Fractured *Edited*

Twilight remained silent, listening as Simon's footsteps moved over to the bed across from her. She could hear the bed groan indicating that Simon had finally decided to lay down for the night. As soon as Twilight was sure that Simon was out she got up from the bed and quickly moved over to the other car.

Evidently she must have been asleep for quite a while as the rest of the ponies were asleep in their beds. That however wasn’t a very pressing issue at the moment and Twilight was quick to move to Applejack’s side, trying desperately to wake her up.

“Psst Applejack, I need you to wake up.” Twilight shook her roughly enough to shift her body from side to side and seemed to get some reaction out of her.

“Huh….wha, what is it Twilight.” Applejack asked with a yawn, as she tried to rub her eyes open.

“Applejack, I think you might have been right about not trusting Simon.” Twilight was doing her best to keep quiet to not wake anyone else and potentially alert Simon.

“What are you talking about Twilight.” Applejack sat up so that she wouldn't fall back asleep though it was evident she wanted to.

“Applejack, I just overheard Simon talking to someone, it sounded like he was planning to ambush us along with the other humans.”

Applejack’s once drowsy expression immediately shifted to stern as she was told the story by Twilight. “And you’re sure that’s what you heard. After all that’s happened, you’re sure it’s not just some misunderstanding?”

While part of Twilight wanted to be offended by the implication, given all that had happened recently, it did seem like a stretch.

“Applejack, I swear that’s what I heard. I promise I’m not lying.”

Applejack didn’t respond, looking closely at Twilight’s eyes and facial expressions, looking for even a possible hint of deception. True Twilight typically had very little reason to lie to her or any of their friends, but this just seemed so odd.

Since the humans had arrived Twilight had gone out of her way to both vouch for them and learn from them in every way she could, almost to the point of obsession. And Applejack wasn’t blind, she could see that Twilight had more than a purely scientific interest in Simon, hence why even the idea she’d accuse Simon of all people of deception was so hard for her to believe.

And yet, try as she could she could, she could neither see nor feel any kind of falsehood from her friend. Which sadly, only meant something far worse for them all.

“Alright Twilight, I believe you, though I gotta say I’m really wishing you were lying right now,” Twilight eyes drifted down, forlorn as she recalled what she’d seen and the implications it carried while Applejack pondered for a moment.

“But something about this doesn’t make sense. We know Simon has more than enough power to take us all on and win, so why spend so much time trying to trick us. What’s he hoping to accomplish?”

“I heard him saying that they have to take out the guards to bring out the big dogs...that’s a human term for the leaders. I think he meant us, the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, we’re the guardians of Equestria and if they were to capture us then no one would be able to stop them from going after Princess Celestia or Luna.”.”

Twilight's mind immediately began playing out numerous dark scenarios about the fate of Equestria should they be captured and the humans be allowed to run free. It only took a few seconds of this before the purple pony broke out into a cold sweat and started to hyperventilate.

“Twilight calm down..”

Twilight’s breathing steadied as she felt her friend's hoof on her shoulder. “Look, I won’t sugarcoat this and act like this isn’t serious, as you said we can't fight him much less Kat and Jack along with him”

Twilight again looked ready to enter another panic attack only for Applejack to force her to look the farmpony right in the eye, again calming her down.

“But Simon doesn't know that you know right? That means he won't try anything before its time.”

Twilight nodded. “Okay then, let's just rest for tonight. Tomorrow you and I will take everypony aside one at a time and we'll make sure they are all ready.”

The pair offered each other a calm smile and nod before heading back to their beds with another word, still in the midst of coming to terms with what they’d learned.

Laying her head down Twilight tried to get some sleep but found her nerve racked mind refused to allow it.

Using her magic Twilight pulled the diary out of her saddlebag, hoping that perhaps a little reading would take her mind off the current situation.

Opening the diary, Twilight quickly turned back to the page that she’d left off on and immediately activated Ace.

“Hello, Twilight what can I do for you.”

In spite of being happy to hear his friendly voice again, Twilight wondered if it was safe to be using Ace since it was something created by Simon. Then again, Simon had never bothered to approach her about said book even once, leading her to guess that Ace didn’t maintain constant communication with Simon...at least that’s what she hoped was the case.

Regardless, Twilight needed something to focus her mind on and this was the only option she had at the moment, thus was quick to press forward.

“Hello Ace, can you continue where we left off on?”

“Of course.” There was another pause as Ace scanned the pages before starting again.

“Dear Diary,

It has been almost a month since the last time that I wrote in this thing. I think it's safe to say that with the validation that I’m not hallucinating my stress levels have gone way down. I had such an embarrassing moment Zack, Rolf, and I was hanging out at my house just joking around in my room when Zack accidentally knocked a glass of soda into my shirt. In my infinite wisdom I decided that I would just change my shirt so I had them turn around while I did. It's wasn't that big of a deal those two had become like brothers to me, but my mom didn't think so because she chose that moment to walk by my open door. After I was able to explain what happened my mother finally calmed down she forced the two out of my room just so I could change my shirt. When the boys came back in I could hear Rolf say the curse strikes again. That was when I learned that ever since Zack was thirteen anytime he is with a female friend that some sort of misunderstanding like that usually happens. After that, I learned to be more cautious around him.”

“The passage ends there.”

Twilight yawned, starting to get tired but could see that there was only one more passage before the pages changed format. Thus as much as her body as telling her to stop, she pressed on.

“It has been two years since I last wrote, I honestly don't know why but something continues to compel me to write and I feel almost powerless to resist it. After two years of knowing those two I’m surprised to find that the three of us have become closer than I thought possible. However, I have been finding myself drawn to Zack more than I do Rolf. True, we do still spend time together, yet I find more of my time spent with Zack than I do Rolf. They are both very intelligent and funny but Rolf has a more competitive side while Zack is more gentle and kind. Oh, also Rolf accidentally let it slip that Zack isn't his real name it's apparently just a name that he heard while his family was on vacation in America and liked it so much that when they got home he started using it, His real name is apparently Simon. I actually kinda like it better than Zack. I think I’m going to start calling him that from now on. The passage ends there.”

Twilight stared in shock, all traces of exhaustion gone from what she just heard.

“So this diary belonged to someone Simon knew growing up before he became a deity.”

Twilight quickly put the diary in her saddlebags before laying her head down on her bed, yet part of her fear she wouldn’t be able to sleep.

With all the information she’d been given, now more than anything she wished she’d had someone to talk about it with, but knew there was none right now. For now this was something she’d sadly have to dwell on until the next day came.

Laying back down and closing her eyes Twilight suddenly found herself on the ground. Looking around she saw four humans to her right being illuminated by a flashing red light.

“Are you all alright.” Twilight found herself speaking again.

A few of the humans coughed but they all eventually nodded standing up as she looked through a window into a room that was filled with black smoke. As she looked inside, a sudden feeling of dread and anger filled her up. Then everything froze and Twilight was suddenly pulled from her own body.

Floating up above the scene Twilight heard a voice call out to her.

“We are sorry Twilight.” Twilight quickly turned her head to find Princess Luna.

“Princess Luna, what’s going on.”

Twilight looked back down at the scene she was just pulled from.

The six humans in the dark room, illuminated by the red light stood frozen in place, four of them still on the ground and two now looking through a window.

“Twilight what you are seeing is not your dream, you have been pulled here because it was the only way for me to get in.”

Luna walked up to Twilight to explain. “Ever since the human Simon arrived in Equestria we have detected a particular nightmare appearing almost every night and have been unsuccessful in reaching it.”

“Perhaps it is because they are a different species.”

“I’m afraid that is not the reason, I’ve had no such trouble reaching the dreams of the other two.”

Luna’s horn glowed with magic as she waved her hoof behind herself and two doorways appeared. Through one of the doorways, Twilight could see Jack, who was strangely just sitting in a completely empty, black room.

“The one called Jack seems to enjoy dreaming of peace and quiet, perhaps to an extreme extent but otherwise harmless.” Luna’s gaze shifted over to the other doorway, “The one called Kat meanwhile...oh...my…”

Luna’s sputtering speech caused Twilight to curiously look over to the other door and found herself feeling a mixture of embarrassment and regret.

Within the doorway was Kat, stark naked and currently licking her way up Big Macintosh's neck as she slid her body against his, as one of her hands started to veer downward.

Thankfully, the door immediately slammed shut before anything else could happen, Luna almost bright red and taking a few breaths to calm her likely racing heart.

Twilight debated saying something, when something caught both of their ears.

“Dost thou wish to see the royal treasury?”

Looking back to the doorway to Jack’s dream Twilight could now see that he was no longer alone instead he was being held in place by the magic of a familiar blue Alicorn.

“Or wouldst thou wish to explore my royal treasury.”

The obvious innuendo wasn’t lost on Twilight now redder than before, though that was minor compared to the real Luna, completely red from hoof to mane. With a flash immediately dispelled the doors, leaving the pair once again in the quiet void of the dream world.

Twilight looked up at Luna and could see that her cheeks were very red. Luna coughed clearing her throat

“Anyways, Simon’s mind is different, like there is something missing. The reason you are here is due to the connection you’ve made with Simon I was able to link your dreams.”

With a wave of her hoof, another door appeared before the duo.“Shall we see what plagues Simon’s dreams.”

Twilight nodded looking forward as everything started moving again. Twilight watched as the four humans on the right did their best to help each other get up. On the left there were two Simons, the one she had seen the previous time and the one that she was inhabiting.

The first Simon turned to the other.

“What did you do?”

“I...I...I didn't do anything,” The second Simon stammered. The first Simon took off running into the room full of smoke.

“Wo bist du, Hedwig,” The Simon said, stumbling about the room, coughing from the smoke calling out.

“Hier drüben.” a softer voice called out causing Simon to head off in that direction. soon he had found someone laying on the ground. Simon rushed over helping the person stand up.

“Bist du verletzt,” Simon asked looking over at Hedwig. After coughing a little she finally answered him.

“I'm fine you big goofball and I told you to use English around me, I don't learn as fast as you do so I need the practice.”

Hedwig gently smiled at him and used her finger to poke his nose.

“Alright, honey.”

Simon smiled at her and the two of them shared a passionate kiss. As Twilight watched she understood Hedwig wasn't just someone important to Simon she was his wife.

“Simon, Hedwig,” Another voice called out to them.

“Over here Rolf” Hedwig called out. Soon the second Simon walked out from the thinning smoke.

“Thank goodness you're alright. I’m so sorry Hedwig, I don't know what went wrong,” Rolf spoke as he walked over and hugged both of them.

Hedwig chuckled as she sank into the hug, enjoying the warm contact.

“It’s okay to make mistakes Rolf as long as you learned…”

Twilight watched as Hedwig stopped suddenly mid-sentence, her eyes glowed a brilliant golden color before she collapsed into Simons' arms.

Twilight recognized the sign of magic poisoning and from what she read in the diary they have little to no knowledge of magic making it a death sentence.

“Rufen Sie einen Krankenwagen,” Simon shouted to Rolf before he dropped to the ground to make it easier to hold her, “Hedwig...Hedwig.”

As tears started to drop from Simon’s face the world around them started to crumble.

“Twilight we must leave Simon is waking up.”

Luna’s horn glowed and let out a flash of light and next thing Twilight knew she was waking up back on the train.

Opening the curtain Twilight could see that she was the first one awake. Using her magic to pull the diary out of her bag, she looked back and forth between it and the door into the car that Simon was in.

In spite of all that was happening, Twilight felt worse keeping it now that she knew that it belonged to Simon's wife.

Even though part of her felt that due to what she’d heard from Simon, the diary should remain with her, the guilt she felt ultimately proved stronger as she moved towards the other train car.Twilight opened the door, she could see Simon sitting on the side of his bed with his face buried in his hands with Jack and Kat both still asleep.

“Simon,” Twilight called out to him, she knew Simon was going to betray them but she also knew she should at least apologize for taking something so precious, even if it was likely he wouldn’t do the same for her.

Simon lifted his head from his hands, a smile already on his face, not a trace of sadness in spite of what Twilight had seen in his mind.

Seeing such a thing left Twilight to wonder how he could so easily change his emotions after what she’d seen in his dreams. Twilight was already almost to tears herself and she barely knew him.

“I’m sorry Simon.” Twilight floated the diary over to Simon, “I was in your lab that last night when you were staying with me. I was looking for some more information on your culture and your magic when I stumbled across this.”

Simon’s smile turned neutral taking the diary back, opening it and running his hand down the opening page, barely acknowledging Twilight’s words.

“I’m sorry, I don't know what came over me. I had Ace translate it for me and I just couldn't stop myself from continuing... so I hid it.”

Twilight looked down at the floor in shame as she sniffled and began to tear up as the room remained silent for a moment.

“So how far did you get,” Simon finally spoke, his tone even and calm.

“She had just figured out what your true name was.” Twilight hesitantly spoke, still unable to so much as look in Simon’s direction.

“And did you find what you were looking for,” Simon’s tone remained unchanged, seemingly unmoved or even the slightest bit upset with Twilight.

“No, I learned some of your childhood but it seemed like everything that it revealed brought new questions.”

Twilight’s thoughts were interrupted as the diary slid across the floor so that it was directly in front of her. Twilight finally looked up at the smiling Simon.

“Then please, feel free to read on until you find what you were looking for,” Simon said as he motioned towards the diary.

“But isn't this special to you? That's why you kept it,” Twilight asked as she hesitantly picked up the diary confused.

“I appreciate your honesty Twilight and that you brought it back when you realized how special this was to me,” Simon said with a chuckle, “But it was a very, very, very long time ago and I have committed just about every word of that book to memory.”

Simon stood up from the bed and offered the still stunned unicorn a pat on the head.

“So how about we wake everyone and get some food in us.”

Twilight was too stunned at Simon's reaction to speak so she just nodded in agreement as Simon positioned himself between Jack and Kat’s beds.

“Jack, Kat time to wake up and get some food,” Simon just barely whispered, showing no visible effort in actually trying to wake them up. And as one could expect, there was no reaction from either party.

“Well, you can't say I didn't try,” Simon said with a mischievous tone, as he reached out, touching the two beds.

Twilight watched as runes spread from his hand out onto the back side of the bed, causing the beds to shrink rapidly, sending the sleeping pair crashing to the floor and jolting them awake.

“What the fuck Simon,” Kat yelled lifting her head up from the floor.

“I just thought you two would be interested in food.” Simon laughed as he removed his hand from the beds, allowing them to return to their proper size.

Jack groaned before picking up his head and shaking off some of the soreness.

“I like food.”

“Glad to hear it,” Simon said, still smiling as he gestured towards the other car, “So, now that everyone is awake, let’s go eat shall we?”

Seeing no arguments, the group made their way out towards the door, only for Twilight to stop Jack while Kat and Simon headed out.

“You need something Twilight?

“I'm confused about something, when Simon first got here he said that as long as deities had magic they didn't need to eat or sleep, but I’ve seen Simon sleep often, so…”

“Simon said that huh,” Jack muttered as he thought to himself for a moment, “Well while Simon wasn't exactly lying u I’m sure he was just trying to be nice.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, while it's true that we're resurrected beings, we’re still living creatures just like you. So we require food, water, and rest just like any other living thing. Now deities like Simon can use magic to supplement their needs but you have to have knowledge of the chemicals in your body and its needs, otherwise you could overdose that is why most deities won't do that kind of magic without an enhancer.”

“Enhancer? What is that,” Twilight asked as she and Jack started making their way into the other car where Kat and Simon were waking everypony else.

“Well I don't know how to exactly explain it but it’s a type of equipment that helps with a range of things. Mostly they are used for more complicated types of magic because it takes longer to create strings of runes for specific effects. Though in the case of replacing meals and other necessities, the enhancer is a box that monitors your body’s needs.”

Twilight nodded doing her best to understand as the pair continued, growing more fascinated the further Jack elaborated on aspects of his world.

After waking everyone and moving to the food car they only got stopped a few times, it turns out that word of the humans had spread far and wide making them kinda like a celebrity and ponies kept stopping them to ask a question or two or for autographs. The humans took it fair enough even as ponies kept interrupting their meal.

After they ate they all returned to their car, Twilight went back to doing Simon’s training, though she was sure it was likely just a distraction he made up to keep her busy. However, for now she would continue to play along, already planning to tell the other’s what she’d learned once the group had a moment alone.

The group finally arrived in Appleloosa around noon where they decided to go straight to Applejack's cousin, Braeburn’s place, who was quick to welcome the rather large and diverse group.

“Howdy Applejack, what brings ya over to my neck of the woods,” Braeburn greeted his cousin.

“Hey there Braeburn, sorry to cut to the chase but we're in a bit of a hurry. Have you seen anything like these three humans around, there's apparently three more of them lost somewhere and the princesses hope that we can reunite them with their friends in a hurry.”

Applejack fought back a gag as she lied through her teeth about the danger the humans presented. Despite her inherently truthful nature, she also knew the potential panic such information could cause, thus opted to bite the proverbial bullet no matter how much it tore her up inside.

Surprisingly, Braeburn didn’t seem especially bothered by the unusual beings before him. Without even a hint of an issue he looked over the three humans from top to toe, thinking for any possible connections.

“Sorry cos, can't say I have,” Braeburn said with a disappointed shake.

“Shoot, thanks anyways Braeburn,” Applejack said, kicking a nearby rock in annoyance, “Don’t suppose you know where the buffalo are right now. Figure, maybe they might have seen something?”

“Well now that you mention it, I think Little Strongheart is meeting with Sheriff Silverstar today,” Braeburn said as he started walking, the others following suit, “Follow me, I’m sure that they can't be too far from here.”

“Let's split up Applejack, Spike, Simon and myself will go with Braeburn. The rest of you split into two groups each taking a human with you and ask the ponies around town if they have seen anything.” they all nodded splitting up. As their smaller group followed Braeburn they soon found the two they were looking for.

“Then it is settled, that will be the number of pies that we will have prepared for all of you.”

Silverstar shook hooves with Little Strongheart, just as the group was making their way over.

“Hey, Little Strongheart,” Braeburn called out, causing the little buffalo to turn towards them and offer a friendly wave.

“You remember my cousin Applejack and her friends?”

“Oh, from the whole squabble over our stampeding grounds,” Strongheart recognized the little drake more than the others since Rainbow Dash and Pinkie weren’t around.

“Yes and we’re sorry but we don't have much time to talk right now. The reason we’re here is we were wondering if anypony in your tribe might have spotted creatures like these three in the last day or so.”

Twilight had stepped forward to speak as she motioned to the human in the back, causing the small buffalo’s eyes to widen at the peculiar creatures.

“Well, I can certainly say I’ve never seen anything like them before. Although….” Little Strongheard pointed over in the direction outside of town, “Someone from the tribe might’ve seen them if you wanna ask, they’re just outside of town.”

Strongheart then turned back to Silverstar. “Hope you don’t mind if we pick up this conversation later, do you?”

“Not a problem, take as much time as you need.”

With a wave Silverstar headed back to town, leaving the rest of the group waiting for the others to return at the edge. Thankfully, they didn’t need to wait long as the others arrived in quick succession, and sadly with a similar lack of success at acquiring any useful information.

Thus now together, the group follow Little Strongheart outside of town towards her tribe, though among them they couldn’t help but notice the not so subtle glances the buffalo was making at the humans.

“Something wrong?” Spike asked waddling up alongside their guide.

“It’s just those...things, what exactly are they?”

“They're called humans,” Spike informed her, though her confused expression made it clear he’d need to elaborate a bit, “They’re sort of from outside of Equestria and we’re helping them find some other, really dangerous humans”

Spike’s pace almost came to a halt as he realized his slip of the tongue regarding the potential threat of the humans. And the scared look on Little Strongheart let him know things just became more complicated. .

“Wait, those things are dangerous. Why are we bringing them to my tribe then?”

“Oh no no no,” Spike stumbled to correct himself, “These humans aren’t dangerous, the ones we are looking for are.”

That didn’t seem to ease Strongheart’s concerns, still eyeing the trio of humans with suspicion as they continued on.

The group finally caught sight of the Buffalo Tribe not far in the distance, who were quick to react to the sight of the ponies or more specifically, to the sight of their human companions.

“I’m guessing this isn’t the first time you’ve seen creatures like these before?” Twilight inquired to Chief Thunderhooves, who’d been cautiously eyeing the humans much like Little Strongheart though with more familiarity.

The buffalo was quick to offer a friendly smile to the group as he nodded firmly.

“Yes, at the time we thought that they were perhaps some thinner type of minotaurs that had gotten lost. However, before we could approach them any further they headed to the west, though to where exactly I’m not sure.”

This new information left Twilight feeling uneasy as the direction the chief was pointing in was far away from any kind of civilization and by extension any possible help they could call upon.

As much as she wanted to deny it and not jump to the wrong conclusion, this was all but cementing it. Simon was going to betray them.

Yet, in spite of this she pressed forward with the group, knowing any action she took would just arouse further suspicion. Thus the only thing she could do now was play along and hopefully think of a solution.

As the group continued onwards for several more hours until much to their surprise and ever growing fear, they then came across a forest.

Applejack stared at the trees with confusion and a hint of outrage.

“The heck’s going on here? I’m not as familiar with the area as I’d like, but I know the closest forest to Appleoosa is the southern end of the Everfree Forest and that should be a couple days of walking away.“

Among the group, only Twilight could think of an explanation.

“It must be the other humans. They probably plan to separate us, just like Discord did with the hedge maze,” Her eyes turned over to Simon and the others, who all looked relatively calm about the entire situation, which only set her further on edge. “I need to keep an eye on them, hopefully once we’re in the woods I can warn the others before it’s too late.”

However, as they walked into the trees Twilight felt a chill run up the back of her neck, as if something was watching her. She turned to Simon to ask him if he felt it too but the first thing she saw was Simon quickly reaching out to her, magic flowing down his arm coating it like a second skin. She knew this was the moment of his betrayal but she didn't have enough time to stop him.

The moment his hand grabbed a handful of the mane, fur and skin at the base of her neck, time seemed to stop, memories flooding back to the incident in Simon’s lab and the rune that appeared before her.

In that single moment Twilight knew her only chance was to use the rune to break the strength magic on his arm so she could get out of his grip.

As she formed the rune in her mind, so too did it take shape and place itself on Simon’s wrist. In an instant she heard Simon grunt in pain and a loud bang as he swung her around.

There was a snapping sound and Twilight found herself flying through the air, watching the spot that she was just standing erupt with numerous spikes of ice that quickly fused together and formed a large dome surrounding everyone except for her and Simon.

Just as Twilight hit the ground something immediately slapped into her side. Looking down she saw that it was to her shock and horror, a blackened and decayed hand.

Looking back up to Simon she could see the questioning look in his eyes as he held onto his wrist, his hand missing.

“Twilight...W... ,” Simon started to speak when he suddenly stopped as an object burst through his chest.

“Poor, poor Simon, it seems that the ponies didn't trust you as much as you thought they did.”

A single glance allowed Twilight to see there was another human behind Simon, though who they were she wasn’t certain of. However, she couldn’t focus on that at the moment as there was still the issue of the object inside Simon’s chest, which was starting to move.

In a moment of surprise the object spread out into several fingers, revealing the unknown object to be a human hand. However, whatever it had planned to do was quickly halted as Simon let go of his wrist grabbing hold of the wrist of the hand through his chest and holding it firmly in place.

Oddly, in spite of being captured, the human just continued to chuckle and smirk.

“Even after you went out of your way to try and turn this ambush on us by circling around.”

Twilight could see Jack, Kat, and her friends trying frantically to break the ice that surrounded them.

“I see you’re making use of my quick regeneration.”

Simon smiled and coughed up some blood, “Oh, you know me, I find something I like and then make it my own.”

Twilight watched as a ripple of magic moved across Simon’s body.

“For example, did you know with just a few minor alterations to my DNA I can convince my cells that they are supposed to absorb foreign biomass and use it in my regeneration.”

The new human started trying to pull their hand free of Simon, only for Simon to quickly hold his hand in place with a sinister grin. “It cuts down the cost of magic by a lot.”

Twilight watched as the human continued to try and free their hand as they grimaced in pain as Simon’s blood seemed to flow from his chest wound covering both his hand and that of the other human.

By now the human was pulling furiously to get free and miraculously, with one final jerk they were finally free from Simon’s grasp. However, it was not without cost as Twilight could only stare on in horror at the now skeletal hand with only small chunks of muscle holding the bones together.

The stranger was equally horrified, putting as much distance as possible from Simon while pressing their now useless hand against their chest, struggling to stand despite the pain.

“Erma are you alright,” Another human on their left asked, though calling them human seemed a stretch given they were covered in scales and had a tail much like a lizard.

Oddly enough, the other human on the right seemed to be moving their hands around frantically without saying anything. They were smaller than the other two, just a little taller than Twilight and her friends, with a blue mane and was clad in a camouflage vest with numerous pockets.

That left the remaining human, identified as Erma, who was almost the same height as Simon, wearing plain clothing similar to Kat, with a long yellow mane and obviously an extremely damaged hand.

Simon meanwhile still seemed relatively calm, casually wiping the blood from his chest as another ripple of magic flowed across his body, closing the hole in an instant.

Now looking utterly untouched, Simon faced towards the humans calmly as Erma lifted her bony hand up in front of her face.

Without even a prompt, a large amount of red fluid covered the damaged limb, taking the shape of a proper hand before it seemed to absorb back into her, revealing a fully restored hand.

“I’m fine. “Don't forget we are dealing with the Demon of Magic. Make sure to watch your barrier, he's probably already weakening it.”

Twilight took the time to finally stand up looking to Simon and saw runes rotating on the ground at his feet flowing out from him and into the ice that held her friends captive.

”Now keep them busy I will deal with him,” Erma said to the others as she lowered into a stance.

The silent human nodded, pulling out a black metal object from a holder on their belt. There was a light click and something fell out of the handle as the human reached to their vest to pull out a similar item.

In an instant there were three loud bangs, with each burst resulting in a large circle of interlinked runes appearing in front of the object.

With a signal from the third human the reptilian stranger quickly retrieved the fallen item and tossed it into the air. The stranger quickly pulled back it’s fist causing three more circles of interlinked runes to appear.

Once the line made contact with the descending object it burst forth with tremendous speed, passing through the dome of ice without so much as a scratch yet forcing the occupants to dive for cover.

However, this proved only a distraction as the two beings quickly made their way to the dome and walked through the walls as if it were air.

Sadly, neither Twilight nor Simon could be concerned for their friends as Erma launched herself at Simon, who quickly took up his own stance. Using one hand he grabbed her wrist and placing the nub where his other hand used to be on her midsection, flipped his enemy hard onto her back.

Simon took a step back from them, placing his handless arm behind his back and holding his hand out in front of himself he waited.

“Come on Erma you can do better than that.”

Erma stood back up, taking a calming breath before they attacked again, Twilight only able to watch the two battle.

At a glance it seemed as though the two were fighting using roughly similar styles, though Erma was greatly favored by having both hands, landing blow after blow on Simon.

Shifting her focus over to her captured comrades, Twilight could only just barely see the fight as ice and other objects seemed to get launched from the dome. Yet, at a glance it seemed as Kat and Jack were giving it their all to protect the ponies.

Looking back to Simon's fight, it was not looking good as Erma had managed to land a couple of hard blows to his head making him stumble. Things only grew worse as it was clear Simon was slowing, no longer able to block or prepare a counter attack.

“I have to do something, but what?” Twilight thought to herself as more and more blood flew with each hit.

With one more hard blow to the face Simon fell to his knees. Erma smiling in victory as she grabbed Simon by his hair and pulled him up to meet her in the eye. She reached back to deliver the final blow when Twilight shouted.

“No!”

Without thinking the runes that Simon had been teaching her popped into her head. Suddenly feeling drained Twilight watched as a black spot appeared near Simon and Erma. There was a sudden force as a vacuum formed pulling everything towards the black spot.

Erma quickly tossed Simon away before she turned to the black spot, holding out her hand a ring of runes formed around it causing the vacuum to cease. Her eyes turned to Twilight a mixture of disbelief and outrage clear for all to see.

“You amateur! Are you trying to kill us all?”

The sudden shock from her words broke Twilight’s concentration, causing the black spot to vanish, revealing a small but deep crater where it had been.

“All that damage from just a few seconds?”

Erma looked between Twilight and Simon, stunned mildly by Twilight’s display yet, pushed it aside and with a wave of her hand a black spot appeared below Simon drawing him inside. She then reached down pulling a knife from her boot, throwing it to the side, burying it deep into a tree where magic rippled out from it. In an instant a door that bent and curved with the tree appeared, the handle of the knife acting as the doorknob.

“Well little pony, if you want him then come get him.”

Erma quickly moved over to the door and headed inside, though making sure to leave the door open for Twilight to follow, which she was quick to do.

Rushing through the door Twilight found herself in a room so dark she couldn’t even see her hoof in front of her own face. Thankfully, a quick light from her horn resolved that issue only for a loud click to draw her now illuminated gaze to another sudden light source. To her surprise it was a table with Erma sitting at it drinking out of a cup.

“Hello there little pony. Won’t you come and have a seat with me?” Twilight stood her ground not moving not wanting to take the chance of a trap.

“I’m not doing anything with you until you tell me what exactly you want and why it relates to Simon. Why’d you call him the Demon of Magic,” Twilight practically shouted while keeping her horn charged in case she needed to defend herself.

“Easy there little pony, I just want to talk and don't worry about Simon, he’s safe.” Erma took another drink from her glass. “Would you like some tea?”

Seeing as she had little leverage to argue Twilight approached cautiously sitting at the table, only to find she was just barely above the edge.

“Ah, sorry about that.” Erma raised her hand and snapped her fingers causing the floor under Twilight to her rise until she was at eye level with Erma. “Now about that tea?”

“I’m fine,” Twilight impatiently stated, on edge to take immediate action.

“Alright,” Erma chuckled as she finished off her own cup. “To answer your last question, in our world, demon is actually a title given to those who achieved rank one in the arena. Before Zack became rank one and Simon went on his little pacifist sabbatical he was the best fighter we had. Though I guess you wouldn't know that since the two younglings have only known one demon and Simon doesn't talk about his past. As to what I want, well I’ll just cut to the chase...I want you to join our side little pony.”.”

Twilight was taken back and confused, It must've been written on Twilight's face because Erma continued.

“You have a very strong ability in you.” Erma snapped her fingers again this time a black spot opened above the table and a black decayed hand fell out. “Do you know what this is?”

Twilight shook her head, she knew that it was Simon's hand but she had a feeling that wasn't exactly what Erma was talking about.

“That rune that you used is known as Erase, those humans that awaken with it are instantly sworn in to never use it and those that know of it are not allowed to talk about it. Do you know why.”

Twilight shook her head again.

“It is because of this.” Erma motioned to the hand on the table. “When you erase the magic inside of a deity you are getting rid of everything that is keeping them alive and their bodies begin to rot making it impossible to revive them.”

Twilight’s eyes shot up in fright and her mouth hung open, which only served to further amuse Erma.

“That's right little pony, if you’d placed that mark in a more vital spot you might have permanently killed off the smartest creator in human history. Scary to think about isn’t it?”

Erma snapped her fingers and off to the side something lit up. Looking over Twilight saw what seemed to be another window but on the other side, she could see her friends fighting alongside Jack and Kat out in the forest.

“Join us and your friends will be spared.”

Twilight turned back to Erma. “What, just betray my friends, my home, and everything that I love and care about?”

Erma in spite of the rather blunt rejection, didn’t seem the least bit bothered.

“Not exactly, we would give you domain over this world. I mean you would know it better than anyone that we could send. Yes, you would get orders from gods but it would be up to your discretion on how you carry out those orders.”

Twilight responded by slamming her front hooves on the table causing the glass to fall over.

“Enough, I would rather die with my friends than join your war world.”

In Spite of the outburst, Erma remained calm, though still stood up showing Twilight just how much bigger she still was, matched by an eerily similar large grin sweeping across Erma’s face.

With another snap of her fingers, the room lit up completely revealing something that looked very similar to Simon’s workshop.

“Then I just have one more question for you Twilight.”

Now Twilight found herself puzzled as for the first time since they’d met, Erma had opted to call her by her actual name as opposed to simply “little pony.”

“Just how long have you been in love with my father.”

“What,” Was Twilight’s only and rather loud response to a rather hefty bomb shell being dropped. Yet a loud knocking nearby prevented her from asking any further questions.

“Damn he woke up earlier than I thought he was going to,” Erma said as she moved around the table to a door. “We will talk about this later.”
When she opened it, Twilight was shocked to see Simon was on the other side.

“Daddy!” Erma’s voice temporarily took a higher octave before returning to normal.

“Hey, baby girl.” Simon said happily as he and Erma shared a hug as Simon entered the room.

“What?”

Twilight was too stunned to even move, not that it really mattered since the humans were mostly ignoring her.

“It has been far too long since our last meet up dad.”

Simon continued to smile as he looked at Erma with joy, giving her a light kissin on the forehead like one would give to a small child.

“Oh come on, it’s only been two thousand seven hundred fifty-four years, eight months, fifteen days, twelve hours, and twenty-three minutes since our last meeting.”

“Dad…” Erma groaned at his rather aloof response, giving him a playfully annoyed look. “You were missing for quite some time. You’re off by one year, thirteen days, and thirty-four minutes.”

Erma and Simon didn’t say anything at first before they both started laughing loudly, leaving Twilight more confused and now annoyed that she was being ignored. Thus figured it was time to step in.

“Okay, I’m not one to normally interrupt somepony, especially during apparently a long overdue reunion, but I’d very much like to know what the hay is going on here,” Twilight practically shouted, finally getting Simon to notice that Twilight was still half standing on the table.

“Oh, hey, Twilight, didn’t see you there.”

He then turned back to Erma. “Did you ask her yet.” Erma shook her head.

“No, I just finished testing her when you showed up.”

Again ignored Twilight stomped one of her hooves again trying desperately to finally get some answers.

“Will one of you two tell me what the fuck is going on.” Twilight tried to vent her frustration by using the swear word that she heard Kat using.

“Aw, she swore, that is so adorable coming from something so small and cute,” Erma spoke in a mocking voice one would expect when speaking to a child, which only served to irritate Twilight further.

“I just would like some of my questions answered,” Twilight stated as she tried to calm down, sitting back on her platform. “For starters, are you really father and daughter? If so, then were you really trying to kill each other, or if you are on our side what is with that conversation on the train I overheard and what questions was she supposed to ask me.”

Both Simon and Erma didn’t seem bothered by the questions, just calmly joining Twilight back at the table, giving her their full attention.

Once it was clear she was finished Erma opted to speak first. “Do you know a better way to fake a fight than to actually fight.”

That was certainly not the answer Twilight was expecting and one she honestly didn’t have a proper answer for. “So, that was all just an act? A staged fight?”

“That’s the basic idea, yes,” Simon said calmly. “As to why, the simple fact is no one in my world can know Erma is my actual daughter.”

Twilight wanted to respond by Simon was quick to cut off the question he knew was coming.

“The reason why they can’t know is connected to your last two questions.” Simon paused as Erma sat down a glass of liquid in front of him so that he could take a drink. “ Twilight there is a rebellion brewing in our world. Erma here is one of the leaders. The conversation you overheard was Erma and I planning this meeting with you as well as our plans for afterward.”

“Oh and don't worry about your friends Robert and Mikasa out there believe that we are under strict orders not to hurt the local life.” Erma quickly interrupted, which did seem to put Twilight at ease.

“Right.” Simon nodded. “Anyways, what we were planning to ask you is if you’d be willing to help us out with the Rebellion.”

“Rebellion? No, I...I couldn’t” Twilight’s voice stumbled as she tried to respond. “Sure I’ve used my magic to defend myself before, but you’re pretty much asking me to help you fight in a war. I can’t do that.”

This explanation did very little to curb Erma’s desire. “Of course you can. We’ve seen the kind of power you have. With your help, we could win this thing with as few casualties as possible even after you and your friends went and upped our time…” Erma was cut off by Simon as he raised his only hand for her to be quiet.

“Please forgive my daughter. She, like many, has suffered many losses in our world and it can cause her to behave a bit erratic even if her heart is in the right place.”.”

Erma looked away from the group but Twilight could tell that it was still a sore spot for her.

“You do not have to decide now and it is perfectly fine to say no.” Simon took another drink. “I understand what we’re asking goes beyond what would be considered reasonable, and even if you do agree we’ll make sure your Princesses agree before we take any further action.”

Despite his reassurances, Twilight was still nervous. On one hoof she did want to help them, though whether that was purely because of her good nature or her attraction to Simon was debatable, but on the other hoof, it meant that she would have to kill.

“I...I’ll think about it.” It was about the only answer she could give at the moment.

“Thank you for considering it Twilight.” Erma stood from the table. “Now onto other business.”

Twilight watched as Erma turned to a nearby cabinet and started digging around in it.

“As you know, father you have been missing for quite some time and because of this you have a fairly large amount of paperwork to catch up on,” Erma words became strained towards the end of her sentence as she lifted something up.

Turning around Twilight had to hold up her jaw at the tower sized stack of papers she was carrying, which landed on the desk with a rather loud thud.

The sight merit a sense of pity for Simon as Twilight recalled how often Princess Celestia was often brought to her wits end thanks to such heavy paperwork. However, that pity was short lived as she spotted him already halfway out the door before Erma could even get a word in.

“I better go check on Jack and Kat, talk to you later, bye” Simon quickly shouted as one long word as he shut the door behind himself.

“Damn it, dad, you get back here and do your work,” Erma angrily shouted before snapping her head to Twilight. “What do you see in him.”

The rather comical turn to such a serious conversation thankfully earned a chuckle from the purple unicorn as she thought of how best to respond.

“Well at first I couldn't stand the way he didn't take anything seriously. Really, if it wasn’t for his intelligence I doubt I would’ve had any interest in the beginning. Plus at the time I merely thought it was an appreciation for an intellectual equal. But after living with him for a whole week I started to enjoy his company and look forward to his non-serious moments.” Twilight smirked and saw a moment to joke with her. "And for another species all together he has a pretty nice…”

“Alright, I'm going to stop you right there. That's information I do not need to know about my dad.” Erma interrupted her before things delved too far. “God, no wonder you two get along. You have the same sense of humor.”

“Can I ask how you knew that I liked your father?” Twilight asked as she looked at the floor, slightly embarrassed that said information was apparently widely known.

“Not every human is emotionally stunted like my dad. Though personally, it was from how you looked at my father.”

A quiet silence fell over the two of them while Twilight stayed silent, still embarrassed over the situation.

“Well then, shall we go then.”

Erma walked over to the door that Simon just left through, which Twilight was quick to follow, only to stop when Erma’s expression became more serious.

“I feel I should warn you, there might come a time when you see a side to my father that you won't like. I hope you remember why you fell for him in the first place if that time comes.” Then she smiled. “Until then I’m rooting for you, stepmom or I guess step-pony.”

Erma started laughing as the lights went out and she threw open the door running out, leaving Twilight positively red.

Shaking her head Twilight cleared her thoughts and headed out the door. Adjusting to the lighting out there she found herself out in the Forest again.

Looking around Twilight saw all her friends standing in the area that was originally domed off, all looking otherwise unharmed while Kat and Jack were in the midst of conversing with Simon.

“See I told you we could take them,” Kat triumphantly spoke to Simon as she threw the unconscious body of one of the other humans off her shoulder followed shortly by Jack doing the same thing with the other one.

“What are you talking about, I had complete faith in your abilities,” Simon replied snarkily before leaning down and whispering rather loudly to Twilight, “No, I didn't.”

“I heard that,” Jack yelled and tried to argue further but Simon quickly cut him off.

“Relax, I’m kidding, if I didn't have faith in your abilities I wouldn't have left you two alone while I fought Erma.”

“Speaking of Erma, what happened to her,” Kat asked.

Simon sighed. “She got away but I wouldn't worry too much about…”

“There she is.”

Jack pointed somewhere behind Twilight but as Twilight started to turn to look she felt a sudden rush of air and found herself several feet away from everyone being held up.

“I’m sorry about this,” Erma whispered into Twilight's ear.

Twilight felt something sharp pressed against her throat causing all of her friends to freeze in place.

“Don't move! Do everything I say and no harm comes to this one,” She shouted to the rest of them.

“Why are you doing this,” Twilight whispered angrily, doing her best to make sure that she didn't get cut.

“Whether those two betrayed me or not I still have a mission to accomplish and I can't do it alone,” Erma spoke loud enough for the others to hear her before she whispered to Twilight, “Sorry, Twilight I gotta keep up appearances.”

Resuming her ‘evil’ persona, Erma grinned over at the group.

“Now, Kat I want you to throw those two over here for me.”

Kat gave a questioning look to Simon who nodded, prompting her to pick up and chuck two unconscious bodies where Erma was standing.

“Simon, I will have to inform Victor of your defection.”

Simon, fully aware of what was going on, simply shrugged. “If that's what you have to do.” Simon pointed towards them. “But you have to put the pony down first.”

“Of course.”

Twilight felt the blade slowly pulled away from her throat as well as a slight shift in Erma’s body then found herself flying through the air. Simon quickly moved over catching Twilight.

By the time everyone looked back to where Erma was she was gone with her companions in tow. All the ponies ran forward looking around trying to find her.

“Fluttershy let's go take a look above the trees, maybe we will be able to see them,” Rainbow Dash said quickly, preparing to take to the sky.

“Wait.” Rainbow Dash halted when Twilight yelled, ready to tell everyone there was no cause for concern. However, she quickly realized that she wouldn't be able to explain why. All eyes turned to her.

“Why should we wait, they are getting away?”

Rainbow was now in the air impatiently waiting for a response. Twilight went to open her mouth and give the first reason she could think of when Simon stepped in.

“Erma said that she can't do it alone, she needs her team and judging by the markings I saw on those two, they'll be out of commission for some time.”

Jack and Kat grinned as they nodded, clearly proud in the damage they managed to inflict.

“Besides, her mission was to obtain and bring back my body. So anywhere I go you can be sure she's not far from. The best course of action will be to go somewhere where you have the advantage.”

Twilight watched as several lines of runes sprang from Simon to each of her friends, quickly wrapping around their heads. The sight concerned Twilight for a second before they faded away, leaving the five with a look of clarity on their faces.

“He might be right darling, if we go back to Ponyville then we will know the area better than they will.” Rarity stepped up offering her opinion.

“Maybe we could set up some sort of signal that could tell ponies when danger starts happening,” Fluttershy added.

“I guess I could work with that.” Rainbow landed on the ground and joined her friends.

“We should all head home then if that's the plan,” Applejack added.

Nodding in agreement they all turned to head back the way that they came. As they walked Kat turned to Twilight.

“So Twilight, I saw that little bit of magic you put on, found your style did ya.” Kat playfully nudged the pony, much to her mild irritation.

“Honestly, I don't know, it was a spur of the moment thing. I’m not sure how I did it, I just knew that I wanted to help Simon.” Twilight looked up at Simon who seemed to be lost in thought.

“Actually I don't think the style was ever her problem,” Simon said to the pair. “From what I observed while Twilight was learning was that the magic that she harnesses doesn't have a dense enough structure to support our kind of magic.”

His explanation earned Simon several questioning glances, even from the other two humans.
“What I noticed about their magic is that it is more of a gas than a physical substance that their bodies absorbs through the air. Now if you think about our magic it's in a crystalline form making it much denser.”

“So you're saying that the reason I couldn't perform your magic before is that there wasn't enough in there to activate it.” As Twilight turned her head to look at Simon she saw a lot of confused faces. “So why was I able to do it just recently.”

“Well ,I think that is because you have already been exposed to the refined magic that was attuned to me, so when I grabbed you to move you out of the way your body automatically absorbed as much magic as it could from what it thought of as a source.”

Despite this explanation, the group ended up spending much of the trip back to Appleloosa trying to offer an easier to digest summarization. On top of that, Twilight also talked to her friends about the miscommunication and how the conversation that she had overheard was Simon trying to give them the advantage. Of course, she left out the part about Erma being Simon's daughter and the entire conversation that took place with her. Needless to say it was a good thing the trip back was rather long as the content of the explanation was quite dense.

As they continued on, Twilight started to space out thinking about that conversation, Even as they returned to the Appleloosa train station and Twilight got their cars reserved again she only participated in the most basic of conversations.

Once everypony had settled into their train car, Twilight made her way into the human's car.

“I need to talk to Simon,” Twilight mentioned as she walked in, her friends looking at her with concern at how off she’d seemed, yet chose not to voice those concerns.

Simon didn’t say anything as he saw the strangely dazed Twilight enter the car, almost as if he’d been expecting her. “Hello Twilight, do you need something?”

Twilight smiled calmly. “Could we speak alone please?” This got both Jack and Kats attention.

“Oooohhhh.” Jack smiled giving Twilight a wink before he stood up and headed towards the door.

“You go, girl, I’ll personally make sure that you two are not bothered for the next couple of hours,” Kat whispered at Twilight before she also stood up and joined Jack out the door.

“Okay, we are alone now. What did you wanna talk about?” Simon asked, giving Twilight his full attention.

“Umm well, it's about the question you asked me earlier,” Twilight opened her mouth to continue but Simon raised his hand asking her to pause. Placing his hand on the wall of the car, various runes stretched out, eventually covering the entire interior of the car..

“Figured you’d prefer a little more privacy.” Simon pulled his hand away from the wall, leaving Twilight to take a few breaths to compose herself. No going back now.

“Before anything I want to know what exactly you did to my friends earlier.” Twilight let a little bit of anger seep into her words.

“It wasn’t anything harmful I assure you. That was just a little mental suggestion to help them see things my way. I’m sorry if I crossed a line but I had to protect my daughter.” Simon seemed very calm and firm in his answer, though that did little to make Twilight feel better.

“Okay Simon, I will give you that but please don't do anything like that again.” Twilight tried to scold him but just looking at him she could see no signs of remorse for his actions.

“Of course Twilight, I don't take pride in manipulating others, I just do what I feel needs to be done.” Simon had moved over to sit down on one of the beds.

“Alright. Onto the other thing. Despite everything that happened recently, I do want to help you, I really do, but I need to know more about what is going on.” Twilight moved to sit down next to Simon.

“What would you like to know?” Simon calmly asked.

Twilight took a deep breath. “Erma told me you used to be a rank one combatant but you told me that to get higher ranks deities had to kill others, how could you do something like that?”

“Simon quietly sighed, sounding more in line with his actual age as he spoke. “You have to understand Twilight, not all worlds are like Equestria, even though I’m certain many wish they were. It was a different time back then.”.”

Twilight heard Simon take a moment to breathe as if he was about to speak of something painful. “Back then, the arena wasn't about killing, it was like a staged fight and the only goal was to make your opponent give up.”

“Then how did things get so bad in your world?”

“Simple answer, humans are a greedy species and that greed only grows when one becomes a God. Given someone enough power and it corrupts them, before long they can’t help but abuse that power. And one of those Gods decided to use his power to change how battles in the arena were fought.It was shortly after when I stopped fighting.” Simon immediately stopped himself as he quickly went back on his words. “I say I stopped shortly after but it was a couple of years after things changed that I stopped fighting willingly.”

“Can I ask why you haven't asked Kat and Jack to join the rebellion?” Twilight looked to Simon curiously.

“Well, you see it's not my decision. I’m not part of the rebellion my daughter is.”

Twilight was going to ask him why when he answered her question, “Don't get me wrong I don't like what the gods are doing any more than any of the others but as the rank one creator I am under too much surveillance to be of any assistance, and any help I provide would likely result in them being discovered. To answer your question as to why Erma hasn't asked them to join yet, they have yet to prove that they are not working for the gods. Erma is very careful to not take someone that she doesn't trust.”

“Then what about me.” Twilight was curious as to why she was asked but not two people that they have known for longer than her own lifetime.

“You are a special case Twilight,you have no connection to the gods and thus are infinitely more trustworthy” Simon reached over and patted Twilight on the head

“Oh well, thank you for talking to me Simon.” Twilight wanted to stop the conversation she had been told by the other humans that Simon didn't like to talk about the past and Twilight didn't want to press him further.

“I still don't know if I can bring myself to join your fight but I can help at least. I can set up a diplomatic meeting with the Princesses. It might take awhile before they can meet with you but it should help your cause.”

Simon nodded, he then took his hand placing it on the side of the car, Twilight watched as all the runes seemed to retract back into Simon's hand.

“So how about we work on your fourth-dimensional space.” Twilight nodded getting Simon to Stand up from the bed. “Good.”

Simon tapped his foot and runes sprang from it forming the ring of runes on the ground near Twilight. “Then shall we start where we left off.”

Twilight looked to Simon curiously. “But you said it yourself I don't have the right kind of magic to perform that on my own.”

“Well that's why I am here. I'm going to be acting as your own personal capacitor during this training.”

Simon squatted down and held out his hand for Twilight to place her hoof into. She stared at his hand for a couple of seconds hesitant after what had happened last time before carefully placing her hoof in his hand.

“Okay just let me know if you start feeling an uncomfortable pressure.” Twilight nodded and then waited after a couple of seconds she felt a flood of power through her body. As the power built up she started feeling the familiar sensation of pressure.

“Simon it's starting,” Twilight quietly said before the growing power inside of her stopped and she felt it drain just slightly.

“Alright, Twilight you know what to do next.”

Using the new found power that she felt Twilight once again drew the rune inside of the ring of runes, this time though a black spot appeared inside of the circle. The sight caused her concentration to break and the black spot to close. Though this didn’t stop her from prancing about the car like a school filly that had mastered her first spell.

“Focus Twilight, we’re not done yet,” Simon chuckled at the display

“Oh right.” Twilight stopped on the spot. “Sorry.”

“Don't be, it was a very adorable display.“

Twilight's cheeks turned red at the small display of affection before turning her attention back to the task at hand.

Placing her hoof back in Simon’s hand, she started concentrating, causing the black spot to open again. This time however, she felt adamant at maintaining her focus.

Twilight watched as another black spot opened near Simon where he finally took his hand back, placing his handless arm against her hoof. Reaching in slowly, he pulled out a large metal object.

“I have to ask, when you were fighting with Erma and I opened my fourth-dimensional space. Erma yelled at me about killing us all. What did she mean by that?” Twilight didn't look away from the black spot making sure that it stayed her main focus even while talking.

Simon moved the metal object over next to the black spot and shifted it to start sliding it in. “First, let me know if this gets too heavy for you.”

As he slid the object into the black spot Twilight could feel the weight of it evenly spread out along her entire body. However, it proved to be quite heavy, to the point where Twilight felt as though she wouldn't be able to move with its weight

“As to your question, when you first open your fourth-dimensional space it is an empty void.”

When all that could be seen as the last portion of the object Simon twisted something on it causing what sounded like a rushing of air.

“When it is first opened, you are exposing that void to the air causing it to rush and fill it in, effectively creating a vacuum that would suck in anything nearby. The ring of runes that I have been having you place your opening in is a safety ring that stops that vacuum from forming but we still have to fill that void before it becomes safe for you to use whenever you want. That's where this canister comes in. It's a simple mix of seventy-eight percent nitrogen, twenty-one percent oxygen, point nine percent argon and a mix of other gases that make up the last of it.” Simon had not removed his hand from the canister holding it in place even as his hand entered the black spot.

Twilight nodded she didn't understand everything he was talking about but she trusted Simon to know what he was doing. “Simon, it's getting really heavy.”

“Just a little longer Twilight this one is almost empty.”

After just a few minutes the sound of rushing air died down as Simon pulled the heavy object back out. The moment it was out Twilight collapsed onto the ground feeling physically exhausted from holding that weight for so long and the amount of magic she had just expended.

Simon placed the object on the ground and ruffled her mane like she was just a filly. “You did very well.” Simon stood up as another black spot opened, absorbing the container.

“Thank you, Simon. I don't know how you humans stand to use so much magic and not get tired.” Twilight stood shakily on her hooves.

“Well, it helps that we train for that exact reason. I don't know about your kind but we humans can train our magic like muscles. We use magic till we are about to die and that helps to strengthen us.”

Twilight nodded, which at the moment was about the only kind of movement she could perform. “I guess our species are similar in that regard.”

“You okay there Twilight,” Simon spoke up, noticing her sluggish movements.

“Oh yea I'm fine, just exhausted is all. I just need to rest.” Twilight turned heading to the door that leads to the other car.

“Here let me help you with that.” Simon stood up opening the doors leading to the other car for her. As Twilight entered the car Kat approached her.

“Someone looks like they had fun,” Kat smirked as they all turned to look at Twilight.

“It was definitely tiring,” Twilight lazily responded as she turned to head to her bed, the subtext of Kat’s comment flying right over her head.

“Wait, you're telling us you really did, how did Jack put it… go to the Bone Zone.” Twilight heard snickers of laughter coming from Jack and Kat.

“The what?” Twilight deadpanned.

“What Rarity is trying to say is that those two came out here sayin’ that you and Simon were knockin’ boots,” Applejack added.

“We were what?” Twilight’s exhaustion must have been getting to her mind because she wasn't able to understand the point that they were trying to make.

“They're trying to figure out if you and Simon had sex,” Pinkie Pie blurted out causing most of the ponies in the room to blush including Twilight.

“What, No!” Twilight shouted shocked, though between her apparent exhaustion and her now ruffled hair, it wasn’t hard to see how they’d think such a thing..

“Simon was just helping me refine my ability to use human magic, Twilight decided she was going to have to figure out to pay Simon back for that while also making sure to avoid any further misconceptions.

Deciding to change topics, Rarity shifted focus to still chuckling humans nearby.

“Forgive me for asking, are humans always so...open about relationships.”

“Well yes and no,” Kat answered, while Twilight took the distraction as an excuse to lay down. “Different humans have different opinions, though I have heard that since we became a dimension-hopping race humans have become a lot more relaxed about that sort of thing.”

Having already heard this before, Twilight decided to tune the group out and instead levitated the dairy over to herself and opened it to where she had left off at.

She recognized the shapes of the foreign language as she flipped to through coming to the blank pages. Turning just a couple more times she found the entries she hadn't had time to look at yet. Twilight was surprised as she took a closer look at this page, other than the first line the rest was in the human language that she had learned.

June 17, 1990.

After unpacking several boxes I have come across this old diary. I felt as though I should update with what has been happening.

In the last four years, Simon and I have graduated, got married and have been living in the U.S.A. for about a year. In other news, , I’m not sure what I want to do with my life. Simon, on the other hand, was accepted to Harvard, says he wants to help people. His main goal is that he wants to make artificial limbs just all around better than what is available now.

On an unrelated note, I haven’t heard from Rolf since our wedding. Simon says that the two of them got in a big fight before it though he won't tell me what about.

In more happy events, Simon and I also have a beautiful baby girl who has just recently turned three years old. She’s already showing signs of having her father's intelligence and has taken well to learning a second language so early on. Times are tough though with Simon going to school full time we don't have a lot of income. I have gotten a stay at home job so I can keep an eye on my little girl and we do get some support from our parents. Also Simon does some tutoring work between his classes to help so we get by. Sometimes it gets a bit lonely here but Simon’s parents said that the next time they come visit they will bring my parents along since they have never been to America before.

Twilight paused to yawn before noticing the next page had a piece of paper attached to it that looked like little foal’s style of drawing.

On it was three stick figure type humans gathered outside a house. Each figure had a label pointing to it and a color on top of its head most likely indicating mane color. The one labeled dad had red on top of it, the one labeled mom had yellow on top of it and the short one labeled me also had yellow on top of it.

The page had been attached in such a way that Twilight was unable to see if anything was underneath without tearing it, so she left it be.

Nov 14, 1990

Something really surprising happened, Rolf showed up today. It was a really big surprise to all of us, especially Erma, it must have been so weird seeing two dads.

At first, it looked like Simon and Rolf were going to start fighting but then Rolf apologized, though they still won't tell me what he was apologizing for but Simon accepted it and after some discussion, it was decided that Rolf would live with us for a while. Turns out that Rolf had become an accountant back home and talking with him had made me realize that I missed the way things used to be.

Speaking of the way things used to be, I got so used to Simon just removing the fog anytime he was around I never thought to test and see if our little girl is able to see it. I think I know what I want to do, I want to show everyone that the fog exists.

Twilight's eyes dropped heavily and she figured she was going to have to stop there.

Taking a peek at the next page before closing the book, she found it was another picture, most likely drawn by Erma as a child. This one was very similar to the first one but it had a fourth stick figure added with blue on top of it and a label that said, Uncle Rolf.

Barely able to stay awake any more,Twilight closed the book and set it off to the side she laid down to go to sleep.

Sadly, this moment of peace was brief as Twilight opened her eyes. To her surprise, she found herself floating in an empty, white void.

As she tried to orientate herself she heard distant screams of pain. Finding herself on her hooves she charged off in the directions of the source. As she grew closer she recognized the voice as Simon.

“Simon, where are you,” Twilight called out running with all her might.

Finally, she saw something off in the distance. Getting closer, she found it was indeed Simon but as she approached she noticed that he had a ring of magic wrapped around each wrist and one around his neck,forcing him to his knees.

“Simon what is going on.”

Some lightning flashed across Simons' neck making him shout in pain.

Simon lifted his head and looked surprised at Twilight. “Who are you?”