A Roegadyn in Equestria

A Roegadyn in Equestria.

Chapter 12: Questions for himself and their answers.

*Point of view: Brex Mith*
*Location: Castle of the two sisters. Within the Kitchen*
*Time: 4:15 in the Afternoon*

The Roegadyn was busying himself with a search in the kitchen for some plates that could be of use. This was for the meal that he had prepared with what he could find within the Everfree forest. A basic salad was made using some wild fruits and plants that he was sure the ponies could eat. This was thanks to his observations over the last two weeks during his time in Equestria. He had hoped that even without his maxed-out cooking class, this would still be good.

Brex was looking into the last kitchen cupboard and that was when he had found them. Taking them out he walked to a wooden bucket that was quite large. He figured that this was meant to be in place of the sink. He began to think, “Oh I’m so happy I don’t have to worry over something like, going to the bathroom. Sure, I don’t need to eat or drink, but it’s nice at times. I guess that this is the time period where no one had invented indoor plumbing.”

He then starts to chuckle before continuing with, “I wonder what it would be like if I was brought here wearing a red shirt and blue overalls, while sporting a rather heavy mustache. HAHA, bet I would have made a killing by showing them plumbing and charging them to install it…” Shaking his head, he then adds, “Naw… if that happened. I bet, as soon as I installed them all over the place, there would be some giant turtle showing up to kidnap one of the princesses.”

Sighing, He continues with his task and places the plates into the wooden bucket and looks around from his position and remembers that there was no source of water inside. Shrugging his shoulders, Brex opens up his item window that displayed everything he had that wasn’t equipment and weapons. With a small mental command, a small tab was clicked at the top and the display shifted and showed what seemed to be an organized set of icons that were colored in red, blue, green, brown and so on, along with a set of numbers next to them.

Brex looks at them carefully and selects one of the icons. He holds out his hand and just then a rock appears in midair and falls into the palm of the Roegadyn. Holding it, he brings it closer and gives it a scrutinizing glance.

The rock was instead, a blue, lightly glowing crystal. What Brex had done, was to bring out a water crystal from his inventory. To explain, within the game known as Final Fantasy 14. There are elements contained within crystals that had three ranks. The lowest were referred to as Shards. The middle ranks are called Crystals. Now the high rank ones are called Clusters. Depending on what the player wanted to make, this affected which of these three ranks were needed. In the current case, Brex wanted to use a Crystal to get a generous amount of water.

He then takes the stone and drops it into the bucket and watches as a faint glow from within quickly intensifies and dies down just as fast. Leaning in, Brex could see a nearly, full to the brim bucket of pure water. Using this, he cleans the plates and soon after, fills them with food and leaves the kitchen. But not before using a few of the water shards to make enough to fill a large mug and takes some cups for the Mare’s to use. Even if Brex, didn’t need such things anymore, it didn’t mean he wasn’t aware of what the others required.

On the way up to the tower, The Roegadyn was walking along down a hallway and started asking Rory something with the mental connection, “Say, I was wondering about something for a while now, but this could just be me simply being paranoid. Although if that is the case, It would still help if I talked to you about it.”

Rory answers while humming, “Oh, what might that be master? I’m sure that whatever it is, then it can’t be out of paranoia.”

With a short pause, Brex then says, “Well, it has to do with all these Cold chills that I have been getting all day long. I know that I wasn’t getting these while I was spending all that time in the forest. They only started at the time when I happen to set foot in the Castle grounds. It didn’t matter if it was down in the underground library or up here. I wonder if there is something wrong with me. You don’t think I’m sick, do you? Can I even get sick? It’s just that I’m a game character… now.”

Brex nearly spills some water from the mug but manages to recover in time. With a long drown out sigh, he continues in a dejected tone, “It’s just… I can’t remember anything really. You did say that a lot of my data was lost before the fight on the bridge. There is also what you said about how a large portion of it was replaced before the reconstruction.”

Rory replies with a somewhat worried voice, “Um, yeah… I remember. So, what are you trying to say master? I’m sure you’re not sick. after all, I have the anti-virus up and running.”

Brex then says, “It’s just that, I’m starting to wonder just how much is… er… I mean, how much of my real self is still there. The Roegadyn’s eyes from under his mask turned worrisome before adding, “Just how much is affecting my actions here. I’m not just talking about right now, but everything. Could it be, that all of my choices have been done because of what has been placed inside to fill in the gaps? Or perhaps there isn’t anything left of the real me and I’m possibly the fake?”

Rory was talking in a stern tone as she said, “All I know, is that you’re my master and that’s all that matters. I’ll be here for you and I don’t plan on leaving anytime soon. If this is bothering you then we can find out together. I can’t say for sure, but I just know that everything that has happened is due to your real feelings. It could be that, even without the memories being there to act as the root of your actions, I just know that somewhere in all the data, is the effect those memories had imprinted.”

There was a long stretch of silence after that as the Roegadyn continued walking. Just as he had climbed the spiral steps that led to the bridge, he spoke again, “I’m scared Rory. I’m really scared that I am the fake and the real, me is gone. You said it yourself after all. I’m data, right...” He lets out a small pitiful chuckle before adding, “Haha… not once did you use the term soul. It was always data…” At that point, the part of his mask that covered the eyes had been showing a small amount of wetness that was slowly staining the white section.

When Brex had made it half way across the bridge, he continued while using the same tone, “I don’t even know my name or even if there was a family waiting for me. By the twelve! I don’t even know what I looked like before. To top it all off, I can’t help but say something like, By the twelve… I know I meant to say Hell, but that’s what came out instead. Am I a human or am I a Roegadyn? I mean I am one now but, maybe I was always one and the whole human thing was really a dream… I don’t think I can tell anymore Rory… I… I don’t know for sure…”

His mental voice was becoming more somber with every thought. This also translated over to his body as small shutters had been plaguing his form while walking across the bridge. Just as he came close to the door that led into the lunar princess’s room, Brex stopped but a few feet away and just stared at the set of double doors. From under the mask, his eyes were becoming blank.

With a sigh, Brex finishes with this last thought, “Rory, I… I can’t tell you how much it helps that I’m not alone here. At least you’re with me. I-I don’t want to be alone with these thoughts. They scare me so much; I might do something and regret it later. All I ask is that you help to keep me from hurting myself… but for now, I at least have a goal in mind to keep my head focused on. Just promise me that I can count on you. After all, I have no one else I can trust now that I’m on another world. Another world full of aliens while I’m the only one of my kind. The thoughts of what they might do if word gets out that I’m not one of them is always on my mind.”

Rory answered while having a small amount of trembling in her voice, “I promise that I’ll be there by your side. Even if the world should be against you, I will be there to lean on. Also… I’m, sorry about the whole data term that I had been using, it hadn’t occurred to me that talking about you in such a way was being inconsiderate for your current predicament. It’s just that I was a program that was created to assist. So, it was something that I ended up saying over and over…”

Brex remained silent while Rory was speaking and as she finished, he had this to say using his own mouth for once, but managed to remember to keep his voice low while wearing a small smile underneath the mask, “Thank you Rory… if it wasn’t for you, I would have died. You have no idea how much you mean to me.” He couldn’t help but to let out a few quiet sobs before regaining his composure.

After letting Rory know his thoughts, Brex takes in a few deep breaths to calm his nerves before opening the door by pressing his foot against the wood. He did this because of the fact that both arms were currently full of either food or the water he had been carrying practically half way across the castle.

When the door was being opened, Brex hadn’t expected to come across the sight before him. The room was being slowly exposed to his vision, but the first thing that was noticed was the image of the two mare’s, that happen to be on the bed and the one that he was sure to have been called Swirl Sugar was in the act of pulling on the tail of the other female called Shadow Lily while standing on said bed. This had the unexpected effect of blowing away the somber atmosphere that was present but a few seconds prior to opening the door.

However, what was even more unexpected, was that they had removed their armor and this left them both wearing only a set of tightly hugging, short black pants and what he could only have considered, white sports tops. The darker one was currently pressing her face into one of the large pillows and letting out a choir of noises that he could only have taken as a form of joy. At the same time the pink one had a hold on the first’s tail and was saying in a disgruntled and exasperated tone, “Shadow…Lily… *GRUNTS* I said that you need to stop doing that! What do you think is going to happen if he comes back… and… sees?” That was when she noticed him standing in the doorway.

Swirl, with wide eyes, lets out a nervous chuckle while sweating bullets. During this, Shadow had not seemed to notice the situation and just lets out another content sigh and starts to talk through the pillow that muffles her voice, “Just awhile longer~ this just feels so nice~ I just want to take it in a little longer.” It was a few seconds later that Shadow noticed the silence. She then lifted her head and turned towards Swirl, but stopped when her gaze met with the figure standing in the door way. The darker mare’s face became frozen and her cheeks quickly turned red as her mouth opened and closed at an almost imperceivable pace, however no words were coming out during this.

Brex couldn’t deny that this scene was rather humorous and soon remembered that he still had his hands full and stepped inside. Using the back of his foot, the Roegadyn closes the doors and walks to the bed and sets the plates near the edge and turns to the night stand to put the mugs on top. He then fills them with the water from the mug and pours the contents into the ceramic white cups. He thought to himself, “These seem rather fancy compared to the others. I bet they were once used by Celestia.”

Turning his attention to the mare’s, who by the way, have yet to move an inch from the time he had witnessed there little playing around, gave them a small cough to gain their attention to the objects placed before them.

Brex spoke in his now considered normal talking to ponies’ tone, “Must be hungry.” He then pointed to the plates. He had made sure to get the kind that used a dome cover to protect the contents during the long walk from the kitchen. Slowly the Roegadyn reaches for the lids and lifted them to reveal two salads. Being thankful that he didn’t have to rely completely on the forest for all the ingredients, Brex had found a small garden and within it was some growing lettuce… or was it cabbage?... no, it was definitely lettuce. That happened to be the time when he started to think on his memories and this sparked the depressing conversation with Rory earlier.

He then pushed those thoughts aside and began to make his way to the glass double doors that led out to the balcony and checked them to see if there were any problems with it. Finding nothing, Brex locks them from the inside and walks towards the door. Passing the bed, he could see the mare’s looking at the food while they had been drinking the water given.

Brex then thought, “Ok, so I got them food and water. So, they should be all set for the night. Seeing as I’m not tired, I think I’ll head Back down to the library and start looking at a few of the books. Hmm, I wonder if I’m able to read that whole place from one side to the other within a month. Seeing as I did manage to get through two of them within minutes then it might be possible. HA! If I was a regular human, I doubt I could get through a small fraction within my lifetime.”

Just as before he had made it all the way to the door, he heard the two yells out to Brex with what could have been a mix a surprise and fear as they both said in unison, “Wait, don’t leave!” This caused him to look towards them from over his right shoulder. Replying, he asked, “Yes?”

This got the mare’s to look too one another. Soon the one called Swirl said, “You’re not going out again, are you? Also, it hasn’t been that long. Aren’t you going to eat with us?”

Brex answered with, “Not hungry.” This caused the pink mare to tilt her head in confusion. She then replied with, “When was the last time you had anything to eat, if you don’t mind the question.” Brex didn’t see the need for a lie here so he just said, “Three days.” But soon regretted it when he saw the expressions on both of their faces before the one called Shadow, practically screamed, “WHAAAT! But, but you need to feed yourself. Are you saying that even if you hadn’t eaten in so long, you just went out and got us all this?!”

He just nodded his head one time and started to make for the door once again, but was stopped yet a second time by a set of arms that wrapped themselves around his waist from behind, it was accompanied with a set of sobbing from the one doing so. This confused him and just held back his protest’s so he could gauge just what was happening. He didn’t even notice this mare coming at him and with a glance at the mini map, Brex could see, for the first time ever, the dots on the radar were not red or yellow, but green. This was not something that the Roegadyn had counted on. He had figured that everything on this world would be a danger to him. But here are two that his map says are friendly.

Within his mind, Brex quickly asked Rory in a panic, “Rory, I’m really confused here. Just why is this mare holding me like this, also why is she crying?! I don’t remember noticing when their dot colors changed, did that happen back down in the library or while in this room? This isn’t the game so it’s not like coming into this place would change them just because this is a safe zone, it doesn’t mean that just because they are here could make them friendly, right?! There has to be a reason.”

Rory replied with a mischievous tone, “Oh master~ didn’t I say you needed to pay more attention to your surroundings just earlier~ It seems with all this time, you forgot something important about food and water. Now as for this mare, it seems that this caused her to think of you as the type to sacrifice food for her and this would leave you with nothing and just going hungry yourself.”

Raising an eyebrow, Brex thinks over what Rory just mentioned and mentally did a facepalm. Humans could only live for three days without water and as far as food goes, they could go for anywhere from 6 to 10 days before dying, but that was in the best conditions. Well, that’s what he could remember, those numbers could be off for all he knew. He then thought loudly, “Having memory loss really sucks!”

Being very careful as to not hurt the mare. Brex reaches down and slowly pulls her hands off from himself and once her grip was loose enough, the Roegadyn steps away a few feet and turns towards the mare. What he saw caused his heart to practically break apart. Right there, was a purple mare with tears streaming as she had what he called the saddest expression he had ever witnessed. This however wasn’t saying too much as this counted as the first time, he had seen such an image.

He then spoke to the mare, but for once it wasn’t in the regular tone that he had been using all this time, but in a worried one, “Shadow… What’s wrong?” This caused the mare, to blink a few times before her expression changed, ever so slightly into something that he couldn’t really put a label on.

*Point of view: Shadow Lily*

She was stunned at just what happened. For the first time, this stallion just asked her if something is wrong, but what really got to her was the fact that his way of speaking had changed from all the other times that he spoke. Each time he had talked, it was always in either a detached or emotionless way. But just now, he had used some real emotions behind those words and this struck at something within.

She then spoke up while trying to hold back the crying, “Where are you going, why don’t you stay here and eat with us?” She then thought, “Yes, yes please say yes! This way we can get a good look at you.” It also didn’t help that she was scared when he had left to get food for Swirl and herself. But it did give her the opportunity to get intimate with the bed that he was apparently using to sleep in. Shadow was still embarrassed to have been caught in that position. She then thought back to during the time he had just left.

She was essentially drowning herself in the stallion’s scent and had completely lost track of time and before she knew it, both She and Swirl had decided to get comfortable and had taken off their guard’s armor and placed them onto the ground near the bed and she had resumed in the activity that was able to completely distract the mare from the near-death experience earlier.

It had actually evolved to the point that she had begun to roll around on said bed and pushed her face into the pillow. That was when the unicorn tried to pull her off with magic but Shadow fought the magical force that Swirl was using. Thanks to her friend having a lower limit, she was able to keep her spot. It soon escalated to the point that Swirl had taken a hold of Shadows tail and was pulling on it to get the mare off of the pillow. Of course, that would happen to be when the stallion in question returned.

Back to the present, Shadow asked yet again, “Please stay… I-I wouldn’t feel right if I had something to eat and you didn’t.” Looking back towards the bed, she could see the salad and, on another look, remembered just how good it was when he had showed it to them when pulling the lids off. There was also that amazing water. She had never tasted such pure water in her life.

She then saw that the stallion was lowering his shoulders, this was followed by what she could only see as some type of shrug. He then spoke again, “For a while.” This filled Shadow with hope that she would be able to spend more time with this male and thought, “Oh yes! If he is going to eat, then he is going to have to take off that mask of his. I can’t wait to see just what he looks like.”

*Point of view: Brex Mith*

Brex couldn’t help but comply with the mare. He thought, “Why do I feel something when she looks at me like that. Can’t really place what it is though, is it regret, or perhaps its pity? Ugh… why can’t I even get a beat on my own emotions. I guess it’s better than just going and leaving them here. For all I know, these two may just decide to run off without me knowing and call the princess here. I don’t intend to keep them as prisoner’s or anything like that, but I would like to know when they leave so I can come up with a time limit for me staying here before I need to vacate this castle for another base of operation.

After giving his reply, Brex walks over towards the bed. The mare that was still on it, glanced towards him and for some reason, she was starting to blush. He didn’t understand the reason but just as he had always done up to now, brushed it aside and continued walking, but instead of going for the bed, Brex just went past it and approach the wall and sat down onto the floor and rested his back up against the stone wall while facing the door.

He soon noticed the gazes from the mare’s in the room and decided to say, “I’ll keep watch.” He thought, “They must be scared or something. I’ll just stick around here for a while and leave when they fall asleep or something. I don’t really have to read everything down there. Maybe just a handful will do. Eh, I’ll just walk along and pick something up that catches my eye. Just need to focus on the history on this world and maybe pick up a few details about their kind of magic. To be more specific, the types that deal with their magic holding, mind reading and see if I can figure out some defensive measures. Above all else, something for blocking Luna’s ability to get into my dreams.”

He continued thinking to himself, “Hmm, later when I fall asleep, I guess I can have a chat with Rory about what that firewall and anti-virus are capable of. She did talk about changing my dreamscape before, perhaps we can do something with that.”

Brex was brought out of his thoughts by the one called Shadow talking to him while holding an expression Brex couldn’t quite place yet again, “Umm, a-aren’t you going to sit on the bed or have anything to eat?”

He just shook his head to the sides before replying, “I’m fine.” This however didn’t seem to do it for the mare as she turned towards her fellow guard and they nodded to one another before the one called Shadow added, “We won’t eat until you have something at least.”

With an inward sigh, Brex relented and moved his hand towards his chest and slipped a few fingers into a small gap and pulled out what seemed like a small handful of wild strawberries. These happen to have been something he found several days back, but thanks to the item box, Brex could put anything in there and no matter how long the item in question remained, it would come out in the same state from the moment it entered. This made it possible to store anything he wanted, without the fear of spoiling.

While holding the strawberries in his right hand, Brex used the left and takes one and brings it closer to his mouth. While he had his sights set on the food, the mare’s watched in fascination over the fact that he was going to have to pull off at least some of the mask in order to eat the fruit.

But instead of doing that, Brex just continued with the motion and just as the fruit was about to push into the fabric. The mare’s reached out and tried to tell him that he was still wearing his mask but froze when they saw something that neither couldn’t comprehend. The strawberry just seemed to pass through the mask and there was the sound of the stallion chewing it.

While eating, Brex thought, “it’s a good thing that I don’t need to take this thing off just to eat something. This will help out in keeping my identity a secret. Don’t need to blow my cover by wanting to try something and letting others see my face… or forbid my teeth. In the stories, they flip out when they find out the newcomer isn’t an herbivore like them but is an omnivore. Just thinking that I might make friends, but then when they find this out, they turn on me. No thanks.”

*Point of view: Shadow Lily*

She was dead set on seeing the stallions face, but when he just sat on the floor, and said that he was going to keep watch, she couldn’t help but push a little harder. So, when she delivered that ultimatum about not eating until he did, Shadow was sure it worked but was surprised when he just reached into some pocket within the coat and pulled out the red fruit.

Shadow thought, “Huh? Just where did those come from. I didn’t smell those on him at all, now that they are in his hands, the smell is fantastic. Wait, are those strawberries? But those are really hard to get one’s hands on inside Canterlot. I was told that they became scarce after the capitals relocation, so in other words one could only get them if they had the bits or venture deep into the forest.”

She then also recalled that the area one could find them just happened to be deep in the territory of the Timber wolves. She then had this to think, “Oh my Celestia, did, did he go that deep into the woods to escape from that mare? If that’s the case, then he must have taken out a lot of those beasts.” If only she knew that was indeed the case for Brex. He had actually found them shortly after that time he had killed the 16th pack of Timber Wolves.

As soon as she and Swirl both realized that the stallion wasn’t going to take his mask off, they both tried to call out to him but stopped when the fruit past right through the mask as if it was never there to begin with. While holding a dumbfound expression, Shadow looked over to her friend and asked silently with only using her eyes, “Did you see that?!” She then got a nod from the unicorn beside her.

*Point of view: Brex Mith*

Brex had continued to eat one piece of fruit, after another. But when the number had reached four. The Roegadyn looked up and noticed the two watching him intently. Feeling a little uneasy, he asked in the normal tone again, “Here, take rest.” Standing to his feet, Brex approached the mare’s plates and placed on each the remaining Strawberries so that they both ended up with two each to have for themselves along with their salads.

When he did this, Brex had caught sight of them both eyeing the new fruits and without hesitation, they began to devour them and moved onto the salad. He then thought while having a wide-eyed expression under his mask, “Oh, wow, I had no idea that these ponies had a thing for Strawberries. I had an idea that they may have wanted some with how that Shadow Lily girl was looking at the ones I had just been eating but, by the twelve… are these really that good to them?”

Without realizing it, Brex had said the next words in a sincere tone that was completely unlike the others that he had used so far, “Glad… you… like.” Just as those slipped, he mentally scolded himself for the slip up and turned his head away from the two mare’s that had been eating his food with such vigor. Feeling embarrassed, he thought, “Jeez, what was that all about?”

Rory then asked in a joking tone, “Oh master, I didn’t know that you had a softer side. It would seem that you like having these girls around, or could it be that my master is a play boy?” at the end of that remark, Brex was feeling something from Rory, but just like before with the mare’s, he couldn’t place his finger on this one either.

Now getting an uneasy sensation that was boiling from within his mind. Brex attempted to focus on keeping his attention on both himself and the mini map. He did say that he would keep watch.

Thinking to himself, “I really don’t understand girls. *Sigh* also, why do I feel like I have a sense of dread that I can’t seem to push down. It was one thing when it came to being in a fight, or perhaps just speaking to them in the way I had been doing. But, why do I feel so bad when I talk the way I just did. Why do I feel as if… I’ll be hurt. Could it be, this is something to do with Rory’s theory about the imprinted effects from my missing memories? Did something happen to me to cause such a negative reaction to opening myself up?”

Brex stops himself from diving any deeper into that metaphorical rabbit hole by redoubling his efforts in his task and looks back to his map and starts to come up with plans for when the two mare’s leave in the coming morning.

He then adds, “I need to come up with a real plan. Those two are no doubt going to tell their princess about me and that’s going to spark the chain of events that may very well send a nonstop torrent of trouble in my direction. When that happens, I’ll have only a few options to pick from. Ok, just think Brex, just look over what you know from all the stories and come up with something…”

*Point of view: Shadow Lily*

Shadow was looking right at the stallion that was currently looking in the other direction and with a small blush in her cheeks she leaned closer to her friend and whispered, “Oh my Celestia… did you just hear what he said? It sounded so cute!”

Swirl was also wearing a blush as she replied in her own whisper, “I know, right? I didn’t know hearing a stallion say something like that, in the way he did, would make my heart skip a beat. It has to be the first time I heard him sound… happy.”

Shadow then said, “But did you see the way he quickly looked away, I-I think he was embarrassed. That only added to the moment. I think we might be getting through his armor. I’m going to try and ask again for his name. he might just tell us this time.”

Her friend then whispered back, “Oh, that’s right, we never did get it from him. With everything that happened, it got away from me while underground. Gah… I remember that we asked once, but he just brushed it off.” Swirl then gave a nod before adding, “Go for it.”

Even with the strong influence of wanting to ask for his name, Shadow Lily was still hesitant in mustering up the courage. But she then thought, “Come on, mare up already. It’s just a name right, it’s not as if asking for it is like proposing or anything like that…” This caused her blush to only deepen. But after a moment, she began to ask in a friendly tone. “So, um… I know we already asked you this once before, but could you tell us your name at the very least?”

This caused the stallion to turn towards her. Shadow could feel that this was something he had not wanted to tell them from how he avoided the question when they first met. But, with this much time passing, along with that little outburst of emotions, she was hoping that now would be different.

*Point of view: Brex Mith*

To say that Brex was not expecting this question, was a huge understatement. It had completely slipped his mind and he didn’t have an answer ready to give. Turning to the mare, the Roegadyn was unsure as to how he should answer. He then asked Rory with the mental connection, “So Rory, any ideas on how I should handle this?”

Rory, was taking a thinking pose while inside her masters mind while placing a finger on her chin and was humming for a brief moment before saying, “It wouldn’t be a good idea to tell her your real name. An alias would work, but then again, that may bite us in the ass later on in the future. But really, it’s your call master. Too bad we don’t have some way to make her keep quiet about your name.”

Brex thought about what Rory had to say. He then came up with a small idea and after a pause, hoping that this would work. He looked towards the purple pony and answered with a tone that was laced with doubt, “Can… I trust?”

This made the mare’s current smile that was on her face to grow wider as she replied with a gentle nod, along with a simple, “Don’t worry, you can trust us. I’m sure you have your reasons for not wanting to say it. But we just want to help, that’s all. You don’t seem like a bad pony, otherwise you would have just left us with that oversized bug. There is also the food, water and not to mention wanting to give us the bed when any other stallion would have taken the chance to take advantage of this scene.”

Brex turned his head away and added an unsure voice, “Not… sure…” He then let a short sigh out from his lips, he soon turned back to the mare and after a second or two, he added, “if I… should.”

He could tell that this was having an effect on the mare as he witnessed her expression becoming that of concern. She then looked towards her friend and while still doing this she said, “If it bothers you so much to tell us your name, then I can only assume that, it’s to keep others from finding out about you. Then what if we both promise to keep it between us, at least until you say its fine for the two of us to tell others what it is. What do you think Swirl, will you promise too?”

This got the one called Swirl Sugar to give him a genuine smile as she said, “I’ll promise not to tell any pony what your name is.” This was when Brex said, “E-even… the princess?” He had intentionally made his voice to show real fear when adding the stutter and when he said the princess, there was a slight panic there.

This caused both mare’s to drop their smiles and they adopted a shocked look on both of their faces. With a glance towards one another, they turned to him and said in unison while bringing back the smiles, but this time there was traces of concern. “We promise that we won’t tell the princess.”

Brex asked Rory within his mind, “I think it worked, but I’m not fully sure on this. I could tell them my name, but then they would notice in an instant that it’s not normal. Perhaps I should use one of my titles in its place. Or I could just come up with another name to use?”

Rory answered with, “Hmm, well, I think it would be best to use the real name, never know if a title will work. If anything, you could always use another later if this doesn’t work out. Besides, from what I know from what I had been able to see before in your head, the unicorn might be using a lie detection spell. If so, then this would really back fire if we used anything but your name.”

(Play this music for emotional effect.)

Brex then thought back and just as he was about to say something to the mare’s, there was a flash within his mind and an unknown scene plays out. He was in a large city above the waves that was made of white stones. Brex was leaning over what could have been a dock near a fishing boat, or was it a ferryboat that would take others to another port.

(This is the sea side city.)

The air was filled with the smell of salt water and the hustle and bustling from the many people on the upper levels as they crossed a stone bridge but several meters above could be heard. There was then the sound of a girl speaking. When Brex turned towards the individual, all he could see was the black silhouette of a girl that just barely came half way up to his height.

From what he could tell, it was a petite girl and by the points on her head and the long tail, she was obviously of the cat race known as the Miqo’te. She spoke in a proper tone that just spoke volumes in how educated she was.

She then said, “May haps, you would know of any worthwhile groups that I may join? It is just, I arrived here but a short time ago and am seeking some guidance.” All the while holding her hands behind her back and twitching her right ear for just a moment after speaking.

Brex answered with a hollowed voice, and turned away towards the sea again and sat down on a wooden crate that was next to him and said, “I hear there is a lot of people recruiting up near the home crystal. Just use one of the teleport nodes and pick the central plaza. Can’t miss them. You’re of the healing classes I take it. So, you won’t have a problem in getting an invite.”

He then points to his right while not taking his sights off the sea. The Roegadyn’s finger was currently showing off but no more than 7 meters away a floating, pointed crystal of a brilliant teal color that was spinning in midair and it appeared to be no more than one meter in height.

The girl glanced over in the direction, but a moment later she walked over and stood on the right side of Brex and while leaning forward and turning her head towards him, asked, “Hmm, interesting indeed.” There was a short pause before she continued, “You speak of others that actively seek out and toss a line out in hopes to reel in participants, but this brings up an unusual pondering.”

Tilting her head just a small amount, she looks into Brex’s face, then talks in a curious tone while that tail of hers starts to sway, “Thou are also in a group, so this puts forth my question. Why are you turning away a possible member to others?”

Brex just looks away from the girl and replies with, “Just so you know. I got sick of getting those messages to join. So much spamming from all of them. So, I asked a few random people if they could help me start my own and then they could leave when that was done. Now here I am.”

Sounding even more confused, the girl that He found to be very odd, says, “So you are in need of compatriots? ‘Twas fate that our paths have crossed at a fortunate time. Might I join your company?”

This caused Brex to nearly fall off the crate from the unexpected words. Looking towards the girl, he saw that she was now standing upright and appeared to be holding her left hand up and stifling a small giggle.

She then continued, “The name is *Static… Static* So, pray tell what may yours be?” She was now leaning in yet again, but this time her face became so much closer to Brex’s. This caused him to stutter out of surprise and embarrassment, “I-I I’m called Brex Mith…”

The girl then had her ears twitching while she had a puzzled expression. Then, as if a light bulb went off in her head with the way she leaned back and bringing a finger up to her chin, said, “Ah, this a powerful name indeed, but it seems to be lacking. After a moment she gave Brex a confident smile before saying, “How about Brex Von Mith. Ah yes! Thus, I shall call you this from this point on. So please treat me well from today forth. It will be an immeasurable honor to fight alongside you!”

(Stop the music here.)

It was at that point that the scene ended with a blinding light and the real world came rushing back as the sight of the two mare’s looking at him expectingly became his focus once again. To him, it was like reliving a memory that lasted a few minutes, but with how everything looked right now. Brex thought, “Wait, what happened there, also didn’t they notice that something happened?” He then looked towards the floor.

This was when Rory spoke up in a confused tone, “Master, what is wrong? You were about to say your name, but you suddenly stopped.” Brex then answered, “I just had a flash back… I think. How long was I out of it for?” This got a hesitant reply, “Master, umm. No time at all passed by.”

The Roegadyn then said, “I’ll explain it all to you later, but first.” Bringing his head back up. Brex, takes in a breath and readies himself. The mare’s that had been waiting, now looked worried. The purple one leans in a little and seems to be close to reaching out towards him.

With a light bow, while holding his right hand over his chest. Brex takes a regal posture and talks in a serious tone as he closes his eyes as well. The Roegadyn then says, “Brex… Von… Mith.” After a second of two, he stands up to his full height and looks back at the two mare’s. But to his surprise. Brex didn’t hear them laugh, or give him anything that resembled, the are you fucking joking look. Instead, they seemed… genuinely surprised, even to the point that by the way their bodies moved, Brex could have sworn that they were nearly about to bow.”

Letting out a nervous breath, He turns his head to the left and thinks, “Well, what are they waiting for. I’m waiting on the sarcasms, or even the laughing. I don’t know why I added the Von part to my name, but for some reason it felt standard to say, like it was normal to hear someone else calling me that.”

That was when Shadow Lily began to speak with an astonished voice, “Um, I-If you D-don’t mind the question, but, just what rank are you by chance?” This confused the Roegadyn, but soon thought, “Oh! She must be referring to my rank in the company I was in. well, seeing as I was the founding member, of course I had the highest rank. But I didn’t like the attention, so I made some one else at some point take the rank while I ran things behind the scenes. But I guess I’ll give her my current rank. Seeing as it was set on the western European titles of nobility.”

He didn’t want the title of King or Queen. Also, the second ranking, Prince or Princess. So Brex settled on the third highest witch was Duke or Duchess. Taking another breath, while still not looking towards the mare’s, Brex answers with a shaky tone, “Duke…”

*Point of view: Shadow Lily*

For Shadow Lily, it was one thing to speculate on the male’s story and come to the conclusion herself, along with Swirl Sugar. But to have the stallion in question telling it right to their faces was nothing less than a shock to Shadow. Her friend Swirl, was fairing no better.

Just earlier, when they had asked for his name. It appeared that he was having some sort of trouble in bringing himself to give it out. Then the stallion asked if he could trust them. Shadow thought back to before when they had assumed that the mare in question, could have come from Canterlot. Seeing as he was conflicted in giving his trust to a royal guard, then that must have meant that there were guards that had taken bits from the mare.

Shadow thought, “Buck… then, its true, she is in Canterlot. Moreover, this sorry excuse of a mare even has some of the royal guards in her bit purse. How could this have happened. But… oh no… if they could have done this sort of heinous act to a member of nobility, then who knows what else they could be doing. How many other stallions and mare’s are being held captive and forced to become theirs?” This caused Shadow’s feeling for the guards to turn sour.

Bringing back the days of when Shadow was in the boot camp to become a guard. The days and nights of nearly relentless persecution and degrading. Most of them were of the noble class or at least close to it. Unlike Shadow Lily, who was one of the very few non-unicorn’s, she had gotten the worst due to the fact that she didn’t do magic. Now she was seeing them in another light, how could she have been so blind. Wanting nothing else but to be a pony that served under the princess, this clouded her perception.

Then the stallion sounded unsure, but what he said next caused the both of them to freeze up completely. Shadow, after saying that they would keep it a secret and not tell any pony his name. The stallion had even added the princess to that list. This caused her to look over at Swirl and with the feeling that her friend was all in this, answered with, “We promise that we won’t tell the princess.”

Shadow, in an internal panic, thought, “Oh, wow… even the princess. Has… Has this mare scarred him for life so much that he isn’t able to trust even Princess Celestia?! How… how is that possible. She is our princess. If we can’t trust her, then who can a pony trust? Has his faith in Mare’s been so shattered that it had gotten to the point that he may never be with one in his life? Does the idea even now cause him to feel disgusted or hateful?”

It was at this point that she noticed him getting ready to say something, but there was a pause, and his head tilted down. Internally Shadow thought, “No, No, No, NO don’t pull back from us. What should I do?” She had noticed that she had taken a step closer and was about to reach for the stallion, but stopped herself quickly. Then mentally scolded herself, “What do you think your doing Shadow, if you reach for him now, then everything will be ruined. No doubt he would assume that you’re going to do something to him and he might just run off.”

She then saw that he had regained his composure. However, there was something else different this time around. He then told them, “Brex… Von… Mith.” Shadow had just had her mind blown into pieces. She didn’t know a lot about the nobility and their hierarchy, but she did know that when there was the word Von, added into their name, that meant that they are in the upper tier. She had nearly, instinctively bowed as if she was in front of the princess herself.

She couldn’t help but to ask the following question. It was eating away at the purple pony to the point she couldn’t keep it under control and just needed to know. She had asked for his rank. When she heard the word, Duke. This caused the mare to almost faint.

She thought, “Oh… My Celestia… He, He, He is essentially a prince. But how… From where…did he live before coming here? From what country is a name like Brex Von Mith common? I never even come across a name like that. Is he from overseas? was he taken from some far-off land. How far did this mare go to have a stallion?!” To say that Shadow Lily was beyond pissed, was an understatement. She wanted nothing more than to be the pony to take the life of the one that could have done such an unspeakable act.

Shadow, while on a roll asked one last question, “Why do you not want even our Princess Celestia to know your name. Do you know her or does she know you?” this got the stallion to turn completely towards the door and started walking. When he had made it to about half way to it, he answered with, “Dangerous… for me…” that was when he quickly made it to the door and swung it open. Standing in the doorway and without looking back at the mare’s, he added, “Need to… think.” After saying his peace, he then closed the door and Shadow could hear his steps grow lighter as he walked away from the bed chamber.

It had taken a few seconds of silence within the room for Shadow to realize just what had happened. With her mind full of rage over the unknown mare and coupled with the new information that had just been divulged, the purple mare had in other words, run the stallion out of the room with all of her questions.

With a shocked look plastered onto her face, Shadow Lily had crumpled straight down right next to the bed and started the waterworks. With her right hand covering her eyes and the other gripping the cover of the bed, Shadow was letting out sobs after sobs as she mentally screamed at herself.

Within her mind. She thought, “Shadow, what did you do! Of course, he is just going to run out of the room. All you intended was to know his name, but instead you kept prodding for more. He probably thinks that you were trying to interrogate him as part of your job as a guard. With how he just acted, he must be regretting that he had told us so much. He didn’t even let us have the chance to stop him from leaving… no. It wasn’t that… he didn’t let us, we just let him. Why didn’t I notice things until he left?”

That was when Swirl Sugar spoke up after an extended silence. With a trembling tone, the unicorn looked towards Shadow and said, “This is worse than *Gulp* I had expected…” Taking a moment to steady herself, she continued while still sitting on the bed, “This could become an international disaster. I had hoped that it all was leaning towards a trustworthy stallion. But, for it to have been a real Prince that had been taken from some far-off place and abused on top of it all.”

Brex had not known just yet, but in the land of Equestria, the title of Duke was on the same level as a prince, so this was a major problem. Swirl Sugar then continued, “Who knows what this will bring to Equestria. A Prince being held against his will by a noble that resides in our nation’s capital is a huge scandal. This wont end with just looking for this one pony, but all the nobles will be investigated.”

The unicorn then changed her expression to that of intense focus and said in a commanding tone while sitting up straight, “Shadow Lily, I know that I have already said this before, but I must say it again. We cannot, I repeat! We cannot let anything bad happen to this male. We are going to inform the princess and clear up this matter. I feel that it is our responsibility as representatives of Equestria to help him to the best of our abilities. This even applies to helping in his… emotional healing.” At this point, the unicorn was now sporting a heavy blush across her cheeks.

When hearing her friend speaking, Shadow was feeling a strong sense of wanting to do everything that she could for the male. However, when it had gotten to the part of helping in his emotional healing. She was confused by just what Swirl meant by that and asked, “So, when you say healing, J-just w-what did you mean by that?”

Swirl while still blushing, starts to sweat like crazy and stutters out, “I-I think that w-we may need to show that us mare’s are not like the one… that he knows about. He must see those from our country as vile monsters that abuse the males and just go around and do whatever we want with them.” This caused Swirl to shed a tear before wiping her eyes and continuing, “S-so we will need to show him that isn’t the case. Also, there is the fact that he flat out ignored that little scene from before when he walked in, that couldn’t have help in our image.”

Shadow upon hearing this, covers her face with both hands and lets out a shriek as steam raises up from her head and calls out to Swirl, “WHAT! BUT BUT, ARE YOU SAYING THAT WE SHOULD… WITH HIM… I MEAN I’M NOT SAYING NO, BUT SHOULD WE. I MEAN I WANT TOO; WAIT I MEAN I WOULD LIKE TOO. GAWWW!” This was when Shadow began to nearly faint from the rush of embarrassment and falls onto the bed and blacks out.

*Point of view: Swirl Sugar*

With a heavy sigh, the unicorn lets out an amused chuckle before saying to no one, “I can’t be the only one to think this mare is a virgin… right?” Getting off the bed, the unicorn lights up her horn and looks to the room as a whole and says, “Now, lets see about fixing this place up and setting the mood.” Looking back to Shadow she then adds, “As for you. We may have to come up with a plan.” A devilish smirk appears as it grows from the corner of Swirl sugars lips.

*Point of view: Daddy*
*Location: Unknown*

Back with Daddy and Little Moon. They had encountered an unexpected newcomer. Said newcomer was called Little Light, this one was another mist like being that was made up of orange and silver colors. The two who had been sitting at the table before were now looking at Little Light as she was towering over them in a way that just screamed, they had some explaining to do.

Daddy, while letting out a small voice said, “We… can explain.” This was mirrored by Little Moon as she added, “We have a reason for what we are doing dear sister…” One could have sworn that the two of them had cartoonish style drawn sweat marks floating above their head’s. Well, where the heads would be anyhow.

With a deadpan tone, Little Light replies with, “Oh, let me guess…” There was a long stretch of silence, all one could hear was the rippling waves from the ocean floor. Then she leaned forward and while going right between the pair that was still sitting, reaches out a mist appendage and this causes a series of tapping, beeps, chirps and what could have been mistaken for the sound an apple computer makes when booting up.

With a long, deliberately drawn-out sigh, Little Light talks in a professional tone, “Daddy forgot his pass code and you both couldn’t figure out how to get into the last thing he had gotten mixed up in. Well, there you go. It is a good thing that I remembered it myself, seeing as I had helped him the first time that we had this installed.”

This caused the fore mentioned pair to do the equivalent of a nod. Then Little Light said, “Also, Daddy has gone and got himself into a complicated situation that he felt the need to hide from us. However, You, Little Moon found out and is now working together with Daddy. Am I correct so far?” This only caused Little Moon and Daddy to let out a nervous gulp as they both said, “Yes”

The mist of orange and silver then stood up again and started to move around the table slowly. This caused the pair to turn their chairs as to follow her movements in silence.

Little Light then continued, “I can only assume that Daddy wanted to do some good in his eyes and this caused some trouble and the two of you wanted to clear it up before I found out, am I also correct in this assumption?” There was a set of audible gulps from the two again.

Just as she had made it to the other side of the table the mist stopped in place, she then said, “Does this have something to do with a being called the merchant and an unfortunate soul by chance?”

This caused Daddy and Little Moon to sit up straighter than normal and give Little Light a set of nods once again.

Letting out another sigh, she talks while leaning over the map and this causes a set of images to appear that depicts a large muscular being with very pale color skin and everything that had happened from the moment, he had arrived in Equestria and leading up to the very second that the connection was lost.

“So, mind filling me in on the details of this little secret mission the two of you are on? What I say and do next will be determined by the words spoken from here on. Also, you better tell me the whole truth, otherwise…”

This caused the two to get out of their seats and lean closer to one another and whisper in a panic fashion.