Chapter 20

On the Friendship Express 3rd POV

William was once again napping in his seat after still feeling a bit tired from an eventful morning and was leaning against the window. Meanwhile, the Mane Six, CMC, and Spike were talking amongst themselves and minding their own business. While they were talking, a certain librarian mare couldn’t help but glance every so often in William’s direction. Those glances would turn into stares a number of times when everypony else wasn’t paying too much attention to her. She gazed at William’s sleeping form and smiled at how peaceful he looked as he napped. She thought about all she had been told by him which made her frown a bit due to how he first arrived but kept her smile since he was able to accept his fate and new found purpose. Twilight also couldn’t help but feel a tad bit of excitement since there were possibly other things she had not yet asked him about his world and how humans live. However despite Twilight’s thirst for knowledge and admiration for William’s resolve, she also felt a strange twinge of an emotion she didn’t expect to feel in the back of her head. What’s more is that she didn’t even know what she was feeling which annoyed her slightly. What could she be possibly feeling at a time like this? Anger? Not possible since she’s rarely angry and anything. Sadness? True, she felt sorry for William and how he was ripped from his world but he said he was fine with how things turned out. Perhaps both like jealousy?

…Jealous? she thought as she blinked, Me jealous? Why would I be jealous? More importantly jealous of what? There’s nothing to even be jealous of. William is a kind human and he’s my friend. He’s so kind he was able to capture Princess Luna’s heart and-

All of a sudden, the feeling in the back of her head twitched making her blink again. The more she thought about William and Luna now being together, despite her attempts not to think about it, made the emotion in her mind only intensify. It also didn’t help when she thought about the calming and comforting presence William emitted whenever he was close, not to mention the little “run in” she had with him back at the library when she got a look at his bare muscled body which made her blush a little. Twilight had only known William for a few days and he’s already made such a great first impression for the ponies of Ponyville. She also admired his demonstration of power as he showed everypony he could fly with the power of Ki despite not having wings. Her blush seemed to grow a little more when she remembered starring into his eyes. Those strong and comforting hazel eyes of his looking at her deep purple ones, she felt like she could stare at them for a good long while and still not get tired of them. Twilight then shook her head slightly to snap herself out of her thoughts and looked away from William while cupping her face with her hands in an embarrassed manor.

Oh my goodness, what has gotten into me? Every time I look at him my heart beats faster than normal. I know he’s now with Luna but am I really jealous of Luna? she thinks to herself.
Twilight glances one last time at William as he adjusts his body to a more comfortable position.

Do I…have a crush on William? she wonders.

“Helloooooooooo, Eques to Egghead!”

“Wh-wha?” Twilight stammers.

She looks back and sees Rainbow Dash looking at her with an arched brow while the others were waiting for her to pay attention to their speed demon friend.

“Jeez Twilight,” Rainbow Dash comments, “that’s the second time you’ve been out of it on the train. Care to tell us why?”

“U-um, no I’m fine,” Twilight defends, “just still a little tired that’s all.”

“Uh huh, then why’re you blushing again?” Rainbow asks while pointing at her face. It didn’t help as soon as she said that because Twilight could only blush a little more, much to her dismay. This only caused Rainbow Dash to smirk and look at William and back at Twilight making her snicker.

“Well girls,” she says while looking at the others, “it looks like somepony’s got a crush on the new human.”

Everypony goes wide eyed and look at looks at Twilight who tries to defend herself but can’t seem to speak since she can no longer deny it. Twilight can only hang her head and sigh as she nods ever so slightly making Rarity squeal a bit and lean over to hug Twilight.

“Oh my stars, darling! Have you truly developed feelings for William?” Rarity asks excitedly.

“I…guess so, I’m not really sure to be honest,” Twilight explains with a smaller blush, “it’s just these feelings are so new to me and I don’t know what to do with them. But I do know that I have a small crush on him.”

Rarity squees in a low tone so she wouldn’t wake the young man and pulls away while smiling widely at her friend. The rest of the mares also smiled and praised Twilight on her new found feelings for William.

“So, are you gonna ask to join his herd or not?” Rainbow asks bluntly.

“Rainbow Dash!” Rarity snaps. William then groans in annoyance but still sleeps causing the fashionista to sigh nervously but still glare slightly at Rainbow.

“What? Twilight just said she likes Will so what’s the harm in asking him?” Rainbow defends.

“I said I only have a crush on him Rainbow, it’s not like I’m madly in love with him so I can’t just ask to be in a herd with him right off the bat. Besides he had just gotten into a relationship so I don’t think it’s appropriate,” Twilight lectured strictly.

“Ah gotta agree with Twi on this one,” the cow mare adds,” Will’s a swell human and all, but the feller still needs ta adjust to our way of life. Though Ah will say, Ah’m surprised he didn’t reject the idea of a herd.”

“Well, um, maybe he was taken by surprise and wasn’t prepared to answer properly, at least that’s what I think,” Fluttershy said softly.

“Well I for one hope he decides to,” Rainbow adds, “since I also like him.”

There was a brief silence in the train car after what had been said. All the mares, fillies, and Spike slowly turned to Rainbow Dash with shapes mouthes and wide eyes like they had just heard the most bizarre thing ever.

“WHAT?!” They all whisper scream. Just because they were shocked doesn’t mean they had to wake up William in the process.

“Hey I won’t lie,” Rainbow defends, “I think he’s cool, an amazing flyer despite not having wings, and don’t think I forgot about his bare chest he showed us in the throne room.” Rainbow turns to Twilight and Rarity who were still a bit shocked at her confession and smirked, “You two weren’t kidding about his body, guy has muscles for days and he’s now all the more good looking than I first thought.”

“But Rainbow Dash,” Twilight retorts, “William wasn’t showing off his body for us to just stare at, she showed us it so we could see what happened to him. It was supposed to be a very serious moment!”

“Indeed,” Rarity adds, “he showed us his scars because he trusts us.”

“I get that, but it doesn’t mean I won’t forget,” Rainbow counters.

For the rest of the train ride to Ponyville the mares continued to bicker about what was and wasn’t inappropriate about admiring William’s body back in the throne room. Meanwhile the others simply went back to conversing amongst themselves and ignoring the argument. Spike glances at William and sighs while also glancing at Rarity. William seemed to be the main topic of conversation and he thought about how Rarity acted around him and how she talked about him.

I know it’s not his fault but it still makes me annoyed how he managed to get Rarity’s attention without even trying. The young drake thought. I’ll talk to him once we get back to Ponyville, maybe he’ll back off if I tell him how I feel about her.

William 1st POV

I’m awoken by the screeching of the trains wheels breaking against the tracks as we arrive at the station. I rise from my seat and yawn while at reaching and getting a good few satisfying pops here and there.

I hate Monday’s… I think to myself for some reason.

I look towards the rest of the group who were all beginning to leave and I follow them out of the train. We all step onto the platform and I take a deep breath of fresh Ponyville air.

“It’s good to be back,” I said.

“Agreed,” the CMC says together.

“So, what do you all have planned for the rest of the day?” I ask the Mane Six.

“Ah gotta get back ta tha farm for chores,” Applejack said.

“I believe I still have a few orders to complete,” Rarity says, “not to mention I still need to make your new clothes, darling,” she finishes as she smiles.

“I need to check on my little animal friends, if that’s ok,” Fluttershy says quietly to which I nod.

“I gotta go get your cute-ceañera ready right now!” Pinkie chirps as she literally zips off to who knows where making me chuckle.

“I, um, I have to reorganize the library so I’ll see you later, William,” Twilight says nervously while blushing for some reason making me arch a brow as she walks away with a quick pace.

“We’re gonna go to the clubhouse and see if we can think of any more ideas for our cutie marks,” Scootaloo said.

“Yeah, we’ll see y’all at your party tonight, Will,” Applebloom said.

“Sure,” I tell them as I wave to them and the rest of the mares goodbye.

I turn around and it’s only Rainbow, Spike, and I. Rainbow was about to say something but Spike stepped forward first with a bit of a serious expression.

“Hey Will, I want to talk to you about something important,” he says. Rainbow and I look at the young drake curiously but I smile and nod while I gesture spike to lead the way. Rainbow looks disappointed for some odd reason but I motion to her that I’ll talk to her latter and she perks up a bit.

Spike leads me through the town and I’m greeted by the ponies with smiles and waves to which I return. Seems like they’re still thankful for all I’ve done and they seem to have heard of what I did for Lyra and Bon Bon since I overheard a few ponies as we passed by them say that Heavy Step and his crew were gonna be behind bars for long time making me smirk with satisfaction. Spike leads me to the outskirts of town until we come across a large lake. The lakes water is clear and fresh looking, perfect for swimming and taking a dip on a hot summer day. We come up to the edge of the grassy plain before the sandy beach and Spike sits down and I sit next to him. We sit in silence for a bit and just enjoy our surroundings, or at least I thought we were until Spike looks at me with the still serious expression.

“Will, can I ask you something?” Spike asks.

“Sure Spike, what’s up,” I tell him. Spike takes a deep breath and starts to speak.

“What’s it like to be in love?” He asks out of no where. I’m a bit taken back at the sudden question but I give it some thought since he obviously wants a serious an answer. I ponder what it means to be in love and think about Luna. I was about to answer him using my new relationship as an example but I pause. Why did I pause? My relationship is a perfect example since I like Luna, so why can’t I say it? I sigh and regain my composure so I can answer Spike since he’s still patiently waiting.

“Why do you ask?” I answer with a question instead. Spike sighs hangs his head a bit.

“Well, can I tell you something?”

“Sure, of course you can.”

“You gotta Pinkie Promise not to tell anypony,” he informs me. I arch a brow hat this Pinkie Promise he wants me to make.

“Pinkie Promise? What’s that?” I ask.

“It’s a special type of promise around here, I’ll show you how,” he says while he brings up an arm and I do the same.

“Cross my heart,” he says while crossing his chest.

“Cross my heart,” I say as I mimic him.

“Hope to fly,” he says while flinging his arm up.

“Hope to fly,” I mimic.

“Stick a cupcake in my eye,” he says while pointing his thumb towards his eye.

“Stick a cupcake in my e- ouch!” I cry when I literally poke my eye with my thumb, “eye…” I finish.

Spike chuckles and nods in satisfaction. “Ok well here goes, I…have a crush on Rarity,” he says slowly.

I try to look surprised on the outside but on the inside I smirk since I already knew he had a thing for Rarity. I guess this is as good of an opportunity to talk to him about this since I promised myself to do so a couple days ago.

“Rarity huh?” I ask innocently. He nods exhales deeply.

“Yeah,” he said, “she’s the most beautiful pony in all of Equestria. I’d do anything for her in a heartbeat.”

“Wow Spike, didn’t know you had it that bad for her. But that still doesn’t really answer my question,” I said.

“Well I asked because you’re in a relationship with Luna and I wanna know what it’s like when somepony loves you back,” he says.

I tense up a bit at what Spike says to me. I don’t know why but I suddenly get this guilty sensation in my gut. Why do I feel guilty of all things? I should also be able to give Spike a straight answer but my mind comes out blank. A thought comes to mind and I already don’t like it and try to burry it within my subconscious but it starts to boil over making the guilty feeling grow. The feeling makes me nervous and upset until a sudden and unfortunate realization hits me.

It’s not that I don’t love Luna, but did I jump the gun too soon? I think

“Spike,” I say monotonous, “can you also make me a Pinkie Promise? Pinkie Promise that this conversation between us, stays between us.”

Spike arches a brow but nods and performs the Pinkie Promise anyway. I sigh and look away as I try to find the words.

“I don’t know how to answer your question, Spike,” I said.

“How come?” He asks.

“Because, I don’t know if I love Luna the way she loves me…” I admit.

Spike goes wide eyed and stares at me in shock. “Huh, but why? You said you liked Luna enough to accept her feelings. Are you having second thoughts?”

“No, of course not,” I defend, “the mere thought of being with Luna brings a smile to my face but I’m not sure if I’m worthy to accept her love properly and return it in the same manner.”

“What do you mean?” He asks.

“Look Spike,” I say sternly, “there are things about me that would probably be a bit shocking to you and the others, such as not really knowing how to love somepony else properly. I’ve…done things in my past life I’m not at all proud of and we’ll leave it at that for now,” I say while pretending to scratch my head but I’m really rubbing a certain area again like I did before.
“Don’t get me wrong, I like Luna very much and I want what we have to work between us. But I’m afraid I’ll somehow let my past resurface and it’d ruin what Luna and I have. Between you and me, I feel like I rushed into this relationship before I had a chance to give it some thought. I’m not saying I’m gonna break up with Luna but I’m just gonna have to wait and see how things go before I make any more brash decisions. Maybe I’ll learn how to love her properly like she loves me,” I shrug a little skeptically.
“However you asked me a question and I think I can do my best to answer you properly. Being in love is probably like having a warm feeling in your heart and it’s constantly there whenever that person, or pony in this case, comes to mind. Like whenever you look or think about Rarity you get that feeling all the time right?” I ask. He nods and smiles a bit. “Well it’s the same thing when that pony loves you back and the warm feeling is greater than before because you both have feelings for each other and can rely on each other. So answer me honestly Spike, you love Rarity right?” He nods. “But, does she like you?” He was about to nod but stops and begins to frown.

“Well of course she likes me, I help her-“

“But does she love you?” I interrupt.

He flinches but was about to respond and is again unable to say anything. “The reason I ask, Spike, and don’t get mad but I don’t think she loves you,” I finally tell him. Spike scowls and was about to weigh into me but I hold up a hand and continue speaking. “Like I said Spike, being in love is like a warm feeling in your heart and it only grows if you and the pony in question love each other. But it seems to me you’re the only one who has genuine love to give and Rarity doesn’t.”

“Are you saying Rarity hates me?” He asks fearfully.

“No of course not,” I defend, “I overheard how you always help Rarity around her boutique back in Canterlot and I also heard how appreciative she is whenever you do. It’s just I get the feeling she only likes you in a friendly manner rather than a romantic manner.”

Spike again is at a loss for words and starts to process what I’ve told him. He looks away and tries to hide some tears forming in his eyes and I can only place a hand on his shoulder to comfort him.

“I know…but don’t you think she’ll like me if time goes on?” Spike asks.

“I’m gonna be honest with you Spike because I’ll never tell a lie, I don’t think it’s gonna work out between you two,” I sigh.

This only makes Spike whimper more and he clenches the grass with his claws. I frown pityingly at the young drake since I basically broke his heart. But it’s better if it were me rather that Rarity since that would only worsen the pain.

“The truth hurts Spike, believe me I know. But it’s best if you move on before you let these feelings seep deeper into your heart and allow them to boil over. It’ll only cause you more pain if you don’t,” I console him.

“B-but, I love her so much…” Spike chokes.

“I know, but sometimes if you truly love somepony who doesn’t love you back, it’s best if you let them go,” I tell him. With this, the dam breaks and he starts to cry silently as he nods accepting the truth. Never thought I’d be giving romance advice to anyone but Spike is a gentle soul who deserves what’s best for him. It’s strange, but I feel like I’m talking to Spike as if he were my little brother. Though as I think that, memories of my past start to surface and I use every fiber of my subconscious to press it deep within my mind.

You’re not here… I growl with venom in my head at a certain image of a pair of humans. Neither are of you are here, you never fucking were…

After a few minutes of comforting Spike, he reluctantly accepted the truth of not being able to be with Rarity the way he wants. He continue to sit on the grass enjoying each other’s company and making small talk. We were about to stand up and walk away, when suddenly I hear the sound of something wizzing through the air at high speeds I was about to turn around when I feel something sharp pierce my gut. I slowly look down and see a crossbow bolt lodged in my stomach. Blood is seeping out of the wound and I look back up at Spike who’s staring at me in horror.

“Wh-What the fuck…”I choke as I spit out blood. (Skip to 4:08)

“WILL!!!” Spike cries as he dashes to me.

I fall on my right knee and place a hand on my wound. This fucking hurts like hell and the blood won’t stop pouring out. I quickly try to use my Ki to heal the wound but I’m a bit disoriented due to the pain but I mange to slow the bleeding.

“Hmph, if I’d’ve known it was this easy to take you by surprise I wouldn’t have been so easily arrested,” I hear a familiar voice taunt.

I look up and see the one brownish grey furred and dirty blonde maned stallion I didn’t expect to see again. Heavy Step was walking towards Spike and I and he was wearing what looked like a grey prisoners jumpsuit. In his hand was a crossbow and around his shoulder was a quiver of bolts. He reaches back and loads another bolt in his weapon and aims it at me with a darkly smug expression.

“Heavy Step…” I growl with malice.

“In the free flesh,” he retorts. Spike gets in front of me with his arms raised and tries to look intimidating but is trembling slightly. Heavy Step just scoffs and still has his crossbow aimed at both of us.

“How the buck are you here?!” Spike yells, “you were arrested, along with your crew, and sent to prison!”

“Well if you must know, we were on our way to prison in a transport carriage when the thing got a broken wheel, of all things. So while the dumb guards went to fix it, they stupidly had us step out so they could repair it properly. Using the opportunity, I used my shackles to grab one of the guards and put a choke hold on him. I threatened the others to back off or I’d snap his neck when they tried to apprehend me again,” Heavy explained with no remorse. I glared daggers at Heavy as I groaned in pain from my wound and the blood was starting to drip from my hand to the ground.

“You…bastard…” I growl in pain.

“Yes well anyway,” Heavy ignores me, “I then backed away from the group to make my escape. Once I was at a safe enough distance, I snapped the stupid shit guard’s neck, grabbed his keys and crossbow, freed myself, and booked it all the way here. I would’ve gone back for my “crew” but they were stupid shits to begin with so it wasn’t really worth it…”

My eyes widened and I gritted my teeth in anger at this murderer. His eyes showed no remorse for his actions and it made me sick to my stomach making my wound hurt more.

“You sick, selfish bastard! How low can you get for killing somepony and abandoning your friends?!” Spike yells.

“Friends?” Heavy snorts, “they weren’t my friends, they were just a couple of grunts I let hang around for shits and giggles. They were never gonna stick around anyway, why do you think I was able to not get arrested most of the time? I always pinned it on those stupid enough to join up with me.”

“You’re fucking scum…” I groaned while still glaring at him. Heavy scowls and steps towards me but Spike tries to hold his ground, only to be hit with the butt of the crossbow by Heavy and sent tumbling to the side and he lay there knocked out cold.

“Spike!” I cry but wince at the pain in my gut. Heavy then kicks me in the chest and I land on my back. Before I could try to pick myself up, Heavy shoots my leg with another bolt making me scream in agony.

“I had a good thing going,” Heavy sneered, “I always got away with everything, until you showed up…” Heavy steps on my wounded leg making me scream louder. He loads another bolt and aims it at my head. “Now I’m gonna take great joy in hunting down each of those mares I saw you came into town with,” he says while licking his lips.

I snap my eyes open and stare at Heavy with pure rage. The fact that he was literally gonna hunt them down and subjugate my friends to his personal desires set me off.

“You…mother…fucker…” I say in a bloodthirsty tone, “you stay away…from my friends…!”

“Oh yeah?” He taunts while pressing the bolts tip on my forehead causing blood to trickle down, “Well then I guess I should finish this quick so I can have some fun with them sooner. I think I’ll make that purple mare my personal bitch, along with the yellow one with that huge rack she’s packing…” he says lustfully.

Something snaps in me causing my Ki to shoot up and go haywire. I can only feel pure hatred and anger boiling up at what I had just been told. I scream in pure hatred and my Ki erupts from my body, but the feeling of my Ki blowing up and the pain in my gut and leg causes my vision to go blurry and soon nothing but darkness.

Spike 1st POV

My head hurts like Tartarus after being knocked to the ground from Heavy Steps crossbow. There’s ringing in my ears and everything is spinning. I try to move but my body isn’t listening and I’m so very disoriented. I then remember that Will is hurt and is about to be killed by Heavy Step so I try to move my body and pick myself up to my claws and knees. Suddenly, I feel a powerful gust of wind blow me a couple feet away from where I was laying causing me to fall back down. I groan as I try to pick myself up again but there’s still ringing in my ears and my vision is still blurry. I bring myself to my claws and knees again and squint at my claws trying to focus my vision. I hear noises to the side of me and when I look to my right I can only see two blurry figures. One is on the ground and not moving and the other is standing up straight so I thought it was Heavy Step looking down at Will.
I look down and grunt as I try to pick myself up again and I’m sitting up on one knee as the ringing in my head starts to die down. I look back to the blurry figures and my vision starts to focus and I go a bit wide eyed as it does. The figure on the ground is a more greyish brown color which means it’s Heavy Step but the other figure seems to be glowing a bright scarlet red color it seems. I couldn’t really see clearly, due to my vision still trying to recover, but I knew it was Will standing up straight but he’s facing away from me. As my vision clears the glow starts to dissipate, but I could swear I saw Will’s hair was a different color and style than his usual brown and slightly styled look. It seemed to be a deep scarlet and standing up on its own giving it a slightly spiked style. But before I could get a better look as I picked myself up to my feet, the glow disappears and his hair is back to normal.

What the, what was that? I think to myself. Did Will use a new power?

I look down at Heavy Step and gasp a bit at his appearance. His entire muzzle is smashed in and he’s breathing shallowly meaning he’s unconscious. The crossbow he had was in splinters as the pieces were laying around the both of them. I was about to say something when Will turns around to face me but I gasp in horror at the sight I’m seeing. Almost his entire shirt and pant leg are red and but the bolts are no longer in his stomach and leg. I notice his left shoulder is red and I see blood dripping from his arm meaning he had been shot again.

“Hey Spike…” she says with a weak smile, “you…ok?” He then falls to his knees and onto his side as he passes out. I shake my head and quickly make my way over to him. I then rummage in my pocket and pull out my P-Phone and dial the number for the ambulance ponies.

“Will, please hold on. Help is on the way!” I cry as I try to stop one of his wounds from bleeding by pressing my free claw on his stomach. He grunts in paint as I wait for somepony to answer the phone. The ringing soon stops and I hear somepony answer.

“This is Ponyville General Hostpital, what is your emergency?” the operator asks me.

“Yes hello?! Please come to the lake immediately! My friend was shot by a crossbow in the stomach, leg, and shoulder! I’m trying to stop the bleeding but it won’t stop! Please send somepony here now and bring the guards because there’s also an escaped convict!” I cry into my phone.

“Oh my Celestia…we’ll send an ambulance carriage as soon as possible, sir! As well as the law enforcement so just keep trying to stop the bleeding as much as you can!” the operator tells me.

“I will, please hurry!” I cry before hanging up. I put my phone in my pocket and put both claws on Will’s wound. My scales start to stain red a bit from his blood but I didn’t care. I notice his other wounds were still bleeding so without thinking, I lift my claws from the wound on his stomach and teared two pieces of my shirt and tied one to each wound as best I could before resuming pressure in his stomach to help my friend from bleeding out. After a few minutes of agonizingly waiting, I soon hear sirens in the distance meaning the ambulance carriage was almost here making me smile hopefully. I look back down at Will and see he’s still in pain so I lessen my pressure to ease the stress.

“Just hang in there, Will. You’re gonna be ok so please hang in there!” I tell him.

Author's Note

Uh oh, trouble! And what was that new form Saber turned into? All will be revealed soon, so stay tuned!

-WurkyWilk has left the building…