They Walk Among Us

"Well that didn't go as expected."

Once again, the strange compass knew exactly what he was thinking.

"At least Twilight's gotten better." said Steven under his breath, not wanting anyone to think he was talking to himself. "That's awesome, isn't it?"

"I said it didn't go expected." said the compass, whizzing around Steven's head. "Not necessarily better or worse."

"I really didn't expect Twilight to heal so quickly, though." said Steven, who was now relatively much more comfortable with the idea talking to a compass. "It's almost miraculous. What do you think might've caused that?"

"No idea." said the compass.

Both of them then proceeded back to Steven's bedroom in tense silence, Steven too tired to speak and the compass not wanting to impose. It took all of Steven's remaining energy to go to the Dungeons and tell Twilight the password without looking tired at all (which he thought he did a really good job doing), and now he had no more inhibitions about showing off his exhaustion. All he cared about now was getting back to his bed and staying there. For a really long time.

"Here we are." said Steven, who groggily took out his key and put it into the lock. But it kept on missing. Steven was now leaning against the door. He felt relaxed. At peace. He could just sleep there, and it would be fine. Nobody would mind.

"Steven!" said the compass. Steven immediately jerked to attention. "Hurry!"

Steven grumbled and after a few tries, finally managed to unlock the door and go inside. He immediately slammed the door closed, and he dropped his saddle pack, walking drowsily. And with the last of his energy, Steven jumped onto his warm, welcoming, perfect bed. He felt his consciousness slipping away...

"It's been a while, Steven."

Steven's head shot straight back up at the sound of that familiar voice. Screw sleeping. He took a look around, taking in the familiar darkness that he had grown so accustomed to already.

"You." he said. He didn't know what else to say.

"Yes, me." said the voice. "And enough of these dramatic cliché greetings. You are not going to be in here long, so we might as well begin to speak. I will give you the liberty of asking me any question, any question at all."

Any question? Unlike before, he now certainly seems to be very straight-to-the-point, down-to-earth, et cetera. The voice was the same... but it sounded different. If that was possible.

But... Only one question? What was he going to ask?

There were far too many in his mind. What's happening? What's to come of this? How will it all end? There were too many possible questions. But of course, there was a more prominent one in his mind. The most mysterious, elusive question of all. Something that had been bothering him badly thus far.

But can he trust the voice? He hadn't done anything to make him untrustable, but there was no knowing who one can trust these days. The only ones he can trust are his friends. And this voice sure as hell isn't one.

"I won't." said Steven. "I don't trust you."

"I know you don't." said the voice. The deep, hypnotizing voice began to move all around Steven, and although the source cannot be seen, Steven's eyes were able to follow the voice wherever it went. They might not have met since before that battle in Baltimare ten days ago, but he felt as if all that time was nothing more than... well, nothing.

"But what choice do you have?" asked the voice. "I know that there are many questions inside your head now, Steven. Many, many questions. And they are killing you. Eating you up from the inside. You are dying to know, aren't you? So ask away, Steven. Ask away. It'll do you no harm. No harm at all."

Steven was finding himself liking the voice less and less. But there was something hidden beneath those taunts. It wasn't obvious, but something in Steven's gut told him so. He was never a man for intuition, but he seemed to want to trust his gut just this once. There was something about the voice... something that seemed forced. It was like he didn't want to-

No. No. This voice cannot be trusted.

Then again, all of what the voice said was true. It was killing him, having so many questions and so few answers. It made his heart feel clenched by all of the stress he was experiencing. And the question of whether or not to trust this voice just made everything worse.

But the voice had never lied to him so far. It had never fed him wrong information. The voice might just be trying to help Steven, in its own stupid, and maybe evil ways. And if what he was about to tell really was the truth, then he couldn't pass up on this chance. It was just too important. Steven was so confused.

In the end, though, one side ultimately won.

"So?" asked the voice, as if trying to hurry him up.

"The compass." said Steven. "It said something about my father."

Silence. It was as if the voice was giving him an amused look, gesturing him to continue on.

"Where is my father?" Steven finally asked.

There was a strange laugh. An evil, cold laugh, piercing through the even the deepest confines of Steven's heart.

"You father?" asked the voice. "He is with Discord."

"Where is Discord?" asked Steven, getting angrier every second he had to listen to that infernal voice speak.

"Only one question, Steven." said the voice. "You best be leaving here soon."

"You!" said Steven, desperately looking around for the source of the voice. Steven was furious now. Once again, he had been given the straightest, yet the vaguest answer he could get. In was infuriating. He wanted to find that voice and rip it apart with his own hooves. He had been tricked again. "Y-YOU!"

"I can guess what's going through your mind right now." said the voice. "You probably thinking something along the lines of wicked? Tricksy? False?"

Steven's anger subsided for a moment and he let surprise took over. How did he know?

"The reason I cannot explain further is because it is still not time to, Steven." said the voice, all fun taken out of it, leaving dead seriousness behind. Steven was even more surprised. He had been expecting him to be taunting him even more. "But it is almost time. Almost. And the only one companion you can fully trust will lead you there."

The only one companion I can fully trust? Was this another riddle?

"Goodbye for now, Steven Reilly." said the voice. "We shall meet again soon. Arrivederci."

"Wait!" said Steven, trying to resist the familiar tugging at his stomach. "What do you-"

"Mean?" completed Steven, now completely awake, and back on his bed. He groaned. Once again, there are more questions than there were answers. He was positively pissed off.

"It's only been an hour!" said a voice beside him. Steven freaked out and pressed himself against the wall next to the bed, not daring to move. He let out his breath when the compass floats out and faces him. "What?"

"You scared me." said Steven. "I mean, you scare me in general, but you startled me just now."

"You woke me up from my rest too." said the compass.

"Compasses need to rest?"

"To tell you the truth, I'm not really a compass, per se." said the compass. "More like a bit of your personali-"

The compass immediately fell silent.

"What did you say?" asked Steven, walking up to the compass. "A bit of my personality?"

"Well, um... Hahah...Er..." mumbled the compass. Steven caught him in a dead stare. "Yes!" it squealed.

"Who created you?" asked Steven.

"I don't know." said the compass.

"So you know that you are a part of me, but you don't know who made you that way?"

"Sure, if you say it like that, then-"

"I am not a liar." said Steven. "I don't lie about things with big consequences like this."

"You do." said the compass. It immediately fell down to the floor and began trembling.

"What?" scowled Steven.

"I'm just saying..." said the compass, softly and quickly. "You would lie all the way to hell and back to save someone you care for."

Steven stared down at the trembling compass.

"Just answer me." said Steven, resenting but unable to restrain his anger. "Who made you?"

"I cannot say!" said the compass, rather confidently. "I musn't! The time is not right..."

"Screw the time!" said Steven. "Tell me who made you and where-"

"YOU CANNOT SCREW THE TIME!" shouted the compass, who was immediately at face level with Steven. "There is a proper moment for everything, and-"

"I need to know all this!" argued Steven, shouting back. "There are just too many questions left unanswered, too many-"

"THOSE QUESTIONS ARE LEFT UNANSWERED BECAUSE IT IS NOT TIME FOR THEM TO BE ANSWERED YET!"

Steven immediately fell silent. He didn't appreciate the compass shouting out loud in his mind, or the fact that he just repeated the same thing, but he knew that what the compass said was right. His father had always told him that there was a time for everything, and that time was not always now.

Wait, no. That's Professor Oak.

Never mind.

But that didn't change the fact that the compass was still right all along.

"I guess you're right." said Steven, finally. "I'm going out for a while. Are you coming?"

"I'll stay here." said the compass.

Steven stepped out of the room, locking the door shut again. He didn't feel tired at all. Not at all like an hour ago. But he still didn't feel like he had rested even a small bit.

"Hey, Steve." said a male voice from behind him.

"Hey, Alan." said Steven, not looking. "What are you doing here so early?"

"I needed to take something." said Alan. "Speaking of which, Twilight's been wanting to find you since lunch. She wouldn't say why, though."

Why would Twilight be looking for Steven? He had already told her that he would be upstairs resting, so why would she still be looking for him? And why only since lunch? How long did she spend with Applejack, anyway?

"Steven?" asked Alan.

Steven shook his head violently.

"Yeah?"

"There you go." said Alan. "I was asking if you knew why she wanted to meet you so badly. But apparently you don't know either. I think she's in the Library."

"The Library?" asked Steven. He had completely forgotten where the Library was. Maybe it was because the last time he had been there, his head had been beaten to less than a pulp. Just a small factor.

"Just go straight, then turn right in between the supermarket and Carousel Boutique." said Alan, who seemed to know what he was thinking.

"Thanks." said Steven, impressed.

"No worries." said Alan. "I got your back."

Steven then began to trot to the Library, a slight spring in his step. Most people would attribute that to excitement, but that wasn't the case for Steven. He was very much deep in thought about the whole experience with the voice and the compass. They both talked about the same thing. The compass said something about it not being time yet, but the voice said that the time was soon to come. Why are the both of them so obsessed about time?

Steven groaned. For the first time since yesterday, he felt hungry. Then again, it shouldn't be surprising, given that he hadn't eaten dinner last night, breakfast this morning, and he had just missed lunch. He was starving .

No. he thought. Twilight really, urgently wanted to see him, and he wasn't going to let her down.

Steven put all of his focus and conviction on his hooves and continued to walk.

It wasn't easy. Because the route to the Library took him through the place he had wanted to go least, especially right then.

The food market.

He could smell all different, delicious, vegetarian (and he'd never thought he'd say that) things, and it took all he had to not want to take a peek. He knew that his scrunched-up face would attract a lot of attention, but he really didn't mind. He just wanted to get away as soon as possible.

"Steven!"

Damn his scrunched-up face!

"Hi." said Steven, uneasily looking at Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and the kids all gathered up at a table in Maresia's. Their usual spots in their usual restaurant.

"Are you alright, dear?" asked Rarity. "You don't look so well."

"I'm fine, thank you." said Steven. He slowly turned his eyes on to the food on their tables, but they quickly snapped back up.

EYES ON THE ROAD! he thought, remembering his father's old driving lessons.

"He really doesn't look well." said Rainbow Dash, a sly smile on her lips. "You know what this means, girls?"

"PERPETUAL MOTION SUPERCRUSADERS SURGEONS GO!" shouted the three girls at once, who immediately left their seat and advanced upon Steven.

"NonononoNONONO!" screamed Steven. Out of all the things he had fought so far, nothing could be more potentially dangerous (and terrifying) than these three girls together. Steven was even more scared when he thought he saw a steely glint from inside the pockets of one of the girls. He was panicking.

"Ha ha... No need for any surgeons, or anything..." said Steven. "I'm fine, really..."

Apple Bloom shrugged. "If ya say so."

"Come on! We've never tried being surgeons before!" said Sweetie Belle.

Steven thought that he could see three evil glares stare his way at those words. He immediately cringed. He had to get away as soon as possible.

"Nah." said Scootaloo. "If we operate on somepony who's not sick in the first place, we'd never know if it was our special talent to really do it or not."

"I guess you're right, Scootaloo." said Sweetie Belle.

The three girls then resignedly sat back down on their tables, perhaps thinking up some darned way to find out their special talents again.

"Maybe we could-"

"We're not going ziplining in here, Scootaloo." said Sweetie Belle.

"Awww..." said Scootaloo.

Steven slowly stood back up, avoiding the random looks of strangers, and joined that table. He was not going to pass through that place with every single living soul looking at him like that. And besides, he needed to eat anyway.

"You evil, evil girl." said Steven, kissing Rainbow Dash again.

Rainbow Dash, who had been growing happier and happier every minute, kissed him back with an equal amount fervor and passion. There was nothing to say except that it felt good. Really good.

But both of them immediately pulled away once they both realized the stares that the other members of the table were fixing at them. Rarity was blushing uncomfortably, but the three kids were staring at them and giggling, as if taking in as much as they could.

Steven cleared his throat, knocking everyone out of their respective trances.

"So." said Steven. "Perpetual Motion Supercrusaders?"

"It's a name we came up with." said Rainbow Dash, looking proud. "Endless amounts of energy, and no stopping at all."

Cutie Mark Crusaders? Fine, that's great. But Perpetual Motion Supercrusaders? He could imagine it being very hard to say very quickly and loudly. Plus, if you added up the initials...

"What about just shortening it to 'The Crusaders'?" suggested Steven. "Just... Crusaders."

"That sounds cool too." said Scootaloo.

"Yeah!" said Apple Bloom. "Besides, it's really hard to say 'Perpetual Motion Supercrusaders' real quick."

Bingo.

"Then it's decided!" said Sweetie Belle, standing on two hooves. "From this day onwards, we shall no longer be called the Cutie Mark Crusaders, nor will we be called the Per...Perpetual... Perpetual Motion Supercrusaders!"

"Yeah!" said Scootaloo, standing up too. "We shall be called 'the Crusaders'!"

"Agreed!" said Apple Bloom, standing up with the three of them. "The Crusaders! We shall be The Crusaders, no more, no less. The Crusaders is the name of our group, and the name of our group shall be The Crusaders. More we shall not say, and neither will we-"

"We get it." said Sweetie Belle.

"Three-way hoof-and-fist bump?" asked Scootaloo.

"Yes!" screamed the other two.

They then did one of the most peculiar things Steven had ever seen in his life. All three of them jumped at the same time, and the all bumped each of their fists/hooves into each other's. It was quite fascinating, really, how these girls always come up with the best of ideas. Plus, their vocabulary was really advanced for their age.

"Now, girls, please finish your food first before running off somewhere for some silly quest." said Rarity.

"It's NOT a silly quest!" said Sweetie Belle. "We're going to find our cu... Our special talents, no matter what!"

Steven knew that Sweetie Belle was about to say the word 'Cute Marks'. It reminded him of how he didn't have one either. But hey, he's got a cool scar on his eye.

Rarity let out an audible moan before continuing to eat her salad.

"You should eat something too." said Rainbow Dash, holding Steven's hoof. "I know you haven't eaten anything since lunch yesterday."

What is it with his friends and reading his mind? It's starting to make him feel self-conscious.

"Okay." said Steven. "I'll order, but I'll have to finish quick. Alan told me that Twilight is waiting for me at the Library. I wouldn't want to keep her waiting."

"Oh, that's great! I'll come with you." said Rainbow Dash. "There's this book that I borrowed a few days ago which I need to return today."

"And what book could possibly please a lady of your stature?" asked Steven.

"Daring Do is pretty awesome." said Rainbow Dash, her sly smile forming again. "She's been pleasing me more than you ever did. So far."

Did Rainbow Dash just...?

Steven and Rarity both bushed. Rarity cleared her throat, subtly pointing at the three girls who were right next to them.

"Right." said Rainbow Dash, catching the drift and blushing as well. "Daring Do and the Mystery of the Magician's Mummy."

"Mummy as in... Mom, or..." said Steven, acting dumb.

"Mummy the mummy." said Rainbow Dash. "You know, the one which has their bodies embalmed and all that."

"Right, right." said Steven. "Embalmed bodies. Right."

Rainbow Dash playfully nudged him with her shoulder, and Steven went up to order food. A veggie burger, to be exact. And the service, as always, was very good and speedy. The food was ready before Steven had managed to start speaking again to the table.

Steven, as hungry as he was, gulped down the sandwich in two bites. Rarity shot him a look of disapproval.

"What?" asked Steven, his mouth still full.

"Don't mind Rarity." said Rainbow Dash. "She's always fussing about something or the other."

"I fuss because I wouldn't want to be caught with those who exhibit such... brusque behavior." said Rarity, immediately turning back to her salad.

Steven shrugged, and swallowed the rest of the sandwich whole. He always was a messy eater if he's hungry.

"Shall we?" asked Steven, standing up.

"Oh! Wait, I almost forgot." said Rainbow Dash. "Scoots, did you bring the book?"

"Right here, sis!" said Scootaloo, still smiling at the fact that she can call Rainbow Dash 'sis'.

"One of the few perks of having a sister?" asked Rainbow Dash, taking the book from Scootaloo. "You only carry half the load."

Steven chuckled. "After you." he said, gesturing to the exit.

"How chivalrous!" exclaimed Rarity, her eyes gleaming. "Rainbow Dash, I must certainly say that you've um... How do they say it? Oh! You've certainly landed a keeper there."

Those words seemed alien coming out of Rarity's mouth. But at least that's one friend who honestly agreed with their relationship.

"Wait, weren't you just telling me off about my... brusqueness just now?"

"Mood swings." said Rainbow Dash, smirking. "She must be having her Perpetual Motion Supercrusader."

Rarity and the girls didn't get the statement, which was probably a good thing. But Steven was laughing his heart out. He had always appreciated inside jokes, but only now did he truly understand the humor of the whole thing.

Steven turned to look at his girlfriend, laughing almost as hard as him. Beautiful, brave, smart, and tons of funny, too. There was only one other...

"Where have you been all my life?" asked Steven.

"In your dreams." said Rainbow Dash, poking his forehead "Now let's go!"

Steven and Rainbow Dash then continued on to the library, laughing heartily, and leaving a confused Rarity and three equally confused girls behind.

"They seem to be made for each other, don't you think, girls?" asked Scootaloo.

"Yeah!" said Apple Bloom. "They get along so well."

"You know what this means, don't you girls?" asked Sweetie Belle. The three girls began to grin widely.

"CRUSADER WEDDING PLANNERS!" shouted the three of them together. They began to jump around and chat excitedly about the dresses, the food, the cake, the guests, nothing short of a real-life wedding. Everyone is going to start hearing a lot about this dream wedding from this day on.

Rarity groaned loudly and smashed her face onto her salad.