“Aye, you walk to the east, and throw a stone and you will hit a dragon. Go west and the Kirin will greet you with still tongues. But tread south and you might catch a glimpse of the Phoenix, soaring high above the treetops,” the old stallion instructed his student. “There, if you are kind and honest, one of the firebirds might take an interest in you. But be warned, for you never know which might be a member of the Cinnabar Court and offending them may bring the wrath of fire itself.”

“But, what of the North?” the young mare asked, her pink mane flowing in the wind.

“Ah, the Genbu. No matter how far one goes north, past the swells, mounds, and into the vales and you will not find one trace of them,” the old stallion said, peering from the corner of his eye.

“But there are only hills in the north. Did the Genbu not make it past the primordial dawn? Or perhaps Grogar killed them a long time ago, or perhaps one of his…” the young mare pondered aloud.

“Oh shush filly,” the old stallion gave a wry smile at the mare. “You give that dead goat too much credit, and his incarnations, those fragments don’t have the same power he had, oh no. And without his bell, they are wannabes of the highest order.”

“It still astonishes me that a dragon and a gryphon defeated two of the fragments themselves, and without horned magic,” the mare said.

The stallion turned to the mare, and took a step forth, “As adamant as you are on the might of our magic, you would do well to broaden your horizons.”

“Like making an Earth Pony your heir and prime apprentice? Clover might be clever, but she-”

“Says the mare who has prostrated herself before a stallion of all ponies in hopes of a collaboration? Or are you trying to position yourself and your sister as my next apprentices?”

The mare went quiet.

“Clover, as much as you desire it to be, is not a unicorn, but she brings her own magic. If you keep an open mind, you will see that I am learning just as much from her as she is learning from me.”

“Of course,” the mare gave a gracious nod.

“Now, it was a last-ditch effort, what Grogar did. What he did not consider is that his lust for revenge against us ponies would be stemmed by our closest friends of different species. Strange isn’t it. Almost as if friendship itself… is its own magic,” the stallion trailed off, casting his gaze at the mare.

The mare paused, “Indeed. Their connection to the Aspects. It’s almost as if the discord of primordial forces knew how dangerous Grogar was, and through those who listened, have helped us defeat him in the long term. Though if we had such chaos under our control, we would not have to play such games.”

The stallion watched the mare with a narrow eye, before turning away, “Now, let’s get back to it. Remember your readings. What do we know of the Genbu?”

“Well,” the student thought for a moment. “They are gigantic, huge. Rivaling even the largest dragons. Their necks are long, like a serpent’s. And their shells almost like the great dome of the night sky, only where the night sky is our obverse, their shell would be the revers-” the student’s eyes widened as she looked to her mentor. “The hills….”

“Yes… yes…. Go on…” the bearded stallion smiled; his blue cloak covered in stars rustling.

“They are the hills!”

~Starward, Chapter 6. Written by Celestia, of which only three copies exist.
The first is in Celestia’s Private collection.
The second is in Masaka Abbey in their deep archives, accessible by Celestia only.
The third is, or was, in Bridlon, one of the Lost Abbys.

“Princess Kenny is the only true princess,-” Xavier let out a yelp.

“You’re still bleeding,” Twilight said as the taste of iron touched her tongue. She pulled out the ad hoc bandages that she had stuffed into Xavier’s wounds, still freshly red. “You’re bleeding has slowed but, this is ridiculous.”

“You can’t talk that way, that’s your sister,” Xavier continued to mumble. “That’s a fine how do you do, look at the neighbors, we’re not going to fit in here,” Xavier replied to himself, his eyes half lidded and forehead flat on the soft ground. “Prime minister of Malay bad… Martial arts good…. Obey my dog!”

Twilight turned to her charge and exhaled a slow sigh. Xavier had been making ridiculous statements since she started changing his bandages only twenty minutes ago. Earlier that morning, he rambled about how thousands of years ago on his world, there was a great red ape like creature that made crude and pointless toys out of bones and waste, and how it enslaved small green creatures from a nearby world to make more. She left to get more wood when he got to the point where he tried to describe the war between the ape and creatures, as what was left of her patience was in the campfire along with the ash. He even yelled at her as she left that it was as it was revealed to him by a rabbot, whatever that was.

But now she was tending to his wounds. She frowned, then moved her head to the bottle of alcohol. Softly grabbing it with her mouth, she tilted her head ever so slowly, then quickly to ensure that no drops were wasted on her chin. The alcohol quickly poured out, filling Xavier’s wound as he let out a pathetic whimper. Quickly Twilight shifted her head back sideways and put down the bottle. Then she started stuffing the wound with fresh bandages.

From the corner of her eye, she once more caught the phoenix poking its head into the burrow. Once every twenty minutes or so, it would poke its head in. It would stare at them both with a burning eye, let out a tune, then pull its head back. And again, it flapped its wings and took a short flight to the branch it perched on last night.

“One pepperoni pizza please. I’d say that’s disgusting but I’m not in a position to judge. Don’t judge me! I’ve met someone who’s lost their tonsils twice!” Xavier droned on. “How does it relate to pizza? I never said it was related to pizza. You said it was related to pizza.”

Twilight rolled her eyes as she went on to the next wound and began cleaning it. Once again, she pulled out the stuffing of baby unicorn wraps and once again poured alcohol as carefully as she could. And once again, another pathetic wail came from the human.

“There, there…” Twilight turned away and let out a quiet sigh as her Eques did what writhing he could. Finally, he stopped moving, and Twilight began stuffing the wound with fresh cloth, finishing it off with another pour from the bottle.

Xavier twisted his head to look at Twilight, then his guttural voice raised a question, “Is it the lighting in here, or is your coat duller?”

Twilight ignored Xavier as she continued her work. Once more replacing old bandages with new ones soaked in liquid fire.

“Tell me doctor,” Xavier muttered, “Can I play the lyre anymore?”

Twilight blinked at the question and lifted her head above Xavier to look at his hands, “I guess so?” she said with a raised eye.

“Well, I couldn’t before!” Xavier said, wiggling his fingers while mouthing a lyre solo that was more spit than melody. He ceased, letting a pause hang in the air.

“Charming,” Twilight grunted as she narrowed her eyes.

“It was better on the stage,” Xavier responded.

“Unquestionably,” Twilight said, letting out a sigh.

“Oh, here’s a good play,” Xavier said. “Queen Imagrina’s throne-room. The queen sits, attended by her three servants. Her daughter enters left, Imagina says ‘Dear daughter, ill tidings I bring unto thine ear,’” Xavier’s voice wavering in decibels. “‘Thy sister, the next in line, lies in ailment so wild.’”

Twilight ignored the human’s words as she put the bottle in front of her, and as carefully as she could, pinned it between her front legs. Then with her mouth, she grabbed the bottlecap and started to tighten it atop the container. She grunted in between movements, the sharp taste of alcohol occasionally butting in as she did what she could. Finally, the sound of teeth sliding against metal and thumping along the grooves bellowed in her mouth. Letting out another sigh, Twilight said “I am never going to under appreciate what earth ponies can do ever again…”

“N~no…” Xavier retorted at Twilight. “You’re supposed to say ‘Aye, verily’.”

Twilight rolled her eyes and answered, “‘Aye, verily.’”

“Good okay!” Xavier continued. “’Thou art the next in line for the Magenta Throne.’”

Twilight said nothing as she continued to work cleaning the human’s back.

“Alexandra!” Xavier barked out. “You’re supposed to say, ‘Ah, I perceive. Thou tappeth upon me to reign as the spare?’! Don’t write any of this down! The histories they preserved are plays to be acted out! It’s… it’s just like oral storytelling but their culture stores them like this because they want those who learn them not just to learn the facts but to empathize! Yes, especially them! From their perspective, such historical actors are tragic beings to be understood and seen! Not demonized!”

Twilight’s eyes turned to the wrappings that she had pulled out and saw that despite the fact that he was still bleeding, if it was sanitary, they could’ve almost been cleaned and reused if she had access to soap.

“Look at you, trying your best to stitch up your toy as best you can,” Xavier sputtered out. “It’s okay though, I too get sentimental when looking at my old toys. Nothing to be ashamed about.”

Twilight froze, and just looked down at Xavier. Her features shifted as she realized he was directly talking to her. Her eyebrows furrowed as she parsed the words in her head, “What on Celestia’s golden horizons are you talking about this time?”

“I had a toy doll once, but one night I threw up all over it and my parents just threw it away… they didn’t even try to wash him. To clean him. Did I kill him?” Xavier said, his voice muffled through the dirt floor he laid on. “I didn’t, I didn’t mean…”

“I…,” Twilight blinked at Xavier. “You’re talking nonsense.”

“Toys make me cry,” Xavier said in a hushed tone. “It haunts me that something so loved one day can easily be discarded the next like nothing happened. But I lived it Twilight, it’s not so bad getting replaced.” Silence fell over him before he said, “Her name was Becky.”

Twilight stared at the human’s bareback, his shirt covering the top of his shoulder blades and neck. Twilight got up as the bandages in each puncture that she stuffed started to slowly turn red, and walked around the human, facing him, “Becky? I thought you said-”

“She was a different toy. She had wheels for legs and a blue mane. Just like you, well, not the wheels bit,” Xavier rocked himself back and forth for a second. “I thought your mane was black, but it’s not, it’s a sort of deep blue now that I really get to look at you. Like you stole drops of ink meant for your celestial sphere, where the stars dance high above,” Xavier reached towards Twilight with bound hands.

Twilight’s eyes went wide, then she tried to recoil, but she didn’t have the heart to pull away. He started to stroke her mane, his green eyes evaluating her from the side. She could feel him probe her, like an appraiser. She started to wince, but he spoke up again.

“Becky’s mane was a lighter blue than yours. And harder. When I was small, I rode her hard. But she never broke. She never complained. A toy horse, I would drag her, and she followed without complaint.” Then Xavier’s eyes widened, and he uttered, “Oh god, now I’m dragging you, I’m breaking you, aren’t I?” his pupils dilating as a tear streamed down his eye. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry…”

“No,” Twilight stammered, quickly turning away. “No, you’re not.”

Xavier just stared at Twilight, indigo flashed behind green as he started gasping for air. Twilight turned at the sound to see that Xavier was gritting his teeth, face wrinkled in pain and red now flashed in his eyes as he lunged out to her, reaching out with both arms and thrusting himself from his prone position at the unicorn.

Old pony instincts slapped Twilight, getting her to scramble away from Xavier. The force he had used to thrust himself forward gave out and bounced him off the ground not like a rubber ball, but a metal pipe. A sharp pain echoed in the camp as Twilight looked down on the human, her front canon lifted against her as she now returned the appraisal. A muddy wrapped hand reached out to her. Matted streaks of red and brown crusted his hair. The clumps they formed rustled atop his head as his body rested against his other limb and quiet gasping escaped his lips.

Then he slowly moved, squeaked in pain as he righted himself flat against the floor, then lifted himself up with his arms. Twilight only now grasped how long his, no, human hind legs were, as he was now in a position as if he were roleplaying as a pony, but his rear knees were still in the mud. Then he started to move, slowly towards Twilight.

She took another step back only to hear him fumble out, “Sorry”. Then he reached out to her again, his wrapped palm facing her.

Twilight blinked, shook her head, then commanded, “Lie down. Now.”

The arm pulled back, but he just took another pained hobble forward, gasping, “I have to apologize.”

Twilight gulped, then opened a box in her mind she hadn’t used in years. She adjusted her posture, putting her front canon down. She sat and with her best big sister voice, told Xavier, “Lie down, now.”

Xavier however, did not retreat. He froze, and his head swung back and forth.

“Rest,” Twilight repeated, this time stoking her voice with the same tone Celestia had used when delivering a gentle reprimand.

Slowly the human lowered himself, wincing only twice, and returned himself back onto the floor.

Silence spilled into the shelter and wrapped the both of them. Twilight stared at Xavier, still confused as to what he was trying to do. Then finally Xavier broke the silence.

“Unlike my doll, I found Becky, 20 years later…” Xavier continued as if the last two minutes didn’t happen. He then pushed himself with his arms until his green eyes could meet Twilight’s purple eyes again. “She somehow survived…”

“Oh,” Twilight said, lowering herself to the floor.

“She’s safe, I was able to save her. Maybe I could introduce you two. Though she doesn’t talk too much…” Xavier looked left and right then let out a crackle. “She let me decide where we go, but I never took her further than the backyard. She should have reprimanded me for riding her too hard, but her patience with me was as vast as this sea of trees.”

“Xavier, she’s j-” Twilight froze. Then she looked down for a few moments before replying, “Smarty pants. She was mine,” Twilight said, turning to look up past the human who was laying in front of her. “She did homework with me. She never hated what we studied. Not even once.” Twilight went quiet for a second before continuing, “I didn’t ride her like how you did Becky, in fact, I was the one who gave her rides. But I used to give lectures and demonstrations to her. For hours. And sometimes I would use her as a subject. I… I used her.”

Then Twilight’s eyes started to shimmer wet, “At least you were able to preserve your Becky. A long time ago I cast a spell on her that made everyone want her and… and I lost her.”

“Accident?” Xavier asked.

Twilight’s mouth opened, then froze. She shook her head and looked down, “I was,” the words stuck in her throat before she finally forced them out in front of her Eques, “I was desperate to send a report. But it was a period of calm. I had no report to make. So… I used her to make a problem. One so big, that I couldn’t clean up the mess. Celestia had to clean up the mess herself…” Twilight paused, “You have to realize, I couldn’t fail Xavier I.. I just…” Twilight fumbled with her words before she asked, “Did I just use her?”

Xavier’s eyes widened, gasped, then his eyes moved back in forth in his skull, then said, “Oh Smarty Pants! Did you ever go to one of those conventions I was told about?”

Twilight’s head recoiled slightly, her eyes looking at Xavier almost bewilderingly, “I, I only ever got to go to one.”

“Do tell,” Xavier said, then he froze, his eyes moving left to right. “I think someone named Bluegrass is going to one, Baltimore? Baltimare? Applecore? Something to do with quills.”

“I don’t know anypony named Bluegrass,” Twilight said, letting out a tiny laugh. “But yes, in a few months there is going to be a Smarty Pants convention in Baltimare.”

Xavier’s eyes blinked, then he blurted out, “You can’t go!”

Twilight returned the blinks, then cocked her head “I’m… not… going?”

“You don’t understand!” Xaiver shot wild eyed at Twilight, “The ball pit! Stay away from the ball pit!”

“I don’t think there will be one?” Twilight looked at Xavier awkwardly. He looked frantic, almost crazed. “And besides, I don’t plan on going…?”

Xavier let out a sigh of relief and said, “Good… good… the ball pit, they,” Xavier’s voice went out, as if all the energy he had mustered up had drained from his face.

Twilight pulled her head back and raised an eye at Xavier, “What’s wrong with this ‘ball pit’?”

“It’s gross, I can’t talk about it in the presence of a Lady,” Xavier said, his eyes shifting from left to right. “But your Smarty Pants, she must have been special.”

Twilight then shook her head, “I mean, my Smarty Pants, she was just a toy.” Then she quietly mumbled “But still…”

“She was only a toy for a specific moment in time,” Xavier finally said. “However, there exists an interval of time that, for you, she was more. Just as for me, Becky was the horse I rode on.”

“Rode on?” Twilight tilted her head. Exhaling through her nose, she asked, “You keep saying you rode her hard, did you actually ride atop her?” Twilight paused for a moment, looking away before turning back to Xavier, “I’ve read about your horses when I read about humans. They’re a lot like ours except we never went out of our way to domesticate them… and besides, they’re all huge.”

Xavier nodded, “We domesticated them, and you’re right, but we breed a few to be roughly your size, but not your proportions. I think… I think we even have a few that are much shorter than your kind, but I can’t seem to remember.” Xavier’s eyes once more flickered about, “It’s practically a tradition in some places. I don’t like it though, but back then I was just… a kid, I didn’t know better… Becky was the only horse I ever owned,” Xavier paused. “The only one not to terrify me. When I was younger, they put me on a horse, and I screamed out in terror. The world was so… high up there.”

Twilight frowned keeping up with his disjointed words, only to voice, “So, you’ve ridden on them before?”

Xavier nodded, “Against my wishes. I keep getting told they don’t mind but, I don’t know.” His eyes started to dart back and forth again, “It always seemed to me they would prefer just to graze and hang around each other then be ridden.” There was a long pause before Xavier said, “We break them you know.”

Twilight pulled her head back, “Break them?”

Xavier’s arms once more moved and pushed against the ground. He let out a pained yelp.

“Don’t move!” Twilight snapped.

Xavier fell back to the ground, and then rotated his head, catching Twilight’s eyes with his own verdant iris’s. Twilight looked away.

“Don’t. You need to hear this,” Xavier moaned.

Twilight slowly pivoted her eyes back to Xavier, looking down at the right eye of the human whose face was half covered in dirt.

“We break them and tame them when they are young,” Xavier started. “We castrate the males most of the time because they’re not worth breeding and to ensure they are less temperamental.”

Twilight’s face changed. Her ears folded back, “You what?”

“We castrate them. And we put them to work,” Xavier said, his eyes steady. “While there are those of us who fight against what I am about to tell you, many others will simply beat them for disobedience, or use spurs to -”

“Stop…” Twilight barked.

“And when they get too old to work, we kill them. We skin them. And we sell the-”

“STOP!” Twilight bellowed.

Xavier ceased. Twilight looked away and then looked back at Xavier, his dilapidated face gazing at her unblinkingly, awaiting proclamation.

“We are not your horses,” Twilight finally said. “As nice as it is to see you a little more lucid, and as awful as those things are, your kind did not do that to us ponies. And besides, I’ve been around farms before Xavier. Gryphons do their own skinning and repurposing of parts. And we’re not horses Xavier, just like you’re not a gorilla, so you don’t need to confess a moot point.”

Xavier’s visage softened and turned away.

“Not the judgement you were hoping for? Besides,” Twilight gulped. “We castrate some of our own domesticated livestock. A friend explained it to me. She keeps sheep for their wool. Some of the male sheep are… aggressive and as awful as it is, it’s a strategy she and her family used to keep the herd under control. She also says it makes their wool finer and better for market. Griffins will do it too because, if I recall right, it makes the meat taste better for some.”

Xavier said nothing, remaining still on the ground.

“Xavier, you said your horses scare you.” Twilight paused for a second. “Do I scare you?” Twilight intoned slowly, looking down at him, her front knees shuffling about against the ground. “Like the time they made you ride one?”

Xavier grumbled for a second, then replied, “Are you going to throw me six feet off the ground and trample me?”

“I would never throw yo-,” Twilight spat out on reflex. Then froze, her eyes widened as she remembered Sally. Shaking her head, she composed herself, saying, “Well besides, you can’t exactly ride me…”

“Then you don’t scare me in that way…”

“In that way?”

“Yes.”

“Then how do I scare you?” Twilight’s voice let out a slight tremble.

“The same way that only a unicorn who has mastered magic can,” Xavier said.

“A-A little respect is nice,” Twilight answered, then paused. “But you don’t need to be frightened of me.”

Xavier didn’t respond. Twilight watched the slow expansion and contraction of his chest, then turned away to look at the woods. An almost dark tan shade of green was laid scratched out before her. The sun had just hit apogee and was starting to darken the forest ever so slightly. Lifting herself up, she walked over to her pile of branches and twigs and started grabbing them and dropping them into the extinguished campfire.

“The third time I came over,” Xavier mumbled as Twilight dropped another branch into the campfire, “I found a family of earth ponies.”

Twilight stopped her building and faced Xavier, her ears fully perked up.

“I found a tree to take shade in, I sat down and felt the grass and the cool breeze swept over me. Then I saw them, there were three of them. Two mares and a stallion. At the time I thought it was a married couple and their child, but now I know it was probably two mares and their stallion. They were caring for this… Absolute beautiful monstrosity of the garden. And I watch them, and they seem so… Happy.”

Twilight looked down, then at the pile of wood she was building before gently sauntering over to Xavier.

“I snuck closer, they didn’t see me. But it wasn’t like they were looking either, nor was I particularly camouflaged. So, I got closer, and they were whistling and humming together. And then the strangest thing happened. One of the mares asked the stallion to ‘please go over to the trellis’ and he did as she asked without complaint. Then she asked for permission to use him as a step stool. Each time using please and thank you,” Xavier let out a long sigh.

Twilight lowered herself to the ground, then blew her bangs out of the way to get a clearer view of her Eques. His head was angled on, his eyes closed as he continued.

“So, she climbed atop of him, and she started trimming the vines. Then she lost her footing and tumbled down, dropping the blade and bumping her head and hooves against his own head, bringing the pair down. The other mare ran over and cried out and asked if they were okay. Then the two who fell down to earth just started laughing. And the other mare started laughing. Then the mare that fell apologized and they all just got up and made sure no one was hurt. And again, they were so… happy. And that’s when I realize that this was paradise.”

Twilight frowned as she glanced away.

“A world where everyone uses please and thank you, were the lessons I learned at five years old from stories with a big bird and a grouch on how to behave were finally applicable.”

Twilight looked back over at Xavier and tilted her head slightly.

“The lessons they taught failed me the first day I was in first grade and got called names and laughed at. Those lessons only served to ostracize me. But here, in paradise, no one called each other names, everyone used please and thank you, and honest mistakes were just honest mistakes. So, I resolved to do everything I could to stay here. I didn’t know that Equus was at war at the time.” Xavier started laughing, then gasping in pain. He stopped, calming himself down before continuing, “I fell into that classic trap of assuming a sample is representative of the whole.”

Twilight frowned, then finally spoke up, “We weren’t what you expected I guess?”

Xavier nodded like jagged, broken glass, “But still… At the time, I convinced myself that entering the conflict was worth the sacrifice. Maybe ponies could be a model for us to emulate. And through emulation we could become close to you. So, I pushed forward. Then as I fought, I discovered the truth I had deluded myself from that day onward. You’re no better than us. You’re no worse than us. That on both Equus and Terra, we can only be as good as our respective worlds let us.”

Twilight’s ears fell flat, she looked away from Xavier as he slowly breathed in and out.

“It didn’t used to be that way,” Twilight finally answered. “At least, when I was a filly back then, the world felt different. More organized, everything had its proper place.”

“Yes…” Xavier replied. “The unfortunate coddling of youth can ill prepare us…”

Twilight nodded, “Mom and Dad were always busy. My brother and Cadence practically raised me.”

“Cadence?”

“Princess Mi Amore Cadenza,” Twilight answered. “But I knew her better as ‘The greatest foal-sitter in all the history of foal-sitters’.”

“Oh yes, the third princess. Regardless, that’s quite the…” Xavier inhaled, then finally let out a long exhale, “Appellation.”

“Mom was a writer,” Twilight started. “It wasn’t her brand. She got it for astronomy. Her herd sisters found it infuriating that she kept pushing against her mark. And dad wasn’t too happy with that either. But she was a magpie…”

“Magpie?”

“Sorry,” Twilight stopped for a second. “She wasn’t happy with just her talent, so she kept pushing other interests.”

Xavier moved a bit, adjusting himself, “I thought that was frowned on.”

“It is,” Twilight said, her eyes gazing down. “If she followed the destiny her mark laid out for her, she could have become a Royal Astronomer. Maybe even served directly under Celestia as the Court Astronomer. But she always looked at her mark with annoyance. Said she got hers too soon. She told me she would have preferred to have gotten her mark later in life so she could try more things out. Didn’t stop her though.”

“Sounds to me that she didn’t want to,” Xavier breathed in and out. “… Be pigeonholed.”

“Pigeonholed?” Twilight tilted her head.

“To be pegged to one talent for the rest of her life,” Xavier answered.

“… I see. But you’re right. And she never forgave her mark for that. I remember when I was a filly, she would still go try other talents. And eventually she settled on both adventuring and writing.”

Xavier grunted, “Adventuring? That’s something that can encapsulate a lot of different things…”

“Well, she had a sort of wanderlust. She would leave for weeks on end, looking for adventure, then come back and write for months. Dad didn’t have that luxury and my brother told me that while they were mostly cordial in front of the herd, there were arguments behind closed doors. But I do remember a nasty one when I was a foal, and she was sent to the second bed. Strangely, I was told Mom was supposed to be our lead at the start. She and dad were the ones that started the herd, but things happened when the herd started bringing in new members and she was never able to take on the lead mare position. And she was never really interested in anything outside our band anyways.”

“How did your dad balance everything?”

“He,” Twilight trailed off. “I think mom’s absence made it easier on him. He was able to focus on taking care of the other herd mothers. Our lead was particularly demanding of him, but thankfully my brother and Cadence were there to take care of me during periods neither my mom nor dad couldn’t.”

“Be honest,” Xavier mumbled. “Is this something every family in Canterlot goes through?”

“Xavier,” Twilight started, she looked away, closed her eyes then turned back. “There’s something we need to talk about before I answer that. I know that you have been adamant that we are not a herd, but for the sake of the next part, I need you to, if not be open to the idea, then be silent as I explain it.”

Xavier nodded.

“When I sung out to you, and our herd first formed, you and I are not any common herd. We are members of lower royalty now.”

Xavier giggled.

Twilight’s lips curled downwards as she narrowed her eyes, “Something funny?”

“Forgive me,” Xavier choked out another laugh. “The circumstances of our bonding are becoming more absurd by the moment,” Xavier gave out a pained grunt. “The idea that because I sang a small section of a duet with you without my volition, one that I don’t understand, not only immediately inducted me into a family unit, but grants me aristocrat status in a society that sees my kind as hostile is, frankly, the cherry on top.”

“Well…” Twilight looked away. “Under normal circumstances your new rank would entitle you to a few things, an allowance, admission to parts of Canterlot only we can go to, exemption from a few things. Though given my current exiled status, I guess it doesn’t mean too much.”

“Do I get a fancy title?” Xavier gave a silly, tired grin.

Twilight shook her head, “Just the courtesy title Lord.”

“Already got one of those,” Xavier mumbled.

Twilight raised an eye at Xavier, “What?”

“It was a joke, I got it as a gift a few years ago. Some pretend parcel of land. Thing was a scam anyways, but they still paid money to pull my leg,” Xavier answered.

“Well, scam or not, you are technically a Lord now. Though now that I think about it,” Twilight looked up and let her eyes danced left and right until finally she said, “actually I think we’re upper royalty now.”

“Oh?” Xavier said. “Does that mean I get to have the real fancy cookies from the bakery?”

Twilight let out an entertained puff of air, “No.”

“So how did we get this promotion without doing anything?”

“So normally,” Twilight began. “If I weren’t exiled, and we just formed this herd in the normal way, you would have to stay with me for 15 years before you were granted the rank of lower royal along with the courtesy title.”

“But because of Heartsong…”

“Right, because of Heartsong, you were admitted to a rank on par with mine the moment you answered. The way it was explained to me was its an attempt to try and stem any issues that might arise from the pair being unequal in rank, like the story of the bakery mare. Though to be honest, there was much more going on in that story beyond unequal rank, but here’s the rub…” Twilight lightly curled her lips, “Since I’m one of the Elements of Harmony, I am only allowed to form a herd with members of upper royalty…”

“Which I’m not…” Xavier said.

“Obviously,” Twilight nodded. “But bear with me for a moment, it gets a little messy. Before I herd up, I’m simply a provisional member of upper royalty. Effectively, the rank is in waiting. Waiting for me to select a herd within the upper royalty to join. Which I now have, if you forgive the presupposition…”

Xavier nodded, “Let’s continue with this hypothetical presupposition.”

“So, here’s my current status, I am currently in a herd. However, none of its members are upper royalty. Which means under normal circumstances, the herd itself takes on the highest rank of the member with the highest status. So, if I were not exiled, we would most definitely be lower royalty… But an Element of Harmony is not permitted to be in a herd of less than upper royalty. Again, under normal circumstances I would review offers and do interviews to see which herd in the ton would be willing to take me on. That or I’d just start a herd with a stallion who is already an upper royal.”

“But Heartsong…”

Twilight nodded again, “But Heartsong. Since, as far as I know, this simply has never happened before, there would be an Assembly of Upper Royals to pass judgment, which based on precedence with how important me and the other Elements of Harmony are… I would say that they would have no choice but to admit us to the status of Upper Royalty.”

“So,” Xavier said with a mellow, pained tone. “Does that mean I get a bigger allowance? Can I buy for that Okama Gamesphere that’s been eyeing me in the pawnshop? Do I finally get that doggy in the window?”

“Gamesphere?”

“Sorry,” Xavier let out a cross between a grunt and a chuckle. “Just a joke from a long time ago.”

“Well,” Twilight looked up. “Yes, we would get a bigger allowance, and our herd would have been assigned supervisory roles in something. But there are a few other things as well…” Twilight began numbering off, “First, we would have to maintain appearances as befitting our new station. Also, we would probably be assigned governmental duties such as sitting on budget committees. Then there are the parties we would have to attend…”

“So, what you’re saying is being pampered is a full-time job?” asked Xavier.

“Sorry if I go off on a tangent here,” Twilight shot Xavier a grumpy look. “I don’t understand why other ponies just assume nobility doesn’t do anything. Attending the Grand Galloping Gala is great the first two or three times, but your job there is to mingle.”

Xavier took in a deep breath, “So, explain to me why six hours of mingling is more arduous work then plowing the fields for ten?”

Twilight reeled back her head, then thought for a few moments, “Risk.”

Xavier slowly turned to Twilight and raised an eye.

“Listen,” Twilight started. “My mom was never really into the responsibilities of nobility. But my dad was. He taught me that the allowance that you been harping on about? That’s not free money. That’s to ensure that we can meet the bare minimum of living in Canterlot. Ideally, our main money flow comes from the work we do and the projects we oversee. Also, if we’re landed, the money we make off taxes assuming we lend the property out to competent tenants. But there are times where the works we do aren’t enough, or the projects we oversee fail, or if we’re landed, a bad harvest strangles our tax revenue.”

“So, in principle, if you do a good job at whatever you pick up…”

“Right, if our works provide value to the kingdom, its rewards will be more than enough to sustain us. Conversely, in bad times, we might only get our allowance, but we will not find ourselves out on the streets just because the waterworks project we were tasked to oversee fails due to drought.”

“So, what happens,” Xavier breathed in and out. “When a herd repeatedly fails?”

Twilight shifted her eyes side to side, “Depending on the situation, more likely than not, the herd will just split up and each of its members will find a new herd in their level of nobility to join.” Twilight curled her front legs, and took on the shape of a loaf as she spoke, “The projects will be reassigned new overseers unless it’s a particularly onery project that has failed multiple times under different herds. Then it might get escalated to Celestia’s direct management, but understand, that rarely happens. But for the members of that herd, if an assigned task fails due to particularly onerous members of nobility, they may be put on a probationary period or expunged from the noble record.”

“Give me some examples.”

“One good example would be bookkeeping fraud, lying on reports, dereliction of duty,- ”

“Exile?”

“Ah!” Twilight said, turning an eye to Xavier. “I see where you’re going with this, and no, just because I’m exiled doesn’t mean my nobility has been stripped.”

“Why?” Xavier asked.

“There are many reasons for exile beyond just the worst offenses,” Twilight said with a gulp. “Depending on the situation, exile may be done in order to address a political crisis. Tell me, do you have scapegoats in your society?”

“Unfortunately…”

“Well, sometimes there are incidents where you need a scapegoat… Exile provides us a way to do that without execution. But wherever that pony goes, as long as they keep their noble title, they’ll be afforded more, shall we say, latitude. As an example, the Abyssinians acknowledge our titles and would give us safe harbor if one went to them.”

“So why didn’t you go to them?” Xavier asked. “Would you not have been well taken care of?”

Twilight sighed, “It’s not as easy as that, being a guest would require that I occasionally help out my hosts…”

“So, you’re worried that Canterlot will put you on the chopping block if you, the element of magic, provide services to another country,” Xavier said.

“More than just that,” Twilight said. “As you have pointed out, I’m not just any unicorn.”

“So symbolically you can’t hand over that kind of power?” Xavier asked.

“Would you hand over that kind of power to strangers?” Twilight replied.

Xavier mumbled for a second, “One must cultivate one’s own garden, one must play with the hand that they’re dealt.”

“So, if you were in my position, you would take up residence in foreign lands?” Twilight huffed.

Xavier took a breath, “I’m a survivor Twilight. Arguably I have more in common with a cockroach than you.”

Twilight raised an eye, “A cockroach?”

“Survival, like politics, is simply the art of the possible. You work with what you have,” Xavier scanned the burrow, “You understand, even if only at an unconscious level.”

“I don’t think I like being compared to a cockroach,” Twilight grumbled.

Xavier shook his head, “First, we don’t have any aid supplies specifically for puncture wounds and yet you made do with what we had. Next, to solve the problem of getting me moved, once again you took what we had and worked with it. Finally, when the opportunity presented itself, you chose this burrow as our camp. Quick thinking, imagination, taking the opportunities presented. On a very real level that’s magic whether you care for it or not.”

Twilight pulled back her head, looked away, “It’s not real magic.”

“I disagree, the mare you told me about. The one who enchanted her toy just to try and keep her place in the sun. Perhaps some might say you’re irrational, unpredictable, delusional, indifferent to the well-being of others,” Xavier started.

Twilight lowered her head as she closed her eyes, letting her ears fold back.

“But let’s try another perspective. Let’s look at it from, to use your lingo gently, somepony who feels that her survival as a student is on the line. Somepony who is afraid of the obliteration that you obviously went through Twilight. So, she has a problem. And I can only imagine, because of how highly you speak of Celestia, the fear that was coursing through her veins. She looked at her situation, like one might look at a very cold night and decide in order to survive, she needs to make heat somehow. So, you made your own fire, only in your haste and desperation for heat, you built your fire too near a tree. But still, the imagination, quick thinking, taking what you had and working with it. All marks of a cunning and creative being. Tell me, what ended up happening?”

Twilight turned towards Xavier, her eyes looking bottom left, “Celestia fixed my mistake. She didn’t cast me away, only a gentle reprimand and an insistence that for now on, I only send reports when I have them to send.”

Xavier nodded, “As a teacher should to a student. Though if your damage wasn’t as bad as it was, I would’ve changed one thing about her reaction to what you had done.”

“And that would be?”

“I would force you to fix your own mistake. If lives weren’t at risk, while I would stand by to give a word of wisdom and encouragement, you would have so much to gain simply by having to fix your own problems,” Xavier finished.

Twilight’s head pulled back as she asked, “Why?”

“Two reasons,” Xavier said. “First, it engraved that lesson into your soul, having to fix that much damage. At the very least, you’ll think twice before doing something like that again. Or if you’re even more creative, if you need to cause a lot of destruction quickly, you know just how to do it now…”

Twilight gulped at the latter point.

“Second, fixing the mistake itself may be educational. Perhaps you learn new skills that will help you help others clean up disaster areas quickly. Or a disenchantment spell that disperses the effects of that sort of control,” Xavier continued. Then he paused and rolled his head over at Twilight, “Just… Out of curiosity, how did you take control of those other ponies?”

Twilight raised her head a little, “Why do you ask?”

“It seems to me that whatever spell you used, it acts a little symmetric to how Sombra’s mind control works,” Xavier said.

Twilight shook her head, “The two are nothing alike. I use what’s called a ‘Want It, Need It’ spell. And that was before unicorn magic had severely weakened. Honestly, if I were able to cast it right now, the effects would be much more subdued.”

“Is that how Celestia was able to dispel it?” Xavier asked.

Twilight nodded, pulling up her forelegs a bit and looking down at her hooves “Yes. In fact, the spell she used was the basis of our attempts at trying to disenchant the Crystal ponies that had been mind controlled by Sombra.” Twilight looked up to see that Xavier was nodding, then continued, “But we were never able to get an exact understanding on what he was doing. We knew for a fact that it had something to do with the helmets that he would force on them. But we couldn’t do any direct study of the helmets because of their insidious nature…”

“They slowly drew you to try and don them, right?” Xavier asked.

“Yes,” Twilight pursed her lips as her ears fell back. “We tried to get dragons and griffins to assist us, but neither group knew enough magic since well…”

“One thing you should know,” Xavier said, adjusting himself, “is that the design of the standard helmet has many layers of forging and design. If you were to split a helmet in half and look at it, beneath the initial outer layer protecting the cranium is a black obsidian substrate, some mixture of metal and black obsidian fragments. Then beneath that is a thick sheet of iron between the black obsidian substrate and well…” Xavier trailed off for a second, biting his lower lip, “The part of the helmet that takes over the mind.”

Twilight thought for a moment and narrowed her eyes, “You’ve examined one?”

“Well, we’re not ponies, so we split it, figured out its workings. There are variations of course where because of supply shortages, and there were deficiencies or absences of specific components in a few helmets, but” Xavier trailed off. “It’s an insidious mass-produced artifact Twilight.”

“Then how did you handle the enchantment aspect of it?” Twilight asked.

Xavier paused, breathing slowly, then answered, “Easy, it wasn’t enchanted like how you enchanted Smarty Pants.”

“… Inscription,” Twilight frowned.

“Inscription,” Xavier nodded. “It’s concealed. So looking inside a helmet only reveals whatever they had on hand, cloth, leather, even hay. And after that, there is a thin, initial concealing layer of copper, but after that…”

Twilight looked away, breathing in and out as she closed her eyes and let out a sigh.

Xavier watched Twilight, her ears weren’t flat towards the back, but towards the sides of her head as her tail stayed still.

“So,” Xavier started, letting out a cough, “you’re an aristocrat right, does that mean you have a rank?”

A serene smile rose on Twilight’s face, drawing her out of her funk, “I was a Baronetess, but when I started studying under Celestia, I was elevated to Baroness. And through my hard work, created Viscountess then Countess.”

“So, you are technically Countess Twilight Sparkle?” Xavier asked.

“Right,” Twilight nodded.

Xavier wiggled for a moment, “Baroness, Viscountess, Countess… Marchioness, Dutchess, Princess?”

“That’s really close,” Twilight smiled. “Between Dutchess and Princess is Archduchess, and of course, there are only three mares permitted to hold the rank of Princess.”

Xavier nodded, “Of course. Of course. One cannot outrank the top.” Then Xavier’s eyes shifted left and right for a moment, confusion painted on his face, “But the House of Baronesses was… an elected body? From what you just said, that implies there are positions granted?”

“It is unicameral, yes,” Twilight said, giving an nod. “But there are several assemblages. The Harmony Delegates which are the elected Baronesses you’re thinking of. But there are also the Elite Consuls and Regal Delegates. Care to take a guess which assemblage I’m technically in?”

Xaiver paused, then looked up, “The Elite Consuls?”

Twilight shook her head, “Nope. Those are Baronesses who were appointed to their rank by commission and are made up of experts and noteworthy ponies.”

“And you’re not an experts or noteworthy?”

Twilight narrowed her eyes and let out a snort, “I am a member of the Regal Delegates. We were appointed by Celestia directly to protect her Kingdom’s interests.”

Another look of confusion swept Xavier’s face, “But… isn’t that the Harmony Delegate’s job? If they’re the elected body, don’t they have their electorate’s interests in mind.”

“Well, I mean, you can’t always trust the citizenry,” Twilight chuckled.

Xavier went silent, looking at the dirt floor and curling his lips downwards, “How many votes does it take for legislation to pass?”

Twilight raised an eye, then pursed her lips as she gazed to her left, “Two thirds most of the time. Occasionally some legislation like kingdom budgets only require a simple majority to pass. A lot of that is negotiated before the proposal is presented.”

Xavier was quiet for a moment. Then he grumbled, “How many seats each?”

“Seats? 823 in total, 288 to the Regal, 140 to the Elite and 395 to the Harmony Delegates.”

Xavier’s fingers started flicking up and down as his eyes bounced back and forth, occasionally looking up for long moments before finally saying, “About 35%, enough to stop a super majority with I think 11 or 13 seats to spare.”

Twilight raised an eye, “Implying?”

“Implying that Celestia can stop any legislation she wants from passing,” Xavier mumbled.

“I mean, of course she can,” Twilight said, a slight frown bustling forth. “But she doesn’t need the regal delegates to block it for her.”

“How long are your appointments?”

“Lifetime.”

“Can she dismiss her appointments?”

“Of course.”

“Does her appointments have to be vetted?”

“No, why would they need to be vetted? She picked them.”

“So, in principle she could dismiss and appoint a single pony to the same seat over and over again in a single day?”

“In principle…”

“Does Luna get any representation within the regal delegates?”

“In fact, yes,” Twilight said, unamused. “Celestia was generous enough to give her sister her own representation as well.”

“How many?”

“Three.”

Xavier raised an eye, “Just three?”

“Trust me,” Twilight said. “Celestia has Luna’s best interest in mind when she appoints her own delegates.”

“But not enough to have equal appointment privileges within the legislative body.”

“Your point?”

“I don’t have one.”

“That’s not what this sounds like to me. It sounds like you are trying to imply that Celestia plays politics. I’ll have you know that except for diplomatic matters, Celestia keeps her hoofs out of politics.”

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Okay.”

Twilight just stared at Xavier for a moment before shooting him a sharp look, “You were obviously trying to make a point of something.”

“No, just trying to understand the game.”

“Then why don’t you stop playing games and get to the point,” Twilight snapped.

“I’m not trying to make a point,” Xavier said, “I’m trying to figure out how much weight your society places on the voices of its citizens versus the voices of its upper echelons.”

“Sounds like you would follow a stampede off a cliff,” Twilight mumbled.

“I never said that,” Xavier answered.

“It’s what you implied.”

“That is not-”

“Then what are you trying to say?” Twilight snapped once more.

There was a pause before Xavier answered, “No matter the political system, there are always two ranks, the movers and shakers, and everyone else. Even in a direct democracy there are those who can rile up the crowd, get them on their side, make them vote their way because of how charismatic they are. But each system is built atop different rules. Different values and traditions. What I was trying to understand was exactly how many hoops your upper ranks had to jump through to get their way if they oppose Celestia politically.”

“It sounded like you’re going to accuse us of not having the Kingdom’s subjects’ best interests at heart,” Twilight said.

“No nation does,” Xavier mumbled. “All I was trying to figure out in this case was how easily your upper ranks can stop any change they disagree with. What really worries me is Luna’s three representatives.”

“That’s what worries you?” Twilight responded, her eyebrows furrowing at the human.

“Yes, it could mean many things. Perhaps Luna is not interested in politics. Or perhaps she’s just interested enough to have representatives vote on what they perceive to be her behalf. Maybe given her defeat, she is afraid of exerting influence. Or perhaps Celestia doesn’t trust Luna to appoint representatives that have both of their interests in mind. Or perhaps I’m overthinking it. But what really worries me is what if Luna starts wanting more?”

Twilight just shook her head and sighed as Xavier continued.

“What if she somehow symbolically gains more power over time? Might she be given more representatives to account for this? Or is she going to make a more modern play for power?”

“Luna would never do that, you don’t know her like I do, you don’t know Celestia like I do,” Twilight growled, shaking her head impatiently.

“Exactly, I don’t know them. But what I do have is abstract knowledge on how power in various political systems works. Luna may be a princess, but she’s obviously second potatoes to her sister, who built an elaborate power system to give the illusion of empowering her subjects. That or she constructed such a tangle of committees and bodies of representatives that to make any meaningful change, you have to spend years ingratiating yourself into the system as it changes you into something that’s depended on that very same system.”

“You think she’s going to rebel again?”

“For some given value of rebellion,” Xavier answered. “But the truth is she has already shown that she will rebel once before. This means that the chances of her rebelling again are not zero.”

“Why am I even having this conversation with you?” Twilight spat, getting up and growling. “It’s obvious you don’t have any respect for those I look up to.”

“I have,” Xavier let out a pained grunt, gritting his teeth for a moment before saying, “respect for you.”

“Oh, only after you buck up so hard that here you are, on deaths door and I’m the only thing keeping you from crossing over,” Twilight hissed.

“You saved your world twice without a drop of violence,” Xavier scowled at Twilight. “Twice. So don’t think I don’t acknowledge you as my superior in that domain Twilight Sparkle. And it only took you and five others while I had to become a cog in a greater machine that left a wake of destruction behind us. Letting my own personal will be willingly subsumed by a hierarchy that had its own motives and goals. So do not!” Xavier let out a pained yelp as he enunciated, “Assume that my respect for you is merely gratitude...”

“For someone who distrusts authority figures, you sure put a lot of weight on others accounts of my deeds,” Twilight sneered, then looked at the burrow’s entry way.

“What needs to be said? Everyone I talk to-”

Twilight raised her voice, “Do you think I got Nightmare Moon to surrender? To give up with words? Do you think I negotiated with her? No! And do you think Discord was someone you could negotiate with?! No! He only took Canterlot and its outer boarders Xavier! Most of the others you have probably heard from looked at us with terror and a swell of relief when he was stopped. But they were not in the small patch of Equues he took over. They did not have to undergo the experience of being turned into Cider, still aware, and being unable to do anything as, oh, your sibling drank you up! Or how about thinking you’re a dog and have always been a dog? Do you think I was going to hand Discord a formal objection and schedule dates for negotiation of surrender with that thing? I don’t know where you got it that my successes were free of violence, but we both stopped Nightmare Moon and Discord before they could continue to harm others!”

Xavier said nothing, a tepid, mellow expression took hold as Twilight looked on, waiting for his response.

“Twilight,” Xavier started. “Let’s… change the subject. How bad does my wound look?”

Twilight only glanced at Xavier for a second before saying, “It’s…” She paused, then took a breath, “You’re tore up. You have at least 18 wounds in total.”

“That bad,” Xavier nodded. “Then we need to talk about you going on without me.”

“Don’t be so dramatic,” Twilight said with a whip of her tail.

“Twilight…” Xavier interjected.

“And besides, the bleeding has basically stopped at this point, and-”

“Twilight…”

“The moment we get you back on your feet, we can just-” Twilight looked over at Xavier, who just glared at her. Her mouth froze as he slowly spoke.

“Let’s not beat around the bush, if even one of my wounds goes septic, even with your exemplary work patching me up, I would have hours, maybe days if I’m lucky. Once it gets to that point, we need to see about getting you taken care of,” Xavier said with a hushed voice.

Twilight took a moment to look at Xavier, and blinked, “Oh, so now you care about me?”

“The moment it seems obvious that I’m not going to make it, I want you to pack whatever you can, take what you need from my pack and leave me here,” Xavier continued on. “Just be sure to leave me the knife, in case things get that painful.”

Twilight’s jaw dropped, as she looked on Xavier with indignant rage, “Oh I bet you would just like me to go. Not that that wasn’t your objective from the start,” Twilight gave a snort.

“Please…” Xavier’s face took on a slight glaze, “let’s be real. I should be dead now. Only at your last-minute intervention did you manage to salvage me. But the situation may be unrecoverable. We need to discuss what’s going to happen to you.”

“Says you,” Twilight snapped at Xavier. “The moment we can get you walking, we can go back to the road and get you some help.”

“Twilight, you have-”

“I don’t know if we should see about waiting for another caravan, or we should head back to the last town, but-”

“Twilight, you have-”

“I’m thinking we should head back to the last town-”

“Twilight, you have permission to leave me to die.”

Silence fell over the burrow as Twilight just slowly turned her head at Xavier.

“You are not abandoning me, you are not leaving me to die, do you understand? If I get so bad that it’s obvious that I won’t recover, or for any other reason you deem fit, I am telling you right now. You did not abandon me. Do you understand?”

Twilight glanced away as Xavier reiterated, “Leaving me to my fate will not be an act of cowardice or malevolence or anything else. If there comes a time that you have decided that there is no reason for you to stay, I need to know that you will not stay any longer than you have to. I need to know that you will not beat yourself up about it decades from now.”

Twilight gulped as she slowly found her words, “You don’t get to decide that.”

“You’re right,” Xavier answered. “But I am telling you that future mare that you will become that you did everything you could. There was nothing more you could have done. My death is on my own head, not yours.”

Twilight turned towards Xavier, red flashing behind her purple eyes and screamed “You don’t get to decide that! You don’t get to decide the situation is so unsalvageable that I’ll need your pity in the future! That I won’t be able to move on without you uncharacteristically telling me it’s okay! My self-esteem is not so wrapped up in you that I won’t be able to move on! What a piece of work you are,” Twilight sneered.

Xavier watched Twilight, she was biting her lower lip. Her nostrils flared, her ears screaming to the back of her skull.

Then he looked down and finally said, “You were correct Twilight, I am a monster.”

Twilight’s ferocious features suddenly softened, “Correct?”

“I am a monster.”

Twilight’s head recoiled, “I didn’t mean that.” Then her eyelids fluttered as she blurted out, “I was just trying to get you to safety.”

“Irrelevant,” Xavier said. “I am a monster. This I will not deny.”

Twilight frowned then turned away and started walking towards her saddlebag, “You’re just saying that so it might get me to leave you sooner.”

Xavier shook his head, then his face furrowed “I, I don’t know how many Crystal Ponies I killed Twilight.”

Twilight froze, then slowly turned to face Xavier.

“Sometimes we’d get lucky and we could corner two or three. With some support and time, we could get those helmets off. If we were lucky, they were some of the older helmets, we just had to undo the strap and lift the thing. But the newer helmets held on tightly, with or without a strap. If we had a unicorn who knew what she was doing, it would take her about 10 minutes each while we held them down and she tried to probe a weak spot in the black obsidian substrate. If we didn’t,” Xavier lifted his hand to his face, “repeated blows to the head eventually worked. Forcing a concussion on them sometimes disrupted the flow of magic within the inscriptions inside the helm, but not always. The lucky ones only had a single concussion. The unlucky ones…”

Twilight slowly let her rump fall to the floor as she stared at Xavier.

“Artillery fire really won the war, our more advanced tech like guided missiles were useless on the side, anything with transistors. But you don’t need transistors for mortar fire. And unlike this side of the veil, we’ve mastered contemporary force on force conflicts, especially once we were able to start manufacturing obsidian. The real issue came when we needed to send small groups of individuals far away from the intermeshing zones for strategic strikes. We couldn’t bring our communications tech to maximum range here, so everyone needed to know how to fight and kill if you left even 5 km outside the intermeshing zones. And there are places where there would only be 13 of us versus entire divisions of them.” Xavier glanced down at his wrapped arms, “But depending on the tools you had at hand and enough prep time, and if you could bait them to fight on favorable ground, because their collective minds became so hive like in huge numbers, killing them was, to simply put, easy.”

Twilight couldn’t peel herself away. Her ears faced Xavier, as he looked away from her.

“The first time it was against a small contingent, standing guard at a pass. Couldn’t use guns because it would have drawn attention, and we didn’t have enough arrows, so… knives it was. Alexandra and Roxanne were well practiced, I on the other hand was not. I was trying to do everything to make it as quick and painless as possible that I screwed up on the slice. I don’t know if I hit a nerve or if the two nearby deaths were enough to shock it or what. Regardless, I fucked up and I made that pony’s death much more painful than it had to be.”

“We finished our tasks and left. Did the whole fretting over it for two days while the others got tired of my shit real quick. Soon after I started my real education in slaughter. Then the feeling of killing faded. I know some of the others had a phase where they really got into it you know, really enjoyed it. Others got a sick thrill, and others went through a myriad of different emotions. I seemed to have skipped that step. I got to the part where all it left you was with this banal sensation. Day in, day out, it started becoming more of a chore than anything else. I think that was the worst part of it, had all the stories tell me about how killing follows you for the rest your life, or how it makes you a monster, or how it makes you a real human being. For me?” Xavier shrugged, “It became a shitty part-time job. It had the same vibe as stocking the shelves or cleaning up the bathrooms. And you know what the worst part was?”

Twilight just stared at Xavier, her mouth slightly agape.

“They thanked us. Moment the war is over, they thanked us, threw us an awards ceremony,” Xavier pointed at the lavender colored cloth trapped in plastic at the far end of the burrow, “gave us that thing and told us that they would be forever thankful. Like that’s what I wanted, more shit to carry. Their fucking gratitude. I would have preferred a thanks, but please never return. I could’ve at least understood that. But no, we’re heroes to them.”

Twilight blinked as she was finally able to turn away. She ambled over to her saddlebag, and let the inscription hug her barrel tight. When she left the burrow, she didn’t even turn around to look at Xavier. The sound of her hoof steps soon faded and Xavier was once again alone.

The human took a shallow breath, then closed his eyes. The cool air made his fingers twitched, and he hugged himself. From the entrance, there was a chirp. Opening his eyes, Xavier once again saw the golden red plumage of the Phoenix that had been skulking around. It blinked at him as its pupils pinned.

“Snooping as usual I see…” Xavier declared, forcing his voice into an exaggerated, elevated tone that dripped with over the top gravitas.

The Phoenix turned its head and cocked it at Xavier, letting out a coo.

“You act as if you can understand me…”

Once more the Phoenix cooed. Its crest raised, the three feathers that made up its crown bobbed with its beak open slightly, then it started bobbing its head up and down for a second.

“Curious,” Xavier mumbled. “I would’ve expected you to fly off and leave me to my fate, there’s nothing to be gained. But then again I never met a Phoenix before, and based on that beak, you could just be waiting for me to expire to try some exotic meat. If you can understand me, just as a recommendation, you’ll want to try the quadriceps. Probably the meatiest part on me I think, though I’m not sure. Not a cannibal…”

The bird let out a low chirp, then ruffled its feathers. It opened its beak slightly and let out a hiss.

“All right, all right, obviously I said something to offend your avian sensibilities. You’ll have to forgive me, I could be dying as we speak, so I’m going to take every opportunity to enjoy what little time I have,” Xavier let out a harsh, slow giggle. “You have to understand, I’m probably misinterpreting everything you’re trying to communicate because the way my specie’s mind works is it, is it… is it anthropomorphizes things. Even if you could talk, I probably wouldn’t understand what you had to say…”

The Phoenix scratched at the ground for a second, then let its feathers relax, clicking its beak twice.

“I’m going to give you the surface name Scratch. Now,” Xavier let out a haggard cough, then once more brought his exaggerated voice to bare, “Scratch, bring me Grounder and Coconut! Or I’m going to demote you to Scrub Monkey, third class!” Xavier started letting out an infinitesimal laugh, each giggle slithering out slowly from his throat as Scratch turned its head at Xavier, giving him a good look with its left eye.

Twilight lowered her head and bit the cattail’s stem with her incisors. Letting her mouth grab ahold of the plant, she placed it on the ground with the others. After she left Xavier, she had followed the small source of water upstream, and found a large pristine pond. Slowly, she began to lay claim to a vast ocean of wavering plants. Every so often, she would need to spit as the taste of dirt finally overcame her and take a break, gazing at the serene pond. A tall conical like protrusion of earth jutted from the center of the body of water, where a small tree grew, dancing back and forth with the wind. But soon, she had a decent pile of plants. She already had taken off her saddlebag, and had begun tying the bunches of plants to it so that they wouldn’t fall over when it was time to go.

She spat a bit more, as she let her rump fall to the ground. She had already taken her Thornback for the day and she still felt queasy. Xavier’s revelation made it worse.

Does he think I was born yesterday? Twilight asked herself, her teeth slicing through another stalk. He’s probably lying, just saying that so that I’ll just… then the memory of what he did to that mare outside the stationary shop burst forth. Okay fine, maybe he did do somethings. He’s still just a male. It’s not like the humans have a royal guard. And what he did was fine since he was putting that aggression towards protecting the herd, whether he’ll accept he’s in one or not. But still… if that lavender square is what I think it is…

Taking in a deep breath, she lifted herself back up and moved to another cluster of cattails as a thought crept forth, And besides… Rainbow Dash and Pinky Pie also fought.

She froze, her front leg in midstep when she realized what she had accidentally uncovered in her mind. Putting her hoof down, she continued the train of thought: I mean, I just assumed they knocked out Sombra’s enthralled. But… they may have-

Twilight winced as she shook her head, then hung it low, No, I’m deluding myself. They did kill. There was a reason so many ponies rallied behind Rainbow Dash and besides, she would not have lost her wing without a fight. And that’s ignoring Pinkie Pie’s demeanor. She went from goofy baker to subdued fighter, her temperament almost like her sister. The longer Pinkie fought, the less she smiled. It was always strange to see her back from rotation. I wouldn’t have minded her taking things a little more seriously, but what she became was… far beyond anything I would have wanted to see her turn into…

Twilight teared up as she realized, But still, neither Pinkie Pie’s nor Rainbow Dash’s coat dulled during the war. They were able to remain themselves on some level. Even after they did what they must have done, they still remained the same ponies fundamentally…

But… does this mean that our fight with Discord took more of a toll on them than even years of war? Twilight asked herself. She paused her harvesting and walked over to the edge of the pond, looking at the reflection it presented. Her bangs fell forward as she got a good look at herself. There was no doubt about it. Perhaps it was the ring on her horn that was hidden behind cosmetic paint. Or perhaps it was the inner part of her lips, peppered green from harvesting plants manually. But she looked older, less regal, almost pedestrian with debris in her mane. Then, for a split second, she saw her mom in her features. Her mother looked back in disappointment. She couldn’t see her father; he was almost nowhere to be found. But as she continued shifting her own features in her mind, she saw her brother. He was in the bridge between her eyes, and her eyebrows, her cheeks, even in how the color of their eyes was shared with a single strip of mane atop their heads.

She choked back a sob, tears dripped from her eyes, traveled along her snout and fell from her nose onto the pond. She bit her lip and held back another sob. Twilight’s face folded in on itself as it took every ounce of her strength to remain quiet.

First, I lose Shining, then mom gets voted out and she’s by herself while dad has to placate two mares that coasted off of his association with me. Then I get exiled, leaving Spike by himself. And now my own Eques, who can’t stand me, is on death’s door thinking that his passing away would be doing me a favor! Twilight screamed internally. Valiantly, she tried to hold back the tears, but to no avail. Each one falling onto the surface of the pond, letting out a soft ripple.

As each tear fell, ahead of Twilight, something was slowly rising from the depths of the pool. First the fingernails pierced the surface, followed by a blue hand whose wrist was encircled by gold. Then yellow eyes from atop a long splitting jaw looked at Twilight as she finally noticed what was ahead of her. She scrambled back from the edge of the pool. Her tears halted as the beast emerged. But it neither pounced nor pursued. It opened its long, exaggerated jaw, fangs flanking all rows of teeth as it spoke to Twilight.

“I… the Guardian of the old treasures of this vale, wel~lcome the Element of Sorcery…” the blue creature said in a sharp feminine voice, giving Twilight a deep bow.

Twilight took another step back, and gulped, “You’re an Ahuizotl?”

“Oh indeed yesss… you are correct…” the creature said as it touched the shore. Twilight kept drinking in the features of the Ahuizotl. And the more she looked, the more she realized how strange its proportions were. Its face was atop where its nose should be. Its rows of serrated teeth glistened as it extended far past her ears. And its tail’s tip had a monkey’s paw, not unlike Xavier’s hands. Then it turned its head at Twilight, licking its lips, “You were not expecting me Element?”

Twilight’s ears twitched as she caught the way it was speaking. She raised her hoof towards the Ahuizotl, then slowly placed it back on the forest floor, “Y~, yes I am the Element of Sorcery,” Twilight said, regaining her composure. “And you would do well to remember that.”

“Of course, of course!” the Ahuizotl said, lifting its front limbs towards its chest, almost cowering. “It's just that you seem a little out of sorts. Perhaps there is something I can assist you with element?”

“Perhaps… you can begin by telling me what your name is and what you’re doing here?” Twilight asked, stretching to raise her head high.

The creature tilted its head at Twilight, then said, “I am Quetzalli, and you have not been appraised of my purpose here? It was one of your predecessors who gave me this vale and all its treasures to guard as my own…”

Twilight gulped, and nodded, glancing to her left, “Of course, of course, I was… informed.”

Silence fell between the two as Twilight kept her eyes on Quetzalli. The Ahuizotl’s tail slithered around her rear, as she scanned Twilight up and down. “You look as if you are… lost, most auspicious Element of Sorcery.”

Twilight gulped, but kept her head high, “What are you insinuating?”

“Nothing! Nothing! I apologize Illustrious Element of Sorcery, for you are the one who decerns the paths of the wandering stars! Merely… why you are weeping at the edges of my home?” Quetzalli said, keeping her expression as cold as stone.

Twilight gulped and said, “I was not ‘weeping’ as you said.”

“Then what were you-”

“Where my tears flow matters not to you,” Twilight interrupted Quetzalli, gulping as she kept her eyes locked onto the Ahuizotl.

“Of course, of course,” Quetzalli nodded. “It is simply… strange.”

“I agree,” Twilight said, walking over to her harvest. Keeping her eyes on the Ahuizotl, she loaded it atop of her saddle bag and locked it into place, and once more, donned it, the cattails perpendicular to her spine.

“Strange,” Quetzalli said. “Why did you not simply use your magic to load your plants?”

“I have my reasons,” Twilight said. “Now, is there anything before I take my leave?”

Quetzalli narrowed her eyes at Twilight, then closed them and gave a shallow bow, “Only two things, please consider these as welcoming gifts, most venerable Element of Sorcery. First, in these woods, there is an Ursa Major that has cubs. I would keep my wits about if I were you, other animals have… not been so lucky.” Quetzalli opened her eyes and stared at Twilight, scanning the pony.

“Alright,” Twilight gulped. “And the other?”

“Only that to the Northwest of here, if you see trees with red moss to one side, you immediately turn back,” Quetzalli said.

“Why?” Twilight asked.

“There is something there that might even give you trouble, most auspicious one. I,” the Ahuizotl paused, and watched Twilight carefully as it spoke slowly, “Steer clear of that place myself.”

“I will… take it under advisement. Thank you,” Twilight said, giving Quetzalli a nod.

“And thank you!” Quetzalli said. “If you need any more help, feel free to return to my little pond here.” Quetzalli turned its head to Twilight then grinned, “The waters of my home are always open to the Element of Sorcery, with or without an offering of salt.”

Twilight gave Quetzalli a nod once more, before slowly turning and walking away. Twilight kept her head turned towards the beast until soon, the woods swallowed up both Twilight and her cargo among the sea of trees.

Quetzalli looked behind her, and at the protrusion in the middle of the pond. She let out a snarl and uttered, “If you think the Element of Sorcery will interject herself into our centuries long game, you have another thing coming to you Warden of the Roots, Tetsuya.”

Then, as if many snowflakes were falling, thousands upon thousands of ripples from the edges of the shore danced across the pond.

“Your treasure is mine to protect!” Quetzalli sneered. “It’s only a matter of time before I retrieve what is rightfully mine to guard!”

As Twilight returned home, every few dozen steps, she turned and gazed behind her. The encounter with Quetzalli left her with a knot in her stomach. An old voice in the back of her mind was whispering to her to try to take a different path home, if only to throw off the creature with rows of teeth. But another part of her counseled that if the Ahuizotl really wanted to stir up trouble, she might not even be coming home right now.

Following the stream, she finally caught sight of her own buck marks on the trees and followed accordingly. Her harvest wasn’t too heavy, but occasionally, it would brush against the side of the trees, forcing Twilight slightly left or right.

As she approached the camp, Twilight could already see the soft orange glow of light. Xavier seemed to have managed to light the fire once more on his own. As evening passed into nighttime, Twilight entered the domed root world that sheltered the both of them. As she lowered herself in, she froze at the sight of the Phoenix that had followed them, of all things, playing peekaboo with Xavier, despite the human still lying on his side.

“Peekaboo!” the human cried as he removed his hands from his face. The Phoenix crest raised, and it arched its wings, but did not fully extend them. Then once more, Xavier hid his face. The Phoenix’s crest fell as it tucked its wings back in. It lifted a leg and softly scratched at Xavier’s hand with its talons, only for once more, Xavier to reveal his face and say, “Peekaboo!”

This time, the Phoenix bobbed its head and its crest was raised again. Once more arching its wings, it hobbled in a circle before seeing Twilight. Then it fully extended its wings, casually brushing against the fire while letting out three chirps, and keeping its feathers unruffled.

“Oh, you’re back. Hi Twilight,” Xavier mumbled, then let out a giggle. “I was entertaining Scratch here. And I’ve promoted her to Bard Owl, second class!”

The Phoenix bobbed its head at Twilight, keeping its crest raised as it pulled back its wings and whistled.

“Quaint,” Twilight said, going to the other end of the burrow and lowered herself to the ground. She let her saddlebag release its tight grip on her barrel. Scratch lowered its crest and let out a long coo that lowered in pitch. Then it hobbled outside and took flight, once more mounting the tree above the pair.

“How are your hands?” Twilight asked.

Xavier forced his fingers to dance at the end of his hands, then answered “I’m pretty sure I can still use them.” He flicked them for a few more moments before letting out a soft chuckle.

“Tomorrow, I need you to try and prepare the cattail that I’ve collected,” Twilight answered. She walked over to the end of the burrow where she had organized both Xavier’s and her supplies. Nipping two of the bars wrapped in silver from his bag, she brought them over to Xavier and dropped them in front of the human. He nodded as he reached out and slowly opened the first one, lifting it so that Twilight could take a bite.

Twilight ate slowly, the tips of her incisors almost slicing off the chunks of granola, nuts and berries. She ate carefully, trying to savor every bite as Xavier’s arm wobbled. Soon it started to lower to the ground, only for Twilight to let out a “Ahem,” forcing the human to focus and raise his arm again.

“Tomorrow I’m going to need your help with something,” Twilight said as she swallowed the last of her meal.

“Sure, I’ll try,” Xavier mumbled.

“It’s my thornback. I need you to hold it up while I drink it since I’m having difficulty holding it up myself,” Twilight said, nipping at the package the granola bar came in and taking it from Xavier, dropping it in the rubbish pile.

Xavier nodded, grabbing his own bar and unwrapping it. Taking out a large bite, he said “I think…” There was a pause as he glanced over at Twilight to see if she was listening. She had just laid down on the other side of the fire, her sleeping bag flat on the floor, her body, ears and all, facing away from him. His expression softened as he said, “All right, sure.”

Silence spilled into the burrow, only punctuated by the crackle of fire and the noise of the Phoenix outside moving from one branch to another. Twilight laid on her side, letting her back feel the heat of the flames as the rest of her body relaxed. Xavier shuffled around, trying to minimize the anguish he felt. Finally, he said, “If you wish, you can come lie with me if you want.”

Twilight didn’t move, not even a flicker of her ear.

“Did you hear me?” Xavier said.

“Yes,” Twilight answered back.

Xavier let out a shallow sigh as he reached over with his wrapped arms and grabbed his water skin, taking a drink and closing his eyes. Soon, his head fell limp and the darkness started to claim him. The constant pain he felt dulled as it felt like his eyes were rolling into the back of his skull. Then, a pressure. He could feel a pressure on his arm. His eyes shot open as Twilight stood there, in front of him.

“Why?”

Blinking to get his bearings, Xavier rolled his head as he answered, “To try and give you something.”

“I don’t need your pity,” Twilight said, turning away from the human in proceeding back to her sleeping spot.

“Sepsis,” Xavier uttered.

Twilight froze, then turned her head towards him, “What about it?”

“Even with all your work to keep my wounds clean, I told you, there’s still a chance that no matter how hard you try, you won’t be able to keep me in the land of the living,” Xavier said. “What I’m offering you is at least one good memory.”

“Why do I need a ‘good memory’ from the likes of you?” Twilight said, still frozen in place, glaring at the human.

“Because it’s not the ‘you’ of the now that I’m worried about. It’s the ‘you’ months, or even years down the line if I die that concerns me,” Xavier answered.

“Oh yes, this ‘future me’ you keep speaking of,” Twilight said with a hint of annoyance. “You won’t die.”

“Maybe. And if I don’t die, that future you will be fine. But if I’m hit by sepsis, I’ll only have hours at best. And you… That’s the future ‘you’ I worry about.” Xavier answered.

“So that’s it?” Twilight turned to look at Xavier. “You’re worried about a hypothetical version of me in the future?” Twilight’s ears peeled back as she gritted her teeth.

“You saved me,” Xavier answered. “Right now, I should be dead on the forest floor, my corpse being picked at by scavengers, but you decided you preferred me alive, even going insofar as debasing yourself. Don’t think I lack the capacity for gratitude.”

“I don’t need your pity!” Twilight yelled. “I don’t need your sympathy, or your gratitude! You’ve made it obvious you despise me since day one!”

Xavier said nothing, letting silence answer for him.

“You don’t even see me fit to mate with! I’m just a horse to you! Despite my difference in face and mind from those creatures, you just see me as an animal! One that took your precious right to live alone and in misery away from you!”

“Twilight,” Xavier started. “This is the best I can do for you. If I die, if you wake up the next morning to find me cold, I would prefer that…” Xavier took a shallow breath, “I would prefer that you don’t blame yourself for any of this. I would prefer that, when you reflect back on this, that you were not haunted by this memory. That you possess the capacity to move on. And if that does happen, since I’m dead, there will be nothing I can do to help you. But I can help you. Here and now. To at the very least, try and help you avoid that terrible fate.”

Twilight just stared at Xavier, wincing, tears streaming, “You’re, you’re just…”

“The worst, I know.”

“Don’t you dare speak for me!” Twilight yelled, her face a blubbering mess. “Don’t you dare pretend to understand what I’ve been through! Don’t you dare say you care for that ‘future Twilight’ when you didn’t even care about me then or now! I-, I-, I-,” Twilight kept repeating as her front legs gave out. She fell forward, landing on the ground in front of Xavier. She winced her eyes shut and like a tsunami, she was subsumed by a maelstrom. Her wails shook even Xavier to the bone.

As she let loose, she felt a gentle sensation on the top of her snout. Her eyes opened to see Xavier’s right hand, furless and exposed, slowly stroking Twilight.

“No shame, let it out,” Xavier whispered.

Twilight’s damp eyes saw Xavier’s appendages. While most of her was still subsumed in the storm, there was a part of her that saw his hand, really saw it and realized there was something different. It had scars. Dots at many of the joints, linked together by lines. Almost like an overly detailed constellation of stars. The other human hands she had seen were all mono-colored. But his scars stood out as he stroked her. She saw that the lines traveled up his arm and disappeared into the cloth he wore around his upper body.

“It’s okay,” Xavier said. “Take your time.”

Twilight let loose. She howled, she sobbed, she found she was in want for more tears, but she had run out. She choked, she wept, she cried. And she cried. And she cried until she could feel her ears let loose a sharp pain from being folded back for too long. Finally, she slowly composed herself naturally. And as she did this, Xavier touched her. Sometimes he would stroke her snout, and sometimes rubbed her cheek, and sometimes, he used the wrappings he removed to help her dry her eyes.

Then, the mare that held the title of Element of Magic, looked at Xavier and only said, “Okay.”

She pushed herself up and walked to her part of the encampment. Biting her sleeping bag, she dragged it over and laid it in front of Xavier. The human adjusted himself, grunting with pain as his back was angled towards the ground without touching it. Then, he motioned at the purple unicorn.

Twilight lifted a hoof and hesitated. Then winced and nodded as she put it down and approached Xavier. She bent her front legs inwards as she laid her head on his chest, while he reached down and grabbed Twilight’s rump with his blunt claws and pulled her snugly towards him.

She shuddered and let out a gasp.

“Are you okay?” Xavier asked.

“Don’t do that,” Twilight mewed uncharacteristically. “You grabbing my flank like that feels very unsettling, like you’re trying to bite me.”

Xavier immediately released Twilight and simply wrapped his arms around her barrel, “That better?”

Twilight gave a nod, “Yeah,” as she pushed her head against Xavier’s chest.

For a moment, Twilight nearly shot up when she felt Xavier brushing against her ribs with his hand. She felt him stroke, felt his fingers brush her fur. But what startled her the most was simply how warm he was. It was like a second fire under her, a furnace blazing despite its dents.

She stayed still for a while and took it in. She tried to focus on this moment as much as she could. Trying to memorize it all. The weight of his limbs, the fingers through her fur, his breath on the top of her head.

As Twilight finally felt the pull of Luna’s night, Xavier asked her a question, “Teach me a little about you.” He let out a cough, then continued, “Teach me what it is you wish for, even if it’s silly or unrealistic.”

Twilight let out a sob, her whole body contracted, then said, “I wish… I wish… I wish…”

Exhaustion drenched the mare. The pull of dreams enveloped her, as Xavier’s warmth flowed through her body like the sun. His slow strokes moved from the side of her body to her shoulders and withers. His light, steady breath tussling the mane on the top of her head.

He kept petting Twilight as more tears she didn’t know she had fell. And as sleep finally came, and she could’ve sworn that Xavier was singing to her, she only uttered one last thing before returning to the world of dreams: “I wish… I had my big brother back.”

Author's Note

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Loves_of_the_Gods

I apologize for any mistakes, I was trying to rush and get this out before Christmas as a bit of a gift. That said, while I am not going on hiatus, expect a bit of a chapter drought as I rebuild up my buffer.

That said, ~~MARRY~~ MERRY CHRISTMAS 🎄💖!

2/3/2024: Haven't stopped working on it, still getting my buffer back up before I start posting again.
3/19/2024: Still working on it, but my rate of writing has dropped significantly due to demands from work =/
4/22/2024: Christ... still working on it but hopefully work will calm the fuck down in two weeks so I can start again
5/2/2024: Good fucking news! The demands from work is fucking over. It was a certification that basically required me to grind my face to the pavement for 16 hour study days for 2 months to get because the big guys for whom I work for didn't grasp I don't need a certification at all to do my damn job. Well now I have it and with it 2 things: mobility so if I get tired of their fucking shit I can go somewhere else with ease and I can get back to this story. I will TRY to get something out in 2 weeks. Until then... im going to go take a very long nap

6/11/2024: Still working on it :/ I've had to do an extensive rewrite of the next chapter. I'm going as fast as I can without destroying my work/life/writing balance