The Outcast

Meanwhile, somewhere at Sweet Apple Acres

After casting my spell to escape being noticed, I find myself amid an orchard of apple trees when I hear a tree being kicked and wonder if this is Applejack's home when I spot a stallion with a red coat and a brilliant orange mane head to another tree and then buck it with his hind legs. The apples fall off the tree and land in a couple of tubs below it, and as the stallion walks away from me to knock the apples down, I try to teleport away again. When the spell fails, I feel exhaustion throughout my body and take the only option left for me and take off at a trot.

Big Mac kicks another tree and watches the apples fall into the tubs when he hears a branch snap, then turns around to see what the noise was and sees a long stick broken in two places in the middle and calls out, "Hello?" Hearing no reply after a few seconds, he shrugs his shoulders and then returns to harvesting apples.

I hastily trot away from the bush I hid behind, trying to put some distance between the stallion and I when one of my limp wings bumps into and accidentally knocks over a stack of empty barrels. I hiss loudly in pain when one barrel lands on my right wing and breaks a bone, causing me to say, "Shit..." then take off at a gallop through the trees.

Hearing a nasty snap amid the sound of tumbling barrels followed by somepony speaking, he quickly heads over to the fallen barrels to see where the injured pony went to. He sees a large set of hoofprints in the dirt, clearly belonging to another stallion as he starts to follow the trail at gallop calling out, "You alright?"

As I gallop away from the thundering of his hooves, I jump over a fallen log and then pivot to the right on my hooves to abruptly change directions and go back into a gallop. When I attempt to switch directions to the left, my right wing swings out wide and smacks into a dead apple tree, causing a sickening, splitting sound to echo throughout the orchard around me and pulling a pained cry from my lips. I fight through the pain to keep running from the stallion, tears slowly slipping down my face as I ignore the stallion's urging me to stop.

Unable to get a clear look of the injured stallion, Big Mac gets the general feeling that the pony is trying to head to the Everfree Forest, but is lost in the orchard and calls out saying, "You are clearly injured and lost, I can help!"

Trying to find a way out of this orchard is like trying to find my way through a maze blindfolded, as I start running over spongy ground due to rainfall. I then see a rise up ahead as the chance to lose the stallion and return to the forest, and run even harder towards it.

Big Mac breathes heavily as he finally is able to see the stallion, watching as he races toward the rise up ahead. Knowing that spot isn't safe due to the recent shower, he calls out, "Stop, it isn't safe!" but is too late as the stallion jumps for the higher ground.

I feel myself soaring through the air as I pass over the ledge, bringing my hooves down upon it as they start to sink in. Quickly lifting my front legs, I shift my momentum forward and move them further ahead to pull myself along. However, the moment my back hooves land on the soft ground, something feels terribly wrong as the ground gives out from under them and falls away. Determined to keep myself from falling, I slam my front hooves down on the ground just ahead of me hard when an intense pain shoots up through both my front legs. As the pain is too great to ignore, I throw my head back and cry out, yelling, "Yaahh!!" I soon learn that was a mistake as I feel my hooves pulling a chunk of dirt away with me while my body slowly tips over backward, and try to use my front hooves to regain my balance. My efforts are in vain as I can't make full use of my legs due to the shooting pain and continue to fall backward towards the ground a few feet below me.

He watches in shock as the strange alicorn over-centers due to their mistake as their wings hang down from his body, apparently unable to make use of them.

Equis watches her friend in horror as he falls backward, and ignores her tired state as she races out of the cavern to go help him thinking, 'Hang on Galadriel, I'm coming to save you!'

I feel myself continue to fall further backward, remembering in an instant the fact that horns can heal from being cracked, but never grow back if it is ever completely broken off. Making the split decision to save my horn at the cost of a few potentially broken ribs, I use all the strength of my back right leg to push myself to the left as I let my left leg go lax. I feel the success of altering my trajectory as I start to fall towards my left side instead of straight backward, and pull my head and neck ahead as I see a rounded stone mostly buried in the dirt and think, 'Well this is going to really suck...' I feel my left flank hit the ground as my upper body continues to fall sideways and close my eyes thinking, 'Way to let yourself be seen, moron.' Shortly after my body slams into the ground, putting a fair amount of pressure on the upper part of my wings, my consciousness fades away when my head hits the rock rather hard.

Big Mac runs up to the fallen alicorn with wide eyes, to shocked to think of what to do as he sees blood coming from his right wing when he hears a voice scream in his head, 'WELL DON'T JUST STAND THERE YOU DOLT, GO GET ZECORA!' He then quickly nods his head and says, "Right!" then gallops off to go find the Zebra in the Everfree Forest.

A week later, on a train heading back to Ponyville

Rarity then sighs and says, "That was such a lovely wedding, wasn't it girls? It's such a shame that Gold Reel didn't stick around after that first debacle."

Twilight then sighs and says, "I know, both Princess Celestia was disappointed at how he took off without a word and didn't show up for the actual wedding, even Cadence wanted to meet him."

Just then, Pinkie Pie sits up straight as she starts tingling and says, "Uh-oh guys, I'm getting a niggly feeling!"

They all take cover and watch Pinkie Pie for any indications as what it is going to be when her whole body suddenly starts shaking when Applejack says, "We all know what that signal means..."

Rainbow Dash then flies up into the air eagerly asking, "I wonder what it will be this time? Aliens? Space Monsters?"

Fluttershy then hides behind her seat, trembling as she gulps and says, "I just hope that it's nothing scary."

As the train pulls up to the station, nothing has happened yet as Applejack gets off first saying, "Ah've gotta help Big Mac out on the farm, he should have a fair start on the next orchard."

The others say goodbye to their friend and head their separate ways as Applejack makes her way back with Applebloom following her saying, "That was sooo neat! I'm so glad that Princess Cadence asked me and my friends to be flower fillies for the real wedding!"

She and her sister enjoy a walk as they return to their farm, arriving at their home when Applejack arrives to see her brother sorting the apples outside the barn and asks, "What the hay Big Mac, why aren't ya doin' that inside?"

He then looks over at Applebloom as a bead of nervous sweat trails down his face and says, "Could ya go get the tubs from the west orchard and bring 'em here, Applebloom?"

Applebloom smiles and starts making her way there saying, "Sure thing, Big Mac!"

Applejack waits for her sister to be out of earshot before approaching her brother and asking, "Alright Big Mac... What's goin' on in the barn?"

He is thinking of a lie to tell his sister when he then hears the voice inside his head again sigh and say, 'She's the Element of Honesty, so don't try to fool her, because even he couldn't. Just ask her to keep calm and quiet, then lead her in here. Since this is now unavoidable, at least we can control the aftermath a fair degree...'

Taking a breath, Big Mac makes sure Applebloom is out of earshot before he looks back at his sister saying, "When ah lead ya inside, please keep calm and quiet while Zecora tends to him."

Hearing her brother speak so much causes her eyes to go wide with wonder as she then follows her brother up to the barn door, apparently locked from inside as he raises his hoof to the door and knocks on it twice, then pauses a brief moment before knocking once, pausing one last time to knock two final times. Before getting the chance to ask what is going on, the barn door opens quickly as Zecora opens the door and makes eye contact with her saying, "Quickly must you enter, for I am brewing his supper!"

Zecora returns to her cauldron as she prepares a brew of vegetables and looks over her shoulder to see Applejack standing just outside watching her curiously and says, "Come inside you mare and lock the door, if you don't, there's going to be an uproar!"

Applejack enters with a blush at her sternness and then locks the door, asking, "What kind of supper are you making, and who is it for Zecora?"

The zebra adds a few tonics into the bubbling cauldron as she uses a long ladle to stir the contents around to further liquefy saying, "Just a soup of boiled down vegetables and herbs, with a few potions thrown in so that nothing disturbs. It is for a very special guest, whom I was brought here to help on request."

Before his sister can ask any more questions, Big Mac bumps his shoulder into hers and softly says, "This way, but you must be quiet." and walks quietly around the large curtain set up behind the cauldron for security.

As she walks around the privacy curtain, her eyes notice a platform of bales in the center of the room covered by a few large, soft bed sheets. What causes her eyes to go wide, however is who is laying on the sheets. Her jaw drops open for a moment as her eyes shrink to pinpricks at the sight of the unknown alicorn in their barn, then turns toward her brother and looks between the two while blinking in disbelief, trying to find something to say in her shocked state, mumbling, "Huh...? Wha...? How...? Who...?"

Big Mac sighs and then places his hoof on her shoulder, saying softly, "It's been a long week, believe me." He then jerks his head back towards where Zecora is and says, "Come on, ah'll tell ya what happened while Zecora makes his supper."

Applejack follows her brother, eager to learn what happened while they were gone and says, "Jeez, see what happens when ya leave fer a week? Ya miss something exciting..."

Applebloom heads deeper into the west orchard, spotting a stack of barrels that were knocked over and begins to re-stack them. When she lifts the last barrel up, she spots a feather underneath it. She tosses the barrel into place and then picks the feather up with her hoof, picking it up due to how interesting it looks. She looks at the feather, wondering if it came from a gryphon and then puts it into a full tub of apples and then puts it onto her back and hastily makes her way back to the barn to show her sister thinking, 'I can't believe how big this thing is, it has got to be longer than one of Princess Luna's or even Princess Celestia's feathers! What kind of creature dropped this?'

As she listens to Big Mac finish his story, Applejack then asks, "Okay, but what is this alicorn's name, where did he even come from, and would somepony tell me who made this request?" then huffs in annoyance at how they try to avoid her questions as she adds, "And don't say you don't know, because I know you do."

A tired yawn filters from Equis as she drifts down to the floor saying, "Jeez, can't a mare get any sleep? And would you mind keeping your voice down, my friend is trying to heal and sleep if you haven't noticed his state."

Applejack looks all around for who said that with wide eyes as she asks shakily, "W-Wh-Who and w-where a-are ya?"

The spirit sighs as she uses some of her power to make a somewhat visible form for herself, appearing as a white, unicorn made of a visible mist with lavender-colored mist for eyes as she then says, "I am right here, and as for who I am...let's just say that I'm an observant guardian...and leave it at that okay? It was me that made the request for Big Mac to bring Zecora here to help him get my friend inside your barn, it is very important that all of this world's citizens do not learn of his existence until the time is right. Only he can tell you what you want to know, but he will only share what he knows when he can trust you with it. Onto more pressing matters that are higher in priority, these two have been helping me do what we can for the alicorn for the past week, they are both tired and weary from having to keep him asleep. I too am exhausted from having to use my magic to keep his body from healing wrong, which has not been easy, I assure you. These two only get about two hours of sleep per night as I get about four, if we are to help this alicorn heal, we need additional help. What I need you to do, miss Applejack, and I know he will be upset about it...but you need to bring Twilight here, she will have an idea of what to do so just trust her." she then lets the mist dissipate as she then says, "Get going already you stubborn mare."

She straightens her posture and says in a huff while a light blush covers her cheeks, "I am not stubborn...just strong-willed." then makes her way towards the door, unlocking it and then heading outside.

Applebloom sees her sister exit the barn and sets the tub of apples apart from the others, using her mouth to grab the large feather before trotting before her sister and putting the feather on the ground saying, "Hey sis, look at what I found when I was bringing back a tub of apples. It's a ginormous feather from some kind of creature, isn't it neat?"

Equis floats back up to the rafters softly saying with a chuckle, "That's exactly what a stubborn mare would say..." and remembers she forgot to tell her to try to not let Pinkie follow her back and sighs as the door locks silently after Applebloom spoke to her sister.

Applejack looks at the feather her sister lays on the ground, seeing that it really is long, noticing that it clearly belongs to the alicorn in the barn and says, "Wow, that really is a big feather, you should show it to your friends once you get the rest of the tubs up by the barn, Applebloom."

She looks at her sister and sticks the feather in her mane, then giggles and hurries off to get another tub saying, "Okay big sis, see ya later! Oh I can't wait to show this off to my friends when I'm done!"

She watches her sister head off to the orchard, seeing that the feather is so long it hangs down over her tail, drawing a chuckle out of her as she then trots off to go find Twilight.

Twilight sits in her chair, reading through some books about ancient cities, not having found anything yet when a knock at her door distracts her as she puts the book down to go answer it. When she gets to the door, she pulls it open to see Applejack there and smiles saying, "Hey Applejack, what's going on?"

Applejack then says, "Ah need ya to come with me to the farm, we need yer help with something."

Shocked by hearing her friend ask for help, she quickly looks over to Spike as he prepares to make lunch and says, "Spike, Applejack needs help at Sweet Apple Acres."

Spike grabs a small backpack with writing supplies and makes sure it has plenty of paper, spare quills, and of course...ink then says, "Coming!" and hurries towards her.

Not knowing if it's okay for Spike to come, she then realizes that the guardian didn't specifically say Spike couldn't come and turns around and canters at a brisk pace saying, "Alright, let's get going"

Twilight looks at Spike as he closes the door behind him and says, "Quick, jump on!" and feels him hop up onto her back, then takes off after her friend. Catching up to her, she runs alongside her and asks, "Just what is going on that has you in such a hurry"

Applejack continues on and says, "Ya'll find out when we get there!"

Pinkie Pie passes the bush as she hops along after delivering a carrot cake to Fluttershy, seeing Applejack and Twilight, with Spike sitting on Twilight as the two mares gallop towards the bush, saying, "Hiya girls, what's up?"

Startled by her sudden appearance, Applejack veers to the right and bumps into Twilight saying, "WAAH!"

As Applejack runs into the party pony's shoulder, she spins around for a bit. When she stops spinning, her legs wobble for a bit as her eyes roll around in a dizzy state. Quickly recovering from her dizziness by shaking her head, she giggles and races after the girls. She runs on the left side of Applejack, she says with a smile, "That was fun!" then cocks her head curiously and asks, "So, where are we running to?"

Twilight then says, "Applejack needs help with something urgent at Sweet Apple Acres, can you come with us to help?"

Pinkie Pie then smiles and says, "Of course, I am always there to help my friends."

The farm pony hopes that no one else happens to see them and join them as she then sighs and says, "Alright, let's hurry along." Her family's farm comes into sight as she slows to a stop when they near the barn, and moves to stand in front of them, saying, "Now, before we go inside. Ah need ya both to Pinkie Swear to keep quiet so ya don't disturb them while they are asleep."

After watching the three of them make a Pinkie Promise, Applejack then nods and says, "Alright, come on." and approaches the door as they follow behind her, then performs the knock she seen her brother use. The door opens a few moments later as her brother opens the door to let them in as she then heads inside saying, "We ran into Pinkie along the way."

Zecora then chuckles and says, "It is quite alright, I am sure you three will find this to be a sight." She then stirs her brew one more time and then sighs saying, "The brew is ready at last, come, Big Mac, we must work fast." She then starts to pour the cauldron's contents into a large beaker and walks around the curtain with Applejack's brother right behind her.

Applejack follows the other two slowly, looking over her shoulder saying, "Now remember, quiet as a mouse, no matter what you see."

Twilight, Pinkie, and Spike follow her around the curtain, causing Twilight to freeze in place with eyes as big as saucers as her jaw drops open.

When Pinkie steps around Twilight curiously, she gasps excitedly and begins to spring up into the air at meeting somepony new that happens to be an alicorn like Princesses Cadence, Celestia, and Luna. As she freezes in the air, she takes in a deep breath and remembers her promise, managing to restrain her extreme joy and screams quietly just like Fluttershy would. When she returns to the ground, her whole body begins to contort and twitch as a serious doozy is discovered.

Spike steps around a frozen Pinkie as her eyes bug out of her skull, sort of creeping him out, but also slightly amusing to see. He then looks at what they are all looking at, unable to get a good look because of how short he is, he climbs up onto Twilight and stands on her head as her body is completely rigid from shock. He then sees why they are all frozen while he watches Big Mac holding the unknown alicorn's head with his hoof on either side of its head as Applejack clamps its nose shut with a wooden clothespin before prying its lower jaw open and holding it there. Zecora then steps up and slowly pours a bit of the potion into their held open mouth before stopping for Applejack to quickly close the alicorn's jaw and forces them to swallow.

The unconscious alicorn begins to struggle a bit as they continue to pour the brew into his mouth a bit at a time, eventually needing Applejack to hold her hoof to his horn to keep him from using magic. After the last bit of potion is swallowed, the struggling slows and eventually stops, allowing the three of them to sigh with relief as Applejack says, "Well, that was an experience."

Big Mac huffs and says in a slightly sarcastic tone, "Easy for you to say, I've been here all week along with Zecora and the guardian. I lost count of how many times I've been blasted into the back wall of the barn, I need a break from this."

Zecora yawns tiredly and then sighs while looking over to Twilight and the other two guests saying, "Yes, this is our newest guest, we are quite tired and could use the rest. Perhaps if you would write a letter, we might start resting better."

Twilight snaps out of it with a gasp and jerks her head back, causing Spike to fall off and stab the floor with his spines. She looks at him and giggles lightly asking, "Are you okay Spike?"

Spike pulls his spines up out of the floor and then says, "Yeah I'm fine, I should not have stood on your head to see the new alicorn."

She then smiles and says, "Spike, I need you to take a letter."

He pulls his bag off and then pulls out a paper, a quill, and an inkwell, then sets the inkwell on the floor and opens it. Quickly taking the quill and dipping it into the ink, he taps off the excess and says in a gentle voice, "Ok, I'm ready for it Twilight."

Not really knowing how to approach the letter, Twilight says, "Umm... Dear Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Princess Cadence, there has been an unforeseen...no, scratch that. There has been an...interesting development that you all need to see for yourselves to believe, even as I look at the discovery with my own eyes, I still can't believe them. The nature of this development is most urgent, so please come to the barn at Sweet Apple Acres as swiftly as you are able. P.S. Dear Princess Celestia, due to the nature of this discovery, it may prove to best arrive without guards. If, for some reason, you need to knock, knock on the barn door twice, then once, then twice again and the door will be opened for you. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle. Now please send it Spike."

Spike nods and sets the quill down, then rolls up the letter and slides a ribbon over it. Raising it into the air, he then blows on it with his fire breath to send it on its way saying, "There, now we wait for her reply."

Twilight then smiles and looks at Spike saying, "Why don't we tidy up the barn as best we can, if and when they arrive?"

Meanwhile, somewhere in Canterlot

Princess Celestia is performing one of her tiring daily tasks when she suddenly sees a scroll pop up in front of her. Surprised to receive a letter from Twilight so soon, she smiles and opens it saying, "Excuse me for a moment while I read this important letter, my loyal ponies." As she reads through the letter, her happy smile quickly changes into one of concern as the letter leads her to thing something bad has happened that needs to be kept quiet. After finishing the letter, she rolls it up and turns to the nobles with her saying, "I do apologize for this inconvenience, but another matter has come up that demands my attention. We will have to reschedule this for another day, my beloved subjects." As they all nod and agree to reschedule, Celestia turns around and flies towards the castle to wake up Luna.

Luna is slumbering peacefully when she hears her sister call from the hallway and groans saying, "Uhhghh...is it time to change the day already?"

She hastily enters and smiles sadly saying, "It is sister, but that is not why I am here now. I just received a letter addressed to me, you, and Cadence from Twilight about an urgent recent discovery that she is having trouble believing. She seems to think this discovery is rather sensitive, sensitive enough that we have to go without guards." and starts writing a reply to her student, then sends it away in a flash of light.

She gets up and stretches her body saying, "Alright, where are we going, and when?"

Celestia then smiles and says, "As soon as you can make yourself presentable, or would you prefer to go as you are?"

A fierce blush colors Luna's cheeks as she quickly gets up and forces a comb through her mane and tail, then retrieves her regalia and huffs saying, "Knowing you, sister, you would get a laugh out of seeing me go au naturale before others and squirm from embarrassment. Shall we change the cycle now before we go?"

Twilight looks around at the much better looking barn after a bit of cleaning when Spike belches and brings a scroll over to her, saying, "Thank you, Spike. Let's see what she says." and opens it reading, "Dear Twilight, thank you very much for notifying me so swiftly. I am quite curious at what has you in such a state, so Luna and I will be there after changing the day to night. Unfortunately, Cadence is on her honeymoon and will have to learn of this development at a later time. We will see you shortly." Seeing that, she hands the letter back to Spike saying, "Thank you Spike, I will wait outside for them to arrive. Close and lock the door behind me, then listen for the knock Applejack used earlier."

After they change the day to night, Luna stands on a balcony and turns to her sister, spreading her wings and asks, "It's a brief flight to Ponyville, shall we get going sister?"

Celestia then giggles and pulls her sister in for a wing and foreleg hug saying, "That's too slow." then charges up a spell to teleport them both outside Applejack's home.

Knowing what her sister intends to do, she gasps saying, "Wait, I'm not..." but is cut off as the spell is cast.

Twilight stands outside the barn door, liking how she got to watch the two change the day to night so flawlessly when she is startled by a loud zapping pop, making her yelp, "AAHH!"

Luna coughs up some smoke as she frowns at her sister, with a few singed spots on her coat and face saying, "Thanks a lot for the makeover sister..."

She looks at her faithful student with a smile saying, "Sorry for frightening you, Twilight. Please show us what you have found."

The young mare smiles and then says, "Its alright, please follow me, and no matter what you see inside the barn...please try not to freak out and make a lot of noise by using the royal voice..."

Celestia huffs as Twilight heads for the door, saying, "We're princesses...we would never lose our cool no matter what might happen."

Hearing the knock Applejack used, Spike opens the door for them as Twilight steps through with Celestia and Luna on her heels while Luna looks a bit frazzled. Concerned for her, he asks, "Forgive me for asking, but are you okay Princess Luna? You look a bit...out of sorts."

Luna ignores her sisters tittering as she then huffs at her saying, "I am fine, my impatient sister is the cause of my current state as she suddenly hugged me and teleported us outside without letting me prepare."

Twilight hears Spike close and lock the door and heads around the now-cold cauldron towards the right side of the curtain saying, "They are sleeping so please try not to wake them up due to their current state."

Celestia follows Twilight curiously as they get closer and closer to seeing what is behind the curtain, she slowly notices a black wing hanging off the edge of a platform built from straw bales and covered with white bed sheets. When she continues walking forward, she sees a light-colored coat with mud and dirt all over it. As she fully sees what is lying on the platform, she freezes in her steps as her jaw falls open in shock and her eyes go wide.

Nearly running into the backside of her sister as she stops suddenly, Luna looks around the room to see scorch marks in various places and trots around her. Stopping with her shoulder ahead of her sister, she quickly turns her head around to her sister saying, "Why did you stop and what are you staring at?"

Unsure if she can believe what her eyes are seeing, she blinks several times, saying softly, "See for yourself, Luna."

As she turns her head, she sees what her sister is staring at and mumbles, "I don't believe what I am seeing." then slowly approaches them to get a closer look. She walks around the alicorn, taking in every detail from the ethereal, flowing, black mane with the barest hint of a white coat underneath the smeared dirt, the large, black wings having strange red tips on the bottom row of feathers, and the horn on its head. As she walks around the other side of the new alicorn, she gasps and then shouts quietly, "SISTER, this alicorn is a STALLION!!

Celestia is shocked out of her frozen state as she quickly joins her sister to see for herself and gasps saying in the same quiet tone, "You're right! Does he have a Cutie Mark?"

Luna then looks around for something to use as a rag, saying gently, "I don't know, let's find out." finding one hanging on a nail sticking out of a post and pulls it off with her magic. Moving the rag over to a water trough on the far side of the barn and dunks it in, soaking it before bringing it back and lightly lays it onto his rump and begins to wipe the mud and dirt away. When she dunks it into the trough to wash the dirt out of it, she pulls it out and then wrings it dry before bringing it back over to finish cleaning the area.

A minute later, they all look at the cutie mark as Twilight gasps saying, "That's Gold Reel's Cutie Mark, but how did he become an alicorn?"

After having a brief nap, Equis floats down and forms a misty body for herself with the same semi-transparent white unicorn shape with lavender mist for eyes, hovering in the air on the other side of Gold Reel's alicorn body. Her sudden appearance earns gasps from those who haven't met her already and speaks before they have a chance to view her as hostile, saying, "Don't panic, I'm not going to harm you or my friend Gold Reel. I won't tell you my name, so just think of me as an observant guardian of this world. To answer your question, he was already an alicorn when he met you all." then looks over to Twilight and says, "Before you ask that question, I'll tell you that he was able to transform his body so that he could interact with you ponies." looking back at the two princesses, she says, "Three of us have been working tirelessly to do what we can to help him heal, but we are at the end of what we can do. In order to keep him from hurting himself any further, we had to force him to consume healing potions and strong sedation potions through liquid meals of boiled down vegetables and healing herbs. It has been a long week and he will be in your care now, so do your best to keep him from becoming known to the public for the time being." She then looks to Luna and sighs saying, "Luna, I am sure you have noticed that something has been slightly off with the dream realm for the past several months, I was doing what I could to keep you from seeing his dream door and discovering him too early. I won't be doing that anymore as it is no longer needed." She then looks at her friend and says, "This stallion has been making me run myself ragged from looking after him these past two weeks... First, it was a fragment of memory coming back at seeing the Changeling Queen which, after watching for a bit, I had to provide the music for his song. And after that, I had to use my own magic to restrain his quite a bit when he nearly used his power to turn her into a wall stain, literally. Then after that blast sent her and every other changeling flying away, he noticed his true form was revealed by the spell and tried to cast it, but couldn't so he teleported as far as he could. Which landed him in the orchard near where Big Mac was harvesting trees, and some of you know what happened next." she then lets her form fade away saying, "Take good care of my friend and try not to jump his bones yet, he has a lot of healing to do. Oh...and be very gentle when you handle his wings. Have fun babysitting him, he's a handful! It's time this mare gets a much needed rest."