They Walk Among Us

"Hail! Queen Celestia, full of grace, your people are with thee! Glory be to the Sun, the Moon, and the Royal Alicorns!"

Steven stared at Twilight accusingly.

"I thought she was supposed to be Princess Celestia." he whispered.

"I guess desperate times call for desperate measures." she answered.

Steven raised an eyebrow and smiled.

"I thought that was a human quote."

"Well, it's well known in Equestria too." she said, not looking at him but smiling all the same. "And shut up."

Steven smiled and looked at Queen Celestia. The first thought that went through his mind as he saw her was that he would've known she was royalty even if nopony had told him. She was a very tall white pony with a gracefully flowing multicolored mane (like Rainbow Dash's, except it was brighter and looked like it was made of very thin clouds) and tail, and she had both a very long unicorn's horn and wings. But the most impressive of all these features is her very aura. It gave him a compulsive need to obey.

As he didn't know how ponies were supposed to bow, he lagged behind and let Twilight go to the front of the group. Twilight gave him a knowing look as she took over the front.

Steven watched as Twilight bowed to the Queen. He quickly followed suit, and Fluttershy and the Cutie Mark Crusaders bowed behind him. He noticed at the corner of his eye Rainbow Dash also not knowing how to bow, resulting in her kneeling down and putting both hands on the ground, much like how the Japanese bow to their superiors. He had worked with many Japanese people, so he knew these things (not to mention that a few Japanese had bowed to him like that as well).

"RISE, MY LOYAL SUBJECTS." boomed the Queen's voice. It seemed to be a few voices mixed together into one, echoing around the Great Hall.

Twilight looked up in shock at the Queen.

"Queen Celestia! Since when did you start using the traditional Canterlot voice?"

The Queen stared at her, a look of annoyance on her face. She looked really ticked.

Twilight squealed and continued bowing.

"I'm sorry, my Queen. Please forgive your most faithful student's mistake." said Twilight softly. Steven knew that from Twilight's reaction that she was used to speaking casually with the Queen.

"No need to be sorry, Twilight." she said, speaking normally now, with a hint of a sigh following that sentence. "Please stop bowing, though. You're making me feel a little uncomfortable."

The rest of the group, which had been so scared as to continue bowing (even lower than before) quickly looked up to face the Queen.

As the Queen's eyes scanned the small crowd, her face emotionless, the group started sharing awkward glances with each other. According to the looks Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were giving each other, the Queen wasn't usually like this.

As he was looking at the others, he suddenly felt the Queen's gaze pierce through his skin. He immediately fell into a bow.

"I've never seen you before, young pony. Look up." said the Queen.

He looked up to face the Queen, who began to scan his face. Her eyes immediately stopped as they saw his left eye. Her face quickly turned into one of surprise.

"That scar..." said the Queen. "Where did you get it?"

Steven looked back awkwardly. He had never been in the presence of royalty before, much less the one Queen to rule them all.

"Well..." said Steven. "There were wolves chasing after us, and one of the wolves scratched me there, and it left a scar. My eye is fine, though."

Steven could hear Twilight say "psst!" to try to get his attention. He bowed his head down and looked at Twilight, She was mouthing off a few words to him.

Your scar is glowing.

Steven quickly looked at his reflection at the well-polished marble floor. What Twilight said was true. His scar was glowing!

"Wolves." said the Queen. "Right."

Rainbow Dash quickly stood up to face the Queen. Almost immediately, Guard Ponies came to surround her. Steven tried to say something to the Queen, but Rainbow Dash spoke first.

"But it's true!" said Rainbow Dash, apprehensively. "If it wasn't for Steven here, none of us would've survived the wolves that tried to attack us!"

One of the Guard Ponies tried to seize her arms, but she quickly pulled her arms away.

"He saved all of us!" said Rainbow Dash. "And the price he had to pay for that was the scar!"

Queen Celestia looked at Rainbow Dash in a mixture of disgust and annoyance. Steven immediately felt guilty. He knew that the scar was not a result of the fight with the wolves, but actually a sign that he was resurrected from the dead. And now Rainbow Dash has spoken up to protect him, not knowing where the scar really came from. He was going to have to thank her later.

"And how dare a filthy human such as yourself enter the Royal House of Celestia?" said the Queen. "No humans are allowed here!"

"Please, your majesty," said Twilight, who began to bow again. "She is Rainbow Dash. Former pegasus and wielder of the Element of Loyalty. Not to mention one of my best friends."

Twilight smiled at Rainbow Dash, who smiled back in gratitude.

"Rainbow Dash." said the Queen, still staring at her. "You have performed the Sonic Rainboom before, correct?"

"Yes, your majesty"

"Then you becoming a human has turned you into a pile of nothing but skin and garbage." said the Queen. "You have turned into a pathetic excuse. Unable to fly, unable to do what you do best..."

Rainbow Dash's face quickly turned into one of sorrow. Steven quickly stood up and stared at the Queen. The Queen flinched, but recovered quickly.

"I'm sorry, your majesty, but don't you think that Rainbow Dash already knew all that? I think she has already suffered enough. I believe there is no need to keep bothering her with what's already gone and lost, but to move on and do something new."

The Queen stared at him. To Steven's surprise, the look was not one of fury or even annoyance, but one of amusement. She turned to look at Twilight.

"Twilight," she said.

"Yes, your majesty?"

"I would like you and your friend here to stay here for a while. The rest of you can go up and relax in your suites. Fluttershy, I understand you like animals, so you have permission to visit the Royal Garden. The two little ponies next to you can come too. Guards, you can release the human so that she and the little one can go up to the suite."

"Yer majesty?" asked Apple Bloom. "Fergive me fer askin', but can Scootaloo come with us too?"

Steven nearly chuckled as she saw both Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle quickly spring up in front of the Queen and gave her their best innocent smiles. He nearly chuckled. It might be very amusing, but he was not crazy.

The Queen sighed.

"Very well." said the Queen. "The human can come with you too. But make sure that you cause no trouble, young ones."

The kids excitedly ran out of the Hall, followed by Fluttershy, who was gently flying over to them

"Wait up, kids." said Fluttershy. "Oh, please wait..."

Rainbow Dash, on the other hand, approached Steven.

"Back in the old days, they would have shouted 'CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS ANIMAL CARERS!' or something, but now..." she said, looking nostalgic. "Are you gonna be alright?"

"Sure, I'll be fine." said Steven. He then tried to give her a reassuring smile, but he was not sure if it was coming through to her or not.

"Oh, you..." said Rainbow Dash as she punched him in the shoulder. "See ya later, then."

As she walked away, Steven gulped. To tell the truth, he didn't know what would come out of this meeting with the Queen. He thought that she was already suspecting him of something. But that might not be so bad. He had some questions about the Voice and all, and maybe the Queen knows more about it.

The Queen then walked down to their level. She turned to face Steven, who did his best not to look scared and back away.

"Your name is Steven, am I correct?"

"Yes, your majesty. Steven Reilly."

"Steven Reilly..." repeated the Queen. "I've never heard of such a name before."

I know... Everyone's told me that... he thought. But he didn't dare to say it out loud. He might be brave at the best of times, but he wasn't that eager to die.

The Queen's eyes then began to look at Steven's horn.

"And what is your particular field of magic?" she asked.

Steven tried hard to remember what Twilight said to him only a few hours ago. She said something about what his type of magic was. She said it was ancient magic, almost dead magic, but he didn't remember what it was exactly.

"I don't know..." mumbled Steven.

He saw Twilight slap her hoof on her face. Was that the pony equivalent to a facepalm? He was gonna have to try that sometime.

"I don't know, your majesty." said Steven, his voice a little louder.

The Queen then raised an eyebrow.

"You're saying you don't know your branch of magic?" asked the Queen. "How can you not know?"

"To be honest, your majesty, I wasn't born a-"

"Your majesty, may i speak in his place?" asked Twilight loudly.

The Queen turned to look at Twilight.

"Well, your majesty," said Twilight, very confidently. "Steven here had lost all his memory of what had happened before the collision. He has forgotten what type of magic he does, and he did all of his magic involuntarily. But I can classify the type of magic he uses."

Steven looked down. He was so close. this close to revealing that he was a human. And the Queen treated humans like useless scum. He was going to have to thank Twilight too for her quick thinking. He breathed a sigh of relief.

"It is Blessing Magic, your majesty." said Twilight. "Empowerment Magic, Enhancement Magic."

The Queen then turned to look at Steven again, amusement etched in every detail of her face.

"Blessing Magic?" she asked him, rather rhetorically. "That is very old magic, Steven. Very ancient. And very powerful. If I'm not mistaken, you can revive living things, correct?"

Steven saw Twilight violently shaking her head behind the Queen.

"Well, no, your majesty." he said. "Um... I haven't quite reached that level yet."

"Oh." said the Queen. "In that case, you're going to need some training to be of use to us. Meet me in the Royal Gardens at 6.30 this evening. For now, you are dismissed. Go ahead to your suite, which is in the tower adjacent to this Palace to your right."

"Wait, your majesty." said Twilight. "May I speak to you for a moment?"

Steven saw the Queen's expression soften greatly when Twilight said those words.

"Why, of course, Twilight." she said. "You may go now, Steven."

Steven quickly bowed and left the Hall. He went out the door to the right, where two guards were standing guard.

"Nice scar, mate." said one guard as he opened the door.

"Thanks." said Steven. "I guess..."

Steven overheard the two guards talking about the scar as he walked through the door. As it closed, however, complete silence fell upon the corridor he just entered. It was itself a very long hallway, full of doors to its sides. There was no single living thing alive in that corridor.

He slowly walked through the corridors. Behind those different doors, there were many sounds and lights coming from the different doors. He didn't dare walk into any of them, but the fact that there was activity going on was enough to comfort him. Suddenly, Steven froze as he heard a voice behind him.

"Hey, Steven! Wait up!"

Steven breathed in relief. it was only Twilight.

"Hey, I've got a bone to pick with you." said Steven. "I thought that Princess Celestia was supposed to be nice and understanding?"

Twilight sighed dejectedly.

"I don't know what happened either, Steven." said Twilight. "The normal Princess Celestia would also want to answer my questions right away."

There was an awkward silence for a very long time.

"So..." said Steven.

"What?"

"Well, thanks for covering my flank back there." said Steven.

"Honestly, I would've thought that you would've been more composed back there." she said with a smirk. "But I guess Princess- no, Queen Celestia would intimidate others with just her presence."

"So what do you think she meant by 'training'?"

"Honestly, I don't know." she said. "Normally she would just tell me to perform a spell and I'd learn in time. She had never, in the whole time I was training with her, told me to go to the gardens for training."

"Hmmm..."

"Hey." she said, trying to comfort him. "The Princess may have changed, but I'm sure she would do no harm on purpose. You'll be alright."

Steven sighed. It's true- he was really scared, but the Queen won't harm him. It's only training! Right?

"Well, I guess I'll see you then." said Twilight, as they parted ways, Steven going to the left and Twilight going straight ahead.

"Wait..." he said. "Aren't you staying in a suite like the rest of us?"

"No, no..." she said. "I stay in the Library, much like how it was back in Ponyville."

"Oh." said Steven, confused as to how someone can sleep in a library. Libraries creep him out. "Okay, see ya."

As Steven went to his room, he started thinking about things. But the thing that he really needed to think about was why his scar suddenly started glowing. He knew, that as a magical scar it would do some strange things now and again (he's read Harry Potter), but the question was why it started glowing exactly when he met eyes with the Queen. Was it because the Queen was very powerful? Or...

No, that's impossible.

Sooner than he realized, he had already climbed up all the stairs to his room. Right on top of the flight of stairs was a sign that said: 'Steven Reilly', so he entered that room. Right when he opened the door, however, the door from the room next to his opened, and a short, but fit pony came out.

"Hey." said the pony. "Nice scar, man."

Steven froze as that pony started walking down the stairs. He had heard that voice somewhere before... It wasn't so long ago since he heard it last. It was about...

Five days ago.

"Alan!"

The pony immediately looked back, a smile on his face and a gleam in his eyes.

"Steve?" he asked. "Steve!"

The pony ran back and lifted up a hoof. Steven immediately knew what he meant, and he took out his own hoof and bumped it into Alan's. It was the pony equivalent to the bro-fist. The brohoof?

"How'd you get here?" asked Steven. "I honestly never thought I'd see any of you again!"

"Well, I woke up afloat on some deserted island, met some guards, and then I got to stay here!" he said. "Glad to see you're a pony too."

Steven laughed. Perhaps a bit too much. But he couldn't help it- he always had hope that he would find his friends again, but he thought it would've been a long time before he did.

"Anyway, check these out." said Alan, before he spread something wide from both of his sides. They were wings.

"You have wings?" asked Steven. "That's awesome!"

"Not as awesome as you." said Alan, nodding at his horn. "Not only can you do magic, but you got that awesome scar too! How'd you get it anyway?"

"Long story." said Steven. "I'll tell you later, but now I've got to go take some rest first."

"Yeah, I gotta go too." said Alan. "I want to check the Library for any good comic books."

"You're going to the Library?" asked Steven. "In that case, tell Twilight I said hi."

Alan seemed confused by that sentence, but whatever doubt he had was quickly replaced by the happy face from finding his old friend again.

"Alright." he said. "See ya."

Steven then entered his room. It was large, spacey, well-designed, nothing short of impressive. But what was on his mind right now was the experience he just had. What were the odds that he would even meet a friend here in Canterlot, of all places. And one that has been turned into a pony, too. Of course, he could easily do the math, but he just wanted to leave it as a 'great coincidence'. He was very relieved to find a friend because it gave him hope that the others may still be alive as well.

He looked at the clock on the counter next to the bed.

4:25.

That gave him about 2 hours and 35 minutes to be down at the Royal Gardens. He had told Alan that he would be taking a bit of rest right now, but as it turns out, he didn't feel tired at all, and 2 hours and 35 minutes wan't really a lot of time to sleep. Plus, he didn't want to have any encounters with the Voice at the moment.

He decided that he should just go down to the Royal Gardens right now, so that he wouldn't be late (he didn't want to anger Queen Celestia) and so that he could spend some time with Fluttershy and the Cutie Mark Crusaders. The only problem was that he did not know where the Royal Gardens were.

As he walked down the stairs looking left and right for a pony to guide him there, he bumped into somepony. It was the guard that opened the door for him back in the Hall.

"Hey, it's the bloke with the nice scar!" said the pony. It sounded like he came from Pony Australia. "How ya doin', mate?"

"Fine, fine, thank you." said Steven. "Hey, can you guide me to the Royal Gardens, please?"

"Sure, sure, why not?" said the guard. "Here, follow me. hey, I didn't catch your name back then."

"I'm Steven Reilly." said Steven. "And what's your name?"

"The name's Bush." he said. "Bush Ranger."

As they walked through the Palace, Bush started talking about every single thing that he could think of. His homeland of Austailia (amazing how Equestrian names for places were so much alike to Earth's), his parents, his wife, his job as a guard and how much fun it was, until finally...

"The Queen's really changed, y'know." said Bush. "She used to be all kind and wise, but now the only thing she does all day is attack the humans. Ya may not know it, but we've lost a lot of our guards've been racked off, dead somewhere. And if we keep doing this, then things'll get even worse, mate. Much worse."

This was the only thing that Steven actually listened to. He said the same thing Twilight did. He said that the former Princess has changed. For the worse, no doubt.

"Really?" asked Steven. "What else has been happening around here?"

"Other than war..." said Bush, face sad but still looking up. "Well, not much, really. But what is worse than the Queen is that Captain. Captain what's-his-name..."

The room grew silent as he thought.

"Oct-" said Steven.

"Ah, yeah!" said Bush. "Octavius. Ever since the crash between the two planets, Octavius had changed. Much more than the Queen, anyway. I remember when he used to come down to the barracks and have a chat with the rest of us guards, but now all he does is stay locked up in that tower. None of us know what he does in there."

Well, that was food for though. Bush had certainly given him something to think about.

"Well, 'ere we are. The Royal Gardens." said Bush. "G'day, Steve."

"Thanks, Bush."

The first thing anyone would see from the Royal Gardens is the fact that its name greatly underestimated the Gardens themselves. It was HUGE! He could even see some kind of maze in the distance. He liked mazes, so he was gonna have to try that sometime.

As he walked around the Gardens, he admired the different types of trees, flowers, and vines there. He was not normally much of a plant-admirer, but he couldn't help but gaze at the ones in the Gardens. Compared to all the Botanical Gardens he had been in so far, this was most definitely the best.

As he went deeper into the Gardens, he began to hear voices. Soft voices, but voices nonetheless. He easily followed them, to find Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash trying to comfort a crying Sweetie Belle and a sad Apple Bloom.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Oh, it was terrible..." said Fluttershy. "We saw the whole thing..."

"It's Scootaloo." said Rainbow Dash, pulling her rainbow hair back and pointing to the West. "She scolded them pretty badly for some reason, and then she ran off somewhere that way."

"I'll try to find her." said Steven as he walked down the narrow path where Rainbow Dash had pointed to.

He didn't know where Scootaloo ran off to, but he had to find her. He knew he had to. Scootaloo was just a kid, after all. But then again, maybe that's why she left. Maybe it was because the others didn't understand her level of maturity, and that their attempts to comfort her was in vain, and it only proved to make things worse. he had to keep that in mind.

Not long after he had started looking for Scootaloo, he heard a rustling in the bushes to his right. As he slowly crept to look at what it is, a sudden blur of orange jumped up into the sky and ran. Steven, dazed for a while after Scootaloo jumped out, ran to follow it. However, he was careful not to get to close to her just yet. He had to wait for the correct time.

"Scootaloo!" he shouted. "Scootaloo, wait!"

Scootaloo kept on running ahead, and Steven found it getting harder to maintain their distances.

"Scootaloo!"

Scootaloo just stayed silent, running even faster than before.

"Scootaloo. Please!"

The young girl quickly stopped in her tracks. She turned around and looked at Steven apprehensively.

"What do you want?"

"To help you!" said a voice from behind Steven. It was Rainbow Dash.

"Since when have you been following me?" asked Steven.

"From the time you started shouting for Scootaloo to stop." she said. "I know Scootaloo. You can't talk to her like that."

Rainbow Dash then walked up to Scootaloo, who was standing cross-armed and was refusing to look at either of them.

"You let me handle this." said Rainbow Dash.

She then walked up to Scootaloo, and bent down on one knee to talk to her.

"Listen, Scootaloo..."

"There nothing that you can say that I want to hear." said Scootaloo. Steven noticed that her voice became very shaky when she said that. "I looked up to you, Rainbow Dash! I thought you were the best! Now look at you. You've become a human. A human who can't do anything! And then what does that make me? You were the best flyer in Equestria. The coolest, and the most superultraextremeawesomazing!"

Steven started to hear sobbing coming from Scootaloo. He sighed, but there was nothing he could do about it. He had to leave it to Rainbow Dash.

"So what does that make me? If someone like you could become as useless as this, then-"

"Please, Scootaloo, listen to me-"

"No!" she shouted. "I don't have anybody anymore! No mother, no father, no brother or sister, and now no friends! I should just kill myself and get it all over with!"

At this point, everything became silent. No one moved a muscle. Steven couldn't believe what Scootaloo had just said. He knew that she had a problem, but he didn't know that he ran this deep. Steven watched as Rainbow Dash stood up. Both  Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash remained locked in each other's eyes, but Steven could only see Scootaloo's angry, and yet scared eyes. But what astonished Steven was what Rainbow Dash did next.

She slapped Scootaloo.

But as soon as Scootaloo began to fall down, Rainbow Dash quickly grabbed on to her and pulled her into a tight hug. Steven, as well as Scootaloo herself, was confused. Rainbow Dash then released Scootaloo but held on to her hands. He could see tears dripping down from Rainbow Dash's face, and tears starting to build up in Scootaloo's eyes as she started to cry as well.

"Listen!" shouted Rainbow Dash, a voice of both anger and love. "Do you think this is a fun game for me? You think me turning into a human is fun? It isn't! In fact, I hate it! Do you know why I am here? Do you know why I'm going to keep it up until you understand? It's because I love you, Scootaloo. And I'm not going to just stand by here and watch you say that you want to end your life! I can't!"

Scootaloo continued looking into Rainbow Dash's eyes, crying very softly, not daring to look away.

"You're wrong, Scootaloo." said Rainbow Dash.

Scootaloo just stayed silent.

"You're wrong." she said. "You're not alone, Scootaloo. You've never been. You've got friends. You have two perfect friends who have always tried to cheer you up, friends who care about you. And, of course..."

"I won't mind being your big sister."

As these words left her mouth, the softly crying Scootaloo buried her face in Rainbow Dash's hair, hugging her. Rainbow Dash hugged back tightly.

"And I promise I won't ever leave you, Scootaloo. Never."

Steven then decided that it was time to step in. He took a blade of grass from the ground and started blowing through it. Immediately, a beautiful sound came out, filling the atmosphere with soft, light music. Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash immediately looked at him.

"What is that?" asked Scootaloo.

"It's a grass whistle." said Steven. "But I cannot play it very well."

"What are you talking about?" asked Scootaloo. "That was perfect!"

"But I don't have fingers like you do, Scootaloo." said Steven. Scootaloo gave a look of surprise. "Come here, let me show you how to make one."

Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo slowly walked towards the sitting Steven, who picked two more blades of grass and gave it to them.

He then began to teach Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash how to blow into the grass to make music with their thumbs, and then to use the rest of their fingers to change its pitch.

"Since I don't have fingers," said Steven, "I can't change the pitch too much. You, however, can."

For the next ten minutes, the atmosphere was very light. Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash managed to make music, and whenever one of them failed, they would laugh it off and try again. By the end, both of them managed to play the grass whistle beautifully.

"I can't wait to show this to my friends!" said Scootaloo, as she ran off back to where the others were.

"Wait up, squirt!" said Rainbow Dash, but Scootaloo didn't listen and just wen on running back.

Rainbow Dash and Steven then took a glance at each other, followed by Rainbow Dash tightly hugging him.

'Hey!" said Steven, but Rainbow Dash didn't care.

Still hugging tightly, Rainbow Dash gave Steven a short, soft kiss on his cheek.

"Thank you, Steve." whispered Rainbow Dash softly into his ear.

Steven, still shocked by what just happened, didn't answer back. Rainbow Dash then quickly let go and ran off after Scootaloo, leaving Steven alone to wonder what just happened there. Did Rainbow Dash just kiss his cheek? Whatever he was thinking was interrupted, though, by a sudden rumbling in the ground.

"Well, that was nice." said a voice to his right.

It was Queen Celestia.

Steven quickly dropped into a bow, to which the Queen chuckled.

"Oh, please." she said. "We're not in the Palace, Steven Reilly. Just act normal around me."

Steven slowly looked up, but as he saw the Queen, he also saw another, smaller figure behind her.

"Oh." said Queen Celestia. "I see you've met Princess Luna. Say hi, Luna."

Steven watched as a smaller, but still just as regal body come into sight. She looked exactly the same as the Queen, except that her body was dark blue, she had blue and purple flowing hair with small stars in them, and that she looked much younger.

"Hello." said Luna

"Luna is my sister." said the Queen. "She will be handling your training today. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go back to the Palace."

Steven then watched as the Queen took off, leaving the smaller Princess and Steven behind.

"Hi." said Steven, holding out a hoof. "My name is-"

As he said this, Luna quickly stamped her hoof into the ground. All of a sudden, there was a rumbling noise and strange walls of stone appeared from down below. Luna was also elevated by the rising stone wall, until she was very high above the ground. Steven saw Luna's horn starting to glow a deep purple, and the she saw strange, humanoid things coming from underground as well around him.

"These are ghouls." said Luna. "They cannot be harmed physically, and can only be destroyed using magic."

"But-"

"There are no buts with me, Steven Reilly." said Luna. "I have come to train you, and train you I shall. These ghouls will keep attacking you until you find a way to somehow defeat them. I will not let you go until after you have completed all of my training sessions. Now..."

Luna stared down at Steven, a strange gleam in her eyes.

"Let the training commence."