Running Running Running Running

Chapters

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Who am I? Who are we? Who am I? Who are we? All I want is to feel complete. Who am I? Who are we?
Confused, truth is what I choose. Heal I never do. Asking who are you, I don't have one clue! Seems I hate him too. Seems my color's blue.
I might go losing it and drive off of a cliff, fall in the void. And if I blow my brains out all over the scene, that's madness curing sadness. These walls ain't talking back, might as well finally paint them black; I'm out of ideas. The ce

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“Ya’ve gotta be seein’ things, Twi. There ain’t no way no stallion would be out inna woods, nevermind the Everfree. I’m surprised most of ‘em can even walk around outside most days.”

Twilight groaned and lightly slammed her hoof on the table to bring validity to her statements. “I’m not ‘seeing things’, Applejack, I’m not that hungry for cock. Heck, I even have Zecora to back me up, I did see him exit her hut after all. We can go right now, if you’re that doubtful.”

The other five mares gave worried looks towards each other. This was bad news if there was a stallion all alone in the woods. It wasn’t safe there! There were monsters he could be hurt by, he could get lost, he could get cut up and trip over some roots and rocks! He could starve, he wouldn’t get his daily cuddles, he’d get dirty, and he wasn’t providing children for any mare! There’s no way he could survive by himself.

Seeing they were all thinking the same thing, the six mares took off out of Twilight’s castle and towards the Everfree Forest, in hope to catch this stallion and bring him back to civilization before something bad happened.

Even better, maybe he was finally the stallion that would complete their herd!

They quickly found themselves in front of Zecora’s hut, and threw the door in the doorway wide open. Twilight stomped up to the zebra. “Zecora, where is that stallion? Where is he right now?”

Zecora looked up from her brew, and scanned her eyes across the group. She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Ah, I thought you would come back, but I consider you quite silly for trying to ask that. As the stallion asked me not to tell, of the location in which he dwells.”

Twilight grabbed Zecora and shook her back and forth, apparently trying to shake some sense into her. “Zecora, this is important! We can’t leave that stallion alone! What if something bad hap—”

“Nothing bad will happen, that stallion is doing fine, around him the nature is rather benign.” Zecora pushed the alicorn off of her and returned to her brew.

Twilight stomped her little hoovsies into the wooden floor, attempting to establish dominance over the immigrant. ”Do you not understand how important this is?! A stallion is out there! Alone!”

Zecora shrugged her off. “I do not know what the problem is, but he asked me not to tell anyone where he lives. Now go, do not bother me no more.” With that, she shoved the group out of her home and slammed the door after them. Twilight stood there in shock, trying to come to terms with the fact that a mare refused to help a Princess of Equestria find a lost stallion. The nerve of her! She sighed and stopped herself from burning the hut down. She was a big mare! She could find this stallion all on her own! Well, her friends would help too, but that’s beside the point. She turned towards her friends. “Alright, it looks like we have to find this stallion on our own. What’s the plan?”

Rainbow Dash pushed her tuft out unnecessarilly, and struck a pose. “I’ll take to the skies and see if I see anything above!” With that, she took off above the forest.

Twilight facehoofed. “Looks like there’s five of us now. Any better plans?”

“Well, the rest of y’all can go scout around while ya and Rares use ya magic to do ya ‘scannin’ or whatevea it was called.” Applejack looked towards Pinkie and Fluttershy. Pinkie nodded enthusiastically and dragged Fluttershy with her into the forest before the pegasus could respond. The country mare sighed and turned back toward Twilight. “Sound good?”

Twilight and Rarity nodded, with the latter smiling. “I appreciate your thought towards me, darling. Best of luck!” Applejack rolled her eyes as Rarity waved her off, and departed into the forest after her two search-buddies.

After an unnecessary segment where Twilight explains to Rarity how to cast the scouting spell, the two unicorns blasted their magic goodness through the trees of the Everfree, and continued concentrating for what felt like hours. Honestly, it was probably much shorter, saying otherwise would probably ruin the dramatic effect. Twilight’s eyes shot wide open and she began sprinting into the forest. Rarity quickly broke from her trance to follow her. Twilight called out her findings, and the searching group quickly congregated at her location. She looked at the other mares excitedly. "I think I found the stallion!"

The other mares nodded and they ran as quickly as possible after Twilight. Soon enough, they reached a clearing with a rather average sized wooden house sitting in the middle. Applejack gasped and ran up to the building, rubbing her hooves against the wall. "Who's the mare who made this? This woodwork is incredible! I don't think I've seen anyone in Ponyville besides me and Big Mac who's done construction work like this.”

Out of nowhere, Rainbow Dash dives in from the sky and lands by her friends, her signature smirk plastered on her face. "Hey, it looks like you finally found the house. I was trying to find you and lead you here, but I couldn't see you past all the—”

"Shut up, Rainbow Dash." Twilight stepped up next to Applejack, also feeling up and observing the wood. “And this wood is quite worn down, and must've been out in the elements for at least a few months."

She turned to the door and gave it a few solid knocks. After a few moments of silence, the door creaks open. "Zecora, do you know anyone who’d be in the Everfree right now? And w—" The stallion looks at the group standing in the clearing, and the purple mare standing at the door, and quickly slams the door, a loud clicking sound following that.

Wasting no time, Twilight blasts down the door with a burst of her magic, and charges in after the stallion. Before she is able to take any other actions, she feels herself be picked up and thrown straight back out the door, the door she just blasted down quickly returning to its place, the hinges magically adhering themselves to the wall. She quickly rights herself on her feet, looking around in confusion. Not sparing another second, she again blasted down the door, the girls quickly trailing in after her. What greeted them was a cozy little living room, fireplace lit in the right corner opposite of the doorway, and the stallion in question sipping on his drink, reading a book at a table in the center of the room, and Zecora sitting on the side of the table, also enjoying a warm drink. "Get him, girls! Before whatever magical entity comes back!" Applejack dashed over to the stallion, but was greeted by an invisible wall, causing her face to comically smush itself into the invisible surface. Pinkie, who was trailing right behind Applejack, was met by an orange apple ass.

At this, the stallion looks up from his book and declares at the group. "Look, I know that you want to perform some heroics or some shit like that, but I'd much prefer if you just left me alone, all right?" With that, he looked back down at the book.

Twilight felt bewilderment fill her. “What are you talking about? It’s dangerous here! There was this magic that threw me out of the house! Who knows what it could do to a s—”

“Stallion like me, yeah yeah. Fuck off.” Glenn looked over towards Zecora. "Is there any tea left?" The zebra shook her head, and he sighed. "Shit, that was the last of it."

Fluttershy murmured from the rear of the group, "W-what kind of bad mare would teach you those words?" She let out a small sob and ran out of the house.

The rest of the mares could only stand there in shock as the turquoise stallion finished drinking his drink. Recovering from her shock, Rainbow Dash turned towards Zecora. “Hey, Zecora, why aren't you doing anything?! Help us bring the stallion to safety!”

The zebra simply smiled and placed her cup down on the table. “I think I can understand the issues you face, to a small extent, as experiencing things like this would bring quite the stress.” The stallion returned her smile and nodded.

Applejack stood up from her daze, righting her snout, and gave Zecora a death glare. “What kind of mare are you to just...just let the stallion sit there?! You damn zi—zebra, endangering all of our stallions!” She stomped against the wall, but she bounced off and fell back onto her back.

The stallion sighed. “Maybe I shouldn’t have started with a bumch of shit-talk. But this white-knighting shit just sets off my hair trigger like no tomorrow.” He shrugged and picked up his book. “Not like it mattered, looks like they’re still the exact same.”

Zecora nods and closes her eyes. “Mhm, their characters have simply failed to evolve. Maybe after the seasons pass, they’ll be much better off. Maybe in the 6th or so.”

The stallion rests his head in his hooves. “Shit, I don’t even know the fucking timeline, that could be literally any time. And maybe they won’t at all! This isn’t even the same uni—”

Twilight finally managed to use her brain for once, and broke the magic wall, allowing Rainbow Dash to fly up to the stallion and grab him. “Alright, let’s get him back to Ponyville! He’s obviously getting hysteric!”

“Ah fuck, no getting out of this fucking mess now. Keep watch over my house while I’m gone, thanks Zecora.” He waved at the zebra before he was extracted out of his house against his will. Zecora waved back, holding up a sign that said ‘Get fukt, nerd.’

The stallion couldn’t help but smile. He and Zecora got along so well.

“Wait, you want me to answer your fucking questions again?!”

Twilight looked up from her notes. “Yes! And tell the truth this time! Spouting such obvious lies like that doesn’t help anypony!” She managed to her him grumble ‘You fucking bitch’ under his breath before he sighed and waved at her to start. She smiled, and flipped to a clean page. “Alright, what’s your name?”

“My name is Glenn.”

“See, you’re lying again! Nopony has a name like that!”

Glenn grit his teeth and angrily let out a sigh. “That’s my name. That’s what it’s always been. Hell, Glenn can be an actual pony name. I’m not going to adapt some retarded pony name like ’Blueblush Bummerberry’ or some gay shit like that. Next question.”

“Um…” Twilight’s brow furrowed, and she looked over at her paper of questions. “Where do you live?”

“I live in the Everfree Forest, south end.”

Twilight pounded her hind hooves against the ground, frustrated. “There’s no way you live there! Nopony can live there! It’s dangerous! And random! The weather is crazy, the animals are crazy, and you can’t even own property anyways!”

Glenn groaned for what felt like the millionth time. “It’s perfectly livable, Twilight. My homeland was pretty much the same. It’s not dangerous, and it’s easy to adapt to the randomness. I don’t see the problem.” He stares at her dead in the eye. “Also, the last time I checked, no city owns nor lays claim to the land of the Everfree. I don’t need to own any property and go through your retarded legal system.”

Twilight felt sweat form on her brow. This stallion knew how the legal system worked? That’s impossible!

“How about we just do rapid-fire questions, so we can get through these, without you accusing me of fucking lying every time I say something your handicapped mind can’t accept as reality? Sounds good?”

Twilight gave a groan of her own. “Fine. Who are your parents, and where do they live?”

“Doesn’t matter, not in Equestria.”

“Who is in your herd?”

“No one. I don’t have a herd, and no interest in having one.”

Twilight felt her heart drop every time he said that. What awful situation did he go through to not get a herd? “T-talent and cutie mark?”

“None and none.”

Twilight threw her notepad on the ground. “How can you not have either?! Everypony should have a cutie mark at your age! It’s a fact of life!”

Glenn huffed and crossed his hooves. “And I told you that I’m not a pony. At least, not a pony by birth. I didn’t need a cutie mark in the past, and I don’t need one now.”

Twilight went over and embrace the stallion. “Oh, you poor, poor stallion. How could you be so disillusioned and so unfortunate? Don’t worry, Twilight’s here to help you heal.” Moments later, she was halfway across the room, unconscious from slamming into the wall at a relatively high velocity.

Glenn got up from his seat and walked towards the exit of the castle. He can’t help but feel his heart fill with sadness. It seemed like he would have to move again, now that the mares were on his back again. He tapped his forehead on the door leading outside. Why did he have to arrive in this fucked up world? The saccharine bullshit looked surprisingly pleasant at first glance, but he quickly found out that each gender acted as the other, to an extreme extent, and it also was assumed that stallions were hampered in every physical and mental category, therefore needed a mare to do pretty much anything.

If he ever got home, he was going to respect the fuck out of women. He finally understood.

With that, he creaked open the large double doors of the castle and peeked outside. Seeing that the coast was clear, he slipped out and sprinted back to the Everfree. Time to get the fuck out of dodge, and say goodbye to Zecora and the house that took a good 2 months to build.

Twilight groaned and reached up to hold her head. The last thing she remembered, she was comforting the poor stallion after he told her about all of his troubles. Now, she was lying on the ground with a splitting headache. Pushing herself up onto all fours, she looked around the room, and saw nopony around. Wait, where was the stallion? She felt adrenaline fill her veins and wake her up. Did he leave? Did he get lost in the castle? She rushed out of the room and began shouting through the halls “Glenn! Glenn! Where are you?! I’m over here! You’ll be s—”

“Twilight, what are you doing?”

Twilight skidded to a stop, seeing Spike walking from the opposite side of the hall with a bucket of ice cream. He stuffed another spoonful into his mouth and swallowed before continuing. “Why are you running through the halls like a madmare? You misplace a book or something?”

She knocked the bucket out of his claws. “Hey, eating that will make you fat! Anyways, have you seen Glenn? Stallion, kind of a turquoise color, unicorn?”

Spike sadly stared at his now-spilled ice cream. “W-well, I saw a stallion of the description exit out the front doors—”

“Thanks, Spike! Watch your figure!” With that, she dashes off to the entrance of the castle, leaving Spike to set up the rites for his melting ice cream.

Twilight threw open the doors, nearly knocking Pinkie clean off the castle stairs. The pink mare jumped up to Twilight. “How did it go?! What did you learn? Did you suck his dick? Did you get his name?”

Twilight pushed the bouncy mare out of the way. “No, I didn’t, his name is Glenn, and I can’t find him!”

Pinkie gasped. “Oh no! What happened?! Did some mare steal him for herself?!”

“I don’t know, Pinkie! One moment I’m comforting him, next moment I’m waking up on the floor with a splitting headache! Spike said he left the castle on his own, so there’s no knowing where he went! Get the girls, we need to find him!”

Pinkie gave the alicorn a short salute before sprinting off in the direction of Ponyville. Twilight followed, hoping they could find him before something bad happened.

“Well, I guess this is goodbye, then.”

“It seems it is.”

Glenn ended his hug with Zecora, and picked up the small amount of luggage. “Hopefully, I’ll be able to come back here sooner than later. I built this house, and goddamned if I don’t get to live in it properly.”

Zecora let out a giggle. “Do not worry, I will make sure nothing bad happens to it while you are gone. I have to admit, it’s much more pleasant than living in my alchemy hut. That place had quite the draft.”

Glenn shrugged. “Hey, commuting to work will get some meat on those bones, eh?” The stared at each other for a moment, before breaking out into laughter. It died down rather quickly, and he let out a sigh. “Still, I’m glad to have met you. Having at least one being in this world that isn’t absolutely fucking skewed was a breath of fresh air.”

Zecora nods. “Same to you. Sometimes, I do wish to return I could return back to my homelands so I don’t need to experience this unusualness, but you being here made it much more tolerable.”

Glenn gave her an inquisitive look. “Wait, why don’t you just head back? It can’t be worth staying here for anything.”

“Equestria closed their borders for immigrating or emigrating shortly after I arrived. Apparently the mares pushed some legislation to prevent stallions from chasing after other races. ‘Keep our stallions zigger-free’ or something like that.”

“Yeah, that sucks.” He looks at his bag, and back at her. “Hey, maybe you’ll finally get deported since you were seen with me.”

A look of realization slowly set on the zebra’s face. “...So what about your house? I can’t live in it while I’m out of the country, and they will definitely take the house for their own purposes.”

“I dunno, let’s burn it down or something. You have any animal bones around?”

Who am I? Who are we? Who am I? Who are we? All I want is to feel complete. Who am I? Who are we?

“Why did either of us think this was a good idea, Zecora?”

“You woke me up in the middle of the night, Glenn. What did you expect? Good ideas?”

“No, but—” He quieted himself as he heard a large number of hooves run by. A few seconds after the silence set, he let out the breath he was holding and turned back to the mirror. “Yes. Yes, I did. I mean, the capital of Equestria? What the fuck were you thinking?!”

Zecora huffed. “Well, if you let me finish what I was saying, I was about to recommend Neighra Falls, which is literally right on the border to the Northern Territory. But nooooo, you just say ‘yeah, it’s good’ and fuck off.”

The two continued to argue in the darkness of the abandoned house, Glenn quieting down every time his location might be revealed to the search parties. Apparently, the mare who saw him less than a single day earlier reported it to the ponice, causing nearly the entire force to go searching. They even managed to get the six she-devils on call, who were currently en route to the city, if the mare he’d eavesdropped on knew what she was talking about.

All-in-all, Glenn was most likely fucked, as Zecora liked to put it.

“No, Zecora, I can get out of this. Don’t fucking doubt me.”

“I bet you 100 bits you get your ass captured before you even get outside the walls.”

“You’re on. You owe me once I hop the border.”

Zecora grinned. “Oh, so you’re finally going with the logical option.”

Glenn scoffed. “Even people like me have to meet the stupidity quota of this world, you know.” There was a moment of silence between the two before they burst out laughing. “Alright, see ya, you’re gonna get me caught.” With that, he shut off the mirror and leaned back on the rotting wood, his smile nowhere to be found.

“I’m so fucked.”

“Glenn! Where are you?!”

“Motherfu—” Glenn bit his lip in hopes that it would stop any and every sound from exiting his body.

“I don’ think that stallion is around here, Twi. No stallion would wanta be in a run-down place like this.”

“U-um...he was in the forest last time, so...maybe he’s in the park—eep!”

“Great idea, Fluttershy! Let’s go!”

The thud of hooves vanished in the distance, leaving Glenn alone in the darkness.

It was moments like these he wished he knew how to teleport or turn invisible. Things would be so much easier. But, alas, magic was fucking hard.

Creeping ever so slowly to the doorway, he peeked his head out to see if the street was empty. Seeing that it was and that the sun was already setting, he exited onto the open street and into the adjacent alleyway.

“Wait, there he is!”

Glenn whipped his head around to see the technicolor fuckwads sprinting down the street after him. How the fuck did they see him from fucking kingdom come? He started a mad sprint down the alley, holding all of his profanities for when he was outside of the hellhole.

Quickly glancing back, he looked over who was in the slut squad. Seeing the living embodiment of a color theory chart coming his way at alarming speeds, he took a sharp turn out the alley and ran up to the closest stallion he could see, who was knitting on their porch.

Glenn felt sweat form on his brow with every slowly increasing in volume flap that echoed down the alleyway. “Excuse me, could you distract the blue multi-colored pegasus coming this way? Just for a bit?”

The stallion looked up from his work and gave Glenn a questioning look. “And what sort of trouble did you get into, lad? I ain’t want to be the stall that looks like a slut.”

Glenn shook his head, glancing back every few seconds. “Well, they’re actually trying to forcibly herd with me. A-And I already have some gir—mares at home.”

“Oh, I can understand your concern, then.” The stallion shook his head and warmly smiled. “Alright, I’ll see if I can catch her attention. You stay safe and get back to your mares, you hear me?”

Glenn felt a smile creep up on his face. “Yeah yeah, no worries, I’ll be on my way.” With that, he resumed sprinting down the street. He heard the rainbow mare’s flying cut short into a stutter as she came face to face with a smooth-talking stallion, followed by her friends catching up and shouting at her not to be a whorse.

Diving into another alley, he quickly came face-to-wood with a large picket fence blocking his way down the alley. Deciding that it would be best to progress forward rather than risk running back into the open, he gave himself a running start before taking a large leap towards the top of the fence. Instead of his intended goal, he smashed straight into the fence, which bounced him back to where he started. Clutching his nose and swearing under his breath, he shoots a beam of pure force from his horn, only for it to dissipate. He stepped back in surprise before audibly swearing and piling up the trash around him to form some makeshift steps.

“Who the fuck puts an anti-magic barrier on a wood fence?! Who fucking does that?!” He continued grumbling as he carefully traversed the precarious trash steps. One solid hop, and he grabbed onto the top of the fence pulling himself up with a sigh. “I could’ve exercised. I had a whole fucking forest to run through, but what do I do? Sit inside all day fucking reading. What the fuck, Glenn?” His musings were cut short by a sudden shout behind him, and the surprise caused him to fall off the fence and straight towards the ground.

Glenn ate shit for lunch, landing headfirst in the dirt. After his perfect ostrich imitation, he made a dash to the end of the alley. As he ran back out into the sunlight, he heard a loud swoosh, followed by a series of several similar thumps sounding from behind him. When he looked back, he saw that the mares had crashed on a conveniently placed pile of boxes right by the fence.

He suddenly felt himself tumble over, his bag flying off him as a heavy force hit him in the side. A quick blast of magic successfully removed the force, and only after he sprinted to his bag and picked it up did he notice that the object he blasted was a dazed ponicemare, ko’d on the ground next to him.

Pausing to stare at the pony, he turned and ran into the adjacent alley. After a few minutes of diving in and out of the alleyways, he skidded to a stop as he nearly came face to face with a small group of ponice blocking his destination. Not giving them a moment to speak, he slid several wooden pallets lying on the wall between himself and the mares.

“We’ve got you now!”

Glenn spun around to see the five that’d been chasing him all around this forsaken place blocking the other exit of the alley. Feeling panic rise up in his chest, he turned back and forth, attempting to keep watch of all the mares slowly encroaching onto his location, the ponice tossing the pallets out of their way. One of the ponice mares licked her lips. “Oh, you’ve been a bad stallion, making us search so hard for you. No worries, you’re safe now.”

In one last-ditch effort, he erected two force walls on either side, hoping to impede the oncoming finisher, but Twilight simply blasted through both of them like they were magic. Glenn felt his eyes and mind wander, ready to accept his loss and return to the imprisonment of herding.

“Wait, you guys seriously left the castle gates open?”

“What?” Twilight and the rest turned around to see, that indeed, the gates leading outside of the city were wide open. Before anypony could get a word in, a turquoise pony-shaped blur shot by them, out of the gates, and down the cobbled path, leaving all the mares too stunned to chase after him.

One of the other ponice mares sighed and facehooved. “I have no words.”

Glenn let out a bark of laughter, euphoric from joy and a lack of oxygen as the city slowly vanished in the distance. A few paranoid glances back and he found nopony trailing him. He slowed to a trot, then a walk, before he finally stopped under a tree at the bottom of the mountain. Collapsing onto the base, he spent several minutes taking deep breaths, a wide smile on his face.

“...Wow, what a rush. Fuck, that’s painful.” He let out a sigh, popped open his bag and pulled out the mirror, only to stop dead.

The mirror was cracked.

He quickly cast his spell on it, hoping it was still working.

He let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding as the mirror shimmered to life, Zecora looking amused on the other side.

“So, how are your state of affairs, Glenn? Got out with your ass intact?”

Glenn nodded, a small smile on his face. “Yeah, yeah, I did. You owe me 100 bits now, remember that.”

Zecora groaned, an over-exaggerated frown appearing on her face. “Of course, I’ll make sure I’ve completely forgotten by the time you get here.” The frown broke, replaced by laughter.

Glenn couldn’t help but join in.

Author's Note

Listened to this during creation:
Stories From Far Away on Piano - James Heather

Confused, truth is what I choose. Heal I never do. Asking who are you, I don't have one clue! Seems I hate him too. Seems my color's blue.

Trixie couldn’t help but let out another sigh as the rain continued to beat down on her head. She looked ahead, groaning when faced with the miles of empty meadow past Hollow Shades. Still, she continued to take step after step on the cobbled roads. As much as she hated the travel from Manehatten to Canterlot, with a whole lot of nothing and the occasional backwater town, it was the fastest way across by hoof.

Still was an awful trip, by every regard.

Picking up her pace, Trixie went as fast as her legs allowed her to get under the forest canopy, away from the rain and towards pitching camp. Her wagon bumped along after her, it managing to creak every time it tapped the ground.

Finally reaching her reprieve from the rain above, she unhooked herself from the wagon and sat down on the ground, her legs aching from the distance she walked. Letting herself rest in the grass, she let her magic do all the work of setting up the campfire, before setting it alight and basking in the warmth of the flame.

Before she was able to get herself settled, some rustling behind her rocketed her to high alert and she spun around to face the noise. She took a few deep breaths and tried to center herself, hoping that she wouldn’t stutter or let her voice crack when she spoke. “Who’s there!? Come out, whoever you are!”

All she was met with was silence.

As much as she wanted to sit back down and pretend that nothing happened, that she was just hearing things, her years in performance magic taught her how to notice the small things. And that definitely wasn’t her imagination.

Taking every step with care, she quietly moved towards where the noise came from, her horn lit and her body prepped to jump away at a moment’s notice. With one fluid motion, she leapt through the bush, casting a blinding light in hopes of catching the creature by surprise.

The magic in her horn died, and she looked on in surprise at the stallion standing frozen in the mud, who was returning the same sort of look back at her. Her curiosity outweighing her other emotions, she relaxed her stance and looked towards the stallion with intent. Following a few seconds of silence, and some internal conflict of what exactly to say, she decided on the simplest course of action. “Are you alright?”

The stallion gave her a distrustful glare, before slowly standing up to face her. “No, not really. I’m...lost.” He sighed, his shoulders dropping a little bit, and his defensive posture replaced by one of fatigue. He muttered to himself, ‘Oh, I give up.’ before falling back down onto his rear.

“One second.” Trixie ran back to her wagon, threw open the doors, and quickly rummaged through her stuff. Finding the item she was searching for, she ran back to the stallion and wrapped him up in the blanket. His protests were cut short by a shout of surprise as she brought him over by her wagon. Placing him by the campfire, she took out a blanket for herself and cocooned herself beside him. “So, what’s your name?”

“Glenn,” He stared down at the blanket, shifting his packs off of himself and onto the dried mud. “And excuse me if I’m not gracious about this, but this is a bit unusual for me.”

Trixie levitated a pair of hot chocolates over and placed them by the fire, before turning towards Glenn. “What do you mean? Hospitality is rare for you?”

Glenn let out a dry chuckle. “You could say that. Most mares are a lot less subtle with their attempts to grab me.” He let out a long breath, reclining back on to the ground. The two rested silently by the campfire, the rhythm of the crickets’ chirping and the light downfall of the rain bringing a tired peace upon the makeshift campground.

Breaking from her relaxed trance, Trixie picked up the warmed-up hot chocolates, placing one by Glenn. “If I remember right, you mentioned you were lost?” She went to take a sip out of her mug, but gave a short shout of pain and recoiled as the scalding water touched her lips. She couldn’t help but turn a light shade of red as her guest let out an amused snort.

“Sorry, sorry, that was mean.” He shakily lowered his own mug back to the ground, deciding not to take the same course of action as Trixie. After a few seconds of letting nature’s serenade ring past, he let out another deep sigh. “Yeah, I’ve been trying to get to Neighgra Falls, but the endless fields all look the same. Headed towards the closest landmark, which was here.” Checking his cocoa again, he muttered in disappointment, seeing the steam still billowing off of the drink. “I tried to sneak around the town near the center of this forest, but apparently they’re all batponies, and they gave me a good scare. Almost forgot how good bats’ hearing is. Luckily, they didn’t chase after me, which was a relief. The running schtick gets tired after the third or fourth time.”

Trixie nodded. “Mhm, Trixie can understand that sentiment. I’ve had my fair share of getting chased out.” She couldn’t help but let out a depressed mutter at the pause, but her smile quickly returned. “Luckily, that hasn’t been happening as of late. It’s quite surprising how ponies change when you change yourself.”

“You talk about yourself in the third person?” Glenn gave Trixie an inquisitive look.

“I—It’s a habit. A part of my act, to be fair. A part of the spectacle of my magic!” She threw her blanket off, striking a pose, her blush returned as Glenn burst out into laughter. “What’s so funny?”

Glenn took a few deep breaths, in hopes to control his giggling. “Sorry, I—*snirk*—it’s just that you said it with such gusto.” He let out one long breath, managing to bring his giggles to a halt. “It’s just...everybody takes themselves so seriously for some reason. And here you are, a magician in a world of magic, in the forest with a stranger, showing off. It’s so absurd, yet it’s probably the most enjoyable moment I’ve had in awhile. It shouldn’t be funny, but I can’t help but feel relief.” He sat up and brought the mug of cocoa to his lips, letting out a pleased sigh as the warm drink ran down his throat. “So you’re not going to try and herd me, or whatever the gist is?”

“No, I’d rather not. I can understand your concern, though,” Trixie wrapped herself back up in her blanket and began drinking her own cocoa. “I traveled a bit with my father when I was young, so I got to see first hoof what it was like for the stallions to be hounded by mares. It just doesn’t sit right with me whenever I try it.” Another sip, and a satisfied sigh. “I’ve come to terms with the way I work. And it seems you’re in a similar vein, not wanting to be chased by mares.”

“Bingo.”

Silence settled in between the two, and the realization hit Trixie that the forest had gone silent. “Well, looks like the rain stopped. Hopefully, the mud isn’t too bad come the morning. Anyways, why do you want to go the Neighgra Falls?”

“To hop the border. Supposedly the magic there is weakest, so I’ll take my chances and see if I can slip by.” Glenn let out a yawn and felt himself slowly lower back on to the ground.

“You want help getting across the border, then?”

Glenn looked over at her with some surprise. “...You’d seriously do that?”

Trixie nodded. “I think another tour out of Equestria is long overdue. Having a bit of extra carry-on wouldn’t be of any harm. Plus, I couldn’t call myself a magician without pushing a few rules.” She let out a big yawn, and Glenn followed in kind. “I guess we can start heading out in the morning, then.”

The two soon fell asleep, the returning chirps of the crickets lulling them to the world of dreams.

Between Trixie’s steps on the cobbled road, the consistent rumble of the wagon, and the occasional splashing of the sitting water, Glenn couldn’t help but fall into a peaceful, quiet trance. For the first time in what felt like forever, he felt soothed and unburdened. No pony chasing him. No need to watch his back. No need to hide away in the darkest corners.

Even if it was only for a moment, it was a moment he only just realized he needed.

He pulled out the mirror from his bag, and let out a groan upon seeing its condition. The cracks had gotten worse. He lightly chewed his tongue, wondering if he should activate it again and risk worsening its condition. Deciding against it, he placed it back into his bag and opened the window curtain to embrace the day. He momentarily recoiled from the sudden brightness of the sun overhead, but after a few blinks, he was able to reorient himself in the world of the awake.

Throwing the window open, he hears Trixie speak from the front of the wagon. “Oh, nice to see you’re up. You feeling alright?”

“Yeah. Much better.” He crawled out the window, landed on the ground with a thump, and trotted up to Trixie’s side. “You want me to take over?”

Trixie chuckled and shook her head. “No, I’m good, lugging this big thing around isn’t any trouble for me. What would help me is knowing a bit more about my companion.” She gave him a look of intrigue. “Haven’t seen a stallion like you ever before, and I’ve been to quite a few places.”

She could see several emotions run past Glenn’s face, mainly uncertainty and a little bit of sadness. Eventually, he relented with a sigh. “Well, I guess there’s no harm. Where to start…” He clicked his tongue. “When I came to this wor—uh, Baltimare, I had an...an accident, and I couldn’t really walk or speak. Some mares took me in and helped me recuperate. I didn’t realize I had a herd—uh, I was isolated when I was young, wasn’t told about the norms—but I didn’t find many issues with it at first. But, they became...defensive and controlling after I was able to act as normal. And...they did some pretty unforgivable things to keep me around. In my eyes, at least, I think they didn’t think they did anything wrong. Some running and hiding later, I took refuge in the Everfree, where a few more mares found me and tried to get me into the same situation. They couldn’t take no for an answer, so I ran from there too.” Glenn took a deep breath. “That’s the short of it. If I think about it too much, I’ll probably flip out.”

“Mhm.” Trixie rolled her neck, a loud crack popping from it. “Sounds like you were on quite an adventure.”

“More than I need in my lifetime.”

The magician let out a chuckle before the quiet settled in between them. Glenn took this opportunity to take a good look at his surroundings, his head up and hood off. He lost track of how long he stared at the empty meadows. While he wasn’t one to care about how pretty his surroundings were, he couldn’t help but appreciate the view.

Noticing that the rolling of the wagon had stopped, Glenn looked back at Trixie in confusion and saw her waving him back. “We’re almost at Neighgra Falls, so you might want to stow away in the wagon. It’d be easiest if you weren’t seen at all.”

He nodded and hopped back through the window, slamming it shut behind him. Glancing around, he decided the pros outweighed the cons and buried himself under the covers of Trixie’s bed. Better to be comfortable and unseen, no matter the cost when his benefactor discovered his location. The darkness surrounding combined with the resumed rumble managed to send him off to sleep.

His respite was broken when a minor shock ran through his body, but he managed to silence himself from shouting in surprise. The wagon lurched to a halt, the rear door opening with a loud creak a few moments later.

“See, I told you there was nothing.”

“That seems to be a case. That reaction from the barrier was too weak, must’ve been a false alarm. You may go.”

The rumble returned, and he let out a relieved sigh. No longer feeling tired, he thought back on all the events that occurred in this cursed land and he couldn’t help but smile. It seemed like he was finally free.

His train of thought was broken when the door creaked again, and Trixie ripped the blanket off of him. “Seriously?”

Glenn gave her an awkward smile. “Hey, it worked.”

Trixie sighed, but her frown vanished. “Well, it’s another day’s trip to the next town, so do you want to take over pulling the wagon? My heart is beating a bit too hard.”

“Can you repeat that?”

“What? My heart is—”

“No, no, not that, the part where you asked me to do something.”

“Uh, do you want to take over pulling the wagon?”

A genuine grin grew on Glenn’s muzzle. “Fuck yeah I will.” He sprinted out the wagon and fumbled to attached the harness to himself as quickly as he could.

Trixie followed him and gave him an inquisitive look. “...This is definitely an interesting reaction.”

“Hey, you’re the first pony to ask me to do something for them. It’s a nice feeling.” Managing to get the harness around his barrel, he closed it with a click and grinned back towards Trixie. “Alright, you ready?”

Author's Note

Expected more?

Nah.

I might go losing it and drive off of a cliff, fall in the void. And if I blow my brains out all over the scene, that's madness curing sadness. These walls ain't talking back, might as well finally paint them black; I'm out of ideas. The ce

“I guess I shouldn’t have been so emotional with my departure if you were just going to give me some magical fru-fru shit anyways.”

Zecora giggled and rolled her eyes, her form shimmering past the mirror. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Glenn sighed, but he couldn’t stop the smile rising on his face. “Yeah, yeah, you didn’t do nothing.” His smile dropped, and his walking reached a dead stop. “You didn’t do anything. Yet they still kicked you out.”

The zebra laughed and shook her head. “Don’t worry about it. I’m rather glad that I’m out of the country, no more dealing with being insulted nor getting flak for my ‘backwards practices’. It’s quite a relief, I’d say.” She lied down on the train seat and looked back towards the mirror. “So, how’re you doing so far?”

Glenn realized he still wasn’t moving and continued walking. “I think I’m getting close to the edge, the trees are beginning to thin out, and I can actually see the sun.” He felt a yawn escape his muzzle. “Shit, I don’t remember the last time I walked this long. I wish I could be on that train with you.”

It was Zecora’s turn to sigh. “Yes, I wish you were here with me, but that whole idea of you masquerading as a mare would’ve definitely not have equaled you getting across the border. I’m sorry I couldn’t have helped you out more.”

“Stop apologizing.” The stallion grunted as he pulled himself over a small ledge. “Fuck, I’m sore. Anyways, you did all you could, and that's enough. I’d rather it was just me going on a fucking long-ass hike than you too. How fucking dense is this forest, anyways? I’ve been walking for four fucking hours and—” He let out a small yelp as he tumbled over a large root sticking out of the dirt.

The mirror went flying as his magical grip on it broke, and he heard it land with a light thump a few meters away. Swearing at himself for being so careless, he scrambled to his hooves and jogged over to the mirror. He felt his muscles relax as he saw that it wasn’t damaged and picked it up again with his magic. He paused for a moment, realizing that he could only see his own reflection.

Glenn grit his teeth. “Fucks sake, the connection must’ve broken.” He placed the mirror into his saddlebag and resumed his trek through the woods, only the whistling of the wind and the faint chirps of wildlife to be heard.

Harsh sunlight beat down on his back as the thickets around him became increasingly sparse, opening up to a verdant and grassy plain, hills rolling in the distance and clouds floating on the wind. He felt his lips turn up and he closed his eyes, letting his senses revel in the familiar feeling. The feelings of the wind and the sun. The long grasses tickling against his hooves.

It reminded him of home.

The wind suddenly stopped, and he felt the warmth of the sun cut out. Surprised, he opened his eyes and glanced up at the sky. Instead of the infinite blue sky and the bright sun, there was a large, dark cloud rolling across the top of the sky. He let out a few profanities as he made a dash across the field. He needed to reach some sort of cover before the storm settled in, and he knew that the trees didn’t offer enough protection this close to the edge. Glancing around the plain gave him nothing; all he saw was the large expanses of the still grasses. Looking forward, he saw a large ridge of rocks in the distance. He doubled on his speed, hoping to reach the area before the rain hit.

He screeched to a stop as his brain registered that he arrived at his destination. Taking only a few moments to catch his breath, he maintained a brisk pace, heading straight for the cave only a few meters up.

Glenn finally allowed himself to slump to the ground after he entered the cave. The only thing on his mind was getting the sweet air into his lungs, which were currently screaming in pain from their sudden use after weeks of relative inactivity.

Once he felt his lungs were filled, and his heart wasn’t trying to slam its way out of his chest, he unhooked his saddlebags and dropped them on the ground beside him. The rain began pouring in an instant, the torrent of water echoing through the cavern, muting any sort of noise that Glenn made.

He simply laid his head down on his bag and quickly passed off into the world of dreams, his body and mind tired from today’s events.

“HE’S DEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAD!” Rarity sobbed and hid behind her hooves. “Just when we found a stallion for ourselves, he had to g-go and DIE!” She continued wailing, trying her best not to get her pristine white coat dirtied by any of the grass, mud, or ash.

The rest of the mares deadpanned, and Twilight let out a rather forceful sigh. “Rarity, we’ve told you, Fluttershy has told you: these are quite obviously animal bones. Not pony bones. Plus, it isn’t even logical for a body to burn that qu—”

“Ya think Zecora thought this was some sorta joke?” The farmer grit her teeth. “Burning down his house, then placing some bones in the remains...That’s just tasteless. And dangerous. Glad she got her ass deported.”

Rainbow Dash stomped on the ground, some of the mud coating her hoof and flying onto her friend. “It WAS dangerous! I had to make a call over to Cloudsdale for a storm cloud to stop the fire—if it was left burning for any longer, it might’ve burnt through the Everfree and could’ve possibly reached Ponyville!” She stomped off to the charred remains of the house and gave the wood a few good kicks, angrily grumbling to herself.

“A shame we can’t imprison other races. Whoever came up with that amazingly convenient law needs a hoof to the clit.” Twilight rubbed her temples. “So, why do you think she burned the house down? And where did that fucking stallion go? I have so many questions and no answers. It’s frustrating.”

“W-well,” Fluttershy cleared her throat, “one of the birds told me that it actually was both of them who set the house on fire.”

Applejack cackled. “A stallion? Lighting his own house on fire? Ya gotta be jokin’, Flutters. Stallions get way too sentimental ova all their stuff.”

Fluttershy’s brow furrowed. “I’m not joking, and the birds have no reason to lie, Applejack. They said that he ignited the house himself, and then they both left. Zecora went back to her hut, while the stallion ran off to the east, through the thickest part of the woods.”

Pinkie stopped bouncing and gasped. “Oh no! Even we’ve gotten lost there! We need to help him, pronto!” The rest of the mares turn to her, only to see a pink blur in place of where their friend was.

Twilight nodded. “I agree, we need to get a search team out immediately. The fact that even mares like us have issues getting through that area means that he would’ve definitely gotten lost or hurt at this point.” She turns toward the crying mess. “Rarity, you and Rainbow go back to town to tell the others about the situation. Applejack, Fluttershy and I will follow Pinkie, and hope we can find him sooner than later.”

The latter three take off into the woods, leaving Rainbow Dash kicking at the wood, and Rarity adding to the muddy ground.

Glenn let out a yawn and stretched out, a few kinks in his shoulders and neck releasing satisfying cracks. Opening his eyes, he was met with only a faint light from the mouth of the cave and silence. Righting himself, he placed his bags on his back and exited the cave. Above him was the moon, bright in the clear night sky. Around him was silence. Nothing except his own breath.

It was only him, and the wild expanse of the world.

He felt a lump form in his throat, and a creeping fear began to crawl up his spine. Popping his bag open, he pulled out the mirror and activated it. “Zecora. Zecora, are you there?” Hearing panic rising in his voice, he took a few deep breaths and tried to stop the shivers going through his body.

He heard some shuffling and a yawn before Zecora appeared in front of the mirror, a grin apparent on her face. “Oh, Glenn, it seems you’re okay. I was worried after you cut out earlier, and I couldn’t seem to reconnect.”

Feeling a weight being lifted off of his heart, his eyes became moist and he could help but laugh softly. “No worries, I’m fine, I’m fine. Just tripped and nearly got caught in a rainstorm. I guess the clouds prevented the connection from coming through.” He rubbed the forming tears out of his eyes, hoping that Zecora didn’t see them. “Had to make a mad dash for some cover too, it came down like a flood.”

“Why didn’t you just form a barrier above yourself?”

Glenn felt himself pause. “...shit, I completely forgot about that.”

Zecora erupted in laughter, with Glenn turning bright red, attempting to stutter out a response. After a minute of this not-really back and forth, the zebra managed to calm down, and she gave Glenn one of the biggest smirks he’d ever seen. “You’re quite the interesting unicorn. Forgetting to use your magic, who does that?”

Glenn finally felt himself come up with one of the best responses he could’ve come up with for a situation like this.

“Shut up, Zecora.”

She returned to her laughing fit, but Glenn felt a small amount of warmth fill his chest. There was no need to worry. Zecora was always on the other side of this mirror. He wasn’t alone.

He lets out a yawn and begins searching around for an exit to the ridge. “My main issue is that I have no clue of where to go. Can’t go to Ponyville, for obvious reasons, and I don’t know any other cities close by, besides the place I definitely don’t want to return to.”

Zecora closed her eyes and made a light clicking sound with her tongue, taking a few moments to pursue the thought. “You could try Canterlot. It’s only about a two day trip from Ponyville, and the paths are generally empty since most ponies take the train. The risk is that there’s a lot of Royal Guard, but that’s easily offset by the fact that they’re next to useless, and that you can easily hide in the poor parts of the town.” She opened her eyes and shrugged. “Fillydelphia is not a good location, due to its relative closeness to Baltimare, and that there’s quite a few old-fashioned mares roaming around, and Manehatten is easily a two-week trek, never mind the mountains and forests you’d have to pass through. The only other place I can safely recommend is Neighagra Falls, where—”

“Canterlot it is then. I’m assuming it’s the big fucking castle on the hill?” Glenn turned the mirror towards the big fucking castle in the distance.

“Yes, that’s exactly the place.” Zecora let out another yawn, and Glenn turned the mirror back towards himself to see Zecora’s eyelids beginning to droop.

“I guess I won’t try and keep you up any longer, then. Sleep well.” Zecora nodded, and with that, Glenn cut the connection and returned the mirror into his bag. He let out a groan as he looked at his destination.

“Two days. I wonder what awful shit will occur in two days.”

Nothing happened in two days, much to Glenn's mix of relief and chagrin. Two days of just walking and walking, with his cloak doing nothing to stave off the heat of the sun that just kept pummeling against his back. No signs of a single soul on the long roads leading to and up the mountain, only the consistent clopping of his hooves against the stone and the occasional chat with Zecora preventing him from losing his mind.

But finally, here he was. The final stretch leading inside of Canterlot’s walls was right in front of him, leading to his place of asylum.

If only there weren’t guards watching from the walls.

Glenn peeked out from the bushes lining the road and groaned in frustration as the guards continued to stand there, motionless, on the castle walls. Waiting around had been fruitless, as the guards continued to stand there, motionless, on the castle walls. Getting tired of just watching the guards stand there motionless on the castle walls, he picked up a stone and launched it at a very high speed at the guard standing motionless on the right side of the castle wall. It hit its target, right in the muzzle, and the guard woke up with a start, let out a scream ‘I’ve been hit!’, and went careening off the wall. His teammate, who was previously standing motionless on the castle wall, woke up and let out a gasp as his teammates fell off the wall and into some bushes. The non-hit guard ran from his position, leaving the wall clear of motionless guards.

Glenn realized how stupid this whole situation was.

He quickly hopped out of his hiding spot and made a break for the city. Besides the guard that he hit, who was currently crying headfirst in the bushes, no pony was around to stop him, allowing him to get into Canterlot undetected.

Only after he’d ducked around a corner did he allow himself to drop onto his haunches, and finally allow his legs some rest after days of walking and walking and walking and holy SHIT was he tired of walking. He dropped his cloak hood and allowed himself the victory treat of the slightly stale bread he had in his bag.

His moment of pleasure was cut short as he heard a gasp to his immediate left. Releasing the non-yet-eaten bread from his mouth, he turned to his left to see a mare staring at him, mouth wide open. He stares back, stale bread in hoof, ready to be launched at the first sign of aggression.

“Oh, you poor stallion, why are you in the streets? Where’s your ma—”

Her worries for the stallion temporarily vanished as she received a stale piece of bread to the nose. She let out a short shout of surprise (and totally not one of pain, she was a big mare, big mares don’t cry) and held her face, trying her best not to cr—her best to reduce the pain. Once the shock of the hit calmed down a bit, she looked up and around to see the stallion was gone. Panic filled her. Had she scared away the stallion? And why was he eating stale bread, wasn’t stale food dangerous to eat?

She shook her head and ran to the closest guard. “Guard! Assist me to the closest station!”

The guard turned towards her in surprise. “O-of course! What’s the problem?”

She pulls him after her, knowing where the station was already. “Don’t worry your pretty head about it! Just help me get to the station!”

Once she arrived at the station, she dropped the guard outside the door and ran in. “Who’s the lead mare in here?!”

The lead mare came out of her office and looked at the yelling mare with a tired look. “What’s the problem? Why are you making so much noise?”

What she said next caused all the mares in the vicinity feel sick to their stomachs, beset a dark, gloomy mood on the entire office, and sent several of the most hardened mares home with nights of fitful sleep.

“I saw a stallion alone on the streets!”