Try as I May. Try as I might.

Chapters

I never asked your name.
Your resistance is pointless.
I'm pretty sure I just overexerted myself.
Date Night
Second Date
Evidence
Outbrust
Dreaming
Morning

I never asked your name.

You wake up in your bed, your foot is poking through the blanket, it feels really cold outside and you just wanna lay in bed all day. You don’t have to work for a while, but your caffeine addiction forces you out of bed and into your kitchen, your apartment is old and run down. You like the location and you don’t wanna deal with moving, besides you live close to the work. You are a grounds keeper with the Ponyville Scenery Authority and your best friend Harvey, your loyal dog and the only one who understands you.

You should probably get out of be now.

The thought makes you wonder where Harvey is right now, he normally wakes up when you pour him some food. You start up your coffee maker and get yourself a glass of water, you open your cupboard and grab the bag of dog food. You pour the food into Harvey’s bowl, you hear him get up and begin sprinting full tilt towards the kitchen.

The big black Labrador speeds in like a large furry wrecking ball, he face plants into the bowl and begins excitedly eating. Harvey is really the only thing keeping you sane, his endless loyalty and energy is normally enough to get you through each day.

You are really kind of pathetic are you? You should probably go out and do something today.

You finish making your coffee and skip breakfast, Harvey is excited to get to work so you fit a leash on him and exit the building. The sun is rising and the streets are empty, Harvey pulls on you because he is excited to get to work and you hurry down the streets. The pair of you make your way down the quiet residential neighborhood, a mix of apartments and townhouses flanking you on either side. You make your way towards the dog park that you work in every day, you pretty much only take shifts there because barely anyone ever visits it.

You soon turn onto a cobblestone road that leads into the Park you work at. You and Harvey walks past the Gazebos and benches and go straight to the tool-shed. The large and cheap iron structure holds all the tools you need to keep this park from turning into an overgrown mess. You always have work because you are pretty much the only groundskeeper this place has, the mayor is looking for another one but its very low priority. You honestly hope you never get any Co workers avoiding park goers is hard enough.

Harvey knows your job better than you do and has already fetched the climbing gear you are going to need to remove a branch from a tree. You use your magic to lift the riding mower from the shed and place it outside you put the climbing gear and a saw in a bag fitted on the mower. Harvey jumps on the seat and the two of you get to work.

The morning is spent cutting the grass, the two of you take lunch off, since you hadn’t bothered to bring lunch you spend your break watching Harvey play with the other dogs. As noon passed you and find the offending branch and point your hand at it. One precise bolt of destructive magic and the branch falls to the ground, Harvey picks it up and begins to drag it to the lumber pile. Later you arrive at the flower garden to pull some weeds, the sun had begun to set when the you had pulled the last weed out of the ground. You remember your decision on doing something for today, Harvey still seems energetic so you head to Ponyville town square.

As you head there you think of the places you can stop at, there is the library you could go to, or you could visit the local bakery for a treat. You never go out enough to really know of any more places, you are going to the library to spite the part that doesn’t want to go.

On your way to the library, you notice a Buffalo tribe man, very out of place in a town like Ponyville. He is dressed very trashy, a worn red hoodie with torn jeans and beat up canvas shoes.

After you pass the stranger you make your way to the library, the lights are still on. You wonder if they have some sort of library card system or and how much you would have to pay up front.

You look at the old building which had an equally as old tree grown into it, in a way the two structures look almost like they had fused. You can tell the upper floors of the building are residential, the only reason you can think of is that it was custom built for a book loving semi hermit.

You did go to school with the current librarian, you had investigated this after the first time she was in the news. Her surpassing you was one of the many reasons you left the horrid place, you had lost the last thing that had made anyone care about you. You dismiss your melodramatic thoughts and knock on the door, you pray she doesn’t recognize you.

A young boy, Spike, the dragonborn kid who was assigned to assist Twilight after she had aced the entrance exam. You had talked with him several times when he was much younger, you used to be in competition with his master over some advanced study materials. You ask him about their borrowing policy and he informs you that they have a sort of honor system, but more likely he does not recognize you. Harvey’s energy had stalled, you walk him in with you and Spike does not complain.

The first thing you do go straight for the magical instruction and theory books. You pick out a book on Herbology and alchemy and another book about advanced destructive magic and its effect on living beings. As you were picking out the books Harvey was in a very defensive state, he looked like he was in the full watchdog mode, ready to pounce on the first threat. You don’t really know why you picked those books it was just some weird urge you had.

With the two hefty tomes being all you can carry you make your way to the desk, Harvey runs ahead to the desk and starts beckoning the librarian to come to you.

“Oh, hello. Who are you?” you hear the her talk to Harvey.

When you turn the corner to speak to her you get absolutely struck by her beauty. Her slender form is wrapped in a simple but stunning combination of a purple vest, purple skirt and a white blouse. She has perfectly straight black hair with a single purple streak going though it, matching her beautiful violet eyes.

You take a deep breath and take control of yourself, you put on your best fake smile and approach her. You put away the fact you are still dressed like a workman and probably smell like one.

“Hi, I just have a pair of books to check out.” she smiles back and you hand her the books, in order to keep your composure you try not to touch her hand.

“Thank you. Who is your friend down here.” You can tell Harvey is freaking out, he is not normally a very loud dog so you assume she hadn’t noticed.

“His name is Harvey.” You look kneel down to Harvey and try to calm him by petting him but he is to panic to register anything.

“Wow, you are the first person in this town to borrow books like this. Where did you learn magic?” you have to think of a convincing lie now. “I mean not to toot my own horn, but I am the only person I know who can even think of magic at this level.”

“My father taught me everything I know.” half truths are the easiest lies to get away with.

“Your father must be a great game.” she opens the books and writes something down in a book.

“I thought magic wasn’t really for me, I mostly keep to myself and school was too social a place for me.” why did you say that?

“You must be really talented.” She actually leans on the table to keep talking to you.

“I have been out of practice you a while it only really helps in carrying things now.” to demonstrate your abilities you levitate the books into your hands. You feel Harvey give up on panicking and simply lay down at your feet.

“I can tutor you if you want.” You feel you face heat up.

“I have nothing better to do these days anyway.” Twilight starts to giggle.

“I never asked your name.”

“Winter Roller.”

“Twilight Sparkle.”

Your resistance is pointless.

“Winter please pay attention.” You wake up to find yourself back in a the Canterlot academy, in a classroom. There are no other students in the classroom, you don’t recognize the voice but Twilight is at the front of the classroom teaching you. You don’t take long to realize you are in another nightmare.

“Please. I thought this form would be more appealing to you after what happened today.” the tone is similar to that of a young boy, you see smoke begin to emit from the entity impersonating Twilight. It starts to approach you.

“You have always been resistant to my teaching, I was able to get in a few good lessons when you came to this town. How can a dog alone give you such strength?” The figure is on your desk, it teleports a book onto your desk. The book is very large, leather bound book with an unfamiliar symbol on the cover and a title in a foreign language.

“Just pay attention.” The book begins to open on its own, but you try to focus on the real world. You feel something, try to force your head towards the book, but you hear a faint barking in the distance.

“Stop. Resisting.” You try to move, but your body does not respond, you try your hardest to move towards the barking. You feel something wet on your face.

~~~

In a panicked grasp you almost leap from your bed, Harvey dodges you with ease and looks at you expectantly. You put both arms around him and hug him as tight as you can, you feel him nuzzling his furry face against you. Harvey slips out of your grasp and runs off somewhere, he must be getting something for you to feel better.

You have had these nightmares ever since you were a child, Harvey picked up on it quickly and does everything he can to make you feel better. They always are a variation on the theme of being forced to read the book Good things never happened from reading from any of the books, it always results in violent behavior.

You look to your left to see Harvey returning to your TV remote in his mouth, he drops it on your chest. You pat him on the head and grab the remote, you get out of bed, you don’t even bother to check the time and click on the TV from your bedroom. When you make it to the living room TV is playing the news, it's replaying the highlights of the recent Equestria games. You change the channel and you find a show about appraising antiques.

The show largely features furniture, but they explain the history of some of the items so you keep watching. After that show ends the channel brings up some boring documentary on sailing so you change the channel to Dirtbike race on some foreign channel, you can’t understand the language but you watch the end of the race. You notice the flags the audience are waving, they are almost all Gryphon kingdom flags. The sun is up by the time the race ends and you have to get ready for work.

You go back to your room and grab your phone, you have a text from your boss. He has hired someone else and they are working the park for you and you have time off until he can get another contract. You have plenty of savings because you never do anything anyway, you should be okay for a while, although if it's gonna drag on you can’t have any spending cash. You hope that you can get more work soon.

You decide to spend the day with the books you checked out and maybe test out the spells from the combat manual. You open the book, you burn through the lessons because most of them are just modifications on spells you already know. You take the book and head for the roof.

You open the door to the roof of the small, shitty apartment you call home, there are piles of trash nearby that you intend to use as targets. The largest target is an abandoned refrigerator, you have absolutely no idea how this stuff got up here, but a lot of things defy explanation in this town. You take the book and flip to the one spell you didn't’ have confidence in casting.

You mark the fridge as your target and visualize the hole you want to punch in it and begin to draw a line from your hand to the target. You channel as much energy you can deliver and fire the bolt. The fridge doesn't recoil, but a haze of smoke begins to rise from it, you can see the red hot dot of dripping metal that you cut through the smoke.

The next spell is a kind of magical slash emitted from a weapon, the book calls for a sword, but you can make it work with a stick you found on the ground.

You hold the stick in both hands like a sword and channel energy in your hands, you begin your swing. As the stick flies through the air you visualize the target and force magic into the stick, being careful to account for its odd shape. A crescent of energy flies out of the stick and impacts the fridge, it cuts through the door but no deeper.

You spend a few more hours practicing your offensive spells before Harvey comes running up to the roof barking madly. You realize that you forgot to feed him so you run back to the kitchen and pour him some food, he begins to happily eat.

You decide to take the time to read in the herbal/alchemy book.

The books seems to be what is basically a cookbook for a number of medicinal potions, this book isn’t very impressive too. You wonder why Twilight took such an interest in you after taking this, maybe the images in Ponyville are all sub-par. Although you don’t remember studying combat magic that much back in Canterlot. You dismiss the thoughts and decide to do another once over the books you didn’t read all of them, but it was like reading an instruction manual on how to speak Equestrian, you knew it all already.

As weird as it all sounds you decide to go back to the library again, you put Harvey on a leash and leave your apartment.

It’s about noon and the residential neighborhood is dead with everybody either being at work or school. You walk through the empty neighborhood, Harvey seems to think you are going to work.

Once you make it to the library, you knock on the door and it takes a few minutes for the door to open. Spike appears on the other side of the door, he looks at Harvey then looks at you and pauses for a moment. He sighs and opens the door and motions you inside, you and Harvey follow inside.

“Twilight is with some of her friends right now.” Spike walks back upstairs without saying anything more. The kid must be tired.

You don’t have the supplies at home to experiment with potions, but maybe Twilight does. The lights suddenly go out, and Harvey goes ballistic. Harvey suddenly pulls forwards and frees the leash from your hand, before you can react, he goes running off into the library. You try to run after him, but you run straight into a dead end, the world outside looks perfectly normal.

You feel someone watching you.

You turn around to see the a young boy in a black hoodie, the only part of his face you can see is his sharp shark like teeth. He smiles at you, and open his mouth to begin to talk.

“Your resistance is pointless.”

Before you can respond the world returns to normal and Twilight is standing where the boy was moments before. Twilight has a look of concern on her face.

“Are you okay?” Twilight asks in a soft voice.

“Yeah, It's just that I just haven’t talked to anyone in a while so I was freaking out.”

“.... Just take it easy Winter.” she sounds genuinely concerned about you.

“I’ll be okay. I’m just not used to being away from home or work.” You mentally remind yourself to write down your web of lies so you can keep things straight. “Anyway, I came here to take you up on your offer about magic.” She lights up when you say that.

“Alright! Come on I know a place where we can practice and we can be destructive as we want.”

I'm pretty sure I just overexerted myself.

You focus as much energy as you can on the target, you are channeling so much energy that you need to use your other hand to control it. You try your best to bring both your hands to the targeting line you drew but your arms are too weak to bring them together. You concentrate on the energy and channel it from where your hands are right now, the blast goes off prematurely. You wind up creating a superheated ball of energy around the target, the blue ball disperses quickly, leaving only a warm wave of air and an incinerated target.

You collapse to your knees, it felt like someone had sucked out your breath and every bit of energy you had within you. You nearly black out, but you feel a hand on your shoulder, you look up to briefly see the Hooded Child placing his hand on your shoulder. When you try to talk to him, he is replaced by Twilight You feel a presence behind you and you hear Twilight's voice, but you can’t understand a word she is saying. You stand up to see Twilight is hurriedly trying to diagnose what happened to you, her hands are glowing and she is flailing around helplessly trying to find a solution.

“Celeste on a Bike.” you curse to yourself.

“Winter are you okay? What happened?”

“Mostly. No idea.” you answer honestly.

“Come sit down, I need to see if you are hurt.” Twilight places her hands on your back and leads to you to a nearby chair, you fall into the seat.

“Here, stay still and let me scan you.” You begin to feel a warm magical energy emanating from Twilight's hand.

“I’m pretty sure I just overexerted myself.”

“A mage overexerting himself would be similar to an athlete overexerting himself. Your vitals are unusual, but not life threatening, I have never seen anything like this.” she mumbles to herself before standing up and looking around the room.

Twilight had taken you to a guard training area, she can apparently rent on a moment's notice. Twilight has sat you down on the armorer's chair and behind you is an array of weapons, in front of you is a range of ranged magic and weapons.

A blinding purple light appears in front of you and you feel yourself floating in a void momentarily, you recognize the feeling as a teleportation spell. The room Twilight had teleported you into a dark basement like room with several large scientific machines inside it, although most noticeably you feel yourself sitting in a large comfy chair. It's amazing she can teleport you with such precision.

“Don’t worry we are back at the Library.” Wait, she can teleport you that accurately over such a long distance. “Stay here, I have to get something,” You pause for a moment in awe of what she had just done.

“Do I really look that bad?” Twilight was already up the stairs by the time you finish your question.

“That spell you attempted was something I taught you.” You don’t have to look up to know it is the Hooded child.

“I am not talking to you.” you sneer.

“But you already do, I taught the spell to the unconscious part of your mind. Listen to me and I can help you.” Before you can answer you feel the Hooded Child's presence disappear.

You stand up, but your body is significantly weaker than it normally is, however you still follow Twilight up the stairs. The stairs prove a difficult, but surmountable obstacle and you find yourself in the residential part of the library. You are in a well maintained kitchen, you move into the dining room and sit down at the table out of exhaustion.

You feel light headed so you lean farther back into your seat, you hear a bell ring in the distance. The bell is accompanied by the sound of Harvey barking and Spike's muffled voice exclaiming something. You hear excited scampering heading towards you accompanied by a pair of footsteps.

A door into the dining room is unlocked and a familiar black fur ball is soon at your side. Harvey is followed by Twilight and Spike, who are both smiling faintly when they enter the room. You look down to see Harvey looking up at you with concern in his eyes.

“Come on Harvey I am fine.” He responds by lying down with your feet.

“Your lips and fingernails are kinda blue Winter.” Spike states.

“Spike!”

“Winter, don’t freak out. I scanned you, you should be okay if you rest for a few days you have no obvious injuries or curses.”

“Curses? My parents are the only people who would want to kill me.” you are not sure if you are joking or not.

“Maybe.. You can stay for dinner. Spike is an amazing cook!” That came out of nowhere.

“Yeah, I’ll stay.”

You sat and chatted with Twilight while Spike went off into the kitchen to cook a meal with Harvey in tow. Your conversational skills proved lacking after spending so much time in near isolation, but the occasional interruption of Harvey running back to your seat keeps things from getting too awkward. You can tell just by they way Twilight is talking is that she has extensive knowledge in a variety of different subjects, she is surprisingly humble for what she has achieved. You are not able to contribute too much to the conversation because of your condition. Throughout the conversation you can clearly tell that Twilight is monitoring your condition, however you are happy she is concerned about you. It doesn't feel like too long before Spike had returned with a meal for both you and Twilight.

Spike had cooked macaroni and cheese with actual cheese, he mixed ground beef in with it. Twilight takes a seat at the table next to you, your heart skips a beat when she sits beside you. This makes you think about the fact you had never kissed a girl.

How old are you again?

You mentally slow yourself down and calm down, you should be able to cope with sitting so close to Twilight now. She smiles and begins eating slowly, you stab your fork into the bowl and retrieve a bit of food and place in your mouth. It's amazing, similar to spaghetti and meatballs, but with more calorie filled goodness. Another man would have been able to give a better description, but for a half decade all you ate was potatoes and ramen.

“Thanks. Spike, Twilight.” You thank them both for this experience.

“No problem... Can I play with Harvey some more?” Spike asks sheepishly.

“Go ahead.”

“You should visit more, Spike always wanted a dog.” Twilight faces you, a cute smile on her face.

“Yeah, sure...” You are about to lose control of yourself in nervous, stammering but you reign yourself in. “That reminds me, it's gonna be difficult for me to get home. Can I get a ride?”

“It's alright Winter I can drive you.” Spike calls from the next room. Twilight fidgets when Spike says that, but she continues eating nonetheless.

Twilight remains silent for the rest of the meal, you don't make any further attempts at conversation. You both finish your meals and Twilight insists that you remain seated while she takes the dishes to the kitchen, you can hear Spike playing with Harvey somewhere outside. You stand up and notice you feel slightly stronger than you did before, you look around and see a couch beyond a doorway. The couch is on the opposite side of the room, a huge book to its left and a fireplace on the opposite side of the couch. The room looks like it is set up so someone can easily get the attention of someone reading while sitting on that couch. You fall onto the couch, then you land you notice a book left on the seat. You pick it up, it's obviously a romance novel by the cover and the description describes a story about a young student falling in love with a young genius in her field. The book is signed by the author and shows signs of age, there is a bookmark halfway through it.

"Hey Winter! We leaving?" You hear Spike call from beyond the room.

Date Night

You are in the local food market, ever since you started spending your days with Twilight you had acquired a taste for finer foods, even if Twilight eats like a spoiled 12 year old. You have never seen her eat healthy and she is an extremely picky eater, kind of like your 12 year old self. While you are thinking about Twilight you feel Harvey jerk on his leash, you turn to see what has him so excited.

“Hi Winter.” You turn round to see Twilight in a tight-fitting vest and blouse and an unusually short skirt.

“Oh, hey Twilight.”

“I was looking for you, I wanted to surprise by uhhhh.... ” Twilight stammers then mutters something to herself.

“She said she should have done this a long time ago.” You hear the Hooded Child's voice behind you.

“We should go on a date today...” You take a moment to register what she said.

“Alright, I just gotta make myself more presentable.” Twilight is shocked at your words, she pauses for a while.

“Can I come with you? I want to see what your apartment looks like.” As unprepared as you are you cannot say no.

You finish your shopping with Twilight and begin to walk home when she stops you. She offers to drive both of you back to your place, you gladly accept so she leads you to her dark purple Pyromancer hatchback. You put Harvey in the back seat, then get into the passenger seat next to Twilight.

Twilight rolls down the back window for Harvey and you are both soon on the road, Twilight drops Harvey off with Spike at her place. You give her directions to your place, it doesn’t take long before she pulls into the parking lot and the both of you disembark the car. When you get out of the car you can see Twilight staring at you expectantly.

“Do you like the outfit. You seem like the scholarly type so I thought you would like the School-girlish outfit I picked.” As if to exaggerate her plight she blushes and shrinks away from you as she says that.

“I think you look great.” She perks up when you say that. “I have to get myself to halfway passable.” Twilight giggles.

Twilight follows you as you pass through the lobby and the stairs to your apartment, you arrive at the door and unlock it. You open the door and let Twilight go in first, there is no point in hiding anything from her.

“Wait here Twilight. ” You turn and walk into your bedroom. When you enter the bedroom you are struck with the question of what to wear, you have plenty of proper clothing from before but you need something more country. You pass your 3 piece suit and immediately dismiss it, however you can pillage the vest from it. That gives you an idea, you grab a white undershirt and you short sleeved dress shirt. You know sweet fuck all about what color goes with your blue undershirt and black vest so you grab a pair of black dress pants. You grab black socks and a pair of your good shoes and get yourself dressed, you look at yourself in the mirror and notice something is missing. You rush into the bathroom and for a shave and to fix your hair. You wonder if you even got your hair cut once since Canterlot.

You step back to admire yourself in the mirror, you did a good job at cleaning yourself up. You flex your exposed arms, all the work you really does pay off in more than one way.

You walk into the living room to find Twilight looking through your personal book collection. She grabs an old textbook from Canterlot and begins looking through it, you can tell she is feeling nostalgic about it. Wait, you never told her about Canterlot.

Shit!

You might have some explaining to do.

She closes the book and holds it to her chest and says something to herself. You take this opportunity to walk into the room and present yourself, Twilight nearly screams at your sudden arrival. Her face has turned almost completely red, she tries to hide the book behind her back. You notice her cast a teleport spell behind her, the book is still there afterwards though.

“Hahaha... oh... Hi... Winter... ohhh You look amazing.” Twilight stumbles a bit before placing the book on the counter. “I, uh, can we get going? I have a friend working at Sugarcube Corner.” She is shaking, why would she be nervous about that book? Does she remember? Wouldn't she say something about it? You decided to dismiss the thought and be a gentlemen so you lead the blushing and shaking girl back to her car. You pass the Hooded Child on your way to the car.

“I have to talk to him at some point.” You think to yourself.

“You don’t have to. I am all in your head.” He responds, but you ignore him. “I mean what kind of psycho are you?” You ignore him.

You offer to drive and Twilight accepts, she is still really flustered. You start the car and you are soon driving your way to Sugarcube Corner, you stayed silent because the Hooded Child had unnerved you a little. You reach the parking garage nearest to Sugarcube Corner, the way Ponyville downtown works is stupid.

The mood instantly lightens when you arrive at Sugarcube Corner, the giant cupcake shaped building can cheer anyone up. The two of you walk in and sit down in the cafe section, Twilight flashes you a smile.

“Sorry if I’m so nervous I’ve never been on a date before.” Twilight says.

“What.” You mentally slap yourself for saying that out loud. “It's just amazing a girl like you has never been on a date.”

“Well, I was always a bit of a shut in. Even after I started bearing the elements guys just never approached me.” That's right, she is the Princess of Friendship, you were still thinking of her as an underclassmen. You suddenly feel a lot luckier.

“It's alright this is my first date too.”

“Oh... Thank you Winter.” When Twilight says your name, your heart skips a beat.

“Anyway, I kind of want to go target practicing again.” You wave your hand to dismiss the topic.

“I’d rather you not.”

“Come on Twi.” Your own words surprise you and Twilight.

“Not many people call me Twi...”

“Oh.”

“Nononono It’s alright. But anyway the last time you were target practicing you injured yourself.”

“Bring a first aid kit.”

“That's the thing. Your symptoms were similar to mild to severe blood loss, It's like you ripped the oxygen out of your blood.”

“That’s weird....”

“Awww! You two are so cute together!” You hear Pinkie Pie swoon behind you.

“Hello Pinkie.” Twilight says, completely unfazed by the sudden intrusion.

“I know we normally don’t take orders here, but I get your favorite drink for Twily and something for her boy toy! ”

“Wait. What?” Pinkie pokes your arms and somehow gets you started flexing.

“Come on don't sell yourself short hotstuff!” Pinkie tackles you from behind and starts hugging you. “I’m jealous of you Twilight. I’m not jealous of Rarity though, her boyfriend is scary.” Pinkie disappears, you try to look for her, but find nothing.

“I forgot about her.” You turn to see Twilight was laughing at you the whole time.

“It's alright, you'll get used to her. Although she got me thinking, you don't have any friends here do you?”

“Not really.” You say, you can maybe count your boss.

“I can introduce to my friend Caramel, he is running the mud race in a few days. Rarity’s boyfriend Silves is are gonna compete too, along with my friend Applejack’s brother Big Macintosh.”

“Sounds like fun watch.”

“We should go together, they set up a carnival around race!” Twilight embarrasses herself with her outburst. “It'll be so much fun.”

“Coffee’s ready!”

Pinkie had taken you the same sickeningly sweet drink that Twilight always orders, you try to hide your displeasure but Twilight caught on quickly. The two of you have a lively conversation and wind up spending hours at the small bakery in the town square.

Since you have all day to spend with Twilight you decide to go back to the library with her, once you are done drinking you decide to pay.

Second Date

You are standing in a roaring crowd, beer cans are flying through the air and people are jumping around. Your size is the only thing keeping you being pushed around, Twilight is somewhere in the crowd with her friends. She looks like she is having fun, but you honestly think it would be less painful if you drowned yourself in the mud. You want to go home, but you really don’t have anything better to do.

Judging by the reaction of the crowd the race must be reaching a climax or be nearing the end. You had promised Twilight you would meet up with her after the race at the Ferris wheel. You have spent all the time up until now moving from stall to stall looking for something to eat. You wander aimlessly towards the thinner parts of the crowd, this winds, leading you to a booth selling home insurance, honestly something very helpful this town. The insurance was amazing when your first apartment was eaten by parasprites, they replaced most of your stuff and set you up with your current apartment.

The crowd suddenly goes apeshit behind you, you cover your ears from the noise. Honestly, you wish you could raze the entire crowd, specifically that asshole Caramel. You know he has no chance with Twilight with you in the picture, but you have no idea why he doesn’t just give up. You made the decision to never talk to that group of morons again. The guy Silver is so full of himself and cocky, Caramel thinks he is tough.

“In a bad mood are you?” You hear the Hooded Child's voice from somewhere, you turn to face him but you can’t find him. “You know all that advanced magic you’ve been casting? I taught you it all, however I still have more to offer.”

You dismiss the Child’s words and go back to waiting for the race to end. It doesn’t take long for everybody to disperse back onto the fairgrounds, you take this as your signal to head back to the Ferris wheel. You can tell the crowd is much drunker and rowdier than before the race started.

While looking for Twilight you bump into a big guy whose weight has to be equal parts cellulite and muscle. He slurs some words at you and you have no idea what he said so you apologize and move on but you feel his gigantic hand on your shoulder. He says something along the lines of “Don’t ignore me!” you apologize again and try to leave but he won’t let go.

“Let go of me.” You feel your body cast a spell and the man backs off in a slow robotic motion. Before you could investigate what happened the Hooded Child appears in front of you.

“Shouldn't you punish him?” Your body acts without thinking, you raise one hand to cast a spell and the man wanders off into the crowd.

“Winter!” Before you can process what just happened Twilight emerges from the crowd and approaches you. She catches the expression on your face. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, just trying to figure out what happened to me.” You say wondering if you should tell her about the Hooded Child.

“It was probably Pinkie Pranking you. She has been terrorizing the festival all day.” Twilight solved that problem for you. “Come on let's ride the Ferris wheel. ” Twilight takes your hands and leads you away. You are too confused by what just happened to really feel the gravity of the situation.

Your awareness sharpens when you find yourself alone with Twilight in the seat of a Ferris wheel. She is leaning into with her arm entangles with yours, the feeling of her body pressing against yours is complicating things. You can feel her breast rubbing on your bicep, she rests her head on your shoulder and begins to talk.

“I’m sorry about today.” Twilight says softly.

“It’s probably my fault things didn’t go too well with Caramel.”

”You should try harder to get along with people. I know what it's like to be alone Winter.”

“I will. At some point... And how do you know I don’t have friends?”

“I have never seen you with another person.”

“Point taken.” You wrap your arm around Twilight and draw her closer.

“Winter I’m worried about you.”

“I’m in no mortal danger, I can sort myself out Twi.”

You stay silent for the rest of the ride and the two of you soon find yourselves back in the fair. The mood quickly lightens as you and Twilight roam around the grounds and participate in the games. You vaporize the targets in the magic target game, you won Twilight a giant teddy bear. After a few more overkills in target practice the two of you decide to try your hand at a strength contest, you do well but you fail to beat Silver or Macs records. Then you fail miserably at the air rifle shooting gallery. Silver showed up a few moments later and beat every record in a single run.

You decide to grab some food and sit down with Twilight in on a bench near the parking lot. The conversation doesn’t last long and Twilight just rests herself against your body. You begin to wonder why she hasn’t just left out of boredom, you make a decision.

“Twilight can we go on another more private date next time? ”

“Yes.” Twilight says in a sleepy tone.

What?

Why?

Okay, you decide to now is a good of a time as any to go home. You stand up and offer Twilight your hand.

~~~

You calmly walk into your apartment and grab the textbook Twilight was looking at when she was here. You flip through the pages and find nothing, you suddenly regret never buying a yearbook. You know she has to have some reason to want to be with you, but what could you conceivably offer her? You have three theories, she knows you from school, she needs you for something or the hands of fate are messing with you. Maybe you should watch some TV.

You don’t last long, you need answers from Twilight, it's probably gonna make you look like an asshole but you have to talk to her. You turn around and walk out the door and into Ponyville. The sun is setting and the sky is slowly changing to a brilliant orange, and the air is cooling. You walk through town, there are groups of people drunkenly stumbling towards the vague direction of home. A large, muscular man stumbles right into you from behind and knocks you to the ground. Your body moves on its own again and you cast a spell on the man, this time it feels much heavier. You notice the man had no aggression in his expression, but does not seem to have been harmed by whatever spell you cast. You have more important things to worry about so you pick yourself up off the ground and head onwards to Twilight's place.

When you arrive at Twilight's Library the lights are on and the sign on the door says closed. You raise your arm and give her door a good solid few knocks, and wait. You try to listen for footsteps, but you haven’t heard anything for a while until you hear light footsteps moving towards you.

The door slowly opens to reveal Twilight behind it, she is wearing nothing but a pair of shorts and a hoodie. She must have gotten out of bed for this.

“Winter?”

“May I come in?” you say in a gentle tone.

“Oh... Of course.” Twilight fixes her appearance as you walk past her and into her home.

“I have something to ask you Twilight.”

~~~

You are carrying two mugs filled with hot chocolate, Twilight wanted to answer your question right there at the door, but you didn’t feel it was an appropriate place so you moved to her dining room. Twilight had fetched a blanket to drape herself in while you were making the hot chocolate. You give Twilight her mug and she takes a sip.

“Winter, can you hurry up and tell me what this is all about?”

“Alright, okay. I want to know what you were doing with the textbook you found in my house.” Twilight immediately turned bright red when you said that. She looks away from you, she mutters to herself for a few moments and stands up.

“Only if you promise me one thing. Please, if you decide to break up with me, please be gentle with it okay?”

“What? Yes Twi, I promise I won’t ever break up with you.” That was a little too committal Winter. Before you could say anything more to Twilight she teleports away.

Twilight reappears in front of you and hands you a very old looking letter, and with bother her hands she hands you the letter. You take the letter, lean towards Twilight and kiss her.

“Just read it already.” You place the mug on the table and grab your pocket knife and open the letter, it was closed with a heart sticker. It’s handwritten and beautifully written, the letters look nice and are well proportioned.

Dear Winter.

I first noticed you when you set the record for the entrance test, I was amazed by how a common citizen can be so talented. When I went to meet you I was stricken by how handsome you are, from then on I wanted to get to know you and be by your side. That was years ago and I was always too shy to talk to you and you never seem to notice me.

When Spike told me he talked to you in the library I got an idea, if Twilight Sparkle is too shy to talk to you maybe Spike could. So I would disguise myself as Spike just to get an opportunity to talk to you, I must admit you only talked to the real Spike once.

There I learned how thoughtful and intelligent you really are. I tried many times to talk to you normally after that, but I would get so anxious It would physically pain me. I remember that time when you answered my question about destructive energy channeling. You looked to Valliant when you demonstrated the spell.

I often wonder why I am Princess Celestia’s student and you are not. I even asked her and she would not give me a satisfactory answer. She keeps mentioning how you “Don’t have the strength of Character or Morality” to be her personal student. I even asked if she could take you as a second student but she declined.

In short, I want you to take this letter to where you and Spike normally met and please give me a chance. Please all I want is a chance, but if you do want to reject me please do it gently.

Your Secret Admirer, Twilight Sparkle.

Evidence

When you finish the final lines of the letter you toss it back on the table, with your hands free you embrace Twilight and draw her as close to you as you possibly can. You want to make it clear that you never want to let her go. Twilight buries her face in your chest and starts crying, you start petting her hair to try to calm her down. She slowly wraps her arms around your chest and leans even more into you.

“Winter... I... This is so sudden.” She pauses. “I mean I love this! Please don’t go!”

“I’ve dealt with sudden before, remember I ran away on a whim. Besides, I still have to properly apologize for lying to you in the first place.”

“Nonono. It’s okay Winter I understand why you would leave.” Twilight says between tears. “I did a little investigation after you left.”

“I’m sorry.” Twilight pauses to say something, but she buries herself in your arms again.

The two of you sit back down to enjoy the hot chocolate you had made earlier. You and Twilight barely talk to each other, but you both enjoy a much more domestic atmosphere. Spike comes home after a few minutes and walks into the kitchen.

“Hi Winter. You miss Harvey?” The moment Spike says your name a black furry torpedo named Harvey bolts towards you and nearly knocks you out of your chair. “I thought you were gonna be at your place later.”

“I was wondering If I could sleep here tonight. I mean If Twilight is okay with that.”

“Yes!” There was barely a pause.

“Alright, I’ll get the guest room ready.”

“It’s alright Spike that won't be necessary. ” When you look at Twilight she immediately turns red.

“Sweet! Winter can I play with Harvey some more?”

“Hey Harvey wanna play with Spike some more?” Harvey barks and runs off with Spike somewhere else.

“Winter?”

“Yeah Twi.” Twilight gets up and kisses you on the cheek.

“Let’s hurry up and get to bed.”

~~~

You are in a much firmer bed than normal, you try to feel around for answers but all you find are blankets. You open your eyes and take-in the morning sunlight, you don't have to work until afternoon, so you are in no rush to get out of bed. You eventually get up at around 9am and finally get a good look at Twilight’s room. The walls are lined with bookshelves and there is a well maintained work desk that looks like the centerpiece of the room, you can see a door that leads to a balcony with a telescope on it. You get up and begin collecting your clothes off the floor, after a scavenger hunt you find it all and get dressed.

You drowsily go down the stairs and begin looking for Twilight and Spike. You find Twilight alone in the kitchen eating a poorly prepared meal,

“Good Morning Winter.”

“Yeah, good morning Twi.”

“Winter are you okay?” Twilight stands up, then approaches you.

“Yeah, I just a little groggy nothing serious.” You spot an old radio in the room and turn it on. You hear a noise behind you and turn to see a letter burn into existence in front of Twilight.

“Good morning Ponyville!” The Dj on the radio blares. “We have some bizarre news for you today, oh we sure do. Our source in at the Ponyville General Hospital has just told us that they have two cases of soul atrophy.” Twilight tries to say something but you shush her. “Both Victims were intoxicated and were at the Mud race last night when they began showing the symptoms.” Twilight taps you on the shoulder.

“Winter what's wrong?”

“Two cases of soul Atrophy... Here in Ponyville.”

“What’s soul Atrophy?” Twilight says perplexed.

“When a substantial amount of your soul has been drained and your body can't itself. The effects are similar to blood loss.”

“Interesting, we are going to have to look into this. My brother can help because he is coming over today.”

“Wait a second, we? Brother?”

“Of course you can help with this Winter you are the smartest person I know.” You are honestly flattered. “Besides my brother can help in any way he can.”

“Sounds like he wants a day off, let’s not bother him with it.”

“He joined the royal guard because he wanted to help people.”

“I don’t want to have this argument. It’s up to you, just keep my words in mind.” You sigh.

~~~

You focus a small, fine blade of energy on a dying branch of a tree. You gather up the energy and cut through it, with a crack the branch falls to the ground, leaving nothing behind other than the smell of burnt wood. Maybe practicing magic isn’t so bad after all.

Harvey barks and begins dragging the branch over to the pile, there wasn’t much more to do today. You are not going to tell your boss so you decide to start making preparations to go home, when you emerge from the shed you see Spike standing in front of you.

“Winter... ”

“Spike, why are you here? How did you figure out where I work?”

“I asked Applebloom and her friends.”

“Ah.” You have no idea who those people are.

“I, uh.... Wanted to talk to you about something.” Spike stumbles over his own words.

“Go ahead.” You try to put the boy at ease.

“Sure. Winter I kind of like this girl...” Harvey Bolts and launches himself onto Spike. Spike begins smiling and looks a lot more comfortable. ”Anyway, she has started going out with this other guy, and I feel like I am no match for him.”

“Spike I can understand what you are going through, but I am not exactly the best guy to go to for dating advice.”

“Yeah, I know Winter...” Spike kneels down and starts petting Harvey. “The girl is Rarity and the guy is Silver.”

You have nothing to say so you let a few awkward moments pass.

“I just wanted to get this off my chest to someone outside my social circle.” Spike continues.

“Spike, this is kind of out of the blue.” You reply slightly confused.

“Yeah, I know, it’s just that anyone else I tell would either tell everyone in town or baby me.”

“Okay...”

“That and I thought you need a friend Winter.” Spike says.

You and Spike spend some time playing with Harvey in the park, turns out Spike is an abysmal athlete, but the two of you have fun anyway. The Child made a few appearances, but he never said anything. You and Spike decide to go back to the Library.

Outbrust

It has been a few days since you were at Twilight’s Library and you have been seeing Twilight and Spike everyday.

You are leaning against the wall and are looking out your window, it's early morning and you are waiting for your coffee maker to finish its core. The residential neighborhood is being slowly woken up by the Sun’s warm orange rays. You hear the coffee maker chime that's it done so you prepare your coffee and return back to looking out the window. Before you can relax again, you feel your phone vibrating in your pocket, it’s Twilight.

“Winter, I just heard something from Rarity. Her boyfriend Silver was just arrested.” She is trying to hide distress but you can tell.

“What? Isn’t he a cop?”

“That’s the thing, the royal guard arrested him themselves.”

“Have you tried calling them yourself.”

“I’m still on hold.”

“Twilight, hold up I’ll be over as fast as I can.”

~~~

You take about an hour to arrive at Twilight’s place, when you arrive there are a number of Police officers around the area. You knock on the door and Twilight lets you in without saying anything, and the two of walk into Twilight's private room without saying a word.

Twilight has set up a table in the middle of the room, the table in covered in images and papers. Before you can start examining it you Twilight begins to speak.

“Rarity discovered this in Silver’s home.” Twilight passes you a picture of a small cache of money, a set of masks and a gun. “The rife found was matched to this rife.” Twilight hands you a fuzzy photo of a man wearing one of the masks, shooting the same rifle at the camera from the back of a motorcycle.

“Was this that gold robbery that happened a while ago?” You say.

“Yeah, it looks like Silver was one of the robbers, but I don’t know which one.” Twilight responds.

“It looks he was keeping a bunch of the Equipment. Maybe he was planning another heist.” You say.

“Or trying to confuse the investigation by taking the fall.” Twilight adds. “Although I have met Silver he does not seem like the kind of guy who would voluntarily take the fall.”

“I meet him once and didn’t like him very much.” Twilight sighs.

“I guess there is nothing we can do until the investigation is over.” Twilight pauses. “Rarity feels really guilty I’m going to give her some space.”

~~~

It has been a few weeks since Silver was arrested, you have been helping Twilight manage her duties. You have been spending so much with Twilight you have slept half the days at her place, but today you woke up in your own bed. You are looking out the window again with your coffee, Spike gave you a new blend and you quite like it. You have also gone the entire time with only a handful of hallucinations, you still haven't told Twilight about those.

You realize you forgot to turn the radio on so you walk over to it and turn it on but all you get is static. You try to change the station but you still get static, you keep messing with the tuning knob but you still get nothing. You check the time and at says 3pm, okay, things are getting too weird to you because you just saw the sun rise. You decide to call Twilight, but you don’t have any reception and the internet is dead too.

You down the rest of your coffee and burst out the door, Harvey follows you. When you make it outside you hear the faint smell of fire and distant panic, did you sleep through some sort of major disaster. No matter what happened you know you need to help Twilight and now you have to find her. You wander off into the streets but the streets are empty and the panic in the distance slowly dies out.

Maybe you're just hallucinating again.

You decide to calm yourself for a few moments but nothing changes. You are not hallucinating, you are lucid.

You suddenly feet a strong impact to the back of your head, your body does not respond and you fall to the ground. The pavement hits you hard in the jaw, you struggle to stay conscious after you hit the ground. You hear Harvey go berserk, then an impact, then silence, you try to get up but your body isn’t responding. Your struggling is cut short by a familiar voice coming from above you.

“Now seems like a good time to finally take action.” The familiar childlike voice said. You feel another impact on the back of your head.

“Do not resist!”

You try to get up again, but you start with a cold wire snaking your way around your body. You start to feel the wires digging your way into your skin and then into your flesh, you try to resist but your body still won't move. The wires dig into your bones and you regain control of yourself, first thing you do try to look at arms but your body looks completely normal. You feel the ghost wires begin pulling on you, the wires wrestle control of your body away from you.

The wires force you to face Harvey, you pick up a rock and start approaching him. You raise your arm and....

No.

~~~

You jolt out of your bed, tossing your sheets aside. You just had some sort of nightmare, you don’t remember much about other than blood and a dog. You look over to your clock and see the time is only about eleven at night, instead of going back to bed you decide to actually get some studying done before you go back to sleep.

Wait. Why are you studying?

Almost as if in response to that question you get a sudden and sharp headache, you roll out of bed and into your dorm room’s kitchen. The dorm you have is really only for students with rich parents and good grades, it's more of an on campus apartment than anything else. You stumble through the darkness and grab a painkiller, you pop in your mouth and swallow it dry.

With the painkillers entering your system you decide to head back to your desk, as much as you hate it here, there isn’t much you can do short of just abandoning it all and running away. You sit down at your desk and grab your Practical Manipulation textbook you open it up to a random page. The words on the page are nothing more than a mix us meaningless shapes, you have already mastered this, but the teachers require you to learn all this useless terminology. You try to focus your mind on the text, but you can’t force yourself to read it, a few moments later you throw the book on the ground out of frustration.

The book hit the ground with a muted thump and you sit back in your chair and relax. You will have two tests tomorrow and a few assignments due by the weekend. You have almost finished both, but can’t gather the motivation to finish them, you roll your head on your chair for a few moments before noticing something on the ground. You investigate further and discover it to be a letter, you grab your multi-tool and use the knife to open it to read the letter.

Dear Winter.
I first noticed you when you set the record for the entrance test, I was amazed by how a common citizen can be so talented. When I went to meet you I was stricken by how handsome you are, from then on I wanted to get to know you and be by your side. That was years ago and I was always too shy to talk to you and you never seem to notice me.
When Spike told me he talked to you in the library I got an idea, if Twilight Sparkle is too shy to talk to you maybe Spike could. So I would disguise myself as Spike just to get an opportunity to talk to you, I must admit you only talked to the real Spike once.
There I learned how thoughtful and intelligent you really are. I tried many times to talk to you normally after that, but I would get so anxious It would physically pain me. I remember that time when you answered my question about destructive energy channeling. You looked to Valliant when you demonstrated the spell.
I often wonder why I am Princess Celestia’s student and you are not. I even asked her and she would not give me a satisfactory answer. She keeps mentioning how you “Don’t have the strength of Character or Morality” to be her personal student. I even asked if she could take you as a second student but she declined.
In short, I want you to take this letter to where you and Spike normally met and please give me a chance. Please all I want is a chance, but if you do want to reject me please do it gently.
Your Secret Admirer, Twilight Sparkle.

You have a mild panic attack because you absolutely no idea when you received this or even know who Twilight Sparkle is. You only really know her by reputation and you may have seen here once, however you can’t really believe such a good student can be so beautiful. You decide to get out of your seat and start to head towards the library.

Your dorm is separate from the rest of the campus so you make your way outside, Canterlot Castle looms over the entire area. The Library is the center of the Campus and the pride of Canterlot Academy, the faculty can go headbutt a coat-hanger. Honestly, you hate every single teacher here, if their idea of training you to become a great mage is overworking you every single day their reputation is undeserved.

You actually miss High School, there was never that much stress under you. In fact, you actually wanted to fail because that meant you could just live out a simple life. No you were too ambitious for that, although it is a final escape from the torture of this damned school. You hope that the Twilight you meet is that breathtaking beauty you got a glimpse of a few weeks ago. You chastise yourself for being so shallow, granted you know nothing about her. You wonder how much she knows about you? How good is she at stalking you?

As you are walking towards the library, you start to feel a light drizzle, the white stone that comprises all of the buildings start darkening with moisture. You quicken your pace towards the library. The library is this tall white stone building with a blue roof that matches the Castle’s roof, it is this round and tall tower like building, like someone squished a tower and made it a building. The rain begins to fall harder and you begin to feel the water soak through your clothes.

You quickly make a sprint to the library doors only to find the pair of glass double doors locked. You mentally curse yourself for being such a moron, the library locks its door every night at eleven. The sound of the rain falling harder fills your ears and you sigh in response.

You lean against the glass and slowly lower yourself to the ground, this entire journey is pointless. You know for a fact that the thick walls of the building mean there is no way anyone will hear you knocking. When you sit yourself on the ground you feel the moisture soak into your pants, as uncomfortable as it is you really don't want to get up again.

You hear a knock on the other side of the glass.

Author's Note

Okay the first part of this is kind of half-assed and kind of only exists for plot reasons and bring us into the next interesting part of the story. Although mostly it is really for the 3 people who read Quicksilver and wanted to know how this fits into the timeline.

Dreaming

You slowly turn your head to face the noise. You see a girl timidly opening the door and approaching you.

You were right, it is the same beautiful girl. The girl you can only assume is Twilight is wearing the school's uniform. She is wearing a black vest with a purple blouse and a long black skirt. Even though you are used to seeing the uniform Twilight wears it well, it really compliments her slender, scholarly body. You force yourself to stop staring and ride up to your feet in, you pose yourself in a hopeless attempt to keep your dignity.

You lift yourself to eye level with Twilight, she has a slender face with small super-model like facial features. Although you are losing on how large and expressive her beautiful purple eyes are, she looks equally lost with you. The two of you continue to stare at each other for a few moments before you decided to say something.

“My name is Winter Roller.”

“Twilight Sparkle.” You can’t keep yourself from smiling like an idiot when you hear her introduce herself.

~~~

Spike continues to pace around in circles in Twilight’s new private room, he is lost in thought. There is a map of Ponyville on the table and there is a board that Twilight had set up, it's covered in pictures of Winter various locations associated with him.

Winter had gone missing during Tirek’s attack on Ponyville. Spike paused, so much had changed that day and Spike know he is still adjusting, especially after Harvey died. Spike walks back to the map to double check the evidence just to get frustrated with it again. He knows Twilight had gathered every scrap of information on the town, the bigger problem is that how isolated Winter is. Winter was presumed missing and in the hospital until Twilight has checked every single bunk in the hospital looking for him. Even with all the help of Twilight’s friends he is still missing, not even a body.

Spike winced at the thought of Winter dying.

There is no way he is dead, and besides, he has proved in the past, he is the kind of guy to just leave without saying goodbye. Spike sighs, Twilight has been crying alone in her room for the past few weeks. Spike honestly can't blame her, given what happened Winter might be dead.

"He is probably dead.” Spike softly says to himself.

Spike decides it's best that he do something else, the only real thing he can do is wait or keep looking. Spike slams his fist into the desk in frustration.

Spike hears a roar of a crowd panicking outside, he sighs once more and heads off to get Twilight. She had just got back from the hospital and probably isn’t in shape to deal with whatever is going outside, but she should at least be able to come with a plan. Spike walks out the door and approaches Twilight’s bedroom.

As Spike approaches Twilight's room, he can hear her crying, he can hear her more clearly as he approaches the room. Spike carefully approaches the room and softly knocks on the door Twilight gathers herself and tells Spike to come in. Twilight is in her bed wearing her pajamas with one of Winter’s jackets draped over her shoulders. Twilight gestures for Spike to come to her. When Spike closes her he can tell she has been crying for a while, hers are red and her makeup was running.

“I was supposed to help Silver look for Winter today, but I got a little distracted.”

“I understand Twilight, I had the mayor fill in for you today.”

“Thanks Spike.”

“Are you alright with dealing with going outside to help.”

“I don’t know Spike, I just want you to get Applejack.”

“Okay, just hold tight Twilight!” Spike says as he runs out the door.

Spike jogs through the Castle and runs into the front door and quickly opens it. Spike opens the door to find the streets full of walking Skeletons, Spike quickly notices that they are magical constructs. They all turn to look at him, then all stop and begin staring at Twilight's Castle, Spike quickly slips past them and runs into the town. The Skeleton Constructs look like are looking for something. Spike runs to the parking garage in the middle of town, he begins searching for his car keys, but he finds nothing.

“Hey Kid!” Spike hears Silver’s voice from behind him. “.... Fuck me.” Silver groans in pain and is writhing on the ground when Spike turns to see him. A woman in a suit comes running behind him, Spike recognizes her as Bon Bon. Bon Bon goes to Silver’s side and helps him back to his feet, Silver motions to Bon Bon to help him get closer. Spike approaches the pair.

“Spike. I need your help.”

~~~

You jolt out of your bed in a cold sweat once again. You realize you had awoken from another nightmare, all you remember from it is trying to hunt down and kill Twilight. You feel around the bed and find that the real Twilight is sleeping beside you, you breathe a sigh of relief and check the time.

6:30am

You know Twilight does not have a coffee maker, you should go to SugarCube Corner this morning.

Sugarcube corner?

Before you could dwell on too much on that invasive thought Twilight shift in bed and wraps her arms around you. You let out a sigh and crawl out of the bed, Twilight’s tries to keep a hold of you but you escape the bed.

“Winter please don’t leave.”

“Sorry Twi.” You crawl out of bed.

You walk to a nearby window and look out to the dimly lit campus. You have been getting a huge number of these intrusive thoughts and false memories. You honestly are afraid of what could be wrong with your mind, you have come up with a huge number of theories as to what is wrong with you. You are even studying some psychology in an attempt to any give a psychologist an earlier job at dealing with you. You decide it’s a good idea to actually visit this town called Ponyville, you can actually see the dull light of the town from Twilight’s balcony.

Fuck it.

You decide to write down a small note to Twilight telling her that you are going to be away for a few days. You don’t have a car so you decide to head down to the train station and catch the first train heading out. You grab your wallet, put on your jacket and wander outside of the Twilight’s dorm and into the night.

This is going to be an interesting night.

Morning

You are standing at the Canterlot Train Station at midnight, you are one of a few people waiting for one of the few late trains. All you have on you is your wallet and small bag of candy you had bought to pass the time. Canterlot Station was built in an old cavern that was used by the city hundreds of years ago, you can hear the echo’s of all the other people's footsteps and activities. You look around at the century old architecture and take some time to appreciate the scenery until the train arrived.

About an hour later the train arrived a few moments earlier and you board the train and get your ticket snipped. You walk onto the train and notice that there is barely anyone on the train, you are in the economy class. You try to walk into the first class cars but the doors are locked, you silently slink down to a nearby seat. You wait a few moments and you hear the train wake up and beginning to wake itself from its temporary rest. The train lurches to life and begins its journey along the tracks.

The journey is short and uneventful, you somehow feel like you had seen all the scenery before. That feeling of familiarity made the train ride feel very short, before long, you quickly scurry outside of the train. You look around the small rural train station, however nothing really stands out to you, you had seen this town so many times in your head.

Is it really a good idea to come here in the first place?

It’s around midnight and the entire town looks like it's asleep, you step off the platform onto a cobblestone street. You remember that cars are not allowed on downtown Ponyville for any reason and you can't catch a taxi. You decide to investigate some of the visions, you have two options investigate the library or apartment. You know that in both places you have these false memories about Twilight. You decide to go to the Library because it is closer.

How do you even know the layout of the town?

You decide to walk to the library first before you put too much thought into this. After an uneventful walk you arrive at the overgrown Liberty, you never could quite get used in the tree. Out of instinct you grab a key off your Keyring and attempt to open the door, the door does not unlock. You look at the strange key you have in your hand, you have to be crazy. When you look back up you see that the Library has disappeared, leaving behind a taped off construction site.

You feel a presence behind you, your body quickly moves to the side and turns to face the threat. You see Silver pointing a sword at you, he says something, but you can’t understand him.

Who is Silver?

You feel a sudden rush of aggression and launch a concussion wave at him, Silver blocks the attack with his sword and keeps talking. You hear two gunshots ring and hit a force field you didn’t know you have conjured. You see a woman in a black suit pointing a handgun at you. You aim a magical attack and before you could fire you feel the blade sail through your chest. You try to retaliate against Silver but he is already retreating, when you try to launch more magic he disappears into shadows. The woman is also gone.

You look down to your chest to see where Silver’s sword landed, there is some blood but very little. The wound fades away when you try to examine it.

~~~

You keep going down the street, wandering towards what you think is your old apartment. You decide if you have another violent hallucination you are going to check yourself into a mental hospital. When you arrive at the Apartment you get an of a sense of nostalgia, you start to feel a small flood of memories coming to you. You force them out out your head and walk up to the door and grab a key from your pocket and try it in the door. The door clicks open and you walk into the apartment, air smells rotten and stale.

You look around, the entire apartment looks a small tornado flailed around and tosses all your things about. It looks like someone was looking for something, every box is left open and nearly everything is out of place. You walk up to your bookshelf, you get a hunch look for your own textbooks. You feel like one textbook is missing, but you are not sure, but you can’t remember its name or why you are looking for it. Before you can think about anything further you hear a voice from behind you.

“Winter. Are you okay?” was that Twilight’s voice?

“I... Have no idea.” You let out a long sigh. “I don’t even know what is happening.” you start to feel the puppet strings wrap around your body again. “And I intend to keep it that way!” You feel your arm snap Towards Twilight, in a blind Panic you throw yourself to the ground to keep her from harm. You feel the strings force you back to your feet, you start to feel yourself losing control of your body. “Draw your weapon.”

“W-w-winter....” Twilight stumbles back, you notice that she is injured. You try to force yourself to the ground, but your efforts barely make your body move. Twilight stops herself and takes a deep breath and looks you in the eye. All your senses white out from overstimulation and you lose consciousness.

When you wake you feel pain throbbing through your chest, you try to take a deep breath but you find it too difficult. You try to grip your chest, but your body still isn’t in your control, you manage to wrest control of your eyes. With a burst of willpower force your eyes open.

Twilight is ahead of you firing various magical attacks, she has a look of a warrior as she launches attack after attack. Your body is shrugging off paralyzing attack after attack and you can feel yourself gathering power. Your Body raises his Hand at Twilight and you feel a sense of dread when you realize the attack you are preparing. You see the small burning orb of energy begin to form around Twilight you try to stop the attack, but nothing you try can stop you attack and you begin to panic. In a panic you wrestle control of your body back and force it into a sprint and run towards Twilight. “Twilight! Your Sword!” You grab her sword with your magical grasp and point it at your chest. With the last bit of control you have thrown yourself on her sword.

Was that really your decision?