I said. “I’ll talk. It’s just…” I sighed. “I can’t stand people like her. The misanthropes, the whiners, the idiots who just throw their arms in the air and say: ‘Fuck it! We’re screwed anyways, so why bother doing anything!’ They just lay on their backs and accept the failures of ‘those that preceded us’. No fights, no effort, and they go on thinking they couldn’t have done anything.” I kicked a stone, watching it sail off into the distance.

“Cowards,” I spat, “the lot of them. I, or my previous incarnation, I dunno, had a crappy life. False friends, delusion, death. But instead of laying down and letting myself get trampled by these problems, I rose up, dusted myself off, and kept going. I know there are bad people. I’ve met some of the most disgusting people ever to grace the earth. But I’ve also met people who, despite everything, managed to bring light to the darkest places. Charles Acevedo, the man who spent his days trudging through sewers humming a tune and talking about how happy he was to make his city a cleaner place. Lucy Collins, a nurse who tried to protect her patients from her peers, and ended up testifying against them. Even Graham White, a lawyer who took time out of his busy schedule to comfort a grieving son. I’ve seen acts of foul hatred and disgust, but I remember many kind deeds from complete strangers. The world is a good place, and people shouldn’t be lying down and complaining how bad it is. They should be sitting up and trying to make it even better.”

I took a deep breath and winded down. Steel licked my face.

“Thank you, Steel. You have no idea how much I needed to let off some steam.” I flapped my wings experimentally. “Want to go for a jog? Don’t worry, I prefer to keep low to the ground.”

Steel yipped and took off. I followed, flapping my wings sporadically. I may be scared shitless of open spaces, but I’ll be damned if I don’t use every advantage I have. A smile grew on my face as I began bounding over and around Steel Fang as we ran through the woods.

<><><>

Val sighed as she washed the rest of her hair. Well, wash the best she could without soap and conditioner. She shouldn’t have gotten angry at him. While she may have lost her home, her family, and her friends, she had no reason to lash out at the ma ̶ guy who had lost all that and his body and his trust in himself. She paused. While she had told him about her home and her family, he had chosen to listen rather than talk about his.

“What is up with that guy?” she muttered to herself. “Forget how creepy his eyes are. Just the lack of emotion is like looking at a brick wall.” Val got out of the water, only to remember she hadn’t brought a towel. It was then that she noticed a blue towel hanging amidst the branches of a tree.

“The jerk really does care.” Val gave a wry smile.

After drying off and getting dressed, mumbling curses about cloaks all the while, she began walking back towards the cabin. As much as the forest reminded her of Alabama, she still preferred the hustle of New York during the day. It was strange that it was harder for her to sleep at night without police sirens, but she supposed it was a matter of habit.

“I don’t know if I should feel safer or in more danger with a giant wolf and a mentally unstable guy living nearby.” Val squinted. “And just saying that out loud makes me sound crazy.”

Val sighed and shook her head, nearly running into a tree.

“Oh, sorry, sir. Crap…” Val looked around to make sure nobody saw her mistake. “Damn, I really am a city gal. “

She was about to walk off when she noticed the notches on the tree. She crouched down and trailed her fingers across the bark of the tree. Walking around to count the notches, her eyes caught sight of a small pile of bones, the charred remains of a fireplace, and something Val recognized from the walks along the seedier parts of New York. Dried vomit. She picked up the tiny skull and held it close to her eyes.

“A rodent. A squirrel maybe?” Val whispered to herself. She looked back over the remains of the fire, recognizing the shape and style. “Windell? Why? He’s a plant-eater now; the vomit proves it.” Her eyes narrowed into slits. “But he doesn’t want to be. So what does that make the notches? The amount of things he’s tried to eat?”

Val approached the tree once more, noticing some of the notches were healing whereas others were a faded green.

“Ten notches?”

Val looked over to the nearby trees, seeing that the closer ones had similar notches, some dark and healed, some lighter and healing and a few green and fresh. Val walked to the tree with the greenest scratches, counting only six notches before ending on the freshest cut.

“He’s counting the days…” Val breathed.

She followed the trees back to the oldest tree, coincidentally the one closest to the cabin. The first three cuts seemed to have aged the same, so he had only started counting shortly after he had arrived. On the next tree, a scratch had a perpendicular line going through it. Curious, Val followed the trees until she arrived to the most recently ‘completed’ tree. There, on the tenth notch, was another line.

“Seven days. What happened seven days ago? We spent four days building that hut and training, one for me to get used to things, another just for general questions…He found me seven days ago.” She turned back to the tree with the first cross. “Is that when he found Steel?”

Val shook her head and headed back towards the camp. “It isn’t any of my business. Unless…” She stopped. “He’s counting how long his ‘delusion’ lasts.” Val threw her arms up in the air in exasperation. “I’ve got to convince him that this isn’t a delusion. I owe him at least that.”

Val nearly walked back into the clearing when she heard voices, prompting her to quickly jump back into the underbrush. She recognized three of the ponies Windell had warned her about. The rainbow-haired pegasus, the fancy white unicorn, and the purple unicorn, all of whom were talking as they entered Windell’s clearing.

“Holy shit…I thought I was being polite by not mentioning how unnaturally large his eyes are…but Jesus Christ, theirs are even larger,” Val whispered.

Instantly, the ponies stopped talking, and their ears swiveled towards her.

“Did you two hear anything?” the pegasus asked in a scratchy voice.

“I thought I did, dear. But it may be nothing more than a small creature,” the white one said as the purple one’s horn glowed.

“I just did a magical scan, and other than a magic vacuum in that direction-” she pointed directly towards Val, who tensed, “-nothing other than your usual small creatures.”

“A magic vacuum?” The pegasus flew closer to the purple one. “Should we check it out, Twilight?”

Twilight, the purple one, shook her head.

“If we went chasing every magic vacuum, Rainbow, we’d be running in circles around the Everfree.”

Rainbow nodded and turned back to the white unicorn.

“Anyway Rares, you should have seen the size of the wolf! Taller than Big Mac, maybe even bigger than Celestia! Of course I knocked it back…”

“I sincerely doubt that, Rainbow,” Rares the unicorn said dismissively.

“She’s not exaggerating, Rarity. It was a direwolf, which was why Rainbow and I insisted on escorting you here. Windell may not have it completely tamed.”

“And she wasn’t exaggerating at all?”

“Okay,” Rainbow conceded, “maybe the wolf was injured before I got to it. But it was still pretty big.”

“But wasn’t Windell a bit upset about that?” Twilight asked.

“’A bit’ is putting it mildly.” Rainbow smiled sheepishly.

Rarity levitated a pile of clothes out of her saddlebags and deposited them daintily on the top step of the cabin.

“There we go. And it was unnecessary of you two to follow me, because the ‘direwolf’ was not even here. Now, shall we be off? I must prepare for my stay at Canterlot.” The three began walking away.

“Hey Rarity, aren’t you going to make him pay for it?” Rainbow asked.

“For such an interesting project? Perish the thought! I would have liked to meet the minotaur the outfit was for, though.”

“Maybe it’s out fishing with Windell and his wolf. Ooh, Rarity, I’ve got to tell you the way he fishes. It’s a riot!”

Once the three ponies were out of earshot, Val approached the bundle of clothes. Atop the pile was a note obviously meant for Windell, written in flowery cursive. Val looked through the clothes and found everything seemed to be her size. She hoped Rarity knew what she was doing. As she looked over the gauntlets, an idea was born.

“I’m not sure if this will work…but I’ve got a needle and some thread, as well as a few spare strips of titanium from the ‘Diamond Dogs’.” She opened the door and walked inside. “ I could make this work.”

Windell came back a few hours later, carrying a basket of fish with a tired direwolf at his tail. He found Val in the cloak she had altered so it clung to her form such that it did not get in the way when she moved. The extra material had apparently been used to make sleeves, which connected to four-fingered gauntlets layered with titanium strips along the top of the forearm. The cloak billowed out at the legs, to allow for ease of movement, and despite it trailing along the ground, Windell and Val had discovered that it had also been enchanted to not trip the wearer. And just as before, her shining golden eyes looked out from the darkness of her cowl.

“I sincerely doubt Rarity would do all of that, so am I correct to assume that you’ve received the clothes, and you’ve altered them somewhat?”

Val felt uneasy looking at his expressionless eyes, but nodded nonetheless.

“Listen,” she started, “I just wanted to apologize for acting the way I did, and ̶ ”

“Apologies are unnecessary. You were under duress, and you just got caught up in the moment. You were merely speaking your opinion. It may be grossly wrong from my point of view, but I’m sure you have experienced enough to come to that biased conclusion on your own.”

Val shifted uneasily.

“Anyways, Rarity left you a letter.”

His eyes widened slightly before reverting back to their unreadable state. He took the letter in hoof and sat down in the pile of Bui-Bui leaves reserved for Steel Fang. Opening it with a wing, he read over the parchment with an annoyed grunt.

“What’s up?”

“She wants to give it to us for free.”

“What?” Val blinked and cocked her head to the side. “Isn’t that a good thing?”

“I don’t like being indebted to people. Did Rarity see you?”

“Well, no, I listened in from the bushes. Apparently, they can’t detect me magically.”

“That’s good. I’m still peeved at Rarity for giving it to us ‘pro bono’. I’ll have to find a way to pay her back, whether she likes it or not.”

“…Well, at least there’s a bright side!” Val smiled fiendishly from the shadows of her hood. “I get to finally scratch you behind the ears without knocking you out!”

Windell raised an eyebrow, but didn’t move. Val took it as an invitation to scratch him behind the ears. After a few seconds his ears twitched. Then his tail flicked about and one of his back leg developed a little tic. But just as suddenly as it began, he shot up, wings flared. He landed on his back, eyes wide, ears splayed back. He scrambled to his hooves and his eyes flew from side to side, looking for an escape as his wings flapped sporadically.

“No!” He shook his head wildly. “Veroni ̶ I mean, Val. Don’t. Don’t do that.”

“Whoa, whoa.” Val rose her arms tranquilly. “I’m sorry…just, deep breaths, okay?”

Windell took a few breaths before returning to his stoic expression. And yet, Val could see a hint of that fear in his eyes.

“I’ll, I’ll just prepare dinner now. Please don’t do that again.” Val swore she heard him continue talking under his breath. “I’m in control. I have control over myself. I’m better than this.”

Val leaned back against a supporting pillar.

“What the hell happened to you, Windell? And who’s Veronica?”

<><><>

Traveler flows across Manehatten’s Central Park, idly observing a bird on a branch. The bird takes flight and the being encases it within an invisible sphere of its essence.

“Oh, little birdie. Do you know how interesting you are?”

A tendril follows the path the bird thinks it takes as it flies, as the spherical essence simulates what the bird would be feeling as it takes the path, from its sight, to the sound, and even the individual gusts of wind Traveler feels across its being. From the outside the bird has disappeared from view. For the bird, it is nothing more than an ordinary flight.

“It may be true that an onlooker would appreciate what you contribute to the scenery as a whole…but I am of the few that sees the portrait of reality as it really is. Art made of art. Beauty of beauty.”

The invisible tendril flows between branches, seeing, feeling, and hearing for the bird.

“Each cell is a brushstroke of a portrait, forming a whole, a piece of art in itself. But the organism is but a miniscule part of the ecosystem. Of a masterpiece. And an even smaller part of the biome itself. Life…one would think that a being such as I would hate you, be jealous of what you feel, or look down upon you for what you cannot do. Ridiculous. I cannot hate you any more than I can hate a blooming flower.”

The tendril stops by a series of flowers before dancing around them.

“That is life, after all. You germinate, you grow, you bloom, you reproduce, and you…wither away.”

The sliver of Traveler’s essence continues onwards, leaving a direct line back towards the center of its being, back towards the bird.

“All according to your programming. It seems like I am the only one that remembers those that have gone. Even those that I’ve…clipped.”

The tendril falters from a gust of wind, mimicking the bird.

“Of course, it would be more accurate to say I’ve burned down the entire forest and salted the earth. Sad…Horrifying…Devastating. But necessary. I may have risen above my own programming, but I choose to still hold on to some parts. Regret, love, fear, some humor. Hatred, despite my best efforts.”

The forefront of the tendril solidifies and becomes visible to the naked eye, taking the shape of a blue jay, mimicking it aesthetically down to the feather.

“But the hatred is reserved for things that are not nearly as physical as you, or even as physical as I. Concepts, ideas, dreams, emotions. How I loathe some ideas! How I despise those that end things without reason! How I hate hatred! Myself…But when I come upon beings that make those concepts a reality. Those that spew vitriol, they that plan pain and suffering not for the gain of the whole, but for themselves?”

The thing that looks like a blue jay swoops about, enjoying the feeling in its feathers, happy to be alive. An imitation of one that believes to be in its place.

“A small part of me is horrified as I watch on, enamored by their own individual beauty, their flaws and their perfections, hoping that some hero will step in and do what is right. I am satisfied to see that, the majority of the time, what is good and right prevails. But a majority is not all, nor is it much larger than the times I have seen travesty done. The horrors I have witnessed. The carnage, the torture, the death! How I wanted to swoop in and save the day! But there is a balance in every world. I’d be a fool to disturb it. I do not care whether I am loved or hated. I have risen above that programming a long time ago. All I have left to guide me is duty.”

The imposter disintegrates, and the illusion falls apart within the real bird’s bubble. Instantly, it begins panicking, flying about in the darkness, seeking a way out.

“A pity that it is so much easier for me to destroy than to create. Life is so…fragile. Fulfilling, yet delicate. Existence is tedious. But what you have, my little feathered friend, is precious.”

Two orbs glow in the darkness, filling the bird with foreign memories until it loses consciousness. Traveler cradles it in its tendrils and deposits it gently on the branch it first flew off of.

“I really do hate destroying works of art for the benefit of the world. But it is only logical that a masterpiece missing a few pixels is better than no masterpiece at all.”

The bird wakes up, but Traveler does not stay to see if it takes the same path. It prefers not to know. Instead, it flows back into Manehatten.

Chapter 19: In(s)ane Tasks

For most, time is both a concept and something sparse. A linear sequence of instants, no two ever existing simultaneously. And people are obsessed with it. You can’t go anywhere without someone checking the time, gushing over their most recent material acquisitions, or even commenting how old something is. Schedules are built around the oppressive stare of the clock face, our fates locked by those three spindly arms. I am not exempt from those shackles. But whereas others see the pendulum swing closer and closer, mine has been obscured.

I did not know when my time would be up.

I could be gone in an instant, unknowing, from whatever task I was doing. Or my mutation could have lengthened my lifespan a considerable amount. Instead of panicking with the knowledge, I took a leisurely pace to life. I had chosen my schedules to be monotonous, repetitive, yet fulfilling. After all, does the mayfly care how long it lives? Does the tortoise?

Time is a finite resource for all. Even Celestia, if she was real. I may be nothing but a mayfly to her, but my actions in my short life are my own. My instants, my moments of life, help create the next instants. What I have done would seem like nothing, but would be among the many keystones of Continuity. Seemingly inane actions can have the biggest consequences. Plant a seed, grow a tree. Tree makes seeds. Seeds spread. Eventually a forest is born.

Or make some jam. Apparently that makes towns sprout up like bad weeds.

I stood on the edge of Ponyville, musing how quickly a small town had sprouted up due to jam. I didn’t need to be in a delusion to be incredulous; when people want to get together, they can get together fast.

Of course, fast is relative, I thought. If it hadn’t been for Val, I would still be wondering how we compared both spatially and temporally to humans. Seeing as her reaction speed is identical to a pony’s, I can assume that we interpret time in the same manner. So days should be nearly identical, barring minor discrepancies in seconds, minutes, and hours. I crossed the bridge into Ponyville, giving a polite wave to Fluttershy. But weeks, months and years could be measured differently. After all, they have a sun demigod regulating the days. And a moon demigod regulating the phases of the moon, so that can’t be trusted. For all I know, the entire calendar is based around menstrual cycles, like the humans of old. I shuddered. Or estrus cycles, considering their similarity to Terran equines. Or they’re nice and civilized and use a metric system.

Having arrived at the bustling market, I went over my mental checklist on what I needed to do. Make Rarity accept my money, get two toothbrushes and toothpaste because apparently cleaning and sharing a used toothbrush is ‘unsanitary’, acquire a hairbrush, and get as many library books as I am allowed. Then see if I can buy a few books. I chuckled. Okay, more than just a few. I began to saunter towards Rarity’s boutique, wary of anything pink. After a thankfully uneventful walk, I stood before the entrance and rapped the door. A few moments later, Rarity opened the door.

“Oh, Windell! You must be here about the request. I think you will be pleased to know that I delivered the outfit to your home, personally, yesterday.” Rarity looked up in thought and tapped her chin. “Though I must say that your minotaur friend has very odd proportions.”

“I already know about that. I’m just wondering how much it would have cost me if you had billed me.”

“Oh, it was nothing, dear.” She waved a hoof. “Just around fifty bits, but the challenge was worth it.” As she talked, I counted fifty-five coins and dropped them in a prepared bag before holding them out to her. She blinked. “I’m sorry dear, but I cannot accept your payment.”

“Why not?” I moved the bag closer to her. “Take it.”

“I insist, this task was nothing more than a generous one. Surely a stallion such as yourself must be frugal?” She moved the purse back to me with a blue glow.

“I am frugal by nature,” I said, ignoring the small barb towards me. “I can afford to be frivolous with my money.” I nudged the purse back to her.

“No.” She nudged it back.

“If it makes you feel any better, consider it a gift to a beautiful lady.” I smiled, holding the money up to her.

“Your kind words are payment enough.” She pushed my foreleg back.

“Please?” I begged, dropping the purse to the ground and pushing it towards her.

“It would be an insult to my benevolence if I took this money.” Rarity huffed as she pushed the purse back to me with her magic.

“Take the money, Marshmallow!” I growled, pushing the bag to her once more.

“Well, if you say it like that…NO!” She pushed the money to me.

“Just let me give you the money!” I exclaimed, practically tossing her the bag. “It’ll make everything easier!”

“NEVER!” Rarity yelled, kicking the purse out the door before slamming it shut. “Now if you excuse me,” I heard her say through the door, “I must prepare for my trip to Canterlot.” Her hoof steps got gradually quieter as she moved away from the door.
Of course, I wouldn’t let a little bit off wood go between getting us even. Spotting an open window, I tossed the bag through. Satisfied, I made my way back towards the market before something landed in front of me. The money. I turned around to see the Boutique’s windows closing with a blue glow. I stormed back to the store, money in hoof before knocking on the door once more.

“LET ME PAY YOU!” I shouted.

“NO!”

Relenting a bit, I walked off for a while before turning around.

“MARK MY WORDS, MARSHMALLOW!” I bellowed, shaking a hoof in the air menacingly. “I WILL PAY FOR THIS, IF IT’S THE LAST THING I DO!”

Noticing my position, I looked about and saw several ponies either looking at me strangely or trying hard not to laugh. I shook my head and made my way to Sugarcube Corner, grumbling all the while. Steeling myself before entering the belly of the beast, I took a deep breath. Pushing through the doors, I found myself staring into two blue eyes.

“Hello Candy. I just came by for a quick bite.”

“Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Windy!” The Pinkie bounced about. “Sorry I wasn’t able to get to you when you came into Ponyville, I was a bit busy because Mrs. Cake is on maternity leave, and ̶ ”

“That’s fine.” I interrupted her oncoming spiel before trying to direct the conversation in my favor. “What do you suggest I eat?” I began to walk inside the shop, noticing the few patrons sitting around, minding their own business.

“Weeeeeelll…” Pinkie scratched her head. Somehow. “We’ve got meringue pie, chocolate cake, chocobolts, vanilla swirls, caramel crunchies, nougat squares, nougat cubes, nougat tesseracts ̶ ”

“I dunno…what do your friends get?” I asked as I sat down at a table.

“Twilight takes the banana split, Dashie really likes to stick to fruity sweets, AJ will only chooses the cinnamon apple pie and ice cream, Fluttershy usually just takes tea, and Rarity just loves all of the chocolate sweets.”

“Marshmallow comes here?” I feigned surprise. “I thought she’d be the type to want to keep in shape.”

“Oh, she tries.” Pinkie giggled. “But Sugarcube Corner’s sweets are stronger than silly things like ‘self-restraint’ and ‘dieting’.”

I let out a sensible chuckle, masking my unease.

“Let me guess: She also insists on paying for everyone?”

“Yupperoni! She’s not the element of generosity for nothing!”

“You know…” I leaned back in my chair, staring at the ceiling. “I wonder what reaction she would have should she discover the meal had already been paid.” Pinkie adopted a pensive expression. “But I bet it’d be funny to watch.” Pinkie froze and a smile began to stretch across her face. I chose that moment to start tossing the bag of bits in the air, catching it with a loud jingle each time.

“Ooooh! That sounds like…a prank! An indubitably, inexplicably, inventively amazing prank!” She bounced around a few moments before coming to a realization. “But how will I pay for it? I can’t spend money I get from the Cakes to give them money to pay myself for treats!” Pinkie came over to my table, muttering about loops, sat down in front of me and leaned on a hoof. “What do I do? It’s not like anypony has a bunch of bits they’d give away for no reason at all.” Her eyes caught the purse I was innocently playing around with. A few moments passed as her eyes followed the bag of bits sail into the air and fall back into my hoof with a corresponding jingle of gold.

“Say…Would you like to be my premier pranking pony partner? Second only to Rainbow Dash, of course.” She gave me one of her wide smiles once more. I turned away.

“I don’t know…Is it going to hurt anyone?” Pretending to be oblivious never worked so well as then.

“Psh, no!” Pinkie waved a hoof dismissively, before patting me on the head. “Don’t you worry! Your cousin Pinkie Pie will only put some money on Rarity’s tab to see her freak out a bit.”

“I’m pretty sure that we’re not related. But if it’s not going to hurt anyone…” I passed the bag of bits to Pinkie. “Have fun, Candy. Just be sure only to tell her whose money it is after she’s spent it all.” Pinkie hummed in confirmation as she took the money to the register and made a note. “And Candy?”

“Hm?”

“I’ll have a chocobolt, please.”

“Oh, right.” She laughed as she smiled sheepishly.

Fifty-eight bits lighter and a chocolate éclair heavier, I trotted out of Sugarcube Corner, happy to have crossed one thing off my list. I ran into a pony selling hairbrushes easily enough, though she tried to sell me a coat-brush as well, despite my insistence that I didn’t need one. Maybe I did. I didn’t really care; the hairbrush would be so Val would stop nagging me about my lack of one for her hair. After having meandered about for a few minutes, I managed to spot my next target, the dentist’s office. Hoping to bum a few toothbrushes and toothpaste, I made my way inside.

I was greeted by the tinkle of a bell and a wave of minty air. Looking around the room, I noticed a platform made purposely so ponies could lay on their bellies comfortably and securely, one of those moving lights dentists used, and a familiar blue mare humming as she looked over a table full of dentist tools, her back turned to me.

“Come on in, Mr. Sentence, you’re a few minutes early for your appointment, but it’s no matter. We’ll get those teeth of yours nice and shiny.” Minuette said, checking over her instruments on the table.

“Well, actually ̶ ”

“Tut, tut, tut! That’s three seconds wasted!” she sang, still not bothering to turn around. “Get on the table so we can brush your teeth clean!”

“But ̶ ”

“Ap!”

“I ̶ ”

“Apap!”

Resigned to my fate, I rolled my eyes and hopped onto the platform. As I got comfortable in my position, there was a steady humming as the seat rose up so Minuette could look into my mouth without leaning down. She turned around, facemask already applied, and her eyes zeroed directly onto my teeth. Instantly, she propped open my mouth and began using a tongue depressor to stick around my mouth. Oh well, unplanned dental cleaning. This beats planning one months in advance, so I might as well get one now.

“Eating before coming here, Long Sentence? I thought I told you not to do that. It’ll make it take longer to make your teeth white and shiny!”

“Vut eh ehairhs oh eel ood.”

“Well, all sweets taste good, but that comes at the price of teeth cleanliness,” Minuette responded, still concentrating on my mouth. “Rinse.” She shoved a tube in my mouth, filling it with water, before sticking the sucky tube in my mouth. “Open.”

I obliged and was rewarded with another tongue depressor exploring my mouth.

“Do you floss?”

“Nuh, uh ai ink histil fwoai waer ewry hen ays.”

“Well, that’s new, but fluoride does do wonders for your teeth. Makes them very white!” Minuette hummed as she concentrated on my teeth. “But you still need to floss every day.” She telekinetically grabbed two strange, handle-less toothbrushes and some toothpaste, before applying the paste carefully…and sending the brushes zooming into my mouth.

I can say a few things about unicorn dental care. Magic makes it efficient, due to the lack of handles getting in the way, and very intense. Those two brushes fought inside my mouth, like two gladiators in a ring, dedicated to making the stage as clean as possible in a most righteous battle of blood, enamel, and toothpaste. And that one blue pony with her tongue sticking out in concentration was the emperor leading the show. I was just hanging on for the cleanest ride of my life. Finally, the hurricane of brushes came to a stop, and the excess was drained out of my mouth.

“Okay Mr. Sentence,” Minuette chirped. “Your cleaning is-” Her eyes met mine. “-you’re not Long Sentence.” Finally able to talk clearly, I seized my chance.

“That’s what I was trying to tell you. I’m just here to buy two toothbrushes and some toothpaste.”

“Oh, sorry.” She chuckled. “I get a bit carried away. On the shiny side, I got your teeth clean.”

“I suppose.” I sighed. “How much for your services and what I need?”

“It was only a minor cleaning-” Minor? Yeah, minor like the crusaders in Constantinople. “-so about thirty bits total. But you don’t need to pay, since it was against your will and all.”

“No, no.” I shook my head. “I needed one anyways. Here.” I emptied some of my coins onto the table and grabbed the dentist baggie. I tossed in another toothbrush and exited the door, ignoring Minuette’s attempts to get me to be put on a schedule with her. Why bother? I’ll be sane again soon enough, right? With a ringing of the bell, I left the building to find an empty street. An empty street, save a small stand with three little fillies and a collapsed stallion. Curious, I approached them.

“Hello, girls. What’s going on here?”

“Well,” Scootaloo began, “Crusading for cutie marks aren’t cheap, so we had to figure out a way to get some bits to make a rocket.”

“And Ah had the idea of makin’ a lemonade stand!” Applebloom piped up.

“So we can try and get our lemonade or our businesspony cutie marks!” Sweetie Belle squeaked.

My eyes drifted from three prepared pitchers to the collapsed stallion. He was still breathing, so for once, I decided to let my curiosity override my sense of self-preservation. Plus, lemonade. Looking back at the pitchers, I noticed the contents were varied in opacity and color. The one closest to the stallion was Scootaloo’s and was the one closest resembling lemonade, whereas Applebloom’s was a murky green and Sweetie Belle’s was a thick brown. Equestrian Russian roulette.

“I’ll have three glasses.” The three fillies cheered, and poured a glass. I warily picked up Sweetie’s glass and slowly brought it up to my lips. Three pairs of eyes looked on eagerly as the concoction oozed into my mouth. Caramel.

“It’s decent caramel, with a hint of lemon.”

“Caramel!?” squeaked Sweetie.

“If I had to guess, you used too much sugar, then…cooked it?” The white filly looked down and kicked dirt. “And this one-” I took a sip of Applebloom’s drink. “-is some sort of herbal liquid. Not my cup of tea, but there’s a few that might like it.”

Now for the moment of truth.

“Is he the only one who had Emu’s drink?” I pointed to the collapsed pony.

Scootaloo shook her head. “Ditzy had a sip first.”

I looked up in the air to find said pony, only to find the mare zipping across the town. In a straight line. I looked back to the mysterious beverage before I tentatively gulped the entire thing down. Shit. Shit. Shit. Bullet-time, save me! I redirected most of my magic to my brain so I could think about this. Alcohol. She somehow made lemon alcohol. How can something so perfect be bastardized into an alcoholic drink? In my eyes, alcohol was my worst enemy. Something that lowered inhibitions, removed me of my control? I had enough trouble with my own condition, so I avoided alcohol like the plague. But I can’t spit this out. I’m trying to help these girls out, not destroy their self-worth. What if…what if I redirected my energy to my liver? I began to shift the energy to my liver to make it work in overdrive. I let time return to its normal pace, and was assaulted by a bit of wooziness before feeling reinvigorated, as if my body was being cleansed of all of its toxins. It probably was.

“That…was an interesting drink. But I highly suggest you don’t make that unless you’re older.”

“He seemed to like it.” Scootaloo pointed to the stallion. “He liked it so much, he fell asleep!”

“That’s not how it works, Emu.” I sighed, rubbing my forehead the best I could with a hoof. “Okay, take a few notes. One part lemon juice, one part sugar, and one part water. Mix the water and sugar together to make syrup. Put in the lemon juice. If you want to make it pink lemonade, add in a half part strawberry juice.” Sweetie Belle had taken out a pencil and began mouth-writing what I said onto a notepad. Applebloom just looked at me, and Scootaloo poked the poor comatose stallion. “Or you could replace the lemons with limes to make limeade.” Aah, limeade. Just like how mom taught Father to make. “Finally, add two to three parts cold water. Don’t deviate, don’t cook, and don’t add anything else. Just what I told you. That should get you three different drinks; limeade, pink lemonade, and classic lemonade. You got that?”

“You…got…that…Oh, right.” The unicorn chuckled the best she could with a pencil in her lips. “Yup. How do you know so much about lemonade? It isn’t your cutie mark.”

“Experience. Now get on that, while I carry this sod to the hospital. Word of advice; offer a few free samples. A few.” I dropped three bits on the counter and threw the pony onto my back. Applebloom and Scootaloo had already started counting ingredients to make lemonade that didn’t run the risk of killing someone. After having dropped the poor guy at the hospital doors, I trotted off towards the library. I opened the door and began browsing the books. There was a pitter-patter of something that was not a pony before it paused right behind me.

“Can I help-You!” a male voice exclaimed. “You’re the stallion that left me to Angel’s rampage when I had to house-sit for Fluttershy!”

“Hello again,” I said without turning around. “I’m just here for a few books. Don’t mind me.”

“Really?” Spike deadpanned. “You’re not going to apologize?”

“You seemed to have it under control.”

“I was literally screaming for help!”

“I guess I must have misheard. Sorry.”

“I-guh-whatever.” Spike frowned and waved a claw. “I’ll take it.”

The door opened, and a purple unicorn trotted in. She stopped when she saw me, but smile and cantered over to me.

“Hello Windell! It’s nice to see you again. And in my library too!”

“Hello again, Smarty.” I gave another practiced smile. “How many books am I allowed to check out?”

“Wow, for once, somepony comes here to check out a book.” Spike raised an eyebrow. Eye ridge? “You must not be from around here.”

“Twenty is the maximum.” Twilight shot a look at Spike, who just shrugged. “But if you want-”

“Can you bring me twenty books you’d recommend?” I interrupted. Twilight frowned, but her horn flashed, and twenty books appeared in a neat pile in front of me. I began scanning the books to see if they were to my standards.

“Fantasy, sci-fi, historical fiction, adventure, romance…? Sure, whatever. Another fantasy book, time travel?” My eyebrows might have barely moved, but I could hardly keep the disdain out of my voice.

“You don’t like them?”

“No, no.” I shook my head and smiled again, continuing to mentally scan the rest of the books. “They all seem very interesting, and I know that I’ll love them. It’s just…stories about time travel are either wrong or a lot more complicated than necessary.”

“I’m sure that you’re exaggerating.” Twilight rolled her eyes.

“You say that now, but once you’ve read a couple dozen of these, you’ll see the pattern.” I managed to stack all of the books on my back, much to Twilight’s surprise. “Thank you, Smarty, Igor.” I nodded to Twilight and Spike respectively before heading back out. Twilight followed me to the door and continued watching me walk away. Too curiously.

I diverted energy to my ears to see if I could better hear her, and swiveled them in her direction. I continued walking towards Roseluck’s stand, my swiveled ears the only indication that I was still aware of them.

“What an odd stallion,” she muttered.

“He’s kind of a jerk,” Spike said, likely frowning and crossing his arms.

“Spike!”

“What? It’s true.” He paused, presumably to watch me walk away. “And I just can’t get rid of the feeling he’s hiding something.”

“Spike…Just let him be. Sure, he’s a bit…prickly, but I guess he’s just a colt who concentrates so much on his current task that he forgets the small things.”

“He’s not like you, Twilight.”

Twilight sighed, but the hoofsteps indicated that she had left the entrance. I turned around and looked at Spike before giving him a smile and a wave. His frown deepened, and he shut the door. I suppressed a chuckle as I came to Roseluck’s stand.

“HI THERE, WHAT WOULD LIKE?” the redheaded mare asked. I winced, remembering to wean off the flow in my ears. Once I had returned the flow to normal, I smiled and pointed behind her.

“Can I have the lotus and Adonis flowers?"

<><><>

Val had been in difficult situations before. You don’t live in New York without experiencing something that would throw you for a loop once in a while. Whether it was sitting between a cokehead and an armed man in a bathrobe in the subway, or staring down a badger back in Alabama, Val had always gotten out of it unscathed, with an interesting story to boot. Maybe that was why she wasn’t afraid to go to New York to further her art career.

Who hasn’t once craved adventure? Who hasn’t wanted to see the world and commit it to memory? But Val had never thought she would end up in this situation. Surrounded by strange, magical, wooden wolves, with nothing more than a hickory staff.

Not that they seemed to care. They milled about, moving around her with the clicking of wood and the odd growl. It was as if they didn’t see her. And Val was all too happy to let them ignore her, doing her best to mimic the trees from whence they came. Unfortunately, she played her role too well. The biggest creature approached her and stuck its nose into her shin. Prodding her a few times, he walked forwards and lifted his leg…

“Ew, ew, ew ew!”

The wolf abruptly stopped the flow of green goo on her cloak and looked around for the source of the noise. The others, sensing the alpha’s apprehension, began scouring around, sticking their snouts this way and that. Val felt her heartbeat skyrocket when the alpha’s green gaze fell upon her. Slowly it approached the closest thing to its jaw…opened its maw…and jumped forwards, growling, clenching onto the hickory stick. Frozen stiff, Val refused to let go of the stick even as she stumbled from the force of the wolf. The wolf, satisfied, let go of the staff and moved on. It growled, and the others stood at attention before following it into the trees.

Val moved her foot forwards an inch before stopping stiff. She closed her eyes and began counting under her breath. The soft sounds of nature accompanied the numbers: the rustling of branches, the calls of grasshoppers, and the soft whistling of far-off birds. Once Val reached one hundred, she briskly walked to a tree and ripped off a few leaves to wipe the goop off her cloak.

“The most disgusting parts of either New York or Alabama couldn’t have prepared me for being gooped on by a wooden wolf. Barking wolf? Timberwolf?” Val tossed away the leaves and smirked. “Timberwolf? God, I’m clever. I should tell Windell that one. That might actually get him to show positive emotion.”

It was already enough that she was trying to prove to Windell that she existed by gathering a few herbs. Maybe if he had physical evidence of her actions, he would get out of his funk.

“It’s the least I could do for him,” she muttered, picking a few springy indigo berries and putting them in the satchel she had nabbed from next to Windell’s hammock. “He stopped me from going down the same rabbit hole he did. And he’s trying to get me prepared for this strange world.”

Val broke through the underbrush to a cliff overlooking the forest, and further in the horizon, a small village with a tower at the center. A rainbow from the recent rains soared over the lush forest, providing a stark contrast to the deep green jungle to the left. The sun shone its munificent light over the land, reflecting back to Val as miniscule daylight stars from the tiny raindrops on the canopy. The young woman smiled and sat down on the cliff, her legs kicking over the side, basking in the sight.

“What wouldn’t I do for some canvas and paint?” she mused, teeth as bright as those tiny lights twinkling in the forest. “An entire world like this one…so many sights to see…” she breathed, “so many things to experience.” She pulled the cloak closer to her. “But so many things that could hate me for being different.” She leaned back and looked into the cyan expanse of the sky. “I could lay here for days.” Val shook her head and got up.

Dusting herself off, she made her way towards the edge of the Everfree, where there would most likely be some interesting herbs. The cloak managed to muffle her footstep, making her nothing more than a shadow walking through the forest. She stopped when a hare ran across her path, followed by a salivating fox. Considering she had seen birds offer worms to one another, and squirrels gesticulating while chittering, Val was a bit put off by meat.

“Where do I draw the line for sapience?” Val wondered aloud. “They speak, but I can’t understand them. Yet the carnivores hunt. They don’t care about lives. So are they born evil?” Val spotted a blue jay on a low branch and gently rose her staff to its talons. It looked at her curiously before hopping on. “Hey, little guy.” She lowered the stick so they could look at one another face to face. Val removed her hood so it could see her face. The bird ruffled its feathers uneasily and looked away, but did not fly off.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” Val said. “I just want to ask a few questions. Is that okay?”

The bird looked at her warily, but nodded.

“That answers my first question.” Val smiled. “My next is: do you feel regret for the insects you’ve killed to eat?”

The bird shook its head.

“Can you come up with your own ideas?”

The bird shook its head, but nodded once.

“It isn’t that simple, huh?”

It cocked its head to the side.

“Of course I wouldn’t get a straight answer.” Val sighed. “Okay, last question. Is it wrong for a predator to eat you?”

The blue jay stared deep into her eyes, unable to give an answer. Val shook her head and pulled the cowl back over her face. She swung the staff upwards, giving the bird ample lift to fly away.

“Well, that didn’t help a lot. What a load of-shit.”

Val stared at the huge pile of brown matter at the edge of the Everfree, giant footsteps leading to and away from the momentous pile. Oddly enough, it did not smell rancid as one would expect from such a monstrosity. Maybe a bit sulfurous, but it didn’t bring tears to Val’s eyes, so it was manageable. Val was about to turn around and head back, taking the prodigious pile of feces as a sign that it was time to go home, when a glint of something golden caught her eye. Near the very top of the pile, covered in crap, was an odd-looking arm covered in golden armor. Even with the three fingers digested down to the bone, the ligaments held strong, holding onto something.

“What could be so important that poor sap had a death grip on it?”

Val approached the pile slowly, using her staff to prod safe spots in the grass. She was just a bit short from the arms, so she just used the hickory stick to try and dislodge the odd device in the skeletal hand. Finally, the fingers relented and the thing started falling into the pile…until Val caught it inches above the filth.

“Close, but…ewwww.” There were still bits of the hand attached. “I’ll just, erm, wash it when I get back. But knowing Windell, it’s probably best if I don’t show this to him until he’s accepting of what he sees.”

Val couldn’t help admire the device, despite what it had been through. And who it had been through. It was a streamlined device that fit perfectly in her hand, with a middle part separating her middle and ring fingers. There were cyan bulbs on each side that seemed to flicker in the light.

It was an easy walk back: even with the stop by the river to wash herself and the object, Val managed to get to the hut before sundown. Upon entering, she saw Windell laying on Steel Fang’s ‘bed’ as said direwolf used his back as a place to rest his head. Every breath Steel took came out as a soft whistle, and Windell’s lips tugged upwards each time he heard the sound. In front of Windell was an open book, a third of the way through. Next to them were piles of books that nearly reached up to Val’s navel. When Val entered, Steel opened one eye, yawned and went back to dozing. It was difficult to wrap her head around how something so big could be so adorable asleep.

Val walked over to Windell and dropped the satchel full of herbs on his book. He looked up to her and frowned ever so slightly.

“Was that really necessary?”

“Yes,” Val said. “You’ve got to learn to accept the facts. You’re in another world. This isn’t your body. You can’t stay in this limbo forever.” She punctuated each statement with a prod to his side with her foot. Windell rolled his eyes but opened the satchel.

“It’s true that you brought me a lot of plants that I could give to Zecora.”

“Does that mean you believe me when I say everything you see is real?” Val asked hopefully.

“Psh, no.” The stallion snorted. “That could have been me who brought those, and my memories of procuring them were lost. I’ve actually logged a few times that happened in my previous delusion. Memory tampering and hallucinations to explain such events were quite common.”

“So how did you break out of it last time?” Val threw her arms in the air.

“I just woke up. I opened my eyes to find myself sitting in an asylum. Not somewhere you’d want to wake up at.” Windell flipped a page.

Val gave up and walked over to her bed before she landed face-first on her mattress.

“Uuuugh.” She groaned. “So that mess was for nothing.”

“Not entirely. I still have some bits leftover from shopping. It’s just enough to cover for what you got me.” Windell reached over and threw a bag of bits, which landed squarely on Val’s back, issuing a muffled groan.

“What am I supposed to do with this?”

“Eventually you’ll want to leave the coziness of my nest-”

Val let out a sharp laugh, both at the unintended pun the pegasus made and at the misuse of the word ‘coziness’.

“-and go live on your own. You’ve gotten good at dodging, and as long as you keep doing your daily exercises, you’ll be fine. Who am I to use free labor?”

“So I can go out into town to buy stuff? Like paint and canvas? And makeup?”

“It’s your money.” Windell shrugged. “You can spend it on whatever frivolous object you desire. Even if there’s no logical reason to buy any of that.”

“Making art is worth the money,” Val huffed. “Speaking of which, did you-”

“Yeah, yeah. A hairbrush and ‘real’ toothbrushes. I even got us some floss.” Windell threw a toothbrush and a hairbrush at Val, managing to land them next to her face. “So did you run into any trouble when you went out?”

“I did run into some wooden wolves-”

“Timberwolves,” Windell put in.

“Damn, I thought I was being clever.”

“Nope,” Windell shook his head. “They really are called that. And you’re just scratching the surface of puns here.”

“Anyways, they didn’t seem to see me. I think they see based on magic.”

“That’s actually quite interesting.” Windell’s ears perked up. “So you must have been invisible to them. Or close to invisible, considering the enchantments in your cloak. How did they act?”

“That makes sense. They could see me, but they didn’t see me as prey, more of a living obstacle. Like a tree.” Val grimaced.

“Or a rock with moss on it,” Windell mused, tapping his chin.

“So what did you do, other than buy a boatload of books?”

“Repaid a debt. Got my teeth cleaned by accident. Helped make lemonade. I only could borrowa few books. Bought some flowers for my neighbor.” Val frowned.

“Why did you get the yellow pegasus flowers?”

“It’s important to keep a healthy relationship with your neighbors. I make a point to visit her every now and then. Unfortunately she lost one of her squirrel friends recently, so I had to cut my visit short.”

Val felt the breath catch in her throat. She opened her mouth to say something when the forest outside fell silent. Windell finally looked up, but continued reading his book after a moment. Steel Fang’s ears swiveled towards the door, his entire body tensing before releasing a nearly imperceptible whine. Soft music began to play, prompting Val to get up and move closer to the door.

“Do you hear that?”

“Yeah, it happens every now and then. I find it somewhat eerie, but it’s nice.” Singing began to pierce the music. “And this is the third time I’ve heard it in a language I understand. The second was a song by Barbara. Amazing French singer.”

“Where does it come from?”

Windell shrugged. “Not a clue. I was safe here, so I never sought out an answer for that.”

There was a moment where only the song danced in the air, uncaring of those that listened.

“I’m going to find it.”

“I think it’s a terrible idea.” Windell turned to look at her. “It’s alluring like the light of an angler fish. Nice and pretty until jaws come out of the darkness to chomp you up.”

“Maybe…” Val bit her lip. “But high risk means high reward. I’m going out.” Val opened the door and left, Windell’s voice following her.

“Just don’t get caught! And if you do, we never knew each other!”

Val rolled her eyes, but made her way towards the north. The light of the moon provided ample light, so Val was able to avoid any missteps. It was when she came upon the lake that her breath was taken away. Near the opposite end of a majestic lake was a congregation of ponies. But they were silent, unmoving. A few even had their eyes closed. What took Val’s breath away was the sight. Creatures of all sorts watched from the cover of darkness, not at the ponies, but at the center of the lake, where the music was inexplicably coming from. There was movement to her left, and Val nearly jumped out of her skin when what she thought was a boulder turned out to be a black bear. It moved over so Val could get a better view. With a small nod and a few cautious steps, Val stepped forwards. The lake was completely flat, save the occasional ripple from the center, distorting the reflection of the starry purple skies overhead. Val gaped as she looked up into the skies through the lake, the perfect mirror of two beautiful worlds, as if something had torn a hole in reality itself to another sky, where the moon shone just as much. The most magical thing Val had ever seen was not Windell flying, Rarity levitating her clothes, or even the Timberwolves.

It was nothing more than the union of night skies and music.

Chapter 20: The Occolt

Warning: Minor Gore

If Tron were aware of the glares aimed in his direction, he chose to ignore them. Considering it was Tron, it was likely he wasn’t even aware of the animosity. The only two in the wagon who were not imagining stuffing his face into the gyro he was eating were Titanium and Hawk Eye.

“Come on, guys. Lay off of him, he doesn’t even remember he did it.” Hawk tried to placate the others.

Five heads turned their glares to the gryphon, who smiled sheepishly.

“He got drunk off of salt and that abhorrent alcohol…” Quick Recovery noted.

“He burnt the endangered Iros plant before I could get its seeds,” Midnight added.

“He acted completely unlike a military official should, around civilians, no less.” Red grimaced.

“He erased my memory of the past two weeks!” Thunder exclaimed.

“He flirted with me.” Lake ground her teeth, her voice dripping with malice.

Hawk cast his gaze to Tron, who was currently curling up in a ball from eating the gyro too fast. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his beak.

“I did warn Thunder not to let him get near the alcohol. Everything that happened is the result of Tron’s inebriation.” Scowls from the others turned to Thunder, who wilted under their glares. “But don’t blame him. He doesn’t remember anything, like the villagers. They don’t remember the traumatic events, so that’s a win in my books. It’s a good thing I got most of you to avoid looking at the flash. We still need to make a report to the princess.”

Bwoop Bweep. Bwoop Bweep.

“Speak of the draconequus.” Hawk pulled the SCS out of his satchel and tapped it, revealing Luna’s face. The team saluted, even the unicorn curled up in a fetal position. “Princess, we’ve got news.”

“Enlighten me, Hawk Eye.” The gryphon raised his brow, but responded.

“Having arrived in the Hayseed Swamps, we quickly noticed something was wrong. It was only after some investigation that we found that villages were being deserted because a self-proclaimed descendant of the Platinum bloodline had used a book of dark magic to control several hundred villagers with, erm, flowers.”

“Flowers?” Luna sounded incredulous, but she knew Hawk wouldn’t lie to her. “That does sound odd. Tell me more.”

“In the end, we found the unicorn, Rising Dark, as he was summoning some creature. In the end, we got the villagers out, and Thunder and Red managed to cure them of the flowers’ influence with the help of a dragon.”

“A dragon? What was his name?”

“Mossclaw, your Majesty,” Red cut in, bowing his head slightly. “We promised him he would be rewarded for aiding the Crown in our plight.”

“It shall be so.” Luna nodded. “It would provide a great precedent for other dragons.” Red bowed and motioned for Hawk to continue.

“While Thunder and Red were occupied, Titanium, Tron, Lake Lily, Midnight Azalea, Strong Recovery, and I fought off several of Dark’s creations. We were making slow progress, but Tron finished the fight by luring a murder of corvi to the battle as Lake Lily knocked Rising Dark unconscious.”

“Isn’t it called a ‘flock of corvi’?” Strong whispered to Midnight.

“No, it’s called a murder, since they’re like crows,” Midnight muttered back. “Now hush up.”

“After applying a mithril ring to his horn and destroying all of his notes, we regrouped with Red and Thunder before making it back to the closest village. Unfortunately, they insisted on there being a celebration and gathered up all the surrounding townsfolk for, and I quote, ‘One big shindig’.”

“Uh-oh.” Luna’s eyes widened slightly.

“Yeah, that went about as well as expected.” Hawk scratched the back of his head uneasily.

“So how many of you actually remember what happened?” Luna asked.

“Wait, Tron’s done this before?” Midnight squawked. “What the hay!” She threw her forelegs in the air and pouted. Lake Lily got off of her seat and started making her way to Tron…until Strong Recovery placed a hoof on her withers.

“I must ask you not to injure the stallion. I have to fix him up after all.”

“This foal-” Lake scowled and waved a hoof in Tron’s direction “-is the reason I woke up a few months back with no memory of what happened the night before. He’s probably also the pony that drew on my face!”

“Actually, that was Thunder Strike,” Hawk said, trying to ease the mare’s wrath. That was the last time Hawk ever tried to cool Lake Lily’s temper by redirecting it.

“WHAT?!” Lake turned around and pounced Thunder.

“Why, Hawk?!” the pegasus cried, dodging Lake’s blows even as she pinned him down. “I don’t even remember doing that!”

Titanium got up and separated the two, Lake shooting death glares towards Thunder. He sat down on the booth with both ponies secure under each foreleg.

“How do you guys think I knew to cover your eyes when Tron’s horn started glowing red?” Hawk said before turning back to the SCS. “Anyways, the victims have lost all memory of the ‘problem’, so mental trauma will not be a problem. Of course, when they woke up, they realized they were all in one place, so they took the opportunity to throw another party. We decided it was time to make our way out. We dropped Rising Dark off at the Dodge guard station and started making our way back to Canterlot. We didn’t find Lucid, but we did manage to stop a potential threat. Any news on your part?”

Instantly, Luna’s face hardened.

“I have much to tell you. First of all, my sister and I have been working on identifying the large thaumaturgic wave we felt; we have devised a particular spell array to better identify similar signatures. The results were…not good. We’ve analyzed it to an extent before discovering the signature is remarkably similar to a teleportation spell…except that nothing is disappearing and reappearing. Just…appearing. We’ve also identified where the pulse originated. Not over Hayseed Swamp, but Froggy Bottom Bog.”

Thunder stifled a groan.

“That’s not the bad news. We only sensed this phenomenon because whatever came through was enormous. The good news is that we would have noticed something that big moving about. Whatever came through most likely sank to the bottom of the bog. It is probably best that it remains there.”

“So what’s the bad news?” Hawk asked.

“The bad news is that, upon investigation, there have been many more incursions since then. The majority of these incursions seemed sloppy and concentrated in entropic zones. Discord’s ‘little walk’-” Luna gritted her teeth “-caused the number of incursions to increase in these zones.”

“I’m assuming you sent some guards to investigate?”

“Of course. Sometimes we found rocks, sometimes odd plants. Mostly just things that weren’t supposed to be there. We even found a wardrobe! However…” Luna’s eyes hardened once more. “We found carcasses. Magic varied between working too well or not at all on them. They were unrecognizable, merely piles of meat, but we’ve detected an incursion unlike the rest. While the usual ones were unstable and completely random, much like a unicorn’s first teleport, this one has been stabilized. There was another one like this one south of the Draconian Range, but this one is even more stable. And far closer.”

“What?!” The gryphon clenched the SCS, and a few of his soldiers gasped.

“I have reason to believe there was an incursion in Trottingham. An intentional one. Mayhaps Lucid is there and can illuminate us further on the subject. Mayhaps he is even responsible for this.”

“He?”

“I am now reasonably sure that Lucid is a male.”

“Did you go back over your conversation with him, or is there new information?”

“That would be my second bit of news. I have recently been able to enter another one of his dreams. Several important facts have been made available to me. He is of great mental acuity, capable of shaping dreams to a legendary extent. Whereas most lucid dreamers have to take time to shape landscapes, he had created a city in an instant, right before my eyes. He scorns love, and considers himself an intellectual. Apparently he fell in love once, but it must have ended badly. Now for the most important parts.”

The team tensed.

“Lucid does not care for his own life, but that of his species as a whole. He sees his faults as something that mustn’t be passed onto future generations, so has resigned himself to not reproducing. Be wary, he may consider taking his own life. Now, after taking a bet, I managed to get him to reveal himself to me. He is unlike any other species I have ever seen before.”

There was a moment of silence before Strong Recovery managed to find his voice first.

“An undiscovered sapient species? Or just one that was very secluded, like the yaks?”

“No,” the princess said, shaking her head, “a completely undiscovered species. He looked like this.” With a flash of her horn, a blue construct came into view, making the basic shape of the creature. It had the torso of a minotaur, except slimmer, its legs were backwards, its head round, and it seemed to lack a tail.

“Are you sure it wasn’t a projection?” Lake Lily asked. “After all, you did say he had incredible mastery over the dreamscape.”

“I’m positive. I could sense that was where his psyche was centered, and any disguise made, even by mater dream-weavers, even by myself, would have seemed false or blurry. That is clearly what he sees himself as.”

“So he should be easier to find, right?” Midnight asked.

“Do not underestimate him.” Luna stared into the eyes of each of the team members. “He is unlike anything we’ve ever encountered before. Keep your eyes open. Good luck.” And with a whirr, Luna’s image disappeared from the crystal display.

Hawk Eye sighed and leaned back.

“I guess we’re going to Trottingham. No rest for the wicked.”

“At least we’re going to something like civilization.” Lake grumbled.

There was a sickening crack, and all heads turned to Tron. Tron was trying to find the source of the noise, whipping his head back and forth, oblivious to the rustling within his mane. The other froze when they saw a tiny black head with an orange beak peek out of the catastrophe that was Tron’s mane.

“Cree?”

“Um, Tron…?” Hawk Eye pointed to his mane. “You got something there, buddy.”

A blue glow encased the chick, and Tron marveled at the little creature.

“Oh, woooow! It’s a majestic blue-backed robin!”

“Tron…”

“You get like three wishes from this thing.” Tron held up the bird in his hooves, which looked around curiously.

“Tron,” Hawk Eye tried again.

“Haven’t you ever read the fable?!”

“Tron, you nincompoop, that’s a corvus chick!” Lake threw her forelegs in the air and rolled her eyes. "We should get rid of it before it gets dangerous."

The bird and the unicorn slowly blinked before meeting each other’s eyes. Tron pulled the chick closer to him.

“But we’ve bonded so much! I’ve already named him!”

“Really?” Midnight asked. “What’s his name?”

“Uuuhh…same as Hawk’s grandfather’s.”

“George?” the gryphon asked.

“Nope. Jacques.”

“But I don’t have a grandfather named…ah, whatever. Just keep him under wraps in Trottingham. You and Midnight Azalea are with me.”

“Can do!” Tron smiled before levitating Jacques back into his mane, who busied himself by making a proper bird nest.

“Titanium, stick with Red. Lake Lily, Strong Recovery, and Thunder Strike, you guys will be the last group. We’ll be taking different hotel rooms, and we’ll scout in groups. We’ll cover more ground, figure out what’s going down in Trottingham. And above all, act like civilians. We’ve got the element of surprise this time, so let’s not waste it.”

Red raised a hoof.

“Yes, Red?”

“Sir, how do we know if our target is still there? All we know is that something came from nowhere.”

“We don’t, Red. We’ll ask around for clues, and if it’s nothing, we’ll go elsewhere. Understood?”

Red nodded and saluted.

<><><>

Trottingham was one of those small towns one would find around much bigger cities: close enough to be connected to a major urban center, yet far enough away to be considered its own, independent town. Small towns like these were scattered across Equestria, each with their own little staple products. Ponyville was prized for its apple products, Bowowen Island had a particularly unique lumber industry, and Trottingham? Trottingham was the baker’s dream. Rolling hills of golden wheat, sugarcane so tall you could hide a dragon in the pastures, and a sizeable population of cows were just a few reasons the town held the unofficial title of ‘Baker’s Nirvana’. But there was one flaw.

“This place is so booooooooringuh!” Thunder groaned as he hung from Hawk Eye’s bed. While the three groups had agreed to check in at different times so they wouldn’t be associated as a task force, Lake Lily pushed Hawk Eye to have daily meetings in his room to discuss what they’d learned so far. Needless to say, even after the first day of prodding about, no clues jumped out at them. While some (namely Thunder) would have liked to rush a pony off the street and yell at them until they talked, cooler heads (everybody else) prevailed, insisting on a more patient approach.

“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.” Hawk rubbed his temple. “We’ve got the element of surprise, here. Hay, for all we know, whatever came through isn’t even hostile. But if we give any hint that we know there’s something wrong, we might as well bite our own tails.”

“Eeeeeeurgh. Laaaaaaame,” Thunder groaned.

“Thunder, I sympathize with you,” said Red. “We are both experts in combat, and as much as it irks me to say this, our abilities aren’t of much use in this situation. We must act with tact, for it is only when the enemy is revealed that we can reciprocate in kind, with all of our martial prowess in tow.”

“Like a striking viper.” rumbled Titanium.

“Well said, Titanium.” Red nodded.

“Fine,” Thunder hopped off the bed and making his way to the door. The others watched him walk out the door, the only movement being Jacques nibbling on Tron’s ear.

“Thunder’s got the right idea, gang. Get some rest; we’ll be snooping around during different periods of the day. Red and Titanium have got the early morning shift, Lake, you’ve got midday shift, and my group has the late day shift.”

Lake eyed the gryphon.

“Are you sure this isn’t some excuse so you can sleep in?” she smirked.

“You’re just jealous,” Hawk shot back. Lake allowed one of her rare chuckles to emerge before heading out. “And Red, could you dispel the noise-nullifying spell? An occupied room that is completely silent is too suspicious.”

“Yes, sir.” With a flash of his horn, the spell fell apart. The rest of the team left the room, leaving Hawk Eye alone in his room. Hawk Eye listened carefully as the clopping of hooves faded away.

He sighed, allowing ‘Lieutenant Hawk Eye’ to fade away, leaving just Hawk Eye, the gryphon. He walked over to his bag and began rifling through it. Only a few strips of jerky left. He closed his eyes and calculated how many more weeks he could go without being forced to feed on the flesh of another. A few seconds of murmuring calculations later, Hawk was forced to admit to himself that he needed to find a source of meat. Fortunately, Trottingham was in between Hollow Shades and Manehatten, both of which had a sizeable omnivorous population. It was likely that Midnight might be running empty as well.

Hawk Eye shook his head of depressing thoughts and pulled out a framed picture before setting it up on the bedside table. He felt a small smile grow on his beak as he looked at his father giving him, his brother, his sister, and his mother a bear hug, his beaming expression contagious. Hawk’s sister was rolling her eyes, trying to keep a similar smile from reaching her beak, his mother was fussing over their crests, his brother was struggling for a breath, and Hawk Eye himself was in the center, smiling proudly at the camera, in his very own Guard Recruit armor.

Now he could rest easy.

<><><>

It was just another day. Another day after over a week of no progress whatsoever. It was only due to Red’s placating words and Titanium’s glare that Thunder did not act out. But the rest of the team was starting to get restless. Strong Recovery began fidgeting anxiously at meetings, Lake was getting angrier for longer, and even Midnight, cool and collected as she was, began showing signs of nervousness. Hawk Eye took a deep breath and expelled the worries from his mind. He leaned back on the chair outside a diner, Midnight Azalea facing him, and focused on the conversation that brought about his worries.

“I agree.” Midnight nodded. “We’re running low on ‘supplies’. We could always go to Hollow Shades, but I’m worried about missing any-” the batpony shifted her eyes from side to side “-event that may happen around here.”

“That may be, but we’ll have to move on eventually. After all these supplies are exhausted, we’ll have a week at most before we get sick.”

“I guess.” Midnight’s tufted ears fell. “I just wish some ponies didn’t give us so much trouble…”

“Yeah, some ponies are like that. Don’t let their flak get to you, it’ll end up driving you batty.” Hawk Eye chortled.

“Don’t let Lake Lily hear you say that.” Midnight smirked. “You know how she hates stupid jokes.”

“Trust me, I learned that the hard way.” The gryphon rubbed the back of his head, reminiscing on the phantom pain. His eyes caught Tron, who seemed to be walking across the road towards a mare in a white uniform. “Hold up, Tron’s doing something.”

Midnight’s ears swiveled towards Tron, and her eyes fell on the mare he was heading towards. Her cat-like pupils narrowed, and she almost let out a gasp of surprise.

“Sweet Luna’s starry skies! Did you see her-” Hawk Eye grabbed her muzzle and pointed it away from the mare.

“It’s rude to stare,” he said chidingly. “Can you just tell me what he’s saying, word for word?” Midnight’s ears twitched, but stayed aimed towards Tron.

“Okay, fine.” She closed her eyes to concentrate. “Oh, wow. He started very politely. ‘Good morning, madam! You are looking full and robust today!’” Midnight’s high-pitched impression of Tron widened Hawk’s grin. “I didn’t know he had it in him. You think you know a colt. ‘You are blossoming like the most beautiful flower in all of Equestria! Oh, and one more thing; your te-’” A blush developed on Midnight’s cheeks. “Aaaaand there it is.”

Whatever Tron had said, the bright yellow mare with the curled mane just gaped at him as he smiled. Finally, she blinked a couple times, opened and closed her mouth a bit, then just sighed and walked away. Tron shrugged and continued his trot down the street. Nopony actually shied away from him, and a few were quite happy to see him. One could say that Trottingham was anything but a stranger to eccentric ponies. Hawk Eye struggled to keep his mirth from bursting forth, and decided to change the subject.

“So about Hollow Shades...” Hawk Eye turned back to a blushing Midnight. “All I’ve ever heard about it is that it’s a batpony village. Is it the only one, or…”

“Oh, no.” Midnight shook her head, thankful for the distraction from Tron’s faux pas. “It has the highest percentage of batponies, which is why it’s considered the main coven, but Manehatten and even Canterlot have higher populations. And there’s even a few small covens scattered across the Hayseed swamps. But we mostly stick to the east because of…reasons.” Hawk raised an eyebrow. “Alright, sorry, I keep on forgetting that you’ve got a good head on your shoulders. A couple centuries back, there was a really big coven, right by where Las Pegasus would be. It came to be that a Matriarch of the Cursed Coven had found a way to become stronger, faster, and more ferocious.

“Apparently, by using dark magic, she could alter herself and her children to gain strength from…well, you know how batponies are compared to vampires? There’s a good reason for that. It took a good century for the members of the Cursed Clan to either overcome the dark magic or to be…put down. Celestia had to intervene, personally. Which probably attributed to the myth that vampires turn to dust in the sun. But even after the Cursed Coven had been destroyed, ponies in the west still feared us. Hated us. Hay, even today, a batpony can’t visit the west without being glared at.”

Midnight sighed. “It’s easy to think of those that do evil as monsters, and separate them from ourselves by saying they’re different. But look at Rising Dark! When we brought him in, he wasn’t snarling, gnashing sharp teeth, or even glowing with dark magic. He was just…crazy. Sad and demented, yes, but if you asked me to pick him out of a crowd of other ponies only by saying ‘pick out the evil one’, I don’t think I’d be able to.” She slumped onto the table. “How do we know what we’re chasing blends in just as easily?”

“We don’t. But it’s our duty to find it.” Midnight looked away, but Hawk refused to let that be the end of their conversation. “Listen, Midnight. It’s only fair that since you told me some shameful batpony history, I should tell you a bit of shameful gryphon history. Senator Raptorum was a very prominent member of the Gryphon Empire Senate, just over a thousand years ago. Everybody loved him; he was charismatic, he publicly helped the lower classes, and he was handsome to boot. As a result, he was the one of the most powerful gryphons in the world, second only to Emperor Draco Interfectorem himself.

“As it turns out, Raptorum didn’t want to be second best. With numerous trade agreements, bribes, and promises, he managed to set the nation against the Emperor, and planned to kill him in the social turmoil. He made the mistake of trying to bring in Draco’s adoptive son, Leo, into the plot. But Leo was wise enough to spot a scheme, and he managed to warn his father. Draco was able to turn the tide of opinion and opened investigations on Raptorum. The Senator was not without allies, so he managed to escape outside the Empire. But upon going through his estate, many terrible things were brought to light. They found dozens of skeletons, skeletons of sapient species, eaten to the bone.” The mare gasped, and Hawk Eye’s gaze fell.

“There are some rumors about having found living hens, but I think the files were destroyed for a reason. Raptorum is the only creature to have a law made in place to kill him on sight.” Midnight’s eyes widened further. “Yeah, he was that bad. Gryphon parents tell their cubs Raptorum’s tale as a story to scare them into doing what they tell them, and a lot of our horror stories are based around him. What I’m trying to say is, there will always be bad eggs, pony, gryphon, or otherwise. It’s our duty to make sure these monsters don’t ever get the chance of hurting others.”

The two sat in silence, their somber conversation having sapped any good mood that was once there. The waiter came and brought them their meals, but they had lost their appetite. Midnight was pushing a mango around on her plate when Tron trotted up to them, smiling as if he had just won the lottery. Or just wearing his usual smile.

“Well, hi there! What are you up to today?”

Tron’s demeanor was infectious enough to be called a disease; Midnight and Hawk could feel smiles tugging at the corners of their mouths. Suffice it to say, Tron, strange as he might have been, was there when they needed him.

“Nothing, Tron. Just talking about some depressing stuff,” Hawk Eye said.

“Erch.” Tron grimaced.

“Pretty much.” A white stallion with a swirly mane of white and brown stripes, with one red lock spiraling off the top of his head, pulled a specialized cart to a stop across the street. “Looks like Ice Cream Sundae is setting up shop a bit late.”

Tron’s smile stretched even further, but before he could turn to ask Hawk if he could get some, he found the bit bag thrust in front of him.

“Just get me a vanilla swirl and…” Hawk turned to Midnight.

“I’ll go with him. I’m tired of getting the same thing every day.”

Tron and Midnight walked across the street, the batpony keeping a wary eye on the corvus chick rustling in his mane. Jacques had already grown a bit in the past week, most likely due to the rations Jacques had pilfered from Midnight and Hawk. Surprisingly enough, Jacques was a very sweet bird otherwise. He was careful to not scratch Tron, and popped out his mane occasionally to nibble his ears affectionately.

“Hey there Tron!” Sundae called. “Who’s your friend?”

“I’m Midnight Azalea ̶ ” she waved “ ̶ pleased to finally meet you. I’m the one who usually takes the vanilla cone. I just felt like having something different today.”

“Well don’t you worry, Miss Midnight. Ice Cream SUNDAE’s ̶ ” Sundae’s eyes crossed as he screamed out the word before returning to normal “ ̶ got a flavor for everypony,” he said with a smile, as if nothing happened.

“Um…Okay. What do you suggest?” Midnight asked.

“Well, quite a few folks like my swirls, but I personally have a hankerin’ for my banana split. Of course, one of my regulars, who seems to have missed me the last three days, absolutely loves my SUNDAE! And there’s a pegasus from ̶ ”

“Wait, what was that last part?”

“Oh, my SUNDAE? A lot of ponies seem curious about it, and ̶ ”

“No, no, before that. About one of your regulars?”

“Aw, yeah.” Sundae kicked the dirt. “Gull was a bit odd, but she always came by. Seemed to have a thing against birds, but she was nice enough.”

Midnight frowned, thinking over the past few days. Her eyes widened when she realized they only asked if there was anypony new in town, or if something interesting happened. But they never asked if there were ponies leaving.

“Can you get us what you normally give Tron? I’ve just realized my friends and I have a train to catch.”

“Okay then! One Strawberry swirl, one vanilla cone, and one super special SUNDAE with a cherry on top for Jacques.”

Midnight considered asking Sundae about his…tic, but decided that it was difficult enough for the poor stallion without having somepony ask him about it every day.

“Thank you for the delicious treats, Sundae. I’ll miss them.” Midnight paid the stallion and passed the treats to Tron before grabbing him by the fetlock and dragging him away. “Come on, Tron. We’ve got to get back to ‘work’.” They trotted back to Hawk Eye as their ice creams were held aloft in Tron’s magic.

“Didn’t I say I wanted vanilla swirl?”

“Yeah, well, you’re getting strawberry,” Tron said, levitating the cherry up to Jacques, who swallowed it in one chomp.

“It doesn’t matter, Hawk.” Midnight Azalea smiled smugly. “Because I got us a lead.”

<><><>

Gull’s home was on the western edge of Trottingham, far away from most other homes. It was well maintained, orderly, and idyllic from the outside. The home of a model citizen. As Hawk Eye crawled through the window Tron had broken, he couldn’t help but notice the interior to be completely different. Mostly because he slipped on a pile of papers. Whereas the outside told the story of a pony who kept good care of herself and her belongings, the inside was cluttered with loose papers, garbage, spilled ink, and effigies of birds. The original hardwood floor was hardly visible underneath piles of papers, the walls covered in posters rallying for one cause or another. The effigies hung by their necks from twine hammered into the ceiling, some pierced by scores of needles, some burned, and some with their wings torn out.

Midnight was silent as she entered through the window, her face grim, with only her twitching wings betraying her nervousness. Hawk walked over to the door and picked up the pile of letters. He read them over, his frown deepening with each letter.

“What are they?” Midnight asked.

“Bills. Letters from concerned friends and families. Refusals from publishing companies.”

Tron crawled through the window and landed on his face. Jacques fell out and nipped him on the snout before jumping back into his mane. Tron shook his head and looked around.

“Hmm. If there were anything to give me the goosepimples, it’s probably that.”

Hawk tore open one of the letters from a publisher and began scanning them over.

“It seems Gull had taken a love for writing. But since she didn’t have a writing cutie mark, the ‘right kind,” whatever that means, and the fact that there was no ‘market for her unique literature’, she was advised to try another publishing house.”

“And their response?”

“Their letter of refusal is right below it.”

Midnight could see the sadness in the gryphon’s eyes, so she pushed down her own melancholy and patted him on his withers.

“Come on. We’ll find her.”

The rest of the home was littered with just as many pages as the first room was. Pages of Gull’s failed works, they realized. They tried to read some of them, but the more they read, the more scrawled the ink was, and the less sense it made. More and more effigies were found; the further they went into the house, the denser the forest of dolls, and the darker it got, the curtains having long been replaced by blinds. And it evolved. From effigies of birds to effigies of gryphons to effigies of pegasi. They all varied, and Midnight even recognized a few of the ponies that she saw around Trottingham. All cut, needled, torn, wrung, burned, and hanged. Until finally, they reached a door with only two dolls, one hanging on each side.

“Are those…the princesses?” Midnight said..

“Seems to be.”

The dolls were bigger than the others, and had their own set of wings as well as visible horns. Oddly enough, they were pristine compared to the others. They still hung by their necks, but their coats were unmarred, their wings splayed, unbroken. Their blue and white coats were immaculate compared to the squalor of the rest of the house, as if the occupant had dedicated a part of her day to keeping the two clean while ignoring the condition of her own home.

It was when Midnight opened the door that she almost fell to her knees. There, in the center of the bedroom, a corpse was strung up, hanging by not just the neck, but each of the legs as well, like a demented puppet. It was only upon closer inspection that the corpse was revealed to be none other than a life-sized doll. Midnight held her hoof to her barrel as she felt her heartbeat slowly return to normal. Hawk Eye followed her and stepped back a moment before coming to the same conclusion. The doll had been scratched, needled, torn, and burned…far more than any of the others. Oddly enough, it was an earth pony, one with purple buttons for eyes, and soft dull blue fabric for a coat. The mane and tail were torn and burnt away to almost nothing, but Hawk Eye could see streaks of cyan and light green. But what stood out the most was a hole torn right through the doll’s chest, fluff spilling out onto the bed below.

“Who was this?” he muttered.

“Hawk?” Midnight called. “You better see this.”

Midnight had found a broken picture case with the glass cracked across lying next to a dent in the wall. Hawk carefully removed the picture from the frame, revealing a smiling blue earth pony filly with amethyst eyes nestled between a gray male hippogriff and white female hippogriff.

“Her parents.” Hawk Eye said.

“Wha? But how?”

“The same way a unicorn is born by two earth ponies. Skipped a generation.” Hawk Eye frowned and turned back to the doll in the middle of the room. “Must have been pretty hard for her, growing up.” He noticed the purple buttons were staring at the entrance, as if fixated by something.

Slowly, Hawk Eye walked over to the door and closed it, revealing a calendar, and more importantly, a map. He took the calendar off the door and sifted through the earlier pages. It seemed as if all was well until a few months ago, when she fit more and more meetings in, each one getting more and more desperate. Meetings between publishers, editors, famous pegasi, and some gryphons. Some were scribbled out. Until finally, in the most derelict script, the date being three days prior, was written in capital letters: ‘LAST CHANCE: MUST GO. THEY WILL GRANT MY WISH’. In the same red marker, a circle was drawn on the map, arrows pointed at it to emphasize the location. It seemed to be an old country hotel, apparently abandoned due to the construction of a nearby mine.

“I think I know where we need to go.”

It was a lot easier to gather the team together than Hawk had originally thought. Granted, it was most likely due to Tron’s hyperactivity and the team’s restlessness rather than his own leadership skills, but the team was ready nonetheless. The hotel was in surprisingly good shape, and the only evidence of the passing decades was a fine layer of dust over everything.

Everything except a clear path on the floor, leading to the basement.

Not even Tron let out a peep as they carefully tread down the stairs, every step releasing a small creak from the aged staircase. It was there they found their first obstacle. The path clearly led to a huge stone door, and the grooves of dust in the floor proved that it had been opened quite recently. Hawk turned around to face his team.

“Okay, guys. I don’t know what we’ll face in there. All we know is that some ponies who seemed to be either really stressed or really desperate were offered…something. I suggest we ̶ ”

Titanium was grabbed in a blue glow and thrown through the stone door.

“Let’s do this hooperskotch!” Tron yelled as he jumped through the hole he created.

“Tron, you incompetent foal!” Lake Lily raged and rushed after him.

“Oooor we go all at once.” Hawk rolled his eyes and followed, stopping to check on Titanium. “You okay?”

“Fine.” He grunted. “It worked. All that matters.” The colossal pony got to his hooves and shook a few bits of stone off of himself.

Hawk Eye nodded and chased Tron and Lake down the tunnel, with the rest of his team in tow. The passageway was eerily silent, with only the clopping of hooves and the crackling of flames to accompany their charge into the depths. It was only when they saw Tron and Lake Lily staring at something that they slowed to a stop. At their hooves lay an earth pony with a dull blue coat, a spear piercing through her chest, lodged into the earth. Her purple eyes were open, staring at the necklace with two white and gray feathers tied together she had grasped in her hooves. Midnight backed away and held back a retch, Tron’s eternal smile was nowhere to be seen, and Titanium’s eyes grew moist, before they blinked the potential tears away. Thunder looked elsewhere, trying to hide his discomfort, and Lake Lily was trying to remain stoic as she wiped her eyes with her fetlock. Red used his magic to close Gull’s eyes as an uncomfortable Strong Recovery lifted her foreleg and dropped it.

“Rigor mortis has begun to set in,” he announced. “Couldn’t have happened more than twelve hours ago.”

Hawk reached over and grabbed the spear. With a mighty heft, he managed to pull the spear out of the poor mare and toss it aside. He considered for a moment before taking the necklace out of Gull’s hooves, wrapping it carefully in a cloth, and putting it in his bag.

Red took a few steps before stopping at a corner. He stumbled and gasped.

“Sir, you might want to see this,” he said.

Massacre. That was the only word to possibly describe the cavern. Blood stained the floor in such quantities, it was impossible to tell what color it was originally. Over a dozen dead ponies lay here and there, accompanied by a few minotaurs, gryphons, and numerous diamond dogs. Most held weapons: spears, swords, clubs, axes, and even pickaxes. Tables had been overturned, beds cleaved, silverware clattered about.

Thunder was retching, and Lake Lily wasn’t trying to conceal her tears at the sight, unable to move, frozen in absolute horror. Strong Recovery went about and identified what happened to the bodies, Midnight and Tron had closed their eyes and taken deep breaths to calm down, and Titanium’s normally massive stature seemed a lot smaller, the stallion broken down by the sight. Red had seemed okay, until he began to follow Thunder’s example and found a corner to lose his lunch in.

Hawk Eye fought down the rising bile and shoved away his emotions. He looked over the room, analyzing the positions of the corpses, even noting distastefully that a few had no weapons at all. A majority of the bodies were face to face, one group with their backs to an ornate silver door, and another facing them. There were no distinguishing marks between the two groups.

“Strong Recovery. What in the Sisters’ names happened here?”

“From what I can tell, they died in a battle between ten and fourteen hours ago. No distinctive markings of factions. Pony pitted against pony, gryphon against gryphon, dog versus dog. And any combination thereof,” the medic murmured. Silence fell.

“Damn it!” Hawk slammed a fist into a table, sending chips of wood flying. The loud noise snapped the others out of their reverie. “If I had been faster…If I had been smarter…I could have saved them.”

“Listen, boss.” Thunder flew towards him nervously. “There was no way you could know. We were searching for extra ponies, not missing ones.” Hawk shook his head.

“If I had listened to you…We could have stopped this. This ̶ ” He waved his claw around the room “ ̶ would’ve never happened.”

“You don’t know that.” Lake Lily moved towards him. “For all we know, we could have been a part of those piles.”

“Your strategy was the best we had.” Midnight flew over to him and put a comforting hoof on his withers. “Whatever happened here, happened. It’s up to us to make things right.”

Titanium lumbered over to the gryphon and put him in a headlock. It happened so fast that the gryphon was speechless.

“Repeat: ‘It’s not my fault.’”

“Wh-what?” Hawk Eye struggled, but couldn’t move.

“Say it,” Titanium said. Hawk sighed.

“It’s not my fault,” Hawk said in a flat tone.

“Again.”

“It’s not my fault.” It was less flat this time.

“Again.”

“It’s not my fault…It’s not my fault.” Hawk Eye blinked away a few tears.

Titanium nodded and let him go.

“Come on.” Hawk sighed, catching a sob before it escaped his throat, and cricked his neck. “Let’s find out what’s behind those doors. Maybe then, we’ll find out what in the world happened here.”

The team pushed open the doors to find…another room. A set of stairs led up to five silver thrones, each with a pedestal at its feet. The room was eerily silent, lacking the usual sound of crackling flames, the carpet muting the sound of hooves. It smelt almost of burnt charcoal, but sharper, more rancid. There was no evidence of widespread fire, except a few piles of ashes. Hawk Eye approached a pile suspiciously, pinching some of the ashes between his claws, rubbing them together. He looked over the five piles of ashes in the room, his mind racing a mile a minute. Why was that smell so disturbingly familiar? It was then that the memories came back to him.

“I know this smell,” he stated.

“From what?” Lake asked.

“From when I tried cooking guinea pig over a fire. Burnt flesh.” The party steadily scooted away from the piles of ashes. “But this just raises more questions than answers. If an attacking faction came down here for whatever reason, why did they bother closing both the first door and the silver doors? But whatever did this to these…piles…couldn’t have been one of the attacking faction, because the only bloody prints there are here are ours! What was the point of all of this?”

Hawk scratched his head and looked from side to side. Strong Recovery stepped forward apprehensively.

“There exists a medical spell, one that is rarely used, that gives one an image of what happened to the patient’s body to better make a diagnosis. With enough power, one could expand the radius, allowing one to use the ambient magic as a record.”

“Can you do it?” Hawk stepped towards him, desperate for answers.

“Unfortunately not. I am a skilled unicorn, but I lack the reserves to do such a spell.”

“What if we did a runic array that would pour power into you?” Lake Lily asked. “We have two unicorns that could lend you their magic.”

“Maybe, maybe.” Strong bit his lip. “But I am not sure that will be enough. The larger the sphere of influence, the higher the thaumaturgic cost. I’m not sure the power of three unicorns will suffice, even if two of them are as adept as Tron and Red.”

“All of us?” Titanium raised an eyebrow. Everybody turned to look at him.

“Yes, I suppose that would work.” Strong rubbed his chin, doing a few mental calculations. “That should encompass most of the room. But it would require a slightly more complicated runic array.”

“Already on it,” Lake Lily said as she pulled a piece of chalk out of her saddlebags.

Once the mare had finished the symbols with some difficulty, less due to their complexity and more to do with the difficulty of using chalk on a carpeted floor, each pony and gryphon stood in their respective circles. Strong took a few deep breaths, then began the spell. The lines began to glow with blue light as a purple sphere began to expand throughout the room. Shapes began to coalesce until five glowing figures became completely visible.

“Orgh-Eurgh, it’s disgusting!” Tron exclaimed. “What is that? Izzat rancid? Is that a tap-dancing crab demon?”

They were tripedal beings, covered in a thick black chitin that resembled ancient armor. They had two arms connected to a torso much like a minotaur’s, except they had three fingers on each hand ending in claws. Their heads were angular, with points adorning their heads like crowns. Four beady black eyes shone from within each of their chitinous helms. One skittered about at the bottom of the staircase, gesticulating wildly.

“Strong? Where’s the sound?” Thunder asked.

“Right, right. Worry not, I only need a moment.” Strong Recovery stuck out his tongue in concentration.

“ ̶ and it is only by chance that we speak their language. I say we push forwards, faster!” The one at the bottom of the staircase chittered, its voice grave and seemingly vibrating. “Their magic fuels our own by inconceivable amounts. Add to the fact that they are susceptible to our telepathic suggestion, and we could easily become the new sovereigns of this world. With this magic, we are GODS!”

The creature in the centermost throne rose up and looked down upon the speaker.

“Brother. What about the two goddesses that we’ve heard about from our thralls?”

The speaker waved a claw.

“Pah. We outnumber them. But just in case, we can always make one of their servants a thrall, just to poison their meals. If it doesn’t kill them, it will weaken them.”

The speaker turned around dramatically and began speaking once more. At least he would have if there wasn’t what seemed to be a ripple of something flowed into the eyeholes of the creature.

“Pause!” Hawk Eye called out. The images froze just as the speaker fell to his knees. “What’s going on?”

“If I had to guess,” Red said, “something without magic flowed into the one giving a rousing speech to his brethren.” He frowned. “Which doesn’t make sense, because what would cause ripples in ambient magic? It’s difficult to see, but we can assume the shimmering non-magic zones to be a part of this new being’s form. But suggesting from the way it simply flowed into the creature, I doubt it even has a form. It may even be invisible.”

“It seems like these guys aren’t the only players on the board,” Hawk stated grimly.

“Great,” Thunder groaned, “just what we need. More problems.”

Hawk motioned for Strong to continue.

The speaker was on his knees, and the glow slowly faded away from his body. Strong gasped, realizing that whatever had flowed inside the speaker had killed him, thus terminating the magical glow. But the chitin was still moving. Whatever it was, it made a show of slowly getting back to its feet and waving away the others, who had leaned forwards in worry.

“Brothers…” It rasped in the voice that once belonged to the speaker. “I have just been attacked.”

There was a muttering of outrage from the others before the being continued.

“Our mental battle was quick, but it did not hold back from its ferocity. I saw glimpses…glimpses of millions of others, just like that one, if not stronger. I rescind my previous statements. I suggest we leave at once, and never return.”

There was a moment of silence from the others.

“That does not sound like something Makrus would say,” The middle triped stated.

“Alas ̶ ” the being bowed its head “ ̶ I have been humbled. We should use our heightened magic to leave this world. I do not believe we can face millions of others like that one.” The team could glimpse within its left eyeholes, and a few shuddered when they could not find any glint of the eyes the creature used to have.

“We would agree with you…if your name was once Makrus.”

The being froze. It cocked its head.

“I underestimated you.”

“That will be the last mistake you make, creature,” the rightmost triped said.

“Is there any way for you to leave here? Or at least go into hiding for the next two years?” The being moved its limbs about, testing out its form.

“Not a chance, creature,”the left one said as they rose up and began walking down the stairs. “Our thralls will dispose of you.”

“They’re a bit busy.” The tripeds paused, each on a different step. “The sad thing about cults is that they tend to interpret your words in ways you do not want.” The being sounded a bit sad at that. It moved its arm in front of its face, as if observing the structure. “All it takes is a differing opinion and it all… falls apart.” It turned its head a full way round with a series of sickening cracks to look back towards the door...staring directly at the team. “Your mental manipulations are largely responsible for their… increased aggression. Your thralls are disposing of each other… good riddance. Your ideas will die with you.” The head turned back towards the insectoid beings.

“You are nothing to us!” The one closest to the being exclaimed, a sneer evident in its voice. “This foreign magic is the nectar that made us into gods! This ambrosia will make us live longer than a thousand empires, a million generations! So you managed to defeat one of us; you are hopeless against the might of four gods! Your existence is nothing more than a speck of annoyance at the start of our illustrious reign. You have nothing more than a shell, but we have our power, our ideals, our unity! All will ̶ what are you doing?”

There was a crackling as the being seemed to hold a shimmering box of something in a claw. It pulled a triangle of something out of the box, before bringing it to its mouth. If one forgot to squint, it seemed as if the being was miming eating a bunch of chips out of a box.

“Oh, this?” It held up the shimmering triangle. “Just some tortilla chips. To go with your cheese.”

“Why you ̶ ” The leftmost triped was interrupted by a flickering tendril of non-magic going through his neck. It had already swung through the necks of the two on the left before the second from the right brought up a shimmering golden shield, which seemed to cause the tendril to bounce back. Before the tripeds could act, the being bounded up into the air, making itself a target high above them. The two remaining tripeds raised their arms and screamed in unison:

“INFERNO PITFYRE!”

The being stayed still as possible, not bothering to avoid the flames that jettisoned from their claws. In a devastating roar, it was consumed by the column of fire, leaving nothing more than ashes to fall to the ground. The tripeds instantly relaxed and put their arms down.

“The plan continues?”

“Yes. We must honor our brothers. They will not have fallen in va ̶ ” His chest burst out, sending purple viscera all over his companion. The last triped instantly summoned another shield around himself, narrowly protecting himself from two tendrils that nearly cleaved his head in two. The tendrils wrapped around the shield and bounced away. Again. And again. The triped whimpered within its golden enclosure.

“I am impressed by your instincts. Even more so for your magic, no matter how idiotic the spells sound. Although I suspect that your magic reacts in such a way to my essence because you fed on Equestrian magic.” The tendrils stopped slamming against the shield, and an iridescent dome covered the shield. “But in the end, you were nothing more than Kichil. Strong ones, yes. But you have Kichil bodies, speaking in Kichil tongue, thinking Kichil thoughts. Not gods.” The shimmering increased in frequency.

“Can somepony tell me what the…thing is doing to that insect thing?” Thunder asked.

“I-I think it's burning away the air inside the shield,” Strong stammered. “It’s asphyxiating him.”

“No! NO! You may kill me, but It will avenge us! If The Snake was powerful enough to bring us here, It is strong enough to avenge us!” The triped fell to its knees. “Yo-you will…di-die.” With that, it collapsed. The shield fell. And the being hung there for a moment. Contemplating.

“Too risky,” it said. And with that, the triped was immolated. It hung over the one it had destroyed from blunt kinetic force. “I’m sorry, if it counts for anything.” His body caught fire, reducing him to cinders like his brothers. It flowed over to the next body and picked up a head. “I understand why you chose to puff out your chests. I myself have done it a few times to intimidate foes that I was unsure I could defeat.” The head was gently placed above the neck before his body burned as well. It reached the last body, trailing a tendril across the body. “I just wish…”

Strong Recovery collapsed, and the illusion followed. He stumbled to his hooves as his horn smoked, and the others walked out of their circles with shaky legs. Their expressions were sullen, and they looked towards Hawk for some guidance.

“First, we bury the bodies.” Hawk looked at a pile of ashes. “All of the bodies. We don’t know what that entity wants, but we know it and something called ‘The Snake’ are very dangerous. So after giving all of the victims a proper burial, we’ll contact the princesses.”

Chapter 21: Eruption

It may be surprising to know, but I do believe in a higher power. Not as one might believe in fate, or as a horoscope. Nothing so indefinite. I know there are rules that the universe must follow. I know some rules cannot be broken. Fate, horoscopes, destiny, superstition? They all fly in the face of that. I was part of a species that was born from chaos, striving for order. I myself am an unfortunate result of chaos. But there are some things that I can’t explain. But unlike others, who believe in a god and choose to worship said being, I don’t pray. I know better. This higher being, whatever it was, most likely set us down like a petri dish, laid back and observed. God is a scientist.

God is an asshole.

So if there were strings of fate, I’ve believed for a long time that they were left in the divine supply closet to gather dust, rot away, or be tied together by the same forces that mess up the earbuds in your pockets. I guess you could say I was humoring Zecora when she wanted to read me my future through tarot cards.

“Listen Ze, I don’t really see the point of all this,” I said as she began shuffling the tarot deck. “I already know my future. I don’t see the point of using a bunch of cards to tell me I’m going to go through.”

“Hush, you silly teal colt. From this you shall not bolt.” The zebra managed to send the cards flying into the air in a line from one hoof to the next before placing the pile one the table in between us. “The cards you must choose are five” --Zecora placed both her forehooves on the pile and spread them apart, revealing the pile spread out, face down, in a straight line “--for your pasts, present, and futures to derive.”

Okay, points to her for showmanship. Showmareship? Showzebraship? No, no, the female zebra is also called a mare. I blinked a few times to clear my head. Never mind. Choose a card so I can get out of here.

I picked a card at random and Zecora flipped it over. A five overlapping a sword was at the top of the card, with a stallion mournfully picking up swords on a battlefield as a flickering flame behind him bellowed smoke. Flickering flames and billowing smoke? I blinked once more to see the card was immobile, but it definitely seemed to have once been in motion. Either I’m going crazier than normal, or Zecora’s herbs are starting to get to me.

“You have struck a few unlucky chords; this is why you picked the Five of Swords. Your monumental defeat scars you even today, but unless you let go, it will never go away.”

“True enough.” I nodded. That could be said about anyone, really.

Zecora motioned for me to pick the next card, so I obliged. A big zero was at the top of the card this time, a smirking white earth pony rearing over the edge of a cliff. Did it just wink at me?

“I do not mean to be cruel, but this one is called the Fool. You decided to go where the wind took you, escaping to begin a life anew. Possessing little more than hope, you ran away so you could cope.”

I had to keep my eyes from widening, almost clenching my jaw in surprise.

“Spot on,” I said nonchalantly.

I flipped over the next card and almost gasped. Below the number nine was an image of a stoic pegasus stallion in a cloak, leaning on a staff. His hazel eyes blazed with determination, and his disheveled black and white mane blew in the breeze. Okay, it’s not moving, but that’s obviously me. Either I’m being blackmailed, or this is Zecora’s weird voodoo magic. Doesn’t really make a difference either way; I’ve made sure that my employers understand my history, and Zecora’s just doing her thing. I spared a glance. Her weird, mystical thing.

“The Hermit came from far indeed, giving guidance to those in need. But he is too proud to admit he needs aid. Perhaps it is because of those that betrayed. He cannot rely on that rotting stick; he must accept help from one just as thick.”

I nodded silently and picked the next card.

Well, that’s just grim. A smiling skeletal pony stared back at me, white scythe cutting down swaths of wheat. It was strange, almost scary, how this card remained motionless. A thirteen was emblazoned across the top. I didn’t need Zecora to tell me which card it was.

“Death. Bringer of change.” Zecora nodded at my statement.

“This being that is bony is called the Pale Pony. This is less clear, but you needn’t fear. Great changes come, a transformation if you will. A change of mind or of soul you shall fulfill. Good or bad we cannot know, but it will not be low.”

I gulped nervously, but pointed to another card.

“This is the last card, as you can regard.”

With that the final tarot card was revealed. A beautiful phoenix flew across the card, a golden twenty shining at the top. The wings flapped, leaving glowing embers of fire across the image. When I blinked, it was motionless, but I could swear I saw a glint of emotion in its golden eyes.

“Judgement means you will walk through fire, flames of which you will not expire. From fire you will be born once more, shedding what you had once wore. Changes brought about by Death, finished with each new breath.”

Nice and cryptic. Well, I can do without all this freaky voodoo or drugs or blackmail. Whatever this may be, I’ve got my money, so it’s time to leave.

“Thanks for this, Ze.” I smiled. “This was enlightening to say the least.”

Zecora returned my smile and collected all of the cards.

“I hope my fortune-telling eased your mind. Now you won’t have to face the future blind.”

I nodded and sat up, gathering my bits in my wing. I gave a small wave and sauntered out of the hut. It was only when I was completely alone that I allowed a shudder to pass through my body. That gave me the heebie-jeebies. Although in retrospect, that tarot reading may have been close to the truth, but it was vague. My past was pretty spot-on, but with enough research, you could pretty much get the first three cards without fail. A little bit of sleight of hoof, and bam! Mysterious card reading. I shook my head. As for the next two, well, they put the capital ‘V’ in vague. It’s only natural for people to remember change. I stopped at the end of the path between the Everfree and Rambling Rock Forest.

“Like that.”

A manticore was slumped by a tree, its jaw bloodied with the viscera of some poor creature. Or not. I noted the lack of bones and the general area around the monster. I slowly approached it from the air, taking into account its shallow breaths. This was not the sleep of a satisfied predator, but that of a knocked-out opponent. There were little drops of blood leading away from the manticore’s mouth. Whatever had escaped from the manticore seemed to be in quite a hurry, the droplets of blood being more and more separated, heading directly towards…

My cabin.

I rushed back to my home, pushing a sizable amount of energy in my wings, dodging trees nimbly. I almost knocked down the door in my haste, but I found Val applying some Bui-Bui leaves to her arm as Steel Fang stared at her warily.

“Are you alright?”

I could almost hear Val raise an eyebrow.

“Are you actually showing concern for me?”

“I don’t hate you Val.” I rolled my eyes. “I dislike what you represent: either a figment of my imagination or proof that I’m in another world.” I went over to a small chest where I kept my medical supplies and got some alcohol and some bandages. “You’re in limbo. On the off chance you are real, it would be wrong of me not to help you. Take off the leaves.”

Val complied and winced a bit at the sight of her own blood flowing freely.

“A manticore bit me.”

“So I saw.” I dunked some of the bandages in alcohol and began dabbing at her wounds through the gauntlets, ignoring the prickling sensation in my spine.

“Do you think it was poisonous? Or that it got a major artery?”

“Unlikely. It’s a lot of blood, but your nullification appears to have sapped the manticore of most of its strength before it could put more force into its bite. As for a venomous bite, I doubt that it would be equipped with poisonous sacs on two different ends of the body, and certainly not on the feline part. The way things seem to be going, you’d have more to worry about a human bite than this one.” Val fidgeted as I poured alcohol on the wound to be absolutely sure no bacteria got in. Foreign pathogens are such a bitch. Can’t have my imaginary friend catching equine smallpox or bubonic plague.

“Why?” Val cocked her head. She was getting better at showing or hiding her emotions when she needed to.

“Human mouths can hold a variety of bacterial strains. If you break skin, there’s a chance you might get a tamer version of a Komodo dragon bite. I use the word ‘tame’ relatively, of course.”

Val continued staring at me silently as I wrapped her forearm in bandages.

“I don’t understand something,” she said.

“Then ask,” I responded in my usual neutral tone.

“You act like some sort of smart guy, but then I get a bunch of stuff from you that just screams ‘rough and dirty worker’.”

“The two aren’t mutually exclusive.”

“Yeah, but I hardly know anything about you. I’ve told you about my life in Alabama, my mother’s and my split, my move to New York, hell, I’ve even told you where I’d go if the Reds nuked us. But I know so little about you. Your name is Windell. You’re pretty smart, if a bit emotionally dull. You’ve worked in sewers. You love your father. And your sense of smell is pretty bad.” Val threw her arms into the air. “I don’t even know if you’re American.”

“You forgot the fact that I’m not mentally stable.” Val rolled her eyes. “But yes, I’m American. Second generation, with a Canadian father.”

“And your mom?” I tried to rip the bandage off the roll, to no avail.

“Died when I was an infant,” I said.

“But where was she from?” Val’s eyes narrowed.

“Hold on, I can’t cut the bandage. I’ll go get a pair of scissors.”

I escaped the conversation successfully, taking my time to find a pair of scissors. Holding it gently in my mouth, I made my way back to Val. Only to stop and drop the scissors when I went slack-jawed. Val was petting Steel Fang. With her bloody gauntlets. With a flap of my wings, I was there, pushing Val away from him.

“What the hell, man?” she yelled, rubbing her lower back as she got up

“We have to go, now.”

I turned to look at Steel, who was shaking his head and backing away from us, a rust red palm-print staining his head. Keeping a calm head, I dragged a confused Val out of the door and hastily closed it behind us.

“Follow me, don’t get lost.” I began running away from my cottage.

“What’s going on?” Val looked back at the door but reluctantly followed.

“Your blood. You touched him with your blood.” I grit my teeth. “You managed to push the magic out of him.”

“Wh-what?” Val shrieked. “But…why wasn’t it instantaneous?”

“If I had to guess, a combination of the miniscule amount of ‘you’ that touched him and his intelligence taking its time on the way out.” There was a terrible cracking sound heard from behind us. “I just rebuilt that door!” I wailed.

Seconds passed as we tried to run away from the hunter that used to be Steel Fang; seconds passed as we heard the predator’s panting get closer. The snapping of branches, the crunching of leaves, all were signs. Signs of a pursuer. A pursuer with the face of a friend. But with the teeth of a killer. An idea struck.

“Go on ahead, Val! I’m going to do something risky.” And with that, I veered away from her, flapping loudly before going into stealth mode, generating enough silent lift to get me just below the canopy.

And I watched.

I watched as the beast that was once my close friend stop and sniff the air, growling at prey that it could not reach. I watched as the monster continued its hunt for easier to reach prey. I watched as the direwolf turned towards Val and ran after her.

I could let it happen. I grimaced. But I don’t think I can bear the weight of another death on my shoulders. Withers. Whatever.

I soared silently after the direwolf, careful to keep downwind.

It was only a matter of time before he found his quarry. I won’t lie, I was impressed with how far Val had gotten before she found herself trapped at a cliff face. Val turned around to face the direwolf as it slowly advanced upon her. She knew there was no way out. Worse still, it knew. A low growl rose from the beast’s throat. Val matched its growl with silence as she readied her fists. I watched from the shade, body tense. I had one shot.

The direwolf prowled closer to Val. Matching each of her steps back with a step forward. Val reared a fist back. The beast coiled like a spring. It pounced, but I was faster. Unleashing most of my energy at once into both my wings and my forelegs, I became a teal bullet, crashing into the direwolf as it pounced in the air.

Steel was knocked into a tree with a pitiful whine, and I rushed over to see if anything was broken. I sent a flow of energy to my brain to properly assess the situation. Ironic that I only use bullet-time outside of conflict. I observed the area I hit under the effects of the time dilation. There don’t seem to be any breaks, but I should consult a professional. There’s going to be some serious bruising, and there may be some internal bleeding. Fuck.

Time returned to its normal pace. I gently rubbed my hoof between Steel’s ears as he whined. He tried, weakly, to snap at me, but he was incapable of moving.

“I’m so sorry buddy,” I whispered.

“Did you use me as bait?” an angry voice asked from behind me.

“It was the most effective method I could come up with.” I tried to keep my tone level.

“But you made a promise.” Val seethed. “A pledge on basically everything that you would at least tell me before endangering me.”

“I told you I was going to take a risk. I took your silence as an affirmation.”

“I didn’t say yes!” She threw her arms in the air. “Is that how it works for you? As long as a girl doesn’t say ‘no’ anything is fair game? I bet you just loved going to the bar!” Memories of a beautiful girl with a cruel smile flashed across my vision.

“Don’t you EVER!” I flew up to her face in an instant, forcing her to take a step back. “Even imply I would do such a thing!” I pushed her back. “You think I don’t know what it’s like to be controlled? To be nothing more than a pawn, a tool? You blithering idjit, you’re the reason Steel went beserk!” I advanced on her some more, pushing her back. “You think you’re so observant, Miss Artist? Then why didn’t you see the consequences of your actions?”

“I…I just wanted to be accepted by him,” Val stuttered. “So you could show some positive emotion for once.”

“Well, look what that has brought!” I was nearly frothing at the mouth, pointing to the injured Steel Fang. “The irony in all of this is that you’ve tried to get me to show some emotion or accept that you’re real!”

“This wouldn’t ̶ ”

“I don’t care!” I snarled before pushing her against the cliff face. “Have you ever wondered why I even bothered with you? Why I wasted time and resources on helping you adapt?” Val tried to take a step forward, but I slammed a hoof right next to her face so hard the rock cracked. “And don’t say ‘Maybe because you wanted eye-candy’, because news-flash: Every time I look at you, there’s this strange urge to kill you. I almost crushed your skull in when I first found you!” I exhaled loudly. “No, the reason I helped you was so that you would go far away and wouldn’t come crawling back when you needed me for whatever asinine reason. So, congratulations! I know Steel is real. I know something affected him. You proved to me you’re real, in some shape or form. Now get out. Leave. Don’t ever come back.” I flew back to Steel Fang. “You’ve already done enough,” I muttered, rubbing my friend’s neck gently.

There was the sound of hurried footsteps, and when I turned around, Val was gone. I stood by Steel’s side for a while longer before I began to gather some wintergreen. I chewed up the plants and managed to massage it in Steel’s fur. Hopefully the oils will help ease the pain while I go get Fluttershy.

Moving as fast as I could with my depleted energy, I made it to Fluttershy’s cabin, huffing and wheezing. I took a few more breaths before standing up straight and regaining my composure. I knocked at the door thrice and waited. I didn’t need to wait long.

“Oh, good afternoon, Windell! It’s very nice to see you today!”

“Likewise, Effie.” I managed a smile, just like always. “And as much as I would like to be here for some impromptu tea, I need your help with something. It seems Steel Fang was injured, and I need some help to get him back on his paws, so to speak.”

“Oh, dear!” Fluttershy gasped and held a hoof up to her muzzle. “What happened?”

“I’m not sure. A feral something slammed into him and flew away before I could see what it was. I managed to get him to swallow some wintergreen, which should ease the pain, and he doesn’t seem to have any breaks, but I need someone more capable to help me.”

“The poor dear.” Fluttershy blinked and leaned closer. “Windell…have you been crying?”

“What?” I rubbed my eyes with my fetlock before looking down to see matted fur. “No, I must have run into a few sparse raindrops. You know how the weather is around here.”

“If you’re sure…” she said, cocking an eyebrow.

“Come along, I’ll lead you to him.”

“Just let me get my supplies and I’ll be following you.”

<><><>

Traveler knows that something is coming. It can sense the ripples. This was another one that came from Outside without any interference. Whatever this opponent is, it is very careful. But asking about would bring nothing more than more trouble.

But for now, this incursion takes precedence. Another magical creature is about to spawn, judging by where the ripple is originating: Right on a major ley-line intersection formed by an extremely powerful spell being used every day, twice a day, for centuries.

The ripple is just on Celestia’s porch. It is difficult enough being near a ley-line, but the fact that Traveler has to act quickly, efficiently, and stealthily while the thrum of one of Equus’ highest concentrations of magic disturbs its essence may have put a damper on its day.

The ripple swells, and Traveler tenses in preparation. A flash of light, nullified by Traveler absorbing the excess energy. And there, on the porch, stands a very confused elf. Traveler considers its options. It would be difficult, but it could make another wormhole to deposit the elf elsewhere. But doing so now, and so close to magical flux, would disrupt the fabric of space-time, possibly opening the way to more incursions. Not to mention, doing it would also make space-time too unstable to make more wormholes. But waiting for too long would rob it of its chance to use a wormhole due to the natural progression of instability before the universe separated. Traveler mimics a sigh. Dark energy is so difficult to work with.

The entity gets back on track. Perhaps the elf will provide its own solution?

“What?” He, judging by his voice, looks around. “Where am I?” He raises his arm in the air and snaps his fingers. There is a flash of light, and his arm catches fire. “What? No! That’s not what that spell is supposed to do!”

The elf panics as the fire begins to burn closer and closer to his body. Oddly enough, he isn’t screaming, so he must have not felt pain from the fire. It takes only an instant for the essence to realize what is going on. Different magicks have different effects on one another. Apparently the native magic and the foreign magic do not agree with one another. The elf’s nerves are being deadened by the clashing magicks as the volatile combination consumes his arm.

“No! NO! I have to warn my liege! The wedding is naught more than a front!” The elf pulls a letter from his coat as the flames begin to lick at his chest, igniting a bit of the letter. He throws it on the ground and begins stamping it out as the fire spread across his chest. “I’m sorry…milord,” he rasps, before falling back over the balcony, reduced to a falling flame. If it were night, one might have mistaken him for a shooting star, but in the bright day, this bright light burns and is extinguished without another soul knowing.

That worked out, Traveler muses sadly, although it could have done without the death of the elf. Though this letter might provide Celestia the evidence she needs for the wedding. The elf might not have warned his lord, but he did end up warning another ruler of an invasion. Once more, Traveler is baffled by the coincidences that make up the multiverse. It picks up the letter and starts reading.

My Liege,
I have reason to believe that the orcs will try to invade during the royal wedding. There is a traitor is your midst who will let them in to slaughter you and your court while you are unprepared. The invading force will be enormous, more than we’ve ever seen before. I’ve discovered this plot at the peril of mine own life, and I leave my most trusted friend to deliver it. Even now, they try to hunt me down, and I fear that by the time you read this, it will be far too late for me. I implore you-

And the rest of the letter is charred beyond saving. This could be useful. Traveler prepares a tendril and edits the letter so that it would be more appropriate for Celestia. With a few deft slashes of the burning appendage, the letter is ready to be left atop the Solar diarch’s pillow, with a few stray feathers to imply the nature of the writer’s ‘friend’.

My Liege,
I have reason to believe that the orcs will try to invade during the royal wedding. There is a traitor is your midst who will let them in to slaughter you and your court while you are unprepared. The invading force will be enormous, more than we’ve ever seen before. I’ve discovered this plot at the peril of mine own life, and I leave my most trusted friend to deliver it. Even now, they try to hunt me down, and I fear that by the time you read this, it will be far too late for me. I implore you-

Much better. And now, it must wait for events to fall in place.

Author's Note

Curious about Val?
Follow her adventures here!

Chapter 22: Tick Tock

Differentiating between reality and fantasy got harder after that day. The way Val made me feel, the way she sent a prickling sensation down my spine, could only be explained by my disorder. Unbidden thoughts began to surface in my consciousness when my mind wandered. All those ‘what if’s’ and ‘how is it’s’ tried to break through, to make themselves known, but I pushed them down the same way I always have.

Hard work, books, nursing Steel Fang back to health, and despite my aversion to it, social contact.

Some days were quite easy: I’d get up and do some manual labor or some odd job for some extra bits. Other days, I’d have to practically start over on projects because a certain three-headed dog decided that silly obstructions like ‘trees’ and ‘outhouses’ were beneath its notice. Well, not really my outhouse. Cerberus actually stopped running and started rolling in what was left of it. After I shooed him away, I had to go back to my hut to make sure Steel wasn’t bothered by the noise. When I was changing his bandages, I decided to try something new. To make sure he was sapient when he woke up, I pushed my magic out of a wing in front of his snout. As far as I could tell, he was breathing in some of my magic, so he should have gotten better faster.

I guess my experiment really helped out, because he stayed awake for more than a couple minutes a few days later, and he managed to turn over to give me a few grateful licks to the face. He stayed awake as I told him what happened, how sorry I was, and other things to pass the time. He whined a bit when I told him what he’d done, but a belly rub quickly changed his tone. Fluttershy still checked up on him from time to time, and I always had tea prepared for when she came over. She was also kind enough not to note that we were drinking tea out of jars, and she even was confident enough to ask if there was any other type of tea. The small talk was nice, and Angel was polite when he came over, though I think it was because he noticed Steel staring at him hungrily.

It was on Steel’s second day of walking that a visitor other than Fluttershy dropped by.

“Hey Windell!” A cyan pegasus dropped down from the canopy and landed next to Steel Fang.

“Hello again, Skittles.” I smirked without turning around. “Nice to see you get here without running into something.”

“You’re not going to let me live that down, huh?” Rainbow huffed.

“Nope!” I stifled a chuckle.

“Well, I don’t crash because I’m not practicing my moves for the Young Flyer’s competition anymore. Sooooo, whatcha doing?”

“A big dog knocked my outhouse down, and then rolled all over the remains. So I’m building a new one near all of these mint plants,” I said, hammering another nail into my outhouse.

“Ummmm…”

“In hindsight, maybe there was no right way to respond to that statement. So what’s up?” I turned around to face Rainbow.

“Um…okaaay. Well, Cloudsdale needs water, and we need every pegasus in Ponyville to help beat the record set by Manehatten. So I was wondering if ̶ ”

“Sorry Skittles, no can do,” I interrupted. “Even if I didn’t have to nurse Steel back to health--” Rainbow’s eyes hung on his bandaged midsection for a moment before refocusing on me “--I still wouldn’t be able to help you.”

“What? Why?!” Rainbow flung a hoof, accidentally striking my unfinished outhouse, making it wobble precariously. I glared, and she pursed her lips. “Sorry.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to,” I said. “It’s just I can’t. It’s difficult enough for me to be in open spaces on the ground, but in the air would be exponentially worse. One of the reasons I chose a place to live that might be considered claustrophobic.”

“What?”

“I have an illogical fear of open spaces. Agoraphobia.”

“Bu-but you’re a pegasus!”

“Therein lies the irony. I’m not afraid of death, of monsters, of terrors in the night, but of ridiculous things like open spaces. I’m sorry, Skittles.”

“It’s okay, Windell.” Dash sighed and hung her head. “I guess I’ll ask Fluttershy next.”

“Don’t be too harsh on her. Once she puts her mind to something, Effie could surprise you.”

“I guess.” She kicked the ground. “I’ll be seeing you.” Rainbow crouched and lifted off, leaving Steel and I to stare after her rainbow contrail.

Of course, that couldn’t be the end of that, so when she came back a couple days later, I had to pretend I was bedridden with the flu. Okay, it was less ‘pretend’ and more ‘move away all energy from my liver and try not to die’. Suffice to say, my spectacular acting managed to get Rainbow to give up trying to get me on tornado duty.

A few days later, I was busy fortifying my cottage door to make sure it didn’t suffer any more incidents. Steel was being helpful by holding the toolbox for me in his maw, making it easily accessible even when I was working on the top-most hinges.

“A-hem.”

Why? Okay, next project is to build a sign that says ‘No sales, no politics. And NO guru advice.’ Or something like that.

I looked over my withers to find Bon-Bon standing there, looking at me curiously.

“Please tell me Mint hasn’t done anything too bad,” I grumbled.

“Well…yes and no.” Bon-Bon averted her eyes and rubbed her foreleg. “See, she got invited to this wedding, and a friend of mine recently had concerns that there might be some trouble at said wedding. My other friends and I decided we should keep an ear to the ground to see if anything strange is going on. Honestly, you’re the last pony on my list to ask, but knowing how…secluded you are from everypony, I doubt you know anything.”

I raised an eyebrow. That almost sounds like she’s talking about the Canterlot wedding. I can’t tell her anything. Telling her would cause a butterfly effect that could change events that have events to come, as well as put me under scrutiny if word gets out where she got this information. “Sorry,” I said insincerely. “I’ve got nothing.”

“Thanks anyways, Windell.” She nodded and began trotting away. Agh! I can’t give her nothing. What could I say that would seem like nothing but could provide vital insight about changelings? Wait. They can fly.

“Hold up.” Bon-Bon stopped and I flew over to her. “On a second thought, there has been something strange going on in the forest. It’s subtle, but I’ve heard a lot of buzzing recently. I don’t know if it helps but ̶ ”

“That does help!” Bon-Bon perked up and smiled. “Thanks!”

“If you say so.” I smiled in return, waving as she trotted away. I hope that her friend in Canterlot is well-connected. A dome is a good way to shield from an airborne threat, and they might not have been sure to use one.

I wrinkled my muzzle. If such an event were to occur.

<><><>

It does not understand. It expected many things when it felt the presence of ‘The Snake’ opening up another tear, but this is not one of them. A beast that could spit acid? No problem. A titan capable of sending shockwaves with every step? Nothing cloaking and energy absorption couldn’t fix. But a mere nymph, abandoned by the one who summoned it?

Traveler flows around the white-shelled creature, his compound eyes picking up the minute changes caused by the entity. A test. It has to be a test of character. Wait. No, The Snake tried to bring one of the larva’s species over, but ended up with this one. A mere youngling. It can’t bring what it wants exactly. Which means it can make mistakes.

“” The larva chirps.

But the being can’t leave the creature there. It has to do something. He may be the youngling of one of the more violent species in the multiverse, but the Nzugin child is still a child. A blank slate. Leaving him would doom him to starvation. But it can’t feed him either, because the larva only feeds on nectar created by the adults. A nectar that Traveler has no idea how to make. The entity has to choose between leaving the child to his fate, or…

Traveler never really had a choice.

Shifting into what might be perceived as ‘a huge fucking beetle’, it steadily advances towards the nymph. The young Nzugin relaxes as he sees the comforting figure of an adult member of its species. Two sets of arms, horns, and a glossy black exoskeleton.

“” The nymph chirped once more.

“” Traveler picks up the nymph and envelops him in its embrace.

Traveler rocks back and forth, the air around them getting steadily colder. Traveler’s temperature is warmer, but only just.

“” The nymph mutters.

“”

But the temperature continues to drop. Slowly, the larva falls asleep. Slowly, it dies. Peacefully. Serenely. The entity stops absorbing the air’s thermal energy once the Nzugin’s biological functions ceases completely. Traveler gently lies the body on the ground.

“I’m sorry this had to happen to you, little one. The most I could ever do for you was give you mercy.” And with that, the larva’s body is destroyed. “I cannot afford to feel sorrow now. Plans are brewing. Events are being put into place. And now…now I need my champion.”

As Traveler zooms northeast of Las Pegasus, it thinks on what would have happened if a warrior caste Nzugin had appeared in the Applewood Mountains. A ten foot tall Nzugin with a jagged chitin and rhinoceros beetle’s horn, tearing through ponies as if they were rice paper. That would not have ended well, especially now, when Traveler needs to be planning for the entrance of its champion. It arrives at a cliff face not far from a particular pegasus’ hut. Carefully, it examines the environment. Nothing of note except a sleeping cockatrice that has strayed too far from its hunting grounds. That has to change. Carefully, Traveler sent a tendril to make a few precise incisions. On the cliff. The cockatrice is exactly where it needs to be. If all goes according to plan; events would result in minimal casualties.

Traveler mimics a sigh. If only it would be zero.

<><><>

Adam always knew he wasn’t smart. Oddly enough, that never stopped him from doing what he had to do. When his bastard of a father left his mother when she was pregnant with his sister, Agnes, he knew that he had to stay with Mom, even if she was stranded in Florida without a job. When his mother insisted he go to school, he snuck out to help her make ends meet. When his sister proved to be far smarter than him, he quit school completely to work as a bouncer at a shady club to help his mother save up for college.

Adam wasn’t a smart man. But when he moved up in the company just by trusting his gut, being charismatic when he needed to be, and looking intimidating, he started noticing things. Funny how doing what he believed was right ended up putting everything he ever loved in danger.

“Adam, Adam, Adam.” His former employer tutted. “Stop pulling at your handcuffs. We don’t want any bruising to ruin any data for the experiment.”

Adam glared and intentionally jostled the manacles to spite him, ignoring the pain from the lack of circulation. Mr. Blank, as he was known in the company, simply sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Really, Mr. Charlebois? Must you resort to such juvenile behavior?” He stepped back from the prisoner as the guards by Adam’s sides moved closer. “You should feel pride, knowing you will advance humanity through your, albeit unwilling, sacrifice.”

Mr. Blank was quite bland. A man of below-average stature, he was a man you could bump into the same street twice without ever realizing he was the same person. Unfortunately, his forgettable face was paired with an unforgettable sense of mercilessness. It was debated by his underlings whether his own security force would recognize him without his burgundy bowler hat that he seemed to keep on his neat blond hair at all times. Even when he stepped back from the kneeling prisoner, Adam could not, for the life of him, remember the color of his eyes.

“I don’t care.” Adam smirked. “What’s done is done. I didn’t know letting the world know about your secret club would get me in an empty room. It was nice of you to have a doctor check on me, though.”

Mr. Blank shook his head and sighed before making an exaggerated shrug.

“I always forget why we don’t talk. I suppose the only reason you ever made it this far was because you were too stupid to realize what was going on. And for your information, the doctor only examined you so we could establish a control.”

“A what now?” Adam cocked his head. The sight of Blank’s nostrils flaring in irritation brought a smile to Adam’s face.

“Forget it.” Mr. Blank waved a hand. “A troglodyte like you would end up delaying the test by a month if I were to elucidate it for you.”

“Maybe, but this trologodyke ended up ruining a lot of your plans.” Adam’s smile grew when he saw Mr. Blank scowl. He knew he mispronounced the word, but he just could help antagonizing him.

“TEST BEGINS IN T-MINUS 60 MINUTES.” A robotic voice spoke over the intercom. Mr. Blank composed himself after taking a few deep breaths.

“I thought the news of your mother’s death would break you.”

“Ma would be proud,” Adam interrupted, adopting a mangled Texan accent.

“I suppose you would think that. And pinning her death on you didn’t seem to faze you.”

“The truth is still out there. And Agnes is too smart to fall for that bait.”

“Hmm. Yes, gloating about that didn’t seem to affect you. I could tell you we already have her ̶ ”

“That’d be lying.”

“Did your ‘gut’ give you this impression?” Blank frowned.

“Yup.” Adam’s smile was beginning to ache, but seeing Mr. Blank in such a tizzy brought him so much joy, he couldn’t help it.

“You truly believe that we can’t break you, don’t you?”

“If you wanted to rough me up, these guys--” Adam pointed his head to the helmeted guards surrounding the two “--would have done it by now. I’m ready.”

Mr. Blank growled and pulled out a walkie-talkie.

“Delay the count-down. And bring subject 35-64-00 to the outermost ring. We’ll be bringing subject 85-18-15 to location zero.”

“TEST DELAYED,” The intercoms blared.

“I’m going to be completely honest with you, Adam.” A sadistic smile spread across Mr. Blank’s face. “We’ve recently discovered a new resource. Of course, the first thing our client wanted us to do was find a way to weaponize it. And goodness gracious, did we deliver. You see, we have absolutely no idea what this is. Our researchers are calling it ‘aura,’ and it is absolutely everywhere. I’ve seen aura at work, Adam. It can do amazing things. Its destructive capabilities are terrifying, absolutely astounding, and sometimes a bit arousing. It may be tied to souls, or the fabric of the universe itself! And as with every age, it begins with a boom. The Agricultural Age began with a population boom. The Renaissance, a boom in art. Industrial Age? Technological boom. The Information Age had a similar boom. And the Atomic Age…Let me just say that history will repeat itself once more.”

Adam stared blankly at Blank.

“Another bomb, you dolt!” Mr. Blank huffed. “We’re going to chain you to a bomb with two other subjects. Normally, you would have been on the outermost ring to witness the inevitable dome of destruction head towards you, but because of your incorrigible behavior, you’ll be at ground zero. Because I want to be absolutely sure you’ll perish. I suppose knowing it will happen, but not when will be enough. But don’t worry.” Mr. Blank stepped towards Adam and flicked him on the nose.

“It won’t be the anticipation that kills you.” Mr. Blank’s face lit up with a smile equally composed of sadistic glee and smug confidence.

“Ants in what?” Adam rose an eyebrow, trying his hardest not to smirk.

“Just…” Mr. Blank groaned and pointed to one of his henchmen. “Get him in the jeep and secure him at location zero.”

The henchmen pulled Adam to his feet and led him out of the sterile room. He was pushed through a hall and out a pair of doors into the bright sunlight of the Philippines. Instinctively, Adam squinted and tried to block the sunlight, but the guards pulled him by the chain and led him into the back of a truck.

“You guys aren’t much for talking, huh?” Adam had to look down to stare into the soulless eyes of the helmed grunt.

The man just pointed into the open truck.

“I thought so.” Adam sighed before hopping into the truck and sitting down cross-legged. “Well, come on. I’m sure it’s a holiday somewhere, and I’m about to miss the fireworks.”

The grunts looked at one another and shrugged. They slammed the doors, and Adam was submerged in darkness. The ride was smooth. Smooth enough for Adam to wonder if they were moving at all. A sudden jerking stop was enough to dispel that notion. The back doors opened once more, revealing a pristine beach, with sand as white as the clouds floating in the cyan skies above.

“Wow, I thought I was being punished! I should do this ‘thistleblowing’ thing more often!”

One of the grunts groaned and stared at Adam.

“Weren’t you Mr. Blank’s bodyguard? I thought you guys were supposed to be serious.”

“Does it look like I’m on duty now?”

Adam held up his handcuffs and gave a sad smile.

The grunt shook his head, pulling Adam by the handcuffs to a twenty-foot-tall cylinder. Two other prisoners were already there, leaning against the rod as they stared at the new arrival. The grunt brought out another set of handcuffs and chained Adam to a specially-prepared chain circling the five-foot-wide cylinder. With a ‘click’ all too similar to that of a gun, Adam was left to his fate. The young man sat down, leaned against the looming obelisk, and watched the truck speed away on the sand. His eyes wandered to the other two men chained to the obelisk. The man to Adam’s right was small, which could be said about most people next to Adam, but he was skinnier than average. Like a twig. He was in the same orange jumpsuit as Adam and the other man, and his fingers were constantly twitching, moving about like a pair of recluse spiders. His skin tone was a pale brown; evidence of a life spent in shadows. Coupled with his unruly black hair and his hazelnut eye color, Adam guessed he was of Hispanic origin. The man had a manic gleam in his brown eyes and a yellowed smile that would send mothers running away with their children. Creep alert. Adam took the opportunity to size up the other man. He was of above average height and decently built, but his salt-and-pepper beard marked him as one who had seen a lot from life. Good for him. Adam could usually read people quite easily. It was some sort of gut feeling to him. But this man...he might as well have been dead. Underneath his leathery skin, muscles rippled like steel coils, though if it was from the man’s nervousness or force of habit, Adam didn’t know.

“What do we have here?” The skinny one approached Adam, pulling at his chain, dragging the other man with him. “Yo, fresh meat. Whatcha do to get here?” he asked in an accented English.

“Pissed off my boss,” Adam replied, not bothering to open his eyes.

The man whistled.

“Harsh. Luckily you got set up with ‘testing’, whatever that is, right?” Adam opened one eye to look at the man.“I mean, I got lucky,” the creep continued. “They gave me a choice, this or execution. I don’t know what the big deal is.” He shrugged. “It was just some girl. Who cares if I continued having fun with her after she hit her head too hard. Bitch shouldn’t have struggled.”

The statement sent shivers down Adam’s spine, but Adam chose to ignore it. It doesn’t matter anymore. This is the end.

“Come on, hombre. You can at least speak English. Ruskie over here--” the creep tilted his head in the direction of the other man “--doesn’t speak English or Spanish.”

“You don’t know, do you?”

“Know what?”

“They’re testing a bomb.”

“Th-that’s a funny joke, ese.” The man laughed nervously.

“It’s not a joke. This is ground zero.” Adam leaned his head back and closed his eyes again.

“No! N-no! We’ve got to get out of here! We’ve got to escape! Why aren’t you panicking?!” The man pulled at his chain, trying to run away from the pole. The chain held him back, but that did not stop him from trying to lean away, forcing Adam and the silent Russian closer together by the chain.

“Would it help?”

“You stupid fucking idiot!” The hysteric man screeched. “We’re going to die!”

“I know.” Adam shrugged. “I’ve known since I started this. I’m ready.”

“This cabrón is insane! You, ruskie!” The Russian man turned to look at him. “Big bomb! Boom!” The Russian continued to stare at him blankly. “Uhhh…beeeeg bomba? Tsar bomba?”

“Царь-бомба?” His eyes widened.

“Yes! Now help me escape!”

The Russian man sighed and sat down next to Adam.

“Cee-gahrettez?”

“Sorry, buddy.” Adam mimed reaching into his pockets and shook his head.

The Hispanic man stopped struggling against his chain and stared in befuddlement at the two men.

“What is wrong with you two?!”

“Царь-бомба,” The Russian simply said before closing his eyes.

Almost instantly, there was the loud blaring of a siren. The Hispanic man froze and looked up to the center of the giant cylinder. A red sphere began steadily expanding, encompassing Adam and the Russian before stopping halfway through the struggling man.

“No! NO! NOOO!” he screamed.

And with that, the sphere receded in an instant, disappearing back into the pole.

“Well.” Adam smiled. “I feel a bit weak, but that wasn’t so ba ̶ ”

Adam was interrupted by a blinding golden light and a huge roar. He found himself falling in all directions, in what seemed to be a tunnel of gold and blue-green light. The last thing he heard before passing out from a combination of vertigo, confusion, and pain was a simple word.

“Champion.”

Chapter 24: Shattered Glass

“So what you’re saying is…I can’t cuss?”

“Wha-uh…yes, you can,” I answered as I jogged by his side. Steel Fang was on my left, beginning to lose his stride. I would have been in his situation if I hadn’t stored an obscene amount of magic within myself. Even so, I was on my last dregs.

“But you said we’re in a cartoon.” Adam smiled and raised an eyebrow. Of course, he wasn’t even out of breath yet, and we’d been jogging for hours now, talking all the while.

“No, I said that the world I can perceive seems to be based on a cartoon.” And there goes my excess magic. I think we should start heading back for lunch. God, how can this guy run for five hours straight without panting for breath? Well, considering he didn’t push out all of my magic like Val, I think it’s safe to assume he’s got some form of magic. Which would explain why the…other guy…had moments of great strength. But that just brings up more questions!

“So they don’t cuss here?” Adam leaned towards me with a knowing smile. Why is Adam sane, and not nearly as strong as the other guy? Why does magic work for them, but not for Val? Wait. Isn’t Adam from the future? So why does…

“Not to my knowledge,” I acquiesced. Adam was about to give me a smug expression, but I spoke faster. “But I am only one person, and a reclusive one at that. So my point of view is limited. Anyways, shouldn’t you have at least known about the cartoon. It’s pretty infamous on the internet.” I began to lead Adam and Steel back to my hut.

“A show about six cartoon ponies wielding really old, really powerful gems and their hijinks in a small town while their powerful, god-like princesses watch on because they don’t have anything better to do? I think I’d know about that.”

“And you mentioned something about a ‘Lion King’ earlier, saying it was a bit of a dated reference.” I frowned and rubbed my chin. “But I don’t get it. Could it be that differences in universes could be as small as what stories are told? What ideas are formed? Could it be that we are not of the same universe?”

“Umm…I dunno man.” Adam shrugged. “I don’t really think about that type of stuff. I’m alive, and that’s what really counts right?” He smiled and looked down to me just as we entered the clearing, but it quickly fell. “Hey man, I’m sorry for calling you a murderer. I know it must’ve been a tough choice, but…” He scratched the back of his head nervously.

“Don’t apologize for that. I am what I am. But let it be said that what I did there was an act of mercy.” I sat down in heavy breaths as soon as I passed the door’s threshold. “Not everyone has as disciplined a mind as John Nash* or I.”

“An act of mercy?” Adam didn’t seem angry; he just furrowed his brow and sighed. I suppose he was disappointed in me. “Dude, that was a living person. Sure, he may have been worse than Ganesh’s snotty nose hair ̶ ” Holy shit, he was serious about the ‘no cussing’ thing. “ ̶ but still, he was alive. He was a person that you just…snuffed out. Because of mercy?”

“He would have hurt others, Adam. He almost killed you. The best one could do is separate people like him from the rest and make sure they never reproduce.” Steel Fang curled up beside me on the floor. “I couldn’t do that to him. But I can to myself.”

“Ummm…” Adam avoided my eyes and wrung his hands nervously.

“But enough about my miserable philosophical ideas. Let’s talk about your performance.” Adam stopped acting nervous and adopted a sly expression.

“I haven’t had many complaints from all the girls I’ve slept with,” he said.

“…Right, it’s about your endurance ̶ and not in that way,” I plowed on before he had a chance to put in another lewd comment. “You’ve run for hours on end without a break. You’ve practically outran Steel Fang here,” I waved a hoof towards the panting canine, “and he’s a very active direwolf. Not to mention I’ve been carefully expanding my own magic reserves to respectable amounts. Suffice to say, even with careful management of my magic, I’m nearly beat. I hope that this is normal for you.”

“Now that I think about it…” Adam hummed and looked over himself. “Nope. Definitely not normal.”

“…Couldn’t you have mentioned it earlier?”

“I thought I got into a really good rhythm! And you seemed fine, and what we were talking about seemed to really pass the time.”

“A ‘good rhythm’ wouldn’t explain the colossal amount of persistence you’ve displayed without endurance training. I mean just ̶ ” I was interrupted by the loud growling of three stomachs.

“Stereo stomachs!” Adam laughed, and I couldn’t help but feel a small grin pull at my lips.

“Alright, Adam, you can go set up the fire pit outside. I’ve got the fish Steel and I got this morning in a barrel by the door.”

Adam nodded and set to work, picking up some firewood before pushing opening up the door. I made my way to the barrel, and picked a few big fish before heading outside to start removing the skin and setting them up over a fire.

“So do you have any idea why I can run for so long?” Adam asked as he finished setting up the tinder.

“I’ve got a hypothesis.” I set the fish on cut log and began cleaning them. “It seems that you’ve accepted magic in your body. It is possible that it is accentuating human traits by quite a large degree. It would explain…the other guy…but I think there were other factors in play for him to become…that way. Maybe you have different affinities? Or his mind or something rejected the magic?” I shook my head as I removed the fish’s. “I don’t have enough information.”

“It’s okay, I don’t really care about that.” But I do. Adam frowned at my expression. “So you said you were human before; what’s it like being a pony?” Adam managed to light the wood, sparking a small fire that began to grow.

“It’s different. That much is obvious. But I feel a lot lighter, and I wasn’t very heavy before either. I suspect that it’s mostly because I’m a pegasus.”

“Really? Lemme see.”

“What?” I barely had enough time to say anything before he lifted me up from my barrel. I began futilely kicking my hooves about. “Adam! Stop, I’m not a damn plushie!”

“You weigh about as much as one, though!” Adam laughed. His mirth was interrupted by a deep growl emanating from Steel Fang. Ice blue met sky blue and held firm.

“Steel! No!” I shouted as I continued struggling. “Adam, put me down. He’s very protective of me.”

Adam put me down gently and I hurried over to Steel. Both he and Adam had not broken eye contact even as I made my way to him. I began to gently pet Steel, coaxing him to relax.

“Shhh, shhh. It’s okay, buddy. We won’t lose you again. Adam’s different.” I whispered. “We’re okay, we’re okay.” Steel Fang let out a long exhale and relaxed somewhat. “As I was saying,” I continued, not removing my attention from Steel, “Being…what I am is different. A bit weird sometimes, but I got used to it. At first I moved about a bit weirdly, moving two legs at a time, but after a bit of time, I started to walk normally. Not to mention the magic within, which is sort of like a second circulatory system. Speaking of, do you feel different?”

“I dunno.” Adam shrugged as he began putting the fish over the fire. “Maybe a sort of warmth. But it feels like it’s all over my body.”

“So to compare to my ‘vascular’ system, you’ve got one that isn’t as efficient. You say it fills all of you? Even your head?”

“Now that you mention it, yeah.”

“Hmm.” The other guy may have had a faster acting case. Who’s to say how magic works on foreign bodies. Strangely enough, I don’t feel the ‘urge’ around Adam like I did around Val. It’s as if I’m looking at a half finished puzzle, and all the most important pieces have been hidden. I looked up to a curious Adam and continued thinking. There’s no telling what it could do his brain. For the meantime, I’ll keep an eye on him and be on the lookout for dramatic changes in behavior.

“Do you have any idea why we’re here?” Adam asked before taking a hearty bite of cooked fish.

“I could be insane. We could be in a special ring of hell where they use doubt to break us. If you’re real, it’s more than likely we’re in another universe entirely, and we’re very lucky the physics are nearly identical. With that much doubt about where we are, why we are here has a thousand more possible answers. It could be anything from destiny to the way it makes some mischievous god’s balls tingle in just the right way. More probable than not, we’re victims of chance, like people caught in a tornado.”

“Okay.”

“Is that really your answer to being torn away from your life, your family, and your job?” I raised an eyebrow.

“Well,” Adam began counting on one hand as he held a filleted fish in the other. “It turns out I’ve been working as a bodyguard for an evil organization and I didn’t realize it until my boss shot someone in the face right in front of me, people all over the world hate me because I was framed for my mother’s murder after I blew the whistle, and I forced my sister into hiding so she wouldn’t get hurt. I’m supposed to be dead, but here I am. I’ll try not to look a gift horse in the mouth.” Adam punctuated his statement with a hearty munch. “Pun definitely intended.”

“Alright,” I sighed and rubbed my head, “So while that was…loaded as it was…You’re here now. So I guess you don’t mind if I ask for your help for a couple renovations? Namely, a basement for my cottage. Think you can handle it?”

“Oh, you bet! I have a lot experience. I was the one who practically held the house together after my scrotum-faced pops left mom.” I fidgeted a bit at Adam’s glare, which didn’t seem to fit on his face.

“You probably shouldn’t call your father such things, Adam,” I chastised, “I’m sure he had his reasons. Maybe he wasn’t doing so well, but…” Adam’s features softened at my comment.

“Listen Windell, I don’t know what sort of relationship you had with your parents, but it doesn’t change the fact that my dad was a waste of space. He left for some broad, even after he dragged his son and pregnant wife to Miami for some tunneling project**. Your dad could’ve been a saint, but mine was just a pervy French guy chasing tail.”

“I’m sorry for bringing it up.” I hung my head. Steel whined and licked the side of my face to try and get me in better spirits. “But that brings up another interesting fact about you. Tu peux parler français, n’est pas ?”

<><><>

Merde, merde, merde ! Adam thought while keeping a straight face. Il parle québécois ! How am I supposed to understand that crazy accent? Context clues! Yeah!

“Oui, mais ça fait longtemps. So I’m a bit rusty, even if I’m a native. I haven’t really gotten the chance to speak it while traveling where I did for my job. In hindsight, I should have seen the signs that I was working as a bodyguard for some big bad.”

Windell tossed two more fish to Steel Fang and stood up a bit straighter.

“I was wondering; how does one end up in such a situation? I mean, don’t they do some sort of background check on you?” Windell asked.

Adam laughed and leaned back, staring into the sky. “It’s a long story.”

“That just makes me want to hear it more.” The pegasus smirked. “Give the bibliophile a bone, will you?”

Adam snorted as his eyes passed over a snoozing Steel Fang, the teal pony leaning against his swollen belly. “Fine, fine.” He rose his hands in the air in deference. “It all started when I was sixteen. I pretty much accepted that I wouldn’t pass my classes. My mom was working hard, but we weren’t exactly in a good neighborhood, so our stuff got stolen a few times. So mom’s working two jobs, trying to get up the ladder, and I try and stay at home to take care of the house as it falls apart around us. Cooking for mom and sis, working handyman jobs around the neighborhood. All so my mom won’t worry too much about money and the house, and so sis can get to college. Of course, I realized any money I was getting wasn’t really contributing so I started looking for a real job. And I couldn’t really stay at home and pull a Captain Jack*** like others in the same situation ̶ ̶ ”

“I’m sorry, but what’s ‘pulling a Captain Jack’?” Windell interrupted, holding a hoof up.

“Well, you know…” Adam mimed chugging a bottle, lighting a bud, then…shaking a fist up and down. “All when you’re so miserable you want to lose yourself. Anyways, I was desperate, but I was already six foot one by then, and decently built, so managed to snag a job as a bouncer at a really seedy place. Apparently I was so good at stopping troublemakers before they did their thing, I caught the attention of my boss, who suggested me to a friend of his. I think they must have done a background check on me, realized how desperate I was, and went with it, because I got the job. And I just went up from there. I think there may have been a few threats against my family, but I may have been using my Bluetooth earphones at the time.”

Windell almost managed to knock himself out with a facehoof.

“My life was looking up, too! Mom snagged a really good position in her company as regional manager, and sis got her bachelor’s a year early! And then I realized I was working for the equivalent of Bes’ hairy you-know-what.”

Windell opened his mouth to put in his snarky two cents, but stopped and stared over Adam’s shoulder. Adam waited a few moments before deciding to wave his hand in front of Windell’s face.

“Hey, Windell. Yooo. What’s up?” Adam snapped his fingers a few times.

“Sorry, I was lost in thought for a moment.” He nodded towards the city on the mountainside, which was now encased in a magenta bubble. “Looks like it’s finally begun.”

“What’s begun?” Adam raised an eyebrow at the sight. “That doesn’t look good.”

“I told you about the various slice of life shenanigans the protagonists got up to, right?” Windell ignored Adam’s muffled laughter at the word ‘shenanigans’ and continued. “Well, occasionally, they would face some greater evil, like Nightmare Moon, or somewhat recently, Discord. This time it’s the changelings, but they don’t know that. They just know of some anonymous threat that may or may not be capable of flying.”

“Wow. So that’s an episode.”

“As I’ve said, that’s up for debate. But it is a landmark event. A wedding between a princess and the captain of the guard may have been out of a fairy tale back home, but here it’s just par for the course.”

“If it’s a wedding, will they finally be wearing pants?”

Windell opened and closed his mouth a few times before taking a deep breath.

“I should have expected you to say something like that. You’ve got to remember, no matter how similar everything is here ̶ ̶ Luckily for you, or you’d have either been poisoned by the food or asphyxiated in the atmosphere ̶ ̶ We’re still on a different planet, maybe even different universe. So don’t expect them to be the same in certain aspects. Hell, some concepts may even be so foreign, it would have been inconceivable to us or them prior to our arrival here. For example, I would have never even considered a secondary circulatory system that isn’t really there physically before. Now, I have one. I think we may have some concepts that are completely foreign to them.”

“Like advanced computers? And the internet?”

“Precisely.”

“And wearing pants.”

“Yeeeeeeessss.” Windell ground his teeth.

“Like you could be doing.” Adam gave Windell a pointed look.

“When in Rome, Adam.” The pegasus sighed. “I try not to draw undue attention to me. And if this is really all a delusion, I’m sure someone would have mentioned it already. Or I’m already in an asylum.” Windell began to pace nervously.

Uh-Oh. Better get his mind off of that possibility.

“Hey, I really doubt you’re in asylum. I’m real after all, and I believe you, don’t I?” Adam held his arms out and smiled. It’s not very effective. Windell was still pacing and his eyes started to dart from side to side.

“Unless you’re part of my imagination. Or my insane pal. There have been documented cases of mass delusions, such as on the U.S.S. Indianapolis.” It’s like he’s actively trying to find reasons why he’s insane. What the hell happened to you?

“Hey, c’mon.” Adam put out the fire and dusted himself off. “We’re wasting daylight, and we could be doing things. You said you wanted a basement? Let’s get to it! Maybe in the meantime I can tell you the story of Simba and the Lion King.”

Windell perked up and seemed to have cleared himself of his doubts.

<><><>

Traveler dislikes being wrong. Nothing could put a hitch in one’s plans more than underestimating your foe, and sometimes even underestimating oneself. The turnout to the charity dinner surpassed Traveler’s expectations, even if it had discounted the short notice. Noble and commoner alike came to see the richest stallion on the east coast, and perhaps even the richest non-noble in Equestria. Traveler was fortunate it had called in a favor and rented out Central Park for its use, else there might not have been enough room.

Traveler hates that the aura of mystery it had unknowingly put out made it all the more curious. It forms into the male pegasus in a secluded room before intermingling in the crowd. He wears a big smile and walks through the crowd, shaking hooves and laughing all the while. To them, he is just another interested pony. After all, only Dapperquill, the elusive stallion’s secretary had ever seen him in person.

As another stallion stumbles into him, Monochrome can’t help but muse how much faster it would be to become incorporeal. It is such a fuss to send equal but opposite bursts of kinetic energy whenever it touches somepony. The stallion that had bumped into Monochrome turned around and apologized.

“My word!” The mustachioed unicorn cries. “I’m sorry, I didn’t see you there.”

“No worries, friend.” Monochrome smiles “Say, wouldn’t you happen to be Sir Fancy Pants?”

“That I am! And this is my wife, Fleur de Lis.” An elegant mare strode up to them.

“Pleased to meet both of you.” Monochrome shook both of their hooves, to Fleur’s surprise. “Although I’m surprised that both of you are here. Hasn’t there been an invitation to Cadenza’s wedding? Quite close to today, isn’t it?”

“Three days from now.” Fancy nodded. “Luckily, there’s an express train to Canterlot early tomorrow, so we should arrive the night before the wedding. A bit close, but I believe it is worth it. A few of the more curious and charitable nobles came along, causing a flood of nobles from all over eastern Equestria, and many of the locals decided to follow suit. June Night’s descendants have always been secretive, maybe even shy, and this is the first time one has made a public appearance. I suspect the orphanages of Manehatten will be well supplied for the next few years.” Fancy looks into the distance for a while. “Oh, I’m sorry, it appears you have us at a disadvantage. Are you an eastern city noble? Your suit seems to be very well made.”

The suit is a white tuxedo with a black tie and golden cuff links and buttons, complimenting Monochrome’s black coat and white mane, as well as his equally ornate goggles, black lens hiding his eyes, and white-gold frames holding it together. Altogether, it seems lavish, but is about as real as Monochrome himself is.

“No, I’m not a noble. Simply a very lucky buisnesspony. As for the gold accents, my secretary insisted I wear something more expensive.” Monochrome looked in both directions before gesturing them to get closer. Fleur and Fancy cocked their eyebrows and leaned in. “But just between you and me,” Monochrome whispered, “They’re pyrite.”

Fleur and Fancy chortle.

“As for my name, I am ̶ ̶ ”

“Oh, Fancy Pants! Fleur de Lis!” Two more ponies joined the group, noses high in the air. Fleur rolled her eyes.

“Ah, Jet Set and Upper Crust. Nice to see you both here.” Fancy gave a small smile.

“Yes, well, we couldn’t not come!” Jet cried. “We had to see this stallion for ourselves. His family has made the best decisions in bonds ever since June Night founded the company.”

“And the way she began with textiles? Genius!” Upper Crust hopped a bit. “And not just for clothes, albeit making them easily accessible for all classes, but for tents, for furniture, and for so many other things that hadn’t been under one company before. Selling her products abroad was also quite a daring move.”

It wasn’t a very difficult task. At the time, Traveler had nothing better to do than keep an ear to the ground and build up influence. And with knowledge of how different Equestrian histories worked out on average, it was simple enough to corner the market, leaving only a few small companies in the west so it wouldn’t be a monopoly. No, the difficult part was making sure the butterfly effect wouldn’t take place. Any minor discrepancies had to be corrected, so proper ponies would meet at the right times, and reproduce at the right times, creating offspring that needed to be manipulated as well. Within two generations of helicoptering, the mistakes were corrected. Traveler suspects the semi-sapient nature of Equus itself helped. It is grateful that it had planned for ‘Monochrome’ millennia ago, and took the measures of memorizing the average events that would lead up to the present. But it never believed that taking such direct actions would be necessary so soon.

“I’ve heard that June Night’s descendants are mere hybrids rather than full-blooded ponies, which is why they never show their faces.” Jet Set puts in, moving his hoof about. Fleur rolls her eyes and over-dramatically feigns offence.

“A pity,” huffs Upper Crust as she turns her nose up, “That such an intelligent pony could be a hybrid.” Fancy Pants’ smile seems strained. “A hippogriff or a zony may be somewhat more acceptable, but I simply don't associate myself with kirin or centaurs.”

“I doubt you two need worry about something like that.” Monochrome interjects, smiling all the while. “I’ve heard that while he’s simply very reclusive, like the rest of his family, he used to teach in Cloudsdale.”

Fancy Pants raises an eyebrow before a small smile reaffirms itself on his muzzle.

“You aren’t a noble, are you?” Upper Crust turns up her nose further still. Any more and she might break her neck. “I doubt your ideas matter. Where have you heard such a ̶ ̶ ” Upper Crust is interrupted by the general crowd hushing up as the lights on the stage turns on, and a mare shuffles over to the mic.

“Hello, everypony!” Dapperquill beams, speaking clearly due to her practice at Monochrome’s behest. “I’d like to welcome you all to Monochrome’s charity dinner. Tonight, our raffles will be selling beautiful pieces of art, with the proceeds going to the Equestrian Lost Foals, to improve the lives and educations of orphans around Equestria.”

Monochrome pokes Fleur in the side as Dapperquill speaks. She turns to look at him, and he raises a hoof in front of his mouth in a ‘shush’ motion and stealthily flies in the opposite direction of the stage, disappearing behind a corner. Fleur raises an eyebrow as Fancy’s smile grows wider.

“And now, the moment that everypony’s been waiting for! May I introduce you to…Monochrome, president of June Night Textiles!” The lights turn off at Dapperquill’s exclamation, and silence falls.

Suddenly a single spotlight hits a lone black pegasus on the stage, his smile whiter than his tuxedo. Despite what others may think later on, Monochrome could see every face in the crowd even despite his black-tinted goggles. He particularly savors Upper Crust’s mortified expression and the restrained giggling of Fleur and Fancy. It’s time to put the charm up to eleven.

“Fillies and gentlecolts, hens and hawks, cows and bulls, I’m so honored to see such a massive turnout. Be it from our own fair city of Manehatten, the illustrious Canterlot, the beautiful twilight of Hollow Shades, or even from the noble nations outside of Equestria.” Monochrome turns to look personally at respective nobles, businesspeople, and citizens of the respective places. He doesn’t know all of them ̶ ̶ he isn’t omniscient of course ̶ ̶ but the most well-known among the crowd meet his veiled gaze. “I won’t lie and tell you we’ve solved the problem. The hard truth of the fact is Equestria, and even other nations, have their own fair share of problems. Some larger than others. People like you or I aren’t capable of facing eldritch threats like Celestia, Luna, and the mighty Bearers do, but we can help others in need. We can help bring families together, we can bring more color and life in this world. This isn’t a perfect world, but it is with major steps in the right direction, like this one, when all of us, regardless of class, species, or race, join together to make our own impact. That, my friends, is the nature of Harmony.” Monochrome holds up a glass.

“And so I wish to hold a toast: to Harmony, to our friends, and ̶ ̶ to hay with it, and to princess Cadenza’s future life as a wedded mare. I hope all of you have a wonderful time, and please do try the hors d’oeuvres. The cooks and I worked very hard on them, especially on the rangoon, for those of you who like the taste of umami.” Monochrome internally smiles. ‘Umami’ isn’t a well-known term, so the nobles that do eat the crab Rangoon and enjoy it will end up creating a trend eating crab, despite it being meat, as an expensive delicacy. The investments in the gryphon fisheries in Manehatten will no doubt produce a profit. And he doesn’t have to be careful about the butterfly effect anymore; small actions such as this one would only result in long-term change, whereas the Climax would occur within the year.

“And now, please give a thunderous applause for the Manehatten Symphony orchestra!”

The rest of night goes decently. There were many attempts at networking, but Monochrome only associates himself with those that would succeed, those that entertain him, or those whose causes he found to align with his own. All the while, he asks if they heard anything interesting from Van Hoover, monitoring their vitals all the while. By measuring stress levels at the question, he is able to form a pool of ponies to investigate, with the added mortification of the knowledge that three more mares are already infatuated with him. As the night winds down and the orchestra is replaced by a DJ, more and more artworks are sold, and subsequently, more and more ponies begin to leave. At midnight, most of the Canterlot crowd has already left, and the DJ packs up. At that point, Monochrome decides that it’s a good time to end the soiree.

“Thank you everybody for your wonderful support. I hope you all had a simply wonderful night.” As Monochrome gives the closing statement, he watches Octavia leave with the DJ, knowing she’ll be safe. “Now please remember to not fly under the influence, and to get home safely to get a proper night’s rest.” He smiles at the guests milling about in various states of drowsiness, from the ‘I’m two flies short of a shambling corpse’ to the ever famous ‘I’m fighting my eyelids, but they’re winning’.

Monochrome finds Dapperquill passed out in a chair, leaning on her hoof as an old mare babbles on about this and that. Monochrome hoists her up on his back, ignoring the old mare who’s completely unaware of what’s happening, and walks out of the park. Halfway back to her apartment, she wakes up, but pretends to be asleep. Monochrome unlocks her door and gently sets Dapperquill down in her bed. He sets out a glass of water on the nightstand, and just in case, a bucket on the side of her bed. He tucks her in, and is about to pull away, but her forelegs hold firm onto him.

“Sorry Dapperquill, dear.” Monochrome sighs. “But duty calls yet again.”

The mare continues pretending to sleep, but scrunches her muzzle and holds on tighter. The entity disguised as a pony shakes its head and simply flows out of her grip in one swift motion. It knows the truth, it could detect the serotonin and the dopamine in her system.

“Sorry.” It says once more, rushing out before she could open her eyes.

In an instant it is floating, invisible, over Windell’s cottage. Flowing inside, it observes the three sleeping inhabitants. Adam is haphazardly spread on the bed, drooling all the while. Windell seems satisfied sleeping like a cat as Steel Fang is curled protectively around him.

“I wish this didn’t have to happen.” Traveler speaks in an infrasonic range so low that none of the three could hear it, not even subconsciously. “But my desires do not reflect reality.”

It hovers closer to Steel Fang, tendril posed directly over his head. It stays there for a few moments, hesitating, before pulling back.

“No. You will be the third of three.”

It moves over to Adam.

“And you. My champion. I have plans for you, some of which I hope will never come to pass. You are a very important piece. Quite possibly my favorite, though I definitely shouldn’t be choosing.”

Slowly, it turns away and approaches the sleeping pegasus.

“Finally, we have…you. I must admit, this is odd. Very odd.”

It distances itself from Windell.

“Throughout Yggdrasil, I’ve learned that people are a bit like windows. An odd metaphor, but I think it fits. Every grain of sand is a recollection, a memory that is fused to others to form glass. Windows that are created well don’t have their view distorted over short periods of time, whereas badly manufactured panes of glass distort and pervert what is seen through it. Similarly, some glass cracks under certain conditions, others resist. Windows are like people…but people who pass through the Void rather than the Between like Val and Adam can be more easily compared to something else.”

Traveler flows around Windell like a shark.

“Stained glass windows. Pieces of glass from all over, from different places, with different makers, with different colors. All together as one. The Void isn’t kind. It isn’t evil, either. It is simply the Nothing. The Nothing where ideas and energy intermingle, collide, mutate, evolve. Very few manage to pass through. Fewer still pass through sane. But see, souls, despite what people like to think, are indeed ideas. A vast collection of ideas, ideas that form a memory, a personality, an ego. And when a somebody passes through the Void, well, they’re not somebody anymore. Your body consisted of matter, after all. How you got your new body is most likely the work of the collected remains of matter on the outskirts of the Equus Beyond twisted together to make a new body to suit the soul.”

Traveler starts moving faster.

“But it isn’t just your body that’s interesting. It’s your soul. Sometimes souls zip in and out of the Void unfettered. Did you? Or was your essence broken like a window pane in a hurricane? The question is: Are you Windell with a few shards of some other souls latched on? A broken window pane with a few pieces of stained glass to fix the small holes? Or are you a stained glass window that fits nearly perfectly together, forming a near-stable personality? Those bits of other people you have in you, are they really you? Are you really Windell?”

Traveler stops.

“The saddest part is that I don’t know the answers.”

The being flies away desolately. Windell would be the busy soon. After all, he would soon be receiving a small group of guards as company.

Author's Note

*John Nash is the protagonist of "A Beautiful Mind", where he 'defeats schizophrenia through the power of his own mind'. However, the real John Nash recovered because he started taking a less stressful approach to life. But it seems like Windell is unaware of that...
** Actual fact: Miami is among the fastest growing cities in the world, alongside Beijing, Dubai, and Toronto. However, not all companies hired for infrastructure are American. The most famous example is the tunneling project that was conceived in the 1980's, recently taken up by the french company, Bouygues Construction.
***Billy Joel will die someday, no matter how much we don't want that to happen. When he does, there will be a huge resurgence in popularity of his songs, among them the lesser-known hit 'Captain Jack', a beautiful song about dealing with one's misery. Basically my prediction at a future expression derived from radio stations playing his songs on repeat.
Me:

Chapter 25: Hard to Digest

Hawk Eye leaned against the window, tapping against the glass, eyes vacant. He had his team, but he felt so alone.

“Somepony should talk to him,” Thunder Strike whispered to the others.

Once they were done ‘cleaning up’ the mess in Trottingham, the team had decided to meet with Luna personally to better plan their next mission. One might mention ‘the team’ deciding to do so, but it was the combined opinion of Lake Lily and Strong Recovery rather than Hawk Eye. Hawk Eye had been silent since they finished up burying what was left of the massacre. On the train, the gryphon seated himself far from the others, leaving them to murmur amongst themselves.

“But who?” Midnight Azalea asked. “Not Tron or you because, well, you’re not really the right ponies.”

“No tact.” Titanium nodded.

“Right,” Midnight said. “Lake Lily? How about you? You’re second in command, right?”

“Yeah, but I’m not good with emotions.” She shuffled in her seat. “If I went to talk to him, I’d probably make things worse. How about you, Strong? Aren’t you like our shrink, or something?”

“I thought I told you how much I dislike that term.” Strong Recovery sighed as Lake shot an expression that screamed ‘see!’. “Nevertheless, though it may be true that I’m trained to not only help your physical but mental condition, Hawk Eye has proven…difficult with professionals in the past. The best options would be either you or Red. And I think you would be preferable.”

“Why do you think that?”

“Most likely because you were in the house with him,” Red said. “So was Tron…but you saw what it took to faze him.”

There was a moment of deathly silence.

“Also because you’re a meat-eater,” Lake Lily said off-handedly. Midnight wasn’t the only one to flinch at the statement. “What? The fact is, omnivores have a slightly different thought process than herbivores. There’s nothing wrong with that. Only idiots believe that what you eat defines your character.”

Midnight rolled her eyes and made her way to Hawk Eye. Sitting down next to him, she eased into the subject.

“Are you okay?”

Hawk Eye huffed.

“They sent you here to talk to me, right?” He leaned against the window.

“What makes you think that?”

“You’re the best choice.” Another monosyllabic response.

“Just talk to us, Hawk Eye. I know you’re hurt from what we saw, we all are, but I can’t help but think there’s more to this.” Midnight puts a hoof on his shoulder. “Please…help me help you.”

The wagon was silent for some time, the rhythm of the tracks the only thing accompanying Midnight’s bated breath.

“Midnight, what do you think Gull’s wish was?”

Midnight was stunned at the question for a moment before shrugging.

“I’m not sure, Hawk. What do you think it was?”

“I don’t need to guess.” He pulled out a rumpled piece of paper. “I know.”

“Is that…?” Midnight moved a hoof forwards at the sight, trembling slightly at the memories.

Hawk did not answer, choosing instead to unwrap the paper and start reading.

“It mocks me at night,
When I close my eyes to dream,
It flies into the light.
I wake with a scream.

They left me alone,
They left me behind.
To them I am blind,
Anchored like a stone.

I am flawed,
Broken inside.
To the ground I am tied,
To the sky I’m a fraud.”

“Oh, starry skies…” Midnight gasped as the implications hit her.

“She wanted to fly, Midnight.” Hawk Eye’s gaze fell. “I can imagine that being an earth pony born of hippogriffs would be hard on her. But having a cutie mark in birds, having parents who loved flying, and yet being unable to fulfill that feeling…it tore her apart. And it makes me think…is what I’m doing the same? I’m a gryphon in the guard, and the only one who has ever gotten such a high rank in the Equestrian military. I’ve had to volunteer for missions that nopony wanted so that I could be promoted, dealing with belligerent subordinates and superiors all the while. If it weren’t for Shining’s recommendations, I wouldn’t even be here. But now, through all the missions, I’ve finally failed spectacularly. Not only did I let down those people under the hotel, I’ve let down all non-ponies in the guard.” Tears ran down his beak before he looked away, at the window. “The stiffs are going to use my failure as an example why only ponies should have positions in the guard, even going so far to say that I’m partly responsible because I wanted to fulfill my bloodlust. Fearmongering at its finest. I’ve…I’ve messed up. I shouldn’t be your C.O. ̶ ̶ ”

There was a resounding THUD as a hoof collided with the back of his skull.

“That’s for saying something stupid.” Midnight frowned and twisted Hawk around.“You being here, leading us, is proof that you’re worthy. You say you’ve gone through all of the worst missions offered just to keep up with your friend? You say that you’ve had to deal with waves of thick-skulled plotholes every day of every week? That shows you’ve got grit. Nothing will stop you. And if those stiff-lipped, haughty-aired morons think they can kick you out of the guard because you did everything you could, and more? Tartarus, you listened to all of our suggestions, even Tron’s! If they court-martial you, they’ll have to court-martial all of us! And that’s not even counting that we’ve got the backing of not one, but two Princesses! That’s more support than any Lieutenant has ever had in the past thousand years! And that’s not counting you being Shining Armor’s best friend, so the Captain’s looking out for you, and his girlfriend, another princess, is looking out for you. And I know for sure that everypony in this squad will personally walk up to whatever coddled noble tries to kick you out and punch that flankhole square in the muzzle!”

Midnight was huffing for breath, muzzle scrunched in anger.

“I’ve got dibs on punching first!” Lake Lily called out from her booth.

Hawk Eye looked over Midnight and the others. A sad smile grew until he chuckled.

“Thanks, guys. You’re the best squad a gryphon could ask for,” Hawk said.

“We’re the best squad anybody could ask for!” Thunder Strike huffed, causing everybody to laugh.

The rest of the train ride went swimmingly, but the smiles of the crew were weighed down by fear of what was to come and sadness of what had passed. Thankfully, at their arrival, they had a distraction waiting for them.

“Hawk Eye!” Shining Armor strolled towards the soldiers with a wide smile on his face. “You were right, Hawk! She accepted!” He lunged forwards and embraced his old friend.

“See! What did I say?” The gryphon beamed as he noogied Shining Armor’s head. “So where is your royal fiance?”

“Are you saying that he finally proposed to Mi Amore Cadenza?” Lake Lily snorted. “Took him long enough.”

Shining noticed the rest of the guard gathered nearby and smirked.

“And you guys! I haven’t seen much of any of you since Tron’s bar incident!”

A chorus of groans echoed around the Canterlot station, prompting several ponies to shoot looks towards the seemingly oblivious group. Of course, only Tron accepted the attention with gusto, as the others simply ignored the glares. Many small-time nobles would go home complaining about the uncouthness of gryphons, bat-ponies, and heavy-set unicorns with ridiculous beards. Then they would whine about how they weren’t invited to the upcoming royal wedding. Such is life in aristocratic Canterlot.

“I still don’t understand how everybody but us knows what happened to us,” Thunder Strike grumbled as they made their way to the castle.

“There’s only Hawk and I who remember, and oh Celestia, do I wish I could forget it.” Shining shuddered.

“The past never happened!” Tron yelled as he shoved some incriminating photos in a trash bin and set it aflame. “I’m in control of my life!”

“Enough about that night, guys,” Hawk said, desperately trying to ignore the burning pictures Lake had taken of him and Midnight in a drunken stupor. “Let’s talk more about the upcoming wedding.” The gryphon smiled coyly and nudged Shining in the ribs.

“As much as I’d like you to be my best gryphon, I’ve been told you won’t be able to attend.” Shining and Hawk’s smiles faded a bit.

“Well, you know, duty calls and all that. I could pass the speech I’ve prepared to my replacement.”

“How about no?” Shining chortled. “Anything you’ve written; I don’t want my little brother to read it.”

“Of course you’d only be able to replace the mighty Hawk Eye with a dragon.” The guards opened the palace doors for the group to enter. “How is Spike doing, anyways? As far as I know, you’ve been pulling my feathers about your siblings. One is a Bearer and student to Princess Celestia herself, and the other is a dragon.”

“Don’t give me those horseapples, Hawk,” Shining said, a twinkle in his eye. “I know very well about the time I was sick and you ‘secretly’ volunteered to guard the Princess’ student in my place. Twilight told me how you tried to bribe Spike with gems.”

“What do you mean tried?” Hawk said. “The little guy loved me after that. And Twilight was only trying to save her own skin; I treated her to Doughnut Joe’s.”

The team watched the back and forth between the two friends, relieved that Hawk was starting to lighten up.

“So did you send your sister an invite to your wedding?” Hawk asked.

“As much as I wanted to, Cadance sent one. She may be my sister, but she’s Cadance’s mare of honor.”

“If you say so.” Hawk Eye shrugged as they entered the throne room. Contrary to usual, both princesses were present, and the room was lacking in guards.

“Shining, as much as we’d like to have you hear this, you’ve got enough on your plate for now.” Luna said. “It’d be best if th-- you left the room.”

Shining rose an eyebrow but turned around and left, but not before shooting an encouraging smile at Hawk. The heavy doors shut, and silence weighed heavily on all those in the room.

“My sister and have only the barest idea of what happened in Trottingham,” Celestia said without her usual motherly smile. This was serious. “You’ve insisted we talk in-depth about this…massacre…personally.” Celestia clenched her teeth at the thought of such a thing occurring not just to her own citizens, but deep within Equestria.

“I’m sorry Princess Luna, Princess Celestia.” Hawk Eye bowed his head. “I’ve failed you.”

Celestia and Luna’s upright postures fell somewhat. Here was the gryphon that always held his head high, who had weathered the harshest a member of the Guard could, who had always made a point to speak to them amicably when he could, laid low. Broken. Midnight stepped forwards before Hawk could relapse further into sadness.

“As much as Hawk would like to take the fall for all of us, I’ll have to stop him. When we arrived in Trottingham, we weren’t sure what exactly we were looking for. Hawk Eye listened to all of our suggestions and kept us together even as we began to get restless. It was generally agreed upon that stealth would trump force against an unknown foe. But we weren’t aware of the possibility that our foes would be bending po-- people to their will, forcing them to merge into some twisted cult. By the time we figured it out, it was too late. In fact, Hawk Eye was the one who figured out where to find them. But when we arrived, we were a day too late…”

Midnight looked down as Strong Recovery stepped forwards.

“From my analysis, they had been dead for less than twelve hours. With the help of the others, I was able to construct a massive Forsee-Heartrate diagnosis spell which brought the full story to light. It seems that five members of a tripedal insectoid species called ‘Kitchil’ had mentally manipulated a large amount of people to obey them unconditionally. I’ve seen a bit of the home of one of those afflicted, and I can say that their magic tore and twisted the psyche of their victims like a Badlands minotaur would wash fine silk. By feeding on ‘Equestrian magic’, they were able to perform feats of magic rivaling the guard’s finest battlemages. It was quite stressful to watch.”

Luna and Celestia looked at one another stoically before returning their attentions to the soldiers.

“Not to mention the fact that they were nothing more than pawns to bigger players,” Lake Lily said. “From what I could tell, one of these big guys took care of the Kitchil personally. It wasn’t pretty. Apparently it can turn invisible and float around like some sort of spirit. But unlike spirits that I know of, it pushed away ambient magic instead of absorbing it. And it’s crafty, too. It almost tricked the Kitchil into leaving after impersonating one of them, and it may have convinced the cult to go crazy.”

“May have?!” Thunder Strike bounded into the air and landed in front of Lake. “It definitely did! Did you see how it tore apart those guys? It moved faster than my eyes could follow. You’d have to anticipate all of the attacks of the freeform thing. It probably took part in that bloodbath.”

Red stepped forwards and pushed his ruby mane back. “I don’t think so, Thunder. It tried to negotiate peacefully at first, even though it was through deception. It seems the only advantage we have against it is magic, which seems to be resistant to its overwhelming power. It was meticulous too, making sure to burn the bodies of its victims to be absolutely sure. What troubles me is how hard it was to detect it even with Strong Recovery’s spell. How do we know it’s not watching us now?”

Silence fell once more in the throne room as everybody save Celestia began darting their eyes around, some more frantically than others. The silence was broken by the one known to break it the least.

“We don’t. It could hide its magical void by hiding behind those lamps ̶ ̶ " Titanium nodded in the direction of the crystal lamps hanging on the walls “ ̶ ̶ or by flattening itself against the walls or other magically null objects in this room. It is a shapeshifter. We should concentrate on The Snake.”

“The Snake?” Luna asked, first to get over one of Titanium’s more vocal moments.

“Yeah.” Hawk nodded. “The Snake seems to be the patron of the Kitchil. They said it was the one to bring them. So for now, no matter the methods, it seems that the shapeshifter and our goals remain the same.”

“For now.” Celestia’s word echoed through the room. “What we are lacking is information. We know very little of Lucid, and less still of the shapeshifter and The Snake. But they are all connected. What we know for sure is that Lucid has been around for quite some time, and is part of an as-of-yet undiscovered sapient species, much like the Kitchil. So it is likely he is either a pawn, just like them, or the survivor of an incursion. We also know that some incursions, the more stable ones, are orchestrated, most likely by The Snake.”

The group looked down in thought. Thunder shuffled nervously as Strong Recovery tapped his chin. Lake Lily was walking in circles, Tron was following her, and Midnight ran her hooves across her braids. Celestia and Titanium stared into space, deep in thought, whereas Luna ruffled her wings and Red stared at his reflection in the window. Hawk Eye scratched his head as he stared sullenly at the ground.

“We don’t know nearly enough to do anything,” Hawk Eye said.

The others nodded in agreement.

“So we must learn more,” said Luna. “Sister--” she turned to Celestia but kept her eyes on Hawk “--considering what we know--and more importantly, what we don’t know--I suggest that one of us go investigate with the team. Starting at Froggy Bottom Bog should give us a hoof-hold.” Luna stood up and flew down the steps from her throne to land in front of Hawk. “We can meet our…contact in Ponyville.”

“Feeling cooped up, Luna?” Celestia smirked.

Luna puffed out her cheeks and turned away.

“I trust you’ll be able to deal with the potential ‘situation’ here?” Luna said.

“Don’t worry, Lulu.” Celestia’s smile shrunk. “Be careful, please. I don’t want to lose you again.” Celestia trotted down the stairs. The two sisters leaned in for an embrace. “Figure this out for us, Luna. Please don’t let any more of my dear Equestrians get hurt.” Celestia shot a glance to the guards. “That goes for you, too. You have my blessing.”

Luna led them out of the throne room before donning an illusionary disguise in a flash of her horn. She shrunk down and her coat darkened somewhat, but her mane and tail still blew in an ethereal breeze.

“Oops. I’m somewhat rusty.”

Another flash of her horn, and her wings disappeared as her mane adopted a substantially less regal appearance, becoming light blue in color. Her cutie mark changed to a sparkling crystal moon.

“In this form, you will call me Crystal Nights, and I will be Hawk Eye’s subordinate. Do not worry about my condition should we ever encounter trouble; I can take care of myself. Is there anything we need to do before we head to Ponyville?”

“As a matter a fact…” Hawk Eye held up a necklace with two feathers attached to it. “Yes. I have a pair of hippogriffs I need to talk to.”

<><><>

The team separated to do various errands, whereas ‘Crystal Nights’, Hawk Eye, and Midnight Azalea made their way towards Canterlot’s Dark District.

One might think, from the way the capital shone like a jewel atop a mountain, that it was a city of opulence and riches. Of course, the way Canterlot was built made it so that a portion of it would always be in the shadow, having been dug into Mount Canterhorn. Nobles being nobles and real estate agents being real estate agents, the shadowy part of Canterlot became far more affordable. And despite its foreboding name, the crime rate was just as non-existent as the rest of the capital. But the upper class didn’t know that. So while the Dark District was generally avoided by aristocrats and snobs alike, it was a veritable melting pot of Equestria. It was here that all trade goods would eventually be sorted and resold. It was here dwelt the greatest diversity of species: minotaurs, bat-ponies, gryphons, and even some smaller drakes met and lived in harmony.

It was here dwelt Jacqueline and Feather Counter. Gull’s parents.

“How did you know where to find them?” Crystal asked.

“We were looking through her mail to try and find out where she may be. This address showed up the most frequently.” Hawk Eye tapped a talon against the door in front of them.

The door opened up to reveal a tired white hippogriff, a pair of spectacles on his beak.

“You must be Feather Counter,” Hawk said. “We have news about your daughter, Gull.”

His eyes widened and he stepped aside.

They sat on the couch. The news was difficult to give. Hawk Eye had had to tell families of members of the Royal Guard who had lost their lives, but this was different. Gull wasn’t a soldier. Gull wasn’t even in a dangerous town. Gull was a victim. A victim of the first foreign attack on Equestrian soil in six centuries.

Tears were shed. Denials rang out. Two hippogriffs held each other in an embrace, once more exceptions to the natural order. Oddities at birth, oddities in parenthood. Parents who had outlived their only child.

For Midnight, it all passed in a blur. It was all too real, yet at the same time, as if she was watching from far away. She observed silently as Hawk Eye explained the circumstances. She could only watch as Feather Counter grew angry and Jacqueline tried to deny reality. When the two of them finally accepted the truth, they embraced each other in a hug and allowed their tears to flow freely. Hawk Eye gave them enough space, and when they let go, he grabbed their claws and placed Gull’s necklace in their palms, closing their talons over it. Jacqueline sobbed once more and hugged Hawk. Feather nodded solemnly and shook the gryphon’s claw.

The feeling of distance lifted when the trio left the house and began making their way back to the train station.

“You’ve done this before, haven’t you?” Crystal asked.

“This was my third time, but my first time with civilians. It’s…always difficult. It never gets any easier on me, and the second time was pretty bad.” The gryphon sighed. “I pity Shining, he had to do it five times. That was a grueling mission.”

“I can’t imagine what it must be like,” Midnight said. “Raising a foal, loving them, caring for them…only for you to bury them.” Crystal hung her head.

“I-It’s difficult. You would do anything for your child,” Crystal spoke softly, the two guards seeing a bit of her true self shine through. “You raise him from a foal, you feel pride in his accomplishments, his growth. Every smile on his muzzle is reflected on yours. Every laugh sparks elation in your heart, and one day…no more. Nothing but silence. A hopeful echo through the ages, what used to be sparks now mark burnt scars on your psyche.”

“I-I’m sorry, your Majesty.” Midnight gulped. “I shouldn’t have mentioned it.”

“It’s fine.” Crystal shook her head. “It was so long ago, I’ve learned to accept it and live for myself, as Jacqueline and Feather Count will.”

The three walked in silence until they reached the train station, where the rest of the group was waiting. Thunder Strike was wearing an impatient expression, having been waiting for the others the longest, and having been with Tron the longest. Red was smiling, a paper bag from his favorite store on his back, and Lake Lily was simply rolling her eyes. Strong Recovery was looking over his refurbished satchel, counting over all of his potions and elixirs.

“Oh, good.” Lake said. “Now all we have to do is wait for Titanium.”

“No need, I’ve placed a tracker spell on the colt. He’s a block away, and getting closer,” Strong said without looking up from his medkit. “In fact, I’ve placed trackers on all of you, to be sure you are who you say you are.”

Heads turned slowly in his direction.

“What?” Ground out Thunder Strike. “What do you mean by that?! You’ve been spying on us because of some paranoid delusion?”

“Explain, please.” Midnight was on the verge of an outburst.

“Because we don’t know,” Strong explained calmly, the barest hint of a frown on his face as he continued cataloguing his medicines. “We know basically nothing about that invisible being, aside from the fact that it draws power from something other than our magic. So I thought it was best if I assumed it could do anything. Like impersonate one of us as it tried to do to the Kitchil. The only advantage we have is magic, and even then, it would have gotten away with what it had done if he hadn’t done something so unprecedented.”

The glares lost their sparks, and the ponies settled down.

“I know why you did this, but it would be best if you warned your superiors first, Strong,” Hawk Eye said.

Strong Recovery bowed his head.

Just then, Titanium rounded the corner, a cyan mare by his side. A cyan mare even taller than he was. A few paces away from the station, the two turned to one another and nuzzled each other’s necks. They stared into each other’s eyes and separated without a word. The mare walked back into the crowd, visibly towering over all the other ponies on the street.

“So, Titanium.” Midnight approached him slowly. “I didn’t know you had a special somepony.”

“Wife.” The colossal pony nodded.

“Your wife is nearly as tall as Princess Celestia!” Thunder Strike said. “Where the hay did you find her?”

Titanium frowned ever so slightly, prompting Thunder to apologize and back up quickly.

“Helps repair trains. Stronger than I am. Afraid of hurting others. Very gentle, very kind, very shy. Don’t insult her, or else.” To the untrained eye, Titanium’s glare was about as cold as an ice cube on a hot summer day, but it may as well have been absolute zero coming from the gray pony.

Thunder meeped and hid behind Lake Lily. Hawk Eye shook his head and smiled before turning to Tron.

“Tron, go reserve a luxury car on a train headed to Ponyville.” Tron saluted and headed over to the booth.

“Hawk Eye, don’t you think that’s a bit much?” Crystal Nights asked. “I understand the need for privacy, but no need to rent out all of first class.”

“We are escorting a VIP, Crystal,” Hawk said as he headed towards the platform. Crystal sighed but let Tron go.

“Just-Take all my money!” Tron threw a bunch of bits at the disgruntled boothmare. “Oh, not this soon, NOT THIS SOON!” The bearded unicorn heaved and spat out a torrent of bits on the booth table, yelling all the while. The mare rolled her eyes dispassionately, having seen far stranger things in the service industry.

After the mare cleaned the bits with a simple spell and handed Tron the tickets, he made his way to the first-class car where the others waited for him. They settled down finally and began talking about various far-fetched theories about The Snake and the shapeshifter, and which one was responsible for what. It was only when the train began to move that Crystal Nights came upon a question.

“Its name. We keep calling it ‘the shapeshifter’ but that seems to be only one of its abilities. The Snake is a title, but the formless mass never gave anything to identify itself.” She rubbed the back of her head in thought.

“Are you sure that would be wise? Giving it a name would make us empathetic towards it,” Strong Recovery said.

“It actually tried the peaceful solution before laying the beatdown on those guys—”

“If it didn’t slaughter those cultists,” Thunder muttered quietly.

“Which is more than can be said about all the other enemies we’ve faced,” Lake Lily said. “I think we should give it the benefit of the doubt.”

“So what, we call it something like ‘Deceiver’?” Midnight asked.

“Makes it sound like a real jerk.” Lake Lily shrugged. “And a bit too, I dunno, Discordian?”

“Shadow?” Titanium offered.

“Neigh, shadows are visible in the light,” Crystal Night said. “I suggest we call it something more…adequate. Describing just how alien it is.”

“Dr. Frankengust!” Tron exclaimed.

“Hmm…alien, yes. Noble, not what we had in mind,” Strong Recovery said. “Nice try, though.”

Hawk Eye snapped his talons.

“How about…Traveler.”

<><><>

The train pulled into the station a few hours late; there seemed to be some sort of train track maintenance on Mount Canterhorn. Hawk Eye was the first one out of the train, as per procedure, when he caught the eye of a particular mare. The gryphon stood by the train and rose an eyebrow at the sight of a hornless Cadance approaching with a big smile. The rest of the group got off the train and stood alongside the train.

“Isn’t there a wedding you should be attending soon?” Hawk smirked.

The disguised alicorn giggled and swung her head in the direction of the three mares at her sides. “Hawk, this is Minuette, Twinkleshine, and Lyra. Bridesmaids for the upcoming wedding.”

Twinkleshine shied away from the gryphon, whereas Minuette and Lyra jumped forwards.

“Hello! My name’s Minuette, but ponies have taken to calling me ‘Colgate’. Your beak is so shiny! How do you maintain it? Do you wax it or—”

“Heya! I’m Lyra, and you’re the first gryphon I’ve been able to talk to! Do you have any gryphon songs or stories you could share? And you look like you’re in the Guard, so I bet you’ve traveled a lot! Maybe you could tell me—”

Both mares’ questions drowned each other’s out, causing poor Hawk Eye’s head to spin.

“Okay girls, please don’t pressure the best gryphon,” said Cadance, causing Hawk Eye to flinch slightly. “He’s probably got enough on his plate as is.”

“Not used to so much female attention, eh, Hawk Eye?” Midnight said, accompanied by Lake, Tron, and Thunder’s guffaws.

“Actually, I’m on a mission.” Hawk Eye sighed as his head fell. “I won’t be able to attend the wedding.”

“Aww, that’s too bad,” Lyra said. “Maybe you should see my best friend, Bon-Bon. She’s supposed to meet some friends soon for a confectioner’s convention. I just wish she could have come with me to the wedding.”

“I didn’t know candy-makers had conventions.” Minuette scrunched her muzzle. “That’s really bad for the teeth. Definitely makes them not white or shiny. Just thinking about unclean teeth...” She shuddered.

“I hope you’ll finish in time for the after-party, Hawk Eye.” Cadance smiled.

“So do I.” They were lying to themselves, knowing full well that most missions took at least a week to finish. But Hawk Eye suspected that under these circumstances, it might even take a few months.

“I was hoping that Shining had sent someone to escort her to the wedding, but I guess she can handle herself,” Cadance said before getting on the train herself. “Come on girls, we’ve got a wedding to get to!”

The three mares cheered and got on board just before the doors closed and the train was on its way around Ponyville and back to Canterlot.

“Why do I feel as if I’m forgetting something very important?” Hawk rubbed his temples before facepalming. “Pellets! Shining thinks that Twilight is being brought by Cadance, and Cadance thinks she’s being brought by Shining! Those two got so taken up in their wedding they forgot about Twilight!”

“Worry not, Hawk Eye.” Crystal Nights spawned a quill and paper in a flash of magic. “I’ll tell my sister to rectify this mistake. We’ll simply tell Cadance, Shining, and Twilight that it was a matter of…erm…discretion.” When she was done with the letter, it disappeared in a flash of blue.

“Why discretion?” Hawk rose an eyebrow. “I thought this would be a very public wedding.”

“It is public. I saw quite a few newspapers detailing the wedding in Canterlot,” Red said.

“Not to mention that it was on everyone’s lips there.” Lake Lily added. “So this isn’t just about discretion. This has more to do than just hiding from our enemies. What’s going on?”

Crystal fidgeted nervously under the questioning stares before nodding her head.

“So be it. I will tell you… once we have a private base of operations. I know from my last visit that there is no inn, so we may have to rent a building on the outskirts for a while.”

As the group walked through Ponyville and into the market, a few errant stares latched onto Midnight Azalea and Hawk Eye. He approached a nearby stall, and the mare recoiled slightly. Hawk put on a winning smile and pointed out a bouquet of candied roses.

“Hey, we’re new here, and we need to know if there’s a place for us to rent while we conduct research in the Everfree,” Hawk said as he passed the red-maned mare her bits. She gave him the bouquet and beamed at Hawk’s expression as he gobbled up a rose. “Thank you, miss…?”

“Roseluck. I’m not sure about places to rent, but the Apple family has finished applebucking season, so their barn is going to be empty for the next half-year. Since it’s so close to the Everfree, you might be able to convince AJ or Big Mac to rent to barn for a while.” She scrutinized Hawk further. “I have to say, you’re a lot nicer than the other gryphon who came in town. I think her name was Gilded?”

“Gilda.” Hawk Eye groaned. “Unfortunately, I’m her cousin. She’s a real pain in the flank; I’m sorry you had to deal with her.”

“Oh, it’s no problem.” Rose giggled. “I’m just glad I’m not related to her. Family get-togethers must be messy, huh?”

“Last I heard, she left Equestria again. I know she’s, well, a massive jerk, but I can’t help but worry for her. She used to be such a nice little cub.”

“That means you’re a good po-- erm, gryphon. If you’re going to stay for a while, don’t hesitate to drop on by; candied roses just don’t sell well this time of year.”

Hawk nodded and made his way back to the others, roses in claw.

“So who wants roses? They’re pretty tasty.” He held up the bouquet. A few of them reached for some roses, but a blue glow tore a massive amount of roses out of the bunch and shoved them in Tron and Jacques’ waiting maws. “Seriously, Tron? Ever tried being frugal?”

“NOT. EVEN. ONCFE,” Tron replied, petals flying out of his mouth.

“Whatever.” Hawk shook his head. “The Apple farm should have a barn close to the Everfree we could rent. It beats camping in the woods, anyways. Let’s head on over there and form our base of operations.”

Once they arrived to the edge of Sweet Apple Acres, a small filly in a bow ran into them, quite literally, knocking her down on her rump.

“Oh, Ah’m sorry, mister! Mah brother was teachin’ me the farming techniques handed down the Apple family fer generations, and he finally let me go play.” The filly looked at each of the adults for a moment. “Say…y’all aren’t from around here, are ya?”

“That’s right, little one,” Thunder said softly, to the surprise of everyone. “We’re actually here to do a little research on that forest over there. We’re wondering if there’s anypony we could talk to so we can rent out your barn for a little bit.”

“Oh sure!” The filly hopped up to her hooves. “Y’all can talk to mah brother, Big Mac. He’s in the fields over there.” Applebloom pointed towards the field, where a large red stallion was staring at…another larger, gray stallion. The group looked about, realizing Titanium, for his impressive size, had made his way to Big Mac without any of them noticing. The two stared at one another for a few moments before they began flexing. Whereas Titanium was definitely larger, Big Mac’s muscles were more defined and rippled visibly under his coat, even from a distance. All at once, the two stallions stopped and shook hooves. “Looks like they became friends through their muscles,” said Applebloom. “Ah’m going to go see if I can join my sis and her friends on their picnic!”

With that, the little filly scurried off.

“Whew.” Lake Lily whistled. “Titanium pulls through for us again!”

“Aye…and gave us a good show, as well.” Crystal smirked. Blushing faces turned in her direction. “What?”

Crystal was spared from her perceived lewdness when Titanium waved them over.

“We got the barn,” he said.

“Eeyup. Y’all be careful now.” Macintosh nodded and went back to his chores.

Everybody shuffled into the barn and quickly set down cots as Luna dispelled her illusion, only to set up a few protective wards. Tron shook his mane, dumping Jacques onto a small pile of hay, where it quickly began making a nest. Once ‘camp’ was set up, the team quickly turned towards Luna. She laughed nervously and backed up.

“I hope this isn’t about the comment on Macintosh and Titanium’s spectacular physiques.”

“No, this is about the wedding,” Hawk Eye said as he sat down. “You promised to tell us what’s going on.”

“Oh, you’re not going to like this.” Luna took a deep breath. “A few weeks ago, there was a letter warning of a potential threat. After some investigation, Celestia and I decided that some security measures would be taken.”

“A potential threat? On what?” Hawk asked.

“The letter was charred, a bit questionably, but enough for us to know that there is some threat on the royal wedding.” Luna rose a hoof to stop the group from interrupting. “We couldn’t find the one who delivered the letter, and the sender’s name was burned off the page. We’ve contacted all of our agents, but none seemed to know anything save one.”

“Who? And what?”

“Midnight Azalea and Hawk Eye worked with her for a while. Agent Sweetie Drops.”

“I thought she retired,” Midnight said. “She was good, but not quite my level when it came to poison.”

“She is retired,” Luna replied. “But she agreed to keep an ear to the ground for us. And she found something. Hawk Eye, you’re with me.” Luna turned into Crystal Nights once more. “We’ll be talking to her to get a better glimpse into both the wedding and the incursion that happened at Froggy Bottom Bog. The rest of you…Prepare to investigate an area far more dangerous than some old mine. Tomorrow.”

Crystal left the barn with Hawk Eye at her side as the others began to categorize what they needed. As they made their way back to Ponyville, Crystal flinched slightly and looked to Mount Canterhorn. Hawk Eye followed her gaze and nearly gasped. A giant bubble had encapsulated Canterlot.

“Is that…?”

“Yes, that is Shining Armor’s magic. Most likely a test before the wedding. Or, if Celestia deems it necessary, she will supplement his magic with her own, and it will last from now until the wedding is over.” Luna swung her head towards a small candy shop. “Come, we’ve yet to meet Sweetie Drops.”

“Hold on…there’s that filly again.” Hawk pointed towards a filly trotting about with her two friends. He made his way to the three, a gentle smile on his beak. “Hey, little Apple! I thought you were going to meet your sister?”

“Hey, mister gryphon!” Applebloom beamed. “We wanted to, but it seemed like Applejack and her friends got a letter, and they rushed off to do something.”

Hawk’s eyes widened at the name of one of the Bearers, and he quickly put the pieces together. Mentally reminding himself to congratulate Celestia on her quick actions despite all that was going on, he nodded.

“Okay, I was just wondering. And since you live so close to the Everfree, do you know anybody that might know a lot about it?”

“For research? We know somepony!” Applebloom said.

“Yeah!” said Scootaloo. “They know everything about the Everfree!”

Hawk Eye’s interest piqued.

“Who?”

“Zecora!” Sweetie Belle said. “She lives there, and she makes a bunch of potions for ponies here!”

“Even the memory wipe potion when Twilight couldn’t make it!” Applebloom said.

“Memory wipe potion?” Sweetie turned to her friends quizzically.

“Never mind,” The other two answered in unison.

The gears in Hawk Eye’s mind turned. A zebra shaman capable of class-three potions would be a spectacular guide in the Everfree, and even Froggy Bottom Bog. Although he’d probably have to ask her about the memory wipe potion incident, which opened a whole can of worms of slimy precedents and tangled-up laws. Hawk nodded and went back to Crystal, who was waiting by the door of the candy shop.

“I think I’ve got an idea on who we can use as a guide.”

“Hopefully not me,” a voice said from the door.

Crystal and Hawk Eye stared at the open door of the candy shop. A familiar face stared back, set with what might as well have been her trademarked disgruntled expression.

“Sweetie Dr—”

“Bon-Bon,” she interrupted. “My name is Bon-Bon. Come on in.”

Once they came inside, Bon-Bon shut the door, closed the drapes, and flipped the ‘open’ sign over. Hawk Eye had worked with her a few times before, years ago. An expert in close combat and a fantastic alchemist, her skills were fine-tuned and her demeanor, professional. Last he heard, she had quit because she had finally had enough. She had only worked for the crown because of the desires of her nepotistic aunt. In a way, she was like Gull: she had a destiny that she wasn’t able to reach. But where Gull had been pulled into the ministrations of bigger players, Bon-Bon had broken free and cut ties with the more politically affluent part of her family. And if the rumors were to be believed, not before breaking the muzzle of a particular family member.

The amazing thing about the Guard was that top-secret information was kept secret…even with all the gossip flying around.

“So how has the civilian life been treating you?” Hawk Eye asked. “Find yourself a stallion yet?”

“It’s been good.” One of Bon-Bon’s rare smiles graced her lips. “Very relaxing, and a lot of ponies like my candies. Nice to see my products bringing smiles rather than, you know, sleep or death in monsters. The little monsters I deal with nowadays are waaaaay more approachable. Anyways, I’ve got your intel.”

Hawk Eye almost laughed at how typical Bon-Bon was. She might have been acting a bit grim, but the lilt in her voice and the light in her eyes said a different story. It was the first time he’d ever seen her so happy. Not to mention, she had avoided his second question and moved onto the mission. Hawk decided not to pry.

“Celestia asked me to brief you two on the situation. As ‘Crystal’ has hopefully told you, a letter was received informing her of the threat that might occur during the royal wedding. Give my congrats to Shining, by the way. Considering this is the most legitimate threat Equestria has faced since Nightmare Moon’s return, no offence—”

“It’s fine,” Crystal said.

“—and the first large-scale threat in several centuries, it was deemed necessary to put our ears to the ground to try and dig up more intel. Nothing popped up, so even retirees were asked to help out. I was the only one who found anything. My source lives in the Rambling Rock forest, near the edge of the Everfree. He reported ‘a lot of buzzing’, which is strange, considering there are no buzzing creatures in the Everfree. That, and the massive, unusual magical radiation from Froggy Bottom Bog brought attention. Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to investigate Froggy Bottom Bog and to possibly stop the threat before the delayed wedding.”

Hawk nodded and started to leave before Bon-Bon grabbed his tail.

“Hold up there, Lieutenant. This is just a personal question, because Celestia told me everything except the stuff I care about. How safe are the bridesmaids? My best friend is one, and I would hate if she got hurt.” She scowled.

“The bridesmaids will be in the same room as Cadenza and her guards at all times,” Crystal stepped in to answer. “They might as well be princesses themselves.”

Bon-Bon’s frame relaxed.

“Thank you. If you want my advice about exploring the bog, Zecora is a good choice for a guide. She lives in the Everfree, a zebra shaman. The other good choice would be my source. He’s a bit…iffy. Pretty smart and oddly wise, but a bit strange anyways. He gave me some good advice on…stuff.” The mare looked away and rubbed her foreleg. “His name’s Windell. He knows the Everfree about as well as Zecora, and is lot less hot-headed than the average pegasus. Teal fur, open book and quill cutie mark.”

“Much appreciated, Bon-Bon.” Hawk Eye saluted.

Bon-Bon simply nodded and flipped the ‘open’ sign back around.

“Just don’t cause a mess. I actually like living here.”

<><><>

“I think I’ve made a huge mistake.”

It was the next morning. The team turned to stare at Luna, who had shed her glamour the evening prior after she and Hawk Eye came back to the barn.

“What do you mean?” Lake Lily asked.

Luna bit her lip.

“Lucid may know more than we think because I let a few things slip. I was a bit restless, and worried about the wedding, so when he allowed me to see him in the dreamscape, I may have been a bit too… pushy.”

Lake Lily stifled a groan, but Hawk stepped forwards.

“Did you get anything, at least? A clue, some insight?”

“I don’t know. He was as composed as ever, and although I may have gained substantial insight into his psyche, I don’t have the cultural reference necessary to understand him. But if I were to return to Canterlot and gather a few researchers, we could discern what is going on in his head.” Luna sighed and hung her head.

“But we can’t do that now, can we?” Thunder Strike asked.

“Correct.” Luna groaned. “This mission holds precedence over an individual.”

“Don’t worry Luna. We’ll get him,” Midnight Azalea said.

“But in the meantime, it would be best if we set our sights on enlisting the help of this ‘Windell’ character Miss Bon-Bon has told you about,” Red said. “As for why he would even live secluded in Rambling Rock Forest…why anyone would abandon civilization is beyond me.”

Hawk Eye nodded and they left the barn. However, when they opened the doors, a few of them felt as if they were being watched. They stiffened at first and began to leisurely walk down the road. All of them were quite experienced; they knew when they had to trust their gut. And right now, they knew something was watching them. Titanium and Midnight discreetly stood by Hawk Eye’s sides, while Red and Tron took the now-disguised Crystal’s sides and Strong Recovery walked in the middle with Thunder Strike and Lake Lily at his sides. Midnight and Titanium casually looked about, their ears swiveling about.

“Two, three presences,” Titanium noted silently enough for only Hawk and Midnight to hear. “All experienced.”

“They feel dangerous. Coming from the forest. One is particularly…intrusive,” Midnight added.

The two were particularly skilled at following their instincts. After all, their subconscious extrasensory ranges far outclassed the majority of the Guard, not to mention civilians. While they might not know consciously, they learned to pick up on subtle cues and identify where threats could be located and what said threats were doing. So even if they couldn’t consciously hear breaths being taken or see the eyes that gazed upon them, they could be prepared for action and prepare a counter-attack.

“Fading. Gone,” Titanium muttered.

Midnight nodded.

Hawk flicked his tail downwards, a signal to continue walking in that position. The team walked on towards the edge of the farm and paused for a moment before entering the cool shade of Rambling Rock Forest. Compared to the last two places they’d been, there was no looming sense of foreboding. The canopy might have blocked most of the light, but motes of light shone down onto barely-tread path. The background noise shifted easily from the far-off hustle of early-morning Ponyville to the muted sounds of birds chirping and the clicking of beetles. They stopped for a moment when a bush beside them rustled, but it was nothing more than a curious fox popping his head out of the underbrush. Eventually, they came upon a clearing. The grass that rose up to tickle their undercarriages had been cut down to a more acceptable level, an idyllic little cabin in the center. Each stone had been carefully placed, a supporting log interspersed equally along the walls. Three meters from the shed was an extinguished campfire, complete with logs surrounding it as booths. Not far from the hut lay a shed, which seemed much more hastily put-together. Its shoddy door provided stark contrast to the hut’s oddly proud and notably solid door. And near the edge of the clearing was a strangely large outhouse. At the sight of the crescent moon on the door, Crystal muttered something about being surprised her investments were still around.

The door to the hut opened, and a teal pegasus came out. His eyebrows rose at the sight of the guards in the clearing. Not as high as theirs did when a massive wolf followed him out.

“Oh, hello!” The pegasus waved and trotted over. “Who might all of you be? I would offer you breakfast, but I have yet to go out foraging with Steel Fang here. How can I help you?”

Crystal shook herself from the sight of the direwolf first and stood forwards.

“Are you Windell? We may require your services.”

There was a small pause as he rose an eyebrow.

“I am Windell,” he replied. “As for services? I don’t know how I could help you but—HEY!” Windell walked around Crystal and pushed the surprised Hawk Eye aside to head towards a burlap sack with three birds perched atop it. Steel bounded over to him and growled at the birds. “What do you think you’re doing?!” Windell yelled at the birds. “Those are my potatoes! I leave them for ten minutes and you scavengers are already on it? Get out!”

The birds hastily pecked at the potatoes in the sack before flying off as Windell stomped over to them. They took flight and began to take to the skies, mouths full of Windell’s hard-earned potatoes. Instead of flying into the open skies after them like any other pegasus, he picked up an errant stone and flung it towards one of the birds. His aim was true, and he managed to hit one of the birds at the apex of the stone’s throw. Not enough to bring it down, but enough for it to spit out the food it had stolen. The bird clumsily flapped away, its two brothers cawing in laughter.

“And don’t come back! Maudit corbeaux. I’m sorry.” Windell sighed and turned to face the befuddled guards. “You shouldn’t have had to witness that. They’re smart birds, so they should learn from this not to steal my food. Let’s start over.” He bowed his head. “Nice to meet you. My name is Windell. So you say you need my help?”

His smile reached his eyes and he stood back up and offered a hoof to Hawk Eye.

Chapter 26: Cracked Reflections

I was sitting quite comfortably in the coffee shop, watching people pass by the window. Others would probably dream of something else, but it reminded me of the few moments I had time for myself. I would sit alone in a coffee shop, drinking tea, in the scarlet light of the early morn or the inky darkness of late night, and watch the people pass by.

Nothing there was real. But their stories, their stories could be. For someone.

As I sipped my tea, the quiet clinking of the barista behind me, the waitress cleaning the tables with a squeaky rag, and the purring of the cat all brought me the feeling of banality I so craved. The tinkling of the bell above the door was the innocent herald of end times. The clopping of silver horseshoes reached my ears, but I didn’t turn around. I felt her come, and instead of fighting her one more night, I decided to let her in.

“Is this what you want?” she asked me gently, pulling up a chair besides me. “I don’t quite understand. Most others would want the surreal. Power, love, or even general silliness.”

“I never understood anybody’s need for any of that. My happiest moments were with Father, but he’s gone now. Bringing him back in a dream would be stupid; I would never be able to let him go. But I don’t want fame. I don’t want power. Being loved is counter-intuitive. The best I can hope for is peace. Stability.” I waved the waitress over. “Another cup of tea, please.”

The waitress nodded, and Luna’s eyes darted between her and I for a few moments as the tea was brewed. Silence fell, and I chose to ignore her and continue staring outside. Through my peripheral vision, I saw the cat leap onto a table and stare at me with its golden, slit-pupil eyes.

“So why did you let me in?”

“I needed to bounce ideas off someone. Even if that someone was either a rampant portion of my psyche or a pony princess.” I stir my tea with a spoon. “Just to be sure what I should do.”

“If you need aid, just let me he—” She was interrupted by howling winds outside as the blue skies became overcast. A small crack spread across the glass in front of me, fissuring my reflection in three. With a nervous swallow, she continued as the weather calmed down and the crack disappeared. “I’m here, for whatever you need me.”

The waitress brought up the plate and teacup, with a modified handle to fit Luna’s hooves. She shot me a look, but took it as I paid the waitress. She took a sip and stared down into the cup.

“There was no need to make the handles so big. Our teacups are similar to yours, courtesy of our minotaur manufacturers. Which means you have not seen any of our teacups. Considering your presence is stronger now than it was before, you must have gotten far closer to Canterlot. You have been wandering about.”

A sip was my only response. A minor misdirection gave her this much false information, and I wasn’t inclined to correct her. I’d had enough tea times with Fluttershy to know what a teacup looked like, but I didn’t want to give Luna the idea that I knew ponies used similar teacups.

“How does it taste?” I was genuinely curious. I couldn’t exactly emulate tastes or smells. Of course, Luna would see this as me changing the subject.

“Like indecision,” she answered, surprisingly enough. “Alongside the bitterness of pessimism, the sour taste of self-hatred, and the all-encompassing spiciness of paranoia, grown from a sickly tree of the mind.”

“Firmly rooted in the fertile soil of experience,” I answered gruffly.

“Along with a tiny, clouded, pink taste of…sweetness? I can’t really tell, it’s drowned by regret and heavy melancholy.”

She sighed and continued to sip her tea. The silence was palpable for the next few minutes. For all her prying, I can appreciate she’s a good person to be sharing a table with. When she’s quiet.

“So,” Here we go again. “Who are they?”

“Pardon?” Her question took me for a loop. “Who?”

“Who are they?” Luna repeated, pointing towards the barista and the waitress. “Your parents? The slimmer one resembles a female, and she has a few of your more notable features. They could be your parents, right? It explains why I spotted them in your last dream. Reoccurring faces within one’s psyche is not uncommon for people important to oneself.”

I turned around to see what she was talking about, and I saw them for the first time.

The waitress had a natural beauty, from her lovely face to the sultry way she moved. Her pale, nearly white skin was marred only by moles dotting her body like a starry sky put in contrast. Most striking, however, was the silken, braided, midnight hair, juxtaposed only by a lock of moonlight-colored hair, and her blazing hazel eyes. Why…why does she have my features? The barista turned around, and I saw his chiseled face. He carried himself with discipline, and the camo bowtie gave the impression he was military. His buzzcut blond hair only confirmed that impression, but it was the scar just above his eyebrow that made me catch my breath. It was exactly the same as mine. But that’s…I got that scar when I slipped and fell in the snow. I remember…I…And my eyes settled on the cat that jumped onto my table. This one was the most obvious of them all. Its golden eyes had not gone unnoticed, but velvety wings and scales flown past me. It stretched, looking at me all the while, before hacking up a ball of smoke. The other two…they could be people that stayed with me mentally because they looked similar, right? I spotted them on TV or the internet and they stayed with me? But why the small dragon?

I clutched my head as a spike of pain flitted through my consciousness. This is a dream. It doesn’t have to make sense. But I’m in control. It’s supposed to make sense!

The glass cracked in front of me, and the skies darkened completely as black clouds emerged over the city, looming like the reaper’s dark cloak. Wild winds buffeted through the streets, picking up the people and flinging them into the skies, tearing my marionettes from their strings. Eerie quiet reigned as their stoic faces disappeared into open skies, the only evidence of wind the chaos occurring outside.

“Lucid! Stay grounded!” Luna spotted what was going on and tried to keep me there.

The cracks on the glass spread further, splitting my reflection in three once more, before spreading further. Windows down the street burst, throwing shards of glass up the street to tinkle like chimes against the cracking pane. And yet, the wind did not howl.

“Lucid?” I laughed as the fissure spread, its crackling growing louder and louder as even buildings were picked up and flown into the abyss. “Is that what you call me? What a fitting name.” I smiled darkly and closed my wet eyes. “After all, I am aware of more than you know. More than I should know.”

And with that final sentence, the window broke apart, shards of glass digging into my flesh as I was flung, screaming hysterically, into the open skies. I jerked up and opened my eyes once more.

Awake. I’m definitely awake. I rubbed my wet eyes with a foreleg and sighed. But not awake enough. The dream is evidence enough that I’m falling. Something has to change. Steel Fang stirred around me, his massive head reaching up to meet mine.

“Good morning, Steel.” I was greeted by a long, slobbery lick across my face that brightened up my mood. “Thanks, Steel Fang. I needed that.”

I made my way to Adam, my hooves clopping on the unevenly-spaced hardwood floor. Looking at his face gave me the impression of tranquility. A gentle giant was sleeping, one who tried to see the best in everyone, including myself. But he was sleeping in my bed. I only hesitated for a second before poking him in the gut. Hard. He grumbled and turned about, but refused to wake up. One would think he’d get used to this schedule. I poked him again. No response. He was being particularly stubborn, so I hopped onto the bed and got real close to his face.

“Adam.” I poked his nose and he shut his eyes tighter. “Wake. Up.”

After a couple more pokes, he finally opened his eyes. We stared at each other for a full second before he smiles dazzlingly. I rolled my eyes and hopped off the bed before he could make any quips.

“Come on. We’ve got to go fishing before continuing work on the basement. If all goes well, I can get some proper storage instead of hoping nothing purloins the food in the bags I have outside.” I made my way to the door and opened it for Steel Fang. “We can wash ourselves in turns, downstream.”

Adam chuckled and swung his legs off the bed, stretching as the red glow of dawn peeked through the windows. He pulled a puff of cotton out of his hair and held it up for me to see.

“What’s with the cotton in the walls? I pulled a little bit out of a gap last night.”

“A waste of my time and money. I thought it would work as insulation, but I haven’t felt any chillier outside. Either because of my down underneath my coat, or because winter doesn’t reach this close to the Everfree. But I wasted my time, money, and brain cells with a stubborn lady before having made a properly informed decision.” Adam rubbed his head as he walked through the door. I closed it and muttered. “Now it’s nothing more than a monument to my stupidity and a potential hazard.” I went out to take baskets for Steel Fang and a pair of saddle bags I acquired for myself.

“So winter doesn’t reach here? Let me guess, magic?” Adam starts to trek through the forest behind Steel and I after having grabbed his own basket.

“Not much is needed to come to that conclusion. Magic is central here.”

“Well, yeah. You told me that magic is that odd warmth I have now. It’s pretty much everywhere. But how does it work?” Adam ducked below a branch as I raised an eyebrow.

“That’s probably the first question you’ve asked that nobody can really answer. Stop.”

We laid down and held our breaths as a pride of young manticores passed through the underbrush a couple dozen meters ahead of us. Adam held his breath and I used my dull teal coat to blend into the shadowy parts of the greenery. Once they’d passed, we got up and continued our conversation.

“Anyways, magic is all-encompassing. All organisms have it, but the more complicated a creature is, the more magic they hold. Inversely, more magic makes an organism more intelligent. Which is why you can find some rodents holding more magic than bigger fish. But such magic isn’t a force of concepts like ‘good’ or ‘evil’. It brings disadvantages just as it brings advantages.”

Adam stopped to think a minute before rushing to catch up to us. We reached the running river and set our baskets down, before Steel and I jumped into the water and began to clean ourselves.

“What do you mean by disadvantages?” Adam asked worriedly.

“Aside from reliance on it, thus making them weak if magic were to be taken away? Let’s take what it’s done to pony society. Because of ‘cutie marks’, ponies immerse themselves in a sense of destiny. If there’s nobody to break the status quo, there’s nobody to advance society. But since there’s no paradigm shift unless somebody has the destiny relating to it, there’s few chances to advance.” I dunked my head underwater and brought myself back up, flicking the droplets of water of my back like a duck.

“But doesn’t having a sense of destiny make everyone happy?” Adam frowned and started stripping his clothes.

“Of course it does!” I scoff. “But that’s placing individual happiness before the betterment of a species as a whole. Even I’m not free from such things. Before, reading was an obsession. A way to cope with the shitty hand life dealt me. Now, whenever I read, I feel right. Remembering stories makes me feel right. But I’m more than my supposed ‘destiny’. Just because I love stories doesn’t mean I can’t make a kickass lemonade. Or fix a car. Or clean. Or do trigonometry. Therein lies the problem. Ponies do the things they’re good at because it feels good. Like how solving a difficult problem among humans would give us--erm, you a shot of chemicals that makes you feel good, but with far less diversity in application. Ponies only do the things related to their cutie marks, so less variety.”

“I still think that ponies have got it more figured out than us,” Adam said as he waded into the water and began washing. “OooOooohuhuh! Chilly!”

“That’s not the only thing,” I said as I got out and shook myself clean. “Emotions take a large part of this problem. I personally subscribe to logic, but emotions have their place. Unfortunately, emotions can affect and be affected by magic. Things like friendship and love are concrete forces in this universe. So, while the population won’t swell from mistakes and one-night stands, sometimes children born from such unions are beneficial. I don’t even think children can be born unless a couple loves each other.”

“Still not seeing any negatives there, bud. Are you sure you don’t have a stake in the ‘accidents’ category?”

I stared at Adam as he scrubbed himself clean. Steel Fang was finally done himself and climbed out of the river. He’s right. I may be a bit biased, as an accident myself. And look how I turned out. Steel Fang leaned his wet head on my back, and I chuckled before getting the brush out of my bags.

“Hold still, Steel. I’ll get the knots and brambles out of your fur.” Thank you, Effie, for the grooming tips. “As for what you said, Adam…you may be right, but the relationships are still messed up in their own ways. I am loath to admit it, but intercourse is a healthy part of every good relationship. And whether it is the cycles or the magic, something’s messed up.”

“Cycles? Like in dogs? Does that mean you’re attracted to ponies?”

“No.” I scowled. “I’m attracted to humans. I was raised with human concepts of attractiveness, after all. During most of the year, there is no sexual attraction between ponies. Humans are a bit odd that way, but at least it’s consistent. For ponies it would be emotional attraction, probably aided by the magic of friendship or love.” I rolled my eyes, voice thick with sarcasm. “But it ends up confusing a lot of ponies. In short, some ponies are so deep in the closet, they’re unaware of the concept of the closet. And those that have, probably kept it secret for fear of being a ‘stranger’. Herd instincts are much stronger among ponies.”

Adam got out and I looked away as I threw him a towel.

“The ‘stranger’, huh? Like in that book?” Adam frowned as he got dressed. “The French one?”

“Eeeeeh, not really, but close enough. You should have seen how they treated Zecora.”

“Who?” Adam asked as he struggled to get his shirt on.

“Never mind. Help me get some fish.”

<><><>

“Well, well, well.” The unicorn chuckled as he approached the stallion. “Who’d’ve thunk that me dear friend would up an run away? An after all we’ve done for ‘im, eh lads?”

The unicorn’s brogue dialogue was only interrupted by puffs of his cigar as he made his way closer to Swift. As for Swift himself, he was trembling as he tried to find an exit from the warehouse he had tried to hide in, but he saw no gaps between the unicorn’s goons. Perk wished he weren’t so keen on finding strong ponies to protect him. He was just a thief, and although he considered himself to be the best, it wasn’t much without a boss to protect him. But he could trace his problems back to when an anonymous sponsor had paid him to steal something. Steal something so invaluable, he just had to try it. Unfortunately, he was caught by a guard who was deep in a noble’s pockets. And that set off a whole debacle with him trying to escape from the noble by jumping ship with a gang from the Manehatten underground.

There were…disagreements.

“Ya had ta listen to that featherhead’s honeyed words, didn’t ya? I’m lucky I still had an informant, else ya might ‘ave gotten away from lil’ ol’ me.” Cutlass smiled, yellowed teeth inches away from Swift’s trembling muzzle. “I do not understand why ye had to go to Miss White.”

“I think that was the smartest choice he’s made in a long time,” a mare’s voice called out from the rafters.

A small mare landed in front of Swift Hoof, her pure white wings contrasting her messy black mane. Stomping her hoof , six stallions landed at her sides, blocking Swift from Cutlass’ gang.

“Black N. White.” Cutlass growled, his horn aglow. “Me eternal rival.”

“Don’t flatter yourself,” she said. “You’re just an amusing two-bit gangster. Nothing more.”

Cutlass, enraged, shot a bolt of energy towards Black, but it was easily deflected by a quick swipe of her wing. Swift was astonished, having never seen a pegasus do anything like that before. He furrowed his brows when he wondered why he couldn’t feel the warm sensation in his hooves whenever somepony used magic, but he wrote it off as something those in the criminal underworld needed to learn to not get caught.

“What are ya scallywags waiting for?! We’ve got them surrounded! Trounce them!”

What followed was the most one-sided battle Swift had ever seen. Despite there being dozens against six stallions, the six each held their own, dodging strikes and injuring, sometimes even killing, their opponents with swift kicks, bursts of magic, and even knives. In the meantime, Black turned her back on them to look at Swift directly. Well, look, as in point her head in his direction, because she was blindfolded with a crimson cloth.

“I hope you have something to offer me. The only reason I accepted your pleas for help was because of this.”

She held up a stack of papers with an all-too-familiar seal emblazoned upon them. Swift caught his breath and wondered how she had stolen the blackmail off the noble. He did nothing but carry it around with him, with guards around him at all hours. The battle behind her started dying down, the six relatively uninjured whereas the rest nursed wounds and struggled to stand.

“You win this round, Black!” Cutlass roared as he pulled two unconscious goons onto his back and escaped out of the warehouse.

“I win every round. But these bouts are entertaining.”

Cutlass glared at her as he stood at the door, clenching his teeth before he and his goons scurried away. Black smirked, paying no more attention to her so-called ‘eternal rival’, walking around Swift Perk like a prowling tiger. He shivered as a cold smile grew on her lips, a single speck of blood from a particularly unfortunate pony trailing down her cheek.

“I’ve read about you, Swift,” she purred, leaning in close to his ears. “Trying to steal the Elements of Harmony? That’s brave. And a testament to your skill, considering you were only a chamber away.” She stepped back, opened the file with a wing and started flicking through the pages with the other. “I’ve very rarely impressed, but you… A mare like myself can’t help but find you—” She slid close once more, nipping Swift’s ear as his blush grew bright. “Attractive.”

She said it with an airy breath, but the way she moved and acted reminded too much of a venomous snake Swift had seen slithering about when he was younger, in Hollow Shades. It moved silently and stared directly at a little rat, head waving about like an exotic dancer… only to lunge forwards and swallow the rodent in a single gulp.

“How did… you get those files?” Swift almost stuttered, but caught himself.

“It wasn’t too much trouble.” White shrugged. “You know how effective sleight of hoof could be.”

“But still…from a noble like him…”

“I have need of ponies like you in my organization. After all--” she craned her neck upwards as two bulky pegasus ponies carried down a bruised and battered yellow unicorn “--a new position just opened up.” She turned about and began shouting in a stern voice.

“All of you in the rafters, I did not bring you here to see a few of your brothers shove their hooves up some wannabee’s flank.” There was a lot of movement in the shadows above. “I brought you here to say goodbye. Goodbye to one we considered a brother, one I treated as my own family.” The quivering yellow unicorn was forced to the ground in front of her.

“Please…” he pleaded, tears welling. “I-I…it was an accident!”

Swift avoided his eyes, instead concentrating on the odd scar on his cutie mark.

“Doubtful.” Black N. White scoffed. “Since you’ve joined, mere background ponies have become a minor nuisance. A minor distraction. An annoyance.” She leaned in real close to him and growled. “And I hate feeling annoyed. I like having business going exactly as planned. I enjoy schedules being precise and perfect. The joy of a job well done sparks trembles throughout my body like a million volts of happiness before settling warmly in my bones. My work is ecstasy. A little fly buzzing about must be smashed. And the one who let the bucking fly in is…let go.” Black huffed and stepped back. “I don’t care if he had a family. Whether it is an accident or on purpose is irrelevant. The fact I already gave him a chance is sign enough of my patience.”

“But…but.” The unicorn’s neck craned so he could look at the scar on his hip. “That was for a small mistake. You can’t do this! It isn’t fair!” Black began to unfurl her blindfold.

One of the fighters leaned towards Swift Perk and whispered.

“Buddy, I suggest you look away.” He and the others turned around and clenched their eyes shut. “It won’t be pretty.”

Swift quickly obliged just as Black N. White took off her blindfold. All he heard then was screaming. The blood-curling screams and thumps of his spasming broken limbs, the howls of a pony who had seen too much. Slowly his voice died and his limbs ceased to move, the dripping of liquid the only sound in the warehouse.

“You can open your eyes now,” Black said.

Swift and the others turned around to see what remained of the pony: A mouth frozen mid-scream, hollowed eye sockets of pure black leaking blood. The last tears of Swift’s predecessor. Swift’s knees trembled as he took in a cold breath.

“As for you…” White, now blindfolded again, chirped as she trotted merrily towards him. “Welcome to the family.” She rubbed her neck on his, nuzzling into his mane. “Just remember…” Swift Perk felt a sting of pain on his flank and his heart dropped. “You’re mine.” Black hissed.

Swift felt a roller coaster of emotions as she hugged him and nuzzled him even more. White stepped back with a blinding smile and fluttered her wings.

“I’ll take care of the mess here. Why don’t you go to L’avoine D’or, so we can talk more over some early brunch? Don’t worry, I’ll pay.” Swift was stuck between terrorized and confused, with a hint of attraction, as much as he was reluctant to admit it. Half his reason for being was to live on the edge, and here was a mare who not only was on the edge…she was the edge.

“But…why? What?”

“Well.” White giggled as she placed a hoof on his withers. “I was always a fan of bad boys.” She stood by his side and swatted his rear with a wing. “Now go on, I’ll meet you there!”

Swift cantered away, careful not to go too fast lest Black take it as an insult. One of the six stallion fighters walked besides him.

“I can’t tell if you’re lucky or unlucky,” he whispered. “The boss clearly likes you, so she’ll be a bit more lenient when it comes to business. A bit.” Swift let out a tense breath. “But…if she even suspects you’re seeing other mares or being dishonest to her…Well--” he spared a glance at the stiff unicorn corpse “--you’ll wish you would only suffer his fate.”

Swift’s heart felt like it finally climbed back up before tumbling down even farther. It seems he now had a devoted marefriend.

Once he was gone, everything started to melt away.

<><><>

It is strange how complicated a con surrounding one pony could be. The corpses, the blood, the ponies--all turn a pitch black, interconnected by innumerable black lines. Melding together at the source, the being formerly known as Black N. White looks over the warehouse. Few would say it was the perfect con; there were far more efficient ways of doing it. But none less discrete. Traveler is satisfied with such a result.

It had found the files on Swift Perk after investigating one of its marks from the Manehatten party. Paper trails are a bit harder to sift through than any type of energy-based network, but only in tediousness. How lucky that Traveler had found what it was looking for. By sifting its tendrils through many ponies’ very private affairs, it found notes on a bribed guard bringing in a thief. A thief who had found his way to the doors leading to the Elements of Harmony. A strange occurrence, considering the value of the Elements and the security surrounding them. What better way to destabilize the delicate timelines than to remove the McGuffin from the equation? And how better to do so than convince a local of their worth.

Perhaps Traveler is reaching for straws, but it has investigated all players in this matter with the utmost scrutiny. The only discrepancy is Swift Perk, who went from stealing jewels from museums to attempting to take on the palace, with no sign of any information, partners, or tools.

Traveler is indeed paranoid. But it now has a lead on ‘The Snake’ with dear Swift. It seems that Black N. White must prepare for her date soon. It is thinking red spectacles would match well with a white sunhat. It may as well spend a few minutes ‘preparing’.

<><><>

“I still don’t understand a lot of things,” Adam said as he carried baskets full of fish back to the cottage.

“Welcome to life.” Windell chuckled, balancing his own basket on his back. “An existence consisting mostly of questions and only a few answers.”

“No I’m just wondering—”

Adam was shoved down to the ground, and Windell jumped into a bush.

“Shht! Strangers, near the apple farm.”

Jeez, why does he have to be so paranoid? According to him, many strange things that ponies don’t understand live in the Everfree…Adam took a moment to spare a look at the traveling group through the bushes. He stifled a gasp. As a bouncer, he’d seen many people walk through the doors. Over time, he began to recognize certain groups simply by the way they walked. Adam always thought it was his gut, but Windell scoffed and told him that his subconscious was picking up on cues better than he was. Whether it was instinct, gut, or some weird subconscious part of himself, he recognized them. The organized march, the confident strut they all had…they were definitely military. Okay, this time, paranoia saved us.

“Windell,” Adam whispered. “They’re military; we should go.” Said troop was subtly reorganizing themselves. “I think they know we’re here!” he hissed.

Windell took a few measured breaths before slinking back towards the cottage. Steel Fang followed, and Adam let out a sigh of relief as he picked up the rear. Slowly, they made their way back into the forest, careful not to make sudden movements.

“How did you know?” Windell asked, not even turning around to face Adam.

Adam couldn’t help but smirk. “I guess it was just my gut.” Windell snorted in an equine fashion, prompting Adam to chuckle. “Military types have got a certain walk to them. Like they belong wherever they are, even if they’re a bit too rigid for that.”

“Hmmm. So a disciplinary gait? Noted.” The rest of the walk passed in silence, only stopping once the two of them began cleaning the fish.

“So why are you working on a basement for your hut?” Adam winced as he nearly cut himself gutting a fish. “Seems like a whole lot of work for just food storage.”

“It’s a good place for you to hide if there are people coming. I can store more books as well, when I can buy enough. I’d rather not line the walls with books again; it makes taking one to reread a hassle.” Windell leaned back and avoided eye contact for a split second before refocusing on Adam. Adam continued staring, his thoughts easy to read from his expression. There’s more to this. There’s the main reason you haven’t told me about. “As usual, your social intelligence is astounding.” Windell sighed. “It’s so you can build muscle to better protect yourself.”

A good lie, and maybe another explanation, but both Adam and Steel Fang knew better. The dire wolf was so disbelieving that he huffed dog breath in Windell’s direction. A smell that would send Adam reeling or Steel Fang rolling wafted over the stoic pony’s face. The eye contact between the Windell and his two friends was broken when he looked away.

“Fine. It’s in case of another panic attack. It’s tight-spaced, cool, and dark--a perfect place for me to get a hold of myself.”

Adam couldn’t help but feel his expression become downcast at Windell’s vulnerability. He moved over to him and enclosed him in a hug. Windell tensed up despite the warmth of Adam’s gesture.

“Adam,” Windell said tersely.

“Shush, shush, shusssshhhh…” Adam hummed. “You need this.”

Windell closed his eyes and relaxed somewhat.

The hug lasted a moment more before the two separated.

“That was nice…despite your fish gunk hands.”

Adam looked at his hands, only just realizing he had left a trail of fish slime and entrails all over Windell’s back. Luckily, Steel was there to lick it all up, matting his fur up in a small cowlick where neck met back.

“Haha…oops.”

The two finished up their breakfast and continued working on the basement, digging up the ground underneath the floorboards and bringing it behind the ‘rock hut’ a few meters from the cottage. It was only a few hours later when Steel Fang noticed ponies coming. He nudged Windell and Adam with his snout and faced the direction they were coming from. Adam was quickly ushered into the as-of-yet unfinished basement, floorboards placed overhead. A few minutes later, he heard a commotion. It sounds a lot like the squawking of birds and cussing in Quebecois, Adam thought, before it was followed by a muted conversation. Soon enough, the hubbub moved on, and a single set of hoof clops moved towards Adam’s hiding spot.

Light flowed down into the hole as Windell lifted the floorboards. “Soooo, I got another job?”

Adam’s eyebrows raised. “Really? In what?”

“Apparently, investigating evidence for what I think may be myself?”

Extra: That One Bath-house Episode That Annoys Me To No End

Author's Note

It had to be done.
I'm so sorry, the idea just wouldn't leave me alone...If you don't like terrible ideas, forget you saw this.
Obviously non-canon.

Extra: That One Bath-house Episode That Annoys Me To No End

When I came to, I had to catch my breath. I don’t know how I got there, but I was laying in a hot bath. With about a dozen other guys.

Of course they all had to be non-human, so I ended up trapped in the male part of some sort of Japanese bathhouse with a bunch of ponies. And a gryphon, apparently.

There was a ceiling that kept the bathhouse nice and steamy, and three stone walls without any windows or doors. Whoever did the architecture obviously violated several fire safety and zoning laws. The last wall was a wood log separator, reaching deep into the hot springs. I could hear a bunch of feminine voices from the other side. Naturally, there were four guys crowded around what seemed to be a hole in the wall. I recognized Braeburn and Soarin among them, along with a brown pegasus with a messy white mane and a gray unicorn with curly black hair.

“There’s no exit, is there?” I sighed. I wanted to panic, but something about the warm water calmed me down.

I looked over the stallions I shared my bath with. There was Big Mac, who was just staring at a gray stallion with a similar stature and even more stoic expression. They seemed to be pretty friendly, even if they weren’t talking. Maybe they became friends over their muscles. Mr. Cake was in a corner with a stallion with a mane that reminded me a lot of ice cream, who kept interspersing his conversation with shouts of ‘SUNDAE!’. He must have been really enthusiastic about ice cream. I decided to wade over to the gryphon sitting by Shining Armor, who was watching us like, well, a hawk.

“So what’s up?”

The two of them turned to look at me.

“We’re not exactly sure. I guess we all decided to go to a hot spring in Neighpon. Or Nippone, or Japony, those three countries are very similar.” Shining said.

“But I’m kind of disappointed in Thunder Strike and Tron for using the hole peep at the girls.” Hawk Eye said.

Shining waved a hoof.

“We’re all military here, Hawk Eye. I’m pretty sure they’ll get their just desserts when the mares find out.”

“Ummm…” I rubbed my leg nervously. “I’m not in the military. And I could point out a few other guys who aren’t either.” Shining reddened. “And don’t you have a sister?”

That was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Shining and Hawk Eye rushed over to the hole and bowled over the other four stallions by the hole. I flew overhead, unfettered by the water.

“WERE YOU SP-” Shining was interrupted by my hoof in front of his mouth.

“If we can hear them, they can hear us,” I said.

Shining grimaced.

“What were you four thinking? Spying on innocent mares? My sister could be in there!” Shining hissed.

“Relax, sir.” The brown pegasus said. “I was only looking at the princess. You got to admit, Cadenza is pretty hot.”

“You spied on my fiancé?!” Shining hissed through his teeth and his face began to turn purple.

“Ummm…no?” The pegasus smiled meekly as the other three began to steadily back away.

Shining and Hawk began tearing into the pegasus in the most silent way possible. Threats on his position, sending him to the Alamane without armor, and all sorts of other military jargon, all in seething, hushed undertones. Honestly, I was more occupied looking at the other three. Their way was blocked by an irate unicorn Captain, so Soarin and Braeburn picked up the unicorn and stuck his head into the wall before turning him steadily. Slowly but surely, another hole was being bored into the wooden logs. I was too stupefied to tell Shining about it until Braebrun managed to get first look.

“Oh yeah, move that orange flank,” He said quietly, which breaking me out of my stupor.

"RRrrrrrrrrromance!" Soarin said, rolling the r's.

“Guys, they made another one.”

“Another what?” Shining growled, giving the pegasus some reprieve when he turned around to look at me.

“Another hole.”

“What!” Shining spotted them and telekinetically lifted them up and away from the hole. “Hawk Eye, help me guard this fence! You, pegasus, check on whether or not they were spying on my sister.”

"Or mine." The gryphon put in.

“But why me?!” I groaned, “You could ask anybody else here, and they’d be happy to tell you!”

“Exactly.”

I rolled my eyes and gave a look. Sure enough, there were mares on the other side.

“Okay good news, no gryphons.” I said, causing my feline-avian friend to let out a sigh of relief. “Bad news, Cap: That is your sister. And her friends. And your fiancé. There’s also three musicians and a candy maker talking in their own little clique.”

“How ‘bout mah sis?” I heard Big Mac ask.

“Yup.”

I could tell the four stallions got a bit more nervous after that.

“Hold up, Skittles is doing something she seems to be in pain…what the fu…”

“BG-AWK!”

PLOP!

“That is a mighty big egg, RD.”

…

“Nopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenope.” I backed away from the hole. “Nopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenope.” I curled up into a ball and sunk underwater. “Nopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopnopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenope. Nope. NOPE-GLUG…”

Extra: Not What You Expected

Author's Note

I almost didn't write this one. It was born out of a funny thought that grew into this. If you're not interested in biology, or have a weak stomach, or even a normal stomach, I suggest you turn back now. I did not outright say anything disgusting. But one you start that train of thought...There's no getting off of Mr. Bone's Wild Ride.
In other words, this extra is

Extra: Not What You Expected

Warning: Absolutely disgusting

"Hey Windell, I know you say you're male, but I've noticed something..."

"Oh yes, I think I know what you're talking about. Normally, in most other creatures, the male's more, ah, sensitive bits is hidden away in what we call a sheath--"

"Oh, okay then I guess that's--"

"BUT I've discovered this wasn't the case."

"So wait, where is your...?"

"See that's the thing that befuddled me for a while until I discovered something very important: There is only one hole."

"Wat."

"Yes, Val, I know it's hard to digest, no pun intended, but you need to accept that we live on a completely different universe, with a different evolutionary path. You need to accept that organisms here have a non-linear digestive tract. Think of us as adorable, highly evolved jellyfish, without the dreadful sting of cnidocytes."

"So do you guys not, erm, you know?"

"Unfortunately, we are still inefficient organisms. We still have outhouses."

"So it just...comes back out. Oh God. I think I'm going to puke."

"There's a reason I have so much oral hygiene products in the outhouse."

"Please...shut up...I'm concentrating on not dying."

"Fair enough. I hope I've satisfied your curiosity."

"Wait. How do ponies...reproduce without the...equipment?"

"If I had to guess...kissing. Funny isn't it?"

"No, it isn't. So wait, does that mean the couple I spotted from the forest were actually..."

"In the throes of passionate lovemaking? I guess so."

"Jesus Christ."

"I think that would make you a voyeur."

"Gee, thanks."

"On a second thought, maybe not. I saw a couple kissing after a wedding ceremony at city hall."

"Oh thank God, so kissing isn't pony sex?"

"Hmm? No, it definitely is. One hole, remember? I think that reproduction is seen as a natural thing here, so voyeurism isn't a thing."

"Jeeesuuuus. So what, are babies super tiny? Or do you spit out eggs?"

"Nah, babies are about the size of my head. And ponies do give live birth. I saw Mrs. Cake do it at the hospital. Her jaw unhinged like a snake. There was a lot of blood and crying. Isn't the miracle of life beautiful?...Where are you going?"

"To find some bleach. I'll decide whether to drink it or drench my eyes in it on the way there."

Extra: Bechdel Can Suck It

Author's Note

Semi-canon.
Just a silly little idea.

Extra: Bechdel Can Suck It

“Wow, what an enlightening and deep conversation we just had!” Twilight commented as she sipped her drink. Her other friends in the booth at Sugarcube Corner stared at her incredulously.

“I mean, I suppose, but did you really have to mention it, Twi?” Applejack asked.

“Sorry, it’s just not normal for our conversations to go into important things, like the economy, the meaning of life, our hopes and dreams, and our own personal philosophies.”

“Twilight’s right, Applejack!” Pinkie bounced about in her seat. “I’d feel pretty bad if some curious ponies just started eavesdropping now instead of earlier, when they could have gained a lot of insight on our character development.”

“Speaking of curious ponies,” Rarity began, ignoring Pinkie’s antics, “What do you girls think of the strange stallion that decided to live outside the town?”

“Oh, you mean Windell?” Applejack took a swig of her drink. “He seemed like a decent fella. I thought he was some sort of travelling pony, but I guess he decided to settle down. He bought a bunch of supplies from our farm, and seemed to not really understand how buying and selling worked. Or he was just a might generous. Hay, he even helped us out with the cows. But other ‘n that, I don’t know much ‘bout him.”

“Yeah, he seemed pretty cool every time I met him.” Rainbow said. “mean, yeah, he’s a bit of a snarker, but Bon Bon’s got him beat there for miles. Plus, he’d have to be pretty awesome to tame such a big wolf.” Her friends stared at her, expecting her to continue. “But I’m still, like, 26% cooler than him.”

“Twenty-six?” Twilight asked.

“But darling, I thought your catchphrase was ‘20% cooler’?” Rarity took a dainty sip from her crazy straw.

“Ugh!” Rainbow threw her hooves in the air and scrunched her muzzle. “Once! I said that once, and now everypony thinks it’s my catchphrase!”

“To be fair, RD, you seem to like using similar expressions a lot.” Applejack said.

“Whatever. Anyways, Windell is pretty cool, but it’s too bad he doesn’t seem to like ‘flying in the open’, whatever that means.”

“A pegasus with agoraphobia?” Twilight chuckled. “That’s the first I’ve ever heard of that! Still, to me it seemed like he was very careful about how he spoke. It was like walking on eggshells. While he seems a bit suspicious, he really likes books, so he can’t be too bad. I’ve only met him twice; the first time he was really angry at us for making a mess of his home, so he had a good reason. The second time was when he came to the library to check out a few books. Not really enough to make an accurate opinion of him.”

“Ooh! Ooh!” Pinkie raised her hoof in the air. “He really likes giving ponies nicknames. And he’s outside the city limits, so I can’t give him his ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party.” Pinkie frowned and started rubbing her hooves together. “Thought you could escape me, huh? Think the bureaucracy will save you? I’ve already drafted a petition to get your part of the forest annexed into Ponyville territory. You can’t stop the Pink, only slow her down! Yes, yes, it’s only a matter of time, now, dear friend. And the second Mayor Mare signs the bill, I’ll be there. Throwing you a party…”

“What was that last bit, Pinkie?”

“Oh, nothing!” The partyificic prankster pink pony beamed.

“Well, um. I think he’s nice.” Fluttershy said, her voice barely above a whisper. “He comes by for tea every few days, and even helps out with the animals. He knows a lot about the Everfree ecosystem, and respects it instead of fearing it. I think him and Zecora know more about the Everfree than anyone else. I know he gets his money from exploring the forest for plants to give to Zecora, and he treats Steel Fang very well. I think he likes being alone, like me, and he may seem really gruff, but he can be very sweet. When the Cutie Mark Crusaders came to get some animal food for one of their…um, ‘attempts’, they used money they got from him teaching them how to make lemonade. The more I talk to him, the more I think that he…um…may come from outside of Equestria. And Twilight is right, he talks very…vaguely. I hope he doesn’t mind us talking about him behind his back.”

“I suppose I do understand him a bit better, if he’s from another country.” Rarity flicker her mane back. “But that doesn’t excuse him from acting so barbarically!” She harrumphed. “He brought me a request to make traveling clothes for a minotaur acquaintance of his, but when I offered to give it to him for free, having never done a minotaur’s clothes before, and unsure whether or not I could make a good quality product, he simply refused and wanted to pay me, with extra! Naturally, I refused; how could I sell a potentially defective product for more than it would be worth, my generosity and reputation would refuse to allow it! After having thrown his bit purse about, he finally agreed to leave it be. Let nopony say that Rarity isn’t a generous soul!”

And with that, Rarity finished off her drink, and took the last bite of her ice cream before turning to Pinkie.

“Now Pinkie, I suppose I’ll pay for everypony’s meal. After all, it was I who insisted on meeting here today.”

The ponies at the booth sighed and chorused something along the lines of ‘Thanks, but that’s not necessary.’

“I insist, darlings. How much do I owe, Pinkie?”

“Well, counting the pastries I ate while nopony was looking…negative ten bits!”

“I’m sorry dear…” Rarity blinked. “How could this cost negative ten bits?”

“Here you go!” Pinkie passed ten bits over to Rarity. “Thank you for buying at Sugarcube Corner! I hope you have a nice day!”

“Pinkie,” Rarity massaged her forehead. “When one gets a sweet here, one should expect to pay, not be paid.”

“Not if somepony paid for you.” Pinkie giggled.

“What.”

“Windell came in a couple days earlier and put a bunch of bits on your tab! Wasn’t that just super of him?” Pinkie bounced in place as her friends tried to keep themselves from laughing.

“Windell.” Rarity ground her teeth.

Extra: "I don't really celebrate holidays..."

I began packing up the papers on my desk, eager to get home. It was nearly Heathswarming, after all. I paused for a moment. Now that I think of it, Mr. Monochrome has never left his office early on holidays. I know he’s a busy stallion, but doesn’t he have family he could visit? At this thought, I replayed all the past holidays. I would nervously knock on the door to his office, and he would always say ‘Come in’ with a smile in his voice. I would push open the door and he would be there, looking over papers at speeds I hadn’t believed were possible until I saw him work for the first time. His very office smelled of him: ozone with a hint of burnt paper.

He would be smiling, and gesturing me to come closer, asking in his voice, always as smooth and as rich as onyx, how he could help me. And almost always, I would hesitate in his presence. I’ve worked for many ponies in my past. I was a scribe for a lecherous stallion who sent shivers down my spine, and made even my coat stand on end. I was a secretary for a tall mare who always seemed to be looking down on you. I’ve even worked for an actual duke, who held himself like a prince and spoke with authority. Monochrome made these rich ponies of power and nobility seem like nothing more than foals. He spoke calmly, elegantly, charismatically, as if you were his best friend, but his very being exuded…influence. It was as if he held his being back, and I could only see a very small part of him. And of that small part, I could tell he had experienced a lot more. It may have been only a few glimpses, faster than most eyes could see, but his façade fell from time to time.

He has seen joy, he has seen sorrow, he has seen pain. Despite all of this, he made it his duties to take care of me, to make me smile. In a way, he wasn’t just my boss, but my best friend as well. And as his best friend, I let him continue working on the holidays. Not this year, Mister. I stood before the door to his office. I decided to skip formalities and try to surprise him into coming. Pushing open the door, I marched right up to Monochrome, who had his muzzle buried in papers.

“That’s the first time you’ve come in without knocking, Dapperquill.” He smiled. “Is it a special occasion?”

“Actually, yes sir.” The words began to stumble out of my mouth. His presence was already starting to affect me. “It’s Hearthwarming’s Eve. And you’re coming with me to see my family.” Instantly the implications crashed on me. Oh my gosh, I made it sound like I’m interested in him. I mean he’s a fine stallion, and he’s so nice but…NO! Get a hold of yourself Dapperquill!

“Pardon?” Monochrome rose an eyebrow.

“I, um!” I meeped. “Sir, I’ve never seen you celebrate any holiday. Ever.”

“Just because all my employees go home for the holidays doesn’t mean I can, dear.” He sighed.

“But don’t you have any family you could visit? Work isn’t everything, sir.”

“Mother’s the only family I’ve ever had. And now she’s gone to see the world. So, no, I do not.”

“Sir,” I asked, “Didn’t you ever celebrate holidays?”

“I don’t really celebrate holidays. The last time was…it feels like an eternity ago, like it happened in a completely different world. How close we were…But such is the past. Now, I have duties. Work that no holiday can stop.”

“Monochrome…” I approached the desk and put my hoof next to his. “When was the last time you’ve ever had a break?”

And for the first time, I saw Monochrome frown.

“I don’t remember. I’ve always been doing something.” He leaned back in his chair. “I think…yes, a long time ago. It wasn’t very pleasant though.”

I felt as if a fire had ignited in my barrel. I grabbed his hoof and pulled him out of his chair.

“Come on, then. We’ll celebrate Hearthswarming at my parent’s house. My mom was your mom’s secretary anyways, and she was the one who suggested me to you anyways.”

“But Dapperquill, I insist that I ̶ ̶ ”

“No excuses, I will not take ‘no’ for an answer!”

He was quiet after that, and he let me drag him out of the building into the snowy streets. It was only halfway to my parents’ house that I realized something. We’re still holding hooves. I fought off a blush and hurried along a bit faster. Unfortunately, I slipped with a yelp, only to be caught by Monochrome’s velvety, black wings.

“Easy there, Dapperquill.” He smiled. “I think a sprain would put a real damper on Hearthwarmings, don’t you?” I smiled at my reflection in his back goggles. Oh, how I want to see your eyes.

“Th-thanks.” I turned around. “We’re almost there.”

I stood in front of the door, hesitating for a moment before standing straighter and knocking.

“Mom, I’m here! And I brought a guest!”

The door opened and both my mom and dad were there, smiling like this was the best sigh they’ve ever seen.

“Oh, Dappy, it’s so good to see you!” Mom rushed over and hugged me while dad eyed Monochrome.

“Hello, Penstroke.” Monochrome waved. “Your daughter dragged me here, So I suppose I’ll take a break for this evening.”

“My word!” Mom gasped. “Monochrome! You’ve grown so much!”

“I guess I have.” He chuckled. “It’s nice to see you after so long instead of through the occasional letter.”

“I trust you’re treating my daughter well?” Dad asked, cocking an eyebrow as we walked inside.

“Clear! I’ve practically watched him grow up alongside our daughter. Why, ever since he was a foal, you could tell he was Obsidian’s by the way he carried himself. And so well-behaved! Although he was always by his mother’s side.” Penstroke giggled. “Why, your mother was very attached to you. It’s like you two were joined at the hip.”

“Surely you’re exaggerating.” Monochrome chortled, but I got a sense that he already knew.

“Not at all! After Obsidian introduced the two of us, she told me she’d leave on some trip for a while. She was gone for three weeks, longer than she’s ever left the company in my care before. And when she came back, well, I don’t think she came back alone.”

“Mother!” I hissed. “You aren’t seriously talking about his own ̶ ̶ ”

“No need to worry, Dapperquill.” Monochrome patted my withers. “I’m well aware of how I came about. But we can talk more about my line’s eccentricities while I help you cook.”

“No, no, Monochrome.” Mom pushed him out of the kitchen. “You’re a guest here.”

“I insist.”

The night continued on nicely, my brother and sister joining us an hour later. We talked and ate late into the night, Monochrome and I often being the subject of embarrassing pictures Mom had taken.

“Well, it’s almost time for the fireworks.” Dad said, opening the curtains to peek outside. “Drat. There’s a too much cloud cover.”

“What!?” I shrieked. “But I love the fireworks…Can the weather team clean it up or something?”

“I’m afraid not.” Monochrome shook his head. “Weather facilities operate on a very strict schedule. If they change one thing now, they’d have to change the schedule for all the nearby cities for years to come, not to mention the rowdy clouds that might get away.”

“Bummer.” My brother muttered.

My family hung their heads dejectedly. The fireworks that started on the first minute of Hearthswarming was something we all looked forwards to.

“Hey, don’t look so glum…” Monochrome said, but his voice caught when he saw my expression. “Don’t move. I’ll be right back.”

He opened the door and zoomed off. I sighed and sat own on the couch. A cloudy Hearthwarming three years in a row was just too depressing to think about. It was supposed to be clear out so we can marvel at the fireworks twinkling among the stars. We sat there a few minutes before Monochrome came back in with a wide smile.

“You might want to see this.”

We followed him outside to see the clouds still obscuring the sky.

“What are we supposed to ̶ ̶ Woah.”

Colored lights danced on the clouds, forming beautiful patterns and shapes until they formed shapes. And a story in the clouds began to unfold.

“Wow.” I whispered in awe. “Monochrome, how did you do this?”

“Pulled a few strings.” He grinned. “And if you think that’s nice, wait until the music plays, my dear.”

And true to his word, music began to play throughout the city. Ponies began to come outside to witness the spectacle, ooh’s and aah’s echoing throughout Manehatten.

It started out as a feeling,

Which then grew into a hope…

I shimmied over to Monochrome, who sat down, staring the skies. I took a nervous breath and sat beside him, basking in his warmth.

Chapter 27: Fool's March

Of course Zecora would be busy. I grunted as I pushed a branch aside for those behind me. Here’s hoping I’ve got the basics of sleight of hand down. I looked down to my teal nubs. Sleight of hoof, I guess. As they passed me, quite a few of them gagged at the smell. Quite natural, considering that upwind from the game trail was a massive pile of fecal matter, enriching the already putrid stench of the swamp. I swear I heard some sort of donkey bray once their eyes laid upon the mass.

“Welcome to the bog folks.” I waved a hoof out into Froggy Bottom Bog’s vast expanse of mangroves and brown water. “It’s one of the most diverse ecosystems around. And for some reason, where you guys want to start investigating.”

“Is that…hydra dung?” The gryphon, Hawk Eye asked.

“We should finish what we came for quickly.” Strong Recovery said, his hooves dancing about in a nervous shuffle. “This probably means that we are within the hydra’s territory.”

“It’s probably best for us to move on then.” I motioned them to follow me away from the dung heap.

“Hold up.” A brown pegasus said before flying closer to the pile. “There’s something in here.”

Of course there is.

“Stuff gets eaten by hydras all the time.” The small blue one snorted, rolling her eyes. “They swallow their prey whole, that’s no reason for you to go digging into…that.”

“Yeah, but hydras have one of the best digestive systems of all creatures, second only to dragons. They chow down on cragodiles like Titanium there eats oatmeal.” The pegasus, Thunder Strike rebutted. “There shouldn’t be any whole thing by the time it gets in this condition.”

His squad mates stared at him.

“What?” Thunder crossed his forelegs. “I know things sometimes! My brother’s a monster hunter who loves to talk about it at family gatherings. I picked up on some bits. Anyways—”

He pointed a hoof at the red-maned unicorn, then at a sizeable lump within the dung.

“Red! Help me out here!”

“So be it.” Red sighed and levitated out the lump before levitating it towards the water. Uh-oh. I jumped over and slapped the shit out of the air.

“Are you insane!” I hissed. “Do you want to alert every aquatic creature of our location?”

Red had the decency to look ashamed while Thunder seemed like he was about to chew me out. The others looked more disgusted than angry. I groaned and rubbed my face—with my cleaner hoof, mind you—and prepared to explain something I had tested out in the trips I made to Froggy Bottom Bog for Zecora’s herbs.

“The creatures around here depend less on sight than we do. It makes sense, heavy rainfall and fog make eyesight unreliable in these parts, not to mention the muddy water. So the predators compensate. Sensitive touch to follow vibrations in the water, chemosensory pits to follow blood urine, and detritus to prey. It’s best not to touch the water at all, least of all covered in this particular fecal matter.” I started rubbing off the crap on my hoof vigorously on some leaves. “Because it turns out, this predator follows creatures covered in its detritus. A bit like a Komodo dragon, except instead of one end, it used the other. Trust me, I’ve tested it.”

I finished wiping my hoof clean to see them all staring at me.

Midnight cleared her throat. “Did you seriously…?”

“No. I did the smart thing and tossed some lizard I found into a pile and followed it around. Hypothesis was confirmed not ten minutes later when it tried to swim across a deeper path of water. So the best way to travel around here is by air or by solid land.”

As I was talking, Strong Recovery walked over to the dirtied object and cast some sort of spell on it. An all too familiar blue sheen was revealed, corroded yet still whole. I struggled to not click my tongue in irritation.

“I’ve never seen anything like it.” Strong murmured. “Looks like armor of sorts, but no armor should be able to survive this much corrosion. Titanium, can you carry this so we can bring it back for study?”

The big pony nodded and picked up the piece in one hoof before shoving it into a much smaller saddlebag. The bag bloated to accommodate its size but shrunk down in an instant. A bag of holding. I might want to find a similar one. Then he turned to look at Crystal. Odd. From how they’ve acted so far, Hawk is supposed to be the leader. Is Crystal some sort of navigator? Crystal’s horn glowed for a second before she pointed her head east, directly towards the water.

“That way. For about a kilometer.”

I fought the urge to grimace. That was around where the spaceship landed, bow first. And to make matters worse, we’d have to detour north to avoid the more dangerous parts of the bog. North, towards Canterlot. Where a few of the aliens were disposed of. Every time I came into the bog, I deliberated on whether or not I should properly destroy the remains, but each time, I decided that any action to interfere with the decomposition process would further point to me. I’d have to either lead them in such a way that any clues were too far away from their perceptive eyes, or bumble about and ruin the evidence ‘by accident’. Doing so too much would be suspicious, so I would have to save a few accidents for the most damning of evidence.

While I nodded and began to lead them through the swamp, I thought over what they could find out from what they already had. There’s no way to hide the whole alien thing. If they were persistent enough, with their weird magic, they would be able to find the ship in no time. If it is magic. With the amount of time that’s passed and the conditions, there should be nothing left save the bones and their armor. Since they already discovered some of the armor, I could avoid hiding those. Any evidence that I attacked them should be destroyed then. And the weapons they find should be destroyed in such away they can’t compare their effects with the injury that I sustained; Zecora would be able to connect the dots if they told her. The only thing worse than them finding out about my actions without reporting to the authorities would be them finding a full human skeleton. By reporting it, Luna would eventually get more information on me. I have one choice that reduces risk of exposure.

“We should get a move on. The longer we stay on the move, the bigger chance a predator has of catching us off-guard.”

It was ridiculous how much noise we made. Every broken branch, every splash of a puddle, they grated on my ears and shook my heart. Maybe it was because I was so used to working with just Steel Fang, and not a bunch of people carrying equipment. Maybe it was the nerves, knowing that these people may be looking for me. Or maybe it was the thought that my brain had interpreted these people as ‘authorities’ and I was so very close to going back into a straightjacket hellhole. Normal anxieties.

Their commander, Hawk Eye, was actually good at stealthing about. Not nearly as good as Midnight Azalea, who preferred to leap from tree branch to tree branch in hushed glides. And Crystal Nights…she was scary. She trotted with casual ease, but left no hoofprints, sounds, nor even a gust of wind as she moved. At least, that’s what my wings told me. She may have been the ‘VIP’ of the group for some reason, but it was clear she didn’t need protection. The others though, left much to be desired.

Thunderstrike could not stop talking. Red couldn’t stand touching mud, which was bad because as a unicorn, he was forced to walk with the rest of us. Lake Lily and Titanium each ended up stuck in quicksand that I very clearly told them to watch out for, and Titanium ended up touching some plants he really should not have. Strong Recovery was weirdly interested in examining me, and I couldn’t tell him to stop because he seemed genuinely curious about me. I didn’t want to let slip that I didn’t trust doctors, so I let him do his thing. I had to tell him to stop after he asked to take my temperature, when I told him that we needed to be careful now. Tron was just…a mess. He seemed to run into every spiderweb, every hole, every low-lying branch. A brick fell on his head. A brick! Where do you find a brick in the middle of the swamp? Thankfully, his butt-monkey escapades never got us into any real danger, but it did delay us.

When we finally got to the clearing where the ship used to be, Crystal’s horn pointed down. If they paid attention, they’d notice the clearing was nearly a perfect circle, the mangrove trees having been flattened and sunken by the ship’s impact. Now it was just a generous clearing of bog mud.

“There’s nothing here!” Thunderstrike practically whined.

“Jabbermouth is right. Anything that was here is liable to no longer be. Swamps are teeming with life and are prone to quick changes in topography.” I noted, ignoring Thunderstrike’s grimace at his nickname. “You said you were looking for an anomaly. Do you have any idea on what to look for?”

“That’s classified.” Lake Lily said as she looked to Hawk Eye and Crystal Night (?) for approval.

“Commander,” Crystal Night got the gryphon’s attention. “I believe we can divulge some information. Namely about properties and what to expect.” She hoofed at the mud for a bit. “And I may need Red, Tron, and Strong Recovery to help me track signatures. There is only so much a unicorn of my caliber can do.”

As the unicorns gathered around the mare, their horns glowing, I sat down and watched them as the others stood guard. Hawk Eye stood next to me eyes scanning the underbrush.

“The anomaly we’re looking for is hard to find. It’d be something weird, almost out of this world. Something that doesn’t fit in.”

Like me?

“Weird like a dog that quacks, or weird like some sort of color that should not exist?” I rose an eyebrow. Hawk Eye shrugged, but his eyes focused on my own.

“Magical accidents can explain the former, though the latter does sound like something. Have you come across a ‘color that should not exist’?”

“Only in a book.” The commander sighed. We sat in silence, watching the unicorns walk in circles. The gryphon’s gaze trailed across his team, staying a bit long on Midnight and Crystal. He furrowed his brow as he looked at the edge of the clearing, seemingly puzzling something together. Time to distract him before he comes to any accurate conclusions. What would be something ridiculous enough to ignore? Well, aliens. But that’s the truth. But if I make light of the truth it may be eliminated as an option. “To be honest Boss, it sounds like you’re looking for…you know.” I pointed upwards.

“What do you mean?”

“Like…aliens?”

“We prefer the term ‘immigrants’.” Hawk Eye said curtly, almost glaring.

“No, no, no…” Did I accidentally a racism? “I’m sorry, I mean like aliens from out of this world.” Hawk Eye’s expression softened, but he stopped tapping his claws.

“That would be ridiculous. You’ve been reading too many strange books.” The gryphon scoffed, but spoke in the same tone Lake Lily did when she said, ‘It’s classified.’ So they’ve already considered it. Bummer.

“Maybe I have.” I chuckled. In a moment of either weakness or morbid curiosity, I continued. “But the governments in those books always do keep witnesses silent.” Hawk Eye turned to stare at me, unblinking.

“Yes. They do.” Oh no. “Which is why we’ll pay quite a lot for this routine excursion, where our normal guide within the guard is on leave.” They’re paying me more to keep quiet about it? Am I actually in a different universe? All right! I may actually be able to get more books! Contrary to my thoughts, I gave a small grin and nodded.

Both of us sat there for a while longer until the silence grew awkward. I quite liked the silence, but I understand some people struggle to fill the blank canvas with thoughts, instead relying on conversation. I suppose even military men feel that way sometimes.

“I’ve been wondering, why are you living alone in the forest? Wouldn’t you enjoy being near other ponies?”

“No family back home, so I left. I don’t mind other people.” I responded, noting the slim smile on Hawk Eye’s beak. “But being around others…exhausts me. I can talk, and smile, and be polite, but when I do it for too long, it just drains me. Because even if they don’t say so, people want things from you. Money, work, power, your opinions, your truths. And you have to navigate through all that. I’m not good at that. I want simplicity, but I also want others to be happy. By being by myself, I can be as blunt as I want to be without bothering others. A perfect solution.”

“For everyone but you.” Hawk Eye hummed.

“I can live with that.”

“You remind me of someone—” He started before I interrupted.

“Let me guess, another social recluse. Antisocial, burdened with the feelings of others, secluding themselves to their own detriment? It’s not an uncommon thing nowadays Boss. As the world gets more complicated, some of us prefer to live without it.”

“You can’t just isolate yourself. There’s no plague going on!” Hawk Eye punctuated his statement with a flap of his wings. “People can be here to help you with the more complicated things. You just need to ask for a helping hoof, or claw, or hand. It is together we go through the rigors of life, together we work through our issues, together we go through the complicated horseapples. Things get more complicated as we grow. That’s part of learning and improving not just yourself, but your community.”

“Maybe.” If I wasn’t a parasite.

Before we could continue, Crystal Night approached us.

“There is a massive structure underneath all the mud. It would take years and hundreds of ponies to excavate it.” Yes! “Fortunately, Red knew of a spell that allowed him to examine crystal lattices, and with our combined efforts, we were able to use the ‘spectrometer’ spell to analyze the composition.” No! “It is no mere building, and the data matches that of the piece of the alloy we found earlier. Excavating it could yield interesting results, but it will not sink any lower. We can return with a full expedition later to glean benefits from it. For our immediate concerns however…it is useless.” Yes! “But,” Oh, come on! “we were able to ‘cross reference data’ to track where some other pieces of the alloy are.”

Hawk Eye nodded and motioned her to lead the way. And they started heading straight towards the cliff where I had my altercation with the aliens. My mind was abuzz with fear and paranoia, even entertaining thoughts of sabotaging them, until I calmed the panicked voices that whispered in my brain. Aliens are already on the table. So long as they find nothing connecting me to them, I’m safe. Sabotage would only increase my danger.

It was honestly, terrifying how easily they found the bodies. Sure, they were incredibly decomposed, and partially buried or overgrown. But the range on Crystal’s magic was incredible. She honed in on the bodies fast, pointed to where the armor was, and moved on. Red and Tron would follow her, pick up the bones, and pass them to Strong Recovery. The medic would get Midnight and Lake to help him log the bones, do some sketches on parchment, and then they’d pass them to Titanium to carry. Thunder, Hawk, and I did the basic scouting, looking over the landscape. I warned them about the explosive briar bush (where they found yet another body) and tried to look very surprised with every new thing they brought up. All in all, it was interesting to see how they deduced things. They didn’t know what the weapons were, but they figured out quickly that they were making a beeline towards Canterlot before being picked off. Thunder whispered something about a ‘traveler’ before Lake slapped him in the back of the head. I was busy trying not to pat myself on the back.

I was a bit upset that they weren’t able to tell whether or not the aliens were hostile, stating the possibility that they may haver just been going for help. It grated me because while it was unlikely, it was possible. My own human biases saw them killing humans, rather than acknowledging it as a war between two sides.

I didn’t like thinking of that. I had enough of a guilty conscience as it was.

<><><>

The Traveler doesn’t like thinking of ‘what if’s’. Especially not while working. It was distracting, and almost defeatist. What if it stopped doing what it was doing, and simply let the energy that constitutes its body expand in a natural manner. Its consciousness would fade, but an interesting universe would no doubt be born. What if every universe was once conscious, like it, and each took turns tending the gardens of its forbears? What if it met another like it? Would it decide to fade away and trust the next one? What if…what if…what if what the Traveler was doing was wrong? Hurting, manipulating, killing other beings, each with their own individual sparks and perceptions of the worlds they lived in, bringing their own joys and sorrows, their own uniqueness to a mostly empty multiverse…and for what? To prevent a natural disaster. What if this was normal, or planned by a being so powerful not even the Traveler could comprehend it, for an even greater purpose?

Not likely. Traveler has met other beings dwelling within the Void and in Betweens. They did not care about ‘mortals’, ‘lesser beings’, or ‘screaming food’. They tended to die a lot to those mortals, lesser beings, and screaming food.

But the Traveler allows itself to meditate on these questions when it thinks to itself: “What if this being wasn’t so busy?”

Already, four notable incursions into Equus occurred within the past week. Sure, there was the normal ‘dark energy burps’ where a little bit of extra space or time was added somewhere on Equus. Normal during a nearing convergence. So was the occasional rock or gas appearing from nowhere. Most of the multiverse was full of nothing but nothing, gas, and rocks. But with so many universes threading so close together, any divergence could be catastrophic, as it would cause a cascade of branching threads, which would accelerate divergence by introducing more factors to other universes. A bit like a fission reaction, except every particle contains uncounted lives.

So when an incursion has some sort of ‘influential’ entity that can cause mass damage or change, with an intelligence to boot, it becomes a lot harder to control. Especially when the entity in question chooses to forego subtlety. Especially when there are three such incursions in a week.

The first incursion was a strange one. Teenage human male, very intrusive cybernetics, golden rocketship, and seemingly just tired of everything. Very obviously flung off course. Traveler chose to represent itself as a human with a safety hat and vest on, warning him that the universe he was attempting to enter was unstable and recommended that he go elsewhere. Very polite kid; he understood and went on his way. Traveler makes a note to investigate his universe of origin later; it was quite rare to see stable inter-versal travel.

The second incursion was not polite. It was yet another clone or offshoot of Cthulhu. There were so many unstable renditions of this Void being that Traveler practically had a guidebook memorized on dealing with them. The insanity inducing waves emitting from the tentacled monster slipped off of Traveler’s psyche, but it did reduce an island of very confused centaurs into blubbering children. It was a good thing Traveler was good at overloading organic beings’ short term memories.

The third incursion was just plain rude. Whereas Cthulhus can’t control their madness inducement abilities, fire giants can control their tempers. And their temperatures. Very awkward when one appeared in the middle of a volcano occupied by dragons. While the dragons tried to burn it, the giant just laughed and based in the flames, opting instead to slap the dragons like one would an annoying mosquito. Or maybe a hummingbird, considering the bigger dragons. Traveler couldn’t exactly do anything in full view of the dragons, so it opted to get creative. Mimicking the form of a white spear, it erupted from the crust to catch the fire giant in the chest. The spear was a simple one, seemingly made of a white crystal, perhaps quartz. It was tiny, less than a thorn of the chest of the giant. But it impacted the giant with enough force to cause it to stumble back. It didn’t hurt it. The giant was a bit stunned, then laughed harder when it reached to grab the spear. It was when two massive claws touched it, like a pair of pliers removing a splinter, that the Traveler began to absorb.

For a fire giant, one of the most effective methods is cold. Intense, chilling winds rose as Traveler began to absorb the heat around it. It made sure to reduce the giant’s body to absolute zero in seconds, freezing even the volcano solid. The dragons steered away, watching as the sculpture of frozen obsidian crack and crumble to pieces, burying the ‘quartz spear’ with it. Traveler made sure to leave a mundane replica of the quartz spear underneath the rubble, to make it seem it had lost its power. The style of spear would be helpful for later.

The last one stood before the Traveler now, grounded by the intense gravitational forces. It was some sort of bipedal dragon-deer wearing long robes. Considering it was flying on a sword, Traveler is expecting the worst. It dislikes cultivators because there are so many ways they can do wrong. They could be nice and set up a sect to teach the locals new techniques…which involves them politically. They can be greedy and sell their unique artifacts—because they always carry artifacts they seem to outgrow—which involves them economically. They could swear vengeance against the smallest, stupidest slight, and just outright commit genocide. They have an annoying tendency to tie themselves to fundamental principles of the universe, which makes them anything between tricky to deal with and enraging to pull apart their existential threads. The Traveler can work with plot armor so long as it stays in its respective universe. Whatever they do, cultivators seem to inspire divergence.

They were also just very boring to watch. They meditate for years, come up with some absurd concept and rationalization to make themselves stronger, often reusing old concepts in a ‘new’ way. Then, they fight each other for money, lovers, and territory, completely ignoring whatever deep revelations they’d gleaned from their years of meditation. Interesting fights, but very repetitive, little development.

The dragon-deer bows his head to Traveler, who bows in turn. It does not bother hiding; somehow the cultivator had detected it the moment Traveler had increased the gravity to run him aground.

“Greeting, revered one.” Traveler could taste the disrespect in his voice, but it does not care. It is likely intentional to start a fight or to ‘acquire resources’. “This one is Xin, a quilin of the Soaring Heavens Sect, and I come seeking challenges to hone myself.”

Translation: This one is a battle-maniac. The worst kind.

“The only challenge I can see for you is to return from whence you came. Nobody here can compare to your might.”

Translation: There’s nothing here. Please leave.

“Ah…” Xin rubs his scaled snout. “But I was told there would be a mighty one. One clad in the black darker than night. You wouldn’t know someone like that would you?” He gives a wide, sharp-toothed grin.

It is true that Traveler would describe its visible self as ‘darker than Vantablack’, although it is not sure if it would use that term for both legal reasons and precision’s sake. Technically, to absorb as much energy as possible while maintaining an air of mystery, Traveler absorbs all light along its form, making it seem like a sort of ink blot on reality. There is an odd comfort in lacking features.

“You are misinformed. I don’t fight.”

“But you do kill.” The quilin unsheathes a single-edged blade. “I’ve heard you’re very good at it.”

“Don’t do something we’ll both regret.”

“Regret…is for the weak!” Xin slashes his sword, igniting the air around in a blue haze.

Traveler uses a tendril to catch the blade, negating the kinetic energy. The sword starts slicing into the tendril, ignoring physics and conventional laws. Quickly, Traveler retreats, watching Xin marvel at his blade. The maniac had cut through not just air molecules and Traveler’s energy, but through everything.

“Fascinating!” Xin exclaims. “You dodged it! And my sword seems quite a bit sharper in this world!”

“You wouldn’t happen to have a Dao, right? Maybe a Dao of Cutting rather than the Blade?”

Xin is stunned into silence before laughing uproariously. He holds his blade up, pointing at Traveler.

“You are a martial artist! To uncover my secret within a single strike!” His eyes narrow. “The Snake was right about you.”

Traveler wants to sigh. It forms the general shape of a man, two legs on the ground. The quilin is already dead, anyways.

“Perhaps we can talk about the Snake over tea? This world has great tea, though I cannot taste it.”

“I’ve had enough about tea!” He slashes his blade in irritation. “I want a fight!”

He ran towards Traveler to slice at his ‘head’, but the entity ducks low and delivers a punch into the gut of the warrior. Not enough to kill him; Traveler needs information. It sends him flying back, jumping on a tree to lunge at Traveler’s side. The entity jumps over the blade but catches a knife in the shoulder for its trouble. It dodges backwards and mimes an injury.

“Could you at least tell me who the Snake is before you kill me?”

“Not much I can tell you.” The cultivator smirks. “Now stop pretending. I’ve got a feeling that only my Dao can affect you.”

Traveler stops mimicking an injury, breaking apart the dagger within, leaving the hilt to fall of its body in half-melted slag.

“Not much. There is something, then?”

Xin rushes in again, feinting a slice for Traveler’s shoulder, then going for its leg. Traveler side-steps and opts for a punch to the side of Xin’s head. He leaps back, throwing seven kunai at the entity, who catches them all, superheating six until they glowed bright, and coating the last in a light-bending tendril. Traveler throws them back. Xin dodges the six obvious weapons. Just as the invisible one is about to reach him, his eyes widen and he cleaves the last one in half with a slice of blue haze.

“Clever! And yes, I do have one observation. I’ll tell you if you win.”

Another annoying thing about cultivators. They fought to the death and promised information after their loss. Perhaps Traveler should accelerate the fight. The quilin does not have much time…

This time, Traveler rushed the eager cultivator head-on to throw a punch, but shifting at the last moment into a thread that reconfigured into a man dropkicking Xin in the side, sending him into a long trench in the earth. Xin leaped out and laughed even harder.

“That’s more like it! Come!”

Traveler charged again, miming another feint when Xin smirked. His blade swirled around him, everywhere at once, settling everything into a blue haze. But Traveler was not in front, at his side, nor behind him. Rather, it was above him, spitting out the molten metal it a furious red spray below. Xin’s eyes and mouth were agape for but a moment before his expression set.

“DRAGON’S HERITAGE!”

Another annoying thing about cultivators; they tend to have power-ups. Which made all the energy Traveler just used to maim the cultivator a wasted investment. Xin stands taller now, his antlers curved back and thicker. His muscles are more pronounced, as are his teeth and scales. The molten metal slips off him like water from a duck’s back. His snout is longer now, eyes brighter and slitted. No doubt he has a different coloration; Traveler doesn’t bother trying to distinguish the distinct visible light spectrum differences.

“You almost got me! I might have been seriously injured! But now…” Flames lick the sides of his mouth as he guffaws, swinging his sword to his side. The sword’s energy springs into the forest, cutting down trees for miles. Traveler notes this and curses the negligence of cultivators. That forest took centuries to grow. June Night and her descendants had worked tirelessly to fund the renewal of resources near Manehatten, and the forest was one of the bigger successes. “This fight is nearing its conclusion.”

“More than you know.”

The quilin’s metabolic rate had increased. He likely has some sort of regenerative abilities, as the bruises and cracked limbs he’d had are starting to fade. He takes a deep breath, and Traveler readies to absorb the flame to demoralize him. Instead, he unleashes a roar so mighty, the grass is flattened beneath him, and the few remaining animals flee for miles around. It is likely those in Manehatten heard him. A bit annoyed, the Traveler responds in kind. With a focused sonic blast of its own, blowing the cultivator back and disintegrating the trees behind him into splinters and matchsticks. The cultivator smiles as his ruptured ears heal, only growing more excited.

“That is the most impressive battle cry I’ve heard yet! And you say you’re no fighter.”

“If anything, I am a healer. A doctor. One who maintains the health of a system and environment.”

“So you admit it!” Xin chortles. “You fight against forces greater than you: decay, death, disaster…is that not what a healer is?”

“You cultivators…when all you have are hammers, everything you see is a nail.”

“You even speak like wise masters!”

“It’s a very common expression.”

“Not where I’m from.”

“I wonder why.”

The two charge at each other. Xin attempts an underhanded strike, but his hand is caught by Traveler, who slams him into the ground several times. Xin dislodges himself by pulling another sword from somewhere and slicing at Traveler’s arm. Traveler dodges the cut, but the energy sends a cloud of dust everywhere. Xin, hidden by dust, cuts Traveler’s other arm. The blow glances off as Traveler sidesteps and pushes energy to redirect the blade. It takes a lot of energy. Unwilling to waste as much, Traveler stretches a palm chop to Xin’s off-hand, cleaving off the quilin’s next blow. The two separate once more.

Xin is out of breath, but swiftly regains his composure as his hand starts to regrow from the wrist.

“It’s harder than usual, isn’t it? The regeneration.”

“Did you poison me?” Xin grimaced, his hand spasming.

“No. You did. You’re cutting through too much. That blue haze of cut atoms, releases alpha particles, beta particles, gamma particles… it’s a mess of radioactivity—that is, incredibly toxic energy. Moreso for those with biological regenerative abilities.”

“Countered by my own power. How quaint.” He let out a shuddering breath and stood up straighter. “The Snake, despite his self-proclaimed moniker, lacks scales. He’s actually quite moist. Reminds me of home for some weird reason. He talked to me about you, said you were a deluded killer of massive proportions. Maybe he believed it. Maybe he said what I wanted to hear. Doesn’t matter. I came to find a worthy opponent. I found one.” He raised his sword one final time. “Let’s end this then. One more strike. Everything we have.”

The Traveler didn’t want him to die. But the radiation had already infested every cell of his body. To cure him would be invasive, inefficient, and time-consuming. It would likely cripple the quilin.

Traveler approached him as he prepared an overhead strike. In one leap, he closes the distance. The blade falls. Traveler let the blade pass through, moving around the blade and connecting back on the other side. It was still going, abandoning the humanoid form to shift into a thread then shrink into a needle within picoseconds. It tears through the cultivator’s brain as a beam of pure energy, and coming out the other side. Clean and merciful.

Xin’s body is still standing, smile on his face as the sword drops from his hands. Cultivator’s bodies are so well maintained, even brain death takes some time to register. Case in point.

“Good fight.”

“I destroyed your brain. Please rest now. Let the echoes fade.”

“I can…see my home. By the quay.” The body turns its head to look at the Traveler. “He’s wrong about you. You…sent me off the way I…wanted.”

The traveler recomposes itself. Those words were echoes of a soul, dying vestiges of vital energy replicating the last neurons firing in a brain as it too, fades away. There is no meaning in thses words.

The body collapses. The Traveler burns the body to dust, sending it and the cultivator’s sword through the hole in space he’d cleaved open in his final moments, then closes it shut. It’s easy to close; the cut had been perfect.

<><><>

It was easy enough. With no evidence linking Windell to the aliens, the troupe of soldiers had no reason to suspect me. Which was fantastic, because I actually did end up needing to dispose of some evidence.

It was on our way back to Ponyville. We were walking through a familiar glade when Midnight stuck her snout in the air and sniffed. I didn’t even have a chance to panic before she said the dreaded words.

“Why do I smell bones?” She pointed a clawed wing to the foliage above. “Up there.”

I made the connection. That’s where I threw that damn human skeleton! The one Lyra almost found! Quick, finagle a reason.

“There’s probably an Adder Hornets nest. They like to collect bones, but they’re very aggressive.” And because I’d been pointing out local flora and fauna all day, they believed my little lie.

“Be that as it may, it bears investigating.” Crystal Night proclaimed.

She nodded and pointed to Red, whose horn started to glow.

“Woah, woah!” I wave my hooves in front of him. “That’ll get them excited.” They’re driven enough to trek through miles of swamp and hydra dung, they’ll find the bones no matter what. What’s important is that they get the least important parts. Bones I could lose, but they’ll be able to tell more from clothes, and whatever was in the guy’s pockets. “Thankfully, you’ve got me. They rely on scent, and I smell completely like the forest. I can nick it, easy.”

Before they could say anything else, I flapped my wings in a burst of movement. I didn’t need to search for long. Wrapped in clothes were the bones, lodged in the crook of a taller tree. Acting quickly, I dislodged the bundle and let the bone shards fall all the way down. I made sure there were no pieces left and carefully searched the clothes for any evidence. Indeed, there was a ring of keys and a leather wallet. Hiding the suspicious items in my wings, I hopped down from branch to branch and landed on all fours in front of the waiting group. Strong Recovery was analyzing the bones, but they were so destroyed I doubted he could glean much from it.

“It’s a good job I learned a puzzle solving spell!” He beamed as I struggled to keep a scowl from forming.

Crystal Night nodded and turned to me.

“You have my appreciation for your help, my little pony.”

I froze. Isn’t that a princess dog whistle?

Hawk Eye coughed into his talons, directing her attention away from me. “Windell, you’ve been a great help. Here are your wages, and a bonus for your continued assistance.” He passes me two heavy pouches, which I take to balance on my back.

“Well, shucks.” I faked a sheepish smile. “Anything to help.”

As I walked away and towards the now visible road, I could hear them talking behind me as I concentrated magic into my ears.

“I’m sorry, but it sounds weird when you say it.” Hawk Eye whispered.

“Am I not regal enough? Or is it my sister’s ‘thing’?” Crystal huffed.

“No, no, no…it’s just, you’re not supposed to say such princess-y stuff undercover.” I could feel my heart seize and my blood run cold. Yup. Definitely Luna. Oh jeez. Trying to distract myself, I opened the wallet and looked at the ID. Hey, I know this guy! We went to high school together…

…

Why is the issue date two decades before I was born?

Author's Note

Sorry about that guys. I'm in a stable place now: I graduated, I have a job lined up, etc.
I was worried about not being in the right headspace to continue Improbable Truth, and I started a few other stories in the meantime. I don't want to make a profit off of fan work, but this site helped me take the first steps to becoming a writer. If you want to see some more of my work, (except, y'know, original) I've been publishing on RoyalRoad recently. Just don't use the patreon just yet, I'm trying to figure out how it works. It's gotten a lot easier to write since I've been treated for ADD, and I hope to continue writing.

PS I know its April Fools, so I thought it would be funny to actually surprise you with a chapter.

Chapter 28: Into the Maw

Windell paced around the room, murmuring to himself. Steel Fang and Adam looked at each other for a moment. Ever since he’d returned from the swamp over a week ago, he’d been quiet. Simmering like a pot about to boil over. Adam saw what it was that got him so worked up, but he wasn’t sure what to make of it. It was a driver’s license that expired in the nineties, but apparently, Windell’s crippling aversion to bureaucracy wasn’t why it upset him. It was because Windell went to high school with the guy.

Adam could understand it, in a weird way. High school is weird for everyone, and remembering it is…awkward. He shrugged and collapsed on the massive pile of Bui-Bui leaves he’d begun sharing with Steel Fang. He’d tried to get Windell out of his funk however he could, but the man-turned-pony was fixated on the little piece of plastic. Some days he’d sit there and stare at for hours, occasionally closing his eyes and thinking. Other times he’d stomp to and away from the license grinding his teeth as he practically nickered.

‘Enough tip-toeing.’

“Why does it matter that the license is older than you think it should be?”

Windell stopped and finally tore his eyes from the plastic.

“Because it raises a bunch of questions. The worst kinds of questions. ‘If I remember Reese Tuffin in high school, why do I remember high school in the 2010’s?’ And that leads to a hypothesis: Reese Tuffin was never real. So I compare memories I have of Reese to memories I have of other people. And I remember him interacting with people who’ve had a profound, if negative, impact on my life. I also remember interacting with him. Which is odd because we barely spoke. Why would I remember something that had little impact on my life?” The more he spoke, the more he paced, until Windell was angrily stomping about again.

“You’re going down a weird rabbit hole. Why can’t you take things as they are?”

“I can’t.” Windell shook his head somberly. “I can’t help it either. I see a thread, a story, information, I must pull at it.” He kicked at a small pile of Bui-Bui leaves until it’d rejoined the larger heap. “And when things don’t add up, I ask why. I go through scenarios and possibilities until I come to an acceptable answer, the closest approximation of the truth. Only then am I satisfied. The truth in the outside world is complicated, but logical.”

“I don’t think so.” Adam chuckled. “People being logical? We’re emotional beings, Windell.”

“I try not to be.” Windell grimaced. “But even then, on a massive scale, individuals are meaningless. Precious, yes. Unique, definitely. But capable of changing anything? No. We are each grains of sand in a vast desert, subject to the winds that carry us. Our own flaws and perfections lost in the sea of shifting sands. A scared people will follow the loudest voice, a desperate people will follow the beat of any drum, and a hungry people will shed blood.”

“You just said that individuals can’t make meaningful change.” Adam sat up, smirking.

“Yes, and?” Windell turned around and paced more.

“Then what about the one with the loudest voice? The one beating the drum? The one to feed the people?” Adam chuckled as Windell paused, cocking his head. “You just have to be the one willing to step up to the plate.”

“Maybe if I could trust myself.” Windell sighed. “Reese presents an enigma because simply thinking about him makes me realize how untrustworthy my memories are. When I think about him and compartmentalize any memories associated with him, things are strange. I only remember him certain groups of people. I don’t remember any of them having cell phones. In fact, I don’t remember them with anything made after 2000.”

“So there was a clique at your school and your memory’s fuzzy. That’s normal in high schools.” Adam tossed a ball in the air as Steel Fang snapped it up.

“Therein lies another problem. My memories are not fuzzy. In fact, they’re perfectly clear. And it’s only highlighting the things I don’t remember. I remember remembering fuzzy impressions and half-accurate information. I remember having to struggle on exams and tests to get enough answers to pass. I remember emotions and situations as if I’m reliving them in a moment rather than the echo of an event thrumming in my mind.” Windell rubbed a hoof against his head. “I remember the people I’ve worked with, the people I’ve grown by. I remember every time I met them, and every situation I’ve found myself in. I remember people I’ve met that never seemed to interact, never seemed to cross paths. But I don’t remember certain things. I don’t remember the bed I slept in as I grew up. I don’t remember the name of my high school, despite suffering four years there. I don’t remember my mother’s face, a woman my father loved so much that he kept pictures of her in his wallet, in his car, in every frame of the house.” The teal pegasus turned around to glare at the license. “Looking at it makes me realize that everything before I landed in Ponyville is a patchwork quilt, torn and sewn again and again. And on some level, I find it hilarious. I found out Reese’s identity, but it just brought into question my own.” Windell’s eyes, which had been hard set and focused the past week, met Adam’s and began to quiver, almost watering. “Who am I, Adam?”

“I…don’t know what to say to that.” Windell’s withers slumped, and Adam rushed to continue. “All I know is that you helped me out and that makes you pretty great in my book.” Windell stopped slumping.

“Hm.”

“Have you been channeling some magic to your brain? You said that’s how you use the magic, right?”

“Channeling is probably the best word. And I see your point. Perhaps I should stop.”

Adam struggled to not say anything along the lines of ‘no duh!’, and just decided to change the subject.

“Anyways, check out this thing I made!” Adam dug into the pile of Bui-Bui leaves to pull out a misshapen ball. “I tried to make a bigger ball for Steel fang to play with, using the leather I found.”

“Wait, you found my lea—”

“But it turned out kind wrong. Not bouncy at all, or round. So I put a rope in it so we can hang it somewhere to use as a punching bag. Better than stomping around and breaking another floorboard, right?”

Adam held it up proudly. Several layers of leather were no doubt used to create the misshapen ball. Indeed, there was a rope that it hung from, pulling the rest of it in a somewhat conical shape. Some of the hair was improperly removed from the leather, and the fact that there seemed to be two lumps made it look like—

“Give it a try!” Adam exclaimed as he hung it on a beam.

Windell uneasily flew towards it and gave it a light bop. His mopey expression began to fade slowly as he gave it another hit, slightly harder this time.

“Okay, I admit this to be somewhat…cathartic.”

As he hit it a few more times, Adam’s mind raced to find other distractions to get Windell out of his funk. Looking at the piles of books around the single-room hut, Adam was struck with an idea. Why not just tell Windell about the greatest things from his childhood.

“Hey Windell, do you know what a VTuber is?”

Windell furrowed his brows in thought. “Is it some sort of special potato people from your time had engineered to address the consequences of the 21st century population boom?”

“Oh, no. But I guess it did do something about overpopulation.”

“Tell me more.”

<><><>

Hawk Eye was restless. He’d considered resigning when Luna came back with news of the changeling invasion, but the Princess of the night scoffed at the notion. She pointed out that had Canterlot fallen, Hawk Eye and the rest of the Bar Crawl team would have been in the best position to build a resistance. Which begged the question: why would an invading force choose now of all times?

Hawk Eye was forced to admit that while Chrysalis had motive and opportunity, he was still suspicious. He was trying to see patterns where there likely were none. But it was that tiny doubt screaming in the back of his mind, gnashing and roiling at the single question. ‘What if?’

Hawk Eye’s treetop brooding was interrupted by the sounds of someone moving beneath the canopy. The gryphon poked his head through the branches to watch as a teal pegasus and a massive wolf walked along a small stream. Hawk Eye had seen Windell’s pet direwolf before, but always from far away. The beast was massive, and it always shocked him how Windell would roughhouse with the wolf, pushing him around and chasing him with the same strength and energy as any earth pony.

In a way, Windell reminded Hawk Eye of Gull. But where Gull was alone and festered in being uncomfortable in her own body, Windell had made a friend and strengthened himself despite the inherent frailty of pegasi. It made Hawk Eye wonder how things could have gone differently for Gull.

Keeping himself downwind, he followed the pair as they talked. Midnight had been teaching him how to be stealthier, and this was the perfect opportunity to practice. Gliding from branch to branch, careful to aim for the sparsest, thickest branches, Hawk Eye eavesdropped on the strange pegasus.

“My point is, the way culture evolves and propagates is interesting. It’s so easy to ignore the newest trend or disparage something you haven’t seen before as silly or inane. But the fact that people can get invested enough in communities to develop in jokes and make fanart is proof enough that culture is not restrained to race or country, but to common ideas.” Windell spoke as Steel Fang paid attention.

Steel Fang cocked his head and padded the ground, miming to himself.

“You can think, yes. And the fact we’re communicating means there is an exchange of ideas and the development of culture. It’s a pity you’re so limited in how to ‘speak’. But language is the main transmission of culture, not the only one. There is poetry, prose, and of course, books. But there’s other methods: movies, images, food. Anything one makes an art out of can be attributed to culture.”

Steel Fang panted and held his head high as if to howl.

“Yes, exactly! Music like singing, even if we can’t understand it, is one of the most basic forms of culture. Ideas and concepts don’t have to be as concrete as the words that carry them. Sometimes, they are ethereal, like how a song makes you feel, or the memories one shares by enjoying a particular food. I know I think of you every time we eat fish.”

Hawk Eye stumbled. He didn’t know that Windell was one of the more omnivorous pegasi. Though it made sense, considering where he lived. Unfortunately, the stumble cost Hawk Eye, slipping off a branch as he glided, causing him to slam his midsection into a particularly sturdy branch. The gryphon stifled a groan, but the shaking branch sent leaves and a few twigs raining down on the pegasus and his dire wolf.

“Who’s there?!” Windell tensed as his wolf got into high alert. Hawk Eye flapped down sheepishly, still rubbing his sore gut.

“Sorry about that Windell. I was practicing my stealthy flight by following you.” Windell stared at Hawk Eye. His gray eyes danced between the gryphon and his wolf companion a few times. “I messed up when I heard you share fish with Steel Fang there. Where do you get your fish? I haven’t had some good food for a while now.” The tension left Windell’s body and he smiled.

“No problem. Just don’t do that again. I can be very jittery. Especially now, I’ve got a lot on my mind.” Windell motioned Hawk Eye to follow him. “Allow me to show you where we do our fishing.”

Windell trotted casually through the forest, Steel Fang occasionally looking back to make sure Hawk Eye was following.

“What do you usually eat, if not fish?” Windell asked as the came upon the bank of the river.

“You may find it weird…” Hawk Eye grimaced, thinking about the first time he’d shown his guinea pig colony to Shining Armor.

“Do I seem squeamish to you?” Windell’s unflinching gaze met Hawk’s, the latter remembering how in the short time he’d known him, Windell had prodded feces, carried bones, and admitted to eating meat.

“I raise guinea pigs.” Hawk Eye finally said, twirling a claw around. “They’re fast breeders.”

“And don’t take up much space.” Windell nodded. “Rodents are probably one of the more efficient animals to raise for food, second only to certain insects.”

“Thank you!” Hawk Eye waved an arm in emphasis. “It’s rare to find somepony who agrees with me. I’ve tried some of the fake meats some unicorns have magicked up, but it didn’t seem to fill the craving.”

“I tried tofu, and you’re right. It’s not the same.” Windell licked his lips. “Too soft, not the right taste…but it’s good for the environment…” Windell paused for a second, eyes darting about for less than a second before he continued in the same tone. “The animals, that is.” There was an awkward pause as Windell set a basket in the water and Hawk Eye ruminated on the comment.

“I—”

Splosh.

Hawk Eye was interrupted by a fish landing neatly into the basket. He stared, dumbfounded. Blinking a few times, he started again.

“Do you—”

Splooosh.

A catfish hurled itself out of the water and into the basket. Hawk Eye closed his eyes and sighed.

“Are they—”

SPLASH!

A massive carp jumped into the basket, almost ripping it from Windell’s grasp.

“I don’t even have to prompt them anymore, they just come right in!” Windell chuckled, pulling the heavy basket out of the water. “You were saying?”

“Do you believe that eating meat is immoral?” Hawk Eye finally managed to ask, deciding to chalk Windell’s method up as typical pony fishing.

The pegasus sat down, tapping his hoof to his lips. “A simple question that dives into the morality of nature and how we differ from nature.” Windell struck the three fish on their heads, killing them instantly. He passed the basket of fish to Hawk Eye and smiled. “How about we discuss it as I prepare a fire and you descale our meal. I’ve yet to try fish without the skin.”

Hawk Eye began his work as Windell picked up some branches and stones from near the riverbank. Hawk Eye held the first fish in his claws. The slippery fish stared up at the gryphon with dead eyes. The gryphon struggled not to stare back as he drove his claws into its soft underbelly.

“Is it immoral to eat?” Windell mused. “That’s your question, one Steel Fang here seems to share. Guinea pigs, fish, and insects are all alive with the higher functions necessary to see and react to a world of choices and decisions. That makes them sentient. Even flora is on some level, sentient. Some can react to changing conditions more quickly than others, or even express pain in manners that we can’t quite translate. To us, fresh cut grass is just a smell, but to the grass, it is a cry of pain. Sapience is more difficult to define.” Windell placed the stones in a circle, carefully constructing a teepee of dry branches.

“There was a time when gryphons and ponies did not consider the other sapient.” Hawk Eye grimaced as he pulled out the fish’s innards. “A bloody time in ancient history.”

“That’s a bit more complicated.” Windell gathered some thatches of dry grass. “If you can’t understand the other group, it is easy to de-personify them. Easier yet when they have resources you need, be it their land or their bodies. It fosters an ‘us versus them’ mentality that is very hard to shake off. Mostly because bad actors and those who argue in bad faith want to perpetuate that belief, so they continue to benefit with a clear conscience.” The pony pulled a bright red thorn from his knapsack. With one swift movement, he threw it into the thatch, causing it to erupt into flames. “I’m so glad I got to keep the thorns from our excursion, it makes lighting fires so much easier.”

“Are you saying that eating meat is like waging a war on another for their resources?” Hawk Eye frowned as he struggled to cut through the carp’s thick scales.

“Meat-eating as a type of colonialism.” Windell chuckled. “Fascinating, but no. The difference lies in choice and execution. If your biological needs cannot be provided for, it is only natural to persevere. Survival is more deeply rooted in our nature than anything else. Even omnivores cannot expect to eat only flora if the systems they use cannot provide a reliable source. I believe the optimal ethical decision is ‘if you can, in a respectful manner.’”

“Simple enough,” Hawk Eye admitted, sticking the fish on spits by the fire. “But what do you mean by ‘respectful manner?’”

“Waste efficiency. Every part should be reused for something. Maybe as fertilizers, or even as a tool or product.” As the pegasus spoke, he picked up the gooey viscera Hawk Eye in the basket and brought it to nearby set of bushes, burying the fishy offal by the vibrant plants. He came back with a wing full of assorted berries. “These bushes have been growing on fish guts for months now!”

As the trio ate their meal of berries and fish, Hawk Eye began to wonder. After swallowing a juicy morsel, the lieutenant asked. “Why do you eat meat then, since you are herbivorous?”

Windell chewed his fish slowly, staring blankly between Steel Fang and Hawk Eye.

“I could say it’s a better effort to understand others.” Windell said slowly after he’d swallowed the food. “Or an attempt to get closer to Steel Fang. But the truth is, I’m just not a good person. I eat meat because it reminds me of better times. It’s not a need, but a minor comfort, a selfish desire. Let’s turn the question around. Do you two, who feel guilty about needing to eat meat, think me a bad person because I do so without the need? Even if I kill to satisfy that need?”

Hawk Eye stared into the dwindling flames, he thought back on all the people he’s met on various journeys across Equestria. He could forgive the small things, the little mistakes and sins that everybody made every now and then. Killing animals to eat…was admittedly a small crime compared to the depths of depravity he’d witnessed.

“I believe…” Hawk Eye’s golden eyes met the deep gray of Windell’s. “That what makes someone good is what they do when the going gets tough. Not what they do when the choices are easy.”

“Would you forgive a thousand little evils for a great deed?” Windell pressed. “What do you define as a small sin? Is there a quantifiable metric, a balance to determine the goodness of one’s life? Is morality about the results, or the process. If every life has intrinsic value, does that make them priceless or worthless?”

“I don’t know.” Hawk Eye smirked as Windell sputtered. “I’m trying to put into words something I feel. Something that I know when I see. And what I see before me is a good person.”

Windell froze.

“Being a good person is more than just being a good pony, a good gryphon, or good wolf.” Hawk Eye continued, Windell’s withers relaxing. “It’s about seeing beyond what we are, into who we are.”

Windell looked away and chuckled. “Agree to disagree.”

ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAARRR!

“Whelp!” Windell clopped his hooves and sat up as Hawk Eye and Steel Fang swung their heads to the south. “That’s a sign to duck and cover if I’ve ever heard one.”

“That came from Ponyville.” With a mighty flap, the gryphon had cleared the tree line and focused. On the horizon, flying on wings of pure darkness, was a dragon. “I was wrong. Not from Ponyville but heading directly towards it.”

“Reason enough for me to hide.” Windell called.

“Smart move.” Hawk Eye was still focused on the dragon as it came closer. Its wingbeats were irregular, but the speed at which it approached was terrifying. Black and red smoke trailed behind it, as if it was burning up its own body to move.

“Commander, I wish you the best.” Windell gave a salute that would make most of the guard proud and ran. Steel Fang followed at his heels, no doubt back to their cabin.

Hawk Eye wasted no time, taking to their air towards Sweet Apple Acres. From the sky, he saw ponies in the village scrambling around in a panic. A few ponies took charge, organizing groups into making barricades and readying buckets in case the dragon chose to unleash his flames on the town. Hawk Eye focused on one of the larger, more organized groups and found his own team there. They were in the middle of Ponyville, tracing runes in the soil. Veering away from Sweet Apple Acres, Hawk Eye swooped into the chaos. The red earth pony pulled a plow to trace a massive circle as ponies followed him, sprinkling something into the deep furrows. Thunder Strike and a few other pegasi had pushed together some clouds in the form of a donut directly above the magic circle. There was a cacophony of voices with orders firing in every direction.

“Titanium, help Big Mac with the plow! We need a lot thicker lines!”

“Apple Bloom! Zecora, Bon-Bon, and I need some powdersnap leaves!”

“We need to make sure there’s plenty of gauze and bandages out here, where we’ll need them!”

“What are you doing with the fortification gel?! You could, you could just pour it right in the cracks, you could do just that. But why, why would you do that, why would you do any of that?!”

“Lieutenant!” Lake Lily saluted as Hawk Eye landed. “A pegasus spotted the dragon coming about five minutes ago and let us know. I took the liberty of setting up a provisional defense force and organizing a shield array.”

“Great job, Lily.” Hawk Eye swiveled his head around and grunted. “I only wish we had Crystal’s support today.”

“We couldn’t expect her to stay with us for long. And she did leave us with some parting gifts.” Lake Lily held up her foreleg, adorned with an intricate platinum bracelet much like the ones on each of the team’s legs. “Remarkable that the crown would fund such protections for all of us.”

“The princesses are blessed with incredible foresight.” Hawk Eye agreed. “What about sending communications?”

“That’s why I’m a bit worried.” Lake Lily’s ears dropped. “When we tried using the relic, it wouldn’t work.” The feathers on the back of Hawk Eye’s neck stuck up.

“Is it possible that it malfunctioned?” The gryphon kept his voice low as the hubbub around them increased.

“No chance. Starswirl’s mirror devices often relied on the fabric of space-time. And considering we still have magic…” Hawk Eye sucked in a cold breath.

“Something or someone is interfering with the local space-time field.”

“Which means reinforcements don’t arrive when we need them. Considering recent security breaches, at least one princess will have to stay in Canterlot.” Lake Lily continued. “In fact, chances are neither princess will come to reduce risk on another assault on Canterlot.”

Hawk Eye spared another glance at the quickly growing dragon. He could see it more clearly now. It was definitely burning up its body, healing the damage even as it occurred. It was combusting its own flesh to make it move faster, a suicidal move for any sane creature. Its slavering jaws were like a mix between a fish’s and a crocodile’s, and its body disjointed and cracked. Like a porcelain doll shaped by a half-blind madpony, it fumbled closer to them at speeds no living being should reach.

“It’s like a dark rainboom.” Lake Lily shuddered.

“It’ll be here in less than three minutes.” Hawk Eye paced the ground, instinctively sharpening his claws on any loose cobblestone. “How long do you figure reinforcements will get here?”

“If they left five minutes ago? Celestia could fly here in a little under twenty-five minutes, and Luna under twenty. A garrison could be here in about an hour.”

“Luna will come for us.” Hawk Eye asserted. “Bring up the shield.”

“With all due respect sir, we want to preserve as much energy as possible. Raising the shield prematurely is risky.”

There was another massive roar. Lake Lily watched as a dozen golden glints flew up to the dragon. The creature swirled in the air, parts of its body rupturing into spears to pierce the sparks of light. The dragon quickly healed from the damage, but the specks did not. Hawk Eye could see more clearly that the dragon had dispatched a band of the solar guard in one swift move, sending massive scales flying like javelins from its own body. Hawk Eye grimaced. Three dead, four grievously wounded, and six injured. All because of a casual swirl.

“Those were troops.” Lily blanched. She stood straighter and saluted. “I will make it so. Activate the array!”

Red nodded, his horn glowing a bright vermillion. Slowly, a red wall began swirling around Ponyville, spiraling over itself again and again, reaching higher and higher. The dragon roared again, spitting out a ball of black flames that tore through the sky in a high-pitched whine. The ponies flinched, but Red continued. The magic wall caught the fire on the lip, cracks disappearing as another layer of the spiral closed overhead until all of Ponyville was sealed in a red bubble.

Everybody gave out a sigh of relief. Until the dragon slammed into the bubble. A few ponies screeched, a trio of earth ponies collapsing into a pile of flowers they had barricaded their entrance with.

The dragon gripped tightly onto the magical shield, scrabbling to find purchase every time it slammed its head onto the shield. In its black eyes was nothing more than madness, slavering jaws drooling caustic liquids onto the shield. Everywhere in Ponyville, ponies shivered and whined. Children were brought inside homes, herded by their parents and loved ones, flinching every time the dragon’s head thumped into the shield. Azalea and Tron began handing out spears to any who would ask, motioning the resolute recruits where to stand. Hawk
Eye sidled by Red as the rest of the Barcrawl team surrounded them in a group meeting.

“Red, report.” Hawk demanded in hushed tones.

“Twenty-five—”

THUMP!

The dragon slammed its head even harder against the shield, muscles in its sinewy neck bulging. One of its horns cracked, tumbling down the ridges on its back before being reabsorbed by its body. A long, purple tongue reached out from its jaw, sliding against the surface of the bubble and leaving a trail of hissing green mucus.

“Twenty minutes.” Red corrected in a chilled whisper.

“Why must everything nowadays be resolved within twenty minutes?” Titanium said.

Hawk Eye didn’t comment. Titanium must have been very nervous to try and joke. His mind was currently racing through possibilities and thinking about worst-case scenarios. He needed more information.

“Strong Recovery. Observations on the target?”

The medic squinted at the strange dragon, watching as it struggled to keep a grip on the bubble. Its claws struggled to find purchase, slipping off a few times before it actually lost its grip with another slam of its head, falling backwards into a field of flowers. It got up immediately, not even shaking its head, its mad eyes still focused on Ponyville. It leaped up like a cat, landing on top of the sphere. It opened its jaws wide, trying to force the much larger orb into its mouth. It kept pushing until its jaw snapped completely open with a sickening crack. It stood up, literally slack-jawed, until the muscles in its neck and mouth swiveled and contorted about, growing back bigger. It still couldn’t open its jaw all the way, though it tried. Much to the same results.

“It’s not smart, sir.” Strong Recovery.

“Obviously.” Thunder Strike rolled his eyes.

“Not now, Thunder.” Lake’s eyes zoned in on the smart-mouthed soldier with weight and chill of a glacier.

“It doesn’t need to be. It doesn’t care about its body because any injuries it accumulates only heal back stronger. You’ll note that since it has been here, its horns have grown back thicker and its neck seems to have developed more muscle mass.”

“I have already accounted for that, sir.” Red put in, still focusing on his spell. “Even considering its developing strength, it is still a linear increase.”

“For now.” Hawk Eye huffed. “We can’t assume its growth from what little we know. All we do know is that this dragon is unlike any we have records of.” Hawk Eye stared at each of his team members in the eyes. In them, behind the discipline and determination, there was worry. “Red. How can we guarantee more time? As for the rest of you, I want ideas. I don’t want us to be sitting ducks in case the worst comes to pass, so I want plans of attack.”

“What if those plans don’t go well?” Azalea asked. Hawk Eye tapped his claws on the ground nervously as his troops stared at him.

“Red, can we reduce the size of the shield to make it last longer?”

“We’d be putting civilians at—”

“Can you?” Hawk Eye pulled him close enough to smell the hay fries on his breath.

“Yes.”

“Gather some ponies to evacuate those closest to the shield. We’ll start shrinking it in ten minutes. It should buy us more time. Make sure the ponies you send are familiar with those we’re evacuating; we don’t need any latent paranoia from the Changeling invasion biting us in the flanks.”

The team members saluted and began to organize the nearby civilians.

<><><>

When I opened the door to my cottage, I almost stumbled into a massive hole. Adam was standing at the bottom of the hole, the floorboards stacked in the corner of the room. I flapped my wings a few times, letting Steel leap past me and closing the door firmly with a back hoof.

“Looks like we finally got this done, huh?” Adam slapped the stone foundation of the house with a wide grin. “What was all that racket about outside? Ah never mind, I came up with this other thing you missed back home, it was called Fortnite. It was sort of like a shooter MMO with popular action figures, if that makes sense and—”

I clapped my hooves over my ears.

“Listen, I’m still trying to wrap my head around the weird VTuber culture you’ve described to me and I’m not sure if I want to hear about more manmade horrors beyond our comprehension.” I glided down to the ground we’d dug out and inspected it. “Can’t we talk about movies or books I missed or something?”

“Well, they did make a TV series on the Silmarillion.” He hoisted the new floorboards down and began to arrange them atop the logs we’d managed to shove inside the previous evening. “I’m not a fantasy fan, so I never saw it. And the 2020’s were my childhood, man. I’m not sure you’ll get an accurate picture of what you missed when its blinded by nostalgia.” He snapped his fingers and pointed at me. “Like the Sonic movies! Those were great!”

“That’s an oddly realistic perspective of you to take, Adam.” I rose an eyebrow as the man laughed sheepishly. “Just last week I had to explain to you that building bookshelves then the rest of the basement would mean even more work.”

“Maybe you’re rubbing off on me.” We smiled at one another, pony and man, and for the first time in a long time, I felt happy. My eyes darted away from Adam, finding Steel Fang at the very back of the hut, curled tight into a ball. Adam followed my line of sight, his broad shoulders tensing.

“I’ve never seen Steel like this.” Adam cocked his head like he always did when he was thinking. “Does this have something to do with the noise I heard?”

Almost as if the universe was mocking me, a dissonant roar echoed in the distance. Adam swung his head around, focusing on the heavy door.

“Yes.” I turned Adam away from the door. “It’s not our problem, and there are already professionals on the job.”

Adam sidestepped to avoid my hooves. He twirled to face me with a pained expression, shuffling awkwardly.

“What?”

“There’s a problem. And you’re not helping.”

“Oh, come on!” I threw my hooves in the air. “That was obviously a very large monster! It doesn’t matter if what I heard was real or not, that was a very clear sign to run and hide.”

Adam crossed his arms.

“They’ve probably experienced worse. You can’t expect us to go and fight whatever is out there!” I struggled not to raise my voice, but the desperation creaked in.

“We don’t need to fight, just help.” Adam tapped his foot. “Didn’t you say that human strength comes from unity?”

“It’s metaphorical strength, the strength of progress and adaptability from a unified community.” I argued, stamping my hooves.

“To overcome obstacles that threaten the community!” Adam responded with a shake of his head.

“By sacrificing ourselves to some beast?! Some thing that may be a manifestation of my imagination?” I was hovering now, meeting Adam’s gaze from the same height. He grumbled and scowled, cocking his head as he struggled to come up with a response. “Safety first.” I asserted. We faced each other in silence for a few seconds, neither of us wavering.

“Bystander effect.” Adam finally said. “You’re acting like a bystander.” Adam’s finger poked hard into my barrel, the words sending ice coursing through my veins. “You see something bad going down and trust others to take care of the issue. What if they all feel like you do? You can’t be a passive objector forever, Windell. You can’t drown in misery and hope to just…survive. When you turn a blind eye, the world reflects that blindness. And when you offer a hand in help, you’ll find others reaching for you. It’s time to step up to the plate.”

I floated down like a leaf from a tree, my mind swirling. Was any of this real? Could I just sit by and do nothing? I wasn’t sure of myself, but the memories I did have were mired in betrayal and solitude. I always felt as if I deserved that. Would things have been different if someone reached out to me when I needed them?

I couldn’t trust myself, but the things I’d learned from Adam were things I could not have conceived on my own. Ideas and stories that came from nowhere did not exist. It was easy to convince myself that I lived in a fantasy with no real power to change the world around me, or worse, I lived in a reality with no control over my own life, pushed and pulled by the whims of fate. A leaf swirling and twisting on the surface of a river, lost and powerless in the current.

I was not powerless. I had a will. In the torrential river of life, it may as well be a small paddle. But it was not nothing. I was alive. It was my right to want, to be, to do.

‘What do I want?’

I wanted to read, to learn, to know everything I could. But a life lived in consumption of information was like stocking a private collection of books. Only one person would ever use them, where they’d grow dusty and worn. And when that person died, the books would not remember them. Worse yet, the books would disappear. It was a life of preparation without action.

‘What do I want to do?’

I never really knew the answer to that question. I always wanted to live, but it was always living for the next story, the next book. The next distraction from a world that seemed to eat itself in a chaotic maelstrom of greed, power, and violence. Maybe I wanted a better world, one whose existence did not seem to teeter on the edge of nothingness.

‘What can I do?’

And the answer came to me.

‘I can help.’

“Fine.” I said. Adam’s smile made me feel like I could do anything. “Let me go grab something real quick.”

Hidden in the old outhouse, among all the dirt and ores that were so generously ‘donated’ to me by the diamond dogs, was a spear that I’d made from a morbid sense of irony. When I found some lead I couldn’t help but think of the story of Bellerophon. Riding a pegasus, he drove a lump of lead into the fire-breathing chimera’s mouth. A pegasus with a lead spear just seemed funny to me. Technically, I didn’t make the spear. I had some spare money, and I didn’t know what to do with some of the minerals. A local blacksmith made a staff of lead for me, and, in keeping with the original myth, I attached a sharp crystal of pitchblende at the end to make a spear. Someone would have to be nuts to use it. Thankfully, I considered myself certifiably insane.

When I came back with the spear, Steel Fang and Adam were waiting for me. Adam looked over my spear and arche dan eyebrow as he crossed his arms.

“What, no weapon for me?”

“I thought with your experience with bombs you’d be hesitant to handle radioactive material but…”

“Woah!” He held his hands up and backed away. “Never mind then.”

The three of us stood there for a few seconds, staring at one another.

“So do we come up with a plan, or…?” I asked.

“I’ve got a plan!” Adam snapped his fingers. “I call it the L.J.!”

“What does the L.J. stand for?”

“Leeroy Jenkins!” I stared at him, dumbfounded, the words for the magnitude of his recklessness and stupidity getting jumbled up in my mouth like a fifteen-car pileup. “Charge!”

With a bound, Adam ran towards Ponyville. I was rooted there for a second, until I managed to shake off my stupor and gallop after him, screaming in frustration.

“You were born in the 2010’s! You’re too young for that meme!” I chased after him, Steel Fang barking at my side.

I chased the bipedal idiot for a mile until we cleared the trees and witnessed what was attacking the little hamlet. Slamming its head atop a shrinking red bubble was a dragon with lifeless eyes and black scales. It slipped for purchase with every slam, pausing only to try and tear at the shield with its rows of sharp teeth. We watched as a gray figure was launched with a flash of red and blue light, easily going through the bubble to slam into the dragon, tearing obsidian scales off its body as the projectile glanced off its side. It was like watching someone pelt a kid with a tennis ball. The dragon roared in pain, but just as quickly, whipped its thick tail into the object, which was floating in the air by it after having lost most of its momentum. It flashed blue, careening directly towards us.

“DODGE!”

Adam and I screamed at the same time as we jumped to the side. There was slam, and a chubby gray unicorn dropped into the furrow his shield had left into the ground. For some reason, he was wearing full clown makeup.

"Yeah, I don’t remember what the joke was,” he rasped, “that hurt for bucking real."

That’s when he passed out. I wanted to say I was now fully convinced this was a stupid idea. I wanted to turn away and leave. But I saw the look on Adam’s face. To him, this was more proof that our help was needed. And try as I might, I couldn’t come up with an alternative. I was terrified, but I bit my lip and observed the dragon as it kept trying to attack the shield. ‘Why did it not chase after the easy target? If it was hungry, it should have gone after this guy.’ For some reason it was obsessed with Ponyville. Which meant that it was distracted.

As I thought, the first buildings on the perimeter of Ponyville were exposed to the outside. As the dragon struggled to get a grip, it slid down into one of the houses, its claws tearing apart what little was exposed. I could hear screams as the building started to fall apart. The dragon squirmed in glee, circling around the shield and tearing at any exposed structure, shivering in ecstasy with every scream. My heart dropped. This was a creature smart enough to feel, yet it only felt a desire to destroy.

I watched as the scales that were knocked off started to reform on its chest. I had a chance, and it was closing fast. I took a few breaths. The next few moments would determine death or life, fantasy or fact.

“Adam. Try and see if anybody needs help from the buildings. Steel Fang and I will do something really stupid.”

“What?”

I didn’t listen to all the warnings in my mind. On every level but my most basic, survival-oriented self, I needed to kill this thing. I could feel it again. The desire that welled up within me to destroy the bones, to hurt Val. And my conscious mind followed, because from everything I could see, this was not a living thing, capable of growth, change, and culture. It was a destroyer.

I flapped my wings twice into the air, fighting against my aggressive instincts to pour everything I had into flying faster. My wings trembled as the magic coursed through them, the landscape shift as I flapped a third time, the air buffeting me like a wall. I flew like an arrow, then a bullet, then a rocket, towards the dreaded beast. If I could not finish this in one strike, I would distract it.

Though I doubted I could distract it long.

Author's Note

Howdy folks! I'm back. I'm writing other stuff too, now, because I am manic like that. Summer is actually crazier for me (teaching summer school yayyyy), but at least I managed to get this done. If you want to see some of the other stuff I write, I've begun writing a story on Royal Road as I get my groove back. I call it Star Dragon's Legacy. And yes, I do love dragons why do you ask?

In other news, nothing! Which is good, and bad because I'm used to life kicking my butt and I feel restless when I'm the same place doing the same thing. At least in college there was a noticeable metric by which I could measure how I was improving. I've adpated my brain to living as a student, and now I feel awful when I'm not learning. Yaaaaaay!

Anyways folks, have a good one!

Prologue: Something New...

THE ENTITY is in a vast expanse of non-space. It usually finds itself there, to gather its thoughts, to think on the past, determine the future, and scout the multiverse for anomalies. It muses on how the multiverse is very much like a complex tree. Or fungus. Yes, fungus was a much better term. All universes were connected in some form, branching out from the same past into unique futures, sometimes diverging due to something as miniscule as a stray photon. It was the entity’s duty to maintain this fungus, this tree of many paths, of similar pasts, endless futures, and alternate realities. In this non-space, the streams of the universes that the being could detect could either seem to be the size of a thread, or a stream the circumference of a galaxy. Size was only real in space, after all. And the being flows about this void, careful not to touch the Veils that separate existence from non-existence, it remarks its similarity to a scuba diver exploring a shipwreck.

The entity thinks about how long it has been. Too long, it decides. And it is no closer to finding the core, the seed, the U0. Where infinity began. An impossible task, for an impossible being. It has battled gods across many universes, was even revered as one in a few. It does not consider itself a god. It never did create, and it suspects that it is not immortal, although all of its attempts to prove otherwise have failed. Or, it merely hopes it is not so. Its presence expands and retracts, much like the majority of the beings in the multiverse would do when in times of strong emotion. In its opinion, it isn’t quite the same as a sigh. But it isn’t sure. It has been so long.

Outside of space, in between the roots of the multiverse, time is wonky. Bizarre. The being would even go to describe it as streird. Having infinity at its tendrils allows for entity to come up with a variety of new words in all the languages it has learned. Spending an indefinite amount of time in a place that is outside the influence of space and time causes the consciousness to invent even stranger words. Just the other non-century it invented the word “Klonyturbap”, which, ironically enough, means the feeling one gets when an inter-dimensional being is bored to the point of inventing new words unique to itself or others. Not to be confused with “Klonatukban”, which means the same thing, only in the case of a deity rather than an inter-dimensional being. There’s a difference.

The entity tries to get back on track. Outside the multiverse, time is weird. Time could be dilated in between universes, or it could be consistent. In some cases, time hops around at random intervals, between points in the timelines between universes. The entity shivers as it recalls an incident from millennia ago, when there was a paradoxical species that migrated between two sister universes, without a beginning in either of the two, or in the hundreds of the nearby universes. Although the entity could not feel pain, it swears it developed a migraine during that incident. Paradoxes aside, the real thing that gave the most trouble to the entity was when matter crossed into other realms. Realms that were not supposed to be connected. If the entity would be lucky, it would be nothing more than a rock, or even a seed. If it was slightly unlucky, it would be something trivial like a glass pane, or any other odd object made by a sentient race. Some may seem innocent, but could cause a lot of problems. A tire iron once found itself in a universe before metallurgy was developed. The first thing the natives did was use it as a chew toy. Then one promptly beat another’s brains out. A car door started an industrial revolution in another. Interstellar flight was developed in dozens of universes because of such objects. But the few weapons and magical objects that fell through…the entity tries to recreate a shudder. But still, incidents were avoidable in that case, even in the case of a few mindless beasts unfortunate enough to find themselves in a different reality.

But what caused the most trouble for the entity was when a sentient creature crossed over. Much like any living creature, they cause ripples in the fabric of that reality, interpreted differently across the universes. A solar flare, spatial distortions, magical instability, auric hiccup, all were signs of an incursion of a living being. Fortunately, there is a larger chance of disintegration of complex organisms upon entrance, but it was that small minority that survived that would cause change. Foreign beasts would be seen as oddities and eventually fade into legend. Unlike beasts, sapient creatures had specific guidelines, unique to their race and culture which could drastically affect the universe, causing a split. A branching out, which creates a new universe. But in creating a new universe, it always brings the chance of disaster. One which the entity decided it was its duty to prevent. Persuasion, bribery, intimidation, manipulation, all were means the being used to ensure another universe would not split off. Sometimes it wasn’t enough, and they had to be removed. It still couldn’t find a way to send them back without killing them. Could it still feel regret? It sought inside itself. Over time, it felt deadened, dulled by the consequences of its burdens. But it could still feel its emotions. Anger, sadness, loss, disappointment, amusement. Regret is still there. Like an old friend that never left its side.

Instability. Change. It feels it in the fabric of existence. Something is happening. It moves itself and existence around itself to come to the disturbance. At least a two dozen universes had come in contact with one singular universe, so close together, Veils were almost touching, Beyonds becoming Betweens, and only bubbles of Void in the cluster the consciousness observed. It recognizes the ‘victim’ universe. If it had eyes, it would have rolled them. This realm…it is prone to incidents like this. It, and others almost exactly identical to it have a record of interference, probably due to its unique spatial and magical signatures. And this is by far the worst case it has seen. Fortunately, it seems like no life had‒stop. There it is. Life had crossed into the victim. If the entity is lucky, it wouldn’t be sapient but‒and again! Another one. The entity has to do something. The universes would separate on their own, but now foreign creatures have entered it. Worst part is, they are all from a different ‘set’, so the effects of the universe’s unique physics on life were incalculable. But sapient life… if that is the case, this could be catastrophic. Apocalyptic even. A split could not be allowed to occur. The entity knows the importance of forethought. It can’t stop matter from crossing over, but it could do damage control. But it has to know what it’s dealing with. It observed the more stable universe of the cluster and noticed a familiar U1. The victim realm was also a U1, but the rest were U2’s or U3’s. No U4’s or U5’s, thank the multiverse. Those were just streird. One of the U2’s was supposed to be there, and it seemed to be suffering the same fate as its ‘mother’ U1, a potential victim of incursion. Seeing two U1’s so drastically different once again brought the thought of multiple U0’s to the being’s head. It pushes those thoughts away. Now is not the‒…Wait. What was that? It felt different. Like the entire universe, no, all of existence, shuddered a minute amount. Something crossed over. Something living. Something oddly unique. It has never felt anything like this. Could it be? It vibrates mirthfully. It must go now! It concentrates itself, smaller than a pinhead, smaller than a cell, smaller than a molecule, smaller than even the basic components of the quark. It mends itself into the fabric of that reality, and its essence forms. But it should have concentrated better, as it realized it had arrived a tad early, before the incursions. In a forest, moon high in the sky, with a mare’s face looking down upon the world.

But a few centuries of preparation never hurt anyone.

The being began to change to fit in the environment. Making it so that the light spectrum would be absorbed and reflected rather than allowing photons to pass seamlessly through its essence, it began to work on a body. It would not be alive like any organic being, but it could fool all but the most astute. Cerulean fur would suffice, and a two-tone mane of scarlet and lavender. It supposes it should practice on the female form, so it manipulated the proportions to make it look like a mare. It decides it is better safe than sorry and added more…precise… anatomy. It didn’t know if it’d be flattered to fool peepers, or outright insulted. It makes a mental note not to annihilate any that may look. A simple hoof to the muzzle would do. And lastly, a pair of glasses to cover its eyes. No matter what species it modeled itself after, it could never make its eyes normal. Instead, they constantly leaked memories, like an indestructible balloon filled with water. It is probably something subconscious. It is best to leave them covered. Maybe in the next few centuries, it would figure out how to properly disguise its eyes. Especially considering how big they were in this realm. It‒she looks over her new body. Perfect. Now if only she could replicate a magical signature. Feeling her emotions, she made an effort to move her face into a grimace. Practice, practice, practice. She looks at her emblem. She decides to leave it as is. There is enough deceit, leaving it be is the least she can do.

With a convincing trot towards the capital, June Night the earth pony begins to plan for the coming foreigners. She allows herself a small smile. This is going to be fun.

<><><>

I sat in the dark expanse of infinity. Was I dead? I seemed to be. I felt foreign, out of place. I couldn’t feel myself. The darkness consumed all. So this was the afterlife. It sucked. No matter where I looked, I only saw black. I remember walking towards my house, stretching, sneezing…then, nothing. At least I was conscious. Oh, who was I kidding, I was going to wish I faded into non-existence. At least I would no longer have to worry about having one of my episodes. I contemplated my life in the darkness. I did not scream, I did not panic. I knew it was coming. Sometimes I hoped it would arrive a bit early. But I did not strive for it. I did not break. Not again.

How did I die? Most likely cause was an aneurysm. I wouldn’t be surprised. Did I lead a good life? Debatable. Did I leave anyone behind? Not at all. I was going to miss my collection though. Every book, every movie, every game I have ever played, read, or watched, and so much more. That is how I led my life. Jumping from job to job, all for the sake to sate my desire, my hunger, and my need for stories. Needless to say, using the term ‘bibliophile’ would be an understatement.

“What is death?” I ask myself, or the void, if it cared to listen. “Is it the biological cessation of functions? Or is it to be forgotten? I suspect I am dead in both cases. But if it is our ideas, our emotions, that live on, do we, in a sense, live on with them? In that case, I thrive, I live, and I survive. I have, for better or worse, touched the lives of many, and pieces of me continue to live on with them. If I am to exist in eternity in this purgatory or this hell, so be it. I was dealt a bad hand‒” A real shit one at that, “and I did the best one can do with such. I am dead, trapped here. For what sins? I know which ones I have committed. I do deserve this. But my actions cannot be reversed, my actions live on, and I sit…er, float here, still existing. What is a‒”

“Hello? Who’s up there?” A muffled voice asked.

“…What?”

“Hold on a minute! You seem to be stuck in the tree!” The voice answered. It sounded feminine, and a tad familiar.

“What?” How did I end up in a tree? Did I sneeze that hard?

“Okay, I’ve got a ladder! I’ll get you out of the library foliage!” The female voice called out once more. Library?

“I thought I was stuck in a tree!” I called back. There was a bit of rustling and what seemed to be a lavender light parted the branches. An equally lavender muzzle peaked in with a smile and a huge pair of eyes looked at me.

“You are in a tree! It’s also a library! Isn’t it neat?” She looked at me, eyes scanning my body. “And apparently it's also a pegasus magnet," she thought aloud. I look to my arms, or rather, my forelegs, and my hooves. Shit. She rose an eyebrow, looking at me with interest. “And what was that monologue about death and ideas anyways?” she asked, with her inquisitive eyes wide open, head cocked to the side. “I heard it while I was reading in my bed. Did you think you crashed?”

“Apparently I’m not dead,” I answer her, concentrating on moving my hoof about, and getting used to the feeling of two extra limbs on my back.

“Obviously,” she rolls her ridiculously large eyes. “Anyways I want to-"

“I’m not dead,” I interrupt. I stop looking at my limbs, and stare directly into Twilight’s freaky eyes. “But I’m having a psychotic episode. Please bring me to a hospital.”

Charon the Chronicler introduces

ARC I

Chapter 3: Remembering the Past, Building the Future

I didn’t want to wake up.

Waking up meant finding out whether or not the previous day was a nightmare, or a delusion.

I didn’t want to wake up, but I already knew.

My eyes were clenched closed, but I could feel a pair of wings on my sides, I couldn’t feel my fingers, and my tail twitched nervously.

This can’t be happening. Not again. NOT AGAIN!

I sighed and got up. Surprisingly, my ramshackle teepee survived the night. The previous day, I chose to ignore the sensations my mind made for my body, hoping it was just a nightmare. Figures I would be wrong. The ground felt muted underneath my hooves, and I could feel the air current bristle through my feathers. As I walked out of the tent, I smirked, remembering how to walk on all fours again. It was truly like riding a bike; once I had walked a few meters out of the hospital, it came back to me. Both left, both right, repeat. A habit I’d picked up by turning into a dragon in my first delusion. My smirk fell. How did dad see it as? He had to work two jobs while taking care of a crazy eighteen year old. Working hard in one job nobody wanted that exhausted him physically, and another he found mentally draining, only to come home to find me, eyes unfocused, arms flapping around, and babbling nonsense. Only the nonsense was dark and grating, and he watched as my personality changed from my delusions. From a happy teen, with little instances of violence and a misplaced sense of optimism, to a paranoid, cynical, wreck of a man. I may have been twenty, but those two years of delusion that only passed in six months had changed me.

I think it was the stress that killed him. Or desperation.

Tears finally began to run down my face.

And for the first time in years, I sobbed, I cried, I wailed. The nightmare that I was stuck in for two god-damned years was repeating itself. Worse yet, I knew there were people around that I could hurt, but I couldn’t bring myself to find an asylum to protect them.

Because that’s where I woke up. And I almost wished I had died from my disease. I may have been insane for six months, but I was stuck in that dreaded asylum, surrounded by condescending and ridiculing staff and others, even more insane than I, for four months. I had regained sanity after a month in, and was subsequently ignored, mocked, derided, and beaten, all for simply claiming reason, or just being in the sights of employees that were best avoided. It was only after a nurse had been caught experimenting on the patients she thought nobody would miss that an investigation revealed I was, at the time, lucid. They learned from her notes that, due to my unique condition, I was to be her next ‘volunteer’.

I felt as if my return brought more pain to my father. He wasn’t scared of me, as my ‘potential’ employers would be. He was scared for me. My records were public, and it was nearly impossible for me to get a job, so I had to do things that people didn’t want to do. I may have been a cynic, but I knew to appreciate a stable job that paid well enough, despite how gross it may have been. I also knew he was scared that another episode might happen, because it may be more public. He never told me, but I knew. I suspected, but after a little digging, I had found the truth. I killed a man.

Dad knew I got out of the house sometimes, no matter how much he tried to keep me home. I guess that explains all the dungeon escapes I made in the delusion. And one night, I came back covered in blood. Naturally, he was terrified, and he tried to placate the authorities. The deal with the judge was that my charges would be dropped, but I had to be sent to an asylum. They call them ‘mental facilities’, but it makes it seem like something it isn’t. When the asylum was disbanded due to corruption and negligence, after more effort on the part of the families of those wronged that was duly right, I was sent back to live with my father. He was so happy to see me, but I could see the guilt in his eyes. Life got harder from then on. Dad got laid off one of his jobs and I was taking night classes in biology, so very little time was left for sleep and ourselves, between work, school, and job hunting.

Yet we held strong. We still had all of our meals together, and we still talked, we still laughed. We still remembered better days, but father was there for me, and I was there for him. Sometimes I had to force him to eat, claiming I wouldn’t eat if he didn’t. He tried it more as the holidays approached, but I wouldn’t let it happen. But somehow, he managed to scrounge up enough money for an e-reader with fifty books I hadn’t read yet. I fixed the car he got with mom, made it look as good as the day he bought it. The day they learned my mother was pregnant. When he saw the old girl shining in the Christmas morning dawn, he cried and embraced me. We visited her grave that day. My dad was happy for a time, but his health declined. It was harder for him to get up in the morning, and our bi-weekly jogs grew shorter and shorter. Dad was fifty, but his hair was already completely gray. Caring for a troubled child, just above the poverty line, was starting to wear him down. In spite of this, Dad refused to back down. He still came to our meals, he never slacked on his jobs, and he never, ever complained about his condition.

A few months later, a cruiser found the red 1995 Ford wrapped around a telephone pole. And my rock, the only one I could ever trust, was gone. The doctors said it was painless, and the crash was probably from dozing off on the road. The autopsy also revealed he was missing a kidney. A kidney apparently worth one e-reader and forty-nine books that I’ve never read. The last was looked over because of the simple title; “Fatherhood”. But it was the author that caught my attention as I was flicking through my father’s before-last present to me. Fatherhood, by Amadeus Green. It was a biography, telling me how he met mother, how my birth was the greatest present she ever got the both of them. He joked that the car, the first ‘baby’ was jealous, and despite my grief, I chortled.

He told me of his sorrow when Mom died, how he held me in his arms at her funeral. He told me how he got in a fistfight with three men, and won, because they said my mother was stupid for getting pregnant. He told me how proud he was of me, how my thirst for knowledge reminded him of his wife, and how my optimism reminded him of himself. He told me he admired me. Admired me. My father, my hero, admired me. He told me that, even though I had a rough start, he knew I would be important. I smiled wryly at that, but it still made me feel better. He told me he was proud to have a son who would not give up, regardless of the false friends he had, regardless of a debilitating condition that nobody else in the world had. That’s why he always got up, why he refused to give up. He told me how he wished he would see me grow up to become the man he knew I would be. He told me he didn’t have enough time. Whether it was the stress, the subpar job conditions, or even from being in contact with mom for long periods of time after work, Dad was going. He told me he would give his life for me. He told me about his life insurance, his last present to me. And my heart felt, once again, an ice cold hand grasp it. I couldn’t cry. Dad wouldn’t want me to.

I sold the house and everything in it, save my books, our shared computer, and all of our pictures. I spent a portion on refurbishing the wreck so that I could drive away in our family car. I couldn’t continue my life there. Too much pain. Too many memories. I got another job in Washington, and continued my studies, narrowing into avian biology. I bought a small flat in a nice enough neighborhood, and I began to amass books. Every meal, every free moment, I would read. And my existence would continue. Wake up, jog five kilometers, eat and read, drive to work, eat and read, go to the next job, eat and read, night classes, sleep. Repeat. And when the walls were lined to the ceiling with books I’ve read, I turned to the internet for knowledge, for stories.

And one day, as I walked across the street, I sneezed and I found myself in a tree.

When I was done wallowing in self-pity, the sun was high in the sky and I could no longer cry. I still felt the weight of my troubles, but a bit of it had lifted. I walked out of my clearing and set out to the river. When I had arrived, I stared at my reflection for the first time. I took a deep breath, and staring into my reflection’s reddened hazel eyes, plunged my head in the water. The cool water rushed all around me, and I felt my burdens wash away.

I will get through this. I will not cry again. Dad believed in me, and I trust him.

I looked down at my reflection, and began to contemplate how I perceived myself. A dull turquoise coat covered my body, with lean musculature that seemed to translate from how I saw my human body. Daily jogs and a rigorous ̶ albeit smelly ̶ occupation contributed to a healthy body. A body that I deemed necessary to maintain. A flawed mind in a flawed body could only lead to failure. My mane was also similar to my own hair; messy, slightly curly pitch-black hair, inherited from my mother, with a lock of white that reminded me of a beam of moonlight in the night. A pair of ears poked through my mane, twitching about at the smallest sound. Hazel eyes, the only feature that I truly admired of myself, looked through the soggy mane clumped to my head. Different lighting revealed a change in colors, from green, to blue, to gray. But up close, one could see a dark blue ring surrounding a light green iris flaked with bright gold around the pupil, as if the ocean was reflecting an eclipse. I looked backwards ̶ I don’t know how I was flexible enough to do so ̶ and observed my wings. An extra set of limbs would take some getting used to. Again. Looking past them I saw my 'cutie mark'. An open book graced my buttocks, with a white quill overlapping it. I looked back at my wings. So strange, yet so elegant. I willed them to move, and jumped in surprise when they flared out.

Sensitive…I moved them around, exploring the full range of motion. Oddly enough, they were as well muscled as the rest of my body. Maybe they are ‘translated’ from a set of muscles on my body. Maybe my hands? No, there’s a larger range of motion, though not as much dexterity.

I gave an experimental flap, and felt myself rise off the ground slightly, and dropped after a second. I frowned. As expected, despite my wingspan, I can lift myself off the ground. Screw what I’ve learned about avian biology…I wonder if I’ve got air sacs for more efficient breathing at high altitudes.

I gave another flap, and concentrated on my wings. At that, I noticed a flow of something. At each flap, it was dispelled through the air, holding me up longer than a single flap should. Upon further investigation, the flow seemed to come from my core, and did not stop at just my wings. It streamed throughout my body, but cascaded through my wings and flowed a bit less through my legs, and thus my hooves. I continued flapping, rising higher ever so slowly.

I guess this is the pegasus magic that allows me to fly and push clouds around, huh? I snorted and rolled my eyes. Moving masses of condensation particles as if they were large cotton balls. Impossible. And that thought brought me to an important revelation. I stopped hovering above the ground and landed on all four hooves with a thump, feeling no pain from dropping two meters. That’s exactly what I am. But I think, therefore I am, so I am not impossible, but improbable. So was life coming about on Earth. Given enough time, it is possible, however improbable, that one can be transported to a universe almost exactly like one produced in fiction. VERY improbable. But never impossible. The universe cannot be defined by how huge it is. And theoretically, the multiverse is infinitely bigger. There are bound to be flaws.

I looked down at my forelegs, bending them in ways my arms could not. I held a hoof up to my face and moved it about, testing what I could and couldn’t do. Now that I was conscious of them, I could feel them, although without the sensitivity human hands and feet had. It felt extremely dulled, like I had leather shoes on my hind legs and leather socks on my front hooves, with a somewhat stiff, but pliable sole. It felt real. Just as real as the rest of my waking life. But just as real as my life in delusion. Sensations and memories of such times could be manipulated, and I could never be sure of reality or falsehood.

Improbable, yes. I grimaced as I clenched my hoof. And very unlikely compared to the chances that this is another delusion. I turned away from the river and headed back to my camp. I took one of the spare tarps and draped it across my back. It would help me carry the stones I needed. I had a long day of heavy lifting to do.

<><><>

The sun began to set on the horizon, and I lay in my teepee, satisfied with a job well done. I felt guilty about going to a nearby farm and nabbing a few carrots that lay on the outskirts, but I hadn’t eaten since my stay at the hospital. I would pay the owner, who I may see as Carrot Top, when I got the money. I hated being indebted to anybody. I looked at the trenches I had filled carefully with stones found in the river, carefully placing them together like puzzle pieces. They were halfway filled, and I had a pile of stones about as tall as I was and twice as large, but not enough to build the hut I planned. I pursed my lips. For me to get more good stones, I would need money, and I wasn’t sure my teepee built of garbage, foliage, hopes, and dreams would hold out until I found out where my employer lived.

I watched the sun kiss the horizon and admired the variety of bright colors dancing across the sky, oranges clashing with blues of clouds, as the violet night began to overtake the heavens. And as one star slipped away, the other, more subtle ones, took its place. What I see is unlikely, improbable. But so am I. I saw the last of the sun’s rays dissipate as the night began to embrace the world, like a mother does to a child as she sings a lullaby. I smiled. It may be improbable, but it is still beautiful. And possible. So I have to act carefully, treading between accepting this insanity and denying the possibility that it is real.

I closed my teepee and set myself down on my makeshift bed of mosses and cloth, noticing the earthy smell that pervaded the tent. So the best thing to do is avoid social contact, continue designating everyone/everypony by nicknames, and feign ignorance due to seclusion or my disorder. If there is something I interpret as dangerous, I should save myself, and if others are threatened, it would be best to help them out. If I end up helping the wrong person, I could fall back on my disorder, but it should ‘translate’ threats well enough. Should I feel particularly apathetic, I should seclude myself, because apathy may lead to a lack of care of others’ lives, which leads to psychopathy. Mention medical condition to all I see for extended periods of time.

I smiled as I furrowed down in my cot. That should cover everything…

And I drifted off, not into the realm of dreams, but of memories.

<><><>

It was the first day of high school for the teen. He walked through the hallways nervously, hoping that nobody would notice his odd hair. This hope was dashed as he noticed the strange looks from some of those he passed. He swore he heard someone mutter “Faggot”, but he chose to ignore it.

He and his father had just moved into the state, and he expected some friction, but not to this extent. He settled down in his first class, dropping his bags by a desk near the front. The muscular student on his left sneered.

“Sit somewhere else, freak.”

“Lay off, Ed.” A young man said as he sat behind him. He turned to the newcomer. “Don’t mind him, he’s just a grouch.” He gave a toothy grin and held out his hand.

“Name’s Benny Rogers.”

“Windell Green,” said the student as he shook Benny’s hand.

“If you don’t mind me asking-” he pointed to Windell’s hair “-what’s with the freaky hair?”

“Contrary to what you might think, it’s not dyed. Just an odd genetic mutation.” Benny rose an eyebrow as more students settled down into their desks.

“Neat”

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Veronica and Windell had been going out for some time now. She was a bit raunchy, but he loved her nonetheless. They spent afternoons together, simply enjoying one another’s company, but Windell always saw a little glint in her eye, one of…hunger. He thought nothing of it, and thought it was simply another one of the things that made Veronica, well, Veronica.

Benny’s circle of friends had welcomed him with open arms, from Glenda, a sparky girl with a temper as fiery as her red hair, to big Ferris, the portly, silent teenager. But all was not perfect. There was some unseen friction somewhere. Windell wondered why Roland was getting distant, why Scott stifled his laughter when he approached, why Jessica shifted nervously in his presence. Only Benny seemed to be truly at ease with Windell.

Windell just assumed it was typical high school friend dynamics.

<><><>

It had been a week of filling the ditch with the remaining stones by day and lucid dreaming by night before my abode was mercilessly slaughtered.

“You know,” I walked over to the writhing pile of sticks and tarp “I know I have a tendency to oversleep at times, but I don’t need somebody to come crashing into my tent to get me to realize that it's morning.”

“GET IT OFF!” a muffled voice yelled “IT SMELLS SO BAD!”

Sighing, I grabbed a corner with my mouth ̶ eugh, she’s right, maybe I should wash it ̶ and gave it a quick jerk, spinning the teepee tipper like a monkey in a centrifuge, and threw the remains behind the abode abolisher. Lo and behold, a familiar cyan face greeted me. Of course, her eyes were still spinning, but the prismatic mare managed to recognize me.

“Hey! You’re that stallion I crashed into last week.” Rainbow shook her head violently to clear the stars from her vision.

“Yeah, there seems to be a trend.” I looked over her withers to see the tattered remains of my teepee. “Thankfully, you only ‘viperized’ my home.”

“Oh…” she looked backwards and rubbed the back of her head with a hoof. “Sorry about that. It’s just ̶ Aw, hay, I gotta get to Twilight! She’ll fix this curse!” She jumped…and proceeded to flap back into the ground. I guess upside-down wings aren’t that good for flying.

As I watched the blue dot get smaller as it moved erratically towards the library, I couldn’t help but feel giddiness. I was going to meet my future boss soon. I prepared to follow the six mares I knew were going to go through the Everfree. I’m finally going to have an income! First, food, then debts, then materials for my home, and when all that is said and done, books! I skipped over to the knapsack I had prepared a few days prior. What was inside would be the equivalent of a resume. Now I sincerely hope the person my mind ‘translates’ as Zecora needs rare roots and plants. Else my ‘resume’ would be as impressive as the dirt I found it in.

Following the girls was pretty easy. Satchel around my neck, I flew just above the canopy of the Everfree and below any inclement weather, following four mares blunder through the forest. As for my flying, I decided not to think too much about it, like whether or not I was actually wearing clothes. For all I knew, I was a naked, twenty-year old man, jumping from building to building, following four young women. Or I’m in the loony bin again, I thought grimly. ‘Flying’ was quite easy to grasp, consisting of mostly flapping in rotary motions while leaning forwards. I guess my ‘knowledge’ from turning into a flying reptile actually came in handy, but the ‘flow’ actually seems to provide considerable lift.

I wonder if I could add more flow to my wings. The effort proved fruitless, and I maintained the same speed. Grunting in exasperation, I decided to go about the problem in a different manner. So I can’t push more flow into my wings. What if I redirect it? Concentrating, I searched my core for a way to change the flow. After a few minutes of simply flapping, following, and willing, the flow slowed down ever so slightly in my legs. Almost instantly, my legs felt a bit weaker, as if I had been holding something up for some time, and I felt my ‘flow’ output from my wings increase. My flaps dispersed more magic, and despite not changing my pacing, I sped up a bit. Interesting.

Finally, the girls arrived and confronted Zecora. After bearing witness to their shenanigans, and watching them walk back to Ponyville for a bath that would restore them to their normal selves, I landed by the hut and waited.

Don’t think about the fact that you may be seeing your employer as a naked man holding a bag full of plants and roots with a crazed look in his eyes. Don’t think about the fact that you may be seeing your employer as a naked man holding a bag full of plants and roots with a crazed look in his eyes…Crap, it sounds like I look like a drug dealer. Maybe Zecora is a drug dealer? As I was wondering the ethical implications of a crazy guy working for a drug lord, I failed to notice a zebra approach.

I heard someone clear their throat, and I turned to see the maybe-drug-lord in question.

“Hello young stallion! I hope you come as a friend rather than a ruffian.” Zecora gave a good natured smile. I stammered a bit and took off my satchel.

“Hi, I know I may seem a bit off,” I gave a nervous grin, “But I need a job, and because of a mental condition, I need a more…secluded occupation, so when I heard about you, I thought that working for you might be a good way to earn money away from others.” I took some herbs out of the satchel. Watercress, stinging nettle, wild mint, elderberries, and all sorts of stuff Dad pointed out to me when we went camping. And not just plants I recognized. In the past week, I had taken morning jogs throughout the forest I lived in, carefully making note of the rarer and more exotic plants. Strange, twisted, yellow flowers that smelt of honey and mint, red brambles with vivid orange thorns, indigo fruits shaped like cubes, and a flower I recognized from the show, Heart’s Desire. “I know I’m not the most…stable… of pe-guys, and for some reason, I believe you will give me a job because I found these herbs, but I’m willing to get dirty for work.” Zecora walked over to my organized piles of herbs and roots, and seemed mildly impressed by quite a few. “You don’t have to worry about the plants I picked them from,” I continued “I left the roots and quite enough of them so that they may grow again.” The zebra nodded.

“Although quite odd, it is obvious you are not a clod.” She picked up the indigo fruit and the red brambles. “These are all native to the Rambling Rock Forest to the north. Many useful ingredients have been brought forth. I admit I may need your aid, if I wish to continue my trade.” Zecora nodded, and gazed at my wings, “Additionally, with your wings, you can obtain many important things.”

“So, I got the job?”

“Of course!” Zecora smiled and nodded vigorously “I insist with force!”

I returned her smile. “Should we discuss technicalities?”

“You should visit every other day. It is the proper way. My income that is new, will make it easy to pay you. You will be rewarded fifteen bits per task, any questions you may now ask.”

“Honestly, I have no idea how much this money is worth,” I admitted, “but I’m quite frugal. I just need money for food and lumber so I could build my house.”

At this, Zecora’s eyes grew wider. “Surely you can buy a home, so you no longer have to roam?”

“Sorry, no.” I shook my head. “I need seclusion for my mental well-being, and the well-being of others. Plus, I’m poor as dirt, so I can’t buy a house if I wanted, or pay to build one. Literally no money in my possession.”

Zecora’s gaze softened. “I understand the need to be alone, and your plight, in part, is known.” She placed a hoof on my withers and stared into my eyes. If you need any help, even a bit, you need only ask for it.” She smiled warmly, then paused. “By my grandmother’s shame! I didn’t even ask your name. That is something I must inquire before I retire.”

I held a hoof out. “The name’s Windell, boss. And since I’m a bit crazy, I’m going to be a bit forward and call you ‘Ze’, because my brain refuses to give me anybody’s real names.”

Zecora raised an eyebrow, but shook my hoof nonetheless. “That is truly an odd affliction, but one that I cannot fix, or so says my intuition.”

“Sad, but true. Should I see you tomorrow or the day after that?”

“After-tomorrow will be fine, for the schedule of mine.”

“Neat,” I beamed “I’ll see you then.”

Chapter 23: Simpler Way

Every morning I jogged. It was healthy, yes, but that was just a small reason among many. Normally, I would be listening to audio books as I measured my breaths. Occupying my mind as I maintained my body. I had no such luxury in my delusion. So I busied myself. I counted the trees, I ran through random hypothetical situations, and I mused on the state of the ecosystem. Anything so my mind wouldn’t wander to my current situation. Finally, I began to think of how I started jogging. Dad insisted on doing so every morning. It wasn’t until I was thirteen that I joined him. It was a custom that started for him long before he met my mother. It was how he met her. They ran into each other, quite literally, on a morning jog.

I told him it was like the start to a bad romantic comedy. Father laughed and said that’s what she said. His laugh was peppered equally with happiness and sadness.

He continued jogging, even as he pushed mother and me in her wheelchair. He continued jogging even after she died. Rain, sleet, hail, or snow, it didn’t matter. It was his requiem for her. I could see that whenever I talked, or wrote, or brought back my grades, Amadeus would feel pride, with a twinge of sadness. I would later learn that while I may have looked most like him physically, most things, from my mannerisms, to my speech, and even my intelligence remind Father too much of my mother. He would write in ‘Fatherhood’ that he never would have expected a dumb man like him could ever win the heart of such a bright and beautiful woman.

And so, his requiem passed on to me. It helped manage my thoughts, my body…my emotions. The emotions I ignored, pushed down deep inside. I wouldn’t allow myself to be controlled by them. Logic determined my reality, emotion rendered it apart.

I am a master of my own fate.

Of course, the reason I’m telling you about this particular walk rather than all the others I’ve had was because it was the beginning of something new. A series of events set in motion by one thing. My curiosity.

I heard voices echoing across the trees. I could have just ignored them. I could have continued on my jog, or better yet, turned back to get Steel Fang to go fishing. But I couldn’t help it, I had to find out what was happening. Just as the moth is drawn to the flame, I was drawn by a potential story. It was in my nature. The muffled speaking slowly progressed into yelling, shouting, and finally screaming. It was only when I approached the edge of a cliff did the scene reveal itself. If I were less in control of myself, I might have gasped, but my eyes still widened at the sight of the three men below.

Well, two.

Three men in orange jumpsuits had been chained together. From the scene below, I could deduce that they had arrived somehow, only to be assaulted by a cockatrice. A pity the cockatrice was too close to them after it petrified one of them. Judging from the bloodied chains, the black-haired man swung his chain at the cockatrice and beat it into pulp. He moved about like an insect-quickly, sporadically, consumed by tics. The other man, a tall blond, was holding his head and moving about dizzily.

It’s pretty obvious which one was yelling.

“FUCK! SHIT! WHAT THE FUCK IS GOiNG ON?!” The shorter man kept trying to run in random directions, only for the chain to pull him back. Oddly enough, sometimes it seemed as if the chain was strained, others as if the man’s pull had very little strength at all.

“Dude…please…give me a second.” The blond man raised a hand placidly.

“A SECOND?! A CHICKEN-SNAKE just TURNED THE RUSKIE INTO A GaRDEN STATUE!” The man screamed as he ran over and punched the taller man. The taller man barely moved and tried to raise his head, wiping his bleary eyes. “THAT BOMB WENT OFF AND WE’RE ELSEwhERE! WHAT the fuCK IS GOinG ON!? MAdrE DeS DIOS!” He turned around and punched the statue in the elbow, sending the petrified man’s forearm flying off into the underbrush, ripping the handcuffs apart.

Silence fell as the two men stared at the stump that once was a full arm.

A sinister smile stretched across the smaller man’s face. He turned around to face the blond man, and in one swift motion, broke apart his handcuffs.

“All this power…I wILl RAisE ABovE! I CAN SEE IT ALL!” Every muscle of his body seemed to twitch independently.

“Hey man, are you okay?” The blond man reached his arms out to comfort him.

“GeT Away FRoM ME!” He punched him in the shoulder, jumping back at the sickening pop.

To the blond man’s credit, he didn’t scream. Maybe yelped, but he merely stepped back. Oooh, that’s definitely dislocated. But he seemed to try and put more force into it than he did in the statue. Is his strength fluctuating?

“I Can SeE! I CAn See!” His head whipped this way and that, twitching sporadically. He began running about in all directions until he finally decided to scale the cliff. “I WiLL rUlE!”

He scuttled up the cliff like a spider, stumbling every now and then when his strength failed him. But he kept coming. Closer. And closer.

I felt it before he did. A movement beneath my hooves, as if the ground beneath me shifted in its eternal slumber. I heard a yelp, I looked down to see the crazed man staring back at me with an eerie smile. There were no edges, no cracks, nor even pointy protrusions for him to grab onto within reach.

“hELlO LIttLE pOny.” It didn’t seem possible, but his smile widened further in some sick mockery of what was once a human face. “wOULd YoU KIndlY Let ME Up? I NeeD tO RuLE.” Even as he talked, the outcropping cracked underneath his weight. I could feel the earth beneath me pause, but it was the precarious pause before the chute.

There was no itch. No unbearable hatred. Fear perhaps, before I was consumed by one emotion. Pity. So I gave him the mercy nobody gave me.

“Long live the king.” Even as I looked away, I could see the surprise in his eyes as he fell onto the jagged rocks below.

Even as I flew down, I avoided looking at the corpse. He was insane. I rationalized. And not saving him wasn’t killing him, right? If I did, where would I be? An insane person caring for another? I shoved those thoughts away like so many others. Approaching the dazed blond man carefully, I began analyzing his wound. Yup, definitely a dislocated shoulder. He began moving his uninjured arm to his shoulder, and I had to step in.

“Don’t even think about it.” I stepped in front of him, looking up to him. He’s way taller than Val. “Kneel. I’ll set it, and we’ll go our separate ways.”

There was a groan that sounded vaguely affirmative and he stumbled to his knees.

“Good,” I clicked my tongue. “You’re lucky that your arm wasn’t torn off like the other guy’s.” I got on my hind legs and trailed my hooves across his shoulder to get the proper position. I’ve never done this with hooves before.

The man grimaced and clenched his eyes shut in preparation. In one swift motion, I set the arm back in its place.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa?” He opened one eye and looked at his arm.

“Doesn’t hurt as much when it’s set properly does it?” I chuckled and turned to look at him directly. Sky blue met hazel, and he said something I’d never expected anyone to ever say.

“You’re the most adorable murder-horse I’ve ever met.”

It was the first time in years I’d been rendered speechless.

<><><>

Traveler doesn’t need to be in the area to know that its ploy had succeeded. It had to have. And as much as it would amuse it to observe Windell try to interact with Adam, it has other places to be. Notably, Vanhoover.

It was too cocky. Too sure. Traveler’s opponent was far cleverer than Traveler had given it credit. It knew where Traveler would be when it opened a big, obvious rift. The Nzugin may not have been the distraction it wanted, but it worked. The entity is not angry, or disappointed. It is driven. Emotions would not solve the problem it detected. It drifts through Vanhoover, taking note of the jitteriness of the crowds. Something happened recently. Something that shook up the city like a well-placed kick would aggravate an anthill. Guards moved about in troupes and shady characters stuck to the shadows.

No, if it was the Snake’s work, it would be far more obvious. This is merely the result of someone doing something that upset the established order somewhat. By hanging around in pubs, invisible to all, it catches hushed conversations about a relic that disappeared from a particularly well-off criminal. Unless The Snake has taken a liking to gold and riches, it is doubtful that The Snake is involved.

The tiny rift, however, speaks a different story.

Too unstable to bring over organic life, the remnants of the rift lay just outside a kind old pony’s house. Traveler considers the possibility of a disease being brought over, magical or biological, but quickly throws the notion away. A disease that could work with the majority of the population and lay dormant long enough for quarantine to be ineffective would take far too long to obtain.

But what about a parasite? Not a biological one, but a magical one? Traveler tenses. That could work. Traveler flows back through the city, winding this way and that, thinking. The opponent is intelligent. There is no doubt about it. But why choose Vanhoover? If it wanted to be distant from Las Pegasus, it would target Manehatten. Traveler shivers as realization dawns upon it. The Snake is aware that Manehatten is its main base of operations. It’s keeping its distance from Traveler. This just got a lot harder. So the entity begins a thought experiment. What would it do if it were working against a being such as itself?

Acquire some underlings.

It makes sense. With some followers, one could act in several places at once. Plus, when they do things, it is often impossible to trace it back to the mastermind. Unfortunately for The Snake, Traveler hasn’t restrained itself to just observing these past few centuries. It has a vast amount of funds at its disposal, several companies under its name, and a persona with some decent pull among the elite. Of course, its persona could not be damaged by affiliating with potential criminals, but Traveler could create another. And funds…well, money laundering is thankfully an unknown concept in this world, and Traveler is independent enough to keep it that way.

The essence flows towards Manehatten, coalescing in an office in one of the taller buildings. A black coat to easily absorb light energy, a neat white mane to provide a contrast, goggles to cover his eyes, and wings to give him reason to be in the office without using the front door. The stallion walked up to the door and opened it, turning his head to look at his secretary.

“Dapperquill, would you be a dear and find some time for me to organize a charity dinner?” The pegasus gives a blinding smile as the mare gapes.

“A-a charity dinner, sir? As in, a public appearance?” The peach mare stammers as she taps her desk nervously. “But you’ve never done one of those before! You usually just toss bits at whatever cause you think is worthy!” Dapperquill blushes and looks away. “Sorry for being so blunt, sir.”

“Your bluntness is one of the many reasons I hired you, so don’t worry about that, my dear.” The pegasus approaches the earth pony and lays a foreleg on her withers. “Don’t hesitate to tell me what you think, Dapperquill. Too many good ponies find themselves cowed into silence when they try to please whom they perceive are their betters. Never forget, I appreciate the work you do for me. Now chin up and show me that winning smile!”

Dapperquill beams and Traveler mimes blocking her smile with a hoof.

“Wow, it’s a good thing I wear these goggles, else you might have blinded me,” The stallion chuckles.

“Oh, you,” Dapperquill giggled, trying to hide her smile. When her mirth dies down, she looks over an organized binder. “There’s a slot open this weekend.” Good, before the wedding. “And it’s the same day you’re meeting with Fancy Pants in the morning, so he may be able to join.”

“Absolutely wonderful!” Traveler hops up in excitement for effect. “I do hope he brings his wife; she is such an amusing mare.” The disguised entity starts making his way back into his office when Dapperquill speaks up once more.

“Sir, are you absolutely sure you want to do this?” Her tone betrayed her worry. “You’re well known for being an unseen driving force for the arts, education, and the sciences of Manehatten. Your announcement will definitely get the journalists riled up and a lot of ponies excited.”

Traveler strikes a mock guard pose and gives a salute.

“Let them come, colonel.” He gives a sly smile as Dapperquill giggles. “Just be aware you’ll be on the front lines with me.” The mare freezes. “Yes, you have to come. You need to get out more, dear.”

“Pot, this is kettle,” She rolls her eyes, but keeps smiling. “Yes, sir.”

“And could you see if you can book some ponies from the Manehatten Symphony. The first-chair cellist especially. As for the after-party, you can decide.” Traveler opens the door to his office as Dapperquill smiles and gives him her own salute. He makes his way into a chair that is supposed to be comfy, but he finds no coziness in it as biological beings would. But still, plans were being put into place.

It’s good to be Monochrome, president of June Night Textiles, and majority shareholder of several successful companies.

<><><>

Adam didn’t expect to wake up.

So the first thing he did when he came to was to slap himself.

“Ouch.” He rubbed his cheek. “Maybe I should have just pinched myself.” He looked around the room, noting several windows and a single door, as well as a large column that seemed to be the main reason the hut was standing. Hanging in between a log supporting the roof and the main column was what seemed to be a hammock, underneath of which was a large pile of thick, round leaves. So I’m definitely not dreaming. Adam got up and stretched, observing the single room he was in. No bathroom? Maybe there’s another room? Hold up, there are windows. This entire room is the house.

“Oh, you’re awake.” Adam turned around to see a tiny hooved creature and a wolf nearly as tall as Adam was in the doorway. “Now please leave.”

Adam shook his head and stared at the pony. He tried to ignore the big wolf looming over the dull teal creature, but those fangs were hard to ignore. That, and the growling.

“I get the feeling I’m not really welcome here,” He muttered.

The pony, a pegasus apparently, rose an eyebrow. “You’re taking this quite well.”

“Well, I slapped myself and it hurt, so I’m not dreaming. And I’m not dead either, so I’m just a bit confused about where I am.” Adam straightened up and held out his hand. “Whelp, my name’s Adam. Nice to meet you, murder-horse.”

Said murder-horse looked at Adam’s outstretched hand and seemed to lean away from it, frowning. He opened and closed his mouth a couple times before finally settling on a response.

“Murder-horse?” He stared up to Adam.

“Yeah, because you Lion King’d the shit out of that Hispanic guy.” Adam shrugged and finally put down his hand. There was an awkward pause as the pony scrutinized Adam. The wolf, sensing his confusion, cocked his head and walked into the room, keeping its distance from Adam. “Sorry, it’s a reference. It’s a bit old, but it was a good movie. Do you even have movies here?”

“I think so.” The pegasus’ eyes shifted from side to side. “But that is irrelevant. You are on your feet, you are healed, therefore, you can leave. It was difficult enough to carry you here without letting any part of you touch me.” He held up the door for Adam and gestured with a swing of his head. “I’m sure you can find fame and fortune far, far away from here.”

“Woah, woah, you can’t just send me back out there!” Adam threw his arms in the air. “I don’t even know what’s out there.” The pegasus clenching his teeth ever so slightly, and he seemed as if he was about to frown. To most other people, he would have seemed stoic as ever, but Adam was a people person. And it was particularly peculiar how these pony people portrayed person people faces.

“Yes. I can. Now get out.”

“Well at least let me stay here for a while so you can tell me what the fuck’s out there.” Adam crossed his arms.

“My house, my rules,” He said as he stomped a hoof down.

“Help me out or I’ll…” Adam looked around before he remembered something the pony said. He grinned menacingly and moved his fingers about. “Or I’ll touch you.” Adam paused for a moment and stopped moving his fingers. “Not in that way, though.”

The pegasus fidgeted about, eyes zipping towards a spear leaning on a wall, then towards the big wolf licking itself in a corner, to the floorboards beneath Adam’s feet, and finally to Adam himself. Suddenly he paused, and an eyebrow raised up ever so slightly.

“Wait. The urge is gone. Odd,” He muttered to himself. Eventually his eyes rose up to meet Adam’s. “Fine,” he huffed. “you can stay here for a while. But you’ll have to earn your keep.”

“Yes!” Adam clasped his hands together. “Now let’s do a team-building exercise!”

“What?” Adam got the feeling the pony cocking his head in tandem with the wolf was going to be a common thing.

“Yeah, whenever I work somewhere new, my bosses encouraged team-building exercises so we could get to know each other, and trust each other.” He waved a hand towards the pony. “I already told you my name, what’s yours?”

“I’m not getting out of this, am I?” The pegasus sighed.

“Nope!”

“My name is Windell Green. And you don’t need to worry about me not getting anything you say, because I used to be a man.”

The human leaned down to look underneath Windell’s undercarriage.

“Are you sure that you’re a woman? I know hormone therapy has come a long way, but you sure sound like a guy.”

“No,” Windell ground his teeth as his face flushed. “I mean human, jackass.”

Adam’s curious smile died.

“Is uh…that going to happen to ̶ ”

“Most likely not,” Windell interrupted. “If it hasn’t happened by now, it would not happen in the same manner.”

“Oh, okay.” Adam nodded. An awkward silence followed as they stared at one another.

“You don’t seem too surprised.” Windell leaned forwards.

“One guy got turned to stone in front of me, and the other went crazy after getting super strong. I think there’s something screwy going around here.” Adam stood up straight again in an instant, beaming all the while. “But that’s for later! Right now, team-building! Step one: Find similar interests! What type of music do you like?”

“I suppose I’m a fan of all genres. Although I do remember going to a concert—” The pegasus shook his head. “—No, sorry, that was just another false memory. Those come up eventually, but they’re easy to separate. I never remember travelling to Sweden. But yes, all genres, but the 80’s music is a more nostalgic thing for me.”

“Wow, that’s a bit old, don’t you think?” Adam shrugged. “I’m more into electronic and trance.” Windell frowned.

“Say, an odd question for you.” Windell shuffled about somewhat. “When was it when you left?”

“You’re right, that is an odd question.” Adam stuck his tongue out in concentration and rubbed his chin. Plus, I haven’t seen a calendar for the last couple weeks. “Last I checked it was late October of 2032. And since my birthday’s on November twenty-sixth, I’ll be twenty-five pretty soon!” Adam paused as he saw Windell staring blankly, mouth open in befuddlement.

“So it isn’t inversely aligned. What the hell is going on?” Windell murmured.

“What’s up with you?” Adam stepped forwards and bent down to stare Windell directly in the face.

“It was 2015 when I left,” He frowned again. “If I did leave. Can we continue this tomorrow? I need some rest.”

“Sure! It was nice meeting you, Windell.” Adam held out his hand for a shake.

“Likewise, I guess,” Windell muttered absentmindedly as he shook Adam’s hand. In an instant, he stiffened.

“What?” Adam asked.

“We’re touching…”

Adam instantly pulled away.

“Oh geez, I’m sorry man-er pony. Guy. Dude.” Despite his stuttering, Adam seemed sincere. Windell paid him no mind as he continued to stare at the hoof that touched Adam.

“No, I mean I still have my magic.”