Undecided

by I am Memorial

Rating: mature
Tags: Sad, Dark, Romance
Length: 12317

A story about love and stuff.

After an incident with a strange cloaked pony Twilight finds that friendship can be created in hours, and more can be established in days. Can she find out what is going on with this strange new pony? And can a tortured soul find redemption?
This is an interesting situation where a pony that avoided friendship for a long time meets another who flat out avoided contact with others for most of his life.

Rated mature for short flashback torture scenes(the longest being like, 4 sentences) and sex, which I will put into it's own little chapters so people can skip them if they want, but not skipping them won't interupt your story reading. It's like Chapter Whatever ends implying, next chapter is sex, third chapter confirms implication. So if you want you can skip the middle(sex)

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2012-06-01 02:44:08 UTC

Chapter 1

The pain was excruciating.

Blood poured down the colts body, mostly from his face. Through his swollen eyes the colt watched as the other ponies around him leared and taunted.

He spat at the nearest one, figuring if he was going to die, he might as well show them what he thought of them.

The enraged pony came forward.

Left,right, left, right, left , right. The punches continuously slammed into his face and body until a rather hard left swing tore his eye from it's socket spilling blood everywhere.

The pain unbearable the colt blacked out.

The cloaked stallion trotted into the small town. He had a limp in his right legs that showed despite his shrouded appearance. He eventually came to a small eatery, Sugar Cube Corner, and entered.

Through his left eye, the colt watched in horror as the knife was brought closer to his muzzle. Squeezing his eye closed, he braced for the pain. It didn't matter though, nothing could block out the feeling of the cold blade as it cut through his cheek. Coughing and sputtering, the colt felt his blood pour down the front of him as well as down his own throat.

The pain rising to a crescendo, the colt passed out again.

The sandwich he'd ordered was simple, haygrass on wheat. He trotted into the corner furthest from the other ponies and seated himself. Pulling a small fold out foot high barricade from his cloak, the stallion used it to block his view, and the view of anypony else. Behind his barricade, he lowered his hood and set to eating.

The undeniable crack that came from his right legs rang true. The colt felt them break, and he knew what was coming the millisecond his adrenaline wore out. Waves of nausiating pain swept through him as he watched his right legs darken under the skin with blood. Slowly darkness overtook the colt, who was unsure of what would happen to him.

The front door rang as some new ponies entered the eatery. Out of habit, the stallion instinctively became on edge and looked up to see who had entered. First was a marshmellow coated mare, by the way she carried herself one would think she was from Canterlot.

"Come now, Fluttershy, we can't all be expected to know what animals think."

Following her was a subdued looking butter coloured mare.

"Um, I guess not, I just thought it was obvious."

"Well, that's jus' fine sugarcube. 'Sides, it all turned out jus' fine!"

That was from the orange mare, countrified obvioulsy, wearing a cowpony hat.

She was followed in by a lavander mare, who looked rather pleased with herself.

"Well I found it to be quite the learning experience."

"Of course you would silly. You learn from everything!"

A sickeningly pink mare bounced in smiling jovially.

"Well I still say we should'a bucked it in the face."

That remark came from a cyan mare, rather tomboyish pegasus, but most noticeably she had a rainbow mane.

He wanted to sleep, just sleep and never wake up. Something was tugging at the back of his mind though. Something telling him to keep fighting.

Opening his eye just in time to catch a massive flash of rainbow quickly followed by a outstandingly loud boom. The colt also noticed his bonds weren't attached, and one of his captors hade dropped the bone knife inches in front of him as it stared at the sky.

Out of fear, desperation, and sheer will to live the colt scooped up the knife and slammed it into his captors back.

Then he ran.

'Last time I saw a rainbow it led me here, and before that it led me to freedom. I wonder what will happen now?'

The stallion continued munching on his sandwich for another minute or so when he noticed the pink pony in his peripherial vision turn his way and gasp.

'Shit, shes seen me!' the stallion thought as he swallowed, raised his hood and muzzle cowl, then packed away his small barricade and made to leave. That didn't work out quite well though.

As he stood he found the pink pony a mere foot away.

"Hiya! I'm Pinkie Pie. You're new in town, or atleast I think you are, I can't tell because of that hood you've got on. Why do you have a hood on? Ohhhhh, are you like Zecora, huh?"

Unnerved by the pink pony, the shrouded stallion made to go around her as the countrified mare tried to calm her.

"Pinkie, jus' because you like everpony don' always mean everpony else likes everypony."

As the stallion made to leave, a second more burnt orange pony with a pink mane lept at him.

"Zecora!"

On pure instinct, and already being on edge from the previous pink pony, the stallion reached out and slammed the mare, no, filly, into a wall while his second hoof brought up a bone knife.

Realizing his mistake, he moved to sheath the knife and release the filly, who was staring at him in fear when he heard a noise to his right. It was a cyan and rainbow blur, swinging a chair straight at him.

'Well there's the rain, here comes the boo-'

"Shh, he's waking up."

"I can see that Dash, I'm ready."

The stallion raised his head up and blinked at the throbbing coming from the left side of his head.

"Don't make any sudden moves, I've got a loaded Twilight Sparkle and I'm not afraid to use it!" the chromatic mare shouted.

"Rainbow Dash, calm down. Besides Rarity's got him from the other side, and Applejack's got her rope." the lavander mare reasoned.

Sure enough as the stallion looked around he found himself set for trouble.

The rainbow mare, Rainbow, suddenly scowled, "So who the heck do you think you are mister cape!? Coming into our town and threatening fillies! What's your name!"

Seeing no reason to instigate further aggression, the shrouded stallion replied in a raspy whisper, similiar to if a pony never shut his lips all the way if he talked, "I'm Jecht Lagg. Earth Pony. Wanderer. Also not looking for trouble, but that seems to have failed."

"Well if you weren' lookin' fer trouble, what made ya' think pulling a knife on a filly was gonna achieve!" shouted the orange country mare.

"It was not purposeful, a simple knee jerk reaction, and not one I'm proud of."

"Easy Applejack." the lavander mare said calmly, "First off Jecht, I"m Twilight Sparkle, protege of Princess Celestia, these are Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Rarity. Now what were you doing in Ponyville?"

"Simply walking, as I've done my whole life. It soothes me." Jecht replied calmly.

"Well that may be, but Ah'm havin' trouble trustin ya with that hood and cloak on." grumbled Applejack.

"That's right! How do we know we can believe you!? Take your cloak off Jecht!" shouted Rainbow Dash.

"It is a rather horrid fashion, I agree, remove it." sniffed Rarity.

Jecht shuffled nervously. He'd removed his cloak before, but it always ended badly.

"I wouldn't recommend seeing my face, but I have a gut feeling you won't let me leave if I don't." At this Twilight nodded. "Alright, just do me a favor and don't scream, or throw anything at me, or swing a chair at me" Jecht finished, pointedly staring at Dash from under his cloak.

Twilight was quick to assure him nothing would happen.

Jecht began to unfasten the cloak.

Jecht fastened the cloak. It was one of the only things that kept others from running in fear. He would never willingly subjugate anypony to seeing his ruined features.

Twilight looked at him uneasily. He also heard Rarity retching behind him. Applejack seemed surprised as well as disgusted, and Rainbow Dash merely stared.

With his cloak fully removed, Jecht stood in all his imperfection. Scars criss crossed his body, and a long healed burn marred his flank on both side where his cutiemark should have been. He had two nast scars on his right legs, and a pair of dark spots showing through his white fur where blood had permanantely altered the colour when they were broken.

This was a damn sight nicer on the eyes than his face though.

His entire right cheek was gone, baring his teeth and gums to the air, the scars led up to a empty eye socket covered in bandana/eyepatch, but the scars stretched out from under it. This all lead to his right ear, that had a couple of holes through it and a tear towards the back. This was all on the right side of course. His left side showed pristine white fur a full cheek and a dark purple eye marred by a bruised welt from where the chair had connected.

Grimacing from the looks he was receiving, Jecht limped back over to his cloak and startened to re-fasten it when Twilight's eyes suddenly seemed to soften.

"You know, I may not know what happened to you Jecht, but I get it. Well sorta. Here you are, avoiding everpony because you fear what they'll think of you. Then this random pink fluff of hyperactive energy shows up. I react to being uncomfortable by becoming nervous, but you? Obviously you went through something terrible. I get it. You felt threatened so you reacted the only way you knew how."

Turning to Twilight, Jecht simply nodded before starting off towards the barn door.

"Wait, dude, where will you go?" questioned Rainbow Dash.

Jecht simply shrugged.

"Well you can't just leave, besides I still owe you for smacking you with a chair, I guess it was kinda uncool." Dash mumbled, rubbing the back of her neck.

Jecht had a talent for looking at things from all perspectives, and he knew why she hit him. "You were just looking out for friends, there should be no reason to apologize for that."

Jecht made to leave, pulling the barn door open and beggining to raise his hood, when the barn door closed back shut with lavander hued magic.

"Am I still not allowed to leave Twilight?" quested Jecht.

"Actually, I was wondering if you wanted to enjoy a dinner with us, our treat." Twilight smiled.

"I don't need sympathy." Jecht replied coldly.

"No I understand, but we'd like to make up for our actions and assumptions. Please join us for dinner."

"Alright then, since you don't want to take no for an answer I guess I'll go." Jecht sighed, defeated.

The friendly stallion hiker had ignored his new companions features well enough, but that wasn't the case as they began to eat. Jecht watched the hiker start to become nervous and disgusted. To prevent any further trouble Jecht stood up, stretched, thanked the hiker for the meal, and went on his way. He still heard the sigh of relief.

Back at Sugar Cube Corner Jecht found himself seated at the left corner of a table with Rainbow Dash and the others next to him on his right. Twilight, Rarity, Applejack and Raibow dash were normal enough. The pink maned butter coloured pegasus Fluttershy was on the far side from him at the opposite corner. Then there was Pinkie Pie, barely reigning in her immense joy at a new pony being in Ponyville.

Looking down at the plate of food(a salad with apricots and peaches, next to it an apple turnover) and was about to begin to eat when he remembered his right facial features.

"Um, yeah, gimme a second please." Jecht mumbled as he went and fetched his barricade and began to set it up on the table.

"Watcha puttin that up for silly. How do we talk to you?" Pinkie giggled.

"You can talk around this Pinkie...." Jecht muttered.

His barricade was then pulled away by magic as he felt himself lifted and moved to the other side of the table.

All eyes turned to look at Twilight as she released the magic she'd just used. Most noticeably was Jecht's look.

"Uhm, sorry Jecht, I just assumed that you put that up because....well.... your..." Twilight couldn't find herself finishing the sentence, blushing furiously as she was.

"No, you're right. I don't mind either. Everything I've suffered is a testament to something great that I struggled through. Lagg's are good at pulling through." Jecht chuckled, mostly at himself.

Jecht looked back down at his food, then took a bite. He'd chewed three times and was acutely aware of the disgusting smacking noises he was unwillingly making. Feeling his cheeks flush slightly, Jecht quickly swallowed and pushed his plate a couple of inches away from him.

"That was, ah, really good. Thank you." It was a pitiful excuse, but he couldn't bring himself to continue the amazing meal in front of the ponies.

Twilight's horn began to glow again, and Jecht felt a tingling on the edges of his ruined cheek. Reaching up to investigate, Jecht found a magical barrier had been constructed making a artificial cheek.

"Um, wow, thank you Twilight!" came Jecht's happy, albeit very surprised, response.

With that the meal continued, although Twilight appeared mildly flustered.

After dinner was finished, Rainbow couldn't help but bring something up that had been nagging at her.

"So Jecht, You said you're last name was Lagg, right. Is that any relation to Obsidian Lagg?"

Jecht shuffled nervously. Family was a touchy subject for him. After a few seconds he nodded, "Obsidian was my grandfather."

"Oh so you're Cobra and Vipers kid..." Dash suddenly trailed off as peices slowly began to meld together, "Oh Celestia Jecht! I'm sorry, geez I'm stupid, you don't have to answer that."

"No, it's fine. Yes they were my parents." came the despondent reply.

Twilight remembered suddenly. It had been her brother's first  assignment. Back when he was a trainee. Find the Lagg family, a pegasi family, that had gone missing. Twilight rounded the table and patted Jecht on the back soothingly. "I'm so sorry Jecht. If I had known..." as she spoke she rubbed her hoof over an odd scar on his shoulder blade. Jecht stiffened and blushed slightly before pulling away from the mare.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you! I didn't realize it was sensitive!" Tilight sputtered.

"Relax, you didn't hurt me, I was just.... surprised." Jecht finished lamely, not noticing Dash scrutinizing the twin scars on his shoulders. That is until she screamed in outrage and threw a stool into the nearby wall.

"Who in the hay did that! I swear, I could just AGHHHHHHH!" Dash screamed.

All eyes turned to her as she finished. "Care to explain to Pinkie why you jus' smashed a stool inta the wall, sugarcube?"

"I...just....argh! Okay, so I had a friend that got caught up in tsunami force winds. It ripped her right wing clean out its socket. When it healed it left an indented scar. Cobra and Viper Lagg never had an earth pony foal, they had a pegasus!"

"So Jecht here is a fake? That's abhorent!" cried Rarity, absolutely appaled. Twilight was the one that put it together.

"No. This is Jecht, but what Dash is saying is.....oh my! Jecht, what happened to you?!"

"I uhm, no, ahhh...." With that Jecht took off out the door grabbing his supplies.

Dash made to take off after him when Twilight intevened, "No Dash, let me go after him. I'm a bit more level headed." With that Twi took off out the door in chase of the earth bound pegasus.

That chapter that comes after 1

So after a few comments about story pacing I've decided to add to this story.

red is day one of the two days I skipped

and green is day two

These are what's geeting added in. If you have read this chapter for the first time woohoo, and if it's your second, sorry for mucking it up the first time.

He felt like an idiot for running off, but he was not about to explain what happened to him. It was his burden, nopony elses.

He'd kept running for a while until his cloak caught a branch and came off because in his haste he'd forgotten to fasten it.

'Damn, where'd it drift off to?' Almost right after finishing this thought there was a lavander glow.

"Looking for this Jecht?"

It was Twilight of course, holding his cloak.

"Please let me have that and I'll be on my way."

"No."

"Twilight... give me the cloak."

"How about a compromise?"

"Of what sorts?"

"I give you your cloak, but you stay as my guest at the library for a week."

"Ahh but that is a one sided trade. I get what belongs to me and you gain. In the end I gain nothing."

"Oh ok so I'm just non-existant and I mean nothing." Twilight giggled.

"You aren't going to accept no are you?"

"Ummmmmm....no."

"Fine."

Twilight woke the next morning, realizing she'd slept in slightly. Quickly she got up from her bed and checked the chest that she'd locked Jecht's cloak in.

'Good, that hasn't been tampered with, hey, what's that smell?'

It was a savoury scent, one that made Twilight's empty stomach grumble. Trotting out of her room and down the stairs she noticed that she hadn't slept in too much, that it was only 8:12. Still she couldn't figure out why Spike was up so early.

"Mmm Twilight! You gotta come in here and try this food. It's amazing!"

Twilight was amazed at the meal on her table, "Spike! Did you make all this!" Spike merely shook his head as Jecht came around the corner.

"Morning, I thought I'd make breakfast. It's been a while since I had a fully stocked kitchen at my disposal. You were still sleeping so I started breakfast. Spike here came down 10 minutes ago. Dig in. Oh and morning."

The rest of breakfast was relatively silent. Jecht nodded at any compliment that he recieved. He wasn't cold about it, but seemed nervous. As soon as Spike and Twilight were finished and left the kitchen, Jecht started to eat. He couldn't help but wince at the rude smacking noises he made when he ate, hoping that nopony heard him eating.

Twilgiht stood outside the door and hear the stallion's attempt to eat. The noises made her uneasy and she couldn't help but want to aid the scarred stallion in one way or another. She trotted off to her main room and started pulling out books to study.

Jecht cam out from the kitchen some time later, simply stating that he'd cleaned up everything before he sat down and started rummaging through books before picking one out and seating himself.

The two ponies spent the whole first half of their day sitting on opposite sides of the room reading through books at an alarming rate. After a time Twilight looked up to find two stacks of books about 10 deep on one side and 2 on the other with a final book in front of Jecht.

"Two down working on a third?"

"Mmm? Oh no, ten down working on the eleventh." Jecht replied cooly, immediatly going back to his book.

"Wow, that's some fast reading." Twilight said, sounding surprised.

"Well when you avoid most other ponies you find something to keep yourself busy."

"Well I guess that's something we have in common, we both turned to books when we had nopony to call a friend."

"You didn't have friends?" Jecht questioned unbelievingly.

"Well I didn't see the point in having friends until I came here."

"So those ponies your friends with..."

"Are all recent friends, had them for about 2 years now." Twilight beamed.

"That's always nice." Twilight heard slight resentment in Jecht's tone.

"Well Jecht, why did you never make any friends?" It earned a stare that practically screamed 'Are you blind?!'. Regardless of his opinion of the question Jecht replied anyway, "It's hard to make friends when ponies run far away anytime you lower your hood and look at them."

At this Twilight hopped down and moved next to Jecht, then trotted around him to his right side.

"Well I'm sitting here now and nothing is happening. I'm perfectly fine." Twilight assured.

"I also didn't have this bandanna up until recently." Jecht replied, gesturing to the fabric wrapped around his empty eye socket. Twilight tilted her head slightly, then reached forward and grabbed the bandanna before Jecht could stop her. Pulling it off Twilight found that it wasn't as gross or disturbing as she'd thought it would have been. It was scarred like the rest of Jecht, but other than that it was just a darkened hole.

"See, even without that I'm fine. You just need to lighten up a bit and understand that there are good ponies out there that don't judge on appearance." came Twilight's reassuring response.

Still straight faced Jecht reached to take his bandanna back when Twilight hopped back shaking her head.

"Nope, you're not gonna wear this while your here."

"Just give me the bandanna..."

Again Twilgiht shook her head, "Nuh uh. I'm not giving it back until the week is done."

Jecht suddenly got this look in his eye, and for a second Twilight thought he was going to attack her when he calmed suddenly. Grinning, Jecht turned his back on her, "Fine then, you can hold onto it." Twilight relaxed, letting out a small giggle of victory when Jecht spun and lept at her.

"But only if you can keep me from getting it back!" he shouted playfully.

The two ponies ducked and dodged, vying for control of the bandanna. Laughing uproaresly Jecht couldn't help but think that this was the most fun he'd had in years. Jumping at Twilight, she reared back and suddenly slipped on a stray book. Seeing that she was about to fall, Jecht spun around and caught her, rolling their bodies so that he'd land on his back and she'd land safely on his chest.

"Ooof, Easy there, don't want to get hurt do you." Jecht joked.

Twilight took a second to orient herself before realizing that she was laying on Jecht. As she made to get up her eyes met with his eye and they stared at eachother for a second when Spike came in to investigate.

"Whoa! Sorry!" With that the poor baby dragon took off back out the door the way he'd come.

Both ponies realized what it must've have looked like, and quickly extricated themselves from eachother.

As Jecht stood he picked up his bandanna. "Oh, looks like you got it from me after all." Twilgiht said nervously.

"Ahem, uh yeah." then Jecht tossed it skill fully to hang on the coat rack by the door. Twilight raised her eys at this, but said nothing due to the embarrasing incident moments before.

The two ponies went back to their respective book piles, but they still cast glances at each other every now and again, quickly looking away in case the other saw.

The next day Twilight thought to get the jump on Jecht by waking at 7. Of course Jecht was already awake so it didn't quite work out.

"What time to you wake up? Seriously?" Twilgiht chuckled.

"6 and before you ask I go to sleep inbetwen 11 and 12." Jecht laughed back as Twilight's face gave a incredulous expression.

'And the girls think I don't sleep enough.' "Well anyway I have something I need to do today, but I need to measure you first." Jecht gave the mare a funny look, then shrugged.

"Okay then but what's it for?" "That would be telling." Twilgiht said, giggling again. With that she pulled out a small tape measure and moved close to Jecht's face.

First Twilight measured around his right eye socket, and he heard her mutter about how he did good keeping it clean. Then Twilight moved to measuring his righ cheek area(despite it being missing) and the also commented under her breath about his teeth being nice.

"Brush 'em three times a day."

At this Twilight flushed, "Sorry I didn't realize I was talking out loud." Jecht merely laughed and shook his head.

After taking his measurements Twilight disappeared into her basement, and Jecht started up on another set of books.

About an hour later there was a knock on the door. Realizing that Twilight wasn't going to come up and answer the door, Jecht grabbed his bandanne and fiddled with out until he had it covering most of the right side of his face.

"Hello, Twilgiht isn't in available at the moment, can I help you." Jecht said politely as he opened the door. The pony at the door was a mare.

"Yes, I'mMs. Cheerilee, I was coming by to pick up some school books Twilgiht said I could borrow for my class." the mare smiled warmly. Looking around Jecht quickly found a pile of books with a note on them saying they were for Ms. Cheerilee's class.

"Ah, here you are." Jecht said politley as he passed the books to the mare. With a quick thank you, Ms. Cheerilee turned and headed off.

Sighing in relief, Jecht pulled his bandanna off and started to trot back to his books when Twilight's voice caught him by surprise.

"You know, for a pony that claims he stayed away from society, you sure are well versed in how to communicate." the lavander mare laughed.

"Well, just because I stayed away from everypony doesn't mean I wanted to, you know, never mind. You wouldn't get it anyway." Jecht sighed sadly.

"Well then," Twilight started as she moved to sit by Jecht, "I'm a quick learner. Explain it to me."

Jecht eyed the mare next to him, then went into his explaination.

I tried for a couple of years to make friends, or at least fit in somewhere. It wasn't easy though. Ponies were always scared of me, even older ones that should have known better. Eventually I gave up on actually trying to make friends. I still wanted friends, but I didn't see it happening. In some lame subconcious attempt to think that I may still have a chance at friendship I taught and trained myself to be polite and respectful of most everypony. The problems that kept getting in the way were my instinctual responses when I get startled or feel threatened and then the whole... face.. thing, yeah. So I kept being a nice respectful stallion, and I really want to make friends, but I've just kind of given up.

Jecht's eye looked damp as he finished his explaination. Twilgiht carefully gave him an akward hug and laughed.

"Silly, you sure your good eye still works?" Twilgiht smiled.

Jecht wasn't sure what surprised him more, the hug, the laugh, or the response.

"Of course my eye still works. " Jecht laughed, despite himself.

"Really, because here I thought we were becoming friends. You don't give yourself enough credit, Jecht."

A single tear escaped his eye as he turned and looked at the mare next to him as she looked at him. Their eyes locking again, the two stared at eachother for a full minute before Jecht suddenly felt his cheek go a little red and warm.

Seeing the blush, Twilight  looked away because she felt that her cheeks were flushed as well. The two ponies laughed together for a bit, then sat and went over their favourite books for the most of the rest of the day.

At about 9:00 Twilight found herself yawning, "Anyway that's how I always remembered to find Princess Celestia quarters. The castle's not hard to traverse you just have to know what to look for. I'm tired though, so I'm headed to bed. Night Jecht"

"Night Twi."

"You've been here for two days now and yet to go outside Jecht." Twilight jokingly whined.

"I know, but I don't like scaring people, and you still won't give me my cloak back."

"That's cause you'd run off the second you got it. Any way, I made these for you. Try them on."

Twilgiht was presenting two metal pieces. The first was made to fit over his right eye socket, while the second was made to fit over his missing cheek.

"Try them on and tell me what you think."

Jecht found the metal to be extremely light, and the two pieces fit together perfectly.

"Wow Twilight. I bet I could even eat with this on without problems! Is this why you took your measurements?" Jecht exclaimed.

"Yep! And I know you could, I sound proofed it. Now get ready, we're going to lunch."

Jecht paled visibly at the thought of actually going out into the town so bare.

"You'll be fine Jecht, Ponyville's suffered dragons, an ursa, Discord,and Nightmare Moon. I'm sure you'll be a walk in the park." the lavander mare chuckled.

"I guess, but, what if somepony recognize me from the incident in Sugarcube Corner?" Jecht fretted.

"You had your cloak on, now are you ready to go?"

"I guess..." the scarred stallion sighed in response.

Jecht nervously trotted next to Twilight on the way to Sugarcube Corner. While not disgustingly noticeable with his cheek and eye covered, his cloakless form made his limp obvious, and ponies stopped and stared at his marred body.

"I don't like the attention, by the way." Jecht mumbled nervously. Twilight whispered right back, "You'll be fine, if you really want we can go back to the library, but we're closer to the Corner." "Fine." 'I really should trust her more.'

As they continued two fillies came running up to Twilight.

"Twilgiht! You gotta help us! Scootaloo is tryin' ta jump off a roof. She says that she's tired of not being able to fly and that it's either gonna work or it's not!" a yellow coated, red maned filly shouted.

Jecht watched Twilgiht's eyes dilate in horror. "Where is she girls!"

"She on top of my sister's boutique!" the second filly wailed.

Twilight made to take off running when she heard Jecht next to her. "Is it that really big building close to the Mayor's office?"

"Yes Jecht, why?" Twilgiht sputtered, cuuting off her question as Jecht took off running. Twilight made to follow but had trouble catching up to the stallion.

Jecht was off. He was tearing through the town on his way to the boutique, ignoring the throbbing in his right legs.

'Well those two are gonna smart in the morning!'

As he came closer to the building he saw none other than the filly he'd accidently assaulted. She was standing nervously at the edge of the second story roof.

The filly looked around, seemed to gather herself a bit, and then jumped.

Jecht's mind flipped into overdrive. In a matter of nano seconds his mind plotted a course that would allow him to safely(relatively) catch the filly who's small wings disallowed for flight.

'Cart, lantern sconce, gutter, catch, tuck'n'roll.'

Folowing his mental path, Jecht launched himself onto a cart, using it as a platform to reach a wall sconce. Using extreme precision the stallion followed his momentum through to vault onto the edge of a gutter and then vault out a ways and catch the falling filly.

'And heres the fun part.'

Bracing for pain, Jecht wrapped himself protectively around the burnt orange filly and waited for the impact, And waited. And waited.

"You can let Scootaloo go now silly."

It was Twilight, wearing an admiring look, who'd caught him on his way down with her magic.

The filly growled as he let her go.

"Scootaloo, what were you thinking! You could have been seriously hurt!" Twilight shouted.

Scootaloo in turn shouted right back, "You don't know what its like! You aren't a pegasus! You aren't supposed to fly!" Tears poured from the Scootaloo's eyes as she screamed. Twilight didn't know what to say, and was about to offer to take her to Rainbow when Jecht spoke up.

"It's hard huh? Wanting nothing more than to fly, but knowing you can't." Jecht said softly.

"Whadda you know! You're just a dumb earth pony!"

Jecht's eye flashed angrily for a brief second before going back to soothing. "Let me tell you a story. It's not a long one but still. Once there was a small colt. He wanted nothing more than freedom, and one day he found his wings could lift him up. He used his wings to try to esca.. fly, but there was an....accident. The colt lost both of his wings and could never fly again. Now you want to know something lass? You still have wings, they just aren't ready yet. Infact I was older than you before I got off the ground." Realizing what he'd just let slip he shut up real fast as Scootaloo stared up at him.

"You mean, you used to be a pegasus?!" the filly said in awe.

"Of course. You saw what I did to catch you right. Theres no way an earth pony could do that, right?" Jecht joked.

Scootaloo giggled at the joke and smiled, "I'm sorry I scared everypony. I promise I won't do it again until my wings are ready."

"Attagirl, now go see your friends, they're kinda worried about you."

"Thanks mister!" Scootaloo shouted as she ran off.

Jecht and Twilight left to head to Sugarcube Corner agian when Twilgiht finally spoke up.

"That was really awesome, Jecht. I mean I was scared out of my mind though. If you hadn't been there, I... I don't even want to think what would have happened."

"It was nothing. Just wanted to help."

"It was also really sweet how you talked to Scootaloo after wards." This drew a blush from Jecht. "And she wasn't scared of you either, despite the metal patches and the scars. You're a good stallion." A second blush came forth, stronger and more pronounced than the first. "Aww you're kinda cute when you blush." joked Twilgiht 'Where the heck did that come from, I never talk like that?!' the mare immediatly thought.

Making it to Sugarcube Corner the two ponies found themselves a seat and were munching on their food when both of them reached for the seasoning at the same time. Their hooves met and they both froze for a minute, only to quickly draw their hooves back.

"Uhm, uh, there you go. You can use it first." Jecht muttered, his cheek flushing.

"Yes thanks." came the equally akward reply from Twilight.

The two continued their meal when they both turned to ask the other a question at the same time. This of cousre caused their muzzles to brush against each other's. Both ponies flushing again Twilgiht muttered for Jecht to go first. Unsure of what he was feeling Jecht suddenly got up, "I'm, uh, headed back to the library. See you later." he said before shooting out the door.

Jecht began to wander around. Night had fallen, but he couldn't return to the library. His mind was swimming with thoughts of his past, and his present. It led to him wondering about his future. What was he, and does he really want to wander for the rest of his life?

"No!" Jecht shouted to himself. "I can't keep doing this. I end this tommorrow!"

With that he looked down at the bone knife in his hoof. Time to leave Twilight a message.

Twilight was pacing her library, struggling with her newfound feelings. 'Logically it makes no sense, I've known him for 3 days. I can't like him?! It makes no sense!' The mare turned and looked at the message she'd recieved from Princess Celestia as well. 'And then Celestia wants me to carry that necklace around, what were her words again? Oh yeah "Twilight, I am interested in how a normal pony lives. This necklace will allow me to watch you and see how your average day goes by. It only works when you have it on, so remove it anytime you want privacy. You also don't have to wear it at all." It sounded like a sound idea though.

Tired, Twilight crawled into bed and fell asleep to dreams of the scarred stallion that was Jecht.

"Twilight wake up!" "Mhmmm." "Twilight you've got a letter!" shouted Spike.

At this the mare shot straight up, "Oh lemme see!".

It was from Jecht.

Twilight, I need your help doing something. Can you meet me on the hill just off the main path out of Ponyville. You know, the hill with the two trees on it? Thanks.

"Hey Spike, Jecht needs me for something Spike I'll be back later!" As Twilight slipped out she grabbed Celestia's necklace and slipped it on.

Jecht watched as Twilight went up the hill and waited for him. He pulled his bone knife out and moved silently up the hill behind her.

Celestia watched through her mirror as Twilgiht set out the door.

'Hmmm, this is different, she told me she always eats breakfast.'

Celestia continued to watch as Twilight made her way up a hill and seated herself at the top, as if waiting for something. It was then that a breeze shifted the necklace and Celestia saw, to her horror, a stallion sneaking up behind her holding a knife.

Immediatly dipping into her magic, Tia cast a powerful spell that teleported both the stallion and Twilgiht into the throne room.

Jecht blinked away nausia just in time to see Celestia reaching for him forcefully. Dropping into his instincts, Jecht slashed the knife he held at Celestia's extended forehoof, creasing it just above the hoof.

"Stay back!" Jecht shouted, as much in surprise as he did anger.

Celestia growled in pain and anger as she charged her horn to blast this stallion. Just as she made to release the blast of magic she found her aim altered by magic and blew a hole in the wall.

"Celestia NO!" The shout came from Twilight, who stared in horror at the two ponies that were about to attack each other.

Twilight's voice also brought Jecht back to reality. Staring in horror at the pony he'd just attacked, Jecht made to drop the knife when the doors blasted open.

Just coming out of his instinctual state, Jecht immediatly jumped back into it at the noise and hurled his knife.

Luna burst the doors open, meaning to startle Tia for being so uptight all the time when she found a knife hurled at her instead. Immediatly a lavander shield sprung up infront of her.

All eyes turned to look at Jecht, who was quickly realizing what had just transpired. His mind was racing, and when his eye came to rest on Twilight, whose face was filled with fear, he felt as though his heart had been ripped out.

With tears threatening to spill from his eye, Jecht took off out of the main castle and disappeared into the garden maze.

That other Chapter that comes before Four

Luna was setting about calling the guards when Twilgiht had finally decided to speak up.

"No, don't call the guards!"

The looks she got from Tia and Luna made it clear to her that she needed to explain the situation.

"He didn't mean to attack you! You scared him! Luna you know how Fluttershy responds to fear by hiding? Well Jecht responds to fear by violence! He didn't mean to actually hurt anypony, he was just scared!" Twilight cried.

It was Celestia that spoke up, still nursing her cut leg, "But then why was he coming up behind you with a knife back on the hill?"

Twilight didn't exactly know how to respond and remained silent.

Celestia nooded to Luna, who then turned to call the guards again when Twilight stopped her again.

"I may not know why he was behind me with a knife, but I know he meant no harm!" Scooping up Jecht's bone knife, Twilight took off after the stallion.

"Do we go after her Tia?" Luna asked.

"No, I don't exactly trust this stallion, Jecht, but if Twilight trusts him then I have full faith in her." With that said Luna set about bandaging up Tia's leg.

For the first time since his escape from captivity Jecht found himself crying, his mind constantly shifting back to the look on Twilight's face. He didn't know why it hurt him so much, but it did. In three days she had become the first pony he'd ever let himself get close to. He could let his guard down near her and not become uncomfortable. For three days, he hadn't had a single incident regarding his instincts. That was all ruined though. He'd attacked both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. To make things worse is that he had horrified Twilight, his only friend.

Pushing further into the maze, Jecht could think of little else other than how he never wanted to be seen again.

Twilight was racing through the maze. She was horrified at seeing Celestia harmed, sure. But she knew that it wasn't Jecht's fault. For some reason though, she had been more horrified when Celestia had made to attack Jecht. Her heart was pounding, and she was quickly becoming tired, but she had to find Jecht.

It had gotten late, and Twilight was still wandering the maze looking for Jecht. It didn't help that it was fall and the weather was getting cold. Still Twilight continued, ignoring the fatigue and cold plaguing her.

The elements getting to her, Twilight failed to see a protruding root and tripped over it. Falling, Jecht's knife slipped from her grasp and upon hitting the ground, drew a deep cut across her right jawline. Gasping in pain, and too tired and cold to move again, Twilight curled into a ball and started crying to herself.

Jecht had just awoken from a small nap. Getting up he continued his limping through the garden. He'd been trotting for about 30 minutes when he heard a small gasp on the other side. Freezing in place, Jecht perked up his ears and waited to see if he could here anything else. That's when he detected faint crying.

Worried for whom ever it was, Jecht started to force his way throguh the hedge in between him and the other pony. It took about 10 minutes to get through, and he was covered in scrapes and scratches when he got to the other side. Emerging from the hedge he found none other than Twilight.

Running over he checked her for injuries. Aside from her lips being a pale colour, her jaw had a deep gash in it and the tissue beneath it was also a pale colour. 'Damn, it must be colder than I though.' Jecht mentally berated himself. He may not have wings, but he was still a pegasi, and paegasi don't get cold easily.

Lifting Twilight onto his back, Jecht painfully started trotting through the maze, desperate to find the exit and get Twilight to safety.

"I'm starting to regret my former decision Luna." said a very worried Celestia.

"How so, Tia?" "Well it's late, and it's cold out tonight, I've heard nothing from Twilight. What if you were right about the stallion?!" If a Princess Goddess could look on the verge of panic, it would look like Celestia did just then.

Suddenly a guard ran in. "Your Highness'! There seems to be an intruder in Princess Celestia's bedchambers!"

"And is the pony still there?" questioned Luna.

"Uhm, yes ma'am. He told us to stay quiet as to not awaken Twilight."

"Twilight!" Celestia shouted as she took off towards her room, tailed by Luna.

As Tia neared, she slowed and quieted her hoof steps as to not disturb Twilight if she was still sleeping. Sticking her head in she was greeted with a rather cute scene. Twilgiht was curled up under her covers, while the stallion, Jecht, was wrapped around her above the covers.

Pulling her head out the door, Tia whispered to a pair of guards, telling them to not allow anypony to disturb the two in the room.

Twilight woke up feeling extremely comfortable. Her blankets were extra toasty and seemed to hold themselves around her. Her mind slowly pulled itself out of it's post wake-up haze when she remembered that the last thing she could recall was following Jecht into the garden maze. She tried to shift out from under the covers only to find that she couldn't move. Thats when she realized that she had a pony wrapped around her. Squirming around she found herself muzzle to muzzle with Jecht. Some hidden side to her urged her forward, and she found herself kissing the stallion. As soon as her lips connected Jecht began to stir. Blushing furiously Twilight pulled back to Jecht's amused voice.

"Well then, I guess I won't have to remind you to thank me for pulling you out of that garden, eh?"

Twilgiht giggled nervously when she felt a twinge of pain in her jaw. Noticing her wince, Jecht told her to come over to the bathroom. When Twilight trotted over Jecht set himself to work cleaning her face up with a small cloth.

"Silly Twilight, you don't drop a knife under you when you fall." Jecht laughed.

"Hey, look, now we match!" Twilight laughed right back. Then she suddenly grew really serious as she took in her surroundings, "Wait! Why are we in Princess Celestia's room?"

"A question I was meaning to ask as well My Faithful Student." chuckled Celestia herself as she stood behind the two ponies.

Jecht shuffled around for a second before explaining himself.

"Well, Twilight, you once talked about the route from the main entrance hall to Celestia's room. I remembered it last night as I brought you back to the castle. You were hypothermic from the cold and the cut. I knew you needed a warm bed and this was all my mind could think of."

Twilight blushed at the sudden realization that she'd spent the night in Celestia's bed with a stallion, of course nothing happened but still, Celestia's bed with Jecht.

"That was very quick thinking on your part Jecht. I thank you for taking care of Twilight, and forgive you for yesterday's.... misunderstandings." Celestia complimented, "Anyway I'll leave you two to take care of things." and with that Celestia was out the door.

"So you came after me. I figured after the scene with the Princess' you wouldn't have wanted to have anything to do with me."

"What makes you think that Jecht?" quested the ever inquisitive lavander mare.

"Well we don't exactly know each other that well."

"But you still saved me in the maze, remmeber? Besides we spent a whole two days cooped up together."

"True. Well then I guess we just are a pair of weirdos eh?" chuckled Jecht as he pulled Twilight into a hug.

"Speak for yourself, Jecht." Twi laughed.

"At least I don't kiss ponies to wake them up." "Well I don't drag mares into Celestia's bed so there." "Oh and here I figured you were comfortable." "I was quite comfortable, infact I never felt better than I did waking with yo..."

Suddenly Twilight ducked her head blushing furiously as she realized what she had just said.

"Well, in the words of a smart pony I know, 'You're really cute when you blush.'" Jecht said as he lifted Twilgiht's head up and looked her in the eyes.

Lavander met deep purple as the two drew each other into a passionate kiss.

Remembering that Jecht had once been a pegasus, Twilgiht rubbed the sensitive spots where his wings had once connected on a whim, causing him to shudder. In response Jecht slid his hoof down and rubbed it once against her mare hood. It drew an adorable squeek that did funny things the way their mouths were connected.

Just as the two made to take things a bit further, poor Luna walked in to tell them of breakfast only to scramble back out the door hooves akimbo.

After Luna had made her hasty retreat, Jecht and Twilgiht cleaned themselves up and headed down stairs to entertain their hosts.

"So, I can't help but wonder, where did you sleep since I, uh, borrowed your bed last night." Jecht ventured about halfway through breakfast.

"I just slept in Twilight's old room in the library, it was actually really comfortble." Celstia then turned to Luna, "You've been oddly quiet this morning little sister, whats wrong?"

Jecht stared down at his plate, thankful that it was his right side facing Celestia. Twilight coughed slightly and started twiddling her hooves and Luna blushed deep red. Noticing the three ponies reactions and Celestia's mind being a bit too imaginative, she found herself blushing as well, "Actually it doesn't matter. Anyway, Twilight, Jecht, how much longer do you plan on staying."

Eager to change the subject Twilight quickly answered. "We actually were thinking of going back to Ponyville today. Me and Jecht were talking as we walked down here, and he wants to bury that knife of his."

"Ah, like burying the past. Makes sense." Celestia grinned.

Jecht's face fell slightly, "No actually, burying my grand father. This is part of him."

Celestia's and Luna's faces looked mildly revolted and Twilight had a mix of disdain and care.

"I'm confused, what do you mean it's part of your grandfather?" Twilgiht hesitantly asked, remembring the last time anypony ventured near the topic of Jecht's past.

Jecht sighed slightly before giving an answer, "Give me an hour. It's about time I told somepony about my life, and I can't think of three ponies I trust more."

With that Jecht stood up and trotted off alone to steel himself for the mental torture he prepared to endure.

It was quick for Pop Obsidian. A well aimed spear ended his life in seconds. I remember father going down next trying to protect me and mum. After that they forced my mum onto the ground and....they.. well they raped her in front of me. I remember she bit one of them and they killed her too.

After that it was constant beatings, they got so bad that a well placed punch ripped my eye out. After that it became a game to see how messed up they could make my right side look. My cheek and legs were next victims of the tortures.

After a few months my wings had matured and I attempted to fly away. They grounded me with a net and spent the next two days carving and pulling my wings from their sockets. The pain was.....excrutiating, worse than anything from before. I think it was another, hmm 6 months, maybe 7, when I was sleeping, wanting nothing more than to never wake up. I did though, to see a massive explosion of rainbow colour, followed by a deafening boom. I was loose of my bonds and I saw the knife they'd used to remove my wings, the knife they'd made out of pop Obsidian. I remember picking it up, and killing the pony, then running. But I remember going back the next night. I... I killed them....all of them. I didn't want to, and there were a few ponies my age, but they attacked me to, so I killed them. I...I couldn't stop....everytime I struck I remembered everything...my wings...the beatings....everything....

As he finished the story, Jecht resembled nothing more than a quivering colt. His left cheek was wet with tears and he had a far off look in his eye.

Moving carefully, Twilight moved up to him and drew him into a hug. She just rocked and held him close, trying to sooth him and chase away whatever inner demons chewing at him. Eventually Jecht fell into a slumber, and Twilight found herself, still holding Jecht close to her, lifted by Celestia and taken to Celestia's bedroom.

"Just stay in here Twilight. You and Jecht just stay until you're both ready." As she left, she found tears rolling down her perfect face.

It was a fitful nightmare. Every torture he'd ever endured was being looped in his head and Jecht could not escape. He watched in horror as the spectral stallion in his dreams came closer and started ripping his wings from there sockets. He screamed as the first came loose and spewed blood everywhere. gore and muscle fibre hanging from his shoulder, then the second tear as his other wing was pulled loose. Lost in blackness and seas of pain, there was a small flash of lavander light in the distance.

"It's ok Jecht."

The light flashed again.

"It's all ok, just let it go."

'Let what go?'

When the light flashed again he saw a bloodied bone knife in his hoof.

"Just let it all go, it's over now, it's all better."

'It's over...'

The flash this time was near blinding.

"I'm here now, I won't let anything hurt you. I'm here."

'You are?'

The next flash of light revealed a beautiful lavander unicorn mare. It was Twilight, and she held her hoof out for him.

"I'll always be here for you, I promise."

Dropping the knife, determined to forget about it, Jecht reached out and took Twilight's hoof.

There was one more blinding lavander flash, and a distinct feeling on his lips.

Opening his eye, Jecht found Twilight curled next to him, embracing him with her lips planted firmly on his.

Sex, Clop, whatever you call it.

I told you guys it would happen.

Sex, yes exactly, because when two people/ponies love eachother very much, special things happen.

Well there your warning, skip it if you want.

Jecht returned the kiss with gusto, slipping his tongue into Twilgiht's mouth. It caused Twilight's heartbeart to pick up, and she returned the favour. The two ponys' tongues worked in tandem, probing the other's mouth and rubbing against each other. Breaking the kiss, but not their eye contact, Twilight worked her hooves around to rub the sensitive nerve endings where his wings once were. The reaction, aside from a pleasured groan, was for Twilight to feel something prod against her stomach. Looking down, she saw Jecht's member fully erect. Her heart quickened even more as she felt her marehood dampen. Flushing, Twilight rolled over onto her back and spread her hind legs, baring her slit for Jecht.

Jecht reached down and rubbed the folds of damp fur covered skin. Twilight let out a small gasp at the feeling of Jecht's hoof lightly massaging her.

Realizing that she was getting all the attention, she brought one hoof around to rub Jecht's shoulder again while sending the other to rub his stallionhood. Grinning slightly at the feeling, Jecht stood up and and rested his tip against Twilight's marehood. Before going any further Jecht looked to Twilight to make sure she was okay with this. Staring deep into her eyes he saw her nod hesitantly. Leaning down and planting his lips on hers again, he slid his member into her.

Twilight's eyes widened slightly as she felt her marehood being spread open wider than what she was used to. She felt Jecht slid in just a wee bit further, but yelped into his mouth as he pushed against her maidenhead.

"I'm sorry Twi. Do you want to stop?" Jecht said quickly. Twilgiht simply shook her head and drew Jecht back into a kiss.

Driving himself forward, he felt the resistance of Twilgiht's maidenhead push back against him for a second, then give way. Twilight yelped again, but simply drew him closer.

Jecht slid himself further into Twi until their hips connected. Drawing himself back out a ways, he then slid himself back in.

The two ponies quickly found a rythm to work to, and were rising to a crescendo. Twilight was letting out regular high pitched moans while Jecht grunted here or there. Twilight reached her peak suddenly, releasing a gush of fluids that felt oh so good against Jecht's stallionhood while her clenching inner muscles massaged him.

Feeling that he was about to finish, Jecht forced himself as deep as possible into Twilight and released his seed.

Twilgiht's eyes widened at the pleasurable feeling that exploded so far inside of her.

Lowering himself down and rolling Twilgiht onto her side, the two ponies laid there staring into eachother's eyes until they both drifted into slumber.

No it wasn't long, but I'm sure there are people who might want to skip this and read it for the plot. Any way I'll be working on the next chapter soon.

The chapter after the chapter that comes before this one.

So a shout out to Picardy Third who is letting me use an idea of his(that is slightly altered) in this story, if you've read his story(No Matter How Dark[it might help if you read it first, or actually to apreciate the dangers better read this chapter, actually no it'll ruin his story...damnit! read whatever, his story is better though]) you'll realize that a *defecation*storm is about to hit. Enjoy the story.

Jecht and Twilight set about gathering up the bedclothes to be washed.

"I still can't believe we did that in here. Seriously Celestia is almost like my mom!" Twilight giggled.

"So what you're saying is we just took care of business, in your mothers room, who is the ruler of Equestria.

Twilight blushed a little and threw a pillow at Jecht. "You started it!"

"Really? Because I acutely remember that you were kissing me when I woke up. Not the other way around." Jecht laughed back.

Giggling like school foals the two ponies made their way down as soon as Jecht finiched cleaning his eye socket in his usual morning routine.

Dropping the bedclothes in the laundry room, Jecht and Twilight made their way to the throne room to tell Celestia that they were ready to leave.

"I take it you two had a restful nap?" Celestia implied gracefully.

"Yeah, it was quite...restful." Twilight blushed. Jecht merely chuckled next to her, then leaned towards a passing maid and requested aloud for clean bedsheets to be taken up to Celestia's chambers.

The Goddess blushed a deep red, then cleared her throat. "Well then. With all that business aside I"ll have a chariot readied. Ah and Jecht, here' is your knife." Celestia was presenting the bone blade to Jecht, only for the stallion to shake his head.

"No, I don't want to see it again. I have enough reminders of the past, and I don't need to be carrying others. I have better things to look forward to." he explained warmly as he gave Twilight a quick kiss.

An few hours later Twilgiht and Jecht stepped off of the chariot and started walking through town. Jecht barely even noticed the stares of the other ponies, or the looks on anypony's face if they got a good look at him. His mind was fully consumed by the fact that he was standing next to a mare that loved him for who he was.

"Enjoying yourself Jecht?" Twilight asked rhetorically when she noticed the stallions upbeat attitude. Despite the fact that he knew she didn't need an answer he replied anyway, "I've not felt this good in ever!"

"So what do you want to do then?" questioned Twi.

"Uhmm, hmmm, well I could always have your friend Pinkie set us up a party. I'm sure I can keep any accidents from happening as long as your near me." Jecht laughed out enthusiastically.

With that in mind the two ponies informed Pinkie of what they wanted, then went home to catch some real sleep.

Twilight woke up and immediatly knew she'd slept in. She made to get up and join Jecht, who was surely awake, only to find that the stallion was sleeping with his forelegs wrapped around her. She continues to lay there for a while longer until her her stomach decided it was time for her to get up. Wiggling around, Twilight found she couldn't get loose of Jecht's hold. Twisting around to face the stallion, Twilight came up with a bold move to wake him up. Sticking her tongue out, she licked his exposed teeth and gums(a feat that isn't gross when you compare it to their kissing). It drew a shudder and moan from Jecht. Realizing it was effective, Twilight did it twice more before the stallion woke up.

"Hmm? What's going on?" he mumbled incoherently. Twilgiht giggled at this, never seeing Jecht act this way before.

"You were asleep, time to wake up silly." "What time is it?" "I dunno, I've been in bed with you." "Mmm."

Jecht got up and trotted into the bathroom and started his morning routine when he heard Twilight call out. "We've got two hours until Pinkie's Party!" "I thought it was at 7 tonight?" "It is, but it's four and we need to show up an hour early to tell the girls about us." "Alrighty!"

"How you feeling Jecht?" Twilight yelled over the music. "M'okay for the most part. A little jittery." Jecht hollored back. The two were standing next to eachother, but still had to yell to be heard over Dashstep being blasted by Vinyl Scratch. Twilight led Jecht over to a more subdued part of the room. "This any batter?" she asked. "Yeah, it's not that I felt like lashing out, but I did feel uncomfortable with everypony bouncing around me."

Twi and Jecht sat there enjoying the music while the party raged around them. After a time Jecht rubbed his head and looked over at Twilight, "Hey, feel free to stay and party Twi, but I'm getting a bit of a headache, I'm going to head back to the library and catch some sleep." "Oh, ok, are you sure your fine though?" "What, oh yeah of course. I'm probably just not used to the attention and loud music." With that Jecht turned and left.

Jecht was faintly aware of somepony nudging him. Stirring slightly he became aware of a pony with a southern accent talking to him. "Now c'mon you. Ah'm sure Twilight's sick ta death tryin' to figure out where you've been."

It was Applejack, but Jecht was unsure of how he'd wound up on Sweet Apple Acres.

"How'd I get out here?" Jecht mumbled.

"An' how much did you have to drink there Jecht." Applejack chuckled. Jecht simply shook his head. He hadn't drank anything last night. It was part of his plan to make sure he didn't do anything he'd regret. Groaning slightly as he got up, he stretched out the sore muscles in his right legs.

"Feelin' better there sugarcube?"

"A bit, I, uh, I must've had a few drinks too many, sorry about that." Jecht improvised. Shaking his head, he thanked Applejack for waking him and set off fo Twilight's library.

"T'ain't a problem! Just wait until Twilgiht sees ya though!" AppleJack yelled after him.

Incidentally that very mare was pacing a rut in the floor of her library. Spike tried calming her earlier but Twilight had none of it. "It makes no sense Spike, why would he leave." Was the first thing she asked, but as her hysteria built she found herself questioning herself. "What if I scared him off, what if it's my fault?!"

Just as Twilight was about launch into another irrational thought line, Jecht came through the front door and was promptly tackled into a hug by Twilight. "You have no idea how worried I was! Where did you go last night?!" Twilight said, close to tears. "Easy Twi, what's wrong?" "I thought you'd left, you're the closest I've allowed myself to be with anypony and I thought you left." Jecht ruffled the mare's mane and drew her into a kiss. After a few moments Jecht broke away and made eye contact with the mare, "You are the best thing to ever happen to me Twi, and I will never leave you for any reason."

After Spike gagging himself at the earlier scene, and Jecht had calmed Twilight down, Twilight finally asked.

"So where did you go last night?" "I honestly don't know, maybe the punch was spiked or something because I had AJ waking me up in the middle of the Apple orchard this morning. I came here as soon as I woke up. Anything medical to explain that?" Twilight shook her head, then suddenly brightened at something.

"Oh yeah, and guess what Jecht?" "Hmm?" "Celestia asked if I could help her with an experiment in a few days. I was wondering, would you mind watching Spike while I'm gone?" "Of course not Twi. Tell Luna and Tia I said hi."

Twilight stared at him dumbfounded for a second before gathering herself, "Did you just say 'Tia'?" "Yeah why? It's just a nickname, sides you're practically family with her." "Well, yes, but still." Jecht simply laughed at the mare's confusion as she mentally tried to sort out a new scenario she'd never recognized before.

Jecht had finished putting Twilight's bag in the chariot and hugged her. "Have fun Twi, and relax, actually try calling Celestia 'Tia'. Worse thing she can do is give you a funny look." At this a guard that had overheard Jecht was doing just that. "Anyway, me and Spike'll be fine." Kissing Twilight, Jecht let her board the craft and waved as she was pulled off towards Canterlot.

Jecht walked back inside the Library to find Spike attempting to get into the ice cream. "Ahhh, no. I'm not having Twilight find out that you had Ice cream without dinner." "But I never get to have fun." "Well at least I'm not letting her know you did it without me!" Jecht corrected with a smirk. After eating their fill of Icecream(and Spike having a mild stomach ache) the two headed off to their beds.

Twilight walked into Celestia's chamber's just before nightfall to find Luna and Celestia smiling warmly at her.

"Luna! Tia!" Twilight cried as she hugged them both. Luna couldn't help but laugh when she realized that Twilight had called Celestia 'Tia' instead, and Celestia was amused as well.

"Tia, hmm? Now where did my student disappear off to. This seems to be somepony else." Celestia joked.

Twilight ducked her head and blushed. "Sorry Princess." "Don't be, I think it's nice, and you know I hate formalities. So I know you know me as a teacher. And I am a Princess. But Tia? Maybe?" Celestia laughed.

Twilight giggled at Celestia acting goofy and nodded, "Alright Tia then. So what's so important you two need me?"

"Well, Tia kept telling me how talented you were, so I decided that you can help us with twilight. The time just as the sun is waning and the moon is peaking." Twilight's eyes grew wide at the prospect. "You mean I'm going to set the sun and raise the moon!? But I don't think I can do it." "I know Twilight. Me and Luna will aid you. We just thought you'd really enjoy this oppurtunity." Twilight nodded, in awe of the once in a lifetime chance in front of her. Nodding furiously Twilight quickly asked what she needed to do. "Just stand in between Luna and I. We will gather the reigns, and then pass them off to you. Don't worry, we will make sure you don't lose control."

Stepping between the two Celestial beings, Twilight gasped as she was included in their power. She found the magical reigns of the two Celestial bodies passed to her. It was difficult, but Twilight slowly moved the sun and the moon to their correct positions. While in this state, Twilight found that she could feel everything. Willing her mind to Jecht, she found that he was sleeping in her bed, and Spike was in his. Suddenly there seemed to be a third presence in the room. Her mind suddenly blacked as she heard an evil voice cry out.

HE'S MINE!

Then Twilight blacked out.

Spike woke to some strange muttering. Opening his eyes he realized that it was still nighttime. He was about to complain when he saw Jecht wandering in the dark muttering to himself.

"Damn this stallion, just wait though Jecht. I'm going to find my way through and when I do I'm going to kill everypony you love. Maybe I'll break them first. Kill off Winona, and Angel. Crush Tank and watch his shell shatter in a pool of gore. Owlysius will definitely have to go. Maybe I'll rip the things wings off. I'm sure you know how that feels. Then I'll start on the owners I think I'll finish with Spike before I kill Twilight. Yes! Of course, I'll tie Twilight up and torment the dragon before her very eyes. She will hate you for it you know. She will hate you as I eviscerate the little shit and rip his innards out. Maybe I'll kill off Twilgiht by hanging her from Spike intestines. Does that sound good?"

Spike merely cowered into his blanket before slipping out the window and running to Rarity's house, it being closest.

Twilight came to with Tia and Luna standing over her, worried looks on their faces. "Thank the sun your awake Twilight! Are you ok? I didn't think it would be so hard for you!" Celestia cried.

"No,no. Ugh, my head hurts but, no. It was easy enough. I also had some strange experience. Like my mind left my body and I could go anywhere." At this Tia and Luna exchanged worried yet amazed looks. "So what happened then?" Luna pushed. "That's just it, I can't really remember. Um, I went to check on Spike I think, and Jecht....uhhh, why is it so hard to remember!" Suddenly the voice flashed through her head again and Twilight got a worried look on her face as she explained the situation. Luna and Tia now exchanged extremely worried glances to eachother, and Tia set up giving Twilight a specific set of instructions.

Jecht woke up, and for some reason found himself laying on the floor. 'How in the hoof did I wind up down here?'

Standing, Jecht moved downstairs and soon realized Spike was nowhere to be found. He ran back upstairs and suddenly noticed the window was open. 'Shit, did somehting happen, did somepony take him? Why can't I remember anything from last night? Damnit!' Turning around and heading backdown stairs, Jecht was about to run out and start looking around town when he heard a knock at the door. Rushing over and opening it, Jecht had some preconcieved hope that it was Spike. "Spike there you a... oh hi Rarity. I hate to sound short, but I need to find Spike. I promised Twilight I'd watch him but he's gone missing." Jecht quickly explained.

"Oh no, Spike is fine, darling. Well sort of. He's at the Carouselle Boutique. He showed up in the middle of the night scared. Said you were mumbling things about killing me and everypony else. He also said you went into quite graphic detail." "Really? Well did he say anything else?" replied a very confused Jecht. "He said you were pacing and cackling also. I assumed he'd had a nightmare." Rarity quickly replied. "I believe so. Maybe he just isn't used to me being around, that and my face doesn't exactly ring bunnies and butterflies when it's dark and your falling asleep. Is he ok?" "Well, yes, but he's too scared to come back until Twilight gets back from Canterlot."

"Who's scared of what now?" came Twilight's voice from the front door. "Twilight, your back!" Jecht cheered as he wrapped Twi in a hug that she eagerly returned. "Yes I am. Now what's going on Rarity?" "Darling Spike had a dreadful nightmare last night about Jecht." Twilight's eyes suddenly became unreadable. "Really, what did he have a nightmare about?" At this Jecht stepped forward, "I think with you gone, and my facial coverings off, I may have scared him when we went to sleep. He dreamed that I was talking about killing everypony. I'm really sorry Twi." "No it's fine. He probably just needs some time. Rarity, would you mind holding on to him for a couple of days?" "Of course not, darling." With that Rarity walked back out the door.

"So nightmares and such aside, what did the Tia and Luna want?" Twilight's eyes shifted from unreadable to excited again, "Oh my gosh, you won't believe this but they let me move the sun and moon. It was amazing, I mean I was scared and nervous, but it was amazing!" Twilight gushed. "Oh and Luna wanted you to have this!" Twilight said as she put a simple necklace on Jecht. She wasn't proud of lying to him, but Tia said it was imperative she do this. "That's nice of her, did she say why?" Jecht asked innocently. "Uhm, well I think it was to match the one I got from Tia." Twi quickly covered.

"Tia you can't possibly think Mallumo is back can you?" "I don't know Luna, but if he is we must be prepared. I know it's a sensitive subject for you." "Should we say anything?" "Well that's the thing, we don't know for sure, and I'm not eager to find out how Twilight reacts. Those two are positively taken with eachother." "Yes they are, but you realize that if it's true we can't allow it to progress. Mallumo doesn't play fair." Luna mumbled, her heart breaking over the memory of a student she'd had 1000 years ago. "I know Luna, and I know this brings back painful memories. I am aslo sorry about how it drove us apart." "Will you be able to do it if it's true? Will you be able to put Twilight through that pain?" Tia merely shook her head, "I don't know Luna, I just don't know.