The Alicorn and the Last Human.

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5

Chapter 1 Author's Note

Here is my long waited idea, now brought to life, The Alicorn and the Last Human. And I like to thank Israel Yabuki for helping me bring this idea to light.

Enjoy reading and Brony on!

{And another note, if any of you have any thoughts about any grammar or spelling errors in this story, you're welcome to say. BUT!... If you ever say anything that is very insulting and rude; you just earned yourself a banned format... meaning I'm blocking you.}

Chapter 1

Equestria wasn't always the only world that had existed. Truth be told, the world was once inhabited by these creatures called humans. They were the first dominant civilization and the first intelligent race to live on the Earth. But unfortunately, even with their superior technology, economy, and massive cities; humanity had slowly destroyed itself for so many centuries.

Their lust for power, greed, and hypocrisy proved to be their undoing. Even their society turns against itself, their waters and air become polluted, forests and grasslands decimated, and they continuously declare wars on one another. Which caused the genocide of millions.

Soon after the smoke cleared, the world that was ruled by humans, was no more. And humanity went extinct, and everything that was left behind by them; were lost with the hands of time. Until there was no evidence of their existence.

Over time, the world began to heal itself and life was flourishing once again and within 10,000 years, a new race of creatures inhabited the Earth: Equestrians. Anthropomorphic pony creatures that were far from what the humans were. Instead of destroying their land, the Equestrians worked with the environment to ensure the Natural Order and gain resources. And they never used any fossil fuel or nuclear energy, instead, they preferred to use energy that nature provided them; magic.

Furthermore, the Equestrian had become a more civilized race. One that thrived on helping each other. A place where life is lived through being kind, considerate, selfless, and respectful. It was a kind of upgrade that had given mother earth a 2nd chance to finally see the goodness of these new, majestic creatures.

But the Equestrians are unaware of the existence of humans before them, mostly because there was no evidence of their existence. Of course, the earth has its way of surprises and had a history of creatures that survived after extinction events. And soon the world of Equestria will never be the same.

As of today, Twilight was currently running her School of Friendship, her friends helping to teach their classes on the many ways of friendship. Aiding her is the newest Vice Principal of the school, Sunset Shimmer. Who was a former student of Princess Celestia; who also did terrible things in the past. But after changing herself for the better and learning the values of friendship like Twilight did, Celestia had Sunset become the Alicorn Princess of Empathy.

Having two princesses run the school was an unexpected turn for everyone, both faculty, and students alike. But the one who was most shocked was Twilight's adopted daughter, Nyx. Twilight was only a unicorn when she adopted Nyx. And was 17 years old when she adopted her daughter and raised her into the young lady she is now.

Nyx was now around 19 years old and was a big sister to her little brother and sister. Twilight had gotten married to one of Princess Celestia's sons almost 2 decades ago. Her brother's name is Burning Sparkle, age 14 and her sister is Blazing Sparkle, age 15. She also had a cousin named Sunrise Scorcher, age 16. He is also the son of Sunset Shimmer and her husband, Eternal Flames, Celestia's oldest.

Not to forget, Nyx has grown into a smart and beautiful alicorn mare over the years. And because of her amazing grades, she's been capturing the hearts of both boys and girls of every creature at the school. Though it was sweet, it was a pain to see her locker is filled with love letters almost every day.

It certainly didn't help that she had filled out nicely in certain parts of her body. Especially her chest area, her hips, and her sweet flank. She looked like one of those models who worked for Photo Finish. Heck, she was even offered a model shoot one time but turned it down. She preferred to help her mother out with the School of Friendship, even becoming part of the teaching staff. And she enjoyed teaching the young about the real meaning of friendship. Photo respected her decision and even gave her a business card.

Twilight admired the devotion her daughter had for wanting to help out with the school. She knows Nyx will make a fine member of the school one day.

As of now, Nyx was on her way to teach the next class. Passing by students in the hallways, with most of the boys and a few girls staring at her. Even though it was nothing she would mind, however, it felt a bit uncomfortable. And before she knew it, she accidentally bumped into another mare in the hallway and the two fell to the ground.

“Ow. What was that.” Nyx said as she sat herself up and saw that the mare she bumped into, was her friend and one of the CMC; Applebloom. "Oh, I'm sorry Applebloom, are you okay?" she asked, helping her back up.

“It's fine, Nyx. Ah, should’ve seen where Ah was goin’.” Applebloom replied. “Though, it's great seein’ ya again. The girls an’ ah never git ta see ya often.”

"I've been busy with helping mom out with the school. Being a teacher is a lot of hard work. It's a lot harder than when I was still a student here," Nyx said. "How have you and your friends been doing lately? Did you help any young fillies and colts discover their talents and help get their cutie marks lately?"

“Oh, ya know, same old. We helped out two foals yesterday discover their talents that they had trouble finding in themselves. So nothin’ much of today.” Applebloom stated.

"I see. Maybe one of these days, you could turn your talents into a business. You never know, it could be just the jumpstart you need. As long as you keep up your grades, you'll all go pretty far in life," Nyx said.

"Thanks, Nyx. Anyways, Ah'd better git to mah, next class. An’ Nyx, ya should really git out more. Maybe ya find yourself a stallion in the future.” She teased towards the dark alicorn before finally leaving the hallway.

“Hey! You know how hard it is to find a coltfriend in Equestria! I’ll tell you… About a billion to one!” Nyx shouted towards her friend, but Applebloom was out of reach. "Coltfriend, huh? I'm not even sure I'm ready for something like that. Luckily, I got an eternity before I can even think about a coltfriend," Nyx said to herself.

Of course, she has been thinking about having a special pony in her life, she is a grown mare, so she has the need to get out and explore her life more. But of course, it's difficult to find a suitable coltfriend, when all they do is eye her body like it's candy. And plus, most of the good ones are either taken or old enough to be the same age as her dad and uncle.

It’s best to think about it some other time. Right now she needs to get to her class, best not to keep her students waiting.

"Alright, students. For today's history lesson, we will be learning all about the Evil Tyrants and Dictators of Equestria. For starters, we will be learning about the former tyrant known as the Pony of Shadows, or more commonly known as one of your teachers, Professor Stygian."

"Over 1,000 years ago, Stygian once helped the Pillars of Equestria defend the land against many disasters and tyrants. It wasn't always about the villains themselves, but also things like erupting volcanoes, earthquakes that cause large cracks in the ground. Or more commonly known as fissures. Stygian was an ordinary pony just like everyone else. But then, one day, the Pillars of Equestria lost all respect for him for something they thought was treacherous. Can anyone tell me what he supposedly tried to do?" Nyx asked. "Raise your hand if you know."

Every student in the classroom raised their hands up instantly, and if this was a situation for a newbie teacher; this would be difficult in choosing a student. But Nyx was no ordinary new teacher. After a few seconds, she picked out a student in the classroom, who is a changeling.

“Yes, what is your answer?” Nyx asked the changeling student.

“He was only trying to make copies of the Pillar’s magical artifacts so that he could fully commit with his friend and fight alongside them. But instead, the Pillars only saw this as taking their artifacts for himself.” He answered.

"Correct. And in doing so, they exiled him from the group. This decision was poor judgment on the Pillars' part. In doing so, the Pillars later brought forth a new evil born out of hate. Thus, the Pony of Shadows was born. Of course, nobody had full knowledge of what the Pony of Shadows is capable of, but it seems that he must have been so powerful and frightening that the Pillars had no choice but to banish him to limbo. In a place where time has stopped.”

During the lesson, the students took notes of her lecture. At least some of them, while others were ogling her body. Nyx can tell where some of them were looking at but said nothing so she could tell them after class.

"Now, can anyone tell me how the Pillars and the Pony of Shadows were brought out of limbo?" Nyx asked. One of her students raised her hand and this time, it was her own younger sister. "Yes, Blazing Sparkle?"

"My mom and her friends gathered all of the personal items that each belonged to the Pillars of Equestria and brought them to Ponedge where she, Starlight and Sunburst combined their magical abilities to open the gate back up," Blazing Sparkle said.

"Correct and can anyone tell me what their original intention was?" Nyx asked. This time, her little brother, Burning Sparkle raised his hand. "Yes?" Nyx pointed.

"Originally, they wanted to bring just the Pillars of Equestria out of limbo, but because they sent themselves along with the Pony of Shadows into limbo in the first place, the Pony of Shadows was brought back, too," Burning said.

"That's right. And as a bonus tip, the Pillars of Equestria wanted to find a way to beat him that didn't revolve around being trapped in limbo. But there was no way to stop him and there was no telling what kind of catastrophe he was capable of doing. Nor did they want to chance it," Nyx said while her students kept taking notes and/or checking out her frame.

“And so they decided to use the power of the Elements of Harmony, along with a spell that Twilight Sparkle suggested, that will allow the Pillars to remain in Equestria and only send the Pony of Shadows to limbo. Of course, as they were near succeeding in banishing the villain, Twilight Sparkle saw the Shadow’s host, Stygian, from within and flew inside to see him for herself. And what do you all believe happened next?” Nyx asked her class again.

Then, Sunrise raised his hand and Nyx gave him the spotlight. "Twilight wanted to find out why Stygian took the items back then. She found out that he wanted to create his own copies of the items in order to help the Pillars of Equestria on their journeys. He wanted to truly earn their respect, not their powers."

“Ding ding! That's exactly right, Sunrise. And when he explained himself, the Pillars felt guilty for misunderstanding and discarding their friend, and soon they along with Twilight and her friends rescued him from the Shadow’s grasp and banished the evil entity to limbo while Stygian received apologies from the Pillars and so their friendship was restored.” Nyx finished the lesson. And as she finished the bell rang for class to end. "Class dismissed. And remember not to forget what we discussed today. And that means all… of… you," Nyx pointed at the students whom she caught staring at her during the whole lecture.

Soon every student got up from their desk and left the classroom while Nyx was cleaning up the board for her break. While she did, out of nowhere she felt somepony smacked her posterior. She turned around only to see that no pony was there, but she could hear some boys chatter down the hallway and chuckling about something. This action got Nyx upset and felt insulted.

Nyx used her magical abilities to track down who the culprits were, then walked over to where they are and cleared her throat, getting the boys' attention. "You do realize sexual harassment is against school policies, right? Perhaps 2 weeks of detention should teach you not to lay your hands on a mare," she said before taking them by the ears using her magic.

Nyx arrived at the door to her mother's office and knocked on it. Her mom answered the door, along with Sunset. "Nyx, is there something wrong?"

"I have a couple of trouble-making students who thought it was funny to smack my butt in my classroom. And I recommend that they are to be punished accordingly," Nyx replied.

'Come on, she knows she loved it,' One of the boys thought.

"You know I can hear your thoughts, mister," Sunset said. "And there's nothing likable about a mare being smacked on her butt without permission. Especially if she's a grown mare and you're still a young teen. I think we need to take this matter up with your parents, see what they think about your inexcusable behavior." she said, sternly.

Sunset then uses her magic and then harshly drags the boys out of the office and soon their screams can be heard from the other side of the door. Nyx and Twilight don’t really wanna know what was going on. So the two alicorns sat quietly in the room, in awkward silence, for a few seconds.

“So… How’s life treating you, Nyx.” Twilight asked.

"It's going alright. We just finished a lecture on Equestrian History. How about you?" Nyx asked.

“Oh, you know… A bit nervous for my coronation in the next 3 weeks. But I’m sure its nothing to worry about, hehe.” Twilight replied.

“You know you’re not fooling anypony, mom. I can see the anxiety in your eyes.” Nyx stated.

"Oh okay, I'm nervous. But I can't help myself. It was hard enough to run this school and teach so many students the meaning of friendship, but being a ruler of Equestria is a really big responsibility that I'm still not sure I'm ready to accept. But it doesn't mean that I'm not gonna accept that responsibility, I just want to make sure I'm physically, mentally and psychologically ready for it. Maybe one day, you'll understand," Twilight said.

“Oh, I'm not so sure about that. I don’t think I'll last a minute ruling a whole country.” Nyx jokes.

"Very funny, Nyx," Twilight said sarcastically with a smirk, shaking her head left and right.

“But still, you’ll be a great leader, mom. I know it.” Nyx replied.

"Thanks, sweetheart. It's good to know I have your support. And I'm sure you'll make a wonderful Principal one day when you've gained some more experience," Twilight said, hugging her daughter.

“I thought that was Starlight’s future job?” Nyx jokes again.

"Consider it payback for when she thought she could outsmart a princess during our time travel fight a few years ago," Twilight whispered, jokingly before chuckling. Nyx laughed with her before finally. "Alright, go ahead with your break and take care."

"I will and thanks again, mom," Nyx replied before taking off.

After leaving the main office, Nyx heads on over to the teacher’s lounge for her break. She had with her a bag of lunch and a container full of cold water. She arrives at the teacher's lounge and enters, meeting up with some of the other teachers, including Rainbow, Pinkie, Fluttershy, and even Nyx's foster father, Heat Blitz, and uncle Eternal Flames.

"Hi, Nyx. How were your lectures?" Heat asked before having a sip of his hot chocolate.

"Yeah, everything's fine. Aside from some handsy teenagers smacking my butt earlier, I'm doing pretty good. Sunset and Twilight are giving them a proper punishment," Nyx said.

"Heh, my wife. She's a scary one. One of the reasons why I love her," Eternal commented.

"So, what about you guys, were your classes alright?" Nyx asked.

“Well, nothing new. Just the same old boring stuff. And I still can’t believe Fluttershy won Teacher Of The Month… Again!” Rainbow said in disbelief.

"Fluttershy is loved by so many of her students. She's devoted to helping students learn, but also being fair towards them. Plus, she's so cute and adorable. I guess that's one of the reasons why her husband married her," Nyx said.

"I… well, gee that's so kind of you to say that," Fluttershy said, turning away a bit and blushing all cute.

"I'm still shocked that you never married Discord," Pinkie said.

"Well, he's sweet, but he's not someone I'd consider a husband. He already married someone before me years ago. Besides, he's more of a fatherly figure to me, which he is since I married his son," Fluttershy stated.

"I can respect that. So aside from the classes, what's been on all your minds lately?" Nyx asked.

"Well, recently… a rumor's been going around. Apparently, something's been happening in the Everfree Forest lately. Zecora told some of us that she caught sight of some creature she's never seen before," Pinkie said.

“A creature? What kind of creature?” Heat asked.

"We don't know. But from what Zecora told us, she could tell it runs on 2 feet and it's got no hair, except on its head and parts of its face. She thinks it might be some kind of hairless monkey that shaved a little bit too much off the top and bottom," Pinkie replied.

“A hairless ape? Never heard of a creature like that, but it does sound like it could be a relative of the primate family.” Fluttershy suggested.

"If that's true, how can it run on two feet? Don't they usually walk on all fours?" Eternal asked.

"That's not all, Zecora also said… it doesn't talk or make a sound. Practically, it's mute." Pinkie Pie mentioned.

"Mute? That's not good. Is it harmless?" Fluttershy asked.

"I don't know, she never saw it doing anything except run past her when it came face to face with her during her usual rounds. I say this is something worth looking into," Pinkie said.

"True, but we're gonna have to take some precautions. If this thing is hostile towards anyone, we might have to restrain it with magic and take it to Twilight's lab to perform some tests on it to see what it is," Eternal stated.

"Good point. And we should probably keep the students out of reach from this thing if it tries anything to hurt them," Rainbow said.

"Good point. But we're forgetting one thing: We're gonna have to inform Twilight on this matter. She's the head mare in charge of the school. And one of us will have to cover for each other's classes and decide who will go," Fluttershy said.

"Darn, you're right! And I have to prepare the students on their mathematics tests this Friday in 3 more days," Heat said.

"And I've got to get the boys in my P.E class for their triathlon on the same day," Eternal said.

"I could always go and take a look. I mean, I'm already on break until the 7th period.” Nyx volunteered.

“That's a super awesome idea!” Pinkie shouted.

“That's a super terrible idea!” Heat responded. "The Everfree Forest is too dangerous for just one pony to wander in all alone. Even in the daytime, the forest can be dangerous to outsiders. I think Nyx should go with one of us to make sure she gets out safely."

"I agree. I won't have my niece get ambushed by a pack of rabid timberwolves or a chimera," Eternal added.

"We can always ask Discord to look after her," Fluttershy said.

"Did someone say "Discord?" an elder male's voice echoed in the room. Moments later, a puff of magic smoke appeared in the lounge and lo and behold, the lord of all chaos and disharmony appeared before them, levitating in the air. "Forgive me for eavesdropping, but I couldn't help but hear you talking about a little rumor in Everfree Forest, and about little Nyx here won't be let into said forest unsupervised."

"Yes. I'm fearing for my daughter's safety, even if she is an accomplished mare. Can you keep her safe for us?" Heat asked.

"Hmmm, well, in my opinion, the young lady is an adult and should be treated as such, but if you insist, I will make sure she makes it back in one piece," Discord said.

"Thanks, Discord. I really owe you one," Heat said.

"Oh, no need to. But if you can, I would recommend you watch over my dear grandson, Asriel. He's been so socially awkward and kids seem to pick on the poor little guy. One time the poor little guy came home with a black eye. And let me tell you I will NOT have it," Discord said like the protective, worried grandparent he is.

"Seriously? Someone's bullying Asriel?" Eternal asked.

"Okay, consider this a favor. I'll try and get to the bottom of this and see who it was that bullied your grandson," Heat said.

"No need. I already peeked inside his mind and found out who the little scamper was that hurt my boy," Discord then gave Heat a vision of what his grandson went through, just by touching his shoulder and showed Heat who Asriel's bully was that landed him a black eye.

"Oh, dear. It's them again," Heat said.

"What's them?" Eternal asked.

"I'm talking about. . . Searing Shimmer and Danaus. A former heir to the changeling throne and Chrysalis' eldest daughter," Heat said.

"What? Her? But she's never violent towards others," Eternal said.

"She's not, but she is a witness to what your daughter did to Asriel," Heat said.

"Hmm… I see. Alright, I'll make sure this doesn't arise again starting right now." Eternal said.

"Thank you. Now, come along, Nyx, we've got some exploring to do!" Discord said, snapping his talons and changing into a safari ranger outfit.

"Alright then. I'll see you guys later," Nyx said.

"Be careful, honey. And don't step on any poison joke," Heat said.

Nyx nodded and followed Discord out of the lounge and teleported outside of the school.

After leaving school grounds, Nyx and Discord walked across town and soon arrived at the entrance of the Everfree Forest. "Oh, this is gonna be a smash. Now, remember, all tourists are to stay close with the tour guide for the duration of said exploration," he said over a megaphone he poofed out of nowhere. Nyx laughed at Discord's endless humor. "Thank you, thank you."

"Thanks for the information, Discord,” Nyx said.

"You're very welcome, princess," Discord said as the two walked inside the forest. "It's not every day someone appreciates my sense of humor. Especially in life-threatening environments, but others always seem to deem it "inappropriate" in those kinds of situations. All I do is try to liven up the mood. But at least you have a sense of humor."

“Well, I spend a lot of time with Pinkie Pie. So I've built a sense of humor for what I find funny.” Nyx said. She then looks towards the forest and soon hears eerie noises and growls of mysterious creatures hidden behind the dense trees. “You know the last time I was in the Everfree forest was when Twilight found me hiding in a bush, cowering in fear from a thunderstorm. And the time Diamond Tiara tricked me into going into the forest.” Nyx explained her history with the forest.

"I heard about it. I heard you cling to your mother because you were so relieved to see her again and weeping your cute little eyes out," Discord said, pinching Nyx's cheek.

"Discord, I'm not 5 anymore!" Nyx pouted with her puffed-up cheeks.

"My apologies. I still can't face the fact that you're all grown up. You may not be my daughter, but I still see you like one, just like my daughter-in-law," Discord said.

“Can we just go and search for the hairless ape that Pinkie told us about,” Nyx said as she entered the forest, leaving Discord behind where he stood. Discord poofed himself in front of Nyx, this time, having a flashlight on hand.

"You're better off staying behind me. Now… ONWARD!!!" Discord exclaimed proudly. Nyx rolled her eyes and smiled at the draconequus’s foolishness. Nyx followed Discord close behind, making sure she didn't get separated from him. She'd never admit it, but deep down, she's still a little bit scared of the forest. She felt more comfortable knowing Discord was there to keep her safe and humor her.

They walked through the forest for a little bit longer until they heard a rustling in one of the bushes, making Nyx jump, startled. "Did you hear that?" she asked.

"Stay behind me," Discord said, getting serious. He snapped his fingers and changed into an old cop outfit, pointing his flashlight at the bush. "Alright, pal. The jig is up, see. So come out with your hands in the air!" he said in a type of old school style gangster accent.

The two stood quietly for a few minutes as the rustling sound in the bushes continued to approach closer and closer to them. But soon they start to hear a weird whistling sound all around them, unsure of what it was, but it did however make whatever was causing the rustling in the bushes to leave the area.

“What was that? Where did that whistling noise come from?” Nyx asked as she looked around the area, only to find nothing.

"Beats me, but stay close. You never know how dangerous the situation can be," Discord said, poofing up a big shield.

"Again, I’m not a little filly anymore. I can take care of myself. So here’s my idea, you search the other direction, and I'll go search the other direction. And if we don’t see anything, we’ll meet back here.” Nyx stated. “Sounds like a plan.”

"You bet. But just remember, if you scream, yell or shriek, I'm teleporting right in front of you to act as your shield. No exceptions, no discussions. So… good luck," Discord said.

"Of course. You too," Nyx replied. She and Discord then split up and go their separate ways. Nyx kept a sharp watch of her surroundings by combining an illumination spell, as well as a motion detector spell around her in case some creature tries to sneak up on her. Being an alicorn herself, learning these two spells was a breeze, thanks to her devotion to learning the most advanced spells.

"Okay, Nyx. This is no time to be feeling scared. You can do this, you're stronger, smarter, and faster than ever before. You can handle a 3rd visit in the Everfree Forest.” Nyx said to herself.

She keeps venturing forth, staying cautious and ever-vigilant. Meanwhile, with Discord, he's got his Discord senses to count on. No predators or fatal objects can surprise him. As he's looking, light in his flashlight begins to flicker… until it dies out on him. "Oh, poo, this is just ridiculous. Oh well, time to change the old' batteries." he said. Reaching into his pockets, he pulls out a battery and changes it with the dead one still inside. "LET THERE BE LIGHT!" and with that, he turns it back on, only to be spooked by a Cragadile opening up its jaws at him.

The crocodilian creature snaps its jaws at the lord of chaos, with a bloodthirsty intention to devour the draconequus. Discord jumps out of the way to avoid the powerful crushing jaws of the cragadile.

"SMEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!" Discord yelled out. The ambitious carnivore kept coming at Discord, snapping its jaws at him, but the lord of chaos kept dodging its chomps swiftly. It almost got him by the tail one time, but he still kept his distance.

The cragadile snarls at Discord before attempting to lunge at him for a bite. Not before Discord magically formed a big caveman club in his paw. "Get back, you overgrown moocher! I've been the champion of Whack-a-crag for centuries and I'm not afraid to demonstrate my skills!" he says in a gallant voice.

The reptilian creature ignores his words and continues to charge at him, only to be met by a swift and hard whack down on his head from Discord’s club. Instantly, knocking the cragadile out unconscious. "Hmph! Next time, don't skip out on your meals, simpleton," he said while twirling his club around.

"Now, let's see what else I can pick up," Discord said, venturing onward.

Meanwhile, Nyx is still trying to find this alleged hairless ape within the forest. Of course, it proved a lot harder than it looks. So far, she hasn’t a single creature along with her search, only vines, trees, and a ton of bugs. She even nearly tripped a few times during her search and had got tangled up in a few vines once or twice.

“Ugh! How hard is it to find a hairless ape in this entire forest?" Nyx asked while kicking a rock into the air out of frustration.

After she did, she continued walking forward with stopping until she was forced to halt when she was a foot away from stepping into a river. The river was about 20 feet wide and from the looks of it, about 3 feet deep. And there were a couple of half-submerged rocks, which formed a path across the river about 25 feet to her right.

“Well… A river is better than a dense forest.” She said. Before she turned back, she then caught a glimpse of something standing on the rocks. It looked to be a bipedal creature, wearing a jacket with a bit of fur on it and cargo pants. It wore a winter fur hat on its head and its face was covered with a face mask and ski goggles on its eyes. It also had bandages wrapped around its hands and it wore rubber boots. It also had a backpack on its back along with a quiver filled with arrows. In its hand was a bow, and the other was holding a small ax in his hand.

Nyx hides behind the bushes as she watches what the strange creature is doing. The mysterious figure sets down its ax on the rock where it is standing, while grabbing an arrow from its quiver and places it on its bow. It then aims the arrow at the water for some reason and after a few seconds; it fires into the water, sticking up like it hit something. The creature then reached out and grabbed his arrow. When he pulled it up from the river, the arrow is revealed to have impaled a fish.

Nyx was a bit taken back by its bow and arrow skills. “Whoa… that was impressive.” She said. She watches this creature walk away with what she thinks is either his dinner or lunch. Nyx keeps a safe distance as she tails this creature to its hiding place.

After following where he was going, and then nearly lost herself in the woods, she began to lose sight of him and his tracks. She flew up in the air and looked above the trees to search for the creature, but was unable to. She lowers herself down in an opening between the trees and pouts in disbelief.

“I can’t believe I lost him! How did I even lose track of him?” Nyx said in frustration. “Of course, I'm in a forest, you can get lost in a forest!” she continues throwing a tantrum. "UGH!!! As if this day couldn't get any worse." Nyx soon regrets her statement as she hears a snarling noise coming from one of the bushes. "Uh-oh, me and my big, fat mouth." she covers her mouth with her hands when she says that.

Soon the rustling got closer and closer until the source of the noise crawled out of the bushes… which is a cragadile, snarling hungrily as it stares at the alicorn and approaches her.

“A cragadile, why did it have to be a cragadile?” She asks herself as her horn glows and then fires a warning shot with a magic blast. Which hit smack dab right on into the cragadile’s eyes, which only temporarily blinded and irritated it. It continues to approach the alicorn, while Nyx fires three more magic blasts; with of them accurately hit the cragadile’s head and the other two landed on its back. But her attacks didn’t faze the giant reptilian; it only made it even more furious.

Seeing that the overgrown lizard won’t back off, Nyx spreads her wings and attempts to fly away; however, the cragadile snapped its jaws onto her wing before she could get higher above the trees. Then the giant reptilian beast roughly pulls on her wing and then tosses her across the forest floor. She shrieks in pain after not only feeling the impact of the throw but also because her wing was tugged on so roughly. An alicorn's wings are sensitive and fragile, so having them tugged at like that was extremely painful on her part.

"Ouch! Damn it, that hurts, OW!" she exclaimed, grabbing her wing.

As she was wincing in pain, the cragadile approached her fast, attempting to make her its snack. Nyx was in so much pain that she could not run away and closed her eyes in fear. But before the cragadile could reach her, something came out of nowhere and pouched onto its back, and soon the reptile felt a stinging pain.

Nyx opens her eyes to see what was going on and to her surprise, what jumped on the cragadile’s back, is the creature she saw by the river. And in his hand, was a handmade dagger, and he was using it to repeatedly stab into the crocodilian beast’s neck and head. The cragadile became furious and irritated by the bipedal creature and then with a swift jerk of its body, it managed to toss him off. The bipedal creature quickly gets back on his feet before he is then brutally knocked into a tree by the cragadile’s tail.

The force of the impact left the mysterious creature dazed and mortally injured, but somehow he manages to get back up, shaken by the impact that is. The cragadile lunges its jaws at the creature, but he manages to get out of the way as the giant reptile’s jaws were now clamped onto the base of a tree. Seeing his opening, the creature then brings his dagger down and impales the cragadile’s eye, and pushes it deeper to impale its brain. The giant crocodilian struggled for a tiny bit before finally succumbing and died from the fatal blow.

The mysterious figure then pulls his dagger out of the cragadile’s eye and then walks slowly to Nyx. The alicorn could hear his tired grunts and heavy breathing before he collapsed on the ground in front of her, would seem that the forceful impact to the tree left him near-fatally injured.

Nyx crawled over to the bipedal creature to check its condition. She panicked a little from seeing that it was barely breathing. Its heart rate was slowing down. "Oh no. DISCORD!!! HELP!!!" she yelled out. Thank goodness for the draconequus' sharp hearing, he poofed right in front of her.

"Have no fear, the Great and Powerful Discord is here!" he shouted, while also wearing a copy of Trixie's cape and hat. "What seems to be the--" Discord was about to ask, but then he sees the injured bipedal creature and Nyx with a badly injured wing; and also the dead cragadile by the trees. "Oh dear, this is quite the pandemic. Fear not!" Discord then snaps his fingers, causing magic smoke to seep out of him. "It won't hold for long, I've only managed to pop its bones back into place and seal any and all wounds on his body. But it'll need time to fully recover from his injuries. Let's get him back to Ponyville and get it to a hospital."

“No! No hospital, we have no idea what they’ll do to him. We’ll take him back to mom’s castle, she's probably still at the school anyway.” Nyx said.

"Alright, but first," Discord snaps his fingers again and this time, Nyx felt her wing heal and pop back into place and heal her other wounds. "We can't have you limping back to the school. I'll teleport you back to school and I'll talk with Twilight about this creature you found. Hopefully, she'll find out what it is and help it recover quicker."

“Thanks, Discord… Now get us out of this forest before another cragadile decides to come to show itself!” She stated as she held onto the bipedal creature.

"Done," Discord said before snapping his fingers again, teleporting the three of them back outside the entrance of the School of Friendship. "Let's go, not a moment to lose!" And then Discord teleports away from the hallway and at the front door of Twilight's main office while taking the strange creature with him. Nyx ran off to one of the classrooms to teach the students who have her in the 7th period Magic class.

Discord arrives outside Twilight's main office and knocks on her door while keeping the bipedal creature secure in one arm. "Twilight, you might want to see this," he said.

The sounds of hoof steps were heard behind the door and soon Twilight opens the door and looks at Discord with an annoyed expression on her face. “If this is about putting you in charge of the school, as I said before, no means n--” She stops talking when her eyes landed on the creature Discord was holding. “What... Is... that? She asked in shock.

"Are you aware of a rare creature that Zecora came across?" Discord asked. Twilight nodded before she realized what Discord has in his arms. "Yup… apparently, the rumors were true. Nyx told me to give this creature to you to help it recover. She doesn't trust the hospital with an exotic creature like this. Think you can handle it?"

"I'm not sure how much help I can be, but I'll do whatever I can. Sunset, could you hold down the fort while I tend to the wounded?" Twilight asked.

"Sure, take all the time you need," Sunset assured.

"Thanks. I won't be long," Twilight replied. Soon after leaving Sunset in charge, Twilight took the creature in her hands.. or more appropriately, she tried to hold it in her arms, but it was a bit heavier than she thought. No matter, she was able to lift it in the air using her magic, then teleported off to her castle.

Upon arriving, Twilight took the creature to one of the guest rooms. She set it down on a bed and removed parts of its clothing. She gasps in surprise to see what it looks like. It has tan skin, medium-long, black hair, and it looked to be around 5’10” ft tall. But the most curious thing about it is that there are deep scars all over its body; most of them being new ones. And as she looks up its body, she gasps when she sees its neck look like something clawed at it. What's worse is that its entire body was skinny.

"Oh, dear. It looks like it's been out in the wilderness for too long. The poor thing," Twilight said. "Hmm… first things first, I've gotta rehydrate it." Twilight heads out of the guest room and makes her way into the kitchen. She gets one of her biggest cups she's got and fills it with water. She makes her way back inside of the guest room and sees the creature still sleeping, and slowly, steadily breathing. "You're gonna need a long road to recovery," she said to the sleeping creature while setting the cup of water down on the bedside table next to it.

"I wish I could do more, but until you wake up, that water's all I can give you," Twilight said.

She then leaves the creature in the room and closes the door behind her. Then she walks all the way to the castle throne room. Once she is there, she casts a spell to summon her friends in the castle; If she’s gonna solve the mystery of her new guest, she’s gonna need all hands on deck. Besides, she was sure that Nyx and the CMC could cover their classes for them…. Maybe.

Sure enough, All of Twilight's friends appeared in front of her inside the summoning circle. All of them were dazed and feeling a bit sick due to teleportation.

“Twilight! Warn us next time before you do that!” Rainbow stated loudly as she felt like her body was run over by a train.

"I'm sorry, girls. But I needed your help on a very urgent matter," Twilight said.

"For what reason did you call us during class, darling?" Rarity asked.

"Just follow me and I'll show you," Twilight replied. She guided her friends down the halls and led them to the door to the guest room. Twilight shushed the girls and then opened the door slowly, showing them what she brought into her home. The girls all gasped upon discovering this hairless creature sleeping away on the bed.

"Oh, so that's what the doozy was," Pinkie whispered.

"Twilight, what is that thing?" Rarity asked.

"I don't know, Discord and Nyx found it in the Everfree Forest," Twilight said.

"No way, that's the thing Zecora went on about? Looks kinda weird," Rainbow said.

"Shh! Rainbow, don't go insultin' the dang thing. Fer all we know, it might understand what we're sayin', so let's not offend it," Applejack suggested.

"The poor dear looks like it's starving. It's so skinny. It looks like it hasn't been eating well in decades and who knows how much abuse it's suffered. We have to do something to help!” Fluttershy said, feeling concerned for the creature's well-being.

"And let's not forget how filthy it is. Fear not, when the poor deary wakes up and has its fill, I will have it cleaned up faster than you can say "FABULOUS!" Rarity said, posing dramatically.

"Ah can fix up a nice big buffet with Pinkie's help but uh… Twilight?" AJ asked.

“What?” Twilight asked.

"Ah might have the remedy to heal the poor guy without magic. But Ah'm gonna need 4 kilograms of fructose an' a bucket full of water. 10 liters of it," AJ said.

“And how's that gonna help?” Rainbow asked. “And second, where are we gonna get those ingredients?”

“Already on it!” Pinkie stated as she pulled the ingredients required for the remedy, right out of her poofy pink hair. “Here you go,” she said as she handed them to AJ.

"Pinkie Pie, yer a genius," Applejack said, hugging her. Pinkie hugged her back and made a squeaking sound like a squeaky toy.

"You're welcome. OOH! Can I help with the dessert?" Pinkie asked.

"Sure, Ah don't mind," Applejack said.

“Woohoo!” Pinkie cheered happily.

"I can help disinfect whatever might be making it sick," Fluttershy said.

"So what am I doing here?" Rainbow asked.

"You can help get it back into shape after it's fully recovered and well-fed. No better way to burn off calories than a walk or jog around Ponyville," Pinkie said.

"Like a… trainer?" Rainbow asked. Pinkie nodded. "Hmmm… sure, why not. But it has to be early in the morning. 6 AM before classes start or if I have to go train with the Wonderbolts. Is that alright with you?"

"Sure, but for now, we've got to give him some time. So, we got ourselves a plan?" Twilight asked her friends.

"Agreed," all of them said in unison.

"Thanks. I'm glad I could count on--" Twilight's thoughts are soon interrupted by the sound of the bed rustling, startling her and her friends. The Mane 6 turns and sees the creature has woken up and is backed against the corner, breathing heavily. It looks around the room, confused and frightened of his whereabouts. Soon it eventually looks towards the Equestrians in the room and becomes frozen with fear.

“Uhhhh… What should we do?” Rainbow asked quietly.

"Just give it a little space, I have a hunch that this creature might not be used to seeing others aside from its own. Quite frankly, I've never even seen such a specimen before. This is definitely worth looking into," Twilight said.

"Twilight, I don't think it shares the same enthusiasm as you do," Fluttershy said. The animal lover then slowly approaches, attempting to calm the creature down. “Don’t worry, you're safe and sound now. Nopony here is gonna…” But as she was attempting to calm it down, the creature swiftly got off the bed and sprinted over to the other side of the room, cowering in a corner. This made Fluttershy hurt on the inside.

“Huh? Usually, when Fluttershy befriends new animals, they don’t tend to freak out at all.” Pinkie stated, with a confused look on her face.

“But Fluttershy is the sweetest pony in all of Equestria, what gives the creature the right to be afraid of her?” Rarity asked.

"No no, don't be afraid. I'm not here to hurt you. A good friend of ours found you and took you in when you were injured in the forest. What can we do to show you we're not enemies?" Fluttershy asked, staying where she was.

But the creature stayed where it is, even grabbing onto a nearby object and wielding it as a weapon to defend itself. Fluttershy backed up a bit. "I understand. There's no need to get hostile towards me. Is there anyone you do want to see?” she asked.

While the Fluttershy and the others try to persuade the creature to trust them, they don’t notice Nyx and Sunset entering the room, looking all confused about what was going until they saw the creature awake and scared for its life.

“Mom, what’s going on here? And how did he wake up?” Nyx asked Twilight while she was staring at the bipedal creature.

“What the? Nyx, Sunset, what are you two doing here? Who’s currently watching the school?!” Twilight asked.

“Don’t worry, Heat and Eternal promised to watch over the school in our absence… And we left Discord in charge of teaching the students.” Sunset answered.

"What?! Are you crazy? We want our students to excel, not get expelled! How can you be certain that he can be trusted? For all we know, the students won't even get their weekly homework and sit through his jokes nonstop," Twilight said, shocked.

"I told him if he helps the students study, I'll ensure that his grandson isn't bullied again and treat him and his entire family out to lunch," Nyx said.

"Truth be told, I was shocked when I learned my daughter was bullying Asriel. I'm going to give her a good lesson about this issue," Sunset said.

"Hey! Let’s focus on this situation and not anything… hey, hold on, what is he staring at?” Rainbow asked as she pointed to the creature. Soon the other mares looked back at it and saw that it was now calm and indeed staring at something, but what? Nyx looked over and took a step to the side. The creature's eyes followed her. She stepped to the other side, its eyes followed her.

"I think it's… staring at me," Nyx said. "Uh… can you understand me?" she asked the creature, not moving a muscle. The creature nods slowly. "What's your name?" However, it didn't respond with words, but instead, he started making hand signs in reply.

“Ooh, he’s using sign language. I know this because this is how I communicated with George the Gorilla when he had a sore throat.” Fluttershy said with glee.

“Nyx, you know that freaky… uh… hand speaking technique? What is he saying?” Rainbow asked.

"Yeah, I can make out what he's saying," Nyx said before reading the signs it's giving. "My… name… is… Ryder. Where… am… I? What… is… this… place? That's what this thing is asking right now."

"Ryder, huh? That's a pretty cool name. Pleased to meet ya!" Rainbow said, offering a handshake to Ryder. But he backed up and made more signs.

"It's saying this: "First off, I'm a boy and 2nd, keep away from me. I don't trust these other… whatever they are." Sorry, Dash, but it's gonna take some time before he gets used to all of you. But what I wanna know is why he's not freaking out with me,” Nyx said.

Ryder makes some more hand signs and this time, Fluttershy translates. "He says… he trusts you more because… he saw the same fear in your eyes when that… Cragadile attacked you?" Fluttershy, along with the other girls gasped upon hearing this.

“Nyx, you were attacked!?!” Twilight asked out of anxiety.

"Y-Yeah. Ryder saved my life, but he wound up getting banged up in the process. Discord and I helped heal some of his wounds and brought him to you, hoping you could heal him while I went to class. Discord healed me before we left," Nyx explained.

"What?! Oh, dear. Are you sure you aren’t hurt anymore?" Twilight asked, concerned, and checking Nyx for any injuries.

"I'm fine now, mom. As I said, Discord healed me after I was attacked," Nyx reassured. "And also, Ryder saved my life. If it wasn’t for him, I'd be giant lizard food.” Twilight is surprised to hear this news. She looks over to the silent creature.

"Ryder, I'm very grateful you risked your life to save my daughter. She means the world to me and if you ever need anything, I'll gladly aid you," Twilight said.

Ryder blinked for some reason, then made hand signs that made Nyx giggle. "Ryder, you're a real gentleman, you know that," Nyx said.

"What did he say?" Pinkie asked.

"He said "Wait, she's your mom? There's no way she can be your mom, she looks so young and beautiful, enough to be considered your big sister," Nyx said, making Twilight and the others giggle as well, but Twilight felt her face blush.

"That's nice of him to say that. But I'm actually older than I look and I'm happily married. Thanks for the comment, though," Twilight said. Ryder replied with an “Ok” hand sign.

“Why is he only using hand signs to speak? Can’t he just talk to us, I mean he can understand us after all?” Rarity asked.

"Maybe I can find out what's up by performing an x-ray spell," Twilight said. She lights up her horn and aims it at Ryder, getting him spooked again. "Relax, Ryder. I'm only going to take an x-ray to resolve the matter," she reassures. Twilight continues on with the x-ray spell and scans Ryder's entire body. She gasps and then stops. "Girls… his vocal cord is torn."

"Seriously? How'd you lose your voice?" Nyx asked. Ryder replied using his hand signs while Nyx translated. "I lost my voice when I was wandering in the White Tail Woods, hunting for my next meal to keep me fed for weeks. Until I was suddenly attacked by a large wolf made of wood and it clawed and torn at my body, even clawed at my neck. Luckily, I had my ax with me so I hacked the beast’s head off and crawled out of the woods with my life.”

"It sounds like he got attacked by a timberwolf. I heard they only travel to the White Tail Woods during the time their pups are being nursed. He must've stumbled upon a father timberwolf who was either trying to protect its mate and/or bring you to its mate to feed her," Fluttershy said.

"They're vicious even when it's not mating season. They're very territorial. But mom, do you think we can help Ryder get his voice back?" Nyx asked.

"It's possible, but not easy and instant. As long as it wasn't too long ago, there's a chance. Otherwise, it'll take more than one unicorn or alicorn," Twilight said.

"You do have a point," Nyx replied, then looked back at Ryder. "How long ago was it when you got attacked by a timberwolf?"

Ryder gave a hand sign and used his fingers as numbers, and his answer shocked the young alicorn. “2 ½ years?!?!” Nyx asked in disbelief.

"Ooh, this is gonna take some teamwork. Sunset, Nyx, we're gonna have to combine our magic if we're gonna have a chance to help get his voice back," Twilight said.

"Are you sure it'll work with just the three of us?" Sunset asked.

"We're the only ones who've trained in advanced magical spells. If not, he'll stay mute for the rest of his life. So, are you girls ready?" Twilight asked.

"If it means restoring his voice, I'm game. He saved me, now it's time I paid him back," Nyx said.

"Anyone who's brave enough to save my niece's life, I'll gladly help them out. So, how does this particular spell work?" Sunset asked.

"First, we'll need to hold hands in a circle and whoever the spell is for, they have to be in the middle of the circle in order for it to work," Twilight said.

"Okay, but… Ryder's still kinda scared of us," Nyx said. The three alicorns look to him and see that he was now shivering in fear for what they were about to do to him to restore his voice. As they approached him, he backed up instantly. Twilight and Sunset stopped when they saw his reaction; however, Nyx continued to approach him. While he was still afraid, Ryder then starts to calm down and doesn’t seem to move when Nyx gets close to him. The dark alicorn then brings her hand up and gently places it on his cheek, at first he tensed up, but eventually, he relaxes his body and feels at ease by Nyx’s caring nature.

"There's no need to be afraid. We're here to help. You're not gonna get hurt. You have my word on that. You can trust me, okay?" Nyx reassured.

Ryder was silent for a bit and soon he nodded his head in reply while he brought his hand up and placed it over Nyx’s hand; feeling safe and secured with her presence.

She eases him up nice and steady then walks him over to Twilight and Sunset. Afterward, Nyx and her mom and aunt hold hands together, closing their eyes and light up their horns. Ryder stood in the middle, a bit scared, but still remained calm, trusting Nyx's judgment. Soon, a light enveloped him and it felt so warm and bright. The light soon faded around his neck where his vocals were. Once it was done, the girls let go of each other's hands.

"Well? Did it work?" Rainbow asked.

"Yes, but as I said, the spell's not instantaneous. It'll take some time before his vocals are completely restored. They'll heal over time. Nyx, since Ryder is more comfortable around you, you'll be in charge of caring for him," Twilight said.

"Okay, but what about the classes I have to teach?" Nyx asked.

“Don’t worry, we’ll send word to one of our school graduates and ask them to take over your classes,” Sunset replied.

"You mean.. Sandbar, Yona, Ocellus, Gallus, Smolder, and Silverstream?" Nyx asked.

"That's right. So you'll have more free time to spend with Ryder and help him recover," Twilight said, nodding.

"Ooh! That reminds me! Ah gotta git cookin'. He still needs to eat," AJ said before leaving the room with Pinkie hot on her tail.

“Sunset and I will be heading over to the library. We’ll have to look through all of the archives to see what kind of creature Ryder is.” Twilight said before she and Sunset left the room and headed straight for the library.

"I'm heading out to get some medicines to help disinfect any injuries left on him," Fluttershy said as she left the room.

"I'll be heading out to get my supplies ready for when the boy is all cleaned up and ready for some new measurements," Rarity said, leaving the room.

"As for me, I'm heading back to the school to train my students. But I'll be ready for when he's all juiced up and ready for a workout. Best of luck to you, Nyx," Rainbow said. The athletic pegasus left the room, leaving Nyx and Ryder all by themselves.

After everypony leaves the room, Nyx then helps Ryder back over to the bed and helps him lay down. She sat down on the edge of the bed as she watched over him now fast asleep, due to his weak stamina. She felt awful and sympathetic towards him, not wanting to think about all he’s been through.

'Poor guy. He didn't deserve to go through so much abuse in that forest. But… what is he and how did I not know about him? I've never seen anything like him,' she said in her thoughts. She continues to watch over Ryder as he sleeps, with a major question on her mind.

“What, in Equestria, are you?”

Chapter 2

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 3

At the School of Friendship, Rarity was in her classroom, getting everything nice and clean for when her students would arrive. Naturally, she even decorated her classroom to give it a more… chic and welcoming sensation. "There we go, yet another job well done. Perhaps I could use some of this decor as an inspiration for my next line of work," Rarity said to herself.

While she was envisioning her new fashion line, a bright flash appeared in her room, which barely blinded her before it disappeared instantly. As she was able to get her sight back, she is then met with Nyx and Ryder standing in front of her. And she can see that Ryder was feeling a little sick from the teleportation and was a little wobbly. Nyx notices it as well and sees the nauseous look on his face.

“Sorry, Ryder. Guess teleportation doesn’t work well for humans?” She said right before she started to notice Rarity was in the room. “Oh, hi Rarity.” She waved at the fashionista with an innocent smile on her face.

"Good morning, Nyx darling. What brings you here to my classroom?" Rarity asked.

“Well, I came here to ask you a favor, if it isn’t a bother,” Nyx asked.

"And what might that be, deary?" Rarity asked.

“Well, I’m having Ryder in my class to teach my students of his history of the human race, but since his last clothes are ruined, he’s gonna need a new closet line of clothes. So do you think you can fix-up something for him to wear?” Nyx replied.

"Ooh! Not to worry! I can take care of that for you in a jiffy, deary.” Rarity replied while using her magic to pull out her essentials so she can begin the process.

Ryder looks to Nyx with a slight look of fear on his face and shaking a little. Nyx then brings her hand up to hold his hand to give him comfort. “Don’t worry Ryder, there’s nothing for you to be scared of. Rarity is just gonna make you something to wear. And I’ll be right here if you need me for anything.” She assured him.

He was hesitant at first, but calmed down and nodded before letting Rarity take his measurements for his new clothes. Nyx watched and waited as Rarity soon got just the right kind of measurements she needed. She then began grabbing some fabric and cut out the shapes of the clothing, then sewed it all together.

And after several minutes, Rarity then hands over Ryder’s new clothes and has him change into them behind the room divider screen in the classroom while she and Nyx wait by her desk. After a few seconds, Ryder comes out from behind the room divider screen and in his new clothes. In his upper body, he wore a black long-sleeve shirt and a dark-brown shearling leather jacket; as for his lower body, he wore navy-blue jeans and wearing terracotta-color leather-laced boots.

"Whoa, you're looking sharp there, Ryder. I'm liking the new you," Nyx complimented. Ryder immediately blushed from her comment and smiled a bit while feeling embarrassed.

“Darling, you look smashing," Rarity said, admiring his new look.

Ryder makes hand signs saying "Thank you, Rarity,"

“Well, now that he has a set of clothes for today. Is there any chance you make him a closet-set after school?” Nyx asked.

“Since I now have his measurements, I can fix up a clothing line for him. Maybe I can even have my class pitch in as a class assignment," Rarity said.

"Good idea! Thanks, Rarity. You're the best."

"Think nothing of it, deary. Now hurry on over to your class. I'm sure they're dying to know so much about the human race," Rarity said.

"Right. Come on, Ryder. No time to lose," Nyx said as she tugs on Ryder’s arm and pulls him behind her as they ran out of the room. Leaving the fashionista unicorn alone to imagine and fantasize about the two’s potential love life.

“Ah, young love.” Rarity said.

Time passed by and soon, the School of Friendship was now open. Students were coming from every kingdom, getting ready for their respective classes. Nyx's classroom, naturally, was stocked full of students, taking their seats and getting their notebooks out.

"Alright, good morning class, I hope you all slept well last night," Nyx said. "Today, we will be learning about something… extra special. Today, we will be learning about a brand new species that not even Equestria has any record of, or has even heard of." After she said that, she received a raised hand from one of her students, who is a young female griffon; and later asked a question.

“Wait, since when exactly did Equestria discover a new species that we all never heard about?” she asked.

"Good question. Truth be told, this new specimen was discovered recently yesterday by yours truly and Discord. But maybe it'd be better if I showed you this specimen," Nyx said. She then gestures for Ryder to show himself. Ryder, who was facing the wall in the teacher's chair, turns around and reveals himself to the class, making everyone whisper and gossip at his presence. "Everyone, I'd like you to meet a brand new friend of mine: Ryder, the potentially last standing human being." The students were all fascinated by this man, then began bombarding question after question.

“Hey, can he breath fire like me?” a dragon student asked loudly.

“Can he fly?” A pegasus pony student asked as well.

“Can he lift heavy objects with ease?”

“Can he turn invisible?”

“Does he know how to do the conga?”

“Does he shoot laser eyes?”

“Seriously, laser eyes?”

“Hey, it can happen!”

"Alright class, calm down. Before you overload his brain, I have to tell you that due to his encounter with a timberwolf, he lost his voice in the struggle, so he can only speak sign language for the time being. For those of you who can't understand sign language, I will happily translate his words as he tells you the story of his race," Nyx explains.

Ryder smiles at Nyx, then begins making hand signs while Nyx translated.

"A long, long time ago, humans once inhabited the Earth and lived in many different countries around the world. About 7.5 billion people to be precise. We once lived simple lives, gathering food, growing crops, breeding cattle, and raising our young. But as time went by, our race evolved in both good ways and bad ones.

On the bright side, we built big, tall building structures that required hundreds of our kind to built, but it was how they were built in the first place that was wretched. In ancient times, we humans once practiced… Slavery. Treating those who looked different from us like outcasts and forced them to do our dirty work for him and toss them aside as if they had no other purpose. But it wasn't until later on in the Victorian ages back on December 18th, 1865, that slavery was officially outlawed. But of course, the discrimination and racial hate still lived on and those in power or even small groups like the devilish KKK let it thrive. But soon in the 1970s, it was finally outlawed as well and it began to die over time, but small parts of it remain alive.

Soon, the world evolved even further with what we called "technology," state of the art machinery that helped us thrive in our everyday lives. With things such as Television, or TV for short, video games, stereos, telephones, even vehicles like cars and trucks, trains, and trollies. But as our tech evolved, so did the human's dark desires for such luxurious items. We even evolved weapons during that time. At first, it was simple things like stone axes and clubs, but then came guns. Heavy machinery that could pierce through flesh and bone and potentially kill a man in an instant; which were also used in deadly conflicts and wars in the past hundreds of years of our lives.

But then, things spiraled from bad to worse in the year 2020. Thousands of lives were being lost from a deadly disease because of our stupidity, our law enforcement we called "police" resorted to police brutality, unjustified hated violence towards our mentally disabled and the unarmed innocent people. We grew bitter, greedy, and vengeful until finally, our dying race was put down by continuous war declarations; ranging from civil wars, revolutionary wars, world wars; and even pollution in the air, oceans, and lakes.

I've lost count of how many years it's been since my savage human race was wiped off the face of the Earth." after Nyx finished translating, the class was in total shock. Along with her students, Nyx was also shocked and surprised hearing of the horrible history of the human race and how it led to their downfall and possible extinction. Now she was thinking that is it even possible that even a handful of humans could survive that event and still thrive to this day.

"U-Uh so, any questions, class?" Nyx asked, getting her mind back on teaching her class. "And remember only one question at a time." Just about nearly every student raised their hands. "Yes, go ahead." she pointed over at the dragon student.

"If the human race is extinct, how were you able to survive?" he asked.

After hearing the question, Ryder then starts to sign and Nyx translates for him. "Actually, my great-great-grandparents survived the event, and soon they traveled the decimated land and came across small groups of survivors and then they came together and searched for a place to start over and that’s when they came across an old military fort which was left behind after the great extinction. And of course, over the years, it would later become the colony I grew up in. But soon tragedy struck for me when my parents died from a small plague that hit my colony, which killed off 100s of us. We didn't have the medicine or the know-how to treat the disease.

I was 5 at the time and the only one who took care of me was my eldest 16-yr-old sister, Dana. She was the best sister I ever had. She did everything she could do to raise me in our colony, she made sure we were fed, tucked me in at night, and taught me education. I was lucky to have her in my life and we had each other.

But then 4 years later, that’s when things took a dark turn for us. Soon our colony was attacked by… soldiers wearing plated armor. They raided our colony, burning down our homes, and slaughtering us, one-by-one. My sister helped me escaped our colony, but we were almost caught by one of those soldiers and he tried to kill me, but my sister put up a fight and kept him away from me. She told me to run, and so I did. As I was running as fast as I could, I looked back to see if my sister was behind me. But what I saw, tore my soul to pieces when that soldier that found us, struck my sister down with his sword. I watched my only sister, my only family, killed in front of me.”

Ryder's heart felt like it was breaking in two when he told that dreadful story. Tears streamed down his face and so did some of the students. Other students were either shocked… or pissed.

Nyx was by far the most shocked out of all of them. She could not believe that Ryder’s past was immensely tragic, and how much he lost. His home, his people, and most importantly, his family. She now realized why Ryder was all alone and searching for other humans; he was made an orphan and all alone.

As a cloud of sympathy and grief had filled the classroom, Nyx then decided, for Ryder’s sake, to continue with class and cleared her throat in a loud manner to get her student’s attention

"Now, does anyone else have any more questions before I hand out your next assignment?" Nyx asked. Then, another student raised their hand, a changeling student. Nyx pointed, allowing them to speak.

"This is regarding you being discovered. Where did Nyx find you and what happened before you came here?"

Ryder then signs a few more words, of course, he left out a few...no, actually all of the things that happened this morning. “Oh, she discovered me back in the Everfree Forest where I saved her from a vicious Cragadile by having it clamping and trapping its jaws on a tree and stabbing into its brain.” Nyx translated.

"Whoa! Sounds like you've rescued yourself a future wife there, buddy," Sunrise Scorcher commented, winking. Ryder's entire face turned red with embarrassment. But not much as Nyx’s face, who was about to let her cousin have it.

“DETENTION!” Nyx shouted while pointing at Sunrise.

"Aww, come on. Man, this sucks. No one can take a joke these days," Sunrise said, bummed out before teleporting out of class.

“I thought it was funny,” one of the male students in the room spoke out.

"All joking aside, if you took down a cragadile, then does that mean, humans have incredible strength within them?" Blazing Sparkle asked.

Again, Ryder replied to the question. “The strength and speed of us humans vary among us. There are even a few strongmen who are capable of lifting about 1,155 pounds.” Nyx translated for him.

"Dang!!! That's almost as strong as Applejack!" an earth pony student said, surprised and very ecstatic about this info.

"Yes, now that'll be enough questions for now. Next. I want you all to do a 5 paragraph essay on what you learned about the human race and if you run out of time here, you can take your essay home with you as homework.” Nyx said just as the school bell rang for class to end. “And right on cue. I expect all of you to finish your essay before the end of the week. Class dismissed.” She added.

And as she said that, all the students in the class got up from their seats and walked right out of the door. Nyx sighed, still upset with her cousin making such an embarrassing comment. 'What am I gonna do with him?' she thought.

Nyx then walked out of the classroom and out into the hallway for a quick breather. As she was taking a quick break, she's startled when someone slammed their hand against the wall near her face. She looked and saw a male pegasus with golden fur, amber eyes, and green hair.

"What's the matter, Ms. Nyx, you're looking a bit stressed," he said.

“Uh, nope. I’m fine. I’m just… uh, finishing my break, yeah. And I should be… heading for my next class.” Nyx replied, feeling a bit anxious and suspicious about the stallion in front of her. Of course, as she was about to leave, the stallion prevented her from walking away and grabbed her hand, and dragged her into an empty room in the hallway. "What is the meaning of this? Are you trying to get yourself suspended or worse, expelled? What was that for?"

"Relax, little night angel, I'm just gonna try and make you… feel good, loosen you up. Make you feel like a whole new mare," he said with a smirk. "And believe me, I never stop until the job is done right." he tries to bring her close to him, but she flails and pushes him away. "Hey, come on, don't be that wa--" he's stopped when Nyx slapped him across the face.

"This kind of behavior is unforgivable! You're a student and I'm a teacher!" Nyx scolded.

"And yet you're starting as a young adult, so there. Now, be a good girl and let me give you a good time," he said walking up to her. He goes to try and grab her wrist but is then grabbed hard by his arm. "Ahh! Hey, what the?!" He looks over to see who grabbed him, only to meet the furious eyes and glaring expression of Ryder. And with one swift pull, the human yanked the stallion off of Nyx and pushed him back against one of the desks in the room.

The stallion didn’t like it one bit.

“Hey! Who the fuck are you? And why the hell would you ruin our fun, huh?!” the stallion stated loudly to the human, who kept himself between the student and Nyx. “The hell are you supposed to be?!” The stallion shouted before rushing towards Ryder.

But instantly learned the hard way that it was a big mistake as Ryder grabbed his arm and proceed to plummet the stallion’s muzzle with his fist, repeatedly. Even going far as elbowing harshly to his noggin. Ryder then knocks the student to the ground and stands over him, before kneeling next to him and beating him more by punching his gut several times. Soon after, Ryder stopped his assault and stood up onto his feet, looking over the bloodied and bruised stallion on the ground, groaning in pain.

After glaring down at the stallion for a while, Ryder then turns to Nyx and signs a few words saying: “Are you ok?”

"I… I'm fine. Thanks, Ryder. I thought I was done for sure. Come on, let's take this delinquent over to my mom. She'll dispose of him properly," Nyx said. She walked towards the exit but felt her knees still shaking. Ryder could tell that bastard shook her up, so he walked next to her, keeping her comfy while she levitated the delinquent off to the principal's office.

"Young stallion, I cannot believe your reckless, distasteful behavior!" Twilight scolded, looking down at the delinquent who sat in front of her. Her dark gaze was enough to make him feel tiny and helpless. "Going after your teacher… MY DAUGHTER… the way you just did, cannot go unpunished, period! Under no circumstances are students allowed to have affairs with the faculty members! Or even force them! Is… that… CLEAR?!" she yelled in her own Canterlot voice, making his heart skip a beat. "I said… is… that… CLEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAR?!?!?!"

"Y-Y-Yes, Principal Twilight, ma'am!" he panicked.

"Now then, for your punishment, I believe since you tried to force yourself onto my niece, I believe she has the right to press charges against you… HEAVY charges! Furthermore, your enrollment here is no longer valid. You… are… EXPELLED!!!" Sunset shouted so loud, the booming sound of her Canterlot voice made the delinquent's chair fall back with him as well. "And your parents will hear about this one." her voice now low, deep, and menacing. "Nyx, Ryder, you are free to go," Sunset said sweetly with a smile.

"Thanks, auntie, mom," Nyx said gratefully. Ryder bowed his head then left with Nyx to let them deal with the delinquent some more. Once the doors were closed, Ryder dropped to the ground, clutching his heart as if he almost had a heart attack. "Ryder! Are you okay? Did my mom and aunt scare you that much?" Nyx asked. Ryder nodded. "Sorry about that. They're just highly protective of me, even though I've grown up. But rest assured, they still like you as long as you keep being yourself."

Ryder sighs silently and calms down before Nyx helps him back up on his feet. "Come on, let's go, we got other classes to teach. This time, I'd like for you to tell the class what your human race did for entertainment," Nyx recommended. Ryder smiled at the suggestion and gave her a thumbs up.

The two quickly make it back into their classroom where their students are waiting patiently for their teacher. "Hello class, sorry I'm late. Had a bit of trouble with a student earlier, but everything is good now. Are you ready to learn?" she asked.

"Yes, Ms. Nyx," the class replied.

"Good. Now before we begin, I'd like to introduce you all to my good friend, Ryder," Nyx said, gesturing to Ryder, who was standing outside the door. He walked inside, then stood next to Nyx, still uncomfortable with being around new faces. "He's a little shy but very nice. He's a new breed of species known as a human. He rescued me when I was attacked by a cragadile." Ryder waves at everybody. "However, due to one of his previous encounters with a timberwolf, he can't speak… not just yet, anyway. But he'll find his voice again in due time."

"Ms. Nyx, if I may," one of the male students called out, raising his hand. Nyx looked up and saw that it was Asriel. "Does this mean we're gonna be learning about a new subject that revolves around him?"

"We are. And we’ll be learning what the human race did for entertainment. Ryder, you know the drill," Nyx said. Ryder nodded and began to make signs while Nyx translated for those who couldn't understand. “For all of you who don’t understand, since his vocal cords are damaged and in the process of healing; Ryder can only speak sign language as a form of communication. And what he said was; that the entertainment that humans had in the past were professional sports leagues and movie theaters, even other sources of entertainment like opera theaters, music performances, talent shows, and even several little games like “Rock, Paper, Scissors”. Nyx translated.

"Rock, paper, scissors? They still did that even back then?" Asriel asked, confused.

"Apparently," Nyx confirmed. Ryder continued. "Now he says; we also had these electronic devices called video game systems where you play as a character and go on multiple adventures, but not every game was the same. They ranged from different genres like First-Person Shooter, which was mostly action-based, multiplayer fighting, RPG, which is mostly based on a fantasy leveling system, then there are simulation games designed to emulate real or fictional reality; to simulate a real situation or event. They also had games where the player's decisions impact the entire game. That’s all I can remember.” After Nyx had finished translating, all the students were amazed by all the information that Ryder shared. "Any questions, class?"

And once again, Asriel was first to ask. "Did these… video games, as you put it, teach any specific lessons to people how to play them? And did the humans also make a living out of playing them?"

Ryder made hand signs. "Some of them did make a career out of playing video games and even got to have an early hands-on experience by pre-ordering them. Some of the famous gamers were once online stars on this thing called the internet. People from almost all over the world would watch them play just because they liked their content or to just find ways to beat some of the games. But, in the end, they still loved what they did. They even created this thing called Virtual Reality, which allows players to feel like they're brought into the game itself."

The whole class was astonished after hearing of such devices. Now nearly everyone in the classroom wanted to know what it was like to experience such fun activities. And not a second later, everyone was raising their hands high; asking more questions. However, none of them would get the chance when the bell rang for class to end.

"Sorry class. Maybe next time you can ask him what's on your mind. Until then, grab your stuff, and don't forget to turn in your assignments tomorrow at the start of class; and yeah, I’m talking to a few of you.”

Her students nod and leave the classroom, gathering their textbooks and heading off to their next class. As of right now, Nyx doesn’t have another class until the next period, so she decides to head on over to the teacher’s lounge.

“Well, break time. So Ryder; wanna head over to the teacher’s lounge to relax while we have the time?” Nyx asked the human next to her, with Ryder replying with a smile and a thumbs up. "Great! I've got a delicious lunch packed and I'm sure you'll love the fantastic spread." Nyx took Ryder by the hand and guided him off down the halls and soon leads him into the teacher's lounge where the two eventually meet up with most of the other staff, including Twilight and her best friends.

"Hi, Nyx, another successful day of teaching the class?" Twilight asked happily.

"Yeah. It was quite interesting. The students wouldn’t stop asking questions about Ryder's species and the things they did, aside from their barbaric nature," Nyx replied.

“Barbaric? What do you mean darling?” Rarity asked.

After she asked that question, Nyx looked over to Ryder to make sure he was far enough so he couldn’t hear them conversate quietly. And seeing that he was, Nyx then breaks to them what she had learned from Ryder in her class. Telling her mother and her friends about the years of wars and violence that humans have committed during their run in the past. And all of the horrible events and conflicts that were caused and waged by humanity. Hearing all of this dreadful history, had the girls shocked and send a shiver down their spines.

"Goodness gracious! I cannot believe humans could be so cold and cruel! This has to be the WORST… POSSIBLE… THING!" Rarity said dramatically.

"Pushing aside Rarity's dramatic reaction, she does make a point. How can humans even think about being so cruel like that? If those humans were the dominant species back then, shouldn't they have been more civilized like we are?" Rainbow asked.

"It probably doesn’t matter now, since the human race is nearly completely extinct now. But if Ah may ask, were there any good sides to them?" Applejack asked.

“Well yeah, there were many humans who have done some good, even a few who inspired others to make movements or revolutions that did not involve any violence or conflict; and several who have worked hard to preserve sacred historical lands and endangered species,” Nyx replied.

“Wow. I guess humanity does have a bright side to them after all.” Sunset responded.

“Indeed. And it’s good to know that not all humans are bad.” Twilight said.

“Well yes, but there’s something you all should know,” Nyx informed them all.

“What do you mean, Nyx?” Heat asked while being curious about what she had to say.

Everyone in the room all remained silent for a moment so Nyx could be allowed to speak.

“Ryder also mentioned some little information about his past. The colony he was once born in and lived in; was mercilessly attacked by armored soldiers, who killed all of his people. Including his sister, the only family he had left. And this all happened when he was a young child.” She explained Ryder’s tragic backstory to them all.

Everyone in the room was completely shocked and heartbroken by what they had heard, with a few of them feeling saddened to hear of how much Ryder had lost.

“That’s so dreadful.” Rarity commented.

“Poor Ryder,” Fluttershy said as tears of sadness poured from her eyes.

“Who would attack and destroy an innocent colony of a race that bears no hate or bad ill towards every kingdom in the world?” Heat asked.

"Did he get a close glimpse of these soldiers and what they looked like?" Eternal asked Nyx.

“Ryder didn’t say; he and sister were too busy escaping that they didn’t even stop to catch a glimpse,” Nyx stated.

"Damn! There has to be some way we can find out who it was that attacked them. But without any clues, we're just searching blind," Eternal said, slightly frustrated

“Maybe there is a way.” Twilight proposed before turning to Nyx. “Do you think Ryder knows where his colony is located?”

“Well, I don’t know? Maybe?” Nyx replied.

“What is it your thinking of, Twi?” Rainbow asked.

“Yeah, ya might as well let us in on it,” Applejack added.

“I’m thinking that if Ryder is the only one to escape his colony and knows of its whereabouts. And since he stated that the attack happened when he was a child, then that means that the place may very well be abandoned.” Twilight explained. “So I’m thinking maybe Ryder can take us there and we searched the place for any clues that may tell us what happened.”

"Dear, do you think maybe when we get there, we can search for any DNA traces of whoever attacked his colony? It's possible that during the struggle, the humans might have spilled some soldier blood," Heat implied.

“Plus, it would be a good chance to see if there are any traces of survivors. After all, Ryder escaped, so there may be a chance that some others have too.” Sunset claimed.

"If there was blood over there, it's possible it either dried out or something. But if I may ask, what good will it do to find blood traces of the soldiers?" Eternal asked.

“Well, after hearing about humanity’s dreadful history, it may be common that the humans would put up a fight with their attackers to defend themselves.” Rarity replied.

"And if we find traces of DNA from the soldiers, we can get some info on their autobiography. Who their names were, who they worked for. It's a longshot, but it's the only option we have to go on." Nyx said.

“Um, not wanting to argue about this plan; although, is it a good idea to ask Ryder to take us to his colony? The one place where his people and his family were killed? I’m not sure he’ll be up for it?

"Well, it’s worth a shot,” Twilight stated. “When the time is right, we’ll ask Ryder to take us there.”

"But we’re gonna have to wait until tomorrow for me. My daughter's been getting into trouble for picking on one of the students and that student's grandfather wants me to fix this problem," Sunset said.

“You mean Discord,” Fluttershy responded, which earned a surprised look from Sunset. “Yeah… I know. And...” Fluttershy steps closer in front of her bacon-haired friend and then her calm, cute expression instantly turned to a look that will wreck your soul and kill ya swiftly. “I’m not very happy about it either.” After that, Fluttershy then walks out of the room, still looking upset.

"Goodness gracious. The poor dear. I'd feel the same way my child was being picked on. I can't even begin to describe how horrifying it is and I should know, I've felt the same way before in past years," Rarity said.

“Rarity, would you quit it! I’m already feeling guilty as it is,” Sunset shouted

"Calm down, Sunset. Rarity didn't know you'd feel upset," Rainbow said.

“Sorry, I’m just… feeling disappointment knowing that my daughter has hurt one of my friend’s children,” Sunset replied.

"As am I, Sunset. But we'll sort this whole thing out soon and make sure she doesn't try this sort of thing again." Eternal said, comforting his wife.

Sunset looks to her husband with a smile on her face. “Thanks, honey. Glad to have you support me all the way.” She said.

“Yeah, hate to ruin the touching moment. But am I the only one thinking that if Ryder agrees to take us to his colony, we may be going into possibly uncharted territory?” Rainbow asked.

“Well, that’s the fun in going on a journey, Rainbow.” Pinkie replied

"Well, I slightly agree with Rainbow Dash. Also, we can’t all go; I mean we have other things going on in our lives, and who would be watching the school while we’re gone?” Rarity stated.

While it was just a simple question; however, it was a bold one.

“Well, then I guess only a small group of us can head over to the colony while the rest of us stay here. But the question is; Who’s willing to go?” Heat asked.

“Well, I think I should go with Ryder. After all, I’m the only one he trusts completely and I need to be there to comfort him if he does have a hard time going back to that place.” Nyx said.

“While it does seem logical, but I cannot allow you to go alone Nyx,” Twilight exclaimed.

“She won’t be alone, silly. I’m going too!” Pinkie volunteered. “If there are any survivors at the human colony, I’m gonna throw them a party!”

“I’ll come too, I need to get away from class now and then,” Rainbow said.

“I’ll tag along too. Can’t have my niece running into uncharted territory with a human male.” Eternal stated.

"What, you don't approve of Nyx seeing someone outside her species?" Heat asked.

“No, I just wanna make sure nothing funny happens,” Eternal replied. “Also since we might need some backup in case something goes wrong, so I’m thinking of calling in someone to join us on the investigation as well.”

We’ll since three of our teachers are gonna head out for a day. I’ll send word to Starlight and Trixie to cover Nyx and Pinkie’s classes while Sunset and I will cover Eternal and Rainbow’s.” Twilight said.

"Then we're all in agreement. After everyone their daily tasks are taken care of for today, we’ll begin our investigation tomorrow.” Sunset said.

After their conversation has concluded, the school bell rings for the lunch break to end and soon everyone left the room to head on to their classes for the rest of today.

Later on, after the school day had concluded, everyone had left home or castle to rest up for the evening. Meanwhile, Sunset and Eternal had more oppressing matters to deal with, concerning their daughter's violent behavior. And to take even more drastic measures, they've also invited Asriel and his family over to the castle. Everyone was currently in the living room with a tray of nice, hot tea.

The tension was crystal clear on how upset everyone was. "First off, we'd like to thank you guys for coming over. And we'd also like to express our apologies for the inconvenience our daughter has caused you," Eternal said.

"With all due respect, Eternal, how can you call THIS…" Fluttershy pauses as she lifts her son's shirt, revealing the punching bruises he got from Searing Shimmer, "...an inconvenience? Explain that to me!" she asked, infuriated.

"I have to agree with Fluttershy. I don't tolerate those who would harm my son like that, especially those who are supposed to be his friend," Israel scowls at Searing indirectly.

“Give me a reason why I should not banish her to another universe for hurting my grandson!” Discord demanded while having an actual fire in his eyes.

"Because not only is Searing going to apologize, she will also be punished for her actions, one which we all can agree on accordingly. Now, go on, Searing. Tell them what you have to say for your actions," Eternal said. Searing sighed and got up from the couch, looking directly at Asriel and his family.

"I admit it. I was wrong to hurt your son. I got so carried away with trying to make him less shy around others that… I didn't realize he was feeling so miserable. I was wrong to lay my hands on him so violently and I promise with every fiber in my being that won't happen again. Asriel… I'm sorry for what I've done. I know you're still mad at me, but I hope that over time you'll come to forgive me. And maybe we could… still be friends. If not, I don't blame you," Searing said sadly as she went over and kneeled to Asriel's eye level.

The timid teenage unicorn colt looked up, seeing the sincerity in her eyes. He hesitated at first, but quickly went in and hugged her, though his body still shook as if he was terrified. Searing could feel the fear he was radiating. She realized what she had done. She hugged him back, feeling upset with herself for driving him into this state. "I'm sorry… I'm so sorry," she whispered trying to fight back the urge to cry.

Even though Asriel’s parents and grandfather were upset with the mare in front of them, but just seeing the guilt-ridden expression on her face and how emotionally broken she was about what she did to Asriel.

Asriel slowly wrapped his arms around her in return. "I forgive you, Searing," he said quietly. Of course, his words of forgiveness only caused Searing to be more upset with herself; but they did give her a sense of peace. She could recognize how shaky his words were. That only meant she needed to work extra hard to earn back Asriel's, along with his family's trust.

After giving her sincerest apologies, she released Asriel and watched him being comforted by his mom and dad. "Now that that's taken care of, shall we discuss it in our room, or would you like to wait until tomorrow?" Sunset asked.

"Well… she did show how sorry she was, so we can discuss it tomorrow when you get back from your travels," Fluttershy said.

"Fair enough. We'll talk more before we head off tomorrow morning," Eternal said.

"Agreed. Thanks again," Israel replied before they shook hands.

Later, both families left the room and each went in different directions, with Fluttershy and her family leaving the castle and Sunset and Eternal heading into the kitchen to get dinner started while their daughter went up to her room. As she entered, she walked over to her bed and flopped onto the mattress as more tears came from her eyes; she had some long hours of thinking to do.

The next morning, Twilight and Sunset's family all gathered in the dining room, with Fluttershy’s family as their guests, for obvious reasons. The families just sat there in silence, eating their meals and not saying a word… except for Nyx's siblings and her cousin Sunrise.

It started when Nyx had picked up a strawberry and asked Ryder to open his mouth as she places it in his mouth for him to eat the fruit and smiles at how delicious it was.

"Heh, you know, you two look like the cutest couple ever, cuz," Sunrise pointed out.

Nyx immediately became flustered by his comment and turned to face him at the table while Ryder simply continued to eat his breakfast.

“No we don’t, we’re just good friends,” Nyx replied. “Also I’m watching over him and making sure he eats well,” she added.

“Yeah well you’re blushing says otherwise, big sis,” Blazing stated.

"Do me a favor and keep the lovey-dovey crap away from my line of sight," Burning said, turning away, unamused.

Nyx was a little hurt and confused by the attitude her brother made. And it made her question as to what is bothering him.

“Dude, why you gotta ruin the moment?” Sunrise asked.

“Sunrise, don’t try to start an argument. Especially in the morning, mister,” Sunset scolded him.

"Hey, he's the one who's acting all sour," Sunrise pointed out.

"Burning, you know if anything is bothering you, you can tell me, right?" Blazing offered.

Burning sighed. "I'm just peeved right now, that's all," Burning replied before finishing the rest of his breakfast. "You wouldn't understand." After finishing, he got up from his seat and left the kitchen to grab his stuff. "I'm getting a head-start on my homework on my way to school." After that, the others heard the main door closing.

"What's his problem?" Sunrise asked.

“I wish I knew,” Blazing replied.

"Remember the results from the test scores from last semester?" Asriel asked.

"Sure, he and Blazing got the top scores in the entire class without getting a single question wrong, why?" Eternal remembered.

"Well… I was there when I saw what happened. Blazing, you remember how your classmates kept praising you for you placing at the top?" Asriel asked.

"Sure, I remember when it was hard to breathe, too," Blazing said.

"Sadly… Burning had no one by his side, praising his hard work… except me. But he was too upset to listen to me and he just stormed off. But not before he said, "I'll make them see I'm more than just a shadow to her." Asriel said.

"Now I see. He's being overlooked, despite his incredible work. That would explain why he's always locked in his room almost every day," Heat said. "Maybe I should have a word with him as father and son."

"Why didn't he just tell me in the first place? I would've gladly given him some praise," Blazing said, worried for her younger brother.

“Me too. I constantly wondered what was wrong, but I didn’t know what it was and he always avoided me when I try to ask.” Nyx added.

"We'll try to figure that out soon, but for now, we have other matters to attend to. One of them is the proper punishment for Searing's inexcusable behavior," Sunset said, turning to her guilty daughter.

"Ooooh, you are so busted," Sunrise muttered, holding in his laugh.

"That's enough out of you, son. Unless you want to be punished with your sister," Eternal pointed out. After that, Sunrise quickly shut his mouth. "That's what I thought."

"Sorry, dad," Sunrise replied, shrinking into his seat.

'Serves you right, you carefree little troll,' Searing thought to herself.

"Now, as for Searing here, how about we have her help you guys look after the animals at the sanctuary after school for the next week?" Sunset offered.

“Well that seems reasonable,” Israel replied before turning to Fluttershy. “What do you think about that, Flutters?” he asked.

“As long as she is on her best behavior and that she promises that she won’t harm the animals. I will accept it.” She stated.

"Sounds like we've come to a compromise. Searing, you know where to go after school. I'll pick you up at around 6 for dinner. If she gets into trouble, just let me know," Eternal said.

"We will. And please be careful on your trip," Fluttershy said.

During the conversation, everyone in the dining room heard loud knocking sounds echoing through the castle. Everyone became silent after that, wondering where it came from until the knocking was heard yet again. While everyone was confused about what it was, Eternal however wasn’t.

“It sounds like somepony is at the entrance?” Nyx claimed.

“He’s here,” Eternal said.

"Who's here?" Sunrise asked, confused.

“Well, might as well let them in.” Heat said as he gets up from the table, as well as Twilight, leaving the dining room and heading straight for the entrance of the castle. He approached the front doors and opened them up, revealing a unicorn stallion who looks to be somewhere around Eternal's age, possibly older. he had orange fur and a blood-red mane, and he also had a deep scar over his left eye.

“Seriously? You send me a message to come over and it took you guys a minute to answer the door?” The stallion said with a stern face before it turned into a smile.

"Hey! It's been a while since we've seen each other. How are things going for you, buddy?" Heat asked, shaking his hand.

“Inferno, we didn’t expect you to come for a visit. I would have prepped one of the guest rooms.” Twilight said before she and Inferno exchanged hugs.

“Don’t worry, I’ll sleep on the couch in the library; it’s way more comfortable than the beds,” Inferno replied before he enters the castle.

"Nice to see you again… old friend," Eternal smirked.

Inferno looked over to see him standing by the main stairs of the castle. Inferno then had a shocked expression on his face.

“Eternal!” He said before he walked over to him, with Eternal walking towards him as well. “You son of a bitch.” Inferno added. The two stallions then grabbed each other's hand, keeping a firm grip as they shook. Their muscles tense up as they soon got into a wrestling contest.

“What’s the matter, Flames? Did Twilight and Sunset get you pushing too many pencils?” Inferno asked in a taunting way.

"Fat chance, you call that a grip?" Eternal taunted back. "I'm starting to wonder if you had any luck keeping in shape after retiring from bounty-hunting."

“Oh, I’m just peachy,” Inferno replied.

With the two at a stand-still for a least a minute, the two stallions then shared a laugh and hugged it out; ending their little competition.

“You never knew when to quit.” Inferno chuckled.

“And you never learn to stop pushing yourself to the limit,” Eternal said.

As the two grown stallions were having their buddy-buddy reunion, everyone else that was in the dining room walked right into the room. Sunset, Fluttershy, and Israel were a bit surprised to see Inferno; they didn’t expect he was coming to visit Ponyville.

"Oh my. I didn't know Inferno was tagging along," Fluttershy said in surprise.

"Neither did I. Hey, Inferno. How's life been treating you back at home? Is your mother still doing alright in Canterlot?" Israel asked.

“She’s fine. So is dad. Of course, they had a run-in with some douchey nobles, but mom got them to back off.” Inferno said. “Oh and also Twilight, mom and dad wanted to say hi and that they 100% support when you and Sunset official become the rulers of Equestria,” he added.

"That's very nice of them. Tell your parents we said thank you," Sunset replied.

Soon Nyx, Ryder, Blazing, Sunrise, and Searing walked into the room, all four of them were confused about what was going on until they got a glimpse of Inferno. While Ryder didn’t know who the stallion is; although, Nyx, Blazing, Sunrise, and Searing did. Then soon Blazing ran up to the stallion and jumped on him for a hug, staggering Inferno a bit.

“Uncle ‘Furno!” She shouted.

Soon Nyx, Sunrise, and Searing walked over and hugged Inferno as well. The stallion chuckled happily seeing them all again after so many years.

“Kids! It’s so good to see you all again.” Inferno said with a bright smile.

Soon the four of them got off of Inferno and stood in a line in front of him, with Ryder walking up behind Nyx to not be seen.

“Wow, look at you all, all grown up, the last time I saw all of you, was during that Heart’s Warming party Twilight threw here in the castle. And that was when you all were small and sitting on my lap.” Inferno said as he observed them for a while before looking at Nyx. “I’m not sure my eyes are working. But is that you, Nyx?” He asked.

Nyx chuckled a bit before answering. “Yes, it’s me Inferno.” She replied.

“No, it can’t be,” Inferno responded. “Years ago, you were the most adorable alicorn filly. Now you’re a matured, strong, beautiful mare. Where has my life gone wrong? I refuse to believe it!” he said.

"Still a comedian as always, Inferno. By the way, how's your wife doing?" Nyx asked.

“You mean as in making the Royal Guard recruits to go through every difficult training drills and harsh exams she can think of? Tempest is doing good. Hell one of her recruits aced their exams and the drills with flying colors. And you guys will not believe who it is?” Inferno said.

"Who?" everyone asked.

“Gallus,” Inferno stated. “Sooner or later, that kid will be the first non-pony Royal Guard in Equestria. That’s history in the making.”

"That's amazing! I'm so happy to hear one of my graduates is doing so well. Be sure to give Gallus my best regards," Twilight said.

“Will do. But of course, I think Silverstream will be taking him out to celebrate.” Inferno replied.

"I'm not surprised. Pretty soon, wedding bells will ring for those two," Sunset chuckled.

While this happy reunion was going, it wasn’t long until Inferno notice Ryder’s presence in the room and saw him hiding behind Nyx.

“Say Nyx. Who’s your new friend there?” He asked out of curiosity.

"This is my friend, Ryder. He's a human… probably the only one left of his kind. We're going on a little… trip outside of Equestria to do some… research," Nyx replied. “And Ryder is gonna be our guide.”

“So this is why you called me here, Eternal?” Inferno asked. “Ya needed me for back-up. I knew you couldn’t last without me.” He jokes.

"Please, I've handled myself in tighter situations. Remember the Chrysalis incident?" Eternal asked, smirking.

“You, me, Heat, Twilight, Sunset, and everyone else were trapped in cocoons and had our butts saved by Starlight, Trixie, Thorax, and freaking’ Discord.” Inferno corrected.

"Not that one, the Canterlot Wedding incident! When that bitch hurt my mother," Eternal said, bringing up that other incident.

“Hey! I thought we both vowed never to speak of that.” Inferno stated. “I had to fight the urge not to punch Shining in the face for being an idiot, right after that whole debacle.”

"I remember that! I also remember when Heat slapped him across the face.” Israel replied.

“Oh yeah, that was funny.” Inferno chuckled and so did Eternal.

“And what was it he said to him after he snapped out of it? Oh yeah, "Siblings are supposed to help one another, where was your fucking brain and heart at when you made your sister cry?" Israel added.

“That bit him in the ass,” Eternal said which caused him and Inferno to laugh a little more.

"Okay, if we're done bringing up that little incident, can we please get back to the mission? We don't have much time," Heat said, blushing a bit from that incident.

“Yeah alright,” Inferno responded right as he took out a scroll from his pocket and then open it up to reveal the map of all of Equestria and sets it down on a nearby table as everyone huddled together to see it. “Okay, so we’re gonna have to know what our heading is. So Ryder, can you tell me where we’re going?” He asked, only to receive no word from the human. Since that he doesn’t know, Nyx fills him in about Ryder.

“Uh, he can’t speak, his vocal cord was damaged by a timberwolf attack.” She tells him.

“Oh. Uh, sorry, buddy.” Inferno apologized to Ryder.

“And he can only communicate through sign language.” Heat added.

“Then does anyone here translate for him?” Inferno asked.

“I do,” Nyx stated as she turns to Ryder. “Can you show us where your colony is, Ryder?” She asked.

Ryder simply shook his head and Nyx could already tell that he doesn’t want to. As if he doesn’t wanna return to go back there. Soon the alicorn takes a hold of his hand and looks directly at him as he did towards her.

“It’s okay. I understand you don’t wanna go back there. We just wanna know who was responsible for destroying your home and your people. And we can’t find out without your help.” She assured him. “And don’t worry, I’ll be by your side all the way. Okay?”

Ryder looked into Nyx's reassuring eyes and reluctantly nodded in understanding.

“Good. Now would you please tell us where to begin?” She asked him again.

This time, Ryder hesitantly agreed to do so, as he walks over to the map beside Inferno. Raising his hand and dragging it on the table and next to the map, he then extends his index finger and places it on a section on the offside of the right side of the map.

Everyone was confused as to what was Ryder pointing at, and more importantly, why didn’t he did it on the map. Of course, Inferno was the first out of all of them to figure it out.

“W-wait? Are you saying that your colony is not in Equestria… It’s beyond the west of it. Is that what you’re saying?” Inferno asked.

Ryder nodded in reply.

"I've heard rumors that most of the land beyond the map is a deserted wasteland devoid of any life," Eternal said.

“Well, I heard rumors that it’s an extensive mountain range where there are everlasting snowstorms there,” Israel replied.

“I heard other rumors of it being a massive uncharted forest region.” Heat stated.

“Look, guys, we don’t know what the hell is out there! It’s called the Undiscovered West for a reason.” Inferno responded to all three of them. “Nopony ever dared to venture there unless they wish never to be found. Also, in case you all forgotten, Princess Celestia, along with the Canterlot nobles, banned any settlement or venturing there,” he informed.

"Then I'll have to send a message to mother for the reasons why we're heading out there," Eternal said.

“Naw, fuck that, we can’t wait that long. Plus, there isn’t much border control there, so we’ll sneak in, find what we’re looking for, and get out before anypony notices,” Inferno stated.

“Well, how are we gonna get there? We can’t take a train there since there aren't any railroads into the Undiscovered West. The only way we can get there is by airship.” Nyx said.

“Well… uh… I do have a solution.” Inferno proposed.

“What, you gonna build us a railroad?” Eternal asked.

“Nooo… But I do have an airship waiting outside.” Inferno replied.

"Airship? Wait… you don't mean…?!" Twilight asked in realization.

Before Inferno could reply, the front doors of the castle entrance slams open, causing everyone to turn around and see Rainbow and Pinkie standing next to the entrance.

“Morning everyone!” Pinkie shouted while waving. “Oh and hello Inferno, I see the authors decide to include you too.” She added.

“Hey, guys! You all are never gonna believe who is in Ponyville right now!” Rainbow said excitingly.

"I think we have a pretty good guess on who showed up," Twilight replied. "But why don't we go outside and see?" The others agreed and went outside the castle to say hello to some even more familiar friends. Outside, they spot a giant airship parked outside with a few pirate birds waiting with big smiles.

“Well, look at what we have here boys, it’s the future rulers of Equestria.” Captain Celaeno said before taking a bow along with her crewmates.

“Celaeno, you don’t have to be formal towards me and Sunset,” Twilight replied.

"It's been a while since we've seen you and your crew. How goes the swashbuckling?" Eternal asked, going over to shake her hand.

“Well, we were docking at a port in Klugetown where we met Inferno here, asking us to take him here. And of course, he told us why and we agreed.” Boyle replied.

“And on the bright side, we got to see you all again.” Lix Spittle added. Squabble makes a loud squawk in agreement.

"Not to mention we don't have to worry about some stupid ape tyrant-wannabe trying to take over the world," Heat said.

“Oh yeah, ever since he’s out of the picture; we’ve been living our lives, soaring through the skies, and searching for treasure. Living a Pirate’s Life” Mullet stated.

"We're very happy for you. Maybe when we're not so busy we can all have a feast to celebrate our reunion," Twilight said.

“Well, we heard that you ponies need a ride to the Undiscovered West of Equestria. Sounds like a risky thing to do.” Celaeno said. “So what is your purpose there?” She asked.

"It's a long story, but…" Nyx replied before explaining all of the details she knows from Ryder.

The pirates were astounded and were in disbelief of all the torment and suffering that the human had gone through.

"That's pretty messed up if you ask me. If we had been there, we'd have gladly taken care of those bastards who raided this young lad's home," Mullet said, clenching his fist.

"Assuming we can find any trace of them. Officially, venturing into the Undiscovered West is strictly forbidden by order of my dear mother," Eternal said, disapprovingly. "But, unofficially, we have no other choice but to conduct an investigation."

The pirates look at each other and soon they had a silent conversion with one another before turning to the ponies in front of them.

“Well lucky for you, we aren’t under any jurisdiction of anyone. So pack your bags and climb aboard, maties.” Celaeno stated as she turns to the Mullet. “Mullet, have the crew get the ship ready to soar.”

“Aye aye, captain,” Mullet replied before turning to his crewmates. “You heard the captain. Back to work, ya miserable birds! We have a long travel ahead of us!” He shouted.

"Aye aye!" the other pirates replied, saluting before prepping the ship. In the process, Captain Celaeno guided Nyx, Eternal, Inferno, Pinkie, Rainbow, and Ryder onto the ship.

After they boarded, the airship began its departure as Eternal and Nyx’s family waved them goodbye as did they as the ship ascends into the sky and flies west towards the western border of Equestria.

After departing Ponyville, it was a long travel to the western border. During the trip, everyone had time to catch up. Rainbow and Celaneo spar with cutlasses like they did back when the Storm King invaded Equestria, Pinkie and the other pirates were having a fun conversation and telling each other jokes, Inferno and Eternal continue their arm-wrestling contest from this morning, with the two locked in a standstill.

"Not a bad grip. I see you haven't lost your touch after all these years.” Eternal said.

“You’re one to talk. I barely felt any power from that arm of yours.” Inferno replied.

"I was just giving you a handicap, Inferno. But I can step it up a notch, if you want," Eternal said.

“Well… I have been going too easy on you. Wanna make a bet.” Inferno smirked.

Then soon the two stallions were putting all their strength, and still, not one of them was budging.

As for Nyx, she and Ryder were sitting in Captain Celaneo’s quarters. Mostly because the alicorn had discovered that Ryder had now developed a fear of heights. So she took him off the ship’s deck so she could comfort him without him having to constantly look down at the ground below.

"Not used to being this high up, huh?" Nyx asked, sitting by Ryder's side.

The human shook his head in fear and curled himself up; hugging his legs as he sat.

"There, there. It's alright. You're safe here. You're nowhere near the edge of the ship. But if you want, I'll stay here right by your side until we've touched land." Nyx said reassuringly. Ryder nodded, still hugging his legs tightly. The alicorn then wraps her arms around him and embracing him so he could feel comfortable. "You feel a little better now?"

Ryder's eyes gazed up at Nyx and nodded a little, snuggling into her some more. Nyx giggled and snuggled him right back, using her wings as blankets to warm him up. Little by little, Ryder's body was settling down. Having Nyx by his side always seemed to calm his nerves.

Of course, Nyx understands that Ryder is still scared, but it wasn’t about heights; he was scared that he had to return to the place where his colony, his people, and his family were taken from him. It was a deep emotional scar that had never healed for years

"Ryder, I understand you don't want to relive the painful memories. No one does. If you'd like, you can sit out on this and let the others check the place out," Nyx said.

Ryder shook his head in reply and soon he starts giving hand signs. “They don’t know where the colony is. And I am the only survivor that knows its location. And… I don’t want you to go to that place alone.” He signed.

"Alright then. This is a big step you're taking. But I'm right beside you in the end," Nyx said, patting him on the head. “And it’s very brave of you to face your fear rather than run away from them the rest of your life."

As more time passed and with Nyx and Ryder connecting, even more, the ship finally reached its destination and touched land. But… "Hmm… are you sure this is the place?" Celaeno asked, looking around and finding nothing, but dried up land, a not-so refreshing wind breezing by, just an empty land void of any life.

"Yes, this is the place. That abandoned railroad we passed over aligns with the western border. This is the Undiscovered West.” Inferno replied.

"It's like a ghost land out here. Now I can understand why this place is forbidden. You can't even run a small town in this dead land," Eternal said.

"Even so, we should still try and find Ryder’s colony," Rainbow said.

"Ooh! If there are other humans, I'm going to throw them a "Congratulations on Surviving in the Undiscovered West" Party!" Pinkie said cheerfully.

“Ok, but we need to know where the colony is located?” Inferno asked.

After hearing him said that; Nyx turns to Ryder who looked very uncomfortable and scared to be back in this forsaken land. She wraps her hand around his and faces him, eye to eye.

“It’s okay Ryder. It’s hard to come back here. But as soon as we find your colony, we can leave this place. Okay?” She said to him. The human nodded his head in reply and then he walks up to the front of the group and he observed his surrounding. He even got down on his knees and dug his hand into the dry dirt until he took a chunk of the earth.

“Uh, what is he doing?” Eternal asked.

“I think he’s trying to become familiar with the landscape. That’s my guess.” Nyx replied.

Ryder then inspects the handful of dried dirt in his hand.

"Or maybe… he's trying to find the entrance?" Celaeno guessed.

After inspection, the human drops the dirt onto the ground, and then he turns to the group and brings his arm up to point to a mountain range about a mile away from them. Soon everyone understood what he was doing.

“He’s saying the colony is located somewhere on those mountains,” Nyx stated.

“Well, it doesn’t look far. We take the airship over there, however, we’ll have to hike up those mountains on hoof.” Inferno responded. “Hope you all brought hiking gear,” he added.

"I don't mind. I've been meaning to get in some more exercise," Eternal said.

"No sweat. I can just fly up there," Rainbow said.

"I wouldn't advise that. The temperature gets colder the higher you get, so you might end up freezing your wings off," Nyx said. "We have no choice. As soon as we reach the foot of the mountain, we gotta hike up."

Rainbow frowned and pouted after hearing that piece of information.

"I don't suppose you've all packed some warm, fuzzy snow gear, right?" Pinkie asked.

"Pinkie… I always come prepared.” Inferno stated in reply.

“Alright then ponies, climb back on the ship. We’re heading to the mountains.” Celaeno said as she walks back onto her ship. Everyone else followed her, climbing aboard before taking off once again, moving closer towards the mountains.

Finally reaching the foot of the mountains, the entire crew stepped off the ship once again. "Alright, we're here. So, Ryder, is your colony at the peak of the mountain, or is it somewhere on the base or the foot?" Celaeno asked.

Ryder gives some hand signals, with Nyx helping him translate. “He said; “None. The colony is located on the other side of the mountain. Luckily, I know a path that’ll get us on the other side the fastest”.” Nyx translated.

“On the other side of the mountain? That’s how far I need to go without flying? Great!” Rainbow complained.

"Rainbow, will you stop complaining? This isn't about what you want, it's about Ryder. So suck it up already. Besides, your wings aren't the only things that help you travel," Eternal said. "You should try power walking, it's all the rage, too."

"Ol' Hot Head is right. Give those glutes of yours a good workout, Dash," Celaeno said.

"Ugh, fine!" Rainbow pouted some more. The group then took off on the path, following Ryder to where his human colony should be located. The more they traveled, Ryder's memories started flashing before his eyes, Not the bad ones, but the happy ones. The ones where he and his sister used to play together. All the times they played board games, playing hide and seek, tag, listening to her sing… it all brought so many happy and sad tears to Ryder.

The group continued to hike up the mountain, freezing from the cold temperature of the mountain’s climate, and their muscles pushed to exhaustion until Ryder halts at a cave opening in the mountain.

“Finally! A break. My legs were killing me.” Rainbow stated as she fell flat on her ass as her leg muscles were in pain.

"Well enjoy your little break while it lasts, Rainbow. Cause we still have a long way to go.” Inferno replied.

“Why did we stop here? Cause it looks like Ryder is too attached to that cave?” Pinkie asked while pointing to the human in question.

Soon Ryder starts making some more hand signals to the ponies, while Nyx translated.

“He said that this cave will take us to the other side of the mountain. His people had dug and mined this passageway as an easy method to travel through the mountain without hiking over the top of it.” Nyx said.

"Damn! Humans sure are resourceful," Inferno commented.

“Well, at least it’ll save us hours of hiking,” Eternal claimed.

“Fine by me! Cause there is no way I’m climbing up this mountain anymore,” Rainbow stated.

"Rainbow Dash, I don't mean to be rude, but you've gone soft if you can't handle this hike," Eternal said.

“Fuck… you.” The pegasus replied.

“Let's just go already. I’m sick of you two going at it.” Nyx stated as she and Ryder enter the cave. The others follow the two inside, away from the cold, harsh weather.

As they all walked deeper into the cave, the darker it becomes. So much so that Nyx, Eternal, and Inferno had to light up their horns to provide light.

"How long did it take these humans to mine this entire cave?" Mullet asked.

Ryder made some more hand gestures while Nyx translated. "He says it might've taken them either 5 or 10 years. Without any mining machines or explosives, his people had to do it with pickaxes and sledgehammers.” She said.

"That must've been tiring. But I bet it was all worth it if they were able to accomplish something like that," Pinkie commented.

“It got us out of the cold and saved us a lot of hiking, I would gladly kiss one of them for constructing this cave.” Rainbow boldly stated.

"Assuming if they're still alive or not," Eternal said. "I'm more focused on searching for clues on the massacre when we get there."

“Hey, there’s a light at the end of the cave!” Pinkie informed them all as they all see that light at the end of the cave, signaling them that they made it to the other side of the mountain.

"No time like the present," Celaeno said. Ryder leads everyone out of the cave and reached the other side, seeing what was there.

The cave leads them to a ridge of the mountain, and down below was a lush forest region at the base of the mountain, with a forest of pine trees and a flowing river through the valley. They soon hear the sounds of a waterfall coming from the mountainside, which must be the collected rainwater from clouds above.

“Wow. This is so beautiful.” Nyx said.

“It’s enough to make a grown stallion cry…” Inferno stated while he almost shed a single tear. “But NOT this stallion! Get back in there, tear.” He said as his tear retreats into his eye.

"And I thought Pinkie defied all logic," Rainbow commented, shocked.

"Logic? What is this logic you speak of?" Pinkie asked playfully. Everyone else laughed it off, as did Pinkie Pie. Well… except Ryder. The group continued onward down the trail, following their human companion to where his colony might be.

They walked for quite some time, hiking through the forest and hearing sounds of wildlife around them. Until they soon arrived at what appears to be a concrete wall.

"I… think we found what we're looking for. Now the real challenge is finding a way inside," Celaeno said.

"Ryder, do you know where the entrance is?" Nyx asked.

The human nodded his head and soon he gestures the group to follow him as they walked along the wall until they reached an opening in the wall; which wasn’t the entrance, it looked like something tore through the wall. As everyone entered the colony, they are meant with a tragic sight. All the houses that were built in this place were destroyed, debris scattered all around, everything was burnt and turned to ash, and destruction all around; as if this place was a war zone.

"Sweet mother Celestia," Eternal said in shock. "Whoever caused all this must've been a real barbarian, that's for sure. This calls for an investigation."

Pinkie's poofy mane quickly deflated and flopped. "It's so… so… horrible!" she said, tears swelling up in her eyes.

“This place is… its… There’s nothing left intact,” Rainbow commented.

“What happened here?” Inferno asked as he walked up to a well that had water in it. “This place was perfectly hidden and easy to defend… Who attacked this place?”

Nyx stood silent for a long while as she observed the entire ruins of the former colony. She then turns to look at Ryder, only to see that he wasn’t there.

“Ryder? Ryder!” Nyx called out to the human, which got everyone’s attention.

“Nyx, what’s wrong?” Inferno asked.

“Ryder is gone! He must have run off,” Nyx replied while she felt extremely worried.

“What? Where did he go?” Rainbow asked.

"I-I don't know, I just took my eyes off him for a second and he just… disappeared!" Nyx stuttered, growing more worried.

"Everyone spread out and find him. We don't want him getting hurt," Eternal said.

“I’ll go with Nyx, can’t have her going off by herself,” Inferno stated as he followed the distressed alicorn as they searched for the missing human.

"I'll go with Celaeno and Pinkie!" Rainbow said.

"And I'll go in alone. See if I can't dig anything else up from here while I'm at it," Eternal said.

Soon after everyone split up and headed out in different directions. Inferno went with Nyx towards the right side of the colony; while Rainbow, Pinkie, and Celaeno went towards the left side of the colony. Eternal moved towards the center of the colony, trying to see if there were any clues of the disaster.

"Ryder, please be alright," Nyx muttered, looking around and trying to find her friend.

She and Inferno searched the ruins of the colony, observing the destruction and despair that it all reveals.

“What happened?” Inferno asked.

"I don't know. But whatever caused this, it wasn't a small group invasion," Nyx replied. "Who could be so cruel as to wipe out this entire fort?"

"Not sure. But we should keep looking for your friend. Maybe you can get a read on his heat signature with your magic," Inferno replied.

“Oh right, I forgot,” Nyx replied as she conjures up a heat-seeking spell. With this spell, she gave her eyes thermal vision and searched for any footprints made by Ryder. Eventually, she picks up his footprints, which barely emitted enough heat, but it was enough to track them. "I've got his heat signature. Follow me."

Inferno nodded and followed the young alicorn. She traced his footprints through the crushed debris and eventually came across one of the homes that were still standing… but it was burnt to a crisp. "Something tells me this wasn't a barbeque gone wrong," Inferno said.

“How do you know what a barbeque is like?” Nyx asked hi

“I was at the Dragonlands one time and they have great barbeques; of course, I didn’t eat the meat they cooked, just some watermelon and other fruit bowls,” Inferno stated.

"Oh, that makes sense," Nyx said. "But anyway, I'm gonna go inside and look for Ryder."

"Just be careful. No telling when this house will crumble on top of you. It’s probably unstable.” Inferno informed her.

"I can conjure up a shield to protect me and Ryder. But thanks for the warning," Nyx replied before heading inside. Nyx kept following his heat signature inside the charred building.

As she entered, she observes the insides of the burn-down house. She couldn’t make up of all the objects, sofas, or cabinets in the building; but the shape of them made it clear to her what they are. Eventually, she followed Ryder's footprints into a bedroom in the back of the house and found her friend standing next to what looked like a burnt up dresser, holding a broken picture frame… crying.

"Ryder? W-Was… was this your home?" Nyx asked. Ryder looked up at Nyx. He was unable to hold back the tears and ran up to her, hugging her tightly, sobbing uncontrollably, thought he couldn't make a sound… at least not yet.

But it was clear her hunch was right. The house they were standing in… was Ryder's home. The place he spent his childhood, and where his family was. It was hard for her to see her friend like this, but she can understand how much it hurts him to have to come back to his home in its current state… and relive the memories of his family.

Soon after, Inferno follows into the building afterward and eventually walks into the room where Nyx and Ryder were in. As he entered, he watches the young alicorn comforting the distressed human. Inferno was confused about what was going on.

“What happened?” Inferno asked out of concern.

Nyx turned her head to face Inferno. "This… This was Ryder’s home.” She replied.

Inferno’s expression turned shocked and felt a great sense of sympathy. He now understood why the human ran off; he was coming home after being away for so long. The retired mercenary let out a sigh of pity as she watches Nyx does her best to comfort the human.

Later, Inferno decided to leave the two in the room and walked back into… well, what’s left in the living room. As he stood in the empty charred room, he observed the walls of the former household; feeling a great sense of sadness to see a place that was once filled with happy memories become a place of despair and ruin.

As he was doing some observing, he soon notices a glint of something shiny in the walls. This caught his attention and had him very curious. He walks towards the wall where he saw the shine came from. As he inspects the wall, he then notices something like a shiny metal piece stuck and looks like it was chipped off or broken. Inferno takes out his dagger from his sheath and then stuck it into the cracks to try and pry whatever the object out of the wall. After a few struggles, Inferno managed to pry the object free as it fell to the floor.

The stallion puts away his dagger as he reaches down and picks up the object. After doing so, he observes it for a while, he realizes that it was a broken top piece of a blade; probably a sword. He also sees that the metal of the broken blade wasn’t rusted or worn. But as he was inspecting it, he could sense… magic aura coming from the metal.

That’s when Inferno realized what type of metal this broken blade was forged from.

“E-Equestrian Steel?” He gasped. "Nyx, Ryder, come here. You might wanna see this," he called out. Later on, the two quickly come out of the room and head over to Inferno.

"What is it?" Nyx asked.

"Here, have a look at this and see if this rings a bell," Inferno said, showing her the broken blade he found.

She gasped. "That's Equestrian Steel, one of the hardest metals. But these are forged into weapons exclusively and ONLY for the Royal Guards!”

“And the entire Equestrian Army,” Inferno added. “Nyx… I hate to say it. But… I believe this area was attacked… by Equestrians.” He hesitantly stated.

"Looks like both our hunches are correct," a male voice called out. Inferno looked back and saw Eternal at the doorway, holding another piece of Equestrian Steel in his magic aura. "I found a few of these lying around in some of the destroyed buildings as well as some dried up blood samples, most of them were human… but one of them had pony DNA."

“What?! But... that cannot be true!” Nyx responded. “No pony in Equestria would ever dare to commit this sort of violence. Right?” She said.

“I know it’s hard to understand, Nyx. But… there’s no denying it.” Inferno replied.

"I suspect there was sabotage when this massacre took place. When we get back home, I'll have Sunset and Twilight go over the evidence and we'll trace the blood to one of the guards who attacked this place," Eternal explained.

"What if that blood leads to some random guard and not the one behind the attack?" Inferno asked, having his doubts.

"As I said, it'll lead us to one of the Royal Guards. He or she could tell us who the commanding officer was that ordered the attack," Eternal said.

“Well, how do we know that this blood sample comes from a dead pony?” Inferno counterclaimed.

"Hmm… fair point. Blast it-- wait. Of course! Even if he is dead, we can trace his records back at Canterlot, he may even have comrades who made it out of there alive, possibly even family," Eternal said in realization.

“So we find out this pony’s profile and trace it to either his platoon or anyone else that knew him, we might have at least a few evidence on who else was involved,” Inferno responded.

"Exactly! Quick, let's regroup with the others and tell them about what we just found. Then we'll head back into town." Eternal said.

"Right," Nyx said before turning to Ryder. "Looks like there might be a chance to get justice for your colony.

Ryder didn’t reply or make any other expression. And soon he walks off towards the stairwells and carefully walked up to the second floor of the house. Leaving the 3 Equestrians in the living room.

Nyx felt even more sympathy for Ryder as she turns to face Eternal.

“Give him some time, he’s… coping.” She stated.

“This was his home,” Inferno informed his old pal.

"I see… I can understand his behavior. I'll be waiting outside when you and Ryder are ready.” Eternal replied as he walks out the door.

“I’ll do the same. Nyx, you best wait in here with Ryder.” Inferno stated.

“I will,” She replied.

“Good girl,” the retired merc responded as he follows Eternal out the door.

After the two had left the house, Nyx waits patiently by the staircase; giving Ryder the time he needed to recollect himself.

Meanwhile, upstairs, Ryder follows the hallway on the second floor as he reaches for his parent’s room at the end of it. Once he reached the door, he opens it and enters the room.

Just like the rest of the house, the room was incinerated. Nothing but ashes, charcoal, and a few dust bunnies. All that was in it was a charred bed and dresser. On top of the dresser, there used to be pictures of him and his older sister, but it looked like the pictures there didn't survive the fire either. The only picture that did survive is the one Ryder's holding in his hand… the only picture of him, his sister, and his parents together. It was a bitter pill to swallow for Ryder, having no family to come home to.

He felt conflicting emotions in his mind, giving him a headache. He felt loneliness, sadness, and a sense of loss. Although on the other end, he felt broken, enraged, and near close to going completely insane.

All this injustice that was done to him has to be corrected. And if he has to… he'll probably have to resort to taking one’s life, just like whoever was responsible for this took his sister’s.

As soon as he recollected himself, Ryder then turns his head to a tall wooden cabinet in the corner of his parent’s bedroom. It also had a lock on it, which was damaged as if it was forced wide open. Ryder walks closer to the cabinet and opens it wider to reveal something that had him experience flashbacks. Inside the cabinet, was a shotgun; a Winchester Model 1912 to be exact; although, the memory flashbacks that the weapon gave him weren’t violent or cruel.

For it was his father’s gun. And he remembers him seeing his father carry this weapon with him when he took him hunting years back. Of course, they didn’t found anything to hunt but they enjoyed walking into the woods together; taking it as a father-son moment.

Those moments always brought a smile to his face since it gave him plenty of time to bond with his father. A moment that was so long ago. And his sister was the only family he had left… And that was taken from him.

Soon a serious and emotionless expression appeared on Ryder’s face as he reaches for the gun with his right hand, and with the strap attached to the gun, places it over his shoulder. Then searches the cabinet with his left hand and finds two boxes filled with 25 shotgun shells each. He soon takes off his backpack and zips it open, grabs both boxes and places them inside, closes it up, and puts it back on. He checks the cabinet once more to see what else was inside and then he walks towards the door of the room to leave. But not before glancing back into the room one more time and then walks into the hallway.

Waiting patiently downstairs, Nyx hears Ryder coming down the stairs which had her walk right next to the staircase to see the human walking slowly down the steps. "Did you see everything you need-- wait, what's that thing hoisted on your back?" Nyx asked, noticing the gun he's carrying on him.

Strangely enough, Ryder didn’t reply after she asked that and then proceeds to walk past her and towards the front door. This new behavior had Nyx confused and more worried about her human friend.

"Ryder, is there something you're not telling me?" Nyx asked.

Later, after thinking that she’ll have to ask him when they get back to Ponyville, Nyx follows Ryder out of the house where they meet up with Eternal and Inferno, who were both waiting outside for them.

As soon as the two stallions stare at the young alicorn and human, Ryder’s gun immediately caught Inferno’s eyes.

"Something on your mind?" Eternal asked.

“I have no idea what he has there, strapped to his shoulders… But for some strange reason, I feel like I want it?” Inferno whispered to him in reply.

"Hmm… I wonder what that object is. I've never seen anything like it before," Eternal added. "Could it be a weapon of some sort?"

“I think it’s best not to ask,” Inferno responded.

"Whatever it is, Ryder doesn't seem like he wants us to know. Maybe it's best to respect his wishes… even though that thing is raising a lot of red flags in my head," Nyx said.

“Well, we pretty much found the evidence we’re looking for, might as well head back,” Inferno stated before he starts to realize something. “Hey, what do you think Rainbow Dash and Pinkie are doing on their part?” He asked.

"Uh… just follow the tear-gushing geyser over there," Eternal said pointing to said geyser a few yards away from where they were, followed by distant wailing.

“Yep, that’ll do it,” Inferno responded.

Soon after, the four walked over to where the geyser was located, and as they arrived, they were met with a crying Pinkie with Rainbow and Celaneo standing beside her trying to calm her down as best as they could.

"Let me guess, Pinkie Pie didn’t find anyone to throw a party for?" Inferno asked.

"No, it's not that. Take a look over there," Celaeno said, pointing in front of the guys. In the short distance, they noticed a bunch of these spears wedged into the ground. And on each of the spears were what looked like human skulls. The top of their heads embedded form below and put on display like a bunch of sick, twisted trophies.

"T-This is… atrocious!" Eternal said, clenching his fists. "Now I want to arrest whoever did this to these humans.

Nyx was truly horrified by this brutal display, so much so that she embraced Ryder in a hug for comfort which had the human surprised but wasn’t protesting and comforted her. Their embrace catches Inferno’s eyes and in his mind, he proclaimed; “I ship it.”

"Hey, guys. You might want to check something else out. We found something… odd on one of these skulls. Maybe you can tell us what it means," Rainbow said before escorting everyone towards one of the skulls. Upon further inspection, the group found this strange symbol carved on one of the skulls. It looked like a small, bold x inside of a larger X.

“What kind of sick joke is this?” Celaeno asked out of disgust seeing this display.

"Either it's that, or some kind of mark left behind by one of the guards during the attack here. I'm not sure who, but we can only hope the "artist" who made this isn't dead. Nyx, do you think you can use your thoughtography ability to get a picture of this?" Eternal asked.

“I don’t know. I have never seen any symbol like this. It’s not even the symbol of the Royal Guard or found in any of the books back at the castle library.” Nyx replied, doubting that this ‘symbol’ would give any clues.

“Of course it won’t, it’s just an X inside another X; it doesn’t mean a thing. Also, who would be dumb enough to leave their mark on a crime scene? Trust me, I have done things like this towards bad ponies and other corrupted scumbags, but I would not leave any mention of myself behind.” Inferno stated.

“Perhaps whoever did this, did it out of pride in their kill,” Celaeno exclaimed.

"Which gives us all the more reason to record this thing. Come on, Nyx. You're the only one who's got the best thoughtography in this entire group." Eternal said.

“Well I have a much better idea,” Nyx responded as he reaches into his back and pulls out a blank piece of paper and black chalk. Hesitantly, she approaches the marked skull and then places the paper on it and starts to etch onto the paper and as she did, the symbol on the skull is then scribbled onto the paper, making an identical copy of it. After getting the symbol, she then folds up the sketch and places it in her satchel.

"Hey! Good idea! Tracing the symbol will make it much easier when we bring it back home! Good thinking, Nyx!" Rainbow praised. "You practically take after your egghead mom."

"Well, when you spend most of your time studying and preparing for countless journeys, you tend to pick up her habits. Lucky for you, she's not here to hear you call her "egghead”.” the young alicorn replied.

“Ok now that you got that taken care of, can we leave this forsaken place, please?!” Celaeno asked impatiently.

"Take me away from all this! It's too SAAAAAAD!!!" Pinkie wailed, gushing out more tears.

"Alright. We've found all we can from this ransacked cemetery. Let's head on back to the ship and off to Equestria," Eternal nodded. After their investigation was complete, the group headed for the exit of the fort. One by one each of them walked through the broken hole in the wall. But just before Ryder could set foot out of his home.

"Ryder…" a voice echoed behind him. He turned around, but nothing was there. He thought his mind was playing tricks on him. Despite his confusion, he turned back and caught up with the rest of the group, leaving his torn-up home behind… probably for the last time.

It took them hours to walk back to the ship, having to cross back through the secret passage and hiking back down the mountainside. Sooner than later, they eventually made it back to the airship and they all silently climbed aboard the ship, especially after everything they had seen. Ryder was the last one to board, and as he was about to, he soon felt a warm presence rush past him which had him jumped and looking around to see what it was.

After seeing that there was nothing, Ryder then proceeds to climb aboard the airship. Once he did, the ship then takes off from the ground and then ascends into the air. Leaving the Undiscovered West and making its way back to Equestria.

Chapter 4

Another school day has come to a close and every student has left home for the day. Searing Shimmer, Sunset's daughter, left the school to go and help out Fluttershy with looking after the animal sanctuary. And let’s just say… her first day wasn’t peachy.

The animals tend to run away from her and avoid her at all times; mostly because they all just found out what she did. Well, there’s at least one animal that didn’t avoid her; however, it wasn’t very cuddly. Because that animal is Angel Bunny.

Searing had the little fluff ball following her around and causing her so much trouble; such as kicking her hooves, but of course, it didn't hurt her. Then the little prick got creative and tripped her over with a vine tied to a tree. And she fell into a puddle. But, of course, in the end, Asriel, the boy she bullied and believed that he would avoid her at all times, came to her and helped her back on her hooves. It shocked Searing to think this timid colt would go out of his way to help her out, despite the abuse she put him through.

"Not even you deserve this," Asriel said, helping wipe the mud off of her. "It took a long time for Angel Bunny to get used to me, too."

"R-Right. Listen, Azzie… about what happened in--"

"Let's not dwell on that subject. The last thing I want is for my friends to keep bringing bad stuff up and blaming themselves for what happened," Asriel said, cutting her off.

“F-friends?” Searing replied, confused about what he meant. “But… I never acted like a friend towards you. So why call me that?”

"Never act like a friend? Then what do you call that one time in middle school? You know, the one where you beat up those three bullies who were shoving me around? I admit I was scared at first, but the more I think about it, the more I realize how much you care. You just… have a different way of showing it, Searing," Asriel explained. "I can't hold it against you for trying to do the right thing."

Searing just stood there in disbelief. To think that Asriel would see the good in her. Which only made her feel even more guilty for roughing him up. And just as she was beating herself up some more, Asriel surprised her again by hugging her.

But of course, Searing didn’t protest, and instead, she embraced him as well. Tears flowed from her eyes as the returning guilt she felt hit her harder than before. She tormented him and yet he bears no ill towards her; she felt a great sense of remorse and didn’t even try to resist it. She didn’t deserve his kindness… And he never deserved someone like her as a friend.

As all of this was happening, Asriel's parents and his grandpa were watching him from afar. Fluttershy felt nothing but happiness and relief that her sweet little boy was showing her so much kindness. Israel was proud of his son, too. Discord was crying Niagara Falls from his eyes, watching his grandson bringing kindness to the young lady.

And so, later, after that warm hug, Asriel let go of her. "Wanna help me feed the giraffes? I've got the basket ready. They love carrots," he said, showing the full basket of carrots.

"Y-Yeah. Lead the way," Searing stuttered. Asriel leads Searing off to where the giraffes would be, all while Searing felt her face heating up a bit.

‘What is wrong with me?’ She thought in her head as she followed Asriel in the direction of the giraffes' habitat.

And as they arrived at the habitat, one look at Searing, and the giraffes backed away.

"Now now, no need to be scared. I know you might still hold a grudge against what she did, but she's trying to make up for it. Trust me… it's all good," Asriel said, reaching his hand out slowly. Though the giraffes understood him, they still didn't feel comfortable with Searing. "Well, Canterlot wasn't built in a day. But eventually, they'll warm up to you," he said, looking at Searing with his reassuring smile.

So, to help out, Searing handed over some carrots to Asriel, who fed them to the giraffes one at a time. Searing's mind wandered off as she kept staring at the young colt while she was helping him out. It's like the more she looks at him, the area around him just feels brighter and seems to sparkle brightly.

And while she's distracted, Fluttershy can tell from the look in her eyes that she's slowly crushing on her son. She's wondering how her mom and dad will react to her having a crush.

Later that day, Captain Celaeno and her crew finally arrived back in Ponyville and landed a few yards outside the Castle of Friendship. "Last stop, everybody off," Celaeno said.

“Thank you for the assistance, captain,” Nyx said.

"No sweat. Just let us know when you need another lift somewhere and we'll be there. And good luck with your investigation," Celaeno replied with a thumbs up.

After the ponies and humans had gotten off, Celaeno and her crew depart from Ponyville and head towards wherever they wish.

After the pirates have departed, the group walked over towards Twilight’s castle to deliver the info from their investigation. Once they entered inside the castle, Ryder immediately went upstairs towards the guest rooms; not making any hints of his departure from the others. Worried for him, Nyx also leaves her uncle, Inferno, Rainbow, and Pinkie; and heads upstairs after the human.

“Guess he’s taking it hard,” Rainbow said.

“Well, he just returned to the ruins of his colony, so.. Can’t blame him,” Inferno stated.

"The best thing we can do is give him some time to wind down. I'm going to continue on the investigation, starting with this symbol. Inferno, since you're here, how about you stay over for the night as a guest?" Eternal said, heading off to his room.

“We’ll go see Twilight and tell her what we found,” Rainbow said. Then soon she and Pinkie left Inferno and went off to see their alicorn friend.

“And I’ll… Just stand here… Alone.” Inferno said to himself as he stood alone in the castle. Then he let out a sigh and walked towards the kitchen. “I wonder if Twi and Heat have any fresh cider in the fridge.” He said.

Meanwhile, upstairs in the hallway where the guest rooms were, Nyx walked slowly towards Ryder’s room, wanting to check up on the human after the whole event they had just witnessed. She arrived at his bedroom door and stood silently for a while.

"Ryder?" Nyx asked, knocking on the door. "Do you need some company? You can always come to talk to me if you need anything." She waited for an answer but got none. She couldn't even hear his footsteps. This trip has gotten to him. "Ryder… I'm sorry you had to see all of that. Truly, I am. No one should ever have to experience something that horrifying and I wish I could understand what you feel… But I can’t. But it doesn’t change the fact that I’ll always be there for you and help you get through this. But I can’t do that if you won’t let me in.” She stated. She then waits yet again for an answer.

This time, she heard his footsteps approaching the door and then watched the door opening up, showing Ryder, whose facial expression was a mix of anger and sadness. With dried tears running down from his eyes.

Nyx gasped and stepped back for a split second there. She can tell he's hurt, but that look of spite in his eyes makes him look like a completely different person from before. It's as if she didn't recognize him at that moment. Then later, Ryder slowly slumped down on his knees, looking down at the floor where she stood and soon he began to sob once again. The alicorn could see that he was completely broken on the inside.

She kneeled to his level and hugged him to comfort the poor guy. "It's okay, just let it all out, Ryder. I know it hurts, but I'm here for you," she whispered.

The human hugged her tight as he continued to cry on her shoulders. She understood his pain; she felt stupid convincing him to show her where his colony is. She can’t help but feel like it’s her fault that he’s feeling this pain. For a short while, Nyx sat there with him, doing her best to comfort his distraught soul.

"I'm sorry… I'm so sorry," she said, holding him a little tighter, tears or regret beginning to swell in her eyes. As she had him in her embrace, she then hears something she could not believe.

“I-I-I-I… F-Forgive… Y-you…” A raspy male voice whispered to her.

By hearing this, Nyx’s eyes widen in shock and disbelief. Was that… Ryder’s voice?

"R-Ryder? D...Did you… speak?" Nyx asked in shock.

And in reply, Ryder nodded his head, instead of speaking. Seems that he risked injuring his vocal cord again just by doing that and now it has to restart its process. But to him, it was well worth it. As for Nyx, she was tearing joyfully after hearing what is now Ryder’s voice; but sadly she won’t hear it again for a while. However, he spoke to let her know that he does not blame her and that he forgives her.

That gave her a glimpse of hope to know the spell was working. "I promise you, we're gonna do everything we can to fix this whole mess." She said to him. “I promise that.”

Ryder nodded in understanding before standing back up on his feet. Nyx then does the same, and as she got back on her two hooves, she soon notices that Ryder’s skin still had some dirt and ash on it and his face as well. Guess he hasn’t gotten the chance to take a shower this past few days or maybe their visit at the former human colony, he must have somehow gotten himself dirty.

“Ok, how come you manage to get some dirt and ash on you while we were at the ruins?” She asked him.

Ryder blushed slightly before replying in sign language, "I kinda tripped on a branch and fell onto the ground."

"Heh, I guess that makes sense. Come on, let's get you washed up before you eat dinner and go to bed," Nyx said. Ryder nodded in reply and then followed her towards a nearby bathroom in the hallway.

Nyx opened the door and went inside before letting Ryder in. She then closed the door and locked it. However… she realized something that made her blush in embarrassment. "Uh… Ryder… listen. I, uh… also have to use the shower, but… i-if it's alright with you, then… m-m-maybe I can… y-you know, s-scrub your… back." Nyx offered, blushing deeply.

Ryder, who was confused and also flustered at the same time when she said that. However, he doesn’t want to be rude or anything, so he replied with a nod in permission.

"Oh… O-Okay, but, uh… c-c-could you… turn around, please while I get undressed?" Nyx asked hesitantly.

Ryder easily complies with Nyx’s wishes and turns his back towards her and observes the entire room as a way of distraction. With his back turned, Nyx then proceeds to remove her clothing. Unbuttoning her shirt and dropping it to the ground, then she starts pulling down her skirt, which took a difficult time due to her thick hips and thighs… oh and her phat butt; however, she finally pulled it off and let her skirt slide down her legs and drop to the ground. Leaving the alicorn in her bra and panties. Next, she reaches her hands behind her back and unclips her bra, and removing it. Allowing her G-cup breasts to bounce free from their confinement. Then she proceeds to remove her underwear, sliding it against her big posterior and wide hips, before sliding it down her legs and dropping it to the ground.

After that, she gathers up her clothes and tossed them in the laundry basket that was in the bathroom, and turned around, seeing that Ryder was about to undress, too. She blushed intensely when she saw his ass and turned away quickly. Hearing her, Ryder turns around, and soon his sight is then placed upon Nyx’s big booty; and he too turned away while blushing madly. No surprise that he soon got a big boner from checking her out by accident.

The two stood silently and bare naked in the bathroom, their cheeks blushing red from the strange atmosphere that was in the room. Eventually, they turned around to face each other, with Ryder covering his crouch with both of his hands while Nyx covered her breasts and her privates with each of her two of her hands.

“So… Ummm… Are you ready to go to the shower?” Nyx asked, anxiously, and still blushing. Ryder nodded in reply. "O-Okay then… here we go." She walked over to the shower and turned on the water, adjusting the temperature until it was just right. Afterward, she steps in, then Ryder follows her inside. She then closed the curtains and now both of them were showering together, but it just felt so… awkward. Nyx just knew that if her family gets wind of this, she'll never hear the end of this, or live it down. Ryder, on the other hand, was in disbelief and feeling very anxious that he was in the same shower with a woman... or mare. Whatever the case, he was very nervous and does his best not to act rude or perverted like staring.

“So… Uh… Mind if I start with you first? I’ll only wash your back, nothing else.” Nyx asked. Ryder nodded, keeping his back turned. "A-Alright then. Here I go." Nyx then grabbed the body wash and a bath sponge. She lathered up the sponge and got close to Ryder before scrubbing his back. It was a good thing neither of them could see each other's tomato ripe red faces. She kept scrubbing his back until she got every inch of dirt off of him. "Okay, now you can wash my back, too. I'll tell you when to turn around." Ryder nodded as she gave him the bath sponge. Nyx turns around and then… "Okay."

Ryder turned around and he could see her back facing her… as well as her thick, phat, shiny ass and he felt his cheeks immediately heated up. He gulped in feeling nervous while Nyx was waiting for him to start. Seeing no way to escape this, Ryder then takes the sponge in hand, applies the soap to it, and starts washing her back, being careful not to damage her wings.

Though he was careful, Nyx let out some soft moans because of how sensitive her wings were. Ryder still tried to be as careful as possible. As he leaned in to clean the rest of Nyx's back; his big, raging boner unknowingly rubs in between her cheeks. She jumped and yelped from the feeling. Ryder backed up a bit, worried that he might have hurt her wings

'Shit! Shit! SHIT! Was that his… his… it rubbed against me? No one ever told me humans were that huge! No, no, no, calm down, Nyx. I'm sure he didn't mean to do that. Just calm down… just calm down.' she said in her mind. But now her mind's flooded with the size of his dick and thinking of how it might feel inside… ‘NO! Calm down!’ She screamed in her consciousness.

Ryder starts to feel concerned and then taps on her shoulder to get her attention. Once he did, he then starts making hand signs to her saying; “Are you ok? Did I hurt you anywhere? If I did, I’m sorry.” He signed.

"No, you didn't hurt me anywhere, you just… you just surprised me, that's all. L-Look. How about we just… finish up our shower and pretend this incident never happened, deal?" Nyx asked, keeping her back turned.

Ryder nodded in reply then he starts giving more hand signs again. “Is there something else I can help you wash up? Your hair or something?” He asked, wanting to be helpful, and felt even flustered after asking that.

"T-That'd be nice. And… can you rub the rest of my upper body?” Nyx replied.

Ryder immediately blushed and if he had his voice, it would crack or he'd stuttered. But, he regained his composure and took a deep breath, then got to work on the rest of her body. Ryder started with the arms, then worked his way over to the front of her body from her tight waist, then her stomach… and finally, all up towards her humongous breasts. If he weren't blushing tomato red before, he certainly was now. Nyx was also blushing intensely since he probably the only male to see her naked breasts.

Nevertheless, he sucked it up and worked on her massive headlights, scrubbing them up and down, left and right and all around. Nyx just stood there, blushing intensely and trying to hold back her moans. Not only that, she's doing her hardest to keep her dirty thoughts at bay. But his hands just felt so right on her breasts. treating them with tender love and care. A part of her wishes they had met sooner so they could take this action to her bedroom.

Soon the struggle to keep her composure became more intense when she felt his manhood rubbing against in-between her ass cheeks and teasing her in torment. 'Mmmmph!!! Damn, he's so big. Thank Celestia, he's not extinct. NO! Stop it, Nyx! Now's not the time to be thinking about sex, this is SERIOUS!!!' she thought to herself again. Finally, the torment was over and Ryder had completely washed her entire upper body.

“W-w-well now… I guess we’re cleaned up now.” Nyx muttered while blushing like crazy. Ryder nodded, looking just as flustered. And soon, after they both finished up, they got themselves dried up real quick. They wanted to put this incident behind them and pretend it never happened to begin with.

Soon Nyx teleported them both to their separate rooms, Ryder was back in the guest room where he was staying and sees a closet of new clothes for him to wear. As for Nyx, when she was back in her room, without realizing that she was still wearing just a bathroom towel; she paced over to her bed and plopped onto her back as she was groaning in embarrassment and frustration… sexually frustration.

"Uggghhhh!!!! I'm gonna be having wet dreams for a week! Why did I have to feel that big monster between my butt? Are all humans that massive? He might rival any stallion in Equestria. Ugh! WHY AM I EVEN TALKING ABOUT IT?!?!?!?” She screamed at herself as she covered her face with her hands in either frustration or feeling like wanting to hide her shame. ‘I wonder what it would feel like inside my… NO! NO! I SHOULD NOT BE HAVING THESE THOUGHTS!!!’

While Nyx is venting out her sexual frustrations, Ryder is sitting in his bed, contemplating what happened in the shower… And how beautiful Nyx looked. In the shower, he was close enough to smell her mane; it was a combination of vanilla and peppermint. He questioned what shampoo she was using in the shower. And when he washed her body, he was amazed and flustered at how soft and silky her fur coat is.

And not to mention how he felt her massive jugs when he washed them. So soft, firm, smooth, and even the palms of his hands could not handle them completely. But then he shook his head, scolding himself in his head to not think about her like that. As beautiful as she is, it just didn't seem right, especially since it might get him into trouble with her mom, including the fact that the law might not allow him to have relationships with someone other than his species.

After having to steer away from any sensitive thoughts in his head, Ryder proceeds to put on his new clothes and after doing so, he left his room and walked down the hallway over to Nyx’s room, and politely knocked on the door, waiting patiently for a reply.

Before he arrived, Nyx still laid on her bed. She kept turning and shifting on the mattress, causing her towel to loosen against her body until she lay naked on her bed. She was still frustrated with herself. She laid there for a few minutes until she heard knocking on her bedroom door.

"Ugh… who is it?" Nyx groaned. After that, the pony or whoever it was behind the door didn’t speak back and instead knocked on the door again in response. Nyx got even more frustrated. Hopping out of bed, she wrapped the towel around her body and walked up to her door, opening it up. She had a deep glare of agitation on her face which change instantly when she sees Ryder behind the door, frightened by the unintended glare she was giving him.

He backed away, thinking she was crossed with him. "R-Ryder, I'm sorry, I-I-I didn't mean to glare at…” She didn’t get to finish as Ryder ran away and back to his room. "No! Wait! I…" She called out to him, but the damage was done and he locked himself in his room. Now, all that sexual frustration has gone away and been replaced with guilt. Now Ryder thinks she's mad at him for the whole fiasco in the shower.

She goes back into her room and closes the door and slumps back down on her bed, groaning in frustration and guilt. "Nice going, you idiot. Now you scared him! Someone banish me to the sun or the moon right now!" she said, muffling in her pillow. As she was wallowing in her self-disappointment, Twilight magically appears in her room; looking worried and in full Mama-Bear mode.

“My Mother Senses are tingling! What happened! And don’t leave out... Wait? Did you just get out of the shower?” Twilight asked her daughter in confusion.

Nyx looked up at her mother with a deadpanned expression. "Is it that obvious?" she asked, being sarcastic. “And I don’t care if you say that showing off too much.” She muffled into her pillow.

Seeing how distraught her daughter is, Twilight then starts to become concerned. She walked by the bed and sat beside Nyx while comfortably rubbing against her daughter’s shoulder.

“Nyx… What’s wrong?” She asked.

"It's Ryder. I… I scared the Tartarus out of him." Nyx stated. "He… came to my room, knocked on my door, wanting to tell me something. I was mad with myself, don't ask why, so when I came to the door, looking like this…" she paused, pointing at the ugly glare she was making. "... and he backed away, thinking I was mad at him for… for…" she hesitated, then sighed in defeat. "...for washing my body after I washed his."

Twilight just sat there, jaw dropped while processing all the juicy info her daughter said. "You… You mean to tell me that you… and Ryder… bathed together?" Twilight asked. Within a few seconds, Twilight's dropped jaw changed to a wide smile as she gasped. "Sweet Celestia, my own daughter's first bath with a boy! Nyx, you gotta tell me, how did it feel to be that close to him in the nude?" she asked excitedly, ultimately embarrassing her daughter even more.

"Uuuugggghhh!!! Mom, please stop! I feel bad enough that I scared him away!” Nyx responded in embarrassment.

“Right! I’m getting too excited. Sorry.” Twilight replied while feeling flustered.

“What am I gonna do?!” Nyx shouted into her pillow.

“Just go to him when he’s out of his room, and tell him you’re sorry. I’m sure he’ll understand. He trusts you more than anyone here.” the lavender alicorn stated.

"Y-Yeah… you're right. Still, I feel so bad about it." Nyx said.

"I know. I can understand what you’re going through. I was also lost in anger and nearly took it upon my friends. It was a memory that still haunts me to this day. But we moved past that and made up; even before I could apologize.” Twilight added.

"Heh… guess that's why you're the Princess of Friendship, mom," Nyx commented.

“Well, it’s my job… And it’s also my job as a mother to help guide you.” She responded.

"Yeah, I know… thanks, mom," Nyx got up from her bed and went over to hug her mom. They embraced each other before Twilight gave her a warm smile and then teleported out of her daughter's room. When she was once again left alone, Nyx looks down towards her bed, only to see that her towel fell off her body again. Reminding her once again that she was still naked.

“I should probably get some clothes on before I go and apologize.” Nyx sigh to herself.

Soon she gets up from the bed and walks over to her closet. She opens it up and to her surprise, all her dresses were gone and a piece of paper was taped on the wall saying: “Gotcha!” Instantly, she knew it was a prank made either by Aunt Rainbow Dash or her friend Scootaloo who did this. Either way, she had no dresses to wear… well except one. It was an outfit made by Rarity for her 19th birthday 2 months ago, stating that she would one day wear it for a special occasion. But since she had nothing else to wear; she had no choice.

She checks her closet over and over to see if it’s still there. And fortunately, the box that the outfit was in, is still in the closest. She pulls it out and then takes it over to the bed. She places the box down and opens it up. Inside the box, is the outfit that Rarity made; it matched her preferred colors; moderate blue-violet and light opal. One glance at it, made Nyx’s cheeks turn redder than she was before.

"I swear to Celestia, I'm going to kill Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo for this," Nyx said, holding in her anger as much as possible. While a little hesitant at first, she takes her time placing on the outfit and dressing herself up. "Mom, if you can hear me with your "mama senses," please go ring Rainbow's and Scootaloo's neck out for me." Nyx prayed to herself.

Meanwhile, in Twilight's and Heat's room, the married couple was snuggling up to each other in bed while reading one of Twilight's good books. And during that reading time, their little snuggle time was starting to escalate. Twilight would then scooch herself a little closer to her husband, mashing her clothed boobs into his chest and he'd have his hand, which is stroking her cheek, travel down from her breasts to her hips and caresses her.

"Getting a little handsy there, honey?" Twilight asked teasingly.

"Says the adorkable cutie mashing her ta-tas onto me." Heat teased back.

"You gonna do something about it?" she tempted, laying part of her body on top of his, mashing both boobs on his chest and stroking his cheek.

"Sure, let me give you another lesson in manners… and a little biology," Heat then grabbed his wife and pulled her on top of him. She's now straddled on top of him and she's giving him some much-needed lip-action. The two were in a heated makeout session - no pun intended - and it would have escalated more if they weren’t interrupted by the knocking at their bedroom door. "Saved by the knocking," he said, unamused.

Twilight was unamused and annoyed that their little ‘snuggle’ time was interrupted. But either way, she got off her husband and hopped out of bed since she was already clothed. She approached the door leading out of her bedroom. She opens the door to reveal Inferno behind the door with an empty cider bottle in his right hand.

“Sorry to interrupt what you guys are doing in here, but Celestia sent this over via Spike’s Dragon Breath and I had brought it to you,” Inferno said while bringing his left hand up with a parchment in his hand and gives it to Twilight.

‘Damn it, Celestia. You had to deliver me a message at the worst time.’ Twilight shouted in her head before responding to the former assassin. “Thanks for delivering this to me, Inferno. I’ll check it immediately.” She stated.

“Well do it… After you and Heat finish up your little fun. And if you ask how I knew that, I could hear you two moaning from the other side of the door.” Inferno replied to her.

"Wha… INFERNO, THAT'S PRIVATE!!!" Heat yelled.

“Hey, I’m just the messenger. Besides, I only heard it the moment I arrived at the door.” the former merc responded in defense. Then he remembered something else. “Oh, also uh… Someone drank all the apple cider in your fridge; might wanna restock.” He informed the two before leaving the doorway and down the hallway.

Now, Twilight's eye twitched uncontrollably, her horn glows brightly and a huge, terrifying glare appears on her face. "DAMN IT, RAINBOW DASH!!!" she shouted out of pure rage. She turns to her husband while she’s still extremely pissed. “Wait here! I’m gonna go torment that damn rainbow bitch! And when I come back, we’re gonna make love!” She stated boldly before teleporting out of the room and towards somewhere else.

"Whoa…" Heat said, all wide-eyed. "...what a mare!”

In the kitchen, Twilight was looking at her fridge and found dozens of empty apple cider bottles all scattered around, but a couple of them had notes with Inferno's handwriting, saying "I drank these last ones, just to clear it up."

"Ugh!!! This… cannot… be happening. That's it, I'm gonna give that bitch a punishment she's NEVER gonna forget. Time to send a letter to my good friend, Rarity." Twilight said, before teleporting all the bottles into the recycle bin before teleporting to her library to take care of some unfinished business.

"You gonna steal MY apple cider and fly off thinking that it was funny!?!?! Well… Let's see how you like it when you have to swallow your dignity!" Twilight said, then finished off with an evil, crazy cackle.

Standing beside the alicorn was Rarity, who also had a devilish grin on her face. And yes, they’re at Carousel Boutique. The two stood in front of the changing curtains as it unveils itself by Rarity’s magic to reveal Rainbow Dash… wearing a black and white maids outfit, topped with cute white frills.

"Come on, Twilight! I said I was sorry, okay? What more do you want me to do? I would've paid you back for all the ones I drank without permission! Just please, don't make me do this!" Rainbow begged.

"I've had to deal with your constant pranks for weeks! Now you’re gonna go through a week in that outfit. I mean, it shouldn’t be hard for you. Right?” Twilight stated as she walks behind her rainbow-maned friend and in a quick instant, she lifts Rainbow’s skirt and smacks her hand across her exposed rear.

"Eep! Twilight, this isn't a booty call!" Rainbow objects.

"Too bad! You're gonna be doing EXACTLY what I say for a whole week! The same goes for my husband, Sunset and Eternal!" Twilight retorts. Rainbow whines before exiting the boutique. As a way to pay Rarity back for her help, Twilight gives her 50 bits and hugs her. "Thanks for the help, Rarity. Maybe now this will teach her not to step out of line."

"Most definitely, darling." Rarity replied happily.

Meanwhile, back at Twilight’s Castle, Sunset and Inferno were in the kitchen; Sunset wanted to make a surprise meal for Eternal since he’s been overworking. While Inferno is searching through the fridge to see if there is any cider left behind.

“Seriously, why does Dash always commit ‘Cider Massacre’ whenever she’s here?!” Inferno complained.

"That's one of her worst addictions next to being an egotistical show-off. Sadly, apple cider season won't be available for quite some time.

The former merc lets out a groan while lightly banging his head against the top of the fridge for a bit before reaching in and pulling out a carton of orange juice. “Oh well, I guess I’ll drink this instead.” He stated in disappointment as he drank from the carton.

“Uhh, Uncle Inferno, you shouldn't be drinking out of the carton.” Nyx’s voice called out to him.

As soon as both Inferno and Sunset turn towards her direction; and when they see her in her ‘indecent’ outfit; they are immediately shocked that Inferno drank the orange juice down his windpipe and caused him to choke and cough like he’s drowning.

"I told you so," Nyx said. She went over to the ex-merc and patted him on the back. He kept coughing, but it was lighter than it was before.

“Nyx… *cough* Why are you… *cough*... Wearing that kind of… *cough* outfit?!” He asked.

“I was gonna ask the same thing,” Sunset added.

Nyx groaned. "It was that stupid aunt Rainbow Dash of mine. And I have a wild guess she'd be intoxicated when she caused this," she said.

“She drank all the… *cough* cider,” Inferno stated.

"Bingo," Nyx said.

“Oh-oh, Nyx. If Ryder saw you wearing this, his reaction would be priceless.” Sunset teased.

Nyx looked over at Sunset, then looked down at the ground, sighing. "Not after what recently happened earlier,"

Sunset becomes curious about what she meant. “What do you mean?” She asked.

"Can you promise me not to tell anyone outside this castle?" Nyx asked.

“Just don’t mind me, I'm sobering up,” Inferno tells her as he takes another sip of OJ.

Nyx sighed and looked directly into her aunt Sunset's eyes, her cheeks flushed. "First off, Ryder and I got a little dirt on us when we visited his home. Or… what was left of it, anyway. When we came back, we decided to take a shower… together. And… I kinda… felt his… his… thing pressed against my butt." She blushed even deeper.

Inferno does a spit-take when heard this while Sunset had a devilish grin form on her face.

“Oooooh, Nyx, you little fox. Never thought you would shower with a male. What did he feel like?” She asked.

“Hey, can we not talk about this while I have OJ in my hand?” Inferno protested.

"Thank you, uncle Inferno," Nyx said.

“You’re welcome, plus I don’t wanna drown again.” He replied.

"Well anyways… he was kinda… big and… well hard. But anyway, we finished and went back to our rooms, but… my mind kept thinking about his… thing. I got sexually frustrated, trying to block it out of my mind. Then Ryder came to my bedroom door and wanted to talk to me about something. When I saw him… he got scared when he saw… this," Nyx then pointed at her face as she made a very unwelcoming glare.

Both Sunset and Inferno were a bit frightened when she did this. The former assassin gulped down the orange juice that was in his mouth in fear.

“Well… I don’t blame the guy. You are scary... like your mom.” He spoke.

"Gee, thanks, uncle," Nyx replied in a deadpanned way. "Now I just wanna make it right to him by apologizing, but thanks to Rainbow Dash's stupid prank, this is all I have to wear. And if I approach Ryder in this, he'll get the wrong idea."

“Well… He seems like a nice guy. I’m sure if you tell him, he’ll understand. I mean the dude is way more understanding and a good listener than Blueblood, and that punk can’t shut up!” Inferno informed her.

"I feel sorry for Eternal and Heat. To be related to that pompous brat must've been a real headache to them," Sunset said. "But before we change the subject any further, Inferno's right about one thing; Ryder is a nice guy and I'm sure he'll understand once you explain you never blamed him for anything."

“But let him know first about the prank that led you to wear that outfit. So that he’ll get the picture.” Inferno reminds her.

"Right. And if I find Rainbow Dash… I will make her feel sorry for pranking me," she said in a low, menacing tone, her horn lighting up intensely.

Inferno and Sunset are scared once again. Until all three of them hear the main doors of the castle slam open and close. Then out in the hallway, they see Twilight dragging Rainbow into the kitchen by her hair with her magic; with the pegasus still wearing the maid outfit.

“I think your mom beat you to it,” Sunset stated.

"Hello, everyone. What'd I miss?" Twilight asked sweetly.

"Nothing much. What's the deal with the new wardrobe Rainbow's wearing?" Sunset laughing.

“Let me guess you’re punishing her by making her your maid for a week?” Inferno chuckled hysterically.

"Oh… something like that," Twilight said with a squee.

"Good, because I have a bone to pick with her for what she's done to me!" Nyx said, walking to the humiliated speedster cracking her knuckles. Nyx levitated Rainbow towards her, face-to-face, and glared at her. "You've got some nerve stealing my ENTIRE wardrobe when I was in a moment of crisis! And who the hell said you could steal out of our fridge, you stinking freeloader?!" She yelled. Rainbow just looked back with fear, quaking heavily in her hooves. "ANSWER ME, YOU FUCKING JERK!!!" she shouted in her royal Canterlot voice, shaking the entire room around her.

“Yeeeeeeeah… I’m gonna go sleep on the couch for a while,” Inferno said as he slowly leaves the room.

"Rainbow Dash, answer my daughter, or I'll have Rarity loan me her… special toys and punish you even more," Twilight warned sing-songy.

"Okay! Okay! I just wanted to get a laugh out of today, I didn't think today was a bad time of all times! If I had known, I wouldn't have done what I did!" Rainbow replied, still scared out of her wits.

When she said all that, Inferno reappeared in the room. “Laugh?! YOU MASSACRED ALL THE CIDER!!!!” He shouted.

"I ran out of the stuff at my place! Especially with Scootaloo by my si--" Rainbow said before stopping herself way too late.

“Wait? SCOOTALOO WAS IN ON THIS TOO!!!!” Nyx shouted in rage.

“Uh oh,” Sunset spoke with worry.

"Oh, that's it… YOU'RE BOTH DEAD!!!" Nyx shouted, but then…

"Nyx, sweetie. Let's not act rashly. I will personally resolve this matter. Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo will be serving us for a whole week. Won't you?" Twilight asked, smirking evilly at Dashie.

She gulped. "Yes," she nodded nervously.

“Good. Now Nyx, the only thing you need to be focusing on is making amends with Ryder,” Twilight stated.

"R-Right." Nyx nodded.

"And you, Rainbow Dash… where did you put Nyx's clothes?" Twilight asked.

“Uhhhh… In the library… Inside your book fort.” the pegasus replied.

Everyone in the room looked at Twilight with teasing smiles on their faces.

"A book fort, huh?" Sunset asked. "Isn't that just… adorkable?"

"If you'll excuse me," Twilight said nervously before teleporting off to the library alone.

"Mom still builds book forts?" Nyx asked, quirking an eyebrow, smirking.

“I thought she’d stop it in years to come. But she proved me wrong.” Inferno stated.

"Maybe daddy should know about this. He always did love teasing her with lots of bedtime snuggles." Nyx giggled.

“I wonder what Heat is doing now?” Sunset asked.

"Probably waiting in his bedroom… with a bad case of blue balls," Inferno stated, then he takes another sip of OJ… only to find out he drank the whole carton.

"Uh… maybe stick to water? We have a surplus of that here," Nyx suggested.

“It's not the same as cider,” Inferno responded while pouting in disappointment.

"I'll… see if I can talk to Applejack and make a deal with her. It won't be easy, but I'll do what I can," Sunset said.

“Thanks.” The retired assassin replied.

Meanwhile, somewhere in the hallways, Ryder decided to take a walk through the castle, hoping that it would give him a sense of peace after being frightened by Nyx.

Seeing her looking at him upset, really shook him to his core. Did bathing with her tick her off that much? Or maybe something happened in her room which upset her? Well, whatever the case, Ryder just wanted to make things right, even though he might not be at fault.

Anyway, he wanders the empty corridors for who knows how long. Then suddenly, he bumped into Heat Blitz without looking.

"Careful there, Ryder. You okay?" Heat asked, smiling warmly. Ryder nodded. "Great. So… my wife told me what happened earlier. But you don't have to worry, neither of you is to blame. You can even ask Nyx yourself. She might be looking for you."

Ryder tilts his head in confusion and points to himself.

"Yeah, you. After all, she did travel with you on that trip. She considers you a part of the family as I do," Heat said, patting him on the shoulder lightly.

Ryder does some thinking to himself before replying to Heat with a thumbs up and continues walking through the hallways.

"Good luck, Ryder. And best wishes," Heat Blitz encouraged. But just as he said that Twilight appears right behind him with a devious smile on her face.

“Heeeeey, Heaty~!” She silently said to him.

Heat looked behind him and saw his wife. "Oh, hi Twi--" he paused when he noticed her with her robe slightly… undone, showing off part of her sexy curves and her impressive cleavage.

“We’re not done with our little fun, mister,” She stated to him.

"Well then… let's fix that problem," Heat said boldly before carrying her bridal style back to their chambers. "Say… you feel as light as a feather. Or maybe I'm just getting a little stronger."

"And you just earned the right to finish inside me, but I'm using a protection spell," Twilight said playfully.

Heat chuckled, "I'm okay with that."

Soon the two married couple had arrived at their chambers. Heat laid his precious, adorkable wife on the bed and then went to go close the doors. Twilight, however, did that for him, using her magic. The lavender alicorn then pulls her stallion close to her and brings her lips onto his for a passionate kiss. Heat's eyes widened in surprise for a second before he got into it quickly and kissed her right back while caressing her soft cheeks and lovely wings. Twilight moaned softly as she had her hands on his chest and putting more passion into their kiss. Then she pushes her lover onto the bed as she uses a removal spell to remove the dress she was wearing to reveal herself only wearing her bra and underwear.

"All these years and you're still as adorable and sexy as ever," Heat said, aroused by his cute wife giving him a show.

Twilight giggled seductively as she gave her massive G-cup breasts squeeze before turning herself around and smacking her phat rear. “I always keep myself pretty for you, Heat~” She replied.

"Oh, you're one bucking pretty princess," he replied before groping one of her large breasts and leaning in to suck on her neck.

The lavender alicorn let out a soft moan at her husband’s actions as she felt his hands rub against her body, especially her breasts and butt. She then proceeds to help her lover remove his clothing. "You know, you can use your magic to poof it off as you did with most of your clothes, save for your cute bra and panties," he pointed out before teasing her with a simple hard thrust.

“Mmmm… very well,” She replied as she uses her magic to remove all of Heat’s clothing, only leaving him in his underwear. Then she further teases him by slowly removing her bra. And when she removed it, her G-cup breasts magically grew instantly to HH-cup breasts. To answer why that’s possible, ever since her ascension to alicornhood, Twilight’s body continues to change to fit into her alicorn stature.

Of course, these changes were so noticeable and difficult to hide; that she cast an illusion spell on her clothing to hide these changes from the public. But she has no problem showing them off to her beloved Heat. She gave her massive boobs a shake to get him aroused.

“Like what you see, honey?~” She asked him teasingly.

"You know I always do, my precious Twily," Heat grinned. He grabbed both of her massive jugs and massaged them expertly in circles, even twisted her nipples a little before sucking on one of them hungrily.

Twilight gasped and moaned in delight as Heat sucked on her nipples like a toddler, which made her even more aroused.

"You're such a… a pervert," Twilight moaned. "But a cute one at that," she added before moving her hips in a circle on her husband's lap. Her nipples began to lactate milk which flooded into his mouth. And yes, her breasts can produce milk. And still is, since she cannot figure why it didn’t stop after she raised Nyx and her two younger children into the ponies they are today. And every week, she had to constantly milk them whenever they overflow. Of course, Heat didn’t mind. The taste of his wife's sweet, warm breast milk was just too irresistible to ignore. Even when he got her pregnant with the Sparkle siblings, he never stopped craving that tasty milk of hers day in and day out. And watching her squirm made it all so much more enjoyable. “Mmmmmmph~ Don’t bully me.” She whined while moaning even more.

“Sorry honey, your milk is just that tasty.” Heat replied and continued sucking on her nipples. He also gave her cute booty a spanking, making her yelp. "Does my bookworm cutie want to feel her husband's… hot rod?" he asked with another thrust, teasing his wife's wet pussy.

Twilight uses her magic once again to remove Heat’s and her underwear; leaving the two bare naked on their bed. And with Heat’s big stallionhood rubbing against her exposed marehood. "I'll take that as a yes. Here I come, my sweet Twily-Wily," he said, lifting Twilight a little.

He then lowered her down, sinking his huge horse cock into her warm alicorn nethers. Twilight moaned and wasted no time in riding her husband. Her pussy hugged his massive dick tightly and her wings stiffened out like wing boners.

“Ohhhhhhhhhhh Fuck~! I waited months for that dick inside me!” She panted loudly in arousal as she rides his cock like she was in heat. Her husband was feeling blissed by her tight pussy and her ass constantly slamming against his hips. Heat moaned alongside his wife and leaned up to kiss his wife on the lips. His wings touch against hers and he embraces her in his arms. Their tongues clash together in an erotic dance while Twilight's movements grow faster.

Heat's hands move down to his wife's rippling ass and massage her ass cheeks. It felt like groping a couple of lavender pillows… or firm jelly. He then gives her ass cheeks a hard spank which made his alicorn wife gasp in ecstasy.

“Oh yes~ Spank me, Heat~ I’ve been a naughty princess~” She moaned in a lustful tone.

"It will be my pleasure," he whispered seductively before slapping his wife's butt hard. At the same time, he thrust harder, hitting deeper inside her love caverns. Twilight moaned loudly while holding onto Heat for dear life. Her mind was full of nothing but thoughts of her husband's fat cock stirring up her insides. Her ass rippled and bounced from the force of his thrusts as she felt extremely aroused.

In her lust-driven state, Heat grabbed her and switched the two into a doggy-style position, and began pounding her to the fullest extent, punishing her booty with harsh spankings and slamming his cock deeper into her pussy, knocking at her womb entrance.

"Ahh yes! That's it, Heaty! Harder! Harder! Give it all you've got!” Twilight screamed in pleasure and feeling extremely horny. Heat gave his wife just that, letting out heavy pants and erotic growls, then grabbed one of her wings and caressed it well. She yelped in surprise and let out an early climax. A small one, but a climax at that.

As for Heat, he could feel his climax about to surface. "Honey… I'm… I'm cumming!" Heat warned, unable to stop.

"Go ahead! I have a protection spell active! Shoot it all inside me! Fill me up as you did before!" she urged, moaning loudly. Heat nodded and held his wife from behind. He plowed her as deep, fast, and powerful as he could, and with one last powerful thrust, he gushed out his intense load straight into her womb, overflooding her and making her scream in ecstasy.

Twilight could feel her insides bloating gradually. Heat's climax continued for what felt like hours until he finally emptied everything inside his wife. He pulled out to get a good look at Twilight and how big her belly was. She looked like she was at least 9 months into pregnancy.

"Wow… I went all out, didn’t I?" he said in surprise, exhausted. Twilight, on the other hand, slumped to the ground.

“Mmmmm… I feel soooo full~ You’re still amazing as always, Heaty~” She commented.

"Anything… for you, Twily," Heat replied. And then he shares a loving kiss with Twilight before laying beside her and the two lovers fell asleep from their exhausting activity.

Meanwhile, unknowing of her parent’s lewd activity in their room, Nyx continues to search the entire castle, hoping to find Ryder and make amends for scaring him. "Ryder? If you can hear me, I'm sorry! Please come on out!" she called out. "Ryder, please… I don't want things to end badly between us."

Not hearing any reply or find him anywhere, the teenage alicorn began to feel hopeless and slumped onto her knees and tears began forming in her eyes. But before she could cry, she felt a hand be placed upon her shoulder, which caught her by surprise. She turns around and sees Ryder standing behind her and looking concerned.

Seeing him made her cry tears of joy, so much so that she leaped at him; hugging him tightly. "Ryder!!! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to scare you like that! I promise! I will never scare you like that ever again!"

The human simply embraced the alicorn in comfort, while he strokes her mane as he held her. His efforts were enough to have her stop crying and calm down. The two break the hug to face each other.

“I forgive you. I probably caught you at a bad time and…” Ryder signed in response. Only to stop in mid-sentence when he sees the outfit Nyx is wearing right now.

"Uh… i-i-it's not what your think! Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo pranked me by hiding all of my clothes and this was all I had left!" Nyx stuttered, embarrassed.

Ryder’s cheeks looked a bit pinkish from what she can see, believing that he was flustered by what she looked in the outfit. And he said something that would make her blush as well.

“You look beautiful.” He signed with his hands.

Nyx's face turned from midnight blue to ripe tomato red and felt steam blowing out of her ears before she made a cute noise as she fell to the ground with her eyes all dizzy. Ryder was shocked and confused by her reaction to his comment and was a little concerned for her after she fell.

“Are you ok?” He asked her. Nyx didn't reply, she was still in a state of shock. Ryder didn't want to leave her out in the middle of the hallway and tried to pick her up to take her to her room. And he carried her in a bridal carry which made it more awkward.

After a while, he successfully brought her to her bedroom, and gently as he could, he laid her onto her bed. And also making sure her head was carefully placed on her pillow. After laying her down, he sat down next to her, watching over her as he waited for her to wake up from her shocked state.

"Wha… what happened?" she asked, rubbing her head. She looked to see she was back inside her bedroom. She then turns her head and sees Ryder sitting beside her, who would soon hand sign an explanation.

“You passed out all of a sudden when I commented on how beautiful you looked in your outfit.” He stated.

"Uh… oh, I uh… t-t-thanks, I… I guess," she stuttered.

Ryder tilts his head in confusion. “Are you stuttering?” he asked.

"I can't help myself, it's rare I get any genuine compliments from anyone other than my family. And when others do compliment me, it's usually to flirt with me because of my looks. But for you to be complimenting me… and not trying to flirt, that's a rarity," she explained, still blushing a bit.

“It almost sounds like you never really found anyone who could love you for who you are on the inside. I’m glad my comment makes you feel special.” He replied with a smile. Nyx looked over at Ryder, astonished by how understanding he can be.

"If that's not the kind of advice a real friend would give, then I don't know what is. You're a really good guy, Ryder and I'm thankful for that. And you're right, I haven't found that certain special somepony in my life. But, who knows… maybe someday… I won't have to look far," Nyx said with a warm smile, looking up at the ceiling before looking down in Ryder's direction.

“I do hope you do,” Ryder signed in reply.

"Thanks, Ryder," she replied with a wink.

Ryder gives a thumbs up in reply, just before he stared at Nyx for a good while until his eyes were laid upon her impressive cleavage. Which made him flustered so much that he turned away in embarrassment. Nyx was confused about his sudden reaction until she looks down towards her cleavage and instantly gets the picture.

"It's okay, I get stares from other stallions and male species of different creatures every day. But yours is way different. You turned away out of respect and I like that about you. But, I gotta ask… did… y-you like them?" she asked, blushing again.

Ryder was flustered, but responded by signing, "They looked big… and lovely," so, of course, now both of them felt flustered. Ryder tried to make eye contact again but tried not to veer back down to where her busty cleavage was. The atmosphere just felt so awkward between them, like it was eating away at the right words that they want to speak.

"U-Uh… thanks, I… I appreciate your… y-your honesty. A-A-Anyways, it's… it's getting late, so… if… if you'd like you can… I don't know, crash in my room?" Nyx asked, her blush deepening again. "J-J-Just in case you need a bunk buddy!"

Ryder’s eyes widen with disbelief that she was asking him to sleep in her room. While he felt flustered at first, he reminds himself that its just a harmless sleepover. He nodded his head in reply before he got off her bed and then… he laid down on the floor.

"Uh… aren't you gonna be uncomfortable down there?" Nyx asked, concerned.

Sorry. I’m just used to sleeping on the ground when I was surviving out in the wilderness.” Ryder replied.

"I see. Well, there's no need to sleep on the ground anymore. You can just sleep on my bed with me, I have plenty of room," Nyx said, patting to a spot on the bed.

Ryder looked up at the bed and then at Nyx. Feeling hesitant, he slowly climbed onto the bed and laid down beside the alicorn; while keeping some space between them. However, Nyx scooted closer to the human and laid beside him with her body against his. Ryder felt a little awkward to have her snuggling up to him so close, but at the same time, it felt soothing… and so comfortable.

Soon his eyes closed as he fell asleep next to her. Nyx can’t help but find him looking so cute and peaceful as he sleeps. She squeals to herself and nuzzles her head into him more with a cute smile on her face as she began to drift off to sleep.

The next morning, Twilight and Heat were laying in their bed together as the light of the sun beamed through their window. After a moment, the lavender alicorn was the first to wake up. Yawning and stretching her arms as she looked down at her husband who remained sleeping.

Twilight smiled warmly at her lover as she gives him a peck on his cheek before slowly getting up from their bed, not wanting to rudely wake him up. She climbed out of bed and walked towards her closet to find what she can wear for today. Twilight's eyes locked on a lovely midnight blue and violet vest with and a matching violet skirt.

"Hmm, that’ll do," she chimed quietly, poofing the dress onto her. Now that she was fully dressed, she teleported out of the room and out into the hall. She walked down the corridors, then stopped herself right outside of Nyx's bedroom door.

When she stood at the door for quite a while, she is conflicted about whether she should check up on Nyx or just leave her be. But she is still her mother. And like all mothers… they have to check on their fouls. So without hesitation, she decided to check into her daughter's room. Inside, she noticed something that almost made her squeal excitedly.

She spotted her daughter, still sleeping comfortably… and Ryder was cuddling right beside her, his arms wrapped around her, both were smiling.

'Oh, my stars! They're cuddling! My daughter's cuddling with her first real boy! Eeeee!!!!!! I gotta tell Heat!' Twilight thought to herself. Twilight could hear Nyx sighing in her sleep, thus giving Twilight the signal to get out there and close the door. She did so quietly and then headed off into the kitchen.

Once she arrived in the kitchen, she finds Inferno by the fridge pulling out a cider bottle while having a happy look on his face about it.

“HAH! A survivor.” He said to himself before he notices Twilight in the room. “Oh, morning Twi.” He spoke casually before popping open the bottle and taking a swig from it. “By the way, you buttoned up your shirt wrong,” he informed her.

"Wait what?" she asked before looking down at her shirt. She blushed at her little blunder and fixed it up. "Ah, there. All set and-" just then, her stomach interrupted her.

“Eeyup. Your hungry… again. Seriously, your lucky you have an “alicorn metabolism” and that all that food ever did is make you almost like a supermodel.” Inferno pointed out.

"Aww, come on, I'm not that pretty," Twilight blushed, giggling.

“Twilight, you know I’m not commenting. It’s just facts… also you have a husband and family.” Inferno responded.

"Hehe, that's true. Heat still surprised me all those years ago when he accepted me for me, even shared the same interests as me… and the time when I made some mistakes myself," Twilight said, reminiscing of the times Heat had her back.

“Well sometimes the past is the past,” Inferno stated before taking another sip of cider before continuing. “And the future is now.” he finished giving his statement.

"True. Also, I'll make sure to have AJ give you your batch of apple cider, just so we're both satisfied in the end," Twilight said.

“Well, how’s it going with punishing Rainbow Dash?” Inferno asked.

"Oh… glad you asked," Twilight said with a sly smirk before yelling in her Canterlot voice. "RAINBOW DASH!!!!!!!" her voice echoed throughout the castle, making it rumble like a mini-sized earthquake. It even had Inferno startled in fear.

“That’ll never get old,” he muttered silently.

After that, Rainbow Dash sped out of nowhere and into the kitchen, still wearing the maid’s dress that she was instructed to wear. She stood at attention for Twilight, and she had a calm, yet fearful expression on her face.

“Y-yes, Twilight?” She replied, nearly stuttering in the beginning.

"That's "Mistress Twilight" to you!" she replied sternly.

"S-S-Sorry, M-M-Mistress Twilight," Dashie said fearfully.

"That's better. Now, I need you to tidy up the kitchen for us. Set up the table and then sweep up the place after breakfast. Oh, and while you're at it, you will then wash the dishes." Twilight said in a chipper tone. "Slack off or take one of your naps and I will introduce you to my good friend… the whip," she said in a darker tone while still having that "innocent" smile.

Rainbow did not argue and complied with the alicorn’s wishes. “Y-y-yes, Mistress Twilight! R-right away.” She replied before getting to work around the kitchen.

Inferno was astounded and in disbelief of what he was seeing. He then turned to Twilight with a shocked expression. “You… are one twisted mare,” he stated.

"Thank you. I'm quite proud of the result." Twilight said, proudly. "Now, if only I could replace the apple cider she greedily drank without my permission. I'm gonna talk with Applejack later on today, see if they got any more apple cider."

“I sure hope so. I’m gonna die before I get another bottle.” Inferno exclaimed while trying to get the last drop of cider that was in the bottle that he had.

"Oh, stop being so dramatic, you're starting to sound like Rainbow Dash and Rarity," Twilight rolled her eyes.

Inferno took offense to that, and without warning, he gave Twilight’s bubble rear a spank, which surprised her and made her yelp a little.

“Hey!” She responded while feeling flustered and angry.

“Never compare my love for cider to Rarity’s ‘Drama Queen’ personality.” He stated. “Not my fault that I’m addicted to this good stuff since Applejack introduced me to it.”

Twilight glared at him with her cheeks puffed up and face still blushing.

Inferno chuckled at this. “Aww, does the Friendship Princess always have to be so cute when she’s spanked? Heat is a lucky stallion.” He commented with a smirk.

"Thanks, though I'd appreciate it if you seized teasing my wife," Heat's voice called out as he entered the room.

Once Heat was in the room, Inferno stepped back while having his hands in the air. “Hey she started it,” he muttered before moving on to another subject. “Also when did you agree to have your wife make Rainbow her maid?” He asked while pointing over to Dash in the kitchen.

The rainbow-haired daredevil is washing up the dishes as she’s instructed while trying to pull her skirt down as well; apparently, it didn’t do well in concealing her blue phat ass; which had her blushing and feeling completely flustered.

“Plus, I don’t think that skirt is gonna hide that big butt of hers,” Inferno whispered.

"Hmm… I guess I could've… taught her a lesson in "discipline" with the help of my husband and brother-in-law, if you know what I mean," Twilight smirked, over at Rainbow.

Rainbow didn’t wish to respond and her cheeks grew even redder from that comment, which also made her more desperate in concealing herself.

“Twi, no… None of that. Shame on you.” Inferno responded.

"Relax, I'm just kidding. I'd never do something like that. Besides… this cute stallion is all mine," Twilight said, clinging to her husband.

"Not to mention Sunset would be pissed if she found out I tried to get Eternal involved in that. Anyways, Rainbow Dash has to learn to control that unhealthy addiction of hers. Especially when the apple cider was in my fridge, not hers."

“I’m sorry, OK! It was delicious cider, and I can’t resist!” Rainbow responded, abruptly.

"Hey!" Twilight yelled, pointing at Dash. "Did I say you could snap at your mistress?!" she scolded sternly. "I don't care if you can't resist, you need to learn self-control! AM I CLEAR!!!”

Rainbow was immediately frightened by Twilight’s scolding that she, without hesitation, complied with her words. “S-S-Sorry, mistress! It won’t happen again!” She responded in fear as she continued her task at hand.

"Good. Now, chop-chop, back to work," Twilight replied cheerfully.

Both Heat and Inferno were scared out of their minds and were frozen where they stand.

“This bitch is crazy.” Inferno silently said in his head.

"Hehe… that's my wife," Heat said nervously.

“That’ll let her know her place. Maybe next time, I’ll threaten her with saying that I’ll make her go through a whole day at Wonderbolt practice… buck naked.” Twilight silently and deviously said.

"Okay, honey. I think she got the message, she won't steal our apple cider stash without our permission ever again… right, Rainbow Dash?" Heat asked.

Rainbow did not say anything, nor did she turned around, instead she nodded her head to let him know.

"Alright then. So, where's Nyx at?" Heat asked his wife.

And before Twilight could answer, the young alicorn in question walked right into the kitchen with Ryder standing beside her

"Hi everyone. Sorry, I'm late," Nyx said, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes with one hand.

"Oh, hi sweetie. Did you sleep well?" Twilight asked.

“Yes, we did,” Nyx replied before she felt Ryder shaking her shoulder lightly which caused her to look towards him.

Once she did, the human then starts hand signing: “Why is Rainbow Dash in a maid’s outfit? I’m confused?” He said.

"Uh… long story short, her bad habits caught up to her," Nyx said. "I'll tell you later when I got the time."

Ryder starts hand signaling again. “Her face says that she is afraid and embarrassed.”

"And for good reason. Trust me, if you thought I looked scary when I'm mad, you do not wanna see my mom's mad side." Nyx said with a nervous smile.

"Anyways, it's almost time for school to open up. Your lunch is in the fridge for when you get hungry after teaching the classes." Heat said.

"Okay, thanks, dad,” Nyx replied before she turned to Ryder. “Wanna tag along again” she offered.

Ryder shook his head in reply before he gave more hand signs. “I think I rather stay in the castle. I don’t feel like going to a public place as of now.” He stated.

"Oh. Is there any reason why?" she asked with concern.

Ryder was silent… well different from his normal kind of silence… until he hand-signed again. “I just saw my old colony again… Brings up bad memories.”

Nyx finally gets it and gives him a quick hug. "I understand. You can stay here to recuperate. I know yesterday was pretty hard on you. If you need me for anything, just have Rainbow Dash relay a message to me. Although… I would suggest writing to her what you need."

“Ok… I will.” Ryder signed again. Nyx nodded and patted him gently on the back. "Looks like my partner's taking a leave of absence for today. Rainbow Dash, you're gonna be looking after him while I'm away, okay?"

“What? But I didn’t agree to babysit…” Before Rainbow could say more, she received a threatening glare from Twilight, which made her rethink her statement. “Uh… Y-Yes… I will take up the task.” She restated with a shaken-up tone.

"Good to hear. See you later, Ryder. Take care while I'm gone," Nyx said as she was heading out of the kitchen and waving goodbye. Ryder waved back to his friend as she left the castle.

“Well, if you all need me. I’m gonna be taking a nap in the library.” Inferno said as he walked right out of the room.

"Inside my Twily-Wily's book fort?" Heat asked while chuckling.

Inferno replied with a middle finger before he disappeared into the hallway. Soon Ryder, Rainbow Dash, Twilight, and Heat are the four left in the kitchen.

"Heh heh, I couldn't help myself. Too rich," Heat chuckled.

"Honey… remind me to go all… "Snu Snu" on you when we get home," Twilight said in a low, menacingly sweet tone. Heat gulped for the pleasurable horror that awaits him later tonight.

And so later on, the School of Friendship had opened up for another fulfilling day of learning the values of friendship among other life lessons.

The only thing that was different today what Nyx canceling today's lessons about the human race and focused more on more of Equestria's history. She'd rather not tell the class about the forbidden wasteland for… obvious reasons.

However, as Nyx was teaching her class, she hears a knock on her classroom door, and peeking through it, is Spike. "Oh, Spike. Can I help you with something?" she asked.

“Uh, yeah… Twilight and Sunset instructed me to tell you that they want you in their office… it’s urgent.” Spike informs her.

"Alright. I'll go ahead and talk to them, but I'm gonna need you to watch the class or have someone else teach them while I'm gone," Nyx said.

“Oh don’t worry, I can handle this,” Spike replied.

"Thanks, Spike. You're a big help," Nyx said, giving him a short hug before heading off to see her mom and aunt.

After strolling through the hallways and thinking to herself about what her mother and aunt want, Nyx finally arrived at the headmistress’s office. Opening up the door, she finds her mother and aunt Sunset waiting for her.

"Hi, Nyx. Sorry to pry you from your class, but we needed to discuss something with you. Please, have a seat," Sunset said. Nyx did as she was told and closed the door and went over, taking a seat.

“So… what is it you wish to discuss?” Nyx asked out of curiosity.

Twilight and Sunset looked at each other for a short moment before they turned back to face Nyx. Then Sunset pulls out a parchment in her hand and placed it on the desk for Nyx to see. On the parchment was the Canterlot Royal Seal.

“We received word from Celestia. Saying that Tempest was out scouting the Frozen North along with Shining’s Crystal Guard… And… They found one.” Twilight explained.

Nyx was even more curious and rather confused about what her mother meant. “Found… what?” She asked again.

“Another human colony… with live humans inhabiting it,” Sunset stated.

Chapter 5

"Another colony?" Nyx asked in surprise. "But, I thought Ryder's colony was the only one left in existence and he was the only surviving human left. Where did Celestia find this other colony?" she asked, trying to process this new info.

“Actually… Ryder’s colony wasn’t the only one. After you showed us the map from his bags, Twilight and I came to a theory that Ryder was looking for other humans in other colonies that were hidden in the lands of Equestria. So the possibility that there’s more than one colony is about 50-50. And now our theory is proven right.” Sunset explained.

“And also, Tempest was the one who made the discovery. Her report to Celestia stated that she traced, what she described as, a small group of humans walking along the ridges of the Crystal Mountains in the Frozen North. However, she lost track of them when they ventured deep into the mountains, and the snowstorms covered their tracks. However, it gives slight hope that there is a thriving colony in the Crystal Mountains… hidden from Equestria and the Crystal Empire for many years.” Twilight stated.

"That's… amazing. I guess humans are more vigilant than I thought if they can avoid complete extinction like that. Does this mean we're gonna travel to these surviving colonies? Maybe it'll give Ryder some hope," Nyx responded.

As soon as she said that, Twilight and Sunset soon held concerned expressions on their faces while turning away from and glancing at each other for a brief moment. After a pause of silence, the two alicorn headmistresses turn back to face Nyx and inform her of what is on their minds.

“Well… That is what we planned… and what Celestia urged us to do immediately.” Twilight said with a worried tone.

“Wh-why is that?” Nyx asked in confusion about her mother’s tone.

“Because when the report got to Canterlot, most of the royal council wished to track down the human colony and eradicate it, fearing that the humans would pose a threat,” Sunset explained.

"What?! They wanna kill the humans?!" Nyx asked in shock, but then got an angry look on her face as she slammed her fist down on the desk, but not too hard. "Those assholes have no right passing early judgment!”

“Nyx, calm down!” Sunset urged her niece to not be overdramatic.

“Besides, half of the council believes that such actions are unnecessary. Since they’re aware of humans being an endangered race. Thus, this is why Celestia is informing us of this before the council could make its final decision.” Twilight explained more.

Nyx nodded, understanding the situation some more. "Then you don't have to ask me twice, just tell me when we leave and I'll tag along."

“Well, we have to call everyone for the expedition. Plus I received word that Shining, Cadence, and Tempest, along with a single Royal Guard will accompany us to the Crystal Mountains.” Sunset reminded Nyx.

"Uh… please tell me this Royal Guard isn't Flash Sentry," Nyx said, feeling hesitant a bit.

“I would hope not. Plus Sunset and I are still waiting on that restraining order we demanded a month ago.” Twilight responded.

"Agreed. It's bad enough he tried flirting with us, but tried spiking our drinks? That's a step too far, if you ask me," Sunset said, disgustingly. “Though the silver lining was that Inferno landed him in the hospital after that.” She chuckled. “Kicked him… 20 times in the… HAHAHA!!” She soon uncontrollably laughed after that.

"I should've brought some popcorn to see that," Nyx laughed with her aunt.

“Ok, ok, girls. Let’s get serious for a moment. Anyway, after school hours have ended, I’ll inform the girls and the boys about our mission. And then we’ll regroup back at the castle before nightfall comes.” Twilight stated. “In the meantime, Nyx, you are dismissed and you may return to class.” She added.

"Right. Thanks for telling me, mom." Nyx said before leaving the office. As the doors closed and Nyx was out of sight, Sunset looked to Twilight.

"Do you think we should include Ryder on our trip as well? I mean, he has been searching for other human colonies all by himself," Sunset asked.

“I believe that is a wise choice. If there is a possibility that these humans may have come into contact with Equestrians in the previous years. Then it’s likely they’ll be extremely defensive and cautious.” the lavender alicorn replied. “Thus, it would be best if we had a human that would serve as a way to convince them that we’re friendly.”

"Then, after school, we'll tell Nyx to bring Ryder for the journey. After all… he deserves to know," Sunset nodded.

“That he does.” Twilight agreed.

Meanwhile, back at the Friendship Palace, Ryder is wandering the hallways of the castle, bored and observing his surroundings. He was unsure of what to do now that he was alone. There wasn't much to do around a massive place such as this.

As he was walking, he soon came across the doors to the castle library. He stopped in front of it and stared at the doors with curiosity. Thinking that it wouldn’t hurt to do a bit of reading, Ryder opened the doors and entered the library. Once inside, his eyes wandered around, finding shelves upon endlessly stocked shelves of books. More than even a normal library could keep, at least from what he's heard.

After taking in his surroundings, Ryder then decided to grab a book, or two, or three. And sat down comfortably on one of the sofa chairs in the library and began his reading. While he's reading, the doors open up again. This time, it's Rainbow Dash who enters the library, still dressed in her maid outfit with a cute feather duster to go along with it. She was still looking as unhappy as she was when she was forced to wear her stupid outfit.

She mumbled quietly to herself, her cheeks puffed up and pouty as she wandered towards one of the shelves and started dusting them. She stopped once or twice to pull down her short shirt; which annoyingly hugs tightly and barely conceals her posterior. Making her feel flustered and exposed.

‘Why was I born with a fat ass?! I thought this was just Pinkie, Fluttershy, and AJ’s thing?!’ She screamed in her head. While she was cleaning the bookshelves, Ryder did his best not to look in Rainbow's direction, not wanting to seem like a pervert. Focusing more on his reading.

It worked for a while, and the two paid no heed of the other’s presence in the library. However, fate decides otherwise. As Rainbow decided to fly up towards the higher shelves to dust them. As she flew higher up, Ryder took his chances to go and get another book to read. He climbed up one of the ladders and reached the fifth shelf to see what he could find that would peak his interests a little.

Rainbow Dash continued her duties, trying to tidy up the library, groaning from boredom. "Could this day possibly get any worse?" she asked herself.

As she said this, Ryder was reaching out for a book on the 5th shelf when all of a sudden the ladder he was using began to give and crack. Before breaking and tumbling towards the floor, with the human falling as well.

Luckily for him, Rainbow Dash heard this commotion and spots Ryder falling to the ground. In a quick flash, she zoomed straight towards the human and caught him while he was in mid-fall at great speed. However, the two of them wound up getting showered with books and fall to the floor, buried under mountains of books.

Rainbow let out a groan and popped out of the mountain of books, rubbing the back of her head and wincing in pain. "Damn it, that hurts!" she said. She gasped in the realization that Ryder was still trapped underneath. But she didn't have to worry as his head popped out from underneath and hit something soft that made Rainbow jolt.

Because when he popped out from the book pile, Ryder’s head was found nestled in between Rainbow’s DDD-cup breasts. As if he wasn't curious enough to know where he was, his hands trailed off to feel what was blinding him. His face then flushed rose-red after realizing what he was touching… and hearing Rainbow moan. Right after discovering the truth, he fell forward and fainted.

Once the human fainted, Rainbow Dash looked down at his unconscious form and of course, she was blushing madly from what had just happened. Not to mention, how… good it felt when he… ‘NO! No! Don’t think these thoughts, Dash! This is Nyx’s potential boy toy here. I should not be having these thoughts.’ She thought in her mind as she was covering both her breasts with both her hands. As she did this, her hands slowly squeezed her girls, causing her to moan a little before she took her other hand and slapped away the other. “Seriously, Dash! Get a hold of yourself!” She muttered angrily.

Knowing that she needs to put Ryder in a comfortable place, she looks over to a nearby couch and she instantly gets the idea. Without hesitation, she lifts the human up in her arms; with his head resting upon her breasts, which makes it awkward. Then as carefully as she could, she carried him over to the couch and laid him down.

After taking care of that, she looks down at her nude figure and then searches for the stupid maid outfit to cover herself. However, after zig-zagging across the library and searching through several book piles; she could not find the stupid outfit. So she had to improvise. She looks over to a couple of silk banners hanging on the walls. She rushed over to them, pulled one of the banners down, and in a quick spin, she covered herself with the silk rags of the banner; forming it into a makeshift dress.

“Well… this will work. No way in Tartarus, am I putting that damn maid dress back on.” Rainbow stated to herself. Now having some… somewhat suitable clothes on, so to speak, Rainbow went back to work on getting the library cleaned up. She'd rather not invoke the wrath of Twilight when she comes home to a messy library.

After an hour or two, Ryder awoke from his faint form earlier. Rubbing the side of his head, since he felt like he hit his head. And as he was sitting up on the couch he was laid upon… wait couch? As he soon became aware that he was moved and what happened earlier, Ryder jolted his head up, only to see the library clean and no mess in sight.

Believing that he may have dreamed the situation, the human let out a quiet sigh before her turn to his left, and to his surprise, he saw Rainbow sitting next to him, wearing the makeshift dress she made; which shocked back the memory and proved to him that it was not a dream.

Ryder was startled and nearly jumped a little when he looked at the rainbow-maned mare next to him. His facial expression and heavy breathing were clear signs of his anxiety.

“Whoa, hey. Calm down, Ryder. Don’t go having a heart attack, or Nyx would murder me for it.” Rainbow tries to calm the human down. Ryder tried to speak to Rainbow Dash via sign language, but she wasn't able to understand what he was saying.

It took him a while to realize this, and so he reached out for a blank parchment lying on the floor and he grabbed a pencil nearby. Soon he began writing down on the parchment and then he showed it to Dash.

The letter said, "Sorry, I didn't mean to touch you like that, I just wanted to know what was blocking my eyes. I hope I didn't make you feel uncomfortable."

Rainbow read the letter, word for word before she glanced back at Ryder with a calm expression. “Eh, it’s no problem at all, Ryder. It was an accident that just happened after I had awesomely saved your life from going splat on the ground. So we’re cool.” She responded while boasting her chest up while feeling prideful. But that soon changed when she put on an anxious and fearful tone. “Let’s just not tell Twilight or Nyx about this. Cause Twi will kill me if I trashed her library.” She asked.

Of course, Ryder nodded before writing another letter and handing it to her. It wrote, "This will be our little secret."

Rainbow lets out a sigh of relief to see that Ryder agreed to stay quiet about this. “Thank you, Ryder. That means a lot.” She replied before she had a sheepish and flustered expression on her face. “Just one more question I like to ask. Did you… like my boobs?” She asked anxiously.

And of course, Ryder was taken back by this and remained silent… well, more than he already is. This reaction confused and displeased Rainbow, up to the point where she got up from the couch and then she pulled off her makeshift dress; exposing her naked body.

“C'mon! I need an honest answer! JUST TELL ME!” She shouted out of desperation. And yes, you could say that Rainbow, back in the day, had a troublesome time finding a stallion to hand onto, since they always go for her friends and not her. So yeah, she is desperate.

Ryder just couldn't write anything, so with a flushed face, he nodded. Rainbow blushed, feeling flattered that her breasts felt good to Ryder. "T-That's… actually good to hear. I was kinda feeling worried I wasn't good enough," she said as she placed back on her makeshift dress.

And when she faced him again, she could see that he fainted once again. Seeing that her little stunt had the human knocked out, Rainbow put on a smile in disbelief before she quietly and sneakily, placed a pillow underneath his head so he could rest comfortably.

After that, she walks away from the couch, grabs her feather duster, and goes off to complete her other tasks.

With Rainbow getting back to work and Ryder snoozing from almost reaching cloud 9, the School of Friendship was about to end its current classes. In one particular class, Twilight's daughter, Blazing Sparkle, had finished her school work and was receiving praise from some of her classmates.

She just smiled and waved, feeling touched once again for the praise she’s receiving. She receives it every single day. And does she get tired of it? Well kinda. But she’s a very humble and social pony, so it’s best not to say and just smile and wave.

However, her younger brother, Burning Sparkle, wasn't having any of it. While he was nearly finished with his schoolwork, he didn't get any praise for it. Looking over at his sister, his heart grew bitter and cold. It's as if his work didn't matter to anyone. The frustrated young unicorn clenched his fist so hard, he almost drew his blood.

By the time the bell finally rang, Burning jolted out of his seat and turned in his assignment before storming out of the classroom. Blazing got worried and excused herself from her friends and chased after her brother.

It was difficult following him through the crowded hallway, nearly almost losing track of him twice. But sooner or later, she finally caught up to him and called out for him to stop.

Eventually, he did and turned to his sister with a frustrated look. "What do you want? Come to rub it in?" Burning called out, glaring daggers at her.

Blazing stared back at him with confusion as she was catching her breath for a bit. “W-What are you talking about?” She responded.

"You, Blazing Sparkle, my sister, top of her classes in every subject. I have loads of friends who worship you for your hard work. But where does that leave me, HUH?! NOWHERE!!! I have been busting my flanks since day one when I first enrolled into this school and not ONCE was I recognized, even when I was 2nd to you! I'm sick and tired of being in your shadow, sis! Things will change around here! Even if I have to do it alone! YOU HEAR ME?!" he yelled while trying to hold back the tears.

The commotion from these two siblings got the attention of their classmates. Everyone who had left their classes heard every word he just spat out.

"So… all this time, you've been avoiding me because… you were being overlooked? Why didn't you tell me about this? I could've helped you," Blazing tried to reason.

"I don't need your help! What I NEED is to step out from under your shadow and one day surpass you so I can show ALL OF THESE CREATURES that my name… and my efforts mean something in this entire school!" Burning exclaimed angrily.

Of course, everypony was intimidated by Burning’s aggressive cries; although the non-pony students didn’t feel happy about being referred to as creatures; like they aren’t equal to ponies.

"Burning, listen! I get now why you're upset, but don't take your anger out on them. If you do, you'll just isolate yourself some more just like mom used to when she was younger. You know I'd never want to purposely hurt my flesh and blood." Blazing tried to reason.

"Except you already did! And worst of all, now I gotta keep working on my own… just like I have from the day I was born," Burning said, still upset but a little calmer, and then turned to walk away, shedding what few tears he had from his eyes.

Feeling so much emotion in her, Blazing can’t help but respond. “I WOULD HAVE BEEN THERE FOR YOU!!!!” She shouted towards her sibling, which made him stop, but didn’t turn around. “I ALWAYS WANTED TO BE THERE FOR YOU!!! YOU’RE MY BROTHER!!! MY FAMILY!!! AND YET YOU NEVER TOLD ME!!! YOU NEVER TOLD ME ABOUT YOUR PAIN!!! AND INSTEAD, YOU KEPT IT TO YOURSELF BECAUSE YOU WANTED TO BLAME ON EVERYPONY! OUR FAMILY! AND IT ONLY HURTS YOU MORE!!” She cried tearfully. “And now… you also hurt me as well.” She stated. “SORRY THAT I FAILED YOU!!!” She shouted for a final time before walking away, or better yet, running away.

Burning stayed where he was, quivering and fighting back his tears, but it was all in vain. Dropping to his knees, Burning slammed his fists into the ground. "Damn it…" he said quietly. "DAMN IT ALLLLLLL!!!!" he shouted as his magic exploded in a flash of bright lights before he teleported out of sight.

The day goes by so fast, and sooner than later, the school has now finished up its hours and all the students return to their homes. And of course, Twilight, Sunset, and Nyx sent out messages to their friends for a huge meeting in regards to their new mission.

About hours later, everypony arrived at the Castle of Friendship before the sun began to set. Twilight, Sunset, and Nyx all gathered the girls into the map room to further discuss their mission and explain to them the severity of the situation.

“So… there is a thriving human colony up in the Frozen North?” Rarity asked.

"Yes, and Princess Celestia has asked us to look into this human colony as soon as possible before the council orders an attack on them. And on top of that, we'll also need to bring along Ryder for the trip," Sunset explained.

“Well, we need supplies as well, cause it’s a long hike up in the Crystal Mountains,” Inferno commented.

"Not ta worry. I've managed to bring a few apples with me in case the mission would be too long," Applejack said, showing the basket of apples in her hands.

"Luckily, my extra poofy mane can keep plenty of sweets nice and fresh! Oop!" Pinkie said before pulling out some cupcakes. "Cupcakes, anyone?"

“I even designed our winter wear, so that we won’t suffer the harsh cold.” Rarity informed while grabbing a fashion line of winter coats and accessories from out of nowhere.

"Good call, Rarity. So, I'm assuming we're taking the train up North?" Rainbow asked. "I doubt we're gonna get there fast enough on hoof."

“Well, that’s the only option, Rainbow. The cold storms of the Frozen North are nearly impossible to navigate through. Plus, after hearing a few reports, the storms that surround the Crystal Empire and cover the entire north have been stated to make teleporting there impossible… even for alicorns.” Sunset stated.

“I would know,” Inferno commented. “I tried it once… only to end up in Yakyakastan,” he added.

“So taking the train is the only option. Plus it would give us the time to prepare for our introduction to the human colony.” Twilight pointed out.

“That would make a lotta sense,” AJ replied. “Especially when we don’t know if ‘em humans are friendly to ponies or not.”

"Which is why we're also planning on bringing Ryder along with us. They might not be friendly towards Equestrians, but maybe they'll be more at ease if they speak with Ryder." Nyx said.

"Good point. Who knows how they'd react if they saw all of us," Fluttershy said.

“But I think the bigger question is if the humans in this colony would accept Ryder? Since he’s not a part of their colony.” Inferno commented. “While it does sound like a good plan, we just can't be sure of one thing and expect it to go according to plan,” he stated.

"Good point. Then we'll have to be ready to defend him if they try to get hostile with him while explaining our reasons for being there." Twilight said.

“Oh, he’ll be fine. It's us I’m worried about.” Heat replied

"You forget that a few of us have magical abilities that can help protect us. Don't worry, Heat. We'll all be fine," Twilight reassured her husband.

“But we don’t want to attack the humans, even if it is in defense. It’ll only further their distrust. We just need to appease them.” Nyx responded. “We hear them out, and we do not say otherwise,” she added.

"Nyx, I never said we'd hurt them, we'll just shield ourselves if they attack us," Twilight said.

But of course, Nyx slams her fist on the table in response. “That still doesn’t prove anything!” She exclaimed. Which had everyone shocked.

“Ok, ok, Nyx. If humans do act aggressively towards us… We’ll just leave them alone.” Inferno responded. “No magic shield, no spells, no defensive spells; we’ll just walk away and re-plan.” He stated.

“Good. That’s what I want to hear,” Nyx replied. In her mind, the reason she would go against what her parents or everypony said, was because she didn’t care about being cautious in this mission. But rather, she cared for Ryder. And how he would feel if they would fail to make good impressions and ruin his chance of rejoining his kind again. They cannot afford to screw this up.

“Maybe Nyx does have a point. Even if we are using magic shields, the humans would take this as a sign of threat… or anything else. So if our first attempt doesn’t work, we’ll retreat to the Crystal Empire in peace, and come up with a better plan.” Sunset stated. “And for our sake… let’s hope our first attempt works.”

“Alright, the train for the Crystal Empire arrives here in 2 hours. That gives us enough time to gather up more supplies, winter gear, and all the essentials for the trip. So we’ll spread out and complete our list. Then we’ll all meet up at the train station 1½ hour later. Agreed?” Twilight stated. In response, everyone in the room nodded their heads in agreement. “Okay then. Meeting adjourned.” And just that, the meeting ended.

A short while after the meeting had ended, the front doors to the castle burst open, and Blazing Sparkle came running in, crying uncontrollably. She ran as fast as she could, even going past her mother as she was coming out of the Map room. Before she could ask her daughter what was wrong, she ran into her room and slammed the door shut.

"Blazing? Honey?" Twilight called out as she went to her daughter's bedroom door. "Honey, is everything okay?" she asked. "What's wrong?"

Twilight waited for a reply from her daughter, but she heard no reply at all. And Blazing did not emerge from her room after she entered. Twilight knocked on her door. "Blazing, mind if I come in, honey? If you want, we can talk."

She could hear Blazing sniffling and then, "...Go ahead," she whimpered. Twilight went ahead and walked inside the room and closed the door behind her. Twilight then went and sat on the edge of her daughter's bed, then gently rubbed Blazing's head.

"There there, Blazing. Now tell me what's troubling you," Twilight said in a motherly tone.

Blazing Sparkle took a few deep breaths and looked over to her mom. "I… I always thought I… I was a good friend to… to everyone… and a good sister, but… apparently not. My… My brother got mad because… he feels like I'm always beating him at everything! Says my friends keep on overlooking him and it's all because of me!" she wept.

"He… did what?" Twilight asked in shock. "Why didn't he just come out and talk to me and your dad about this issue? We could've saved him the trouble," she said.

"Mom… remember the scoreboards after every exam?" Blazing asked while she wept.

"Yeah, you and Burning are at the top in every exam, why?" Twilight asked.

"Well… it doesn't matter if Burning's at the #2 spot, he doesn't get the proper praise he deserves, and… I feel like I failed him as a sister for not… showing him how much of a success he already is! That's why he blew up in my face!" she finally sobbed some more, burying her face in her pillow.

Twilight was now riddled with multiple emotions right now. She was sad that her daughter felt like a failure as a sibling but upset that her own son would go so far as to pin the blame on her and make her cry. But also… she felt guilty that she didn't see her own son's pain either, especially since he constantly felt like he needed to prove himself that he was the best.

"I understand, honey. But listen, it's not your fault. If anything, it's my fault for not seeing the struggle he was going through and talking things over. But listen, I'm going to talk with your brother and see if we can resolve this matter. The last thing I want is more bad blood between my children," Twilight said. "Now, come here and give me a hug."

And without comment, Blazing reached her arms forward and hugged her mother in a warm and tight embrace. Blazing's sobbing quieted down a little while feeling the soothing warmth of her mother's arms around her.

The two held each other in a warm embrace for a little while longer until Twilight let go and Blazing laid down on her bed, sighing.

"Mom," Blazing said. "Please don't be too hard on him. I know what he did was wrong, but… he has worked hard. I just want Burning to be happy."

\"I'll see what I can do, sweetie. You just take this time to calm down, okay?" Twilight asked.

"I will… and thanks, mom," Blazing replied.

"I love you, sweetie."

"I love you too, mom."

Twilight gave her a warm smile and then left her daughter's room and closed the door behind her. Leaving her daughter to have time to calm her emotions.

1 1/2 hour later; Ponyville Train Station.

Once they gathered the essentials and gear needed for the expedition, Twilight and her friends were meeting up together at the train station, waiting for the train to arrive. Nyx and Ryder also tagged along, with the human wearing a concealing cloak so they could sneak him through town without being spotted. Everyone had their tickets ready as well. Eternal, Heat, and Inferno were there to see them off.

"All set and ready to go. But are you sure the school will be fine without us?" Nyx asked.

"Not to worry, we'll hold down the fort while you're gone, no big deal," Heat assured.

"Okay, and honey… Can you be sure to talk to Burning while I'm away?" Twilight asked.

"I got a better idea, we'll talk about the issue together as a family when you get back. I'll talk to him a little bit and give him some comfort in the meantime," Heat said.

“Look you gals got nothing to worry about. We’ll ensure everything doesn’t burn down while you’re gone… Again.” Inferno muttered silently on the last part.

“What?” Twilight responded in confusion.

“Nothing!” Inferno replied.

And just before a conversation started, the train for the Crystal Empire arrived on time. Soon the doors into the train opened and out came the train conductor.

“ALL ABOARD FOR THE CRYSTAL EMPIRE!!!” He called out to anypony at the station.

Knowing it was time to go, the girls, Nyx, and Ryder said their farewells to three stallions before they made their departure.

"Get back home safely, okay?" Eternal said.

"Say hello to Flurry for me," Heat added.

“Hey, give my love to Tempest for me,” Inferno asked.

"We will. Bye," Twilight waved as she and her friends all boarded the train. Within the next minute, the train finally departed to the Crystal Empire and the stallions then went back over to the castle.

2 hours later, 400 miles from Crystal Empire.

The train ride was calm and quiet all the way to the Crystal Empire. With the mane 7, Nyx and Ryder riding in their private first-class train car due to Twilight’s status as next-in-line for the ruler of Equestria… plus it was gratefully assigned to them by her brother and sister-in-law.

“My, this is simply divine! The first time one of our adventures includes us riding first class.” Rarity commented.

"Ah’ never thought we'd be ridin' 1st class, this is actually kinda nice," Applejack said in surprise, lounging peacefully in her seat.

“But riding first class is even more fun when you’re also enjoying some yummy food!” Pinkie cheerfully stated while popping a cupcake in her mouth and enjoying the sweet taste of it.

"Pinkie, you always know how to make things fun when you're being your cute, loveable self," Nyx giggled. Pinkie squeed with a big, cute smile while her cheeks were still filled with cupcakes and covered in frosting.

"As usual, Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie," Fluttershy giggled. "Still, 1st class? I've never ridden 1st class before in my whole life."

"Neither have I. I could get used to this lifestyle. It's about time we got the proper recognition we deserve, right girls?" Rainbow asked, acting laid back.

"Maybe Celes-- er mom finally put in a good word about all of our tremendous deeds over the past few years," Sunset said.

“Sunset, I believe our good deeds have always been well known in Equestria.” Rarity stated.

"And yet, the previous times, we never rode 1st class. I bet Cadence and Shining ride 1st class when they travel to and from home," Rainbow added.

As everypony was having a pleasant conversation, Ryder kept to himself on the trains while looking out the window of the train car and seeing the land that they’re passing by.

"Bit for your thoughts," Nyx said, sitting next to Ryder.

Ryder turned to her and looked at her in confusion, not quite sure of what she meant. He then signs in reply saying. “What?”

"Let me rephrase that. What's on your mind?" Nyx asked.

Ryder’s confused expression changed to one of realization before signing in reply. “Just… thinking… about… what awaits… at the frozen mountains,” he said.

"Trust me, Ryder. What awaits there is something that might put you at ease." Nyx assured. "Remember the map you had on you?"

Ryder nodded in reply.

"Well, let's just say a few friends of mine did some research and may have possibly found… a living human colony," Nyx whispered in the last part.

Ryder is silent… well more so than he already is. Then he signs in reply, though his response surprised Nyx.

“I know… I overheard… your talk… outside of… the throne room.” He signed. “You ponies… are… bad… at having… private discussions,” he added

"Uh, heh… I see. We wanted it to be a surprise, but I guess that was pointless. Either way, now you know. We finally found a living civilization, does that make you joyful?”

“It does… I’m happy... to know… that there are… more humans… alive.” Ryder responded. “Though… I fear… for you guys.”

Nyx was a bit confused about his statement. “Why is that?” She asked.

Then that's when Ryder bore a fearful expression. “While... my people... would… accept me. Though I… doubt that… they’ll be friendly… to ponies. Especially… after… you know.” He explained this through sign language.

Nyx could understand his fears. He was worried for their safety. "I know what you mean. This is why we're taking precautions for when we finally do meet them. And I promise that we won’t do anything that will provoke them more.” She said,

Ryder was still uncertain of her answer, but he trusts Nyx deeply and so he had to trust her promise. And so he replied with a; “I hope so.”

And so, later on, the train finally came to a complete stop at the station outside the kingdom of the Crystal Empire. The doors opened up and the group all got up and left 1st class. Ryder had to wear his hooded cloak again to hide his looks from the inhabitants of the Crystal Empire.

Like the good friend she always is, Nyx stood by his side as she and everyone else made their way through the city and over to the large castle up ahead.

As they were walking, Ryder’s eyes observed his surroundings and was amazed by the majestic outlook of the Crystal Empire. Everything was so shiny, clean, and prosperous. Even the locals were brimming the same aura. Or, more preferably, they looked like they were made of crystals.

It didn't take long for the majority of the crystal ponies to wave at the girls, welcoming them. The girls waved back happily, thanking everyone for their warm welcome. Ryder mostly kept to himself, not wanting the locals to see what he looks like.

Soon the group arrived at the Crystal Palace. And in Ryder’s mind… he was shocked to see the massive scale of this place. Heck, this would likely give the skyscrapers that his kind built long ago, a run for their money. The human was frozen in place as he stared up at the towering, crystal structure. Nyx noticed Ryder’s stunned reaction and she appeared by his side while looking up at the structure as well.

"It's big, isn't it?" Nyx spoke to him.

"That's what she said," Rainbow whispered to AJ. The farm girl rolled her eyes at Rainbow’s dirty statement.

"So, do we head inside and meet up with Shining and Cadence or do we wait for them to come to us?" Fluttershy asked.

Before Twilight could answer, the mares and the disguised human could hear a familiar voice calling to them.

“Actually Fluttershy, we planned to meet you all at the station.” The voice said. Causing all of them to turn around and to be greeted by Cadence and Shining approaching them. “But I guess we don’t have to,” Cadence added.

"Cadence! Shining!" Twilight called out happily. She came up to her sister-in-law, as did Cadence, and right away.

"Sunshine, Sunshine, ladybugs awake! Clap your hands and do a little shake!" Twilight and Cadence sang before laughing. The others found it so adorable that they haven't stopped the usual greeting. Nyx was hoping her mom would outgrow the silly dance.

"Uncle Shining, do they always have to do this?" Nyx asked.

“Hey, you tell me,” Shining replied with a smile while shrugging his shoulders. "So, Twily, it's really nice to see you and your friends again. How's your husband and kids doing?" he turned to his sister.

"Well… they're earning good grades in school, but… they're kinda going through a sibling squabble right now," Twilight said. "How's Flurry doing? Is she still causing trouble like she did when she was a baby?"

"Trust me, she can be a real headache sometimes, but she's learning to tone it down a little. Typical rebellious teen phase," Shining said.

"That's good to hear. Oh, that reminds me! Shining, Cadence, I want to introduce you guys to my new friend." Nyx said, bringing Ryder up front, close enough to show them his face. “Say hello to Ryder.”

Ryder was a bit shy towards the royal couple and merely waved in a friendly manner.

"Oh, so this is the human I've heard so much about," Cadence said, intrigued. "Pleased to meet you, Ryder. I'm Princess Cadence." she offers out her hand for a handshake.

As nervous as he is, Ryder was a bit hesitant to shake Cadence’s hand. But Nyx was there beside him to let him know that the couple meant no harm. And with every courage he had, he reached his hand out and shook Cadence’s hand… with his hand shaking a bit due to his anxiety.

"It's okay, I won't hurt you," Cadence assured. "He sure is a shy one, Nyx."

"Well, it's a long story, but… We’ll explain it to you later.” Nyx replied.

“Well then, best we hear it back at the palace,” Shining stated as he and Cadence led the group towards the Crystal Palace.

And as they walk, they are accompanied by members of the Crystal Guard as their escorts into the palace. And their presence made Ryder all the more uncomfortable and adjusting his hood to hide his face even more.

Soon after, the group had entered the palace, with the Ryder admiring and awed by its architecture and beauty. The mares, on the other hand, did not share the human’s reaction since they had been here many times before, and it's been a long while since they had last been here. Once entering the palace, Cadence and Shining then escort the group towards the throne room, where they said Tempest and an assigned royal guard will be waiting for them.

The latter soon came across Sunset’s mind.

"So… who's the royal guard that's gonna accompany us?" Sunset asked.

Cadence looked back towards the group as she continued to walk ahead of them. “Oh, it’s gonna be a big surprise.” She replied with a smile.

“Surprises? I love surprises! Especially… SURPRISE PARTIES!!!” Pinkie cheerfully proclaimed while confetti shot out behind her and party horn sounds were heard.

Which made Ryder very confused.

Eventually, they all made it to the throne room, in which Cadence uses her magic to open the doors and allow them all to enter. Once they do, they are greeted by Tempest Shadow staring at them with warm hospitality. And standing next to her is a young griffon wearing the traditional Royal Guard armor, except in a silver color rather than gold. And the griffon in question was all too familiar to Twilight and Sunset since he was one of their former students from their school.

"Princess Twilight! Princess Sunset! It's been a while, hasn't it?" the griffon said happily.

"Gallus! It's so nice to see you. Oh and you've grown quite a bit since we last saw each other," Twilight said as she went and hugged her former student. "And Tempest, good to see you, too. How've you been?"

Tempest replied by bowing her head slightly, and also having a warm expression on her face. “Oh, same old. Training the new recruits back in Canterlot while having to deal with annoying nobles and insubordination among the recruits.” She responded before sighing. “Makes me wish Inferno remained with me in Canterlot before Eternal called him; that merc can really make the recruits obey orders without question.” She said with a wicked smile.

"Is it because without him, they're constantly gawking at your fine figure?" Nyx asked, coming over and scanning Tempest's hot, athletic body. Which had the former Storm commander blushed.

“N-No!... Maybe!” Tempest replied while pouting in embarrassment.

"Well don't be ashamed, Tempest. Inferno's lucky to have such a gorgeous mare with a kick-ass body like that… especially a strong mare who can kick ass," Nyx whispered in the last part.

“Twilight, would you please have your daughter stop her talking?” Tempest asked the lavender alicorn.

"Okay Nyx, that's enough. You've made your point, young lady. So, I take it Gallus has been behaving regarding… *ahem* private circumstances?" Twilight asked, gesturing about Nyx's big mouth bragging about Tempest's body.

“Well at first, he was a bit reckless. But later on, he’s shown great discipline, leadership, and responding to command.” Tempest explained. “And to my surprise, in the end, he ended up achieving higher than any of his fellow cadets.”

"That's great! You've really made me proud, Gallus." Twilight said proudly.

As the ponies were busy talking, they did not pay any attention to the human in the room, who had been silent and waiting for his introduction to them. But from the looks of it, they were too busy. Ryder stood silent for a while until his ears could hear some noise from somewhere. He didn’t know what it was, but it almost sounded like… heavy metal music? And it sounded like it was coming from somewhere down the corridors.

With his curiosity taking over, and also that the ponies were too busy to notice his presence, Ryder walked out of the throne room, silently as he is, before he then proceeded to follow where the music was coming from.

Back inside the throne room, the ponies were almost to the end of their conversation they were currently having. "Anyways, there's someone else we'd like to introduce you to. He's… kind of a big deal and why we came here in the first place. Nyx, could you show them your friend?" Twilight said to her daughter.

"Uh… I would but… he just… wandered off," Nyx said, looking around to find him. This had everypony confused and alarmed. "I swear, I take my eyes off him for one second and this happens," she added, facepalming herself.

“How is it possible to lose a human in 2 seconds?!” Rainbow asked in disbelief.

'Well, maybe if mom had stopped yapping over their little reunion, I'd have done it already,' Nyx thought to herself in annoyance. "How should I know? But now, I gotta go and find him before he gets himself into trouble… unintentionally." Nyx said, leaving to find her friend.

'She does realize her mind's like an open book to me. But I'll let it slide since she's right about Twilight's constant yapping,' Sunset thought, chuckling to herself.

Back with Ryder, he kept following the sound of heavy metal music. All the while, he wondered how this music was playing since human technology became next-to-extinct many years ago. So maybe the ponies have stumbled onto some of the last bit of human tech that might've survived years of corroding and rusting beyond repair.

Eventually, he stumbled onto the room where the music was coming from. The door was partially closed, so he took a peek inside, but not enough to be caught. He blinked in surprise to discover that the room in question was a bedroom with a kind of goth-like vibe. And the loud music he was hearing was definitely roaring from inside; solidifying that the music was indeed coming from there.

As he peeked more inside, he saw the young alicorn princess, Flurry Heart. She was dancing around like some punk rocker, shaking her flawless hourglass-like curves, swinging her long hair in a circle and shaking her big booty and making it ripple. What's even more captivating is she's doing all this… in her bra and panties.

Ryder wanted to look away, but… how could he? Especially since there's a sexy, gothic princess dancing right in front of him… until suddenly she turned around and saw Ryder's face. She gasped, blushing before covering herself.

"GET THE FUCK OUTTA MY ROOM, YOU FUCKING CREEP!!!" she shouted before throwing her stuff at him. "GET OUT! GET OUT, NOW!!! OR I SWEAR I'LL HAVE THE GUARDS COME AND GET YOU FOR PEEPING, YOU DIRTY PERVERT!!!"

Hearing her loud and intimidating screams had Ryder jump back in fear and step away from the bedroom door, backwards. Though by doing so, he, unknowingly, had his back crashing against the hallway walls and then fell onto the floor, grunting in pain. Moments later, Flurry came out and she was still boiling mad at Ryder as she grabbed him by the collar, picked him up and pinned him against the wall.

"You've got some nerve peeping in on me like that while I wasn't looking! I hope you got a good look at my ass, you little sleaze ball, because it's the last ass you'll ever look at! Any last words before I completely pound you into mush, you… uh… hairless… ape?" Flurry asked. "Wait… what the hell are you supposed to be, some kind of new species of apes with little to no hair?" she asked, more weirded out than mad.

And as the awkward silence in the hallway grew, a voice spoke in the hallway. A voice that Ryder found all too familiar.

“Let… Ryder… Go… NOW!” Nyx’s voice sounded across the hallway. Flurry and Ryder turned in Nyx's direction and saw the young alicorn surrounded in a menacing magical aura with her eyes glowing white.

"Nyx? What the hell has gotten into you? Hey, would you mind giving me a hand with this creep who was stalking me? I wanna teach him a lesson!" Flurry casually said, turning to Ryder with a menacing grin.

"I… said… let… him… GOOOOOOOOOO!!!" Nyx's voice boomed in her Royal Canterlot voice before tackling Flurry, making her let go of Ryder. The two alicorn chicks began fighting and wrestling in the hallway.

"What the fuck is your problem?!" Flurry asked, trying to hold off her cousin. "Who's side are you on, anyway?"

"YOU GOT SOME NERVE THREATENING MY FRIEND LIKE THAT!" Nyx shouted, flailing at Flurry angrily.

"Friend?! You mean that freaky ape thing?" Flurry asked. She then went and pinned her cousin to the ground for a bit.

"TAKE THAT BACK, YOU GOTHIC SKANK!!!" Nyx shouted as she yanked on Flurry's collar and tore off part of her shirt, getting her off. Flurry gasped at what her cousin did, especially after Nyx dropped the piece of fabric. "Oops," she said tauntingly.

At that moment… all Tartarus broke loose. Flurry screamed and tackled Nyx and Round 2 began as they punched and clawwed at each other. Clothes were being torn apart and Ryder was watching in horror and embarrassment. Two scary, yet hot alicorn mares were tussling with each other and ripping their clothes apart, almost becoming naked. The only clothing that are probably still on them are their bras, their underwear, and what little remains of their skirt/skin-tight shorts.

Ryder wanted to stop this, but… lucky for him, help arrived.

"BOTH OF YOU, STOP THIS SENSELESS VIOLENCE AT ONCE!!!" Two booming female voices yelled out in their Royal Canterlot voices. Ryder and the two girls turned and saw both Twilight and Cadence… along with the rest of the group. Cadence and Twilight then separated their daughters from each other, scolding them intensely.

"Flurry Shining Amore Heart, I am very disappointed in you! What gave you the right to attack your cousin AND rip off her clothes like that? Don't you have any shame, young lady? This is most unbefitting for a princess!" Cadence scolded.

"And as for you, young lady. I expected more from you! You know better than to act in such a manner, especially in the presence of a male. I mean, look at you, you're practically naked! What do you have to say for yourself, young lady?" Twilight asked sternly.

"Hey, it's not my fault! She was rough-housing my friend and was about to hurt him! I was trying to protect him! Plus, it's not my fault her clothes rip easily. She shouldn't be looking like this in the first place." Nyx said defensively.

"What Flurry decides to wear is up to her. You had no right to tear her wardrobe up, even if you were trying to help your friend. While I do understand your actions, I still cannot condone what you've done, so when Cadence is done scolding Flurry, you will apologize to your cousin, no exceptions, no discussions, GOT IT?" Twilight pointed out sternly.

“You as well, Flurry! This behavior is unacceptable and you shall apologize to Nyx immediately. AND you will apologize to her friend” Cadence instructed her daughter.

"WHAT?! But mom, that fucking creep peeped on me when I was having my "me time!" You should be punishing him, not me!" Flurry argued.

"DON'T TEST ME, YOUNG LADY!!! Now, you are going to apologize to your cousin AND her friend and afterwards, you are gonna stay in your room for the rest of the week because you are officially GROUNDED! Meaning no loud music and no gothic clothes shopping for the rest of the week, do you understand?" Cadence asked sternly.

Everyone else watched the drama unfold and while none of them spoke or stepped in, Rainbow, on the other hand, was quite enjoying this.

“Whoa, I wish we brought popcorn. Because this is pure entertainment.” Rainbow whispered to the others.

The two alicorn daughters sighed in defeat and reluctantly approached each other.

"Sorry," both said in a monotone voice.

"No, say it like you mean it!" Cadence instructed sternly.

"And make sure you hug it out!" Twilight added.

"But MOM," both girls interjected, but when their mothers gave them "The Stare" which they picked up from Fluttershy, they gulped nervously and looked back at each other. This time, they apologized for real and hugged each other, mostly out of fear.

"That's better," Twilight said, back in her chipper old self.

"Now, was that so hard ladies?" Cadence asked happily.

"I think I'm traumatized," Flurry whispered to her cousin.

"That makes two of us." Nyx whispered back.

"Now, be a good princess and go back to your room, okay dear?" Cadence asked kindly. Flurry didn't respond and just bolted in her room, closing the door and locking it tightly.

Twilight looks back to Nyx and then sees her daughter having only her bra, what’s left of her skirt, and her underwear left on her. “Nyx, you should probably get some… ahem... new clothing.”

"Uh… r-r-right." Nyx nodded.

"Not a problem. I can have my tailors fix you up with a nice new outfit in a jiffy." Cadence offered before clapping her hands to call for someone. Sure enough, a couple of guards show up. "Would you two take Nyx here to my tailors and have them fix up a new set of clothes, please?" she asked nicely.

"Yes, princess," Guard 1 nodded.

Before Nyx could follow the guards, she later felt something, like a big piece of fabric, being wrapped around her. And when she looked over her shoulder, she could see Ryder standing behind her. Soon she realized that the big piece of fabric she felt being wrapped around her, was actually the cloak that Ryder was wearing to sneak into the Empire.

She looks back towards the human, just in time to see him do hand signals to her, saying: “You need that more than I do.” He signaled.

"Thanks, Ryder. I owe you one," Nyx said, smiling as she left with the guards. As soon as they were out of sight, Cadence turned to Ryder.

"I'm sorry you had to go through all that, Ryder. My daughter can be a bit… hostile. She's at that rebellious age, what with her hormones going out of control, you understand. Right?" she asked.

Ryder simply nodded and calmed down afterwards. "Oh, and before I forget, I know you didn't mean to, but I would suggest avoiding peeking into any more rooms. It's always best to knock first, okay?" she suggested.

Ryder nodded in reply.

"Anyways, since you're all here, allow me to escort you to your guest rooms. We'll rest up for the night and then we'll head out to find the human colonies," Cadence said.

“We would very much appreciate that. Thank you.” Twilight responded in gratitude.

"Anything for my sister-in-law and her friends. Come, follow me," Cadence instructed. The Princess of Love escorted Twilight and the gang throughout the castle, showing them to each of the guest rooms they'd be sleeping in. One-by-one each of the mane 6 had entered their guest room, as well as Sunset. Until finally, Ryder was the only one left without a room.

"Now then, Ryder. I'm afraid there's only one room left. So, when Nyx returns from having her clothes done, you'll have to share with her. But that won't be a problem, will it?" Cadence asked. Ryder shook his head left and right, though he was embarrassed. "Glad you understand." she replied with a slight giggle. 'Oh, if only he knew there were plenty more rooms left. But something tells me he and Nyx are much closer than they make each other out to be. Oh, I'm such a sly princess,' she thought, laughing in her mind.

After some time walking, the two finally arrived at the guest room that Ryder and Nyx would be staying in. She opens the door for her esteemed guest. "Here we are. Go ahead and make yourself at home. If you need anything, my maids and butlers will assist you." she said.

However, for some reason, Ryder didn't walk in and Cadence was curious as to why he didn't budge, but when she looked inside herself, she smirked and found out why. There, she found Nyx, sitting on the bed, wearing nothing but her bra and panties.

The dark alicorn looked over at Cadence and Ryder and yelped before diving under the blankets to cover herself. Ryder, on the other hand, shielded his eyes. Cadence merely thought it was adorable how these two were.

'Awww, how cute. I sense a strong bond forging between these two,' she thought, smirking.

As Ryder was covering his eyes, while feeling extremely flustered and blushing to the point his face nearly turned red, he had yet to notice Cadence pushing him into the room with her magic.

“Well, I’ll leave you two alone.” Cadence said with a smile right as she closed the guest room door on him. Leaving Ryder and a near-naked Nyx alone together in the room.

Both Nyx and Ryder were blushing red like a tomato. Both were feeling flustered beyond anything they felt before. The human was still covering his eyes while the dark alicorn hid underneath the blankets on the bed.

"I swear, something tells me she planned this all along! R-R-Ryder… y-y-you uh… y-y-you… don't mind seeing me this way… d… do you?" she asked, poking her head out from the blankets, still blushing. Ryder didn't mind, though he was still embarrassed that he had to see her like this.

Nyx could see that Ryder didn’t want to be offensive and refused to remove his hands from his eyes the entire time. His shy behavior solidified her belief that he was no pervert; which made her feel at least a bit comfortable in this awkward situation.

With Ryder covering his eyes, Nyx decides to put on some clothes before he opens them. And fortunately, her bags and luggage just so happened to be in the room; Cadence must’ve had the guards put them there.

So with that, Nyx opened her luggage and pulled out a fresh pair of clothes for her to wear. She put on a violet short-sleeved shirt and a dark blue jacket, along with some matching dark blue, comfortable pants, courtesy of her aunt Rarity. Though Nyx thinks that they were hugging her thighs and posterior a bit too much; but they were too comfortable for her notice until she looked at herself in the mirror.

She really was disliking her alicorn anatomy.

After she gets dressed in some new clothing, Nyx then turns her attention to the human in the room; who still had his hands covering his eyes. She can’t help but smug for a bit, she couldn’t believe that he had his eyes covered for several long minutes.

“Ryder, you can open your eyes now.” She assures him.

The shy mute slowly opened his peepers to a fully-dressed Nyx and sighed in relief.

"How do I look? Think this winter outfit looks good on me?" she asked, twirling around to give him a good look at her entire outfit.

The human male found her mesmerizing and beautiful. And was also a bit flustered when he saw how tight her pants were in some areas, which almost forced him to look away a bit.

"Aunt Rarity has a keen eye for fashion, including what tastes I'm all about, though I wish my other… assets didn't make wearing these ensembles so difficult. It's so snug around my…" Nyx then paused, almost spilling the beans about her royal bottom sticking out. Her face turned a couple of shades of pink with embarrassment. "Uh… nevermind."

Ryder simply nodded in response, mostly because that’s the only response he can give. Then later the young human is then drawn towards the window in the room. And there he looked out at the Crystal Empire in its glory, and then he looked up to stare at the snowy mountains in the distance.

He never thought he would get to see snowy mountains in his life. He only saw them in pictures that his father had shown him when he was a little child. If there was anything that could make his day more exciting… it is if his family were still around to join him. But there's nothing he can do for them now, except live on for their sake and his own. Still, he wonders how they'd react if he had made friends with a beautiful anthropomorphic pony.

His sister would probably tease him for days, his mother would like to speak with his new friend and get to know her, and his father would likely give him “the talk”. Oh, he would feel embarrassed till the day he dies. Especially if he ranted about finally getting grandchildren.

Oh, how those would've been better times. Ryder shakes off that last thought as he averts his gaze from the view of the snow outside the window.

“You look like you've never seen snow before.” Nyx claimed.

Ryder turned to Nyx, then down at his feet, scratching the back of his head. "That's because this IS my first time seeing snow," he responded in sign language. “Though I’m surprised there’s no snow in the Empire besides the outskirts.”

“Well, there’s a powerful artifact here in the Empire that creates a magical barrier that protects the kingdom from the treacherous snowstorms of the Frozen North.” Nyx explained until she realized this was getting off topic. “But back on the subject, is this really the first time you have seen snow?” She asked.

Ryder nodded in reply.

“Wow, you really have missed out on everything.” Nyx commented.

"My colony spent its entire life in isolation, what'd you expect?" Ryder replied in sign language.

“Oh right. I forgot.” Nyx replied sheepishly, feeling foolish with herself.

Ryder went and patted Nyx on the back, assuring her it was no big deal. Nyx eased a little from the comforting Ryder gave her.

"You know, I'm still kinda shocked that humans used to roam this earth so long ago. Makes me wonder what the world would be like if they were still around in bigger groups," Nyx said.

Ryder gave her a slight smile before he started hand signaling. “Well… it wouldn’t be pleasant. We, humans, always argue and fight.” he said, with a saddened expression on his face.

“That’s no different with me and my siblings.” Nyx responded humorously. Which made Ryder smile and she could even hear him chuckle a tiny bit. “Besides, Ryder, us ponies didn’t start out as all friendly too.” She tells the human. “Back before Equestria was discovered, the pony race was divided into three tribes: unicorns, pegasus, and earth ponies. All three tribes hated each other with a strong passion.” she explained.

"Huh, I guess in a way, humans and ponies aren't all that different." Ryder responded using his sign language.

“Yeah, I suppose we are.” Nyx replied.

As everyone was settled down in their guest rooms, well all except Twilight and Sunset, who were back in the Crystal palace throne room with Cadence, Shining, and Tempest, to discuss the new discovery in the Crystal Mountains and the plans for the expedition.

“And are you sure you saw what you described, Tempest?” Twilight asked.

“Most positive. When I was out scouting the Crystal Mountains with some new recruits, I spotted two figures dressed in winter coats and gear along the mountain passages. Though it was difficult to see due to the heavy snowfall and the storms, they definitely did not look like ponies.” Tempest explained.

"What gave you the impression they weren't ponies?" Shining asked.

“Well what pony would be dumb enough to venture out into the mountains without freezing to death and without using magic or wings?” Tempest responded.

"True. And when did you encounter these figures during your travels?" Cadence asked.

“Well, I came across them by surprise. And also they left a trail of footprints that didn’t look like hoofprints. But unfortunately, the snowstorm covered up their trail and they disappeared into the mountains.” Tempest exclaimed.

"I see. And I can assume these figures didn't see you, which is why they didn't attack you," Shining asked.

“Have you seen how worse that snow storm is? I could barely navigate through the mountains because of it. And besides, they didn’t notice our presence due to the storm, and last time I saw them, they were heading to the northern passage within the Crystal Mountains.” Tempest answered.

"Right. Well, at least we know where to look. Twilight, I take it you brought your human friend along for the trip for a reason, right?" Cadence asked.

"Yes, Cadence. If my theory is correct, these figures could actually be humans. And from what we learned from Ryder, humans are very territorial and defensive towards other creatures besides themselves. Ryder's kind of like… the bridge that could potentially connect us with the potential remaining humans." Twilight explained.

“Also from what we got from Nyx, Ryder’s an excellent tracker. So perhaps he might have luck tracking any trace of the humans in those mountains.” Sunset added.

“So he’s both your ambassador and your guide?” Tempest asked.

"He's the only human who's navigated so far across Equestria, so he's our only chance at locating the remaining colonies," Twilight replied.

“And what would happen if these surviving humans become hostile?” Shining asked.

“Well, let's hope that never happens.” Sunset said.

"That doesn't sound too promising." Shining said, concerned.

"Maybe not, but it's the only viable option we have if we want answers about these humans." Twilight said.

“And are you sure you girls don’t want any guards escorting you into the mountains?” Cadence asked.

“After recent events, we have a strong opinion that the humans are really jumpy towards ponies; especially royal guards. So It's best that there will be no royal guards accompanying us to the human colony.” Sunset explained.

“So you’re saying you and your friends…” Tempest said before pointing towards Twilight. “... with your daughter, want to hike up one of the most treacherous places in all of Equestria, with a human, who's currently mute, to lead you to a human colony, which may or may not have any hostile humans occupying it?” She asked the two with concern and doubts.

The two young alicorns stood in silence and then turned their heads towards each other before looking forward to facing the royal couple and Tempest; while bearing sheepish expressions on their faces.

“Uh… yeah.” Twilight responded sheepishly and with a high pitch tone.

"Sort of…” Sunset added, while also looking sheepish.

“You two have officially lost your minds.” Tempest commented on the two.

“Actually, that’s more of Twilight’s thing.” Sunset proclaimed.

“Hey!” Twilight responded in annoyance, feeling betrayed.

"What? I'm just speaking the truth. Your friends can vouch for how many times you've gone coo-coo over the years," Sunset shrugged.

“Ohhhh I got plenty of ideas for punishment when we get back to Ponyville. And Rainbow’s is gonna be even worse than the last one I gave her.” Twilight exclaimed.

Everypony in the room felt the dark sinister aura around Twilight, which had them all on edge. Fortunately, Cadence stepped in before bodies could be dropped.

“Ok, enough of that for today. Can we please focus back onto the conversation at hand.” Cadence spoke out loud.

"Yeah, I still think this whole journey is a bit dangerous. You sure you wanna go through with this without knowing if these humans will be hostile or not?" Tempest asked.

“We’re sure. Like I said before, it's quite possible that this hidden colony will hold hostility towards soldiers of our two countries. So it's best that we along with Ryder go alone, since a smaller group will be seen as non-hostile.” Twilight explained their plan.

"Hmm… Well, I suppose it's a good idea, but still. Try to be careful. The last thing I wanna do is deliver "the bad news," Tempest said. Then she lets out a sigh. “Well I guess my services are no longer required here.”

“Sadly so, however, we appreciate the report that you have given us, Tempest.” Cadence responded with gratitude.

“But now what will you do?” Sunset asked the former Storm Army commander.

“Well… I could stop by Ponyville, and run a solo patrol there to see if there are any concerns that the Canterlot Royalty must know about. Good day, your highnesses.” Tempest bowed toward the four before turning around and walking towards the main doors of the throne room.

But when she was halfway towards the doors, Sunset, with a smug expression, decided to speak out towards the broken-horned unicorn mare.

“You’re going there to see your hubby, Inferno, aren’t ya, Tempest~” She teased her.

Tempest didn’t turn around, but she lets Sunset know what she’s feeling right now by ‘flipping the bird’ to the bacon-haired alicorn before she exits the throne room.

Sunset lets out a devious chuckle from the silent response Tempest gave her.

“Oh, she definitely is.” She proclaimed.

Twilight stares at her with a blank expression on her face. “You are unbelievable sometimes, you know that?” She commented.

"I know," Sunset giggles before teasingly sticking her tongue out.

“Well, they haven’t changed in years.” Cadence whispered to her husband before giggling from the interaction between Twilight and Sunset.

"Nope. Then again, watching them act this way is more natural. Could you imagine if they changed entirely? I wouldn't even be able to recognize my own sister, or even call her "Twily" for that matter. If not entirely." Shining whispered back.

“Oh, I’m sure she’ll always be your sister, Shining. No matter what.” Cadence assures Shining, while holding his arm.

"Yeah, I guess you're right, honey." Shining says.

After having assured her husband, Cadence then turns towards her fellow princesses/sisters-in-law, while also clearing her throat to get their attention.

“So now that we got back on topic, we discussed this over… When do you all wish to leave for this expedition?” Cadence asked with slight concern and curiosity.

Twilight and Sunset stared at each other for a bit, as if they were talking to each other telepathically, before nodding their heads in agreement and then turning back towards Cadence and Shining. And they both answered with: “Immediately!”