Lonely Among Us

Twilight was slowly regaining consciousness, her body was numb from cold, and her lungs were burning as if someone has poured hot Tabasco in there. “Hello...? Where... Am... I?” she asked confused, fighting the pain.

“You… my dear princessss are on the mooooon,” said the familiar voice, "I was hoping she’ll send Lunaaaa but… I guess someee company is alright.”

Twilight slowly opened her eyes, her vision was still blurry, but she could make out something standing above her. “Captain…?”

“Well, who did youuu expect? You loook thirsty... Here drink something,” I passed the bottle to the alicorn, and she took a sip.

“... … … *cough* … … *cought*... … *SIGH* wha… what is thi..is...” Twilight whispered as she was gasping for oxygen (or whatever gas was in this place).

“BAH! Ethanol of course… 98% - purest fuel in the universe if youuu ask mee,” I answered giggling. "And THE BEEEST anti-depressant too."

Twilight took a look at me and put a shocked expression on her face. “You… are drunk?!”

“Yup... I’m on a vodka diet, I’ve lost three days already!" I answered with a giggle but Twilight was not amused - her purple eyes were staring at me with frustration, “...ehh you gonna staaare like that the whole time…? FINE… APE, engage the sobering program."

“Sobering in progress ... ... ...” a few seconds later APE added, “sobering complete.”

I clutched my head with both my hands and sat down on the cold lunar ground.

“You OK?”

“Yeah… it's just hangover - sobering program can make me sober, but it doesn’t prevent a hangover headache - I’ll manage… what brings you here anyway? You took Celestia’s favorite toy or something?” I asked with an ironic voice.

“No… oh... Where to begin - a lot has happened since you were sent here…” during the next 10 minutes, Twilight told me everything that happened during the last three months, her story would put a lot of Earth's conspirators to shame, “... I barely escaped, but others were probably captured, please help us.”

I was listening with fascination and some dark satisfaction. “So, what you are saying is that the 'know it all' Princess will get her ass kicked?” I said with some amusement in my voice. “She deserves it if you ask me.”

“You were not listening to me - it’s not about Celestia…” Twilight shook her head in frustration and got up, “This, Shadowdancer - whoever he is - wants to rule over whole Equestria no matter the costs! I need to do something, will you help me?”

“Sorry, but the last time I had helped some of your people, I got sent here," I responded with a sarcastic voice, "and even if I wanted to, there is no way back to the planet, yet.”

Twilight didn’t like my answer at all her face quickly tensed - I could see she was angry. “How can you say that?!" she shouted, "I know Celestia did wrong by sending you here but-”

“YOU KNOW NOTHING!" I interrupted angrily, making Twilight take a few steps back, "Nobody can understand… Oh wait, actually I take that back - Luna can, but then again, so what...”

I sat down on the ground again, staring at the faraway planet and trying to calm myself down. “I’m just… disappointed, disappointed as hell,” my voice was filled with frustration.

Slowly, Twilight approached and sat down next to me. “With Celestia?”

“With her, you, Luna… with all ponies - you are not much different than humans, you fear what you don’t understand, you are quick to judge, slow to learn.”

“That’s not true!” Twilight tried to protest, but I just ignored her.

“At first I thought you were different, that you would not make the same mistakes we did… but - if that’s true - then what am I doing here... Or you, for that matter?” I replied with disappointment in my voice.

For a moment Twilight tried to counter… but I could see she couldn’t find the words. “Hard to argue with that argument, is it? And this really is sad…”

My speech caused something to break inside her. We sat in silence for the next five minutes. Twilight was just staring at the ground, soon I could see the water forming in her eyes. “Please… I beg you… help me… somehow,” she mumbled as she began to cry.

I glanced at her - helpless, crying, begging for my help... This brought back memories - of another girl, on another planet. She also begged me to help her - but I failed, miserably. To this day, I remember her stare as life was escaping her body - her eyes pleading for me to do something, anything… but I was powerless. All this technology, and power and I couldn’t do a goddamn thing. That day I swore to myself, that the next time I'll have the chance, I'll do everything in my power to set things right.

And yet... One part of me just wanted all ponies to suffer - that small voice in my head started to whisper that I should be glad, that they'll get what they deserve. That little voice, was the projection of all of my pain and anger, and it grew louder with every passing moment - classic battle of good against evil was going inside of me, and the dark side was winning - it proved beyond any doubt, that I was damned.

***

“I almost forgot – here,” Twilight interrupted my daydream, as she took two envelopes from her saddlebag, and handed them to me.

“What’s this?”

“It’s from Rarity and Fluttershy… they wanted me to ask Celestia to send you those - I guess I didn’t have the chance...”

The first letter was from Rarity:

Dear James, my HERO - I am very sorry to hear what Celestia did to you… This is an outrage! I will do wherever I can to persuade the Princess to bring you back as soon as possible - frankly darling when I heard what happened, I was so angry I wanted to ride directly to Canterlot to give her a piece of my mind! But Twilight stopped me (poor thing - I am afraid she got ‘the message’ I intended for Celestia… including all the yelling - I will have to make it up to her, and apologize somehow).

I am sure, you didn’t do any of those things they accuse you of, hope to see you soon.

Forever your Friend
Rarity

P.S.
Once you are back - I am planning to make you a fabulous tuxedo! It will be worth all the wait - I promise.

"Hmm, predictable..." I said with an indifferent voice.

"What do you mean?" Twilight inquired.

"Only that this letter was predictable - my bet is on Stockholm syndrome or something - I saved her once, and now we are 'friends forever'? What a load of crap!” I answered with an irritated voice.

Twilight's jaw dropped - she was obviously shocked by what I just said. "How can you say that?! Rarity really does consider you a friend! You have no idea what she went through..."

"I believe you - the problem is, that's all because I saved her - her mind thinks I'm some kind of hero..." I answered grumpily with a sarcastic smile. "Let me ask you this - if she or you, would have met me in different circumstances… I don't know, during a party, or some social gathering - do you seriously think, we would become friends?"

Silence filled the air again, Twilight didn't respond. Instead, she started staring at the ground - her face switched from sad to depressed.

The second letter was from Fluttershy, immediately after I pulled it out from the envelope I noticed something odd… the piece of paper had many strange stains on it, and the ink was smudged.

Dear James, I… I don’t even know what I want to tell you in this letter. I tried again, and again to write something meaningful, something cheerful, but I know, no words can alleviate your pain.

I don’t understand how Celestia could do such a thing... We all heard the accusation of course - but I will never believe them! I might have known you only for a few days, but I KNOW you would NEVER do any of those things!

I guess what I’m trying to say is… I’m sorry… so sorry… I’m sorry for what has happened, I’m sorry I couldn’t prevent it, but most of all… I’m sorry that I can’t convince Celestia to bring you back… I’m sorry for being so worthless and useless...

Twilight told me she will keep trying to convince the Princess to bring you back, I hope… NO! I’m SURE she will be able to succeed where I have failed…

Somepony who failed you in the time of need
Fluttershy

Suddenly, I felt a gentle poke. "Captain?"

"Uh... Yes?"

"You were staring at that letter for last 15 minutes. Is something wrong?"

"What...?" only then, I realized - I read that letter over and over again.

I had known Fluttershy only for two days - but during that time, I learned she was unique - she hid her emotions under her mask of shyness, only revealing herself to her true friends, she was also the kindest and most caring person I've met - she accepted me right away, even though I was so different.

My 'dark side' was whispering, that her letter was the same as the one from Rarity, that Fluttershy didn't know what she was writing about, but was it? I couldn't decide... I was stuck in a loop.

I took another look at the letter, and suddenly clarity struck my soul - I realized that those strange 'stains' on the paper, were actually teardrops - Fluttershy teardrops. Even though she knew me for only two days, she considered me a friend - her suffering was proof of that.

"Fluttershy, you naive little thing..." I mumbled when I felt something hit my arm. "What the...? Oh great..." I quickly turned my back to Twilight, trying to hide what was happening to me.

"You OK?" she asked with a concerned voice and started to approach me.

I was fighting myself, but it was a losing battle. "It's just... It... Fluttershy..." then it happened - I cracked and for the first time in a few hundred years - burst into tears. Seeing this, Twilight - who was now next to me - put her right wing over my shoulder and hugged me gently, then she began to cry herself - we were both weeping heavily.

I don’t know for how long I was embarrassing myself, but finally, after some time passed, I broke the silence. “*Sniff* Some tough guy I am… crying on your shoulder, huh?” I said trying to lighten the mood a little.

Twilight put a smile and responded softly, “I think we both needed it.”

I got up and wiped away my tears - my mind was never so clear, I knew what had to be done. "Alright, I'll help you - come with me."

***

We walked for a few minutes until we reached my ‘hideout’ - a small underground cave. We went inside through the airlock. The structure contained what I was able to build in the last three months - using my nano-tech, and all the knowledge I compiled during 300 years of my journey.

On the left there was a huge mainframe, calculating something, a constant hum could be heard from the computer. On the right, I kept my chemistry lab - vials and flasks were everywhere, further down - there was a power station and other machines.

Twilight, couldn't hide her excitement. “Wh… what is this place?!”

“Well… you didn’t expect me to sit on my ass, for the next 1000 years, did you?” I responded with a smile. “Thanks to what you have shown me earlier, and my nano-tech, I was able to build all this.”

“But HOW?” Twilight inquired.

“Simple - watch.”

I picked up a pile of moon soil, few second later energy field showed up and… FLASH! Instead of the dirt - I was holding two bright red apples in my hand. I handed one to Twilight.

“MAGIC?! But… but...” she looked shocked.

“Quantum level matter to energy conversion actually, but yeah - you call it magic. We’ve been over this, already - I don’t understand why you are so shocked.”

“It’s not that - I knew you could do quantum… something, but I thought the magical energy was limited to Equus, that’s why Luna could escape the moon, only when stars were in alignment, restoring her magic temporarily...” Twilight responded with her analytic voice.

“Not at all… technically speaking - and I’m not that technical on this subject - some kind of quantum physics is used in both cases. Every place has different particles and requires a slightly different process to make it work. That’s why I nearly burned Canterlot to the ground - my nano-probes were not able to adapt to very powerful particles found in Equestria…”

I stopped for a moment to take a bite of my apple, Twilight also started to eat, listening to me curiously. “Anyway, as far as I can tell, your people simply adapted to the particles you have on the planet - unicorns the most - your horn, can, in essence, do naturally, what I do with nano-tech.”

I took another bite. “I think this ‘Clan of Shadows’ must have found a way to manipulate this process…” I struck a thinking pose when an idea hit my mind, “hmm… could you, try to do some magic?”

Twilight tried, but only small sparks came out of her horn - sad expression appeared on her face again. “This is pointless… I can’t do anything without my magic, I'm useless...” she said with sorrow in her voice.

“Hmm APE, would it be possible to adapt some of our nano-tech to help?” I asked calmly.

“Theoretically, it should be possible. However, we would have to-”

“Spare me the detail, just tell me how long would it take?”

“Probability assessment suggests a few hours - but we would have to run some tests on the Princess first.”

Twilight who was listening to our conversation asked with a confused voice, “What exactly do you want to do to me…?”

“Well… if I’m right - we could use some of my nano-tech to fix your magic… if you are willing to try-”

Before I could finish, she shouted with excitement. “OF COURSE!”

Her mood was already improving. “Good. But I have to warn you - this is experimental. And there may be risks,” I informed her calmly.

“I understand. Let’s proceed,” she responded, and I could see a smirk of excitement on her face.

***

For the next few hours, we were running test, after test, after test. Twilight was forced to constantly try to use her magic - with every try, her enthusiasm was being slowly replaced with frustration.

I was monitoring my computer's screen, when the progress bar, finally hit 100%. “OK, that’s it - mapping is complete."

“Finally, ugh...” Twilight responded as she collapsed from exhaustion.

“OK. APE, prepare the modified nano-probes. ETA?”

APE responded with his usual precise calculation, “8 minutes 22 seconds, please stand by,” then we waited.

I could see Twilight was nervous, but excited at the same time, and while I didn’t show it, I was actually curious myself. After exactly 8 minutes and 22 seconds, a hypo pistol was ready. “Finally… OK, this may sting a little,” I said as I injected the Princess. “Done… come on outside, time to test this.”

For the first few minutes nothing seemed to have changed, Twilight still couldn’t use her magic - only small sparks were coming out of her horn - with every passing moment her frustration was growing.

“APE what is going on? Shouldn’t it be working, by now?” I asked concerned.

APE responded calmly - as always, “Perhaps our mapping procedure was incorrect, further tests may be neces-”

“Argg… it’s just pointless!” Twilight interrupted, with anger and disappointment. “I can’t do this… I just…”

BAAAAM!

Suddenly, her horn discharged, hitting me directly into the chest and sending me into the air. A 'deja vu' moment struck me when I realized I was flying out of control... Again. "This is gonna leave another mark..." I managed to say, as I crashed on the nearby mountain.

A few seconds later Twilight teleported right in front of me. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to!”

“Uuu… that was something! Some power you got there!” I responded actually giggling a little. “Don’t worry, this will regenerate in a few moments - in the meantime, I suggest you test your magic some more.”

And she did exactly that - for about 10 minutes she tried many spells, and all worked perfectly. I could finally see a smile on her face, the good old Twilight was back. We both returned to the hideout in a good mood.

***

“Earlier I told you there is no way back to the planet yet, well... That’s not exactly true.” I pointed at one of my contraptions. “I present you the Fast Travel System or FTS. Still a prototype, but it will have to do."

"What is it exactly?" Twilight asked.

“Well, this thing allows you to travel... FAST - that’s how we’re gonna get back to Equestria. Technically, it's a micro-wormhole generator. Normally I would run tests for a few more months, but it doesn’t seem we have the time,” she nodded in agreement, and I started to calibrate the machine.

“Twilight… let’s make one thing clear - you want my help, fine. But we are doing this my way, that means - there will be blood, and there will be deaths,” I informed her coldly.

It took a moment for Twilight to respond, she obviously didn’t consider this until now. “I… understand,” she finally said with an unsure voice.

“Have you ever taken a life? I don’t have a problem killing bad guys… Hell, I enjoy it - this is one thing that never gets old he, he…” she gave me a worried look. “Ahem, anyway - realize this: I may be the one man army, but I'll still need help - that means you must be willing to KILL... Are you?”

I stopped for a moment and glanced at her, only to notice her smile was gone and she was staring at the ground again. I knew from experience that killing wasn't something that comes naturally to most people, and Twilight wasn't exactly a trained soldier either - I didn't know what to expect. “If it comes to that… I will not hesitate,” she finally answered, but her voice sounded very reluctant.

“I hope so… all right, get some sleep. I need to calibrate this contraption and gear up - there is a room with a bed, downstairs - second door to the left,” Twilight nodded in agreement and went to bed.

"Rest well, Princess - you gonna need it..."

***

In the morning, I replicated some breakfast for Twilight, and after she ate, we discussed our strategy. The plan was simple: we will teleport to the Tree of Harmony, undo whatever Shadowdancer did, and when princesses regain their magic - we will help kick that bastard's ass - simple… in theory.

APE was processing the final checklist. “All system check, weapons check, ammo check, nano-probes check, vodka check-”

“Vodka?” Twilight interrupted and gave me her annoyed look again.

I responded, smiling sarcastically, “WHAT? That’s the most important item on that list!” she shook her head in disbelief, but let it go.

“Coordinates have been set to the Tree of Harmony, ready to proceed,” APE stated with his electronic voice.

“OK... Ready?” I asked Twilight one last time, and she nodded. “All right then. Engage!”

A bright light surrounded our bodies, and seconds later - we were teleported into the unknown…