Warning, friendship may result in headaches

Authors note

Woah,  that last chapter was longer than anticipated,  it was a doozy,  right?  A doozy of a doozy,  some might say.

Well,  I can't say I'm saddened by that,  I aim to make this relatively long,  one thing I hate is reading a fan fiction I like and having it,  well,  end.

Anyway,  this will probably change by the time this chapter is finished,  but as of beginning to write this,  I feel like horseapples.

BUT,  watching family appreciation day has made me decided to tough it out for the love of all things pony!

As you probably recall,  Crimsonlight was struggling with friendship,  mostly from Rainbow Dash,  who he provoked into a fit of pouting,  and Pinkie Pie,  who terrifies him.

So,  without further delay,  for better or for worse,  chapter 3!

        "No thank you,  Pinkie Pie."  I pushed her cupcake out of my face.  Which I noted in the back of my mind would make fantastic shrapnel,  note to self,  relay the following message to either of the Princesses.  Contact Pinkie Pie for a deadly deadly cupcake recipe.

        "Come on,  just a little nibble!  They're going to go cold!"  She rebuked,  pointing to them and pushing them nearer to my face.  Somehow I doubted they were going cold,  ever.  But still,  she wouldn't let up,  she was a persistent wizard indeed.

        "I had a...large feast at Canterlot before I came here,  I'd love to but I can't.  Sorry."  I struggled to think of a lie,  it was probably obvious,  but somehow,  I wasn't too worried about her calling me on it.

        "Okay,  more for me!"  She exclaimed,  pressing down on her right hoof back hoof,  which caused her mouth to fling open and her head to tilt back.  She then tilted the tray back,  the cupcakes slid down into her stomach,  devoid of chewing.  All save for one,  with what appeared to have an eraser protruding from it,  which she took off the tray and held in her other hoof as she had her feast.  "I'll save this one for you!"  She held it up,  causing me to nod fearfully and gulp,  she was an intimidating wizard,  an intimidating wizard indeed.

        "Can't wait."  I feigned enthusiasm,  as Applejack cantered over to me,  earning my gratitude at changing the topic.

        "So,  what exactly was all the weird stuff about my accent and my element about earlier?  All I got from it was that Rainbow didn't like it one bit!"  She snickered,  pointing to Rainbow who hovered down beside her looking annoyed at her bringing it back up.

        "Heh,  that.  Well,  I decided to challenge myself and try to deduce who had what element out of you,  Rarity and...Pinkie."  I shuddered slightly saying that.  "I got it right,  guess she didn't like that."  I winked at the cyan pegasus,  who had taken from pouting to grinning a determined grin.  A welcome change,  in my mind.

        "Yeah?  Just wait until we race."  She smirked,  proving herself to be the competitive pony she obviously was.

        "Well whatever way,  all that deducing stuff from earlier was pretty cool!  Looks like we have a real detective on our hooves!"  Applejack tittered,  pronouncing the word 'deducing' as if it had two O's and an S.  Still,  a compliment is a compliment,  regardless of difference in accent.

        "Thanks.  It pays off in my line of work,  so I decided to develop to develop an interest in it."  The nice little ego boost was almost a counterbalance for the forced social interaction.  Almost.

        "Speaking of.  How about you tell us all a little more about your 'line of work'"  Miss Sparkle asked,  still wanting to know more,  I couldn't blame her,  I was the guest at her house after all.

        "Eh...I don't really like talking about my work."  A lie,  of course,  I loved talking about my work.  Just,  not to other ponies.  I found the mirror to be a much more sensible conversational partner.  I'm not crazy.

        "Awww come on!  You never really told us what you do!  Please,  enlighten us!."  She pleaded again,  obviously not going to let this go without a fight,  and judging by the way her friends had gathered around ready to listen intently,  neither would they.  And to be honest,  I wasn't in the mood for that,  let alone a fight with her friends too,  as they would probably back her up.  Eh,  it can't hurt.  They are the elements,  after all.

        "....Fine....But I'm not going into detail,  okay?"  They all nodded,  happy with whatever they were getting.  Well,  Miss Sparkle seemed a little downtrodden,  as she was obviously the most curious of the group,  but her interests seemed to be sated nonetheless.  "We deal with the more serious problems,  guards deal with civilian riots,  angry ponies acting foalishly.  We deal with dragons,  manticore,  hydras,  the fun stuff."  I proudly said,  as Felicity came out from her hiding place in Fluttershy's hair to leap atop my head,  nice to see he cared about his owner's wishes of his head not becoming a bed.

        Fluttershy seemed shocked by this.  "You have fun fighting?"  Not seeming to be able to wrap her head around the joy I get from kicking a dragon into next week.  Rainbow seemed to be enthralled,  and Spike had swallowed fearfully when I mentioned dragons.  "How can you have fun hurting all the creatures?"

        "Well...I only have fun because I know that I'm helping ponies!  If it wasn't for us there would be a LOT of rampant dragons running around the place."  I said,  being forced to think on my feet,  which apparently didn't work,  because as soon as I had seemingly fixed the problem with Fluttershy,  Spike seemed to become a bit frightened once more.  Why did I have to say dragons?  "Don't worry,  only giant,  fire breathing winged ones.  You're fine."  I winked at him,  trying to settle him by differentiating him from the dragons I fought as much as possible.  It seemed to work,  as he breathed a sigh of relief,  as did I,  seeming to settle any questions,  par one over curious cyan pegasus.

        "Have you ever got hurt?"  Rainbow piped up with something I believe to be an obvious question,  but one must never underestimate the Rainbow Dash.  Despite the obvious questions,  all of the elements and spike were still intently tuned in,  overly curious about my job.  I can't really blame them,  if a pony walked up to me and claimed to be part of a secret dragon fighting organisation I would....well I wouldn't care,  because I am too.  But if I was a normal pony it'd be cool.

        "Yeah.....Pretty regularly...But I use my small size and agility to my advantage,  so any hits they do get on are only grazing blows.  But sometimes I kind of just have to put on a brave face and deal with it,  y'know?"  I responded,  not realizing the folly of my words until they had left my mouth.

        "Oh yeah,  I totally get it."  She gloated untruthfully,  floating in the air as if she were laying down.

        "You get it?"  She nodded in response.  "You've been attacked by manticore and hydra and understand what it's like to take a hit from one of them?"  She nodded once more,  avoiding eye contact.  Obviously lying.

        "Yeah,  Totally!  Remember that time I took the hydra down Twi'?"  She turned to her friend,  'Twi'',  looking for some form of backup.

        "Rainbow,  we had to run from that hydra,  and you weren't even there!"  The purple unicorn giggled at the deflation of her friend.  Who turned away at the discovery of her,  oh what am I saying,  everyone already knew.

        "Heh,  come on,  you expected me to believe that in the first place?"  I mused,  poking fun at her as everyone giggled along at it.  She seemed to take in in good jest,  laughing along to,  which was good,  because the last thing I need is a random pony throwing herself at a hydra to prove herself to me.  Not again.

        "Yeah yeah,  whatever."  Rainbow chortled.  "Have you ever gotten a pony hurt?  You know,  by accident?"  She said,  to change the subject.  She did,  but I doubt she would have so readily if she had any idea of the memories she was bringing back up for me.  My mood and expression instantly dropped as I replayed the events in my head.

        You see,  as I have previously mentioned,  I had a squad mate in the past.  That's why I'm so averse to friendship.  I've always been a reclusive pony,  but this just intensified it.  It had been a pretty slow week,  no signs of,  well,  anything,  so we decided we could waste some time,  we figured nothing would happen,  so there was no real reason to stick around and wait to see if any of the on duty ponies needed help or backup,  turns out we were wrong.  Whilst goofing off with my friend,  apparently a normal assignment went pretty sour for a squad of ponies,  and because I was busy with nothing,  it took word a while to reach me,  apparently the dragon was headed towards Trottingham,  my friend had gone off elsewhere and I was taking a nap,  so in my haste I sped off alone.  Trottingham wasn't too far,  but it still took a while to reach it,  despite the fact I had neglected to take a nice,  luxurious carriage.  But the dragon was a while away,  so I managed to reach it before the dragon,  I sped off towards where it supposedly was and managed to head it off.  But because it took me so long it was still pretty close to town,  and even closer to the trading routes.  I managed to take the dragon out,  but in the ensuing battle a single trade caravan got caught up in the dragons flames.  Whilst I managed to save Trottingham,  I didn't manage to save that one pony,  and throughout a portion of the battle I had to listen to his screams of agony as flames enveloped him,  scarring his appearance permanently and destroying his livelihood.  All thanks to my laziness.  So yes,  Rainbow Dash,  I had failed at the one thing I devoted my life to.  Yes,  I had let that pony down.  And yes,  I had hurt somepony.

        "No."

        "Oh.....Okay then."  She awkwardly breathed out,  quite obvious she had hit a vein as my voice had become gritty with more than a hint of anger.  "Hey,  Pinkie.  Did you bring any cool games?"  She turned to Pinkie to avert the awkwardness.  Lovely,  we get to see the games this maniac brought.

        "I brought a ton Dashie!  All in the party cannon!"  She giggled as I wondered what manic contraption the party cannon was.  Unfortunately I got my answer as she reached over to her right,  stretching her body to drag a light blue cannon with flowery pink wheels from nowhere.  I would have been more externally shocked and terrified but I was too annoyed.  But take relief in the fact that I was screaming on the inside.  Even more so after she pressed a short length of rope,  that would normally be lit but was apparently a secret button (or she had hooves of fire,  which sadly may be correct) on the top of it,  covering the room in party decorations and filling it with party games.  At this point all the alarms were going off,  space travelling wizard ponies,  cannons,  overuse of the colour pink,  bad day.  "What do you guys wanna play first?"  Pinkie asked cheerfully,  happily oblivious to the fact she was probably an ancient god of war.

        "Ooooh,  a game of pin the tail on the pony sounds fun!"  Miss Sparkle interjected,  motioning over to the poster of a pony on the wall that was flung there by the 'party cannon',  levitating the pin with the tail out of the poster onto a nearby table.  "Who wants to go first?"

        "I'll go!  Oh I do love pin the tail on the pony!"  Rarity leapt forward,  magically tying a blindfold around her head.  "Okay Rainbow Dash,  spin me,  but please do be.."

        "Got it!"  Rainbow said,  sped around her in a multi coloured tornado as I heard Rarity shriek in surprise.  When the hasty cyan pegasus was done,  she darted off,  looking pretty dizzy herself,  to pick up the pin from the table to give it to Rarity.  Who took it from her hooves,  staggering back and forth trying to stay upright.

        "Careful about my mane..."  The fashionista giggled with her friends,  readjusting her mane.  She put the pin in her mouth and wandered around in a haze for a while,  staggering back and forth to try and guess the correct direction to the pony poster on the wall,  whilst trying to keep a good posture,  and failing in an admittedly amusing way.  She eventually settled on a direction,  having great trouble putting one hoof in front of the other towards her goal,  sticking the pin where she thought the ponies tail to be.  She then lifted the blindfold and peaked from under it as she heard her friends laugh.  As she saw that the pin had been stuck not only not on the tail,  but in the wrong wall.

        "Haha!  Maybe next time sugarcube!"  Applejack laughed as Rarity set the blindfold on a nearby table.  Felicity then leapt from my head and up to the pin,  pulling it from the wall and scampering over to the poster and inserting it into the correct position.

        "Ooooh,  good job,  girl!"  Fluttershy petted Felicity as she ran over to leap atop her head and rejoin her animal friend,  Angel.  Good,  that's one less critter on my head.

        "How about you,  Crimson?  Do you want a turn?"  Twilight asked,  trying to include her grumpy house guest.  She levitated the blindfold into my hoof,  which I stared at in a mixture of disapproval and annoyance.

        "No thank you.  Party games aren't my thing."  I mumbled,  levitating it back over to the table.  They all looked at me in confusion,  as if they'd never seen a pony who didn't enjoy party games before.  Well,  apart from Pinkie Pie,  who looked like I had just cursed her ancestors and spat on their graves.

        "What do you mean party games aren't your thing?  They're everypony's thing"  She squealed in my face in disapproval,  pulling my face close to hers.  Oh no,  I smell an intervention.

        "It's kind of hard to make party games your thing if you haven't been to any parties."  I replied,  trying to explain to her plainly to calm the situation and get some alone time.  Apparently somewhere along the line that plan went horribly wrong and I had doomed myself.

        "YOU'VE NEVER BEEN TO A PARTY?!?!"  She screamed in my face,  so close our noses were touching.  Wow,  this one had a dedication to partying.  Then again she does have a party cannon.  That I know of.

        I pushed her face away casually.  "You know,  these things work just fine."  I motioned to my ears,  which were still ringing slightly at her vocal assault.  Seriously,  I've heard manticore that would hear that and immediately bow assuming it was the leader of their pride.  She could make a mix tape with a cat being electrocuted.

        "WHY HAVE YOU NEVER BEEN TO A PARTY?"  She persisted,  refusing to lower her tone and continuing to sound offended.

        "I just...never wanted to."  I replied,  not knowing how deep my hole was or that I was digging it deeper.  With a shovel larger than Equestria itself.

        "You have to play now!  Come on,  somepony blindfold him!"  She began to push me forward as everypony involved took a break from laughing at our exchange to give each other a few awkward glances,  not wanting to forcefully put a blindfold on a grumpy pony from a group of secret guards.  Surprisingly it was Fluttershy who picked up the blindfold from the table and began to walk forward to me,  I had now been pushed into the middle of the room and Pinkie Pie had her arms wrapped around me to ensure I stayed put.  And what a deadly vice it was.

        I knew it wouldn't actually be too hard to stop Fluttershy,  all I had to do was ask her nicely or maybe say she was hurting my feelings.  "Hey,  could you like,  not put that on me please?  Thanks."  I asked in the nicest voice I possibly could at that moment,  it seemed to work,  stopping her in her tracks.

        "Don't listen to him Fluttershy!  PUT IT ON HIM!  I CAN'T HOLD HIM MUCH LONGER!"  She said,  struggling to keep me down,  which was weird as I was perfectly still.

        "Oh...Do I have to?  He just said he didn't want me to.  I don't think it's fair."  She whispered out,  looking at the blindfold,  then to Pinkie then to me.  I almost felt sorry for the poor thing.  Something I hadn't quite delved into,  Fluttershy had the amazing ability to make you feel guilty for no real reason.  If she presented me with Pinkie's burnt cupcakes and told me she'd been working hard to make them and hit me with some puppy dog eyes I would have probably had to eat them or leap off a cliff.  She'd make a pretty good negotiator.

        "Fluttershy!  Come on!  Hurry up!"  She tightened her vice like grip,  which was still more like being cuddled by a pink marshmallow.

        "Okay,  you can stop that."  I said,  floating her into the air with my unicorn magic which seemed to amuse her as she pretended to fly.  It must have sucked for her when her impromptu run as a pegasus was cut short by me putting her down.  "No thank you Fluttershy,  I'm fi-"  I was cut short by something I didn't expect.  A small squirrel backed up by a bunny leapt from behind Fluttershy,  grabbing the blindfold and standing before me trying intimidate me.  "....Cute,  but no thanks."  I responded,  leaning down and petting Felicity's head.

        "Awww c'mon,  ya might like it!"  Applejack spoke up,  trying to urge me to try.

        "Yes darling!  It's great fun!"  Rarity added,  still adjusting her hair from her turn.

        "It's awesome!  Like me!  But not as much,  still,  pretty awesome!"  Rainbow chimed in,  with her usual tone of modesty.

        "Yeah!  You should totally try it!"  Spike stepped in,  raising a claw encouragingly.

        "What could it hurt?"  Miss Sparkle finished up,  smiling.

        I turned to face Pinkie,  who now had a huge grin on her face,  that said enough.  I looked at the critters,  who held their ground,  looking ready to pounce.  I turned my gaze to Fluttershy,  who didn't shy away for once.  "I think they're right,  you should at least try it."  She said in a stern tone,  well,  stern by her standards,  which is pretty darn stern for a mouse and other forms of tiny animal life.

        "....Fine.  Hit me with the blindfold."  I gestured to Felicity and Angel,  who without any hint of a stutter,  with pretty expert precision,  jumped up with either side of the blindfold clutched tightly,  wrapping it around my head before meeting each other on the other side and tying it tightly.  "Did you two practice that beforehand?"

        "Hit it,  Dashie!"  Pinkie Pie screamed,  as I heard Dash ready herself for take off.

        "Waaait a second,  if I have to play,  I'm going to spin myself around."  I smirked,  wrapping myself in lightning magic and making myself spin around incredibly fast on the spot as I heard the onlookers gasp.  That's the kind of reaction I was looking for.

        "How did you do that?"  I heard the element of magic gasp,  followed by some hurried page turning.

        "Well,  I can use my lightning magic to make myself move fast,  it's the same principle for making myself spin really fast.  There's just no real point to do it,  all it really does is leave me open to attack....and dizzy.....very dizzy.....Pin?"

        "Oh,  right,  here you go."  She responded,  retrieving it with magic and sliding it along the floor into my hoof.  I picked it up amidst staggering and put it in my mouth.  I stumbled back and forth for a few seconds,  silently cursing myself for not letting Rainbow spin me around,  I probably wouldn't have such an urge to say goodbye to my lunch if I had let her.  Then again my lunch consisted of some cupcakes made in a volcano,  so maybe that wasn't so bad.  After a little bit of wobbling around the place I started walking towards where I thought the poster was.  I firmly placed the pin in what I thought was the correct location,  amongst a chorus of laughter I lifted my blindfold.  Turns out I got the right wall,  and even hit the poster.  Directly in....the eye.

        "See?  That wasn't so bad wasn't it?"  Pinkie Pie exclaimed,  stepping next to me and pointing at the poster of the pony.

        I looked at her and back to the poster before letting out a little laugh and replacing a good deal of my fear for Pinkie with respect.  "Guess not."  There was still a good deal of fear though.

        We spent a while after that playing various party games,  talking,  joking,  all the usual stuff.  And yes,  I did say 'we',  as even I joined in at intervals.  I was actually having fun for the first time in a while that didn't involve beating up a dragon,  as a matter of fact it involved playing party games with one!  It was nice actually hanging out with ponies I didn't order around,  I found myself thinking that I could maybe even make a habit out of this 'social interaction' thing.  Later that evening,  Spike,  well,  puked a letter.  An ability I didn't know dragons had.

        Miss Sparkle rushed over to look,  but upon going to grab it from him,  Spike moved it away from her hoof.  "Spike?  Give me it here,  it could be an important letter from the Princess regarding Crimson!"  She said with urgency in her voice as he stared at the seal.

        "It is about him.  The seal says it's TO him."  Spike pointed to the seal as Miss Sparkle examined it.

        "You're right,  well...Here you go Crimson,  you have a letter from the Princess!"  She levitated it over into my hoof as I looked at it curiously and with a slight hint of fear.  Had this ancient danger actually come back?  After spending time with these ponies,  dragon,  squirrel and bunny respectively,  I had an even larger inclination to not let them get hurt.  I know,  right?  It caught me off guard to not have a heart of total stone too.

        I slowly unravelled the letter as the rest watched in anticipation,  Felicity and Angel leapt atop my head to get a better view.  The letter read as such.

Dear Crimsonlight.

I hope you're enjoying yourself in Ponyville,  I know it is a very sudden and large change,  as you've no doubt never met ponies like the elements before,  but unfortunately this is not a social letter,  this is business.  I'm writing to you to tell you that some guards encountered a disturbance in the Whitetale woods whilst looking for a carriage which I'm sure you had nothing to do with.  They failed to locate the disturbance,  but reported hearing some low growling sounds.  Needless to say,  they came home and we're still a carriage down.  It is up to you whether you inform the elements of this danger,  but whatever you do,  please be careful,  this may be nothing,  but remain alert.

Princess Luna.

        "So,  what's it say?  What does Celestia want?"  Rainbow Dash lurched forward trying to get a peak at the parchment in my hand as I moved it away.

        "It's not from PRINCESS Celestia."  I said,  careful to underline the Princess part as I continued to swipe it away from her prying hooves.

        "Then who's it from?"  Miss Sparkle tilted her head quizzically,  obviously used to getting letters from the Princess of the sun,  being her protege and all.

        "Luna."  I said,  internally proud I remembered to leave out her title.  "It's....It's nothing,  just a standard check up.  All that formal nonsense."  I flung it onto a table,  deciding not to tell them for fear that Rainbow would lead Pinkie on a search party into the surrounding area.  And that's the last thing I needed.

        "Booooriiing!"  Rainbow shouted,  putting a hoof in her mouth a miming vomiting.  Her antics were much to my relief as this confirmed she would be leading no search parties.

        "You know what's NOT boring?"  Miss Sparkle said,  grinning ear to ear.  "Stargazing!  And it's dark outside now,  so we can go up there and took a look!"  She wailed in joy,  prancing up stairs in a most fancy of fashions.  Rainbow didn't seem to agree,  slouching her shoulders at the thought of standing,  well,  hovering still.

        Everypony proceeded upstairs,  following a bouncing element of magic,  a method of movement normal used by Pinkie Pie.  By Celestia's mane,  it's spreading.  We arrive at the treebrary's balcony,  which had a telescope set up pointing at the night sky.  The over excited purple unicorn took a gaze through the telescope herself,  before pulling her head away and enthusiastically turning to her friends.  "So,  who wants to go first?"  She smiled,  obviously wanting more to get her friends involved than do this herself.  Unfortunately for her,  nopony looked really interested.  Pinkie was just staring wide eyed at the sky,  Rainbow looked more like she wanted to fly up there and catch a star herself,  which I had to be ready for,  Spike,  Felicity and Angel were nowhere to be found,  they probably left to go to sleep,  and Rarity and Applejack just looked plain disinterested.  This left Fluttershy,  who stepped forward out of what I believe to have been politeness.

        "I'll have a look,  Twilight."  She smiled,  slowly stepping forward.

        "Great!  Let me just adjust this a tiiiiny bit.  There you go!"  She said,  moving it ever so slightly and stepping aside to allow the timid pegasus to look through.

        Fluttershy peeked through the telescope for all of 10 seconds before pulling away and saying.  "That was fun Twilight,  thank you."  In an insincere tone to be polite,  this didn't get past anypony,  let alone the pony she was trying to fool,  who looked disappointed to say the least.

        "Ugh,  anypony else want a go or can I pack this thing away?"  She sighed in dismay at her failed attempt to provoke a common interest between her and her friends.  Fortunately for her,  I had a slight interest in this anyway,  and decided to be the one to make the kind gesture for once.  This truly was a night of firsts.

        "Hey,  I like stargazing.  I'll give it a go."  I stepped forward,  adjusting the telescope magically myself.

        "You stargaze?  Why didn't you mention it before?"  Miss Sparkle asked as her face changed from one of disappointment and annoyance to a relieved joyful look.

        "Not much else to do in the palace."  I smiled and nodded at her as I looked through at the night sky,  shocked by what I saw.  It was obviously the same night sky,  but somehow much,  much prettier.  The night sky looked like a beautiful mixture of indigo and black,  dotted with shiny white stars looking almost strategically placed to further extenuate the sky around it.  I didn't have any other reason to why the night sky had suddenly got a new surge of life,  but I could only attribute it to the return of a certain Princess of the moon.  After a few moments of looking at the reinvigorated night sky,  I pulled away.  "Wow.  I don't remember it looking like that,  you should all really take....a...look..."  I turned my head to realize I wasn't talking to anypony at all.  They had all apparently crept away to bed whilst I was looking at the night sky.  I expected this of...well,  everypony,  but even Miss Sparkle had left too.  How long was I looking?

        Either way,  I decided I wasn't done looking.  But was rather hungry.  With that idea in mind,  I crept away from the balcony and downstairs,  to find something to eat.  Most of the party treats that had been brought had been promptly consumed,  mostly by Pinkie,  well,  except for a certain ash covered cupcake.  Which sat on the table,  taunting me.  I walked past it and silently into the kitchen to look for any remaining food,  I found a half eaten bag of chips laying on the counter,  left there by Rainbow Dash,  if I remember correctly.  I picked them up and left for the telescope,  eager to get a more prolonged look at Luna's sky.  I was walking back upstairs when I heard some fumbling around on the balcony.  This worried me,  it could be a curious element of harmony,  deciding to take a look,  but it could be the danger Luna alluded to.  I presumed all of the elements asleep,  and decided to take no chances.  I laid the bag of chips at the top of the stairs and got my horn at the ready,  creeping slowly around to the balcony to confront the intruder.  I reached the corner of the wall,  and with a deep breath.  Turned and pointed my horn at the danger.

        "Gyaaah!"  Shrieked a very surprised element of magic,  who was lay down on the balcony with a book sprawled out in front of her.  "What's wrong with you?!"  She adjusted the volume of her voice as to not risk awakening her sleeping friends.

        "Miss Sparkle?  Sorry....I uh....Heard something up here.  I thought you went to sleep."  I scratched the back of my neck awkwardly,  magicking the bag of chips down and sitting next to her.

        "Everypony else is asleep,  but I had just left to find a book."  She explained,  still wide eyes,  motioning to the book she had knocked over in her shock.

        "Heh...Sorry about that,  Miss Sparkle."  I replied formally,  still addressing her as 'Miss' as this was,  after all,  her residence.

        "Why do you keep calling me Miss Sparkle?"  She questioned me,  apparently not used to such a formal greeting,  not surprising as for the last part of her life she had lived in a village where everypony know each other on first name basis.  So she had limited formal interaction,  par addressing either of the Princesses of course.

        "Well...This is where you live,  It's only respectful to call you as such."  I walked over to the telescope readjusting it back to how it was.

        "You don't have to.  Miss Sparkle was my mother,  Twilight is fine."  She nonchalantly said,  causing me slight relief.  As much as I had become accustomed to formal interaction,  I didn't really like it in most cases.  In others it felt wrong not to use it,  such as royalty,  excluding Blueblood of course.

        "Sure.  I'm just happen this didn't happen at Rarity's house.  What would I have called her,  Miss Ty?"  I giggled,  taking another glance through the telescope,  turning it towards Canterlot.  Which looked picturesquely beautiful perched on the mountainside from here.  I envy for Ponyvillians for being able to look up and see that on a whim.

        "Haha.  So,  Mr Light.  How long have you enjoyed a hobby in stargazing?"  She tried to provoke a conversation,  good thing she took the lead,  as much as I considered myself to be 'making progress'.  My topics expanded to the mountainous highs of 'So why are you purple?' and 'What's the deal with the pink one?'.

        "Hard to remember.  I just picked it up one day and it seemed like a decent way to pass the time.  My days are kind of a blur of the same stuff,  so I can't really pinpoint with that much accuracy.  How about your hobby?  How long have you been into reading?"  I asked,  pointing to her book,  which seemed to be on a page about how to improve one's ability to teleport.  An ability I had never really had much reliance on due to being a lightning pony.

        "Since I was a little filly.  I've always had an interest in books!"  She perked up at the mention of what was quickly becoming apparent to be her favourite past time.

        "What's that book about?"  I asked,  knowing I'd probably at least read something very similar to it.  Reading wasn't exactly a hobby,  but I had a LOT of downtime in the palace,  so I occasionally found myself wandering into a library,  that wasn't in a tree,  and reading whatever I saw first.

        "This is 'advanced unicorn magic and it's origins.'  It's a really good book to read if you wanna pick up a tip of two!  It even has descriptions of some of the most well renowned unicorns throughout Equestrian history!"  She spared no detail,  this obviously being her 'turf' so to speak,  turning a page and pointing at a bearded unicorn.  "For example,  this is -"

        "Starswirl the Bearded."  I finished her sentence happily.  Having heard of this particular unicorn before.

        "You know of him?  Well,  of course you do,  you do live in Canterlot palace after all.  What's it like having access to the entire library 24/7?  I never actually lived in the palace so I had to make do with other sources."  She had calmed down slightly,  but was still nearly jumping with joy at having a discussion partner on this subject.

        "It's nice,  but I didn't read about him,  or hear about him,  for that matter."  I smiled,  glancing at his picture in the book.

        "Oh?  Then how do you know about him?"  She edged before me,  ever curious,  I could tell she had a great deal of respect for the unicorns who shaped magic as it is today.  It's no surprise Princess Celestia chose her as a protege.

        I leaned in close and said in a hushed voice.  "I know one of his descendants."  This nearly caused her to leap among the stars herself,  but she contained herself for the sake of her slumbering friends and settled herself down.

        "Really?  What's he like?  What's he DO?  How do you know him?  Oh,  what's his name?"  She seemed overwhelmed by the idea of being brought one step closer to one of her heroes,  and I was only too happy to give her answers.

        "He's pretty cool,  very into his work,  as you would expect."  She nodded along with this vigorously,  hanging on my every word.  I continued.  "He's a higher up at the magical university,  never does any teaching,  I think he does research.  I met him one day whilst walking through the palace gardens,  he noticed I had a book titled after his great grandfather,  and we had a little conversation.  And his name is Aurora star the bearded.  Though the beard hasn't come in quite as well as Starswirl's yet."  I joked,  pointing to Starswirl's aforementioned monster of a beard,  it was truly a force of nature.

        "Wow,  I never even knew about him.  That's cool!  It must be great to live in the palace!"  She giggled along,  I myself was pleasantly surprised with how social I was being.

        "Well....It can get kind of lonely,  but it's pretty nice honestly."  I said as she let out a yawn,  shutting her book and standing up.

        "You don't have to be lonely any more!"  She said cheerily yet very drowsily,  she had obviously been up all day in anticipation for this stargazing thing.  And whilst she didn't get what she bargained for,  with her friends not wanting to do it at all,  I was happy to take their place and have a chat with her,  giving her a fulfilling end to her day.  Who knew,  do nice thing and you feel nice,  weird.  "I'm just about ready for bed,  you coming?"

        "Nope.  I was sent here to guard you Mis-"  My near mistake was corrected by a stern look.  "...Twilight...So I will."  Whilst she approved of me addressing her informally,  she wasn't so happy about me shirking my sleep duties.

        "It must have been a long trip from Canterlot,  you need sleep,  or else how can you guard us?  Look?"  She waved a hoof out at the border of trees surrounding the treebrary.  "Not a hint of danger in sight,  however if there is in the morning and you don't sleep now,  you won't be as prepared to deal with it."  She rationalized,  much to my dismay,  everything she said was true.  I grumpily got up,  convinced sleeping was the best course of action,  whether I liked it or not.

        I walked inside with Twilight,   magically folding up the telescope and placed it indoors,  then closing all the windows and the doors to the balcony with but a thought and a shiny horn.  I love being a unicorn.  "Safety first."  I smiled,  before finding another mattress laid out on the floor.  "Wow,  this looks comfier than the one in the barracks."  I pushed down on it with a hoof,  my hoof sank deep into it without much pressure confirming it's comfort,  I lay down slowly on the inviting bed,  laying my head against it and giving out a relieved yawn myself.

        "Heh,  have a good sleep on it then.  Goodnight,  Crimson."

        "Thanks,  you too,  Night Twilight."  I said,  laying my head on the mattress,  closing my heavy eyes and being sent off to sleep in no record time.  I had a pretty pleasant dream too,  no visions this 'danger' Luna talked about,  no nightmares,  no waking up in cold sweats.  One that I only wish could have gone on for a little bit longer,  as I found myself being stirred from my slumber by an ever timid Fluttershy,  which confused me,  of all the ponies to wake me up,  she was easily the worst for the job.

        "Erm...could you please wake up now?  You're help is...uhm....needed..."  Fluttershy whispered timidly into my ear,  nudging me gently with her hoof.

        "Noooo,  I'm tired.  Wake me up later,  I don't care what Pinkie's done."  I responded putting a hoof in front of her face to silence her,  rolling onto my side to block her out.

        "Oh no,  it's quite serious.  You really sho-"  Fluttershy was interrupted by a very panicky sounding Twilight Sparkle.

        "Step aside Fluttershy!"  She screamed as I turned and saw Fluttershy leap away,  and a magically levitated bucket of water tilt to dump it's contents directly onto my face.  This had the same effect that it had when Steelhoof did it,  sending red lightning randomly surging into different directions,  fortunately,  nopony was hurt.  But I can't say that it didn't cross my mind.

        "WHAT THE HAY DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!?"  I shouted,  surrounding myself in an aura of lightning and zipping towards Twilight snarling.  "I COULD HAVE KILLED SOMEPONY.  WHAT COULD BE SO SERIOUS THAT YO-"

        "Look outside,  I'm sure you'll agree with my decision."  Twilight cut me off with a serious tone going towards the balcony,  I snorted and followed her,  I could vaguely hear Fluttershy following behind me quietly.  When I got outside everypony,  woodland critter and dragon were gathered around in silence staring at the trees,  Fluttershy and Twilight quickly joined the group as I walked to the edge of the balcony and took a quick look,  seeing nothing.

        "I don't see anything,  goodnight."  I angrily said,  turning around to go back to sleep.

        "Take a closer look at the trees."  Applejack redirected me,  pointing forward,  sure enough,  in the darkness I saw a very large figure moving back and forth.

        "....Manticore....Good call Twilight."  I nodded to Twilight with an apologetic look on my face.  "Who first saw them,  and when?"

        "Me."  Applejack responded.  "Ah got up to get a glass of water and saw 'im walking back an' forth in the bushes a coupl'a minutes ago."  She hurriedly explain,  sounding very worried,  couldn't blame her.

        "Sit tight."  I leapt off the balcony and down onto the grass below as the manticore stepped from the veil of the tree line to reveal himself.  We circled each other until we were both near the bushes he was using as cover,  I examined him as we did,  he appeared to be male,  slightly larger than usual,  but that wasn't what worried me.  His eyes were....well,  dead.  They were dull grey with red pupils in the centre,  and a strange marking adorned his forehead,  it was a all in blood red and slightly glowing,  there was a circle in the middle of his forehead with a straight line,  slightly to the right of the centre of the circle,  that began outside the circle going through it and out the other end,   another diagonal line was going through the straight line,  it remained inside the circle and began at the top right and ended at the bottom left.

        Unfortunately,  whilst I was staring in confusion at the marking on the beast's head,  another one of them leapt from the concealing shadows of the woods,  carving a straight line down my side,  causing blood to pour along my body.  I winced but managed to stay upright,  my first though being these were somehow more intelligent than normal manticore,  applying basi teamwork strategy as oppose to rushing me blindly trying to murder me.  My second thought consisted of 'OH SWEET CELESTIA MY INSIDES'.

        I staggered to remain upright,  knowing that this brief fight had just become a time trial,  I wouldn't remain conscious long,  so I had to make sure these guys went down as I slipped into unconsciousness.  I covered myself in lightning as I saw the other manticore try to capitalize on his friends opening,  wincing at the effort,  I dodged his pounced,  backing up nearer the balcony.  I turned to the balcony,  seeing them all getting rather worried about me.

        "I'm coming down to help!"  Rainbow shouted,  hovering in place,  getting ready to fly towards me.

        "You're staying there!  I got this!"  I screamed back,  almost being forced to kneel down due to my large wound.

        "You need help Crimsonlight!"  Rarity shouted down at me.  Maybe so,  but not from anypony on the balcony.

        "She's right,  I'M COMIN'"  Rainbow screamed bravely as she readied to hurtle towards me.  Time for a more direct approach.

        "YOU COME DOWN HERE AND THE MANTICORE WILL BE THE LEAST OF YOUR WORRIES."  I shouted in anger,  horn flaring red as lightning jumped over my body crackling at the outburst.  I wasn't going to hurt her,  but if she thought I would she wouldn't come and actually get hurt.  Thankfully it worked,  they reformed back into a worried crowd,  better they be moral support than multi coloured starters.

        Apparently the manticore had had enough dilly dallying,  one pounced at me,  I managed to run around him,  taking place beside him.  I spun to blast him from side,  the other saw this as opportunity,  leaping at me,  the blood on his claws took me aback as it had oh so shortly ago been in my body,  nevertheless I decided to get a little payback.  I darted underneath him and,  with as much power as my weak legs could muster,  thrust myself upwards horn first,  puncturing his stomach and giving his insides a little shock upon entry.  Eye for an eye,  or in this case,  grievous bodily harm for grievous bodily harm.   This unfortunately didn't finish him,  but left him a bloody mess,  clutching his stomach as blood poured from the tiny hole.  The other wasted no time,  catapulting itself at me,  I turned to see it mid air,  no time to move I was forced to meet it head on.  I still had much of the charge that was meant for him earlier before his partner decided to try his luck,  and felt it was time for him to get what was rightfully his,  I unleashed a bolt of crimson lightning directly into his face,  the force of which sent him skidding backwards into the outside wall of the treebrary with not much face left to recognize.  I turned to the other,  who was still on the ground,  I limped towards him,  glancing at my side in sorrow,  wondering if this was my last act.  I walked over his face and put all my leftover energy into my hoof,  it sparked up with lightning as the manticore widened his eyes,  probably knowing what was coming.  He let out one final scream before I plummeted my hoof into his face with a sickening squishing sound,  I stepped away,  happy I could protect the elements,  I turned to see where they were,  they were all now leaping from the balcony themselves with a few bandages and worried looks on their faces,  even Pinkie Pie.

        I staggered a little bit,  looking at the blood red trails I had left behind before finally falling over and beginning to pass out.  I heard Pinkie Pie say one last thing before I was swept away into unconsciousness.

        "We need 50 cupcakes!  STAT!"

        She was a silly wizard,  a silly wizard indeed.