"You. Fucking. MUTT!" I exclaimed, dragging a now bloated Frost behind me. Luna was following behind in hysterics from what had transcended.

When they had begun to bring the dessert out, they presented Luna with a large helping of treats and sweets ranging from exotic delicacies to plain chocolate pudding. Luna never got to try any of these, because the second Frost caught a wiff of the sweat smells, she leapt forward. The poor serving mares shrieked in horror covering themselves with the platters that held the treats, as I rushed forward to pull Frost off of them. Once I had, I discovered that Frost had just wanted the sweets to herself, as her fur was now matted by many of the treats she had bitten into. I heard laughter, and turned to see Luna was doubled over from the scene she was witnessing. That moment of hesitation was all Frost needed to lounge again, digging in once more to the feast she had claimed. I attempted to wrap myself under her to lift her off the food, only to have her plop down on top of me and continue as though I wasn't there. Luna's laughter spread to the entire hall, echoed by all present. By the time I pulled myself out from under Frost, she had finished off all there was and was licking her chops.

Luckily she had eaten too much and couldn't bring herself to move when they brought out the rest of the desserts. I, along with many servers, apologized for what happened to her personal dishes.

She steadied herself just enough to speak, "Tis quite alright, the show more than made up for it!" She exclaimed, laughing once more.

Once the feast had ended, Luna had asked to speak with me privately. Demi told us that we could use a currently unoccupied hut, and that it would be my home until an official one had been declared. I was now dragging Frost through The Grove to my temporary residence. The damn mutt still couldn't bring herself to move, and seemed more that content to have her butt dragged along the ground as I pulled her. Once I finally managed to drag her inside, I threw her down unceremoniously, only to have her stick her tongue out and look happy as could be.

"You're real proud of yourself aren't you?" I asked her.

Her response was to roll onto her back and stretch out her legs before flopping back down.

I sighed, shaking my head as I turned to the still giggling princess. Once she got inside, she cast a spell over the hut and burst into full blown laughter once more.

"Hahahahahaha! Oh I have not had a laugh like that in so long!" She exclaimed.

"Well, I'm glad you two are enjoying yourselves. What happened to the "we" thing you were using?" I asked her.

She steadied herself, clearing her throat. "One moment." Her body shimmered, shrinking her down to my own height. Her hair lost it's mystical properties, turning back to the soft blue that she had back at the ruins.

"There we are. I only use the royal we and that appearance for when I am being formal. I cast a silencing spell over the hut so now we may speak freely to each other." She said.

"Are you going to change forms every time we meet?" I asked her putting on a playful smile.

"Well I could if my savior would so like." She responded with a smile of her own.

"Savior?" I asked her.

"You probably don't remember yet, but long ago, shortly after the war had begun a group of humans raided my and my sister's castle. All our guards fell, along with many humans. But two survived. They came to us, and we believed they were ready to kill us. One of them argued that we were not to be killed, as we were innocent of any crimes. The other ignored him, and prepared to end our lives. Before he could, his companion stabbed him from behind, piercing straight through his heart and killing him. As the man fell, my sister burst with magic causing the other to flee. That man was you, I recognized your face the moment I saw you."

I was stunned by this, surprised to see that I had played a part in protecting the princesses of Equestria.

"I won't lie, that moment traumatized us. We had never seen death before, not in that fashion, and it drove us to think humans were nothing more than killers that would kill their own kind for their personal gains. It was not till nearly a thousand years later that I found a human child that reminded me of that day, and caused me to think differently of the man who had slain his own comrade to protect us. You've also popped up in multiple sections of history, all over the time of the war. It's why I'm so interested to hear what your mind holds." She said.

"And your sister?" I asked.

Luna sighed at this. "My sister did not feel the same way. To this day, she still festers a burning hatred for your race."

I remained silent, taking in this new information.

Am I really the reason they're still alive? And is this really not the first time I've done something like this?

"But enough about my past," Luna began, "what about you? What have you learned so far?"

"I'll tell you, and spare no detail. But know this, I did fight in that war. Pony blood is on my hands." I warned her.

"I understand. Now please, tell me what you remember."

We sat down as I began to tell her everything I could recall. As promised, I spared no detail, telling her of my grandmother, to of the fight at the keep. As I told her, her face shifted emotion from excited, delighted, saddened, disgusted, curious, sympathetic, and confused. When I finished telling her everything, she smiled at me.

"It is good to know you have begun to recall some of your old life, and it was cute hearing how you and Frostbite met, but to hear you assassinated a mare after sleeping with her, that you hated her so blindly. How is that?" She asked.

"I'm afraid your guess is as good as mine. I only know what I felt during that memory. Perhaps I learned something about her that drove me to hate her." I told her.

"And Kaar, the way you describe him, he sounds like the one who went to strike us down. But I'm most curious about how your grandmother had that orb, as well as how you only have so many memories. The orbs magic should be helping you recall them."

"Magic? Ah shit, I forgot to tell you I received a memory for some ritual. It was to block out all magic from affecting me. I was told it was a blessing and a curse." I informed her.

Luna gasped at this. "That sounds like the Polar-Magi ritual. It's a ritual that negates all magic directly inflicted on you. The orb can't absorb magic because your body isn't letting it!"

"Speaking of which, where it the orb? I didn't have it on me when I came here." I told her.

"The orb has been infused with your being. It's acting as a placeholder for all your past memories. If you were to come here as you did without the orb, your mind would be flooded with memories in an instant, possibly causing your brain to overload and stop functioning." She said.

"So it's acting as a safety, but needs magic to charge." I mulled over this information. "Is there a way to reverse this ritual?"

"Well... Yes. Technically there are two ways, but both are costly. We could either sever you from the rituals power, possibly killing you in the process. Or we could sever the physical part of you tied to the ritual." She answered.

"Wait, physical part? As in the ritual put a physical mark on me?" I asked

"Precisely. Here, give me your hands." She commanded, placing her hands towards me palm up.

I placed my hand in hers, and watched as she lit her horn and surrounded my hands in her aura. My left hand lit up with a symbol I didn't recognize.

"There, the ritual is tied to you by your left hand." She said.

"So in order to physically remove the ritual, we need to..."

"Cut it off." She finished for me.

Great, if I want my memories I either need to sacrifice my hand or put my life on the line. FUCK!

"Lets not worry about that for now. If I recall correctly, there may be a spell in the archives that can replace lost limbs." She told me.

"Right. I think I'd rather not think about it now anyway." I said, rubbing my hand at the thought.

She rubbed my shoulder, offering me a small smile of reassurance. It wasn't much, but it helped me feel better.

"So, you've heard about me and my past, why not tell me about yours?" I asked.

She recoiled at this, blushing and stuttering before finding her voice again. "Oh, no no no. I don't want to bore you with my life. It was quite drab and full of nosy nobility."

I enjoyed seeing her flustered like this. To think even the great royalty of the land could be reduced to a blushing mess.

"Come now," I started, "Surely you must have some interesting stories. You've been around since before I was born. Why not share! We should put trust in each other. After all, you should be contributing if we're going to be spending time together reminiscing about the past."

She looked off to the side, biting her cheek as she thought my words over. A smile crossed her face as she faced me once more. "Well, if you must insist, there was this one time when Tia and I were but foals, and she-"

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Our laughter echoed around us as we attempted to control ourselves. I was clutching my side, and my face hurt from how long I'd been smiling.

"-and as she went to cast the spell, a spider lander on her shoulder. She screemed like a filly and set the whole building on fire!" Luna shouted, bursting into laughter once more.

We had been sitting here for hours as Luna told story after story about her and her sister's antics as children, and as first time rulers. Celestia was the main source of most of these stories, leading me to enjoy them even more. To think that the mare who had scared me shittless by just glancing at her had been caught skinny dipping into a pool of cake, a literal pool of cake, made her that much less intimidating. This had also been the most amusing moment of my time here so far.

I'm going to like our little talks.

Once we had calmed down from our hysterics, Luna perked up, as though she had heard something. She sighed, standing and bowing to me.

"I apologize Grey Sword, but the night is coming to an end. I... rather enjoyed myself tonight. It was nice being able to talk to someone, to laugh like I was a filly again and forget my responsibilities for a while. Thank you for this, I look forward to our next talk." She said, beaming at me.

I stood, matching her height. "Thank you princess. That was the first real laugh I've had since coming here. I know next time will be a little less fun," I glanced at my hand, thinking of what was to come. "but know that I appreciate all that you are doing for me."

I hugged her. Luna's body went stiff at the contact, but she returned the affection. My body began to heat up at this, and I could feel my heart begin to race. I didn't want to let go of her, but I managed to pull away, knowing she had duties to attend to. When I did, I saw she seemed to be looking anywhere other than at me.

"Yes, well. Until next time Grey Sword. Have a good day." She turned from me, donning her regal appearance and began charging her horn.

"Luna." I called to her, causing her to face me. "Call me Jon."

She smiled at this, and in a flash she was gone. With nothing to do I turned back to where we had been talking. I noticed Frost was staring at me.

"What?" I asked her.

She just barked at me in response.

Well that's helpful... But Luna raised a good point earlier. Why did I hate Goldhooves so badly? Maybe one of the threstrals can help me.

With that thought, I walked back out into The Grove to see that construction had calmed down, and that there were less threstrals out and about.

Right, they're nocturnal. I may have to look for another source to find information.

"Grey Sword!"

I turned to the voice to see Midnight Star and Clever Wit approaching me. Midnight looked as lively as ever, but poor Clever looked ready to pass out any second.

"Hello you two. Is he going to be alright?" I asked.

"Oh, I'll be fine. Don't worry about me." Clever said, yawning while barely keeping his eyes open.

"Right, so what can I do for you?" I questioned them.

"Well, we were actually sent to grab you by mom. She said she wanted to talk to you about something." Midnight told me.

"Alright then, I'll go see her." I said, stopping for a moment as a thought occurred to me. "You two know most of the threstrals here, being the Grand Elders children right?" They nodded at this. "Is there someone here that could dig up some documents or information on ponies, living or deceased?"

"That would be me!" Clever exclaimed, perking up at the question.

"I need any information on a mare by the name of Maiden Goldhooves. Anyone she was affiliated with, family ties, or rolls she played during the war with humans. I know that she died sometime during the war, but I don't know exactly when. Apparently there was talk of a peace treaty when she died." I lied.

"Maiden Goldhooves, yeah she was one of the council members at the time the peace treaty was put into action. It was about 300 years into the war. Anything in particular you want to know?" He asked me.

"Anything and everything you can find. I'm trying to find out why she was assassinated." I told him.

"I'll see what I can do, but it won't happen tomorrow. I'm gonna need time to gather information." He responded.

"That's fine. Thank you Clever. Now, I believe your mother wants to speak with me yes?" I asked.

They nodded, leading me through The Grove. We came to a tall tree near the back of The Grove with a single platform on it. They began to beat there wings, only to pause as they looked back at me.

"Oh right. No wings. I guess mother didn't think that one through. Do you think Thorn is still awake? He might be able to carry him up." Midnight said to her brother.

I walked to the tree and ran my hand over the bark. It was tough, and felt like it would support my weight. Looking up, I saw the stubs of sawed off branches.

"I think I may be able to get up there myself." I told them.

"How?" They asked in unison.

Instead of answering, I ran at the tree and propelled myself as high as I could. I latched onto one of the lower stubs, placing my feet against the bark for support. Shimming up, I was able to switch between bark and stubs to ascend the tree. Looking back, I saw the children staring up at me slack-jawed.

"You coming?" I called down to them.

Snapping them from their trance, they began to fly up with me. It took me about two minutes to reach the underside of the platform. Pushing off of the tree, I grabbed onto the edge and pulled myself up. The two continued to stare at me in disbelief. Clever came to his senses, his eyes widening as a large smile spread across his face.

"That was so cool!" He exclaimed.

"I'll say." Midnight responded, her thousand yard stare fixated on me.

Shaking my head at them, I walked forward to the door. Placing my hand on it, I gently swung it inward to see Demi sitting at a table with a strange set of cups and a jug meant for pouring.

"Ah, I see you've made it. Come, sit. Have some tea." She said.

Walking over, I took my seat across from her as she began to pour "tea" into my cup. Pouring her own cup, she looked towards me with a rather sullen expression.

"I'll get to the point, no need to beat around the bush. I need to know why you're here." She said.

"Excuse me? The princess has asked me to come here, trusting that you would be able to keep me safe. Is that not reason enough?" I retorted.

"I understand that, and I'd say you're safe as could be here. It's MY people I'm worried about. Princess Luna has told us that not all humans are monsters, but that doesn't rule out that most were. I need to know your intentions here before I allow you to stay here any longer." She responded.

I sighed, picking up my cup and taking a small sip. The tea tasted sweet, along with something I couldn't put my finger on.

"Very well, I am here because this place is one of which Luna can come to and speak to me about what I've done in the past without either of us being discovered. I'm here because she trust you to keep me a secret, and because she trusts me not to bring harm to you or your people." I said.

"And do you plan to bring harm to me or my people?" Demi asked.

I hesitated, feeling words forced into my mouth as I spoke. "Right now, I have no memories of what happened in my past to determine a real answer for you. But as I stand now, I would not harm a single living creature unless I was defending myself."

Demi finally smiled, seeming pleased with my answer. "That will suffice. I placed an honesty elixir in your cup that made you tell the truth, so I know you're not lying. I wanted to trust you, and I especially wanted to trust my princess, but I had to know you wouldn't be a danger to my people or my children."

you... BITCH!

I was furious to know she had drugged me with an elixir, but as I ran her words through my mind my anger started to subside. She had done this to protect her people. To know that her trust in me was not misplaced. Still, she had lied to me and misused my trust.

"I'm can't say I'm not upset that you saw this as an answer to your problem, but I understand why you did this. You're peoples safety is your first priority, and if I was to threaten that, then I would need to leave." I spoke.

She nodded, a somber look on her face. "I am sorry I had to trick you, but if I had told you my intentions you may not have taken the elixir. You may have even killed me where I stand now."

I nodded, before thinking about who she had sent for me. "If you were worried that I may attack you, then why did you send your children to collect me?" I asked.

She recoiled, shocked by what I had said. "I didn't send my children! I would never endanger them like that!"

"There the ones who came to me, saying that you wished to speak to me. If you didn't send them, then who did?" I asked.

Her face fell, before turning furious. "Harvest Moon! That slimy little devil. I sent him to collect you, thinking he would be able to protect himself or flee if the worst came. He must have used my children as his meat shields!"

"It would seem monsters still exist." I stated.

Demi sighed at this, looking apologetic. "I didn't mean to offend you tonight, but it seems I will have to make it up to you at a later date. Harvest must be dealt with. If my children are still around, they can show you to your permanent quarters. If you'll excuse me."

I nodded, taking my leave. Walking out, I saw Midnight jump away from the wall and act like she had been doing something other than eavesdropping. Clever, on the other hand, had passed out on the platform.

"I take it since you were listening, you know what I'm about to say." I stated.

Midnight let out a fake gasp, sputtering as if looking for the right words to say. "I don't know what your talking about! Why would you assume that?"

I raised and eyebrow at her, and she sighed in defeat.

"This way." She said.

She picked up her brother and floated back down to the floor. After joining them, we walked a short distance to a hut that looked recently constructed. Unlike the others, it had red painted stripes on either side of the door.

"Here we are, some of the other villagers took the liberty of marking it for you so you'd know it's yours!" Midnight exclaimed.

The pain was fresh, and the way it portrayed the hut almost made it look like...

It's a warning sign to the others. It's not a marker for me, it's a signal to let them know I'm an outcast.

I decided not to voice my thoughts, grumbling to myself in silence. I turned to Midnight to see she was innocently beaming at me.

Either she's oblivious, or she's playing it off really well.

"Thank you." Was all I said.

I gave a sharp whistle, and before long Frost was bounding over to me. I turned to my "home" and walked inside, ignoring whatever Midnight was trying to tell me. I threw off the coat I'd been wearing for almost three days now, along with my shirt. Taking a look at my wounds, I saw that they had recovered nicely. Walking over to the bed, I pulled the cover aside to see the villagers had left me a surprise. I flipped the bed over in anger, and opted to sleep on the floor. If they wanted me to treat me like that, I'd play the part.

YOU DON'T BELONG HERE MONSTER Had been written in blood on the sheets.

Author's Note

Alright. so work is going to put a slight delay on things. We're pulling double shifts until we can get people hired. Expect the next few chapters in a week or two. Sorry about this, but I didn't have the time I normally did to write chapters ahead of time. By next month we should be back on track.