Author's Note

IT'S ALIVE!!!!!!!

Journal Entry #27

The guards here are really friendly. They gave me a map and pointed out the best places to go for tourism spots. They also offered to go there as an escort but I politely declined. I have reason to believe that they either; A) wish to avoid work by volunteering for meaningless tasks, or B) have nothing better to do. It's a 50/50 toss up I believe, and although the Crystal Heart may block out most of the snow, the city is not completely devoid of the force of nature. The snow from outside lightly peppered the streets I walked, heading to my next destination to see the very heart that was mentioned earlier, I soon arrived and many of the crystal ponies stared at me, so in return I stared back at them. When they stopped staring and mumumering amongst themselves I went back to looking at the heart, the giant crystal that kept spinning on its pedestal of a stalagmite and stalactite. Which continuously powered the shield against the raging snow storms that occasionally plagued the empire.

I decided to take a look around at the museums that depicted the history of the Crystal Empire as well, it told stories about Queen Amore or Cadence's mother, and then King Sombra, the 1000 years of being in limbo or something like that. Honestly, I was only half paying attention to that. What the Nazis did was much worse than that of what King Sombra did to these ponies, I'd never say that however; I'm a citizen and this is a part of their history despite how little I care about it. I can learn from it, adapt my strategies and find people and stop them before they become monsters...hopefully. I shook my head, I was so focused on the thing I was focused on that I lost focus. Isn't that a huge mindfuck? Back to our regularly scheduled programming.

My mindless wandering through the Crystal Empire isn't as mindless as one would think, I wandered up and down the Everfree Forest for a few years observing my surroundings. That's what I was doing now, taking in my surroundings. There was one thing that I couldn't help but notice, I was being followed. How did I notice that I was being followed because I went down several back alleys and the same pony was following me, so when I got the chance I ducked behind a shaded corner and waited for the pony to come walking in, it was a tall teal stallion. When he looked around, I pounced and pinned him against the wall. "What the fuck are you doing following me?"

"Whoa! Calm down...please?" He begged.

"I might if you tell me what the fuck you're doing following me." I told him.

"Don't be afraid," He said and then a green fire enveloped him and he turned into a changeling. "M-My name is Thorax."

I let him go, "Yeah I know who are, well I know about you. Still, that doesn't explain why you were following me."

"I heard about this network of spies, spanning the country. It's made up of retired guards and well. I heard you were in charge, I'd like to join." Thorax said.

I looked up at Thorax, he was about 7 feet tall weighing about 154 pounds. Changelings are skinny fucks with a lot of holes in their limbs, so they're pretty light given their height. "Look Thorax, you seem like a nice guy and all but what I pay those guys to do, can get them into so serious fucking trouble, very dangerous situations at times. You need to know how to handle yourself, and no offense but I think I could throw you around like a ragdoll."

Thorax looked like he was about to cry, he sniffed and wiped his eyes. "I can take it."

"Look, you seem like a nice guy and I don't think I could take it well if anything bad happened to you." I told him.

"B-But, I've got nowhere else to go..." Thorax said and looked down, "P-please?"

"I'm gonna regret this." I mumbled to myself while taking a deep breath, "Are there any others?"

"Hmm?" Thorax looked up.

"If I'm going to be starting a group home for changelings, I need to know how many I need to prepare for." I told him.

"I uh, there's a few like me..." Thorax said, "I know where they're at."

"How long will it take?" I asked.

"Until the end of the week, we should all be ready to go..." Thorax said.

"Alright, meet me at the train to Ponyville on Sunday. " I told him, he went off and I sighed. "Fuck me sideways with a cactus for a dildo." I muttered to myself.

I had seen all the sights I had wanted to and decided to head back to the castle, this time no one was following me back as I went straight up to my guest bedroom. I finally got settled in bed and looked up at the ceiling when there was a knock on the door. "Hey Mickey, you in there?" It was Cadence.

"Yeah what is it?" I asked her and she opened the door.

"Oh sorry," She apologized, "Am I interrupting anything?" She asked.

"Not really," I replied, then asked. "What's up crystalbutt?"

She sputtered, "I-I'm sorry, what?"

I pointed at her cutie mark, "Crystal heart on your butt, therefore Crystalbutt."

"O-oh! That makes sense I suppose. Digression aside, I was going to invite you down to dinner." Cadence said.

"Then why didn't you just send a guard?" I asked her.

"Well, I came up here personally to talk about your dietary habits." Cadence said.

"From what I understand is that you also eat fish as well, I can eat fish." I told her.

"Yes, but we have some steak and well...none of the chefs will cook it." Cadence said.

"So I have to fend for myself?" I asked, "Oh well, nothing I'm not used to already." I got up and stretched.

"Can I watch?" She mumbled.

"I'm sorry I must have you confused with Fluttershy," I cleaned out my ear, "What?"

"Can I watch?" Cadence asked.

"If you're up for it, however I'm not responsible if you throw up." I said as I got up, "Lead the way."

Cadence led the way to the kitchens, the chefs were all cowering in the corner over a slab of meat. I could not resist the urge to just facepalm. "It's a dead hunk of flesh, just get on with your jobs!" I shouted at them and they scrambled to get back to work I took the opportunity to look back at Cadence, "You hire a bunch of pussies."

"That's not very nice..." Cadence said.

"That's life, if I were an element of harmony it would be realism." I told her as I washed my hands.

"Have you ever been nice before?" Cadence asked while I looked through the cupboards for spices, I then started to prepare my steak while talking to her.

"I was nice a few times before, but thought there was something wrong with me and went back to being mean." I stated and Cadence looked at me shocked, "I'm joking."

"You make jokes?" Cadence asked sarcastically.

"Yes, I do. When ponies grow a thicker skin and get a backbone." I said as I started to tenderize the steak. I gave it a light pounding, I wanted it tender and juicy. I finished preparing the steak and some mushrooms, then I put them in the oven and instructed the chefs on how to cook them, and if they can't handle that then they should be fired. Cadence didn't agree with that at first, then I broke it down for her. Stating that if they can't prepare meals for meat eating ambassadors then it could result in a diplomatic incident. She soon understood and we continued on, I went to the dining hall with Cadence, there was Flurry in her highchair, Armor feeding her and Spike chewing on some gems. I sat down at the table and Flurry reached for me, making grabby hands. "No ma'am. You have to eat."

She stopped fussing and ate. Armor and Cadence both looked at me, "I will never understand how you do that."

"I barely know either, it seems to me that the babies and kids of this world know a lot more than we understand." I told them.

"Do you ever want to be a father Mickey?" Cadence asked.

"That's quite a loaded question to ask a guy you barely know that's dating your sister in law and her herd." I told them, "I know there's no experience like it, there's nothing like being a parent, but I'm scared of what might happen if our genes don't mix perfectly. Biologically speaking I'm more related to a chimpanzee than a pony, so I don't know what could happen. Even with the things that happened to me when I got here." I said.

Spike stopped chewing, Cadence paused, and Armor lowered the spoon, much to Flurry's protest, "Mickey, I...I didn't mean." Cadence started and I cut her off.

"No one means to, and yet it still happens. I'm gonna go for a walk, send a guard when my food is ready." I told her and stood up, leaving the dining hall. I wandered around the palace until I came across a grand piano alone in the middle of a cobweb filled ballroom. When I approached the piano I dusted off the keys and ran my fingers along the length. By some miracle, they were pretty decently tuned. It must have been here a while, the keys could sound a lot better I looked for something to tune the piano with. Not many people know that one of my first jobs I worked in a music store, tuning pianos was one of them. I....was terrible at it, I could get it within the key. However, I could never tell if it were sharp or flat. So I tuned the ones that I could get on key and hoped for the best, after I did that I brushed off the bench and looked at the ebony and ivory keys. I gulped a tiny bit and gently lay my hands across them and thought of a song, then there was one that popped into my head. I tested the keys, they had a satisfying ring to them. I started to play and sung to myself.

"There must be some kind of way outta here

Said the joker to the thief

There's too much confusion

I can't get no relief

Business men, they drink my wine

Plowman dig my earth

None were level on the mind

Nobody up at his word

Hey, hey

No reason to get excited

The thief he kindly spoke

There are many here among us

Who feel that life is but a joke

But, uh, but you and I, we've been through that

And this is not our fate

So let us stop talkin' falsely now

The hour's getting late, hey

All along the watchtower

Princes kept the view

While all the women came and went

Barefoot servants, too

Outside in the cold distance

A wildcat did growl

Two riders were approaching

And the wind began to howl!"

I finished singing and soon concluded with the piano as well. I looked around and saw a guard standing in the entranceway. I stood up and started to walk back to the dining room, I turned and looked back at the piano. I shook my head and chuckled to myself I dismissed it immediately and walked to the dining room. It was silent as I walked back in, a covered silver platter I took it off and started to dig into my steak. The air in the room was tense, I looked over at Armor and Cadence, "I'm not upset. I just don't like those questions."

"O-Okay." Cadence said nervously.

I continued to eat my steak and soon finished with my food, "Thank you for the steak, it's a very rare commodity and I appreciate it." I cleaned up and the platter was taken away as I got up.

Armor cleared his throat and I turned he looked at Cadence, She spoke up. "Mickey, I'm sorry for asking such a question. You're one of our guests, and you aren't a terrible...person?" She asked at the end and I nodded, she then continued. "Despite your rough exterior, you're a very nice person and I shouldn't question you about things you aren't ready for."

"Thank you, I'm sorry for being rude." I apologized, I returned to my guest bedroom and lay in the bed, falling asleep soon after, my dreams plagued by war and blood. I was greeted by the form of Princess Luna, and they suddenly all faded to black. "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to see what your dreams were like. I....I had no idea." Luna said.

"This is one of the good nights." I told her.

"I can suppress these dreams." Luna offered.

"No, this is my burden to bear. I'll do it alone." I told her, "I would like a friend though."

"That. That I can do." Luna smiled and held out her hand and I shook it.