In a World Where I Don't Belong

*Take long as fuck to post a chapter

*Promises to not take as long to post next chapter

*Take long as fuck to post next chapter

It was late in the morning when I started to wake up, Celestia's sun was shining brightly through the windows into my room. I sat up in my bed and stretched my muscles to wake up the rest of my body. Despite the craziness of the past few days, that was the best night's sleep I've had in a long time. I rolled out of bed and noticed the rather distinct 'odor' following me. Turns out that not showering for a few days tends to leave a nasty stench on the body. I walked into the bathroom to see if the room came with a shower and fortunately it did even though it was considerably shorter than I was.

'Fucking ponies, why the hell do they have to be so short?' I thought to myself.

"Well we all can't be tall, hairless apes now, can we?"

The random voice from nowhere caught me off guard and I spun around to look and see who else was in the room with me. To my surprise, I was alone.

"Easy now apeman, there's no need to be alarmed. Look behind you, in the mirror."

I knew who it was before I even looked at the mirror for the voice could only belong to the one other person...or pony I should say...inside my head. I don't exactly function at 100% after waking up, but then again who does?

"Good morning, friend. I say we are off to a good start. They don't suspect a thing about you and I." Sure enough, there in the mirror where my reflection should be sat the former King of the Crystal Empire.

"Sombra, is now the really the best time?" I asked.

"That's KING Sombra to you." Sombra said with a hiss.

"Oh I'm sorry, I forgot that you're the supreme overlord again now that you're no longer a horn stuck in a cave. Now you're just a horn that's stuck inside me."

"...Are you sure you don't want to rephrase that?" Again, my mind isn't fully functional in the morning so it took me a second to realize what the hell he was talking about.

"YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN!!!" I yelled in frustration. So apparently the former king is a sarcastic asshole, I knew we would get along.

"Nevermind. I just felt like you should know that while you were sleeping last night, Princess Luna did try to take a peek inside your dreams to see what was going on in your head. Don't worry, I easily blocked her out." Sombra said.

"And you managed to do that without giving yourself away?"

"Of course. After all, she can only see your dreams if you are dreaming. I just used a minor telepathy spell so you wouldn't have any. That is all."

"And why are you telling me this?"

"Just letting you know that I am still holding up my end of the bargain, and I expect you to make progress on your part today in return."

"If the opportunity presents itself for me to get zapped with some magic, I'll be sure to take advantage of it."

"Good, I look forward to our next chat. Don't disappoint me."

After that he faded away from the mirror and I was staring at my own reflection. I stood there for a minute, wondering if the conversation I just had was real, or if I was losing my mind. More so than what I already have.

"Just remember, I'll always be watching." Sombra's voice rang from the back of my mind as my eyes turned the same green and red as Sombra's.

I splashed some cold water on my face from the sink to bring myself back to reality. I decided that I was done talking to the voice in my head and turned on the shower. The water was instantly warm and I wasted no time undressing and awkwardly positioning myself in the shower meant for ponies half my size. After I finished, I put on all of my clothes but left most of my gear in the closet and decided that I would only bring my pistols. I strapped the twin M9s to each of my legs and walked out of my room, closing the door behind me.

Realizing that Twilight never really specified a time and place to meet, I decided to wander around the castle and familiarize myself with the place. It didn't take long for me to catch the smell of something cooking, and I followed the delicious scent towards its source. After turning a few corners I made my way into the kitchen where Spike was busy cooking breakfast.

"Morning Spike. What's on the menu?" I asked the young dragon.

"Good morning, Curtis. I'm just whipping up some eggs and pancakes for everypony, and I'm almost finished. Twilight and Starlight should be down in a few minutes. I make sure to wake up extra early to cook them breakfast every morning." Spike said with pride.

"Alright, I'll just hang out here until it's ready." I said and took a seat at the table. Twilight and Starlight entered the kitchen shortly after and Spike set down all the food as everypony took a seat.

"So Twilight, what are the plans for today?"

"I'm glad you asked. I've prepared a list of all the things we should go over." Twilight said as she summoned a long scroll of parchment out of thin air. She floated the scroll over to me to look over. I was in awe from the seemingly unending list of topics and activities she had planned, most of which weren't very interesting. The topics of discussion ranging from personal questions to human culture and history. I'm not much of a scholar or intellect so I wouldn't be of much use there, the activities she had planned seemed a bit more interesting though.

She wanted to give me a tour of Ponyville and introduce me to all the residents at once by holding a town meeting, that wasn't going to be pleasant. I did see the words 'weapons demonstration' somewhere and that gave me some hope that today wasn't going to be completely dull. I looked up at the princess to see her happily waiting with a wide grin for my thoughts on the plans she made.

"I know it may look overwhelming but I've already planned everything out and as long we stick to the schedule everything will be just fine." Twilight said with a reassuring smile.

"If you say so, but this can wait until after we're done eating." I said and turned my attention back to my food. Everypony else did the same and a few minutes later, everypony was finished and Starlight cast a spell on the dishes to clean themselves in the sink, which I thought was pretty damn cool.

"Well, now that everypony is full, we can start our day. Starlight, I need you and Spike to go around town and tell everypony that there will be a town hall meeting this afternoon. If anypony asks what for, just tell them it's an introduction for a special guest we will be hosting for a while." Twilight said as she winked at me.

'For a while, huh? Hopefully not too long.'

"Sure thing, Twilight." Starlight said as she trotted out the castle doors with Spike next to her. After the doors closed behind the duo, Twilight turned her attention to me.

"Well, we have the whole castle to ourselves and we have a few hours before the town meeting, so how about we go somewhere a little more private. I like to keep things personal whenever I'm interviewing somepony and since this is the first time a human has come to Equestria, I don't want any distractions." Twilight said as she walked towards the kitchen exit.

*****Starlight and Spike*****

Starlight and Spike were walking down the main road through Ponyville, deciding to start at the top and work their way down. Usually the streets are full of ponies browsing one of the many shops or stalls lining the road but today the streets were strangely empty.

"This is weird, where is everypony?" Starlight asked Spike.

"I dunno. Usually everypony is out and about by now." The duo continued to wander through the streets until they found a large group of ponies gathered around one of the houses.

"I wonder what's going on over there..." Starlight said and the two picked up the pace to see what was going on. Starlight couldn't help but feel worried that something bad happened. As she approached the house, she recognized the house as Lyra Heartstrings and Bon Bon's home. What worried her even more was that the front door was smashed in.

"What happened here?" Starlight asked Carrot Top, who was standing next to her.

"It's Lyra and Bon Bon...they've been foalnapped."

"What!?! By who?"

"Diamond dogs, and they weren't the only ones. They got Octavia and Vinyl Scratch as well." Her words sent chills down Starlight's spine. She looked at Spike who had the same concerned face as everypony else.

"We need to tell Twilight!" Starlight wasted no time and quickly teleported herself and Spike back to the castle.

Twilight and I made our way to the castle library so she could start asking the long list of questions she had for me. We sat down at a small table in the center and she removed the scroll she had tucked under her wing. She unrolled it in front of her and it was significantly shorter than the one she showed me earlier.

"Change your mind about some of the stuff you wanted to ask me?"

"Hmm? Oh no, that list I showed you earlier are my long term goals. What I have here is just a list of things I would like to do today."

"Alrighty then. What's first on the list?" Twilight looked at the top of her list to see what we should do first.

"Hmm....Build an atmosphere of trust and confidence by asking questions about each other." Well shit, I was hoping we were gonna hold off on the personal questions.

"Okay. That's as good of a place to start as any. Since I'm the guest why don't you go first, your highness." She giggled a little bit at that last part.

"You don't have to call me that. 'Twilight' is just fine. Since you offered, What do you remember before coming to Equestria? I know you said you couldn't remember anything but any details you can provide would be wonderful." Twilight said as she levitated a scroll and quill over for taking notes.

"Like I said, I don't remember a whole lot, but what I can tell you is that I didn't come here on my own will."

"Oh, how do you know that?" Twilight asked curiously.

"I didn't get these bruises and cuts on my face from the dragon, and I'm starting to recall a little bit more now that my mind had time to settle down. I was a convict being held at some sort of special prison. I do remember talking to some people who I think were scientists just before coming here, but I don't remember about what." I decided to play it safe and not tell her everything that Sombra showed me. Twilight was a little surprised when I mentioned being an ex-con, and I could tell it made her a bit nervous by the way she was shifting around in her chair.

'Prison? Scientists? That doesn't sound anything like the Canterlot high I remember.' Twilight thought to herself as she made note of it on her paper. She couldn't help but feel concerned about her friends in the human world. Surely Sunset would have told her about something as extreme as that, right? She made a note to ask about it later in the interview since they were still getting to know each other.

"If you don't mind me asking...how did you end up going to prison?" Twilight asked. The look on her face told me that she was afraid of what the answer could be. Should I mess with her? It's tempting since I had this conversation already with that other princess.

"What do you think I got sent to prison for?" I asked, deciding to have some fun.

"Uhhhhhh..." was all Twilight said before she started fidgeting with her hooves in nervousness, questioning herself if she really wants to know the answer.

"I already told your other princess about that part of my life. So if you would rather get the details from her and move on that would be okay with me." I said to her relief.

"Whew, okay. Well that counts as a question for me, so your turn. What would you like to know?" Twilight asked. I thought for a moment about what I should ask her. Maybe now would be a good time to bring up magic.

"Okay, I got one. Where I'm from, magic exists only in fairy tales and fantasy. Now that I'm seeing it with my own eyes, I'm honestly interested in learning what I can about it. I heard that you're the best in the business when it comes to that sort of thing so I was wondering if maybe you could show me a thing or two? Maybe even teach me to use it myself if possible." I honestly don't know whether or not she is the best at magic, but hey, flattery can get you anywhere right?

"Yo-...you want me...to teach you, about magic?" Twilight completely zoned out after that.

"Uh, hello? You still there?" I stood up from my seat and walked over to her side for she completely zoned out. I waved my hand in front of her face to no avail. I even booped her nose and still no reaction. Twilight.exe has stopped working.

"Good job, you broke her." I heard Sombra's voice say from the back of my mind.

"It's not my fault! Unless you have an idea to bring her back you can shut the hell up." I accidentally said out loud.

"Oh I have an idea. Try rubbing her horn. Horns are sensitive to the touch so it should work." Something about that seemed off to me but with no better idea I decided fuck it, why not?

I gently grabbed her horn and slowly rubbed up and down to hopefully get some form of reaction, and boy howdy was there a reaction. Twilight's eyes rolled up to the back of her head and her wings shot out with a resounding *pomf* as she let out a moan. Words cannot describe how much I wish I could rip Sombra out of my head and beat the ever loving shit out of him for this.

"BWAHAHAHAHAHA" I could hear Sombra laughing his ass off in my head and it only made me want to beat the shit out of him even more.

'You are so dead when I get my hands on you.' I said in my mind so that only Sombra could hear me.

"As long as you don't fondle my horn the same way you did hers, I'll be fine." Sombra replied before breaking into another fit of laughter.

I was done with him for now and I tuned him out and looked at the princess who was curled up on the chair with her hooves over her face to try and hide her heavy blush. Her wings were still stiff as a board.

"Twilight, I am so sorry, I had no idea horns were like that." I said trying to defend myself. She looked up at me from under her hooves and calmed down enough to sit up and refold her wings.

"It's alright, you didn't know. But from now on, avoid touching any unicorn's horn. They are very sensitive and with enough physical stimulation it can make any unicorn have an orga-"

"Okay okay you don't have to go into details. I gathered enough information from your orga-, I mean reaction to know what that does now. How about we agree to just not tell a soul about what happened here and keep our hands, hooves, etc. to ourselves?" I offered.

"Agreed." We each took our seats and sat in awkward silence and avoided eye contact for a minute before I spoke up.

"So does this mean that I can't get magic lessons now?" Twilight perked up when I asked that.

"Oh don't be silly, of course I'll still teach you about magic! I was just so shocked that you would ask me to be your magic tutor even though we just met."

"Is it something that's normally done by individuals who know each other well?"

"No, it's just I really like teaching and when you asked me to teach you about magic I just didn't know how to react." Twilight said sheepishly. "I mean, I am the element of magic and an alicorn so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you would have asked me." I raised an eyebrow at this, and she caught on that I didn't know what she was talking about.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I thought Princess Celestia would have told you about how my friends and I are the elements of harmony." I held my questioning gaze for what she said made no sense to me and didn't help explain what she said just before. She brought a hoof up to her chin as she thought of a better way to explain it.

"How about we save that discussion for later on and focus on the topic at hand?" I asked her.

"Oh, uh, right." Twilight said as she rubbed her foreleg in embarrassment. Her face was still had a tinge of red from earlier.

We were about to continue the Q&A session but then Starlight and Spike teleported into the room. They both had a distressed look on their faces and ran to Twilight.

"Twilight! Something happened during the night. Diamond dogs broke into someponies homes and foalnapped them!"

'Foalnapped? As in kidnapped? Why do I get the feeling this is the start of a long list of horse puns.' I thought to myself.

"What do we do?" Spike's voice brought me back to the present.

"Who did they take?" Twilight asked as she hugged Spike to comfort him.

"They took four ponies from what I've heard. Lyra Heartstrings, Bon Bon, Vinyl Scratch, and Octavia." Starlight replied.

"I don't understand why they would do this. They tried this before when they took Rarity, I thought they learned their lesson then but I guess not." Twilight said in agitation. I stood up from my seat, wanting to deal with this problem swiftly.

"There's no time like the present. The longer we sit around and do nothing, the more those ponies suffer. I'm going to go grab my gear. All I need is someone to show me where they are." I said before taking off to my room to throw on my gear. I was fully ready in less than a minute due to years of experience. I turned towards the door as I loaded a magazine into my rifle and I saw Twilight standing there with an angry expression on her face.

"And just where do you think you're going?" Twilight asked.

"To bring back those ponies. We don't have time to argue about this." I shot back.

"Look, I know you want to help, and I know you are more than capable of doing it on your own. But you just can't run off and kill everything that you don't like." Twilight said as she took a step forward. "My friends and I dealt with them before. They're not as bad as your thinking. They more than likely took them to find gems for them but they are not the brightest of individuals. All I have to do is threaten to bring Rarity back to them and they will release the ponies they foalnapped." Did she really just say that? Or did she have a sudden case of diarrhea of the mouth?

"These animals break into the homes of your people and rip them out of their beds and carry them away to do God knows what to them and you tell me they are not that bad?" I was growing agitated with her. I remember her friend Rarity. She's that one with the snow white coat and likes to hit on anything with a pulse and a penis. I can see why they would be terrified of her. Who knows where the hell she's been.

"Trust me on this. Not every problem has to be solved with violence. You are not going on any rescue missions anytime soon, now stay here with Starlight and Spike until I get back." Twilight ordered as she trotted out the room.

"I'm coming with you." I said as I followed after her. She stopped and turned her head to shoot me an annoyed look. "I'll hang back and let you try your way. If you fail then I'll deal with them my way." I told her. She rolled her eyes and continued her way out the castle doors. I saw Starlight and Spike standing behind me, looking up at me with worried looks on their faces. Spike walked up to me nervously and hesitated a second before he spoke up.

"You're not gonna let anything happen to her, right?" I knelt down so I wouldn't tower over him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"If Twilight is certain she can handle this, then I won't question her ability. But it never hurts to have some back up in case things go wrong." I said in the most calm voice I could muster at the time. He nodded and went back to Starlight's side.

"Please, just be careful. Those diamond dogs have left Ponyville alone for a long time. It's weird that they would do this all of a sudden." Starlight said as she put a hoof around the young dragon.

"I've handled tougher characters than these. I'll be fine. It's the other ponies I'm worried about." I said as I turned towards the castle doors and found Twilight standing at the entrance. Before I walked outside I could see that every pony in town was standing in front of the castle entrance. Many of them looked scared and uncertain, but I could see a few in the crowd that looked angry, and their anger was directed at the princess judging by the way they were staring her down. Her other friends were also by Twilight's side, backing her up.

"I know many of you are upset and worried about what just happened, and I understand your frustration. It has been a long time since the diamond dogs ever bothered us and I do not know why they did this all of a sudden. I give you my word that I will bring back the ponies they foalnapped and make sure they won't bother us again." Twilight said, trying to put the crowd at ease.

"That's what you said last time, but here we are again!" a random mare shouted. The crowd sounded off in agreement with her.

"What are going to do when they come for our foals?" another voice asked.

"We need a permanent solution! This isn't the first time they did this and it's only a matter of time until they do it again!" a stallion in the front yelled. The crowd was getting more and more riled up with each outcry and Twilight was getting nervous she would have angry mob to deal with if she didn't do something to calm them down.

"Now hold on y'all. Ah hear what yer all sayin' and ah get where yer comin' from, but we can't forget that Twilight has gotten us out of more than one hairy situation. Hay, if it weren't fer her Nightmare Moon would still be ruling over Equestria." Applejack said as she trotted up to her friend's side. Some of the angry members of the crowd hung their heads in thought, taking in the earth pony's words.

"Yeah, we totally kicked their flanks last time, we just gotta hit 'em a little bit harder this time!" Rainbow Dash chimed in as she punched the air in front of her.

"Mommy, what is that?" a little filly asked her mother as she pointed towards me. Guess introductions will have to be earlier than what Twilight planned for. I stepped out into the open to reveal myself to the crowd. Everypony other than Twilight and her friends all took a step back and gasped in awe as soon as they saw me. Twilight wasn't having much luck at crowd control so it was up to me to put the crowd at ease.

"Morning everyone, er, pony. I am aware that some of your friends have been taken during the night by these diamond dogs. I know many of you are upset and want something done about it. I'm no politician, so I'm not going to stand up here and bullshit you an answer. Can anypony here tell me where the diamond dogs might have taken your friends." I yelled so they would all hear me.

"What do you think you're doing?" Twilight hissed at me. I paid her no mind as I looked over the crowd, waiting for an answer.

"They make their home in the gem mines just outside of town to the southwest." A large red stallion with a short blonde mane said as he stepped in front of the crowd.

"And who might you be?" I asked him.

"Name's Big Macintosh, but mah friends call me Big Mac."

"BIG MAC!!!" Applejack shouted at the stallion who didn't even flinch at her outburst. They must know each other. They both have apples on their asses. Related, maybe?

"Thank you, Big Macintosh."

"Eeyup."

"Everypony listen up! You may not know who or what I am, but I'm afraid introductions will have to come later. Please, go back to your homes and spend the day with your family and friends. This could have happened to any of you so be grateful it didn't. Now, if you will excuse me, there's work to be done." With that being said I walked down the castle steps and headed towards the mines. I didn't have to look behind me to know that the crowd was watching me in awe as I left.

"Now why in the hay did you go an' tell him that, Big Mac?" Applejack demanded as the towns ponies turned their attention back to the mane six.

"Ah reckon that's the fella who saved Applebloom from that dragon, it doesn't take a genius ta figure that one out. If he can take on a dragon on his own, ah'm willing ta bet he can take on a few diamond dogs." he explained.

"Maybe so, but we've dealt with 'em before, an we don't need anypony gettin' themselves hurt playin' hero." Applejack stomped her hoof.

Twilight trotted up next to Applejack and said, "I appreciate the assistance, but I need to deal with Curtis alone. Please, don't fight me on this. I'm the only one who can stop him and I don't want to endanger my friends."

"But Twilight we did it before an' ahm certain we can do-"

"I know, I have no doubt that we can handle the diamond dogs. It's HIM that worries me." Twilight said in aggravation. They both looked back at their friends behind them to see that they were unsure with the thought of confronting the human. They didn't consider him an enemy, but they all knew he was still dangerous to be around. They all looked at each other, waiting for the other to speak up. Fluttershy, of all ponies, was the first to say something.

"Um...I think we should let Twilight handle this. She spent more time with him than the rest of us combined. I-if that's okay with you." Fluttershy said as she looked at the ground to avoid eye contact with anypony.

"Fluttershy is right. Twilight, you have the most experience with that eh, human. If anypony can deal with him, I know it's you." Rarity added. They all nodded in agreement.

"Then it's settled. I'll go take care of Curtis and send him back to the castle, then I'll get those ponies back. You girls stay here and make sure nopony else was taken." With that being said, Twilight took to the air and flew after the human, who was waiting behind a tree, just outside of town.

"What are doing? Are you crazy? I told you to stay at the castle!" Twilight yelled, "I had the situation under control. If you would stop being so hard headed I would have been done with this whole situation already." The princess was hovering just a few inches in front of my face, trying to scare me into backing down. Considering she looked like she belonged on a shelf in the little girl's section of a toy store, she wasn't as intimidating to me as she thought she was.

"If I stayed inside the castle, you would still be dealing with the crowd. They didn't want to hear empty words or promises, they wanted action." I shot back. Of course she was none to happy with that.

"I don't need you running off and injuring yourself or somepony else. Now go back to the castle and wait for me to get back."

"No."

"Excuse me!?"

"I said no, I'm not going back."

"Are you not aware that I am a princess?"

"I am, I just don't care. I"m not Equestrian, so I don't take orders from you or any of the princesses." Twilight dropped to the ground had a face of complete shock, then of anger. I was getting under her skin, and I knew royalty like her don't like it when someone tells them no.

"Listen princess, the longer we stand around arguing, the longer those ponies suffer. So I'll tell you what, you go ahead and try your way while I hang back a bit and watch. If you're not successful then I'll come in and take care of business. How does that sound?" Twilight didn't respond, but her horn started glowing and a bright flash of purple light filled my vision. Next thing I know, I was back in my room at the castle and Twilight was standing on the bed with the same angry expression from before. The world was spinning and I collapsed to the floor from dizziness.

"It sounds like you're staying in this room until I get back, and we will have a talk about your behavior when I do." Twilight pointed her horn towards the door and cast a spell on it, then she disappeared in another purple flash of light.

'Okay, that's not fair.' I thought to myself after I regained my balance. I tried to open the door but the door knob wouldn't move in the slightest. I kicked at the door and it didn't even budge an inch. The room I was in was a few stories up so the window wasn't an option. Great, she locked me inside my room like I was a child.

"Well done, before the day is even halfway over, you got the princess to use magic on you. You got her so worked up that she almost used twice the amount of magic on it than the spell called for. I still need much more but that was an impressive first dose." I heard Sombra say in my head.

"Glad I could be of service. Now unless you have an idea to get me out of here, please shut up." I said out loud. I sat down on the bed, trying to come up with an idea to get out of here.

"I do have an idea, in fact. I can still cast spells the same way any unicorn can. However, since I'm stuck inside a body that's completely void of all magic, the only way I can charge my reserves is by absorbing magic cast on you."

"So what you're saying is you can teleport us out of here?"

"I could, yes. But it wouldn't be wise to do it so soon. The princess is under the impression that you cannot use magic, so if I teleport you out of here right now she will know something is going on." As much as I hate to admit it, he did have a point. I hated the idea of sitting around and doing nothing, but I guess that's what I'll be doing for the next few hours.

Time rolled by slowly, and I spent most of it staring out the window of my room that gave me a view of most of the town. The streets were mostly empty, aside from the occasional pony wandering through the streets. The clock in my room indicated it was a little past two in the afternoon when the door creaked open and I was waiting for the lecture from the princess to begin.

"Curtis? Can I ask you for a favor?" Those weren't the words I was expecting, nor was it the voice I was expecting either. I turned around and saw Spike standing in the doorway, fidgeting with his claws and looking around in nervousness. I could tell he was worried or scared about something. Guess the spell on the door was only one way.

"Sure thing, little man. What do you need?" I asked. He took a deep breath before he continued.

"Can...I was hoping that maybe you could go check on Twilight and Starlight?" This raised a red flag in my head.

"Check on them? Where are they at?"

"Twilight said that she was going to go take care of the diamond dogs, but she left over four hours ago. Then around noon Starlight left to go check on her but she hasn't returned either!" Spike was starting to lose control of his emotions and I could see tears welling up in his eyes. I walked over to him and knelt down in front of him pulled him into a hug to comfort him.

"Everything is going to be alright, Spike. I'll go get them. In the meantime, is there somewhere you can go so I won't have to leave you here alone?" I asked. He wiped the tears out of his eyes and sniffled before he responded.

"Twilight would always send me to Rarity's boutique whenever she was busy or didn't want me home alone. I could go there." He said as he started to calm down.

"That will work. I can take you over there then I will bring them back for you, okay?" Spike nodded in agreement and so we left the castle to go to Rarity's. It was a surprisingly far walk, Ponyville looked a lot smaller from the window, but we made it there and nopony else was outside. A few doors would slam shut as we walked through town and I would see the occasional head peak out of a window and quickly duck down when I looked in their direction. We made it to the boutique and a bell rang as I opened the door and ducked my head as we walked in. Rarity was keeping her mind busy by working on some dresses but seemed relieved when she saw me and Spike.

"Oh good afternoon Curtis, Spike. What brings you by?" she asked with a forced smile. Spike didn't offer an answer before he ran up to her and latched onto her and she sat down and embraced him.

"What's wrong Spike?" she asked, concern evident on her face. Spike looked up at her with tears running down his cheeks and then back to me before he buried his face back into her chest. She looked up at me with a confused expression, hoping for an explanation.

"Twilight still hasn't returned. Starlight went after her a few hours ago but she hasn't returned either." That was all the explanation she needed.

"Oh, I see. What do we do?"

"I'm going to go deal with those diamond dogs. You stay here and look after Spike." Rarity opened her mouth to say something in protest but couldn't offer up any arguments so she just nodded in agreement. I turned around and opened the door just before I left I felt a tug on my pant leg. I looked down to see Spike standing there looking up at me, tears still in his eyes.

"Please...bring them back safely." I smiled at him and knelt down to hug him one last time.

"I'll bring them back. I promise." I said as I hugged him and he wrapped his arms around my neck. Rarity was standing behind Spike, she as well had tears in her eyes but she smiled at me as I released Spike and stood back up. Rarity walked up to me and nuzzled my hand before leaning her head into my side.

"Thank you Curtis. I know you will bring them back, just please be careful." I froze where I was, not sure what to do. For some reason, I placed my hand on her cheek, her fur slightly wet from the tears rolling down her face and this made her press a little harder into my side. After an almost uncomfortable amount of time passed, she lifted her head from my side and walked back into the main room to her boutique. Her and Spike both smiled at me as I walked out and shut the door behind me.

As I walked away, I couldn't help but feel something was off about what just happened. I looked at the hand that Rarity nuzzled and thought back as to how that felt strangely... good. I had a dog growing up and she would stick her muzzle in my hand and lean her head into my side all the time. Rarity did exactly that except this time it felt much better for some reason. My hand and side felt warm and tingled slightly, but in a good way, I think. I don't know why it bothered me so much, maybe because it felt so unnaturally good, but I made a promise to myself then to avoid any unnecessary physical contact with her and anypony else for that matter. I was probably just being paranoid but better safe than sorry.

I shook the thought from my head and quickened my pace to get to the mines. The sun was starting its journey down and I didn't want to waste anymore time than what I already have.