Ken stepped out of Zecora's hut an hour after receiving the cards from her. It had taken him some time to recover from the high-voltage experience, which left a lasting impression on his skin. It had turned almost a bright red and was hot to the touch, not to mention the pain that came with it.

As he walked through the forest back towards Ponyville he watched a few Timberwolves stop in their tracks and stare at him. Again, he found this relatively weird. Although, as he found himself staring back at them, he felt a sense of curiosity coming from the two.

With a shake of his head and a dismissal of the thought, he began to walk back towards Ponyville and the castle. Twilight was the first who needed to know. Celestia, Luna, and Cadence could wait to hear about this until Twilight was ready to tell them, or he was called and had to report to them. Either was possible.

Ken broke the line of the trees and looked up, watching a few birds fly by. A few rabbits and, oddly to him, a bear followed. The dots connected in Ken's mind and he watched Fluttershy follow them with a bright smile on her face. Just seeing her smile made the man's heart warmer. With a small skip to his step, he caught up to the pegasus.

"Morning Fluttershy!" He greeted her with a wave and a smile, "Everyone out for a walk this morning, too?" Fluttershy turned and waved back to him.

"Yeah. I've got a few things to do and then I'm going over to Carousel Boutique and having tea with Rarity," She told him once he was close enough, "What are you doing this morning?" Ken watched her eyes flick nervously to the Everfree Forest and back to him. All six of the Elements knew that he made visits to the forest now and again. Most of them were to see Zecora since she was proficient in potions, non-unicorn magic, and surprisingly voodoo.

"Twilight told me to run out to Zecora's to see about this deck of cards," He said. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled the aforementioned cards out, "Said something about they were interesting. And boy was she right."

Fluttershy looked at him curiously, "What do you mean?" Her head tilted to the side as she said it. Ken motioned for them to keep walking and the pegasus trotted beside him.

"As soon as I touched them, I felt like I was struck with lighting three fuckin'..." Ken paused for a moment, thinking about what he had said, "Sorry, bad habit. It felt like three lighting strikes all at once." Fluttershy looked at him, concern painting her face. "I'm okay, though. Zecora made sure of that before she let me leave." Her face softened just a bit, if that, and she turned away.

"Are you on your way to tell Twilight now?" She asked him, still looking over at him occasionally. "I imagine she'll want to know what happened." Ken nodded, sliding the cards back into his pocket.

"I don't know what it is about them, but I feel like I know these cards in some way," He said. "Had a case of deja vu when I saw them."

"Maybe they're from your world," Fluttershy suggested, smiling and waving to a couple that passed by them. This made him think for a few moments, knowing that she had to be right. If he somehow knew the cards, it made sense that they came from where he was from. Wherever that was.

After a minute or two, Ken finally responded. "That's probably the case, to be honest." He sighed, looking up at where his pegasus companion had stopped. "Anyway, I'll see you later, Fluttershy." With a wave and a farewell, Fluttershy entered the spa.

A smile seemed to stick to his face when he turned away and made his way towards the castle. He and Fluttershy had seemed to have gotten along relatively well once she had gotten to know him. That had taken some time, and once he had gotten over the whole pony thing, he found that the Elements were true to their names.

With one last thought about his time there, he opened the doors to the castle, seeing Dashed Hearts and Silent Meadow dusting paintings on the opposite side from one another. They both looked at him and bowed slightly. Ken gave them a polite nod as he walked by.

Once again, he made the climb up the stairs to the meeting room. He opened the door with the expectation of seeing Twilight at the table. For once, the Princess wasn't at her seat, rifling through a mountain of paperwork. Ken blinked a few times before looking at the clock, with a smile and a shake of his head. He closed the door and made his way up another flight of stairs. The third floor was more lavish than the first two, being where the princess' quarters were held.

The doors to her room were much like the entrance to the castle but were slightly smaller than them. In the center of it was a crystal carving of the Element of Magic's own cutie mark, inlaid with amethyst and diamond. Without much hesitation, he opened the door so as not to wake the sleeping pony. What he saw before him was one of the cutest things he had ever seen since arriving here, second to Fluttershy playing with her animals.

Twilight was sprawled half-way off the bed, the blanket holding desperately on to a wing. Despite being in what looked like a very uncomfortable position, the princess seemed to be sleeping rather peacefully. Her eyes flicked back and forth every minute or so as if looking around in her dream. Drool matted the fur around her mouth, and somehow on her nose as well. A quick look at the sheets showed that she had shifted around a lot. There were small pools of drool across the bed from where she had started.

Spike was sitting at a small desk not too far from the bed, his head resting on his arms. Slow heaving of his chest gave away his conscious state. Ken walked over to the desk and looked at the parchment that was under his arms. It was a letter that had been addressed to Shining Armor, Twilight's brother. A skim over it showed it was just a personal write asking about how they were in the Crystal Empire. He turned back to Spike and tapped him on the shoulder a few times.

"Hey. Time to get up," He said after tapping him a few more times, "It's past nine o'clock." A few more taps and the dragon stirred. With a groan, he looked up at Ken, blinking away his bleary vision. A yawn broke out of him as he sat up and stretched his arms and back.

"Morning, Ken. What's up?" He asked. After hopping out of the chair, the little dragon started to stretch the rest of his body out, pulling his somewhat toned muscles taut. After stretching, Spike looked over to his surrogate sister and put a claw to his mouth.

"Yeah, about that. I need our esteemed Princess awake. Just got back from Zecora's." He said as he pulled the cards out of his pocket yet again. He held them for his dragon friend to see and Spike's eyes sparked with curiosity. The both of them turned back to Twilight.

"Let me wake her up. She gets kinda grumpy in the mornings." Spike told him.

"Alright. If you say so."

Ken watched as Spike walked over to the sleeping princess and gently shook her shoulder. He could see the dragon's lips moving but couldn't hear what he was saying. Within moments, Twilight was rousing awake. Her eyelids fluttered open, and a yawn escaped her lips. A few moments later she flopped all the way on the floor and pulled herself upright.

"Spike, what time is it?" Twilight asked, still half asleep and blinking the sleep out of her eyes. She turned to Ken after a minute and squinted at him a little. Blinking a few more times, her eyes seemed to focus more on him. "Oh, Ken. Good morning. Uh, why are you here?"

Wordlessly, Ken held the cards he had received for her to see. Her eyes widened at them. Her horn glowed and the cards floated away from his hand. Each of them spread out from one another and Twilight inspected all of them. Her eyes flicked back and forth, one card to another. Every one of the fifty-six cards, her eyes looking almost as if past them.

This gave Ken the chance to look at the backs of the cards. All of them had the same design, as most decks did. These depicted a sword, blade down, with a dragon curling itself around it. Its' head sat just above the hilt and it stared straight ahead. Its' eyes seemed to glow through the magenta aura as if alive and watching.

Suddenly the cards flew together into one stack, the magenta aura holding them in place in front of him. Ken blinked a few times before looking up at Twilight. Her expression was hard, even for someone who had just woken up from a deep sleep. Her brows were brought down in thought as she also stared at the cards.

"Uh, what's wrong?" Ken asked her.

"There are two more cards than normal in this deck," She said as she floated a brush to start taking care of her mane, "As you're probably already aware. I'm getting a sense of magic from them even when they're levitating. It's like they resist any magic around them, it was that hard to hold them afloat.

"But what's more is that the higher number the card the more magic seems to be in them. The jokers were something else, though. The amount of magic in them is enormous, possibly more than Celestia has in reserves. I can't be sure, but I think they're special in some way." The cards stayed in front of Ken, floating there. Nervously, he finally reached out and grabbed the cards.

A sense of relief seemed to wash over him when he took hold of the cards. The only problem he had with this feeling was that it didn't feel like his own nervousness washed away, it felt like someone else had been on edge. He made a mental note to review that later.

When he looked back up, Twilight's mane was no longer a wreck and her bed was made. The drool that had stuck to her cheek was no longer there, her fur dry. The desk that Spike had fallen asleep on was neat and tidy. Twilight herself had disappeared into the bathroom, as the light from it was flowing out of the doorway.

"We need to learn more about these cards. I'm going to have you run some tests with them today." She said as she walked out of the bathroom, her face glistening. "I'll invite my captain to help with anything that may go wrong. There's still much to do."

"You sound like Celestia," Ken said, smirking at her. She gave him a huff and waved a dismissing hoof at him. With a low bow, Ken exited the princess' grand chambers.

Author's Note

Alright, so I know that it took a while for me to actually finish this chapter, but I have a lot of stuff to think about when it comes to life. I've been having some trouble when it comes to family. Anyhow, enough about me, I want to answer some reviews.

Horse in Illinois: You'll find out what they can do in the next chapter, promise.

DekaSkittalz: I want to thank you, honestly. This helped me and if you have any other recommendations on characters, I would love to hear them.

OP Omni God Emporer DOOM: You'll see.

Tears Sun: I'm glad you're enjoying it!

Now then, thank you all for reading, and I hope you all look forward to the next chapter!

May inspiration light your paths,
Leon